Having returned to Gallifrey the long way round, the Doctor seeks revenge against the Time Lords who trapped him in his own confession dial. But what is his ultimate objective? Just how far will he go to achieve it? And will the truth about the Hybrid finally be revealed?

In keeping with the overall tone of this current series, Hell Bent is very much a character-driven piece that uses its extended run-time – the episode clocks in at bang on an hour – to explore the Doctor’s anger and grief, how far his sense of loss at Clara’s death takes him, and gives a glimpse of why the War Doctor was so feared even by his own kind.



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Viewers hoping for a big showdown between the Doctor and the Time Lords will be disappointed by the lack of action. But this is a finale that is big on words – the Doctor’s most powerful weapon, after all – rather than pyrotechnics.


Steven Moffat does a good job tying up loose ends here, something he hasn’t always been completely successful with, including plenty of call-backs to old friends, enemies and adventures.

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The ending is both uplifting and utterly heart-breaking, but I suspect the biggest and most controversial talking point is one that occurs mid-episode. Remember the furore last year over the appearance of the Cyber-Brigadier? That split Who fandom down the middle. This one is potentially even more divisive. You have been warned.

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15 things to watch out for:

1. It’s that barn again.

2. The bells! The bells!

3. It doesn’t matter where the Doctor is, he does seem to like a bowl of soup.

4. ‘You like a cliffhanger, don’t you?’

5. ‘Under pain of death, no one take a selfie.’

6. Three former companions get a mention, although one is referenced only indirectly.

7. A Dalek, a Weeping Angel and a Cyberman.

8. Remember when Missy told Clara that she had cared about the Doctor, ‘Since always. Since the Cloister Wars. Since the night he stole the moon and the President’s wife. Since he was a little girl. One of those was a lie’? The Doctor provides a little clarification about part of this.

9. ‘You are hated by everybody but by nobody more than me.’

10. The Doctor decides it’s time to invent a flying submarine. And why not?

11. ‘As of this moment, I am answerable to no one.’

12. Four knocks.

13. ‘Never eat pears. They’re too squishy.’

14. References to events in Journey’s End, Cold War, Mummy on the Orient Express and Asylum of the Daleks.

15. ‘Going back to Gallifrey, the long way round.’

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Doctor Who concludes on BBC1 on Saturday at 8:00pm.