Doctor Who: The Cancelled Years - Season 56
Season 56 of Doctor Who would’ve been the final season for Jemma Redgrave as the Doctor, Rebecca Root as Joanne Tilley, Ravin J Ganatra as Anderson Stenhouse, & the fourth season for Pete McTighe & Sarah Dollard as co-showrunners.
For this season, it was decided to have one long ongoing story, similar to Season 23 of Doctor Who & The Pyramid: Children of Earth. Given the subtitle of ‘Conversion’, Season 56 would’ve been comprised of 6 50-minute stories, which would act as 1 long-running story.
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Matt Strevens would’ve returned as an executive producer for Season 56, although this would be his last season. Nikki Wilson also would’ve returned to the show, returning to the role of Producer for her final season, along with newcomer Vicki Delow, as well as acting as a Co-executive producer.
The final big change to the typical status quo would be the introduction of a new production party to the Doctor Who franchise. Eager to make Doctor Who as big as franchises such as Marvel, Stranger Things & Star Trek, as well as looking for a home for Doctor Who for international viewers, the BBC announced that the show would now be co-produced with NBCUniversal, with Universal Content Productions helping the BBC & Carnival Films to co-produce the show. It was also announced that, as part of the deal, Doctor Who would be hosted on NBCUniversal's newly launched streaming service, Peacock. Peacock would be the home for Doctor Who, starting with Season 56. However, for non US & UK viewers, the show would be available on Sky (until January 2024), Now TV & SkyShowcase.
A side-effect of this new partnership was how the series was promoted. While in the UK & on home media releases, the show was marketed as Season 56 or Conversion, for international viewers, the show was instead marketed as Series 1. This was done as a way of attracting new international viewers to the program without potentially scaring them away, as well as the fact that Seasons 1-55 weren't available on Peacock/Sky/Now/Showcase.
ARMY OF SILVER
WRITTEN BY: Pete McTighe & Sarah Dollard
DIRECTED BY: Jamie Magnus Stone
PRODUCED BY: Nikki Wilson
The story would begin with Joanne & Anderson dashing through the corridors of a medieval looking castle, with armed guards chasing after them, after a random off-screen adventure. Suddenly, the 2 of them are surrounded by armed knights. They raise their swords & prepare to strike them down when suddenly, the TARDIS materializes around Joanne & Anderson. We see the 2 of them in the new console room as the Doctor dashes around the console & taking off back into space.Once in space, the Doctor turns to her companions & asks “so, where to next?”. The trio begin spitballing random locations & times between them before the Doctor exclaims “No, i’ve got it! Galactic world, the greatest theme park in this part of the galaxy”. The Doctor then flicks some controls & we see the TARDIS arriving in a sort-of Disney Land-like theme park. The trio step outside & are greeted by the sight of a ginormous theme park. However they’re also greeted by something more disturbing: the sounds of terrified screams & laser gunfire. With that, the Doctor, Joanne & Anderson spring into action. They dash into the theme park, where they discover a group of park security fighting off a hoard of Cybermen. The trio then pick up rifles from the bodies of dead guards & help the security successfully fight off the Cybermen.
Eventually, Anderson & Joanne are able to reach the shuttle, however they’re being closed in on by the Cybermen. The 2 of them work with the security to fight off the Cybermen, which they succeed in doing, however the supporting security are wiped out. The tourists board the pod & it blasts off into space. Joanne & Anderson breathe a sigh of relief when suddenly, a missile is fired at the pod, destroying it & blasting it into pieces. The 2 watch the explosion in horror & disappointment, before they’re knocked unconscious by some Cybermen & teleported away. The story would then end with the Doctor, having witnessed the events herself, looking directly into a functional, though dying, Cyberman head & stating “I know you’re watching this. & i’m telling you now. Whoever you are, I WILL find you, & I WILL stop you!”
