The Siege of Big Ben

Short Trips #8.6

Released: 29 June 2018

This short trips and the next are unique in that they’re the only stories to date that feature the Metacrisis Tenth Doctor, a.k.a. Rose’s Consolation Prize. They’re narrated by Camille Coduri, and told from Jackie’s somewhat erratic point of view, as a story to a friend who Jackie doesn’t seem to think much of. The story takes place on Pete’s World, after “Journey’s End,” with Pete, Rose, and the Doctor heading up this world’s version of UNIT, which happens to be housed in Big Ben. Jackie runs the cafeteria, apparently. Thing is, back in “Journey’s End,” we discovered that the Metacrisis Doctor doesn’t have a lot of the restraint that our Doctor has. He’s raw, and tends toward violent solutions. This makes Jackie not trust him around Rose, which honestly makes sense. And that’s really the arc here: how the Doctor comes closer to what his progenitor is. Plot shenanigans keep Pete and Rose out of the story, as the Doctor and Jackie deal with an apparent invasion at UNIT HQ, which turns out to be not what it seems. And Jackie, for all her shortcomings, delivers the empathy and fierce love for her daughter that makes the difference, and makes an impression on the Doctor as well.