The Next Doctor

"The Next Doctor" is the first of the 2008–10 specials of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who that was broadcast on 25 December 2008, as the fourth Christmas special of the revived series. During its original airing, the episode had an audience of 13.1 million viewers and was the second-most-watched programme of Christmas Day 2008.

The Cybermen (of the design of the parallel universe's Cybus Industries Cybermen) return in this episode, following their appearance in the two-part finale of series 2 in 2006, "Army of Ghosts"/"Doomsday".David Tennant stars as the Tenth Doctor with companions Jackson Lake (David Morrissey) and Rosita Farisi (Velile Tshabalala).

Plot

The Doctor lands his TARDIS in London on Christmas Eve, 1851. Overhearing cries for help, he encounters a man calling himself "The Doctor" and his companion Rosita, attempting to capture a Cybershade. The Cybershade escapes the trio. The Doctor, in talking to the man, comes to believe he may be a future incarnation of himself, who is suffering from amnesia. The man, dubbed the Next Doctor, takes the Doctor to a nearby house of a recently deceased reverend, believing him tied to a series of disappearances around London and the Cybershade. Inside, they discover a pair of Cybermen data-storage infostamps, which the Next Doctor recalls holding the night that he lost his memories. The two are attacked by Cybermen and the Doctor attempts to fight them off with a cutlass, but the Next Doctor kills them using electrical discharge from the infostamps.