THE HIDDEN SECRET
WRITTEN BY: John Dorney
DIRECTED BY: Jamie Magnus Stone
PRODUCED BY: Nikki Wilson
The story begins with the Doctor & Ki-Yill entering the TARDIS. We see Ki-Yill being impressed with the TARDIS, while the Doctor focuses her attention on the TARDIS console, as she takes off & tries to track down the escape pod while also finding out how many Cybermen there really are out there. Suddenly, she receives a distress signal from a nearby TARDIS. She answers the call & finds the caller to be Amaron. The Doctor & Amaron catch each other up on the situation, before they focus their attention on finding the escape shuttle, as the Doctor believes it’ll be heading for Cyberman headquarters for conversion. The 2 of them combine their TARDIS’ powers together to try & track down the escape pod. They track down the shuttle however, to their confusion, they find that the shuttle has landed somewhere on Gallifrey. With that, the 2 of them decide to head to Gallifrey in hopes of getting some form of an answer.Arriving on Gallifrey, the 2 of them are greeted by Romana & Kalien. The Doctor & Amaron explain the situation to them however they claim that they’ve not heard or seen anything about a Cyberman army & that nothing has invaded Gallifrey. However, Romana does note that there has been an increasing number of reports concerning power fluctuations & people vanishing, which intrigues the Doctor, so she decides to investigate.
The power fluctuation affects Gallifrey & the Doctor, able to trace this power to Joanne & Anderson’s location. During her investigations, she confirms her theories that something sinister is happening on Gallifrey, when she & her temporary companions discover that the current Castellan, Keldrell, is an undercover agent for the Cybermen. The Doctor interrogates Keldrell & tries to get information out of him, which he’s successfully able to do. He says that the Cybermen are operating on Gallifrey on a hidden lower lever beneath the citadel, under the guidance of “their great leader”. The Doctor asks who this great leader is; however, before she can get a clear answer, we cut away to the facility, where we see a blurry figure watching the Doctor & Keldrell on a monitor. The person says “kill him”, before we cut back to see Keldrell suddenly be electrocuted to death.
With the information they have, the Doctor & her team travel down to the lower level of Gallifrey, where they eventually find themselves in the facility we’ve been seeing throughout the story. The group split up into groups into 2 groups (The Doctor, Amaron & Ki-Yill as 1 team, Romana & Kalien as the other) to search for clues, however the Doctor’s team are caught & captured by an army of Cybermen, who take them to what appears to be a great control room.Once in the throne room, the Doctor begins shouting “come on then. I know you’re here! Why don’t you just get this over with. Show yourself!” Suddenly, Joanna & Anderson enter the room, while being escorted by Cybermen. The Doctor runs over to hug the 2 of them but is zapped back by a Cyberman. The Doctor then asks herself out-loud “What Time Lord would have the power, no sorry, the insanity, to grant the Cybermen THIS much power”. Suddenly, a booming voice is heard from behind the Doctor, exclaiming “I, Doctor!”. The Doctor slowly turns around with horror on her face as she says “it can’t be”.
The story would then end as the camera smash cuts to reveal the leader of the Cybermen… Omega, played by Timothy Dalton. Omega then exclaims “Yes, Doctor. I, Omega! King of all time & space!”
ASCENSION OF GALLIFREY
WRITTEN BY: Scott Handcock
DIRECTED BY: Emma Sullivan
PRODUCED BY: Vicki Delow
The story begins with the Doctor confronting Omega face to face & asking what he’s doing teaming up with the Cyberman. Omega explains that he has seen what the Time Lords became in his absence: Weak & pathetic. He believes that the Time Lords are no longer the most powerful beings in the universe but now as pathetic as those they used to rule over. He then explains how he came into contact with the Cybermen & saw the potential they had at truly becoming Masters of the Universe, so he made an alliance with them. Using his army, he plans to become the new Lords of Time by invading history & converting everyone & everything into Cybermen. Omega then points at the Doctors group while exclaiming “starting with YOU!”.A group of Cybermen take hold of the Doctor’s party & begin to escort them out of the room while Omega laughs menacingly. Suddenly, the Cybermen are ambushed by Romana & Kalien, who kill the Cybermen & rescue the Doctor’s party. Omega uses a teleportation device & transmits himself to a nearby room. We see him meet with the Cyber Controller & states “we’re moving the invasion forward. Activate the Cybermen”. Then cut to a scene similar to that in Earthshock, as we see an entire army of Cybermen awakening from suspended hibernation & activating in formation.
