The Fantasy Review’s review of Doctor Who 60th Anniversary Special 3, The Giggle.
The Giggle was the third of three 60th Anniversary episodes released in 2023 and written by Russell T Davies.
Previous episode: Wild Blue Yonder – Review & Recap
Next episode: 2023 Christmas Special, The Church on Ruby Road – Review & Recap
Spoiler-filled Recap & Review of Doctor Who 60th Anniversary Special 3, The Giggle
Stooky Bill
The Giggle opens on a scene in Soho, 1925. Neil Patrick Harris is introduced as the enigmatic Toymaker immediately, running a little toyshop that is a piece of beautiful set design.
Someone comes into the shop, and the Toymaker rattles off a bunch of options in a weird mix of German and English and it’s hilarious. How Harris keeps a straight face here I will never know.
The customer picks out Stooky Bill, leaving the poor doll’s very creepy wife and kids alone in the shop. The customer notices the Toymaker’s accent slip, which is a reference to the not-very-P-C portrayal done in the 60’s, while also being a nod to what has come before.
The customer reveals the doll is not for his kids but for his employer, Mr John Logie Baird, the man who made the first working live television system.
“Well, what a game we are playing. What a wonderful, wonderful game.”
The Toymaker
We cut to Baird putting Stooky in front of the camera, creating the very first television picture. When he melts under the heat of the lamps, sets on fire, and you can hear the Toymaker’s very particular laugh in the background, you know The Giggle is going to be a creepy episode.
Attention, the Doctor!
Back in the present day, the Doctor marches through the chaos of London. There are people driving into each other, fighting, setting things on fire… It’s all insane.
He stops someone from standing in front of traffic and this lunatic gives us some very explicit exposition that could have been done by Kate or someone else – and it is, later – but the line does make me laugh:
“Everyone started thinking they’re right, all the time, and they won’t change their mind. If you try to argue, they go mad. Well, not me, I’ve always been right.”
This is essentially Russell T Davies asking what would happen if Twitter leaked out into the real world – which, in some ways, it has – and it makes you laugh in a way that scares you a little too. I’d like to keep the morons anonymous and blockable please, thank you.
All through this scene, the Toymaker can be seen dancing in the chaos behind the Doctor, and he bumps into him and dances with the very confused Time Lord.
UNIT comes crashing in and the very nice Colonel Ibrahim tells the Doctor to come in with them. Wilf is taken to safety and Donna goes with the Doctor. The Doctor sees the Toymaker standing amidst the chaos, smiling and waving at him – he knows who that is, for sure.
How Do We Fight the Human Race?
The flight over to UNIT headquarters genuinely feels like we’re watching an Avengers movie or something. I love the bigger budget, and the tower – which is exactly like the Stark/Avengers tower – looks awesome, but there is a part of me that thinks Doctor Who is at its best when they ignore all the flashy new toys.
Kate Lethbridge-Stewart welcomes the Doctor with a hug and no small chit chat. What’s happening scares her because she is clueless as to how to fight the enemy.
When we enter the main control room for UNIT, the Doctor sees Mel Bush (a previous companion of the 6th and 7th Doctors). I don’t think David Tennant had to do much acting here, much like when his 10th Doctor met Sarah Jane Smith – these were the companions he watched on the TV growing up!
“Basically, every single human being thinks they’re right and won’t be told otherwise.”
Kate Lethbridge-Stewart
Oh, Doctor Who, I love it when you take the mick out of the world by being your silly little self. It’s unbelievably on-the-nose, especially the clip UNIT show of the Prime Minister saying, “why should I care about you?” but it’s probably not far from the truth of the matter.
We are then introduced to the Vlinkx – an android, super-genius thing – and told that UNIT are not affected by what everyone else is because of a ring around their arms, made by the Vlinkx, called a Zeedex.
Kate Lethbridge-Stewart has her Zeedex removed and becomes a conspiracy theorist, which is just the best way of exploring her character. We learn that behind the stoic, calm, and rational mind of Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, there lies paranoia. It’s to be expected, to be fair, working in the job she does.
