Boom (Doctor Who)

307 – "Boom"
Doctor Who episode
Promotional poster
Cast
Doctor Ncuti Gatwa – Fifteenth Doctor
Companion Millie Gibson – Ruby Sunday
Others Joe Anderson – John Francis Vater Majid Mehdizadeh-Valoujerdy – Carson Caoilinn Springall – Splice Alison Vater Varada Sethu – Mundy Flynn Bhav Joshi – Canterbury James Olliphant Susan Twist – Ambulance
Production
Directed by	Julie Anne Robinson
Written by	Steven Moffat
Script editor	Scott Handcock
Produced by	Vicki Delow
Executive producer(s)	Russell T Davies Julie Gardner Jane Tranter Joel Collins Phil Collinson Julie Anne Robinson Steven Moffat
Music by	Murray Gold
Series	Series 14
Running time	44 minutes
First broadcast	18 May 2024 (2024-05-18)
Chronology
← Preceded by "The Devil's Chord" Followed by → "73 Yards"

"Boom" is the third episode of the fourteenth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was written by Steven Moffat, who had previously been showrunner from 2010 to 2017, and directed by Julie Anne Robinson. It was broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 18 May 2024 and released in the United States on Disney+ on 17 May.

The episode revolves around the Fifteenth Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and his companion, Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson), who land on an alien planet in the midst of a large-scale war. When the Doctor steps on a landmine, he is forced to come up with a solution to disarm it without moving. In what is considered to be a bottle episode, Varada Sethu, who wasn't expected to debut in Doctor Who until the following series, makes a guest appearance as Mundy Flynn.

The episode was watched by 3.57 million viewers and critical reception of the episode was positive.

Plot

On a war-torn alien planet, injured soldier, John Francis Vater, a member of the Anglican Army, is captured by a robotic ambulance, and killed by it and turned into a cylinder containing an AI with his personality. After arriving in the TARDIS, The Doctor and Ruby chase after Vater's screams. In the process, the Doctor steps on a landmine which comes from the Villengard weapons manufacturing company. The landmine is triggered by affecting the DNA of whoever steps on it and turning them into an explosive. He knows his DNA, that of a Time Lord, not a human, would cause an explosion that would destroy half the planet.

Rather than having to continue standing on one leg, the Doctor takes Vater's cylinder to counterbalance himself. Vater's daughter Splice arrives, looking for her father. Ruby is forced to keep Splice away from the Doctor and the cylinder so she won't trigger the landmine. The trio are then joined by soldier, Mundy Flynn, also a part of the Anglican Army, who explains they are fighting Kastarions, aliens thought to live underground. Mundy shoots the Doctor, which attracts another ambulance. Ruby and Mundy are forced to distract it with combat so that it doesn't "treat" the Doctor. Before Ruby can shoot Mundy in the arm, soldier Canterbury James Olliphant (known as Canto), who harbours a crush on Mundy, arrives. Unaware of their plan, Canto shoots Ruby instead, leaving her severely injured.

The Doctor reveals the truth: there are no Kastarions and Villengard is making money simply off the soldiers being there. To stop the landmine, as well as the ambulances arriving en masse, they need to surrender. As neither Mundy nor Canto have the authority to do so, the Doctor convinces Vater's AI to go into Villengard's databases to find proof that there are no Kastarions to convince the Anglicans to surrender. While trying to reconfigure an ambulance treating Ruby, Canto is killed. In his cylinder, Canto admits to Mundy how much he loves her. Villengard's ambulances attempt to stop Vater, but he succeeds in shutting off the landmine, thus allowing the Doctor to step off it. This also shuts down all of Villengard, ending the war, and allowing the ambulance to actually treat Ruby. Mundy takes Splice in, having previously promised Vater she would, as they see a relieved Doctor and Ruby off.

Production

Development

The episode marked the return of Steven Moffat, a former showrunner, to the series as a guest writer.

"Boom" was written by former Doctor Who showrunner and executive producer Steven Moffat. It was the first episode he'd written for the programme since "Twice Upon a Time" in 2017. He was invited to return to the show by the incumbent showrunner, Russell T Davies, after his own return to Doctor Who and who was also Moffat's original predecessor. When conceptualizing the episode, Moffat took inspiration from the first episode of Genesis of the Daleks (1975) in which the Doctor steps on a landmine for a few moments, wanting to expand on the concept to span an episode's entirety. He also hoped to create a suspenseful episode, feeling that it was one genre the programme had not previously explored. Moffat stated that he began writing a rough version of the episode in late-2021 before officially telling the production office he had accepted Davies's offer. After writing the first 12-14 pages of the script, he believed the episode didn't start in the proper place and started fresh. The episode expanded on the story of a fictional company called "Villengard" that manufactures weapons, which was first mentioned in "The Doctor Dances" (2005) and was also written by Moffat. The read-through for the episode took place on 1 March 2023. Moffat assumed the role of executive producer and led meetings that determined the tone of the episode before filming began. "Boom" featured limited set locations and a small cast causing it to be considered a bottle episode.

