297e –"Survivors of the Flux" | |||
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Doctor Who episode | |||
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Production | |||
Directed by | Azhur Saleem | ||
Written by | Chris Chibnall | ||
Script editor |
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Produced by | Pete Levy | ||
Executive producer(s) |
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Music by | Segun Akinola | ||
Series | Series 13 | ||
Running time | 5th of 6-part story, 50 minutes | ||
First broadcast | 28 November 2021 | ||
Chronology | |||
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"Survivors of the Flux", prefixed frequently with either "Chapter Five" or "Flux", is the fifth and penultimate episode of the thirteenth series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who , and of the six-episode serial known collectively as Doctor Who: Flux. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 28 November 2021. It was written by showrunner and executive producer Chris Chibnall, and directed by Azhur Saleem.
The episode stars Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor, alongside Mandip Gill and John Bishop as her companions, Yasmin Khan and Dan Lewis, respectively.
The Weeping Angels transport the Doctor to a spacecraft carrying Division's head, Awsok from "Once, Upon Time", who is ordering an Ood to create a final Flux event. Awsok explains Division's involvement in the development of this current, and upcoming, universes. Division's spacecraft is travelling to another universe, as a "seed vault" containing genetic remnants of this universe. Awsok blames the Doctor for destroying this universe because the Doctor defected and interfered with Division's work. Thus, Division engineered the Flux to destroy this universe, with the Doctor still in it. Awsok reveals herself to be Tecteun, the Gallifreyan who found the young Doctor by a wormhole and raised her, while creating Time Lords ("The Timeless Children"). The Doctor blames Tecteun for robbing her of a life that could have been, but Tecteun counters that the Doctor does the same when she takes companions. Tecteun reveals the possession of a fob watch with the Doctor's lost memories.
Dan, Yaz, and Jericho travel around the world in 1904 to try to discover the date for world's end, evading countless assassins. A Nepalese hermit suggests they should reunite with Karvanista; although they leave a message for him at the Great Wall of China, he cannot use time travel so cannot respond. The trio search out Joseph Williamson and the mysterious tunnels he dug under Liverpool, realizing he had discovered doorways leading to various time periods and locations.
In 1958, a general asks the Grand Serpent, going by "Prentis", to help form UNIT. Prentis embeds himself into UNIT leadership over the decades, eliminating potential threats to him. In 2017, when he closes UNIT down, Kate Stewart realises his deception and threatens to expose him. After a failed assassination attempt, she goes into hiding. With UNIT eliminated, in 2021 Prentis orders Earth's defences be lowered, inviting a second Sontaran invasion.
When a Lupari ship falls from Earth's shield, Karvanista recalls the missing Lupari ship stolen by Bel, just as she was arriving at the source of the Passenger signal. With Karvanista on board, Sontaran forces attack Bel's ship. Vinder also pursues the Passenger signal, arriving moments after Bel's ship is recalled, but finding kidnapped survivors being disintegrated by Swarm and Azure for use as a power source. As he intended, Vinder is captured by Swarm in a Passenger, where he meets Diane.
Swarm and Azure arrive on the Division spacecraft and plan on exacting revenge upon Division for imprisoning them. Swarm disintegrates Tecteun and approaches the Doctor to do the same.
"Survivors of the Flux" was written by showrunner and executive producer Chris Chibnall. [1]
The series is the third to feature Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor, [2] and Mandip Gill as Yasmin Khan, [3] with John Bishop having joined the cast for the series as Dan Lewis. [4] Jemma Redgrave reprised her role as recurring character Kate Stewart, having been absent from the series since "The Zygon Invasion" / "The Zygon Inversion" (2015). [5] The episode also featured an off-screen voice cameo from Nicholas Courtney, using archive audio, as Alastair Lethbridge-Stewart, the father of Redgrave's character. [6]
Azhur Saleem directed the second block, which comprised the third, fifth, and sixth episodes of the series. [7]
Aggregate scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Rotten Tomatoes (Tomatometer) | 80% [8] |
Rotten Tomatoes (Average Score) | 6.30/10 [8] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
The A.V. Club | B+ [9] |
Radio Times | [10] |
The Independent | [11] |
The Telegraph | [12] |
"Survivors of the Flux" aired on 28 November 2021. [13] The episode serves as the fifth part of a six-part story, entitled Flux. [14] [15]
Overnight the episode was seen by 3.82 million viewers. [16] The seven-day consolidated rating (counting all views across all platforms within seven days of broadcast) was 4.83 million. The episode was the ninth-highest rated programme on BBC1 for the week, and the 21st-highest programme across all channels for the week. [17]
On Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator website, 80% of five critics gave the episode a positive review, with an average rating of 6.3 out of 10. [8]
The Thirteenth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who. She is played by Jodie Whittaker, the first woman to portray the character, in three series as well as five specials.
Mandip Kaur Gill is an English actress and narrator. Her first television role came in 2012 when she was cast as Phoebe McQueen in the Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks. After departing the series in 2015, Gill went on to have guest roles in Cuckoo, Doctors, The Good Karma Hospital and Casualty. In October 2017, the BBC announced that Gill had been cast as companion Yasmin Khan in the 2018 series of Doctor Who. She appeared in every episode of Series 11, 12 and 13.