We then see the Doctor & her party travelling back to the main levels of Gallifrey, where Romana is forced to declare that Gallifrey is at war, something which brings horror to the Doctor’s face. The story would then see the Doctor & her friends helping Time Lord soldiers push back the oncoming Cybermen from reaching any higher levels, to no success. This goes on for a little while, before Romana informs the Doctor that they’ve detected an army of Cyber-Warships in orbit around Gallifrey. Suddenly, it hits the Doctor what the Cybermen are planning: they’re planning to either open or destroy the quantum force field around Gallifrey, meaning that the Cybermen can easily invade Gallifrey. The Doctor, Amaron & a platoon or armed soldiers dash towards the main control room as the planet begins to shake violently around them, where they discover a squadron of Cybermen tampering with the quantum force field. The Time Lords defeat the Cybermen, however it’s too late. The Doctor scans the quantum force field & discovers that the Cybermen have removed approximately a quarter of it.
We then see Omega & the Cyber controller being escorted by a group of Cybermen through Gallifrey, before Omega receives a report on his wristwatch that the Cybermen have succeeded & will begin their invasion on Gallifrey. Omega replies with “Excellent! Activate the Metal Swarm! We will wipe out these pathetic vermin”. Cut to outer space, where we see a giant Cyber ship in orbit. A trapdoor on the ship opens up, revealing a giant laser cannon. The canon powers on & fires a blindingly white light onto the planet below.
Back on Gallifrey, we begin to see the effects of this light, as we see that the light is actually transmitting micro-sized nanobots which are slowly converting Time Lords into Cybermen. We then see people in the Doctor’s own group falling prey to the nanobots, as Ki-Yill is fully converted & Romana & Kalien begin to be converted. Realising that they’ve failed, Romana tells the Doctor that she’s their only hope & that they must leave Gallifrey. The Doctor refuses to leave when suddenly, a Cyber gun merges onto Romana’s arm, which attempts to shoot the Doctor. Romana shouts “Run, Doctor” & the Doctor, Joanne, Anderson & Amaron are forced to retreat back to the TARDIS. There, the Doctor & Amaron quickly dematerialise & escape Gallifrey, as more & more people continue to be converted. We focus on the Doctor, confused, traumatised & angry. She’s failed & Gallifrey is gone… again.
Cut back to Gallifrey, as we see the last of the population fully convert into Cybermen. Omega & the Cyber controller enter what Omega dubs as ‘The Gateway Room’. We see a large, vast room with a stairway leading towards a strange contraption. Omega turns towards a control panel & places his hands on a console containing a palm print scanner, which activates the contraption. We see it whirling & spinning up as it activates, before a beaming light transmits out of it. Omega states “it is ready”, before the Cyber controllers orders his army to ascend. The cybermen begin to climb up the staircase & into the light. We then cut to random planets in random times across the universe, as we see similar beams of light emerging out of nowhere & Cybermen stomping through the lights, who begin to invade all these planets.
FIGHT FOR THE FUTURE
WRITTEN BY: Sarah Dollard
DIRECTED BY: Jamie Magnus Stone
PRODUCED BY: Nikki Wilson
The story begins with the Doctor’s TARDIS being shot by Gallifreyan missiles. This throws the TARDIS into chaos, as the Doctor & Amaron work on trying to land the TARDIS on a nearby planet. After some struggle, they’re able to land, however as soon as they do, the lights go down & the TARDIS appears to die. Exiting the TARDIS, the Doctor & her companions find themselves in something that resembles an Earth-like village from the 1910s. Meeting with some of the locals, the Doctor learns that they’re on the planet Treeserus. They explain that the Cybermen have arrived on the planet in the planet’s major city. The Cybermen are slowly pushing towards the more suburban areas &, unless they fight back, they’re doomed to die.We’d then see the Doctor, Joanne & Anderson helping to prepare the people of the village to fight against the Cybermen, while Amaron works on repairing the TARDIS. Eventually, the Cybermen arrive & the battle commences. At first it would appear the Cybermen would win the battle however, thanks to direction & support from the Doctor, the people of the village are able to defeat the Cybermen on the planet. On Gallifrey, Omega receives reports on the Doctor’s location & her victory, so he orders that more Cybermen be sent to destroy them. With the Doctor suspecting that Omega will likely be sending reinforcements to finish the job, she helps the people of the village salvage the armour & weapons off the Cybermen & use them to help fight off the oncoming army. Eventually, the reinforcements arrive &, again, with help from the Doctor, the people are able to defeat the Cybermen again, this time with less casualties.
