The Doctor has had a few love interests over the years, but yesterday evening's second 60th-anniversary special - titled "Wild Blue Yonder" - shed unexpected new light on the sexuality of Doctor Who's title character.
Stranded on a mysterious spaceship alongside Donna Noble after the TARDIS malfunctions (a few moments after crossing paths with a young Sir Isaac Newton), the Fourteenth Doctor admits he finds the scientist attractive.
"Is it just me or was Isaac Newton hot?" Donna asks to which the Doctor responds, "He was, wasn’t he? He was so hot. Oh! Is that who I am now?" His companion then says, "Well, it was never too far from the surface, mate. I always thought you..."
She gets cut off and the conversation ends, but the insinuation there is that the Doctor may be interested in more than just his female companions moving forward. Remember, the Fifteenth Doctor will be played by the openly queer Ncuti Gatwa, and with Russell T Davies back in charge, we're expecting the long-running sci-fi series to feature a greater level of diversity on screen.
"Wild Blue Yonder" was a horror-tinged episode which put the spotlight on the Doctor and Donna as they encountered two terrifying beings from beyond the known universe. Eventually, they emerged victorious, only to return to Earth and find it in chaos.
Waiting for them, however, was a familiar face: the late, great Bernard Cribbins as Donna's grandfather, Wilf. The actor died last July, so seeing him here was a welcome treat, particularly as it meant he got to reunite with David Tennant and Catherine Tate on screen.
"The Tardis takes the Doctor and Donna to the furthest edge of adventure," reads the synopsis for this second special. "To escape, they must face the most desperate fight of their lives, with the fate of the universe at stake."
Doctor Who is the longest-running action-adventure television series in the world spanning 60 years and winning over 100 awards. This quintessentially British show has a massive global following, with 9.6m fans across social platforms/channels and 100m video views on YouTube in the last year alone.
Below, you can see Cribbins' return, a behind-the-scenes featurette, and a first look at next week's "The Giggle" featuring Neil Patrick Harris' Celestial Toymaker, and the Doctor's upcoming regeneration.