The Three Doctors

"The TARDIS never really lets go."

Writer: Pete McTighe

Format: Webcast

Released: November 2023

Series: Tales of the TARDIS 1.04

Featuring: Jo, Clyde

Synopsis

Jo Jones and Clyde Langer meet again as she remembers when the Time Lords summoned three Doctors to fight an awesome adversary from Gallifrey's past.

Verdict

The Three Doctors was a beautiful episode of Tales of the TARDIS! I’m not ashamed to admit this was actually the one episode from this series that I wasn’t actually excited for and I think that’s because it’s the only one where two companions who travelled in the TARDIS didn’t reunite. Of course, Jo and Clyde did meet in Death of the Doctor but they don’t have that connection that has made the three previous reunions ever so special after a long time apart. However, I was quickly proven wrong and this might just have been the best of the set so far! It started humorously with Clyde mucking about in the Remembered TARDIS and that’s exactly what I’d expect of his character. It’s actually incredible how little he has aged since the conclusion of The Sarah Jane Adventures and the character really was seamlessly brought back to life after so long. It was tremendous to hear an update on what Luke was doing now at UNIT and I appreciated that the continuity for Rani was kept ambiguous given her ongoing Big Finish series. It’s clear from the off that Clyde had feelings for her and addressing that here was really well done. I’ll skip ahead to how things ended and I really liked the elderly advice from Jo to Clyde about not wasting time and telling him to let Rani know how he felt. It was obvious he still had the feelings for her and didn’t even hesitate when questioned about it. Of course he did! We all knew it 13 years ago and nothing has changed. I couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for him though because that’s an incredibly long time to have feelings for someone and do nothing about it! It must be eating him alive. It was nice to hear that he was successful with his comic series in Los Angeles though. Sarah Jane would be proud of that! I thought the moment Jo had hold of her owl teddy was a touching moment to and this was the right episode to honour her memory. That’s probably why Clyde featured! The only other options for this series to reunite Jo with from the Third Doctor era would be either Benton or Yates, but I don’t think that would have had the same emotional impact. Exploring the Remembered TARDIS was a lot of fun and I absolutely adored the moment we saw the assembly of sonic screwdrivers. They ranged from the Second Doctor’s retro design to the less favourable design of the Thirteenth Doctor’s! I thought that was good fun and both Clyde and Jo wanting a go was amusing. They were both big kids but who could blame them? Jo wanting to use the design of her Doctor’s was a nice touch and the danger that came from her getting a little whacky with it was great stuff. This episode of course tells the story of The Three Doctors which is a wonderful story to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Doctor Who, and the way things were led to that was very clever. Clyde asking Jo just how many Doctros she knew was fun and that led to a fine recount of the adventure and her meeting with three incarnations of the Doctor and a battle with Omega. It was really nice to revisit this story as I adore the banter between the Second and Third Doctors. It really is magnificent. It’s such a shame illness prevented William Hartnell’s First Doctor from being more involved, but it’s just terrific to get anything extra with him as the original that pioneered the part of the Doctor. It was also a fun return to the early representation of Gallifrey in the show which is just glorious. I’ll focus more on the scenes with Jo and Clyde though because that’s the new content which really feels special. Clyde paying his respects to Jo after hearing that her Cliff had passed away was really touching and that just helped push her into wanting Clyde to tell Rani how she felt. She admitted to loving the Doctor which I don’t think was in any doubt, but it wasn’t the same way she loved Cliff. And it was with him that she had the real adventure with. The wish at the end and her being reunited with her lost loved one was so touching and a fitting way to end what was magnificent episode! Overall, a joy to watch. 

Rating: 10/10