Oh, and when Kate points at Shirley Bingham (played by Ruth Madeley) who is a wheelchair user and says, “And as for her in that chair, I’ve seen you walk. I’ve seen you walking. Don’t deny it!”
Like I said before: This is essentially Russell T Davies asking what would happen if Twitter leaked out into the real world.
Kate is returned to normal and it is suggested that UNIT gives everyone a Zeedex, which would make sense, if it wasn’t for the wonderful return of Trinity Wells (Lachele Carl) as an online conspiracy nut, who is proudly “anti-Zeedex”.
The Giggle in Everyone’s Head
They’re all scrambling their brains to work out what’s happened to… their brains, and then Donna pulls off a DoctorDonna moment and asks if it’s like a tune. It turns out that the points of the brain waves on the screen match a tune.
Shirley finds the tune on an old recording – it’s not a tune, it’s a laugh, and it’s our old pal, Stooky Bill. It turns out, Stooky burned himself into every screen, every image on every screen, and has been waiting for the world to become 100% connected to the internet, spending all that time driving the human race mad.
The Doctor then says:
“It’s not only the giggle. Don’t think you’ve got an excuse. The human race might be clever and bright and brilliant, it’s also savage and venal and relentless. All the anger out there on the street, the lies, the righteousness – that’s human, that’s you. That’s who you are. Using your intelligence to be stupid. Poisoning the world. And hating each other. You never needed any help with that.”
14th Doctor
He later describes these things as “your worst attributes,” saying they are being used against them by a malevolent force. However, at this moment, when he is scolding the human race, it feels very strange.
The reason this feels odd is that David Tennant’s 10th Doctor had his fair share of scolding moments, but this is more direct, less filtered. This feels like something Peter Capaldi’s 12th Doctor might have said.
This tone of voice is a great way of showing how the Doctor has changed and aged over the past few regenerations. This 14th Doctor just lost Gallifrey for the second time, four of his recent companions have died, half the universe has been destroyed, and he’s the Timeless Child…
That’s a lot to deal with, and he’s tired, and frustrated, and he needs a break.
UNIT prepares to fire the Galvanic Beam at a satellite that completes the network across the world, and the Doctor gets the date and coordinates for when Stooky Bill first went live on television.
Every Game Starts From Scratch
The Doctor and Donna go back to 2nd October 1925 to find Stooky Bill and confirm the Doctor’s worst suspicions. On the way to Stooky, Donna asks the Doctor why he’s never mentioned Mel.
She tells him he never stops, he is busy every second of every day. “I mean, look at us now. We haven’t stopped.” The set-up for the ending of The Giggle is so well done, making 14’s finale so satisfying.
Then, the Doctor and Donna go into the Emporium and meet the Toymaker. The villain’s first lines are a history of the world’s first game – catch, apparently. This has a nice cyclical link to the final showdown later in the episode (which I have my issues with), but it’s mostly just a great introduction to The Toymaker.
This is a villain who has nothing to fear. The Doctor might have “defeated” him in the past, but barely. The Toymaker is a God, the God of Games, and a Time Lord is just another of his toys.
The Doctor tells Donna to go back to the TARDIS, but of course she’s not going to do that. The Toymaker starts a game of Hide and Seek and disappears behind a curtain. The Doctor and Donna follow him and end up in a creepy corridor.
This sequence of events is the strongest part of The Giggle. This is quintessential, haunted-house Doctor Who, without any of the additional Disney-money-fluff.
The Doctor tells Donna:
“The TARDIS is an idea the Toymaker would throw away. We’ve stepped inside his domain, and it’s governed by the rules of play.”
14th Doctor
While they are exploring the endless corridors, the Doctor gives us some exposition, but it doesn’t feel clunky or forced. We learn how powerful and how dangerous the Toymaker is, plus a little of the history between him and this villain.
