The End of Time

The End of Time was the two-part story that served as the 2009 Christmas Special and 2010 New Year Special of Doctor Who.

It was the final chronological appearance of David Tennantas the Tenth Doctor and introduced Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor in the closing moments of part two. The episode was also the last on-screen appearance of the Master for over four years. They returned in Deep Breath as the female incarnation called Missy.

Part 1 was the show's fifth Christmas special since its revival and the fifth Christmas special starring Tennant as the Doctor while Part 2 served as the first ever New Year special.

The story revealed details of the Last Great Time War and gave important development to the Master's character. It also featured the final appearance of Elisabeth Sladen in Doctor Who, although she would go on to star in several more episodes of The Sarah Jane Adventures.

From a production standpoint, it marked a major change in the history of Doctor Who. Like only The War Games before it, The End of Time ushered in a complete change of regular cast. Unlike that 1960s story, however, it was the final story for its principal producers, Davies and Julie Gardner, and was the last regular story for Davies as its head writer. It was also the first to include any part overseen by — if not credited to — incoming lead writer and executive producer Steven Moffat. Though Tracie Simpson was the credited line producer, her elevation to regular line producer on the first Matt Smith series meant that Julie Gardner effectively became the line producer for the first and only time in her tenure on Doctor Who.

In celebration of the 10th Anniversary of the story, Fathom Events held a special screening on 7 August 2019 also including a new interview with Tennant, reflecting on his time in the role and everything that has come since.

Synopsis
It is the Tenth Doctor's final journey — but his psychotic nemesis, the Master, has been resurrected on Christmas Eve! Each determined to cheat death, the battle rages from the abandoned wastelands of London to the mysterious Immortality Gate, whilst the alien Ood warn of an even greater danger approaching, as a terrible shadow falls across the entire universe.

With the sound of the drums growing louder in the Master's head and an ancient trap closing around the Earth, the Doctor and Wilfred Mott must fight alone. Sacrifices must be made, and the deadly prophecy warns: "He will knock four times."

Part One
"It is said that in the final days of planet Earth, everyone had bad dreams..." Everyone forgot these terrible dreams, except one man.

On Earth, Wilfred Mott, is walking through the city to do his Christmas shopping. Having a vision of the Master laughing maniacally, Wilf decides to see if religion will purge these visions from his mind. Inside a church, he notices a stained-glass panel with the image of the TARDIS. A mysterious woman tells him the church was a monastery in the 1300s. It was attacked by a demon which was exorcised by a "sainted physician". When the woman suggests that the physician is returning, Wilf says it would make his Christmas and turns to find she has vanished. He has another vision of the Master laughing, startling him. Wilf hopes more than ever that the Doctor will return.

Meanwhile, in the year 4226, a century after the Doctor freed the Ood, the TARDIS arrives on the Ood Sphere. The Tenth Doctor emerges, wearing a straw hat and ring of flowers. He is greeted by Ood Sigma, whom he tries unsuccessfully to make laugh by locking his TARDIS like an Earth car. The Doctor mentions several feats he's done since the vision Sigma sent him, including naming a galaxy Alison, seeing the Phosphorous Carousel of the Great Magellan Gestalt, and marrying Queen Elizabeth I.

Unfazed by the Doctor's goofiness, Sigma leads him away, with the Doctor curious about how long it's been since he liberated the Ood. They arrive at a large city the Ood have built in place of Ood Operations; the Doctor wonders how long it took the Ood to build their city. Sigma explains that it took merely a hundred years. The Doctor's smile drops and he becomes serious, stating that this is way too fast for them. Something is happening in the past to create a temporal distortion, which is allowing the Ood to evolve at a much faster pace. Not just the city, but Sigma's ability to reach into the past to contact him is something that should be centuries away in the Ood's evolution.

Sigma takes the Doctor to the Ood Elders, who tell him to join hands with them. They show him a vision of the Master laughing, which scares the Doctor. Sigma explains that the Ood have been dreaming about him a lot, and are curious about who the man is. The Doctor explains that the man is a fellow Time Lord, but an evil and insane one. They should have no fear of him, however, as he's dead. The Doctor explains that the Master's wife, Lucy, shot him and the Doctor burnt his corpse to ensure he couldn't be revived or have his biology exploited. However, the Ood tell him that he missed something and show him an older woman taking the Master's ring from his funeral pyre and that this allowed part of him to survive.

