{"id":8252,"date":"2021-12-05T20:20:56","date_gmt":"2021-12-05T19:20:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1528902"},"modified":"2021-12-05T20:43:12","modified_gmt":"2021-12-05T19:43:12","slug":"doctor-who-finale-hints-at-jodie-whittaker-regeneration","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/doctor-who-finale-hints-at-jodie-whittaker-regeneration\/","title":{"rendered":"Doctor Who finale hints at Jodie Whittaker regeneration"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Huw Fullerton\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Sunday, 05 December 2021 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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We still have almost a year before Jodie Whittaker hands in her TARDIS keys, sheds the sonic screwdriver and officially leaves Doctor Who<\/a> in the 2022 centenary special \u2013 but it looks like the Thirteenth Doctor\u2019s endgame has already begun.<\/p>\n

You see, despite managing to stop the Flux, defeat the Sontarans (and the Ravagers) and save the Earth, the Doctor doesn\u2019t quite end series 13 finale The Vanquishers<\/a> on a high. Instead, she\u2019s given an ominous warning from a personification of Time who notes that while she might have triumphed today her days are still numbered.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can leave here, but you can\u2019t outrun me,\u201d Time (also played by Jodie Whittaker) says.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour time is heading to its end. Nothing is forever. No regeneration, no life. Beware of the forces that mass against you\u2026 and their master.<\/p>

\u201cI restore you, Doctor, reunify you \u2013 but for how long?\u201d<\/p>\n

Dun-dun-daaaaaa!<\/p>\n

Sorry, that was meant to stay in my head. Anyway, this is an intriguing warning, partially because it hints at the return of Sacha Dhawan\u2019s Master (even the Doctor picked up the double meaning this time), but also because it\u2019s the first on-screen hint that this incarnation of the Doctor could be about to regenerate.<\/p>\n

Now, it seems that this regeneration \u2013 in recent years, presented as a kind of \u201cdeath\u201d for the Doctor, sometimes resisted \u2013 could be the arc that hangs over Whittaker\u2019s incarnation for her next three specials. Perhaps we\u2019ll keep getting little hints to it, and worried looks from the Doctor, all building to the inevitable conclusion next November.<\/p>\n

Of course, we\u2019ve seen this kind of thing before during David Tennant\u2019s final year as the Tenth Doctor, where his exit was teased increasingly over a collection of specials. Over the years there have been plenty of explicit parallels between the Tenth and Thirteenth Doctors, so perhaps it\u2019s no surprise that her departure from the series could so closely follow his.<\/p>\n