For more on that history, check out: A Brief History of the Toymaker
The Doctor’s theory of how the Toymaker entered reality is that when he cast salt at the edge of the universe (Wild Blue Yonder), playing a game, invoking superstition, he opened the door for the god.
There’s an amazing moment here when the Doctor worries he can’t save Donna this time, and she responds by saying that maybe this time she will save him. And, in a way, she does.
Stooky Babbies Want to Eat
The Doctor and Donna are separated for the creepiest part of the episode.
The Doctor hears a man asking for help and it’s the guy who originally bought Stooky Bill from the Toymaker. But this time, he is a puppet, on strings…
The Toymaker stands above the new puppet, pulling the strings. This gives us a chance to see the stakes; this is what the Toymaker does to those who lose his games. He traps them in a nightmare for fun.
Donna, on the other hand, enters a room where Stooky Bill’s wife and kids have been chilling out and it’s the highlight of the episode. From the ominous poetry to the terrifying killer-puppet-babies, if I had seen this episode when I was 10, I would have had nightmares.
Turns out, as we all knew, that Donna is a badass. She is initially taken aback, but pulls herself together and smashes Sooty’s head on a wall, knocking it off its body, and scaring off the “babbies”.
Well, That’s Alright Then!
The Doctor and Donna are reunited and the music plays. The Toymaker gives them a puppetshow all about the Doctor’s life since he and Donna parted ways.
Amy was killed by a Weeping Angel. Clara was killed by… a bird? Bill was killed by a Cyberman.
The Doctor keeps giving reasons why these people are not “dead” or excuses to alleviate the pain of their loss. Amy died of old age. Clara lives on in her final second of life. Bill’s consciousness survives and travels the universe.
The Toymaker keeps responding to these excuses with, “Well that’s alright then!” in a sarcastic tone, and while this is funny, it’s also not. These companions were pulled from their lives and into the Doctor’s. They died/nearly died and are left trapped in a scenario for the rest of their days/for the rest of time.
To the Toymaker, how is this different to what he does with people who lose his games? They remain trapped, like that puppet, not dying, but not living either.
This is a fascinating question to ask, and perhaps not explored enough in the episode, or in the show as a whole. When your companions start dying, why risk the lives of others?
I Challenge You to a Game!
The Doctor puts a stop to the Toymaker’s puppet show by challenging him to a game, which the god cannot refuse.
The Toymaker shows off, telling the Doctor how many games he has played and won, including against the Master, who he has trapped in his golden tooth for all eternity.
He then asks the Doctor if he likes the “jigsaw” he has made of the Doctor’s life. This confirms it was the Toymaker who was “the Boss” mentioned by the Meep in The Start Beast, getting the Doctor and Donna back together.
There was one player, however, the Toymaker refused to play: The One Who Waits. He says he ran from that god – the Toymaker, one of the most powerful beings in all existence, turned and ran.
I’m not a massive fan of the conclusion to that particular mystery box, but I do like the set-up.
Before the game begins, the Doctor asks the Toymaker while everyone in the future thinks they are right. The simple reason being, “so that they win.”
“I made every opinion supreme. That’s the game of the 21st century. They shout and they type and they cancel. So I fixed it. Now everybody wins.”
The Toymaker
The Toymaker and the Doctor have a game of cutting the deck, which the Doctor loses, but they agree on a best of three. Then, the Toymaker says he will see them in 2023 and as the reality around them collapses, Donna shouts, “I’m already running!” which is such a wonderful nod to all the jokes about 10 running a lot!
Spice Up Your Life!
Back in 2023, UNIT is still preparing the Galvanic beam to destroy one of the satellites. Kate Lethbridge-Stewart tells them to fire and it’s destroyed.
The Doctor walks in with the handy box that the Toymaker’s Emporium reality-thing collapsed into and tells Mel to watch it. Who else would he trust?
It turns out that destroying just the one satellite won’t be enough, so they get Donna behind a desk to do some more magic stuff on a keyboard – with a nice, early mention of Triad.
The Doctor is trying to explain what and who and how the Toymaker is when he is rudely interrupted by Spice Up Your Life by the Spice Girls playing in the background.