The Doctor is more than willing to leave to stop this but is told that it's too late as the events are already happening in the past and that he should not have delayed in answering their summons. The Ood show him visions of a frightened Wilfred and a "King in his Counting House". The Doctor asks about Donna, but the Ood warn him that the Master is only the herald of a greater danger returning from the darkness, as their eyes glow red: "the end of time itself".

Realising what this means, the Doctor immediately runs out. Returning to the TARDIS, the Doctor unlocks it and rushes inside. He begins working feverishly at the controls, hoping to get back to London before the Master is revived. However, it seems the TARDIS isn't willing to cooperate well with him, as it constantly gives off sparks from the strain of the hurried trip into the past.

In 2009, Lucy Saxon has been locked in Broadfell Prison ever since she murdered her husband. One of her warders is Miss Trefusis, the woman who retrieved the Master's ring. On Christmas Eve, the prison governor brings Lucy to a chamber; most of the staff are fanatical disciples of the Master who have worked since his death to bring about his resurrection. They pour potions into a bowl, along with the Master's ring; the only thing they need is some of his DNA. They take it from Lucy's lips. The ceremony begins as the cultists give their life energy to revive him; Lucy tries stopping them by revealing the Master isn't Harold Saxon and is evil, but they know this already.

The Master appears in a swirl of life energy. He greets Lucy, stating that he's missed the drumming in his head. Only now it's louder. Lucy asks him to stop draining the cultists' lives as he's taken enough to sustain himself, but he tells her they'll only be the first. Lucy tells him that she's been preparing for his return as well and that she's had her family create a Potion of Death to undo his revival. After receiving the potion from her warden ally, she hurls it at the Master, creating a violent explosion that kills everyone and destroys Broadfell Prison. The Doctor arrives the next day, seeing that he was too late.

Elsewhere, Joshua Naismith and his daughter Abigail review footage of the prison fire, seeing a shadow run from it. Smiling, Abigail realises that Mr Saxon has returned and that he would be a great Christmas present. Joshua tells her that he will deliver the gift, cancelling Christmas for his staff; he then orders that the revived madman be brought to him.

Elsewhere, Wilf pretends to leave for drinks with friends. Instead, when he meets up with them, he gives them information packets on the Doctor; they are to be on the lookout for him or the TARDIS. When questioned as to why they need to find this man, Wilf reminds them that they've all been having bad dreams about something horrible that they can't remember. That is why they need to find the Doctor. He is the only one who can answer this mystery.

In a junkyard, two homeless people get sandwiches from a meals on wheels van and leave. A hooded man arrives, being asked for his order. He pulls off his hood, revealing himself to be the Master, only with blonde hair; he states he wants everything because he's so hungry. He surprises the homeless men moments later, quickly devouring his hamburger. When they point out he looks like Harold Saxon, the Master starts rambling that he looks the same despite being a master of disguise. His skin turns transparent briefly with each burst of emotion, scaring the men into running back to the van for help, however, they find only skeletons in the van. Declaring that it's dinner time, the Master pounces after them.

The Doctor arrives in the junkyard, shortly afterwards. The Master senses this and decides to taunt his old friend by beating a trashcan to a four-stroke beat. He then leads the Doctor on a chase through the junkyard, showing amazing speed and agility. However, the Doctor quickly realises the Master's burning up his own life energy; it seems the potion of death and the revival ritual resulted in a clashing, which has given the Master greater abilities that are slowly but surely killing him again.

However, before the Doctor can take off after the Master again, he is stopped dead in his tracks by Wilf and his information network dubbed "Silver Cloak". Minnie Hooper asks if they got the right person; Wilf confirms it. The Doctor berates Wilf for telling people about him. However, Wilf explains that he kept the specifics about the Time Lord as secret, only telling them that he could find out about the strange dreams. To the Doctor's annoyance, the group wants a picture with him.

After retreating to a café with Wilf, the Doctor wonders why it is he keeps bumping into the old man; this is the third time they've met by chance. The Doctor then tells him the prophecy of his death. Wilf is confused, as he thought the Doctor could regenerate if he was about to die. The Doctor replies that he can potentially die before regenerating... and even if he does regenerate, the man he is now will be gone forever with a completely different person left sauntering away in his place. The Doctor then sees Donna standing outside, arguing with a police officer over her ticketed car, and realises why Wilf insisted on this particular café. "She's not changed," the Doctor laughs.

