Doctor Who‘s Disney era hasn’t been afraid to break the fourth wall, with returning showrunner Russell T Davies including moments that stray from the formula he helped establish during his first spell in charge from 2005 to 2010. The trend began during David Tennant’s return for the Doctor Who 60th-anniversary specials and continued into Ncuti Gatwa’s inaugural run as the Fifteenth Doctor. The instances are not limited to individual characters, but certain figures are more notable for these moments than others.

A fourth-wall break is when a fictional character acknowledges they’re aware they’re in a story. They can be subtle in their awareness, or sometimes be unaware of the phenomenon at all. Other characters go as far as staring directly down the lens and addressing the audience. The show’s classic era engaged in the trope a little, but not often, and never in such a meta way as Doctor Who‘s Disney era. In other words, not every actor to play the Doctor has been through these odd moments, but Gatwa’s reign has been more riddled with them than most.

It’s unclear how long the fourth wall breaks will continue, as they may simply be a component of the show’s new formula. On the other hand, they could all be leading to something, culminating in an enormous storyline that pays off all the times Disney’s Doctor Who era has straddled reality and fiction. Such a drastic change to how the show is made suggests the latter is more likely, but only time will tell.

7

The Toymaker’s Racism Comes From The Doctor Who Villain’s Problematic Origin

The classic-era villain was originally called “The Celestial Toymaker”

David Tennant came back to Doctor Who in 2023, this time as the Fourteenth Doctor rather than the Tenth. However, he wasn’t the only character to emerge from the show’s history. Neil Patrick Harris’ Toymaker was an updated version of a villain from Doctor Who’s classic era, although most of his associated canon remained in place. However, the Toymaker demonstrates a racist attitude in “The Giggle,” which wasn’t a clear part of his character the first time around. Russell T Davies has explained on Doctor Who: Unleashed why this addition was made to Harris’ version of the Toymaker.

“I did not know this, but ‘celestial’ can mean of Chinese origin, in a derogatory way. It also means from the sky. But it can also mean Chinese, and in a kind of imperial way, in a British Empire sort of way. And there’s a lot of debate about why was the original Toymaker, who was a white man, dressed up as a Chinese Mandarin?”

Davies went on to suggest the racism surrounding the Celestial Toymaker was perhaps “unconscious” at the time, but felt the problematic parts of the character design needed to be addressed in some way. He achieved this by giving the villain an attitude that reflected the more racially-insensitive parts of the character’s debut back in 1966. So, the update was influenced by perceptions of individuals from outside the world of the show. While it’s a subtle fourth-wall break, it still fits the category.

6

Mrs. Flood Talks To The Audience

Anita Dobson’s character first spoke to the viewers in the 2023 Christmas special

A fictional character communicating directly with the audience is one of the most blatant fourth-wall breaks there is. The mysterious Mrs. Flood entered the fray in “The Church on Ruby Road,” with her knowledge about the TARDIS immediately raising questions about her true identity. What perhaps raised even more eyebrows was the fact she boasted this knowledge to the episode’s viewers by winking and rhetorically asking, “Never seen a TARDIS before?” as she looked into the camera.

This wasn’t an isolated incident, either. Mrs. Flood also looked down the lens when Sutekh was set to emerge in Doctor Who season 14, episode 7, “The Legend of Ruby Sunday.” Then, one episode later, she delivered her most audience-focused monologue yet at the end of Doctor Who season 14. She almost seems to be acting as the narrator of Ruby’s arc, while also participating in the story itself. Hopefully, Doctor Who season 15 or beyond will further address the meta phenomenon.

5

Maestro Joins In With The Doctor Who Theme Song

The child of the Toymaker triggers an impromptu duet

The Doctor Who opening sequence is one of the most iconic, even if it does change fairly often. Any alterations made to the credits are easy to pick up on, but none more so than Jinkx Monsoon’s Maestro joining in with the famous theme music that bridges the cold open with the main body of Doctor Who season 14, episode 2, “The Devil’s Chord.” Maestro serves as the God of Music in Doctor Who‘s Pantheon of Gods. So, this moment suggests the status of Monsoon’s character as a deity allows them to peek out from behind the show’s curtain.

In the same episode, Maestro also describes the Fifteenth Doctor as “Timey-wimey,” which is a reference to the Tenth Doctor’s famous description of how time flows in Doctor Who season 3, episode 10, “Blink.” Maestro can do many things, but mind-reading doesn’t appear to be in their arsenal. So, the comment is more than likely a meta nod from Maestro regarding “Blink,” teasing the character’s awareness of the show’s past as a fictional tale. Moments later, Maestro plays a burst of the theme song again on the piano.