The following scene is what I can only describe as insane. The Toymaker has the performance of his life, dancing along to the music, while UNIT tries to detain him. Soldiers turn into bouncing balls, bullets turn into petals, Mel and Kate are pushed into walls/the floor… it’s just mad.
And I love it.
John Simm’s Master dances to I Can’t Decide by Scissor Sisters and Sacha Dhawan’s Master dances to Rasputin by Boney M. Now we have the Toymaker dancing to Spice Up Your Life.
What is next? Bootylicious by Destiny’s Child coming on in the background while the Rani dances around a defeated-looking Doctor?
I do love it, I really do, and Russell T Davies does have a point about having his villains dance to these songs. It adds to the dark, ominous tone. I know, I know, that sounds insane on paper, but in practice, what is more terrifying than a villain casually turning people into balls, trapping their souls in them for eternity, while strutting his stuff?
Neil Patrick Harris absolutely shines in his role as the Toymaker and I’m not sure anyone else would have done this well. He is perfect for this, and his performance throughout the episode has been a highlight, for sure, but the glee on his face while he danced to that song was just brilliant.
Backen Sie!
The Toymaker makes a swift exit from the dance floor to the Galvanic Beam. With yet another costume change, he sits at the gun and gloats.
The 14th Doctor says, to the Toymaker:
“I don’t understand… why you are so small! You can turn bullets into flowers. Think of the good you could do.”
14th Doctor
This is a line that doesn’t make much sense to me, because surely the Doctor knows that this being is so far removed from life that taking life from living beings and using them as toys is just normal for him.
The Toymaker says as much, ending by saying, “…your good and your bad are nothing to me. All that exists is to win or to lose.”
The Doctor offers the Toymaker an intriguing proposition: to go with him and play infinite games across the universe together. The Toymaker, however, has no wish to leave Earth or humanity. He has fallen in love with their endless games.
Just as the Doctor tries to distract the Toymaker’s murderous attention from his friends, the Galvanic Beam goes off through his chest. He has played the first game with one Doctor, the second with a different Doctor, and for the third game he wants to play with the next Doctor.
The Next Doctor
Donna and Mel kneel beside the 14th Doctor in his final moments and offer words of solace and encouragement. The regeneration fades, suddenly, and he asks Mel and Donna to pull him from either side.
We are then treated to something that sounded wacky and weird in the leaks that came out before the episode was released, and it provides some weird, unexplainable questions about the past (well, explainable, but not 100% satisfying)…
Ncuti Gatwa’s 15th Doctor is pulled out of David Tennant’s 14th (that sounds naughtier than it is), and 15’s first words are: “no way!”
It’s the perfect first line for a Doctor filled with life and hope and joy. He’s just excited that something cool happened.
And what would a Doctor Who anniversary story be without a milti-Doctor storyline, hey?
The energy they both have, bouncing around together, is a joy to behold. I know people think they have seen enough of Tennant in the role for a lifetime, but I would love to see these two on screen together again.
(From now on in this review of The Giggle I will call the two Doctors by their numbers, 14 or 15).
15 tells the very confused UNIT staff (and the audience) that he has bi-generated. It is “supposed to be a myth”, but I suppose that if the Toymaker and other myths got into the world, why couldn’t this myth also become a reality?
Behold the Game of the Time Lords
The Toymaker decides to interrupt at this point. Some might have found it strange that he waited so long to say anything, but I think he found it inconsequential, but also entertaining. He likes games, and this is a cool twist.
He threatens to keep killing the Doctor, doubling them for a hundred years, having “vast meadows of Doctors dying over and over again, and I’ll never get bored…”
14 and 15 have had enough of this guy’s taunting and challenge him to a game. He can’t refuse that, and they are the same person, so it’s not cheating.
The following scene of the game of catch between the Doctors and the Toymaker is the most exciting they could have made it, but it still falls a bit flat. This is one of the most powerful beings the Doctor has ever faced and he beat him… in a game of catch?