Wilf says she's engaged to Shaun Temple; although he is nice enough, the two are barely making ends meet and can only afford a tiny flat. The Doctor wonders if her married name will be "Noble-Temple" as it sounds like a tourist attraction; however, Wilf states it will be "Temple-Noble". Wilf tells the Doctor that even though Donna is happy with Shaun, there's times when he sees flashes of sadness like there's somewhere else she wants to be but doesn't know where. He pleads with the Doctor to at least go up to her and say hello to her, but the Doctor sadly reminds him that if Donna remembers him for even a second, she will die. Wilf then asks who the Doctor is travelling with now, but the Doctor replies he has no-one and thought it would be better that way... but with no-one around him, he has made some very bad choices. The Doctor then starts crying, burdened by the guilt of his recent actions which also devastates Wilf. He asks if Donna could make him smile again, but by now she is gone.

The narrator, his face revealed, and his voice turning scornful toward humanity, speaks of the passage of Christmas Eve into Christmas Day; the players are moving into their final positions, with each human dreaming of the arrival of the final day.

In a scrapyard, the Master finishes another meal. He notices the Doctor has found him again. Rubbing his hands together, he generates some kind of electricity. He fires some shots of electricity near the Doctor as he approaches. Ultimately, he uses both hands to send focused blasts at the Doctor, managing to make him collapse to the ground. The Doctor realises that the Master's body has been "torn wide open", allowing him to send his life energy as blasts but has also drastically reduced his life force. The Master remembers back to their childhood, where they would play on pastures of red grass, stretching across the slopes of Mount Perdition. Asking the Doctor to listen to the drumming in his head, the Master touches their heads together. The Doctor pulls away horrified; he has heard the drums too and now knows it's not just a symptom of his insanity. The Master becomes ecstatic to learn that the drumming is real, launching himself into the sky. However, before another chase can ensue, Naismith's men arrive and capture the madman, leaving the Doctor knocked out and confused.

Back at Wilfred's house, Donna's fiancé, Shaun, arrives. For Christmas, Donna gives Wilf a book called Fighting the Future by Joshua Naismith. When Wilf questions Donna giving it to him, she has a moment where her mind goes far away as she states that she saw it and sensed that Wilf should have it. As Wilf tries to watch the Queen's Christmas speech, a mysterious woman appears to him only in place of the broadcast, ordering him to take arms; she also advises him not to tell the Doctor of what has happened, so that his life can be saved. Wilf takes his old service revolver from under his bed as the Doctor contacts him by throwing a stone at his window.

Outside, the Doctor tells Wilf he's his only possible connection to what's happening and asks if Wilf noticed anything odd. Wilf tries to tell the Doctor about the woman, but changes his mind and mentions Donna's strange moment with the book. The Doctor recognises the picture of Joshua Naismith from the Ood's vision and speculates the convergence touched upon Donna's subconscious Time Lord mind which acted to help. As they talk, Sylvia comes outside and is angered to see the Doctor. The Doctor quickly retreats to the TARDIS followed by Wilf who'd rather go with the Doctor than face his daughter. Though the Doctor refuses at first, he changes his mind upon seeing how angry Sylvia is. As the TARDIS departs, Sylvia screams after it, drawing the confusion of Donna to her mother's strange behaviour.

In the TARDIS, Wilf asks the Doctor why he can't go back to yesterday and catch the Master. The Doctor says he can't go back in his own timeline as that can lead to the end of not only the world, but the universe as well. The Doctor then wonders what Wilf thinks of his TARDIS, to which he gets "I thought it would be cleaner" due to how messy the control room is.

At the mansion, the Master is wheeled to Naismith and Abigail on a trolley, and strapped to it in a straitjacket. He notices the "Immortality Gate", which can heal injuries and, Naismith hopes, offer life everlasting. Naismith acquired the Gate after the fall of Torchwood. The gate came with two nuclear-powered control booths, which are set-up in a way that if a worker wishes to leave he must be replaced in the other booth ensuring that someone is working the controls at all times. Abigail learned of the Disciples of Saxon, and that Mr Saxon was an alien; it's their hopes that the Master will be able to repair the Gate properly. With it working properly, Naismith can give his daughter immortality.