Omega sees the events unfold, which really angers him. He storms over to the Cyber controller & screams “order a Cyber Emperor into position! Destroy them!”. Cut to the main city of Treeserus, as we see the beaming light expand in size, before a gigantic, tanky Cyberman emerges from the light: The Cyber Emperor. We see it crash through buildings through nothing & shooting deadly lasers from its arm. Then cut back to the Doctor, who sees the Cyber Emperor from afar. Joanne asks the Doctor if she thinks she can destroy the emperor, to which the Doctor replies with “I hope so, Joanne. I really hope so…”
We then see the Doctor, her companions & the villagers diving straight into action as they prepare for their encounter with the Cyber Emperor. The Doctor figures out that using the energy from her TARDIS, which has been successfully repaired, the Doctor can both trap the Cyber Emperor in a field & age it to death, as well as permanently close the gateway from Gallifrey, thus stopping any further invasions on Treeserus.
Eventually, the Cyber Emperor, as well as a whole army of Cybermen, arrive, and the final battle commences. We see the people of Treeserus throwing everything they have at the Cybermen army &, after a lot of fighting, are successfully able to defeat the Cybermen. Meanwhile we see the Doctor & Joanne begin circling the Cyber Emperor in a frame of 2 separate cables, which are connected to different parts of the TARDIS console, while Anderson & Ameron connect a third cable to a nearby overhead line, which, when given energy from the TARDIS, will travel along the wavelength into the City & shut down the gateway to Gallifrey.When the Emperor is near enough circled, the Doctor is thrown both ends of the cable & places them together, which traps the Cyber Emperor in a beam of energy & begins to age it to death. We also see the energy travelling up the overhead line, travelling along the cables & eventually striking the gateway to Gallifrey, which eventually closes for good. We cut back to the Cyber Emperor who, right before they evaporate into nothing, raises up its arm & fires its laser directly at the Doctor. The laser strikes the Doctor, which throws her to the ground just as the Cyber Emperor disappears.
With the day saved & the Cybermen defeated, the Doctor’s companions dash over to her body. The Doctor slowly opens her eyes & looks at her hand. It’s glowing. She says “No. No, no no, not now! It’s too early!”. Anderson asks Amaron what’s going on, to which she says there’s no time to explain & that they need to get the Doctor to the TARDIS now. Joanne & Anderson carry the Doctor over to the TARDIS, while Amaron disconnects the cables from the TARDIS console & throws them out. Joanne & Anderson bring the Doctor onboard, place her in her chair & close the doors, before Amaron works at the controls & takes off.
Once in space, the trio turn their attention to the Doctor, who’s beginning to produce regeneration energy. Joanne & Anderson are confused about the situation, and Amaron is forced to quickly summarise regeneration to them. The Doctor tells her companions “listen to me. Whatever happens now, whatever comes next, we must stop Omega, no matter the cost”. The regeneration energy begins to build & build, as the moment approaches. The Doctor then mutters her final lines “Goodbye. Joanne, Anderson, Amaron. It’s been fun. See you on the other side” before her entire hands & face burst in regeneration energy.The trio watch as the Doctor, now lying unconscious in her chair, bursts with regeneration energy. Eventually, the regeneration finishes & we’re introduced to the new Doctor, who’d be portrayed by Rakhee Thakrar. The new Doctor wakes up & is greeted by her companions, as we focus on their reactions. The new Doctor then says “sorry about that. Now, where were we?” as we cut to the credits!
