The finale of Doctor Who series 10 – The Doctor Falls – left a few threads dangling, and also, relied on a bit of foreknowledge to fully wrap your head around what happened. As such, you might need a bit of extra help to make sense of the episode itself. Which is fortunate, as that’s where we come in.

Here’s the Cultbox guide…

BIG SPOILERS

Heather

You first saw Heather in The Pilot, right at the start of the series. She was ‘The Pilot’ of the title too, with the ability to take control of an assortment of vehicles, the TARDIS included it seems. The alien force behind the puddle in the first episode of the series chose Heather, because Heather wanted to run away. Yet before she ran, crucially she promised Bill she wouldn’t leave her. This resulted in the chase across space and time that followed.

Bill, you might remember, eventually released Heather from that promise, although Heather left one of her tears with her. Through that tear, she could – as she’s done before – track Bill down. Bill leaving a tear with the Doctor suggests she’ll be able to do the same. and will soon become aware that he’s alive. Coming to that in a minute, though.

Bill is now an alien akin the Heather it seems, one who may again take human form if she wishes. Which promptly undoes all the Cyberman stuff. It’s basically up to Bill what she wants to do next.

The Doctor

Bill thinks the Doctor is dead when she leaves him. Despite hints throughout the series, it seems clear she doesn’t quite know about Time Lords regenerating yet.

As for the Doctor himself, we see him meeting the first Doctor – played here by David Bradley (he also played William Hartnell in the docu-drama An Adventure In Time And Space). It’s the first Doctor just before his own regeneration though, following his own battles with the Cybermen in The Tenth Planet. It suggests that the unnamed Christmas special will take place with two Doctors on the verge of regeneration. It all but guarantees at least three Doctors on our TV screens on December 25th.

Nardole

Good question. It’s up in the air whether we see Matt Lucas again in Doctor Who at the minute. Certainly wouldn’t rule it out, though.

The Master/Missy

Michelle Gomez has already said she’s leaving Doctor Who, suggesting her demise towards the end of The Doctor Falls was terminal. But then John Simm was never going to come back either, and look what happened there. Missy is out of regenerations, but The Master has been given fresh ones before. And even if the ability to regenerate has been lost, a few lines in a future script should sort that out. We never saw either Missy not Simm’s Master die on screen here, so their respective fates are up in the air.

Hope all of that helps!