The Doctor and Wilf arrive at the Naismith estate and hide the TARDIS one second out of sync, so the Master can't get to it. Their last encounter taught the Doctor to never leave the means of altering time available to a madman with an ego bigger than the size of a planet.

In the basement, they discover two of Naismith's staff, Addams and Rossiter, are undercover Vinvocci, disguised with shimmers as human; the Doctor can see through the shimmers and deactivates them with his sonic screwdriver, revealing their true appearance as spiky green humanoids who resent being compared to cacti. The Vinvocci explain the Immortality Gate is a medical device that heals lifeforms across entire planets, using a genetic template. Realising the Master's plan, a horrified Doctor rushes up to the room with the Gate. He tells Naismith not to let the Master anywhere near the Gate, which has now been repaired by the madman. Naismith assures the Doctor that the Master is secured, being proven wrong moments later as the Master blasts his straitjacket off and jumps into the Gate.

Every single human on Earth sees the Master in their minds, and when Wilf also arrives seeing the Master the Doctor gets the current worker out of the nuclear booth, then has himself replaced with Wilf, and the Doctor then modifies the booth to protect Wilf from whatever is happening. The Doctor asks the Master if he's planning on transmitting mind-control or hypnotic instructions, but the Master has far grander plans than that. He has modified the Gate to transmit his own genetic template across the entire planet. The gate is activated, and a wave spreads across the Earth. Everyone's heads shake back and forth rapidly; shortly after this starts, their bodies start fading in and out of a different form.

Donna phones Wilf, herself immune due to the metacrisis that made her part Time Lord and tells him the same has happened to her mother and fiance. Seeing such a sight makes Donna start to remember her travels with the Doctor in flashes, and this causes her terrible pain as her brain cannot handle her Time Lord knowledge. Wilf, frightened for Donna's life, warns the Doctor his granddaughter is starting to remember her adventures.

Enraged, Wilf demands to know what the madman has done. The Master smugly asks if he was talking to him, while everyone in the room echoes the question, revealing that the Master has turned everyone on Earth into his clones. A clone who used to be Trinity Wells clearly makes his point for him: "Breaking news: I'm everyone."

As the Master's duplicates unveil themselves, the Doctor is horrified to find himself surrounded by perfect copies of the Master, including the people on TV. On top of that, he has become President Obama. He quickly abuses the President's power by blanking out a financial crisis solution just to spite the world, while a crowd of his own duplicates claps, roots, and hollers for the original Master's triumph.

As the Master steps out of the gateway he tells the Doctor that the human race was always the Doctor's favourite, but it now exists no more, having been replaced with "the Master Race". Every single Master on the planet laughs together with narcissistic glee and celebration, while the original laughs in the Doctor's face. As a world full of Masters taunts and mocks him, the Doctor's face twists with extreme fury.

The Narrator announces the Master and his removal of humanity is only a small part of an approaching conflict. Suddenly, he belittles humankind; this is not a narrator, but the Lord President of the High Council of Time Lords, addressing the Gallifrey Panopticon, which is packed with Time Lords. He announces that "This is the day the Time Lords return. For Gallifrey! For victory! For the end of time itself!"

Part Two
On a devastated Gallifrey, on the last day of the Time War, the Time Lord Council reports that the Doctor still possesses "the Moment". They have foreseen that he will use it to end the war by destroying the Daleks and Gallifrey alike. A Time Lady suggests that this might be for the best. At the heart of the Time War, billions are dying, being resurrected and dying repeatedly. The never-ending carnage is a travesty of life.

The Lord President uses his gauntlet to vaporise her. Exploding with anger, he decrees he will not allow himself or his race to die, with "a billion years of history riding on our backs". Finding that the Doctor and the Master both somehow survive the Time War and end up on Earth, the Lord President decides that the salvation of Gallifrey lies with the two renegades. They retroactively implant a link to the Master during his early childhood: the four-beat drum rhythm that has tormented him all his life. They send a "White-Point Star" diamond to Earth as a more physical link next. This will let the Time Lords escape from the time-lock and their impending destruction at the hands of the Doctor.

On Earth, the Master has the Doctor and Wilf tied up. The Doctor tries warning him about the prophecy, but the Master insists he was what the prophecy was talking about. He interrogates the Doctor as to the whereabouts of his TARDIS, as he wants the technology to pinpoint where the drumming in his head is coming from; with 6,727,949,338 clones, it will be easy. The Doctor tries reasoning with the Master, asking him to travel with him to see the universe; he tells him "that's ownership enough".