4

The Doctor Makes A Joke About “Non-Diegetic” Sound

Fifteen uses an incredibly technical term to break the fourth wall

“The Devil’s Chord” really tries its hardest to ensure the audience knows its characters have at least some level of awareness of the fact they’re in a fictional story. When Mille Gibson’s Ruby Sunday asks the Doctor if he can hear Maestro’s ominous orchestral score, he looks surprised as he answers, “I thought that was non-diegetic.” It’s an easy joke to miss if someone is unfamiliar with the term, but non-diegetic sound is any noise that can’t usually be heard by the characters. This typically includes elements such as soundtracks, scores, or voiceover narration.

Inversely, diegetic sounds can generally be heard by characters in TV shows or movies. In Doctor Who, good examples would be the whirring of the Sonic Screwdriver, the TARDIS’ dematerializing, or even just standard dialogue between the characters. Music can be diegetic too, if it exists within the world of the show, but scores and soundtracks usually fall outside the diegetic category. So, what the Doctor is saying in this moment is that he could hear the music coming from the other room, but misinterpreted it as the episode’s score. This could be season 14’s most meta fourth-wall break.

3

The Doctor Looks Into The Camera & Winks

The Time Lord has done something similar before

Mrs. Flood may have done it more often in Doctor Who season 14, but she isn’t the only character to lock eyes with the viewers. Near the end of “The Devil’s Chord,” Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor looks right down the lens and delivers the audience a wink and a toothy grin, acknowledging their existence. It’s one thing for a mysterious character like Mrs. Flood to do something like this, but the Doctor himself doing the same thing hits very differently.

Interestingly, Gatwa’s Doctor isn’t the first version of the Doctor to do this. In the Doctor Who 1965 Christmas special, “The Feast of Steven,” William Hartnell’s First Doctor turns the camera and says, “A happy Christmas to all of you at home.” The difference between Gatwa’s and Hartnell’s circumstances is that in 1965, Doctor Who‘s premise wasn’t nearly as solid. So, Hartnell’s fourth-wall break was really just a bit of fun. The same might have been true for Gatwa’s meta moment, if it weren’t for the many other instances in the episode/season where similar things happened.

2

Doctor Who’s Closing Number In The Beatles Episode Teased The Finale’s Twist

Susan Twist’s mystery woman was a big part of Doctor Who season 14

Ncuti Gatwa’s wink triggers a rarity for Doctor Who – a showstopping musical number. Although Maestro’s lingering influence is likely to blame for the closing performance, it still feels like it’s part of the Disney-era fourth-wall break collection. Unexpected moments aside, the title of the song itself also hugely foreshadowed a massive part of the Doctor Who season 14 finale. The piece was called, “There’s Always a Twist at the End.”

The “Twist” in question is implied to be concerning a plot twist. Of course, it is referring to this, but more specifically, it turns out that the song is actually also referring to actress Susan Twist, who plays a variety of mysterious characters throughout Gatwa’s inaugural run. Susan Twist eventually turns out to be playing Susan Triad, an avatar for Sutekh all along. The song doesn’t implicitly reveal this, but the fact it gets eyes on Twist herself is a less-than-subtle wink from the writers.

1

Ncuti Gatwa’s “Cultural Appropriation” Comment References The Classic Era’s Creative Choices

“Empire of Death” tones down the Ancient Egypt connection

In “Empire of Death,” the Time Window shows clips from the original “Pyramids of Mars” four-part serial from 1975. This was Sutekh’s first and only other live-action appearance, meaning Doctor Who season 14 was essentially a stealth sequel to the Fourth Doctor story with Tom Baker at the TARDIS console. Much of the iconography in the original story borrowed heavily from Ancient Egyptian culture, but in a way that became rather stereotypical. By today’s standards, it could be considered a little insensitive, and this is addressed by a short exchange between Ruby and the Doctor in “Empire of Death.”

Looking at the “Pyramids of Mars” footage, Ruby says, “I never understood. What was all that Egyptian stuff?” to which the Doctor simply replies, “Cultural appropriation.” Similar to the Toymaker, Sutekh was clearly a villain that Davies enjoyed from the Doctor Who‘s classic era and wanted to revisit. However, the writer needed to reframe things slightly in order to make the comeback seen as unproblematic. The Toymaker had the word, “Celestial” dropped from his title, and Sutekh’s origin was reframed slightly and received a meta acknowledgment of how the work of the original Doctor Who writers had aged.