My Concept for Doctor Who Series 16 (Patreon)

I have been a fan of Doctor Who for thirty-eight years. It's one of the major influences in my life that I have never been able to do ANYTHING official with (unlike Black Company, Dungeons & Dragons, Star Trek, and Star Wars, though goodness knows there ARE other major influences I've never gotten to play with).

With the knowledge the show was opened to a competitive tender to decide the next producer of Doctor Who, my brain insisted on thinking about what my pitch would be. Since proposals were due 2 October 2026, I feel like there's no reason not to share my concept. (Though if ANYONE doing ANY official Doctor Who thing likes any of this, hit me up!)

Series 16. Thirteen Episodes, starting RIGHT where the last episode left off.

Episode One--Dab Flow: Rose Tyler tries to figure out how and why she ended up on the TARDIS, since she is supposed to be sealed away forever in a pocket universe, and where the regenerating Doctor has gone.
But first, Axons are invading the TARDIS, AXOS having been freed from the Time Loop the Doctor trapped it in apparently due to the Doctor's disappearance. Rose has to out-think the hive entity, and prevent the TARDIS from falling into its hands.
She realizes the TARDIS has changed its controls so they make sense to ROSE, uses that to defeat the Axons, and then checks the TARDIS's recording of the flow of time/space. She discovered the TARDIS itself used a dab of the Doctor's overflow of regeneration energy to send the Doctor away and materialize Rose. But due to the Relative Dimensions Uncertainty Principle, the TARDIS can't observe why it made these decisions, or where the Doctor is.

Episode Two--The Doctor's Work Wife: At the open of the episode, Rose is frustrated that she's been searching for the Doctor, or ANY Time Lord, for months with no success. She wakes to find the TARDIS standing at the foot of her bed (in the humanoid form of Idris, hopefully played by Suranne Jones). When Rose realizes Idris IS the TARDIS she asks how Idris, as the outside of the TARDIS, could possible ne INSIDE the TARDIS. Idris responds she is bigger on the inside.

The TARDIS is annoyed Rose isn't making any progress finding the Doctor. When Rose complains she hasn't had any help, the TARDIS responds that's why they have gone to get "her Other Time Lord," who is trapped "At the End of the Edge"

The TARDIS lands in a confused vortex like a 3D funhouse mirror maze. The guardian of the End of the Edge notes that, here, while you can go anywhere you've ever been, it's impossible to ever get where you are going. Rose realizes that she was once briefly spread through all space and time, meaning she has already been here, when she wasn't going to the End of the Edge. So, she has been to the end, but instead of going there, she decided to go wherever the TARDIS's Other Time Lord is. She finds herself with Romana (hopefully played by Rebecca Night). Romana saw the entire continuity of space/time changing, and took refuge here "so she couldn't be wiped out by any change in continuity."

Episode Three--The Great Time Lord Bake Off: Romana cannot explain how or why the continuity of time/space was being rewritten, but she thinks she knows where to find out--the Akashic Record. In order to have an immutable record of their own timeline, the Time Lords tapped into a space/time echo that was a recording of everything that ever had or ever would happen. As a Fixed Point in Time, Space, AND Reality, it should be immune to any changes in space/time continuity.

Having been High Chancellor of the Time Lords, Romana knows the highly secret Null Space lack-of-location of the Akashic Record. Romana can't make heads or tails of the TARDIS console, so Rose has to enter the highly secret travel path. Romana rolls her eyes and notes that apparently she's the Companion again!

Arriving at the Akashic Record, Rose and Romana discover it has an Event Lock--it can only be opened by a specific event occurring. The idea is the Event is something that is impossible without being able to travel through time and space. In this case, the event is that the best home cook from 12 planets over 12 centuries must be presented. Romana and Rose go on a whirlwind spree grabbing cooks, grabbing ingredients, putting the cooks all together at the locked door and having them cook.

When the best cooks seem to be having their dishes sabotaged, Rose and Romana try to figure out WHO would do this, and WHY. They uncover a Time Agent is one of the cooks they picked up, and the Time Agency has spread resources throughout space and time to ensure the Time Lords never return, as in the absence of Gallifrey, the Time Agency is the unquestioned ruler of the Web of Time.

One of the underdog cooks creates a dish that, he explains, is designed not to appeal to him, but to appeal to the taste buds of every alien species present. This dish's universal appeal opens the Event Lock, the Akashic Record, and the Fugitive Doctor steps out and looks at Rose and Romana stating "Well, it's about time!"

Outlines for episodes 4-13, and the Christmas Special ("The Zero Doctors") to come.