Wilf's mobile phone rings. The Master is confused, as no one but the Master Race exists on Earth; and there's no way he'd be calling Wilf. He finds the phone, receiving a call from Donna. The Master hears Donna, who is confused about everyone else changing; she ran into the alley, to get away from Sean and Sylvia. Suspicious, the Master demands to know why Donna didn't change. Wilfred reluctantly admits the metacrisis that made her part Time Lord. The Master sneers, "He does love playing with Earth girls!", then orders his copies to take her down. He tells "grandad" to say goodbye to the freak. Wilf yells to Donna to run for her life.

As Donna is cornered by the Master Race, who state they have his hunger and plan to eat her. She starts to remember her adventures with the Doctor and is scared and confused, wondering why she can see a giant wasp. Instead of burning up, she emits an energy pulse that knocks everyone unconscious, including herself. Hearing nothing and seeing the Doctor smile, the Master removes his mouth gag. The Doctor calmly points out that when he erased Donna's memories of her time with himhe also left her, his best friend, with a defence mechanism to protect her from aliens and her Time Lord knowledge.

The Master demands to know where the TARDIS is, threatening to kill Wilfred. The Doctor asks why the Master is so desperate to rule the universe when they could just travel together and see it, admitting that he knows the Master is a genius and would be honoured for the chance to travel with him. The Master asks if the drums in his head would stop, and tells Wilf how the noise started when he looked into the Untempered Schism as a child.

On Gallifrey, the Lord President is informed of this too. Although the Time Lords had assumed the drums were a symptom of the Master's insanity, the President sees it as something more; "a rhythm of four... a heartbeat of a Time Lord".

The Master reveals that despite the gate, his body is still dying and then realises that as he's been duplicated, so has the drumbeat in almost every single person on Earth. Intending to triangulate the signal and work out where it's coming from, he demands the TARDIS again. The Doctor retorts "You know the most amazing thing about you is that after all this time, you're still bone-dead stupid." Somehow, the Master has failed to notice that the guard next to him is one inch too tall. The "guard" hits him in the head with the rifle, knocking him down. The guard is Rossiter. Addams rushes in and urges her partner to get the two men out of the mansion. Rossiter, unable to free the Doctor from the chair he is strapped to, wheels the chair bumpily down several flights of stairs to the basement, prompting the Doctor to note this as the "worst... rescue... ever!".

From the basement, the four teleport to the orbiting Vinvocci ship, narrowly escaping the Master and his guards. Wilfred is amazed at being in space; the Doctor is more concerned with the Master. As soon as he gets out of his restraints, he destroys the teleporter, preventing the Master Race from following them. He asks for directions to the bridge; Addams initially refuses, citing that they are 100,000 miles above the Earth, but reconsiders when the Doctor points out the 'slight' problem of the Master having every single missile on the planet ready to fire. When they arrive, the Vinvocci prepare to leave, so the Doctor destroys the ship's systems, leaving them dead in orbit. As the Doctor begins to mend the systems, Wilfred sees the mysterious woman again, who instructs him to give the Doctor his gun.

The Master and his clones listen to the drumming in their heads, pinpointing the source as "from the sky". Meanwhile, the Time Lord council have just finished putting the drumbeat in the Master's head as a child, giving them his location now. But as they're still trapped in the time lock, they need something to make physical contact. The Lord President removes a diamond from his staff and throws it through the link to Earth where it falls to the ground in a blaze, landing in London. The Master soldiers pick it up, telling the original what they have found is not just any diamond... it's a White-Point Star. This makes the Master crack up hysterically.

On the ship, the Doctor is still repairing the systems. Wilf talks to him about many things and tries to have the Doctor take the gun to save himself by killing the Master. They believe the four knocks is the rhythm in the Master's head. The Doctor refuses and Wilf begins to cry over his fruitless efforts, prompting the Doctor to hug him. A broadcast from the Master reaches the ship; he informs the Doctor about the diamond and reveals it as a White-Point star. It can only mean the Time Lords are returning. Wilfred considers this good but the Doctor's reaction says quite differently... he grabs the gun and rushes for the control room. Wilf is confused as he thought the Time Lords were wise and peaceful. The Doctor tells him that's how he chooses to remember them; in reality, the horrors of the Time War had changed them, irrevocably corrupting them and making them far more dangerous than any of his enemies.

