A fake-out Doctor, a giant robot Cyberman, and more Christmas snow that’s definitely just factory fallout.
Short Synopsis
The Doctor arrives in Victorian London, bumps into a man calling himself “the Doctor,” and briefly wonders if he’s looking at his own future. Spoiler: he’s not. Instead, it’s a sad widower with memory problems and a Cybermen invasion that culminates in the least stealthy robot of all time.
Extended Storyline
It’s Christmas in London (again), because apparently the TARDIS has a homing beacon for yuletide disasters. The Doctor steps out to find people screaming about Cybermen — because of course — only to meet a man already on the case, claiming he’s “the Doctor.”
Enter Jackson Lake (David Morrissey): strutting around in a long coat, waving a screwdriver-shaped gadget, and generally doing his best Tennant impression. Naturally, Ten looks at him like, “Wait… did I regenerate and forget about it?” For about fifteen minutes, fandom thought this was the big reveal of Eleven. RTD, you absolute troll.
Together, the two Doctors investigate a very Victorian Cyber-problem. The Cybermen are skulking in the shadows, led by Miss Mercy Hartigan, a Dickensian villainess in a blood-red dress who sneers so hard she could curdle milk. She’s planning to upgrade humanity whether they like it or not. (Spoiler: they don’t.)
As the adventure unfolds, the truth about “The Next Doctor” comes out: Jackson isn’t a Time Lord, just a poor bloke who had his memories scrambled by Cybermen techno-gizmos. He accidentally downloaded “Doctor Who: Greatest Hits” into his brain, so he thinks he’s the Doctor. In reality, he’s a widower who lost his wife to the Cybermen and misplaced his son in the process. It’s tragic, actually — and Morrissey plays it with heartbreaking sincerity.
But don’t worry, we still get some Christmas nonsense. The Cybermen’s master plan involves a massive steampunk mech called the CyberKing: a 300-foot-tall Cyberman stomping across London like it’s auditioning for Pacific Rim. Subtle, it is not. Children point. Citizens scream. Queen Victoria is probably writing a very stern letter.
The real Doctor climbs aboard, fiddles with some levers, and sends the whole thing hurtling into the Time Vortex. Merry Christmas, London — enjoy your PTSD.
In the end, Jackson gets his memories sorted, rescues his son, and realizes he’s not the Doctor — but he can still be a hero in his own right. The Doctor joins him for Christmas dinner, because if you’ve just fought a skyscraper-sized robot, you’ve earned pudding.