Context
“The Next Doctor” aired as the 2008 Christmas special, right after Series 4 and before the “specials year” of 2009. The show at this point was coming off one of its strongest runs ever. Series 3 and 4 had given fans some of the most memorable and confident episodes in modern Doctor Who: Human Nature, Blink, Midnight, Turn Left, The Stolen Earth, and Journey’s End. David Tennant was incredibly popular, and Russell T Davies’ era was at its height in terms of ambition and emotional storytelling.
Behind the scenes, though, things were shifting. Tennant had announced he was leaving soon, and Davies was also preparing to move on. There was a growing sense among viewers that a regeneration could be coming any day, which meant everyone was on high alert for hints. The episode’s title “The Next Doctor” played directly into that speculation. It was the kind of teasing title that worked well at the time but can feel a bit obvious or “clickbait” today. Christmas specials were also getting bigger and more explosive every year, which sometimes meant spectacle won over tone.
Synopsis
The Doctor arrives in Victorian London during Christmas and meets Jackson Lake, a man who thinks he is the Doctor himself. As they investigate a series of disappearances caused by the Cybermen, the real story of Jackson’s past slowly comes out. Together they uncover his trauma, fight the Cybermen, and stop a giant “CyberKing” from destroying London. In the end, Jackson remembers who he really is, and he and the Doctor share a quiet Christmas meal.
Review
I’ve always considered “The Next Doctor” one of my least favourite episodes from the first four revived series. It comes directly after such an extraordinary streak of great episodes that it almost couldn’t help feeling smaller by comparison. Even so, when I actually sit down to rewatch it, it is usually a bit better than I remembered, which shows that the episode has more heart than its reputation suggests.
The best part by far is the relationship between the Doctor and Jackson Lake. They are two men at different stages of grief, and the episode makes strong use of the parallels between them. The Doctor is hurting deeply after losing Donna and after years of carrying the weight of everything he couldn’t fix. Jackson, meanwhile, has lost his wife and son and deals with the pain in a very different way: he becomes someone else entirely. Instead of collapsing, his mind decides to survive by filling the empty space with the idea of “the Doctor” as a heroic identity who never stops fighting.
This connection gives the episode real emotional depth. The Doctor recognises himself in Jackson in the pattern of running from trauma and replacing pain with action. Jackson’s fantasy of being the Doctor is almost like an exaggerated version of the Doctor’s own coping habits. And David Morrissey plays Jackson’s human vulnerability very well, making their final moments together feel soft and sincere.
But the rest of the episode doesn’t always support that emotional core. The mix of Cybermen and Victorian London feels awkward, like two styles that don’t quite blend. Doctor Who often mixes genres, but this time the clash is too obvious. The giant CyberKing rampaging through London at the end pushes things even further into a strange place, almost like a Godzilla movie suddenly invading a Dickens-style Christmas. It’s loud and dramatic, but it takes me out of the story instead of pulling me deeper into it.
Another issue for me is how long the mystery around Jackson’s identity goes on. The first time you watch it, it’s fun. But on rewatches, when you know where it’s heading, the whole “Is he really the next Doctor?” question becomes tiring rather than clever. The title sets up an expectation that the episode can’t really match, and dragging out the mystery keeps the story from getting to the emotional material sooner. After a while it stops feeling playful and starts feeling a bit stretched.
Still, the episode handles some strong themes. There’s the storyline about child labour, which adds some real-world weight, and the idea of a parent coping with unbearable loss by transforming into somebody else entirely. Jackson’s mind turning him into “the Doctor” is a dramatic but understandable reaction to grief, and the episode treats that idea with more seriousness than it first appears.
Rosita, Jackson’s companion, doesn’t stand out much. Her name being so close to “Rose” almost suggests that companions are interchangeable, or at least that Jackson subconsciously filled the role with a familiar pattern. She works well enough for the plot, but she feels very much like a generic companion, and I don’t think I would have wanted to watch a whole season of Morrissey’s version of the Doctor. His style is more like a Victorian Indiana Jones adventurous, bold, and energetic, rather than the more mysterious and alien feel the Doctor usually has.
The Victorian Christmas atmosphere is nice, though not strong enough to make this one of my essential holiday rewatches. What stays with me more are the small, warm moments: the townspeople cheering the Doctor after the CyberKing disappears, and the quiet happiness of the Doctor agreeing to have dinner with Jackson at the end. Those scenes feel peaceful and genuine, and they fit well with the idea of two men healing from loss.
In the end, “The Next Doctor” is uneven and sometimes frustrating, but it also has more emotional sincerity than its big explosions and clashing styles might suggest. It may never be one of the standout episodes of the early revived era, but it’s not without charm. The heart of the story is the connection between the Doctor and Jackson Lake which makes it better than its flaws, and it leaves the episode with a gentle, bittersweet afterglow that I appreciate more each time I return to it.