The Doctor has repaired the ship, but Addams will not have them going to Earth. The Doctor tells her "there's an old Earth saying. A word of great power and wisdom; and consolation to soul in times of need." When asked what it is, the Doctor yells "Allons-y!" and speeds the ship towards Earth. The Master decides to kill the Doctor as "soon [he'll] have Time Lords to spare", sending missiles at the ship. Rossiter and Wilf take charge of the asteroid lasers and blast away the missiles the Master launches at them.

Addams plots a course for Naismith's mansion and the Doctor jumps from the ship, crashing several stories through the skylight and into the Immortality Gate room. While he recovers from the fall, he finds himself too late. The Master has brought the Time Lords back. Not only is the Master in the room, but so is the Time Lord Council...

The President greets "Lord Doctor" and "Lord Master", then defames the latter by noting the 'paradox' that they have been saved by Gallifrey's most infamous child. The Master, fast to retort, quickly belittles the Lord President's authority and reveals that he did not call the Time Lords to Earth to save them. He intends to implant himself in them and assert control of the entire race, gloating at how much better the Lord President will look as him. However, the Lord President is not amused at the Master's assertion over his power and demonstrates how fast he can unravel his scheme. He raises his gauntlet and it radiates a blue light. The Master Race begins to revert to their unaltered human identities, causing the Master great panic as he loses his trump card.

The Lord President tells the humans present in the Naismith Mansion to kneel. Left powerless, the Master tries to bargain with the Time Lords by reminding them that he was their salvation. However, the whole planet shakes intensely. The President announces that "the approach begins". The Master is confused by his cryptic words; the Doctor angrily tells him that not only the whole species of Time Lords are coming back, but so is the planet.

Gallifrey begins to materialise near Earth, fulfilling the prophecy that "it is returning". Standing about three times the size of Earth, it shadows over Earth with an air of doom.

Panic erupts in the streets of London as the giant red world of Gallifrey manifests above the atmosphere, with the Earth itself trembling. Shaun Temple goes searching for his fiancée Donna, while Sylvia Noble looks up at the ominous sky and prays for the Doctor to save them. Wilf, having left the Vinvocci shuttle, makes his way through the crumbling Naismith Mansion to find the Doctor. Refusing to stay on Earth as Gallifrey threatens to knock it out of orbit, Addams immediately readies the shuttle for takeoff. Rossiter is concerned about the Doctor's fate, but Addams shrugs and reminds him that he already said he was dying. All the residents of Naismith Mansion, including Joshua and his daughter, flee from the residence. Joshua spots Gallifrey's descent and is affixed with terror.

Wilf returns to help the Doctor, freeing a trapped man in the control booth and trapping himself in the process. The Master thinks that the Time Lords' restoration to the universe is fantastic, but the Doctor tells him that the broken time-lock means that all of the other horrors born in the last days of the Time War, which he had sealed away in the Time Lock as well, would also be released. The Daleks would not be the only additional escapees; they would be joined by the Skaro Degradations, the Horde of Travesties, the Nightmare Child, and the Could've Been King with his Army of Meanwhiles and Neverweres. The war had turned to Hell, which is exactly what the Master has unleashed above Earth. The Master delights at the thought of such chaos, but the Doctor tells him that not even the Time Lords can survive such an onslaught.

The Lord President then reveals that he had planned to deal with these horrors by initiating the Ultimate Sanction; a plan for the Time Lords to survive the collapse of all creation and all time, as the paradox of Gallifrey's return to the universe rips the Time Vortex apart, by ascending their conscious minds beyond the need for bodies, whilst creation itself ceases to be. The Master asks to join them, but the President refuses, contemptuously dismissing the Master as "diseased... albeit a disease of [the Time Lords'] own making," and moves to kill him.

Then the Doctor aims Wilf's gun at the President, who cautions the Doctor to "choose [his] enemy well. as [they] are many but the Master is one". Even the Master goads him on, urging him to kill the President and claim Gallifrey for himself. At this, the Doctor spins and aims the gun at the Master, who realises that the link that brought the Time Lords to Earth is inside his head, and if he dies, the link is broken and the Time Lock is reformed. He points out that killing the President would have the same effect. The Lord President coldly remarks that the final act of the Doctor's life is murder: which one will he choose?

