‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Is One Big, Fat Apology to Donna Noble

In all my years covering television, I have only ever once cursed out an interview subject, even in jest.

This was back in 2009, when I was speaking with Russell T. Davies about the end of his tenure as showrunner of Doctor Who, and the launch of spinoff miniseries Torchwood: Children of Earth. Specifically, I had a bone to pick regarding the departure of Donna Noble, the blunt, hilarious, endearing companion to David Tenant’s Tenth Doctor, played by Catherine Tate. Donna’s character arc was all about how traveling through time and space with the Doctor opened up her dreary, mundane life in ways she could have never imagined. Which made it all the more crushing when her story ended with the Doctor having to save her life by wiping her memories of their time together — and doing it over Donna’s anguished protests.

As someone who adored Donna, like nearly all of Doctor Who fandom, the nature of her exit felt too cruel by half. So midway through the Davies interview, I couldn’t resist calling him a bastard for sending her off that way. To Davies’ credit, he laughed, and even turned to someone in the room with him to brag, “He just called me a bastard!”

It’s been 14 years since Davies stepped away from the iconic U.K. franchise, which he brought back from the dead in 2005. Since then, the series has had some wild swings in quality. Steven Moffat’s tenure as showrunner started strong with the Matt Smith/Karen Gillan combination, then began to stumble in its later years. Jodie Whittaker, meanwhile, was an inspired choice to play the first female Doctor, but she was consistently let down by showrunner Chris Chibnall, who seemed more interested in the companions than in Whittaker’s superhumanly curious Doctor. 

The series was in no danger of vanishing like it did between 1989 and the first Davies season, but it clearly needed a course correction. That’s arrived in the form of a deliberate return to the show’s 2000s glory days, with Davies back in charge — and, for the next few weeks, Tenant and Tate back as the Doctor and Donna.

And it’s finally given Davies a chance to do right by Donna Noble.

The reunion began Saturday night with “The Star Beast,” the first of three 60th anniversary specials — and the beginning of the franchise’s shift to Disney+. The Doctor has inexplicably regenerated with an old face and personality, and as he returns to contemporary London, his path keeps crossing with Donna, her husband Shaun (Karl Collins), and their teenage daughter Rose (Yasmin Finney). Donna has no idea who this odd man is — though, in typical fashion for her, she can’t help pointing out that he’s too old to get away with wearing the kinds of skinny suits he favored in his 30s — and seems conditioned to ignore any hints of alien or timey-wimey activity. But as Rose(*) discovers an adorable alien called the Meep hiding out in her shed, and as the family is hunted by both a race of bug-like aliens and a team of possessed soldiers, it becomes impossible for Donna to miss what’s happening right in front of her face, even if it may cost her her life in the bargain.

(*) A nod to the first companion of the modern series, Billie Piper’s Rose Tyler.

On the whole, “The Star Beast” feels very much of a piece with the best of Davies’ original run. Its tone, its inclusivity — Rose is trans, and Donna is fiercely protective of her amid bullying from other neighborhood kids, while UNIT scientist Shirley (Ruth Madeley) uses a wheelchair that can fire tranquilizer darts and rockets — and in its preference for emotional resonance over hard sci-fi. Even after the Doctor restores her memory, Donna is able to survive because her burden is now shared with her child, and she and Rose in turn can unleash the power that might kill them simply by letting go of it. The more you think about the mechanics, the sillier it seems, but the power in the moment of seeing Donna’s mind restored, and of seeing Rose (an instantly indelible character) help her save the day, triumphs over the technobabble.

If there’s one area to quibble with, it’s that Donna doesn’t seem angry enough with the Doctor once she remembers everything. She’s upset that his subconscious influence on her inspired her to give away most of the lottery winnings he arranged for her, but she never brings up how awful it felt to have her mind altered against her will. There are two more specials to go, though, and plenty of time for that if Davies is willing. And Tenant and Tate’s chemistry is as palpable as ever.

There is a danger, of course, in Doctor Who leaning too hard into the nostalgia angle. Reunions and revivals are hard, and characters often don’t work nearly as well when they return years later. But this particular configuration is only meant to last for these three specials, after which Davies will introduce a new Doctor, played by Sex Education breakout star Ncuti Gatwa. And Davies has done some of the best writing of his career in recent years, most notable with the 2021 AIDS miniseries It’s a Sin. If he feels he has more Doctor stories in him, then he’s more than earned the right to tell them.

And at least for now, I retract my “bastard” comment. Even as I brace myself for the idea that he could visit another bad ending on Donna before we move onto the Gatwa era.