Filming

The production team scouted the crater at Parys Mountain as a potential filming location.

"Boom" was filmed in the third production block of the fourteenth series along with "Space Babies". Julie Anne Robinson directed the episode and chose to film the episode scene-by-scene rather than out of order as typically done. Robinson also chose to film longer takes than usually done on the series, some of which lasted up to seven minutes.

The production team needed a crater with which they could film for up to 20 days. They considered filming on-location and scouted many quarries including Parys Mountain in Wales. Production designer Phil Sims ultimately decided to build the set on a soundstage at Wolf Studios Wales to avoid the possibility of inclement weather. An encampment set in the episode was constructed on the backlot at Wolf Studios and utilized shipping containers and the external wall of the studio as a backdrop. The remainder of the fictional alien planet used as a setting was made using computer-generated imagery and displayed on a large LED display.

Casting

The episode featured a previously unannounced appearance by Varada Sethu, who portrayed Mundy Flynn. Sethu had previously been announced as a companion for the fifteenth series of the programme. Sethu later revealed that she was not cast for series fifteen until well after "Boom" had completed filming. Davies confirmed that Sethu's companion character would not be Flynn but suggested an eventual connection between the two. Moffat compared the appearance to that of Jenna Coleman's Clara Oswald, a former companion of the Doctor who was announced as a companion and appeared as a slightly different although connected character a year earlier than expected.

Susan Twist portrayed the Ambulance AI depicted in the episode. Twist had also made appearances in the preceding episodes as seemingly disparate characters. The remainder of the guest cast was made up of Joe Anderson, Majid Mehdizadeh-Valoujerdy, Caoilinn Springall, and Bhav Joshi.

Broadcast and reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Rotten Tomatoes (Tomatometer)	86%
Rotten Tomatoes (Average Rating)	7.8/10
Review scores
Source	Rating
Digital Spy
Empire
Evening Standard
i
IGN	8/10
Radio Times
The Independent
The Telegraph
Total Film
TV Fanatic

Broadcast

In the United Kingdom, "Boom" was first released on BBC iPlayer and aired on BBC One on 18 May 2024. It was released simultaneously on Disney+ in the United States on 17 May. Disney also handled international distribution of the episode outside of the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Ratings

The episode had an overnight viewing figure of 2.04 million during its broadcast on BBC One. It was the highest-viewed programme on BBC One for the day. The episode was down almost 200 thousand viewers from the previous episode, "The Devil's Chord". The episode received a total of 3.57 million consolidated viewers.

Critical reception

On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 86% of 14 critics gave the episode a positive review. The website's critics consensus states, "With former showrunner Steven Moffat returning for screenwriting duties, "Boom" takes great steps forward in this new duo's development even as Ncuti's Doctor stays perfectly still."

Describing the episode as "an instant classic", Total Film's Emily Murray wrote: "A simple premise beautifully executed, no one can write Doctor Who quite like Moffat – and Ncuti Gatwa has never been better." Stefan Mohamed, writing for Den of Geek, commended the episode for its simplicity, audacity, and exhilarating quality. He highlighted strong lead performances and emphasized that the high concept contributes to an engaging viewing experience, stating "The episode is expertly structured, balancing efficient and interesting world-building, horror, suspense, comedy, emotional character moments, the aforementioned future companion and some compelling themes, without any one aspect overwhelming the others". Gatwa, Gibson, and Sethu were praised for their performances, while Moffat's writing was also enjoyed by reviewers who noted the tension behind the dialogue. Gatwa stated that the episode was his favorite of the series.

Conversely, Ed Power from The Independent felt that Moffat overly contradicted himself and dealt with the episode's topics too bluntly. Additionally, Anita Singh with The Daily Telegraph thought that Disney now co-producing the programme caused too great of an influence on the episode. She mentioned that the set felt like "Star Wars leftovers" and that there was a "cute kid and a cheesy ending." Singh also failed to feel the suspense that the Doctor could actually get blown up in the episode, believing that it was too soon in the series for the new Doctor to die.

External links

• "Boom" at BBC Online
• "Boom" at the Doctor Who Stories Website
• "Boom" on Tardis Wiki, the Doctor Who Wiki
• "Boom" at IMDb