HUMAN EXTINCTION
WRITTEN BY: Pete McTighe
DIRECTED BY: Emma Sullivan
PRODUCED BY: Vicki Delow
The story begins with the new Doctor acting unstable, as she deals with post-regeneration stress. Amaron examines the Doctor & declares that she needs to rest in a Zero Room. However, after scanning the TARDIS for one, she finds that it was deleted a long time ago. She then uses the TARDIS to scan for a nearby planet which houses Zero Room-like facilities. She discovers a suitable hospital planet in the 68th century named St Lambert, which Joanne points out is the hospital she used to work at before she met the Doctor, although in a future century.We then see Amaron piloting the TARDIS to St Lambert, where she, Joanne & Anderson help the Doctor to a Zero Room, where she recovers from her post-regeneration trauma. However, as they wait for the Doctor to recover, the trio are alerted by the TARDIS that the Cybermen are on their way. The story sees the trio warning the hospital about the oncoming Cybermen, as well as helping them defend the planet from them. Eventually, the Doctor recovers & helps the rest push back the Cybermen. We see the Cybermen slowly conquering the planet, as they begin to convert the hospital staff, their patients, and even the recently deceased.
Throughout the story, we see the Doctor’s new personality beginning to form. We see this incarnation to be more confident than her previous self, believing that even though the odds aren’t in her favour, she can still find a way to undo the damage. Knowing that they must find a way to banish the Cybermen for good, she realises that she needs to find exactly when, where & how Omega formed his alliance with the Cybermen. We then see her & Amaron capturing & shutting down a Cybermen, before downloading its memories to the TARDIS. There, they discover that the alliance was formed on the Cybermen’s new planet, Tonantzin, several years before they began their conquest of the universe.
At the end of the story, the Doctor, with help from Amaron, Joanne & Anderson, are able to create a force field around the planet & wipe out the remaining Cybermen. With the planet saved, the Doctor finished dealing with post-regeneration trauma & a plan to take down Omega & the Cybermen, the group prepare to leave in the TARDIS. However, before they can board the TARDIS, Joanne & Anderson tell the Doctor that they plan to stay on the hospital, as they want to help defend the planet from any potential future Cyberman attack, as well as help the survivors. The Doctor says she understands & that if she’s able to sort this mess out, she’ll come back & pick them up. The trio say their farewells & good luck to each other as the Doctor & Amaron enter the TARDIS & dematerialise.The story would end with the Doctor picking her new outfit, settling on a white collared shirt, coloured jumper, blue coat, denim trousers & black shoes. She then enters the control room, where Amaron is working at the controls. The Doctor then tells Amaron to be ready, as they’ll need everything at their disposal to stop this catastrophe from ever happening. The Doctor then pulls down the main flight lever as we cut to end credits.
THE UNION OF OMEGA
WRITTEN BY: Pete McTighe & Sarah Dollard
DIRECTED BY: Emma Sullivan
PRODUCED BY: Vicki Delow
The story begins with the TARDIS arriving in space, at a time before the Cybermen began their invasion of time. There, the Doctor & Amaron are able to track down Tonantzin, the new homeworld of the Cybermen. They arrive on the planet, as they set out to find Omega & either convince him to stop what he’s doing or, failing that, destroy the Cyberman army.The 2 of them eventually find & confront Omega, as they attempt to persuade Omega to give up his plans. However, they end up failing & are captured by a group of Cybermen, before being taken away for conversion. The 2 of them are placed in conversion chairs, however the Doctor is able to free herself & Amaron at the last moment. They then dash through the ship back to the TARDIS, as they’re pursued by the Cybermen. On board the TARDIS, the Doctor dematerialises into space, while saying that they have no choice but to destroy Tonantzin.
We then see the Doctor & Amaron arriving on pre-invasion Gallifrey, where they meet with Romana & Kalien. Using Telepathic contact, the Doctor & Amaron are able to quickly show & explain everything to Romana & Kalien. Realising that the universe is now at danger, Kalien plans to invade Tonantzin & wipe out the Cybermen, but the Doctor says that this’ll only make things worse. However, Kalien refuses to listen, as she’s been on Gallifrey longer than the Doctor & doesn’t want to see any of her people harmed.