The truth is, getting someone as powerful as this is insane for a story, and is basically impossible to end in a satisfying way – and even more difficult to end in a cinematic way.
This ending failed to be satisfying or cinematic, but they gave it a good go. However, it is very, very, very, Doctor Who to be this silly. In World Enough and Time / The Doctor Falls, Missy and the Master get all flirty and dance together. These two together could have been essentially unstoppable – but they distracted by themselves. It’s silly, almost goofy, fun, and that is what this show is all about.
So, yes, a game of catch is a bit rubbish, but it also fits in perfectly with what Doctor Who is all about.
When the Toymaker drops the ball, the 14th Doctor banishes him from existence forever and the Toymaker folds into a neat square that fits in that box Mel has been looking after. UNIT take it to the deepest vault and surround it in salt.
We are then reminded of the soldiers who were killed by the Toymaker as Kate asks for a list of their names. Even after the silliness, we are reminded of the tragedy that has occurred. Not everything can be reversed.
You’re Running on Fumes
15 gives 14 a hug. He knows what his younger self is feeling, what he is going through. If there was anyone in the universe who could possibly get 14 to just stop, and take a breath, stop beating himself up for not saving everyone, it is his future self.
We then get a quick glimpse of a hand with red nails picking up the golden tooth with the Master locked away inside it. There are many theories surrounding this, which is kind of the point, but it’s nice to have a quick reminder that this is not the end of the Master. Perhaps for a few years though!
Back in the TARDIS, 15 tells 14 he’s running on fumes and needs a break:
“That Doctor that first met the Toymaker never, ever stopped.”
15th Doctor
Ncuti’s Doctor then lists off a bunch of stuff for us nerds:
- Put on trial
- Exiled
- Key to Time
- Logopolis
- Adric
- River Song
- Sarah Jane has gone
- Rose
- The Time War
- Pandorica
- Mavic Chen
- The Gods of Ragnarok
15 says he is fine now because 14 fixed himself, but that is going to take time. “We’re Time Lords. We’re doing rehab out of order.”
Donna tells 14 he needs to stop, to stay in one place, living day after day. “The one adventure you’ve never had.” She then tells him he changed his own face back to that specific one so he could find Donna and “come home,” and if you didn’t get emotional here, I don’t know how.
This is such a beautiful ending to the episode, and a great send off for 15. It’s the ultimate fresh start, for both the Doctor and Doctor Who as a show.
So, for some reason there is still some residue or something of the Toymaker’s realm around, and 15 uses that to hit the TARDIS with a big hammer, doubling it. It’s a fun way to fix an obvious problem.
The scene where Ncuti is running about the new TARDIS, in his underwear, flicking buttons and getting ready to head off, is delightful. This is our new Doctor, and his adventures begin now.
14 can now have his rehab, in the knowledge that there is another version of him out and about, protecting the universe. But also in the knowledge that this rehab is temporary. He can relax, enjoy it, knowing it’s not forever and he can travel again when he’s fully rested.
Concluding Thoughts to Our Recap & Review of The Giggle
The final scene shows the 14th Doctor eating dinner with Donna and her family. He sees them all as family, with his niece, Rose, Mad Aunty Me, the Evil Stepmother, etc.
This is an absolutely wonderful ending for the 14th Doctor and a complete reset for him after so many years of continuous travel, danger, and tragedy. He needs to stop and process everything, or he will fade away.
“Who’s have thought? I ended up with a family…The funny thing is, I fought all those battles for all those years…and now I know what for. This. I’ve never been so happy in my life.”
14th Doctor
And then we get the final scene of Ncuti’#s 15th Doctor running about the TARDIS console and heading off into the universe.
Sure, The Giggle has its faults, but on the whole it was one of the best episodes of Doctor Who we had gotten since 2017. After watching it for the first time as it aired, I was unbelievably excited for the new era.
After this rewatch, I feel even more hopeful now that we have seen Ncuti’s first season and it was pretty good too. I have my fingers crossed that his second season is better though.