Finally, in this dark hour of the Doctor's life, one of the "disgraced" Time Lords covering her eyes behind the Lord President reveals herself to the Doctor; she is the mysterious woman that Wilfred had seen on a number of occasions. As she casts her gaze to a spot behind the Doctor, he not only seems to recognise her but now knows what to do: he whirls around and aims toward the Master once again.

As the Master's face falls, the Doctor orders him to get out of the way. Suddenly understanding, the Master smiles darkly and jumps away from the White-Point Star just as the Doctor shoots it, and its destruction severs the link and reinforces the Time Lock, pulling the Time Lords back into the Time War and to their inevitable doom. The Doctor sends them "back into Hell", and identifies the Lord President as Rassilon.

As Gallifrey vanishes back into the Time Lock, Rassilon refuses to die alone and prepares to kill the Doctor. The Doctor is ready for the prophecy to be fulfilled... but the Master orders the Doctor out of the way and attacks Rassilon with his life force energy powers, shouting that Rassilon was responsible for everything that had happened to him.

As the Master counts the drums one last time, his blasts occupy Rassilon long enough for a bright flash of light to send all of them — the Time Lords, Rassilon, Gallifrey, and the Master, back into the last day of the Last Great Time War. In the streets, Sylvia and the other humans watch as the giant red planet fades away and allows the sun to shine. The Doctor struggles to his feet, weary, but happy, almost in disbelief that he has survived the prophecy.

The Doctor's face turns from relief to horror as he hears the four hesitant knocks portending his death. The knocks persist, condemning him further. As he slowly turns, he sees where they are coming from — Wilfred is still trapped in the nuclear booth and wants to be let out. The Doctor, leery to approach the booth, looks at him with dread. As he suspects, Wilfred's life is in dire straits.

Upon inspection of the booth, the Doctor tells Wilf that the Master left the nuclear bolt running. The machine has gone past critical and is about to overload, which will release a lethal dose of radiation into the booth and doing anything to it, even using the sonic screwdriver, will set it off. The only way to get Wilf out alive is for the Doctor to walk into the open side of the booth and push a button to release the one-way lock, but this means the Doctor will be trapped inside in place of Wilf to endure the radiation blast. At 500,000 rads, it would inflict catastrophic damage to his body.

Wilf tells the Doctor to leave him. Since he's lived a full life, it doesn't seem worth it for his friend to give up his own just for Wilf's sake. The Doctor pretends to callously accept Wilf's offer but knows he cannot allow the sacrifice. His spirit finally shattered, the Doctor cuts loose with a rant of anger, grief, and frustration. He rages and chokes back tears about how despite everything he's done he's still going to die just because Wilf had to climb into the booth and he's just an old man, "not remotely important"; he could just be left and the Doctor could live so much longer and "do so much more". Then he snaps out of this self-absorption and realises what he's just said. He knows he can't leave Wilf to die and concludes that a Time Lord sometimes lives too long.

Despite Wilf's protests, the Doctor enters the opposite booth and frees him, releasing the radiation into his booth. The Doctor writhes in intense pain until he finally collapses and the booth itself goes dead from the loss of power. After a few seconds, the Doctor gets up, having absorbed all the radiation from the nuclear bolt. At first, it looks like the Doctor has survived; however, when Wilf comments that the Doctor acquired some battle scars in the course of stopping the Time Lords returning, the Doctor passes his hands over his face, healing the wounds he had sustained earlier from crashing through the skylight. In response to Wilf's surprise, the Doctor examines his hands and announces that "It's started"; his body is preparing to regenerate.

The Doctor takes Wilf home and tells his friend, "I'll see you again, one more time." When Wilfred asks where he's going, the Doctor simply states, "To get my reward."

The Doctor travels to various places where he has brief, mostly distant encounters with recent friends. He saves Martha and Mickey from a Sontaran sniper. He pushes Luke Smith out of the path of a car, and exchanges a meaningful look with Sarah. He goes to an alien bar where he connects a despondent Captain Jack with midshipman Alonso Frame. All of them realise they are seeing him for the last time. He visits a book signing for A Journal of Impossible Things by Verity Newman, Joan Redfern's great-granddaughter, to find out if Joan was happy in the end. She was. He appears after Donna's wedding, where he gives Wilfred and Sylvia the gift of a winning lottery ticket, purchased with a pound given to him by Sylvia's late husband to pass on to her, solving all their financial problems. Finally, he returns to the Powell Estate early on New Year's Day 2005, where he sees Jackieand Rose heading home after the New Year's celebrations.