In all my years covering television, I have only ever once cursed out an interview subject, even in jest.

This was back in 2009, when I was speaking with Russell T. Davies about the end of his tenure as showrunner of Doctor Who, and the launch of spinoff miniseries Torchwood: Children of Earth. Specifically, I had a bone to pick regarding the departure of Donna Noble, the blunt, hilarious, endearing companion to David Tenant’s Tenth Doctor, played by Catherine Tate. Donna’s character arc was all about how traveling through time and space with the Doctor opened up her dreary, mundane life in ways she could have never imagined. Which made it all the more crushing when her story ended with the Doctor having to save her life by wiping her memories of their time together — and doing it over Donna’s anguished protests.

As someone who adored Donna, like nearly all of Doctor Who fandom, the nature of her exit felt too cruel by half. So midway through the Davies interview, I couldn’t resist calling him a bastard for sending her off that way. To Davies’ credit, he laughed, and even turned to someone in the room with him to brag, “He just called me a bastard!”

It’s been 14 years since Davies stepped away from the iconic U.K. franchise, which he brought back from the dead in 2005. Since then, the series has had some wild swings in quality. Steven Moffat’s tenure as showrunner started strong with the Matt Smith/Karen Gillan combination, then began to stumble in its later years. Jodie Whittaker, meanwhile, was an inspired choice to play the first female Doctor, but she was consistently let down by showrunner Chris Chibnall, who seemed more interested in the companions than in Whittaker’s superhumanly curious Doctor. 

The series was in no danger of vanishing like it did between 1989 and the first Davies season, but it clearly needed a course correction. That’s arrived in the form of a deliberate return to the show’s 2000s glory days, with Davies back in charge — and, for the next few weeks, Tenant and Tate back as the Doctor and Donna.

And it’s finally given Davies a chance to do right by Donna Noble.

The reunion began Saturday night with “The Star Beast,” the first of three 60th anniversary specials — and the beginning of the franchise’s shift to Disney+. The Doctor has inexplicably regenerated with an old face and personality, and as he returns to contemporary London, his path keeps crossing with Donna, her husband Shaun (Karl Collins), and their teenage daughter Rose (Yasmin Finney). Donna has no idea who this odd man is — though, in typical fashion for her, she can’t help pointing out that he’s too old to get away with wearing the kinds of skinny suits he favored in his 30s — and seems conditioned to ignore any hints of alien or timey-wimey activity. But as Rose(*) discovers an adorable alien called the Meep hiding out in her shed, and as the family is hunted by both a race of bug-like aliens and a team of possessed soldiers, it becomes impossible for Donna to miss what’s happening right in front of her face, even if it may cost her her life in the bargain.

(*) A nod to the first companion of the modern series, Billie Piper’s Rose Tyler.

On the whole, “The Star Beast” feels very much of a piece with the best of Davies’ original run. Its tone, its inclusivity — Rose is trans, and Donna is fiercely protective of her amid bullying from other neighborhood kids, while UNIT scientist Shirley (Ruth Madeley) uses a wheelchair that can fire tranquilizer darts and rockets — and in its preference for emotional resonance over hard sci-fi. Even after the Doctor restores her memory, Donna is able to survive because her burden is now shared with her child, and she and Rose in turn can unleash the power that might kill them simply by letting go of it. The more you think about the mechanics, the sillier it seems, but the power in the moment of seeing Donna’s mind restored, and of seeing Rose (an instantly indelible character) help her save the day, triumphs over the technobabble.

If there’s one area to quibble with, it’s that Donna doesn’t seem angry enough with the Doctor once she remembers everything. She’s upset that his subconscious influence on her inspired her to give away most of the lottery winnings he arranged for her, but she never brings up how awful it felt to have her mind altered against her will. There are two more specials to go, though, and plenty of time for that if Davies is willing. And Tenant and Tate’s chemistry is as palpable as ever.

There is a danger, of course, in Doctor Who leaning too hard into the nostalgia angle. Reunions and revivals are hard, and characters often don’t work nearly as well when they return years later. But this particular configuration is only meant to last for these three specials, after which Davies will introduce a new Doctor, played by Sex Education breakout star Ncuti Gatwa. And Davies has done some of the best writing of his career in recent years, most notable with the 2021 AIDS miniseries It’s a Sin. If he feels he has more Doctor stories in him, then he’s more than earned the right to tell them.

And at least for now, I retract my “bastard” comment. Even as I brace myself for the idea that he could visit another bad ending on Donna before we move onto the Gatwa era.