We’d then see an army of Battle TARDISes travelling to Tonantzin, where an army of Time Lords begin to fight against the Cybermen. At first, this appears to work. However, the Cybermen are able to either wipe out the Time Lords or convert them into Cybermen. With their plans now exposed, Omega tells the Cyber controller that they must begin the conquest of Gallifrey now. We then see a giant battle in space between the Time Lords & the Cybermen, with the Cybermen slowly but surely pushing towards Gallifrey.
On Gallifrey, we see the planet to be in a state of panic, with Romana & Kalien unsure on what to do. The Doctor then explains that she has an idea, but it’s incredibly dangerous. The Doctor explains that she plans to use the Hand of Omega on Tonantzin’s sun & turn it into a black hole, which would destroy Omega & his army. We then see the Doctor & Amaron retrieving the Hand of Omega & bringing it onboard the Doctor’s TARDIS, before they travel back to Tonantzin.We see the TARDIS orbiting above Tonantzin, as Amaron opens the TARDIS doors while the Doctor prepares the Hand of Omega. Suddenly, static appears on the TARDIS monitor & we see Omega making contact with the Doctor. At first, Omega believes the Doctor has come to surrender. However, when the Doctor reveals her plans to Omega, he quickly turns to panic, begging & demanding to be spared. The Doctor says “I’m sorry, but you leave me no choice”. She then flicks a switch on the TARDIS console & the Hand of Omega activates. It flies out of the TARDIS doors with a flash & crashes towards Tonantzin’s sun. The Hand crashes into the sun & we see the sun turn into a black hole.Suddenly, everything in the facility begins to be pulled towards the black hole, including the Cyber ships, Tonantzin itself & the Doctor’s TARDIS. We see the Doctor & Amaron working together to pilot the TARDIS away from the black hole, while we also see Omega in a fit of rage & anger as he searches for a way out, but to no avail. In the end, the TARDIS is successfully able to escape the pull of the Black hole & Tonantzin is fully absorbed. We also cut to Gallifrey, where we see that the Cybermen have been wiped out & Gallifrey stands victorious.
Back on Gallifrey, the Doctor says her farewells to Amaron, as their time together is finished. The Doctor then waves goodbye to Romana, Kalien & Amaron, before shutting the TARDIS door & dematerialising. Once in flight, the Doctor says to herself “Right then. Best pick up Joanne & Anderson. I’m sure they’re confused as to what exactly happened”.
Then suddenly, the TARDIS shakes violently as it smashes into something while in flight. The Doctor is thrown into action, as she attempts to stabilise the ship. However, without the Doctor properly acknowledging, someone has appeared in the TARDIS with her… Sally Ryder, played by Sheridan Smith! The Doctor continues to work at the console, as we see Sally in full shock mode, wondering what the hell’s going on. After a few seconds, the Doctor is able to settle the TARDIS, before saying “Sorry about that Sally, must’ve hit something. Now, let’s see”, as she looks down at the console, before lifting her head in shock & realisation. Sally looks at the Doctor in shock & asks “Doctor?”. The Doctor replies with “Sally…”, before Sally replies with “Oh my god… what the bleeding hell’s going on?” before we cut to end credits.After the credits, an article would be published by BBC news, which would announce both the return of Sheridan Smith as Sally Ryder AND Robert Carlyle as the Twelfth Doctor, who would be starring alongside Rakhee Thakrar in the upcoming Centenary Special.
CONCLUSION
That concludes Season 56 of Doctor Who. This season would’ve received mostly high praise all round for daring to do something different & fresh with the formula of Doctor Who. Many viewed this as a great farewell to Jemma Redgrave’s Fifteenth Doctor & a strong start for Rakhee Thakrar’s Sixteenth Doctor. However, fans' attention was quickly drawn to news about the return of Robert Carlyle & Sheridan Smith, one of the most popular TARDIS teams of all time.
Join me next time for the Centenary Special, The Destiny of Sally Ryder
Thank you & goodbye!
(Thanks to TimeLordMaster108 for help with this season & its storyline)
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