After Jackie departs, he talks to Rose, keeping himself partly hidden in the shadows. When the Doctor asks her the year, she responds, "January 1, 2005". The Doctor tells that she'll "have a really great year." She smiles and leaves. The Doctor staggers away, the pain of the radiation poisoning finally setting in. A few feet away from the TARDIS, he collapses. He looks up to see Ood Sigma, standing calmly. As the Doctor struggles to his feet, Sigma tells him that the universe will sing him to his sleep and "this song is ending, but the story never ends." On the Ood homeworld, the Ood sing "Vale Decem" in chorus.

The Doctor enters the TARDIS. After tossing his coat on one of the coral structures, he notices his right hand glowing with regenerative energy for what he knows will be the final time. He sets the TARDIS in flight as he circles the console. Tearfully, he utters: "I don't want to go..."

As the words leave him, golden energy radiates from both his hands and face as he breathes heavily. Taking a deep breath, the Doctor stretches his arms out as golden energy bursts from his hands and head and his body regenerates.

The regenerative energy shatters the TARDIS windows and sets the console room ablaze, destroying columns, blowing out the lights, and raining debris down from above. The Doctor's face is consumed by the regeneration energy. The Doctor closes his eyes as his facial features fade and morph into those of a young man with a swirl of brown hair, who is screaming in pain.

As the strain of the regeneration wears off, the Eleventh Doctor stumbles back with a look of surprise. He quickly examines himself to make sure all his body parts are still in the same place, with his long hair causing him to think he had become a girl for a moment. With a quick feel of his Adam's apple confirming that he hasn't, yet, he then notices, much to his annoyance, he is still not ginger, but has dark hair again.

Remembering there was something important that he forgot, the Doctor tries recalling what it was until another explosion forces him to his knees. Realising that what he was trying to remember was that the TARDIS is now crashing, the Doctor oddly seems happy as he jumps over to the monitor — it shows the ship spinning wildly towards Earth. Delighting in the chaos, the Doctor clings to the console and gleefully shouts, "Geronimoooooooooooo!"

Cast

 * The Tenth Doctor - David Tennant
 * The Eleventh Doctor - Matt Smith
 * The Master - John Simm
 * Wilfred Mott - Bernard Cribbins
 * Rassilon- Timothy Dalton
 * Donna Noble - Catherine Tate
 * Sylvia Noble - Jacqueline King
 * The Woman - Claire Bloom
 * Minnie Hooper - June Whitfield
 * Joshua Naismith - David Harewood
 * Abigail Naismith - Tracy Ifeachor
 * Addams - Sinêad Keenan
 * Rossiter - Lawry Lewin
 * Lucy Saxon - Alexandra Moen
 * Shaun Temple - Karl Collins
 * Governor - Teresa Banham
 * Oliver Barnes - Barry Howard
 * Winston Katusi - Allister Bain
 * Mr Danes - Simon Thomas
 * Miss Trefusis - Sylvia Seymour
 * Tommo - Pete Lee-Wilson
 * Ginger - Dwayne Scantlebury
 * Serving Woman - Lacey Bond
 * Trinity Wells - Lachele Carl
 * Ood Sigma - Paul Kasey
 * Elder Ood - Ruari Mears
 * Teenager - Max Benjamin
 * Voice of Ood Sigma - Silas Carson
 * Voice of Elder Ood - Brian Cox
 * Rose Tyler - Billie Piper
 * Jackie Tyler - Camille Coduri
 * Captain Jack Harkness - John Barrowman
 * Martha Smith-Jones - Freema Agyeman
 * Mickey Smith - Noel Clarke
 * Sarah Jane Smith - Elisabeth Sladen
 * Verity Newman - Jessica Hynes
 * Luke Smith - Thomas Knight
 * Midshipman Frame - Russell Tovey
 * The Chancellor - Joe Dixon
 * The Partisan - Julie Legrand
 * The Visionary - Brid Brennan
 * Nerys - Krystal Archer
 * Voice of Judoon - Nicholas Briggs

Uncredited Cast

 * Sally - Joan Williams
 * Ood, Judoon, Hath - Jon Davey
 * Hath - Scott Baker