The BBC has released new images for, the seventh and penultimate Doctor Who Season Two episode Wish World which will transmit Saturday 24 May.

The BBC has not released a media pack for Wish World so the images and small bits of information previously released will have to tell the story here.

When last we left the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and Belinda (Varada Sethu) in The Interstellar Song Contest, they travelled to 24 May, 2025 and put themselves and the TARDIS in grave circumstances.

Meanwhile, Mrs Flood (Anita Dobson), rescued from freezing in space, reveals herself to be a Time Lord and bi-generates. Her new offshoot is The Rani while Mrs Flood is a deferential Rani.

While we don’t know what happens in the immediate aftermath of the seemingly catastrophic TARDIS implosion, in Wish World we find the Doctor and Belinda in far different circumstances. It’s May 23, 2025 and they are in a strange new world where they appear to be a couple with a child — Poppy from Space Babies!

From his seat in the towering Bone Place, Conrad (Jonah Hauer-King) tells a the populace a story about the Doctor, who is now a fictional character, while Bone Beasts loom over the London.

“Many years ago, when Gallifrey was young, the Doctor and the Time Lady had been terrible enemies. They had fought over all sorts of irrelevant things. But the Time Lady knew they could be great friends.”

Assuming the Time Lady is the Rani, in what sort of world would the Doctor and the Rani be friends? The Rani has unleashed her most terrifying experiment yet. A new reality is manifested by the Unholy Trinity; Conrad, the Rani and a third party who is lying in wait exactly 160 years away. Doctor Who showrunner and Wish World writer Russell T Davies said on Instagram that the two Ranis (Anita Dobson and Archie Panjabi) are counted as one third of the Unholy Trinity.

The Great Day is coming, the most important date in history — 24 May 2025. The clock is ticking and everyone is preparing for a joyous tomorrow, when the whole world will change forever.

While some are living in what seems like idyllic circumstances, others are less fortunate and living in urban encampments. These are possibly the secretive Dispossessed mentioned by Russell T Davies in Doctor Who Magazine 616. Ruth Madeley, who plays Shirley Anne Bingham, told Benjamin Black on his Where I Am Today podcast that there is a large cast of disabled actors in Wish World. Some are extras and some, like Sam Lawton and Joshua J Parker have speaking roles. Hermon Berhane, who plays Val in the episode, is deaf.

The Doctor’s former companion Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) is trapped in this new reality. She is wearing the same clothes she wore when she encountered Conrad’s Shreek hoax in Lucky Day.

Old friends are helpless. The UNIT team all have new assignments in the new reality.

If these aren’t enough plot points to keep you thinking, there is also an infant in this episode. Atilla Akinci and Leni Adams play Otto and Violett Zufall. “Pity the fate of poor Frau Zufall!,” Russell T Davies said on Instagram.

The villainous machinations are headquartered at the Bone Palace, an icy tower in the sky made of bones. Is it there to rival the UNIT tower or replace it in a new reality?

The Rani has her own sonic screwdriver just like the Doctor.

A mysterious message echos across time and space saying, “Tables don’t do that.” Can this be what snaps the Doctor out of his seemingly blissful simple life?

Questions remain. What are the Bone Beasts, the Seekers and the Noctis Inknid? Who are the Dispossessed?

Traps are sprung and enemies old and new unite. The Pantheon is stirring. Something arises from the Under-Universe. The whole of reality is in danger as we hurtle towards May 24. Can the Doctor see the truth before midnight arrives?

Written by Russell T Davies and directed by Alex Sanjiv Pillai, the 44-minute Wish World transmits on Saturday 24 May at 8am on BBC iPlayer and 6:50pm on BBC One in the UK. Those outside of the UK can stream Wish World on Disney+ where available simultaneously starting at 3am ET/12am PT.

Directly after the BBC One broadcast, Steffan Powell goes behind the scenes of Wish World in Doctor Who: Unleashed on BBC Three and on the official YouTube channel where available at 7:35pm.