Graham O'Brien is a fictional character created by Chris Chibnall and portrayed by Bradley Walsh in the long-running British sci-fi television series Doctor Who. A retired bus driver from Essex who is in remission from cancer, the character is portrayed as an everyman. In the show's eleventh series, starting with the first episode, he served as a companion of the thirteenth incarnation of the alien time traveller known as the Doctor until the 2021 New Year's Special "Revolution of the Daleks".
Yasmin "Yaz" Khan is a fictional character created by Chris Chibnall and portrayed by Mandip Gill in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. In the show's eleventh series, starting with the first episode, Yasmin serves as a companion of the Thirteenth Doctor, an incarnation of the alien time traveller known as the Doctor ; she would part ways with the Doctor in "The Power of the Doctor", the Thirteenth Doctor's final episode, and was the last person with her before she regenerated on her own. She is one of just two full-time companions to be present throughout the entirety of an incarnation's tenure, the other being Rose Tyler who starred alongside Christopher Eccleston's Ninth Doctor.
"Spyfall" is the two-part premiere of the twelfth series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who, first broadcast on BBC One on 1 and 5 January 2020. It was written by showrunner and executive producer Chris Chibnall. The first episode was directed by Jamie Magnus Stone, and the second by Lee Haven Jones.
"Praxeus" is the sixth episode of the twelfth series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who, first broadcast on BBC One on 2 February 2020. It was written by Pete McTighe and Chris Chibnall, and directed by Jamie Magnus Stone.
The thirteenth series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who, known collectively as Flux, was broadcast from 31 October to 5 December 2021. The series is the third and last to be led by Chris Chibnall as head writer and executive producer. It is the thirteenth to air following the programme's revival in 2005, and the thirty-ninth season overall. The series, initially announced in November 2019, was the last to be broadcast on Sunday nights, continuing the trend set by the previous two series. It was followed by three associated specials, all of which aired in 2022.
The Fugitive Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. She is portrayed by the English actress Jo Martin, the first person of colour to play the role.
"The Timeless Children" is the tenth and final episode of the twelfth series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who, first broadcast on BBC One on 1 March 2020. It was written by Chris Chibnall, and directed by Jamie Magnus Stone. It is the second of a two-part story; the previous episode, "Ascension of the Cybermen", aired on 23 February.
"Revolution of the Daleks" is a special episode of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who, first broadcast on BBC One on 1 January 2021. It was written by Chris Chibnall, and directed by Lee Haven Jones. The episode follows the twelfth series as a New Year’s Day special, continuing on from "The Timeless Children" (2020).
The 2022 specials of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who are three additional episodes that follow the programme's thirteenth series, and were first announced in July 2021. The first special aired on 1 January 2022, with the additional specials airing on 17 April and 23 October. They are the final episodes to feature Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor and Chris Chibnall as showrunner.
"The Halloween Apocalypse", prefixed frequently with either "Chapter One" or "Flux", is the premiere episode of the thirteenth series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who, and the first part of the six-episode serial known collectively as Doctor Who: Flux. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 31 October 2021. It was written by showrunner and executive producer Chris Chibnall, and directed by Jamie Magnus Stone.
"War of the Sontarans", prefixed frequently with either "Chapter Two" or "Flux", is the second episode of the thirteenth series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who, and of the six-episode serial known collectively as Doctor Who: Flux. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 7 November 2021. It was written by showrunner and executive producer Chris Chibnall, and directed by Jamie Magnus Stone.
"Once, Upon Time", prefixed frequently with either "Chapter Three" or "Flux", is the third episode of the thirteenth series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who, and of the six-episode serial known collectively as Doctor Who: Flux. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 14 November 2021. It was written by showrunner and executive producer Chris Chibnall, and directed by Azhur Saleem.
"Village of the Angels", prefixed frequently with either "Chapter Four" or "Flux", is the fourth episode of the thirteenth series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who, and of the six-episode serial known collectively as Doctor Who: Flux. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 21 November 2021. It was written by showrunner and executive producer Chris Chibnall and Maxine Alderton, and directed by Jamie Magnus Stone.
"The Vanquishers", prefixed frequently with either "Chapter Six" or "Flux", is the sixth and final episode of the thirteenth series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who, and of the six-episode serial known collectively as Doctor Who: Flux. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 5 December 2021. It was written by showrunner and executive producer Chris Chibnall, and directed by Azhur Saleem.
"Eve of the Daleks" is the first of three special episodes that followed the thirteenth series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who. The episode was first broadcast on BBC One on 1 January 2022 as Doctor Who's annual holiday special. It was written by Chris Chibnall, and directed by Annetta Laufer. It is the third and final part of a loose trilogy that developed in previous festive specials.
"Legend of the Sea Devils" is the second and penultimate of three special episodes that followed the thirteenth series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who. The episode was first broadcast on 17 April 2022 as an Easter Sunday special. It was written by Ella Road and Chris Chibnall and directed by Haolu Wang.
"The Power of the Doctor" is the third and final story of three special episodes that follow the thirteenth series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who. The episode was written by Chris Chibnall and directed by Jamie Magnus Stone. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 23 October 2022. The special was commissioned to air during the British Broadcasting Corporation's centenary celebrations.