The BBC and BBC America have released three trailers for the tenth and final episode of Doctor Who Series 12, The Timeless Children.
Here are some stills from the trailer with composite synopsis for The Timeless Children:
In the epic and emotional series finale, the Cybermen are on the march. As the last remaining humans are ruthlessly hunted down, Graham, Yaz, Ryan, Ravio, Yedlarmi, Ethan and Bescot face a terrifying fight to survive.
Civilisations fall.
Others rise anew.
Lies are exposed and truths are revealed.
Battles are fought.
For the Doctor — trapped and alone — nothing will ever be the same again.
Some scenes on Gallifrey; a Gallifreyan agent, possibly Tecteun, consults two people.
Some Dialogue from the trailers:
Master (to Doctor): “Look upon my work, Doctor, and despair!”
“I told you before that everything you knew was a lie. Well now you get to face the truth.”
“Brace yourself. This is going to hurt.”
Yedlarmi: “We don’t stand a chance here! We’re stuck on this ship stuffed with Cybermen!”
Yaz: “Whatever you want with me, fine, but save my friends.”
Ko Sarmus (to Ryan): “You can be a pacifist tomorrow, Today, you have to survive.”
Ashad: “Set course for Gallifrey.”
Not shown in any of the trailers is Brendan, the mysterious and indestructible man found abandoned as a baby on a path in Ireland in an intriguing but a separate plot thread in Ascension of the Cybermen. It is unclear whether The Timeless Children will continue Brendan’s story or if his is a story for a future special or a Series 13 episode.
Showrunner Chris Chibnall described The Timeless Children to Entertainment Weekly:
“I’m going to do classic British understatement here: It’s a relatively seismic episode for the Doctor, and for the show. You will get some answers, but you will also be left with a whole load of new questions in true Doctor Who style.”
“It is an emotional and narrative roller coaster — for the characters, for the audience. I think you’re going to need a very strong drink. It’s a 65-minute finale, so on BBC America that will go longer, obviously. It’s big, it’s action-packed, it’s very, very epic and very, very emotional, and there is a blistering performance from Jodie Whittaker in that final episode. People, I think, are going to feel wrung-out and possibly a little bit open-mouthed.”
When asked if we learn more about the Fugitive Doctor (Jo Martin) in the finale, Chibnall had this to say:
“The mystery of the ‘Timeless Child’ along with the questions around Jo’s Doctor from episode five… you would hope that we would be getting some answers in the finale. I think viewers would be right to hope for that. Obviously it goes back to episodes one and two with Sacha Dhawan’s Master telling the Doctor that everything she knows is a lie. As we come into the final two parter we will learn much more about what that means for the Doctor.”
Another unsolved mystery of The Timeless Children is why a character named Fakout, played by an actor of which there is no record, remains on the cast list for the episode. Barack Stemis, an anagram for “Master is back”, seems more of a a BBC in-joke and not a genuine cast listing so it’s our opinion that it is doubtful that Fakout will make an appearance, though it is clear Sacha Dhawan will appear as the Master.
Written by Chris Chibnall and directed by Jamie Magnus Stone, The Timeless Children airs Sunday, March 1, 6:50 p.m. on BBC One and 8:00 p.m. on BBC America.