Doctor Who Season 10 to Bring Back the Three-Part Story
By Lacy Baugher
Peter Capaldi’s final Doctor Who season just got a bit more exciting. Season 10 will feature the series’ first three-part story in years.
The upcoming season of Doctor Who is already shaping up to be full of surprises, as well as more than a few familiar faces. We’ll already know that we’ll see classic villains the Ice Warriors again, along with a particular breed of Cyberman that hasn’t made an appearance since 1966. Plus, Michelle Gomez’s Missy is also set to return.
And now something else is making a comeback. Peter Capaldi’s final season will also see the return of the three-part Doctor Who story.
According to Digital Spy, regular Who scribe Toby Whithouse revealed that episodes six through eight of Season 10 connect. This trio of stories will feature a new kind of monster, known only as The Monks. And rumor has it that Gomez’s Missy will pop up in at least one of these episodes.
"“Mine is the third part of a three-parter. Steven [Moffat]’s done the first one, Peter Harness did the second and I’ve done the third.It’s set modern-day… and I think anything more than that and Steven will come round and kick me in the shin!”"
Ten of Season 9’s thirteen episodes were part of two-part stories, but Doctor Who hasn’t done an official three-part saga in decades. The last one featured Seventh Doctor Sylvester McCoy and aired in 1989. Though, to be fair, you could argue that the show’s done multi-part stories before. They just weren’t technically called three-parters. For example: Season 3’s “Utopia,” “The Sound of Drums” and “Last of the Time Lords” form a type of connected narrative about the return of the Master. But they’re still considered separate episodes for whatever reason.
The concept of a three-part, Moffat-led Who tale is pretty appealing. His stories have always worked better with more space to breathe. Moffat’s narratives tend to introduce new people, worlds, monsters or all of the above at once. And as a result, his episodes (even the two-parters) can end up feeling kind of overstuffed. Perhaps a three-part story is his ultimate sweet spot as a showrunner.
Next: Doctor Who Season 10 Finale Spoilers Start to Emerge
Doctor Who Season 10 begins on April 15 on BBC One and BBC America.