Circuit Breaker (September 2026)

Chapter the 351st, the end of an epic.

Plot:

[Spoiler alert: the Circuit Breaker epic is the nearest fans will get to a new season of Doctor Who in 2026; so, if you're planning to experience any part of it, best to do so before you read this.] The Fugitive Doctor's quest to return some time-displaced items that have appeared in UNIT's Black Archive - and thereby save the world - reaches its conclusion. Having replaced eight items, another appears in the Black Archive. Disguised as an antique kaleidoscope, it is really part of memory archive device that links space colonists to their roots. Investigations by the Doctor and Martha show that the device is linked to Jamaica and a colony world in the far future set up by a Jamaican businessman of the 21st century. They also discover that the Doctor has had another life on Earth that she has forgotten about. She was Stella Palmer, an adoptee that lived in Jamaica and then became an academic at Oxford. They track down Stella's adopted mother, but the Silence - who have been following the time-trevelling duo - kill her mother by hypnotising her to walk into the sea. The Doctor and Martha's travels eventually lead them to the colony world where they use the Resistor device to neutralise the kaleidoscope's time energy. They then return to UNIT. Instead of this fixing everything, though, it simply causes another object to materialise, this time at the top of UNIT tower instead of in the Black Archive. Martha stays in the archive, while the Doctor, Osgood and Turner rush to the tower to meet Kate Lethbridge-Stewart. The object turns out to be a Sontaran bomb that has an odd temporal effect on the Doctor where she hears and gains some of the memories of her future selves - it's a time bomb, if you will. 

 

The Doctor discovers the bomb is designed to erase her from existence as well as blowing up London. All the work she has done replacing the time-displaced objects and zapping them with the Resistor has built the time circuit that allows it to operate. She feigns death to flush out the traitor working with the Sontarans: it is Turner. She transmats with him to the Conductor's spaceship. The Conductor is a clone mutation, much cleverer than the usual Sontaran. He and Turner have prepared this trap for the Doctor. Turner wants revenge for something the Doctor did when she was an agent for the Division. The bomb requires the Doctor's DNA, which the Carrionites obtained when they took a sample of her hair. Meanwhile, Kate and Osgood attempt to defuse the bomb, so the Conductor sends a platoon of Sontarans to attack UNIT Tower, and a battle ensues. After being goaded, the Conductor spits on the Doctor. The Conductor orders Turner to use the Resistor on her. Turner can't bring himself to do so. She takes the Resistor from him, and with the DNA from the Conductor's saliva, recalibrates it to target the Conductor and zaps him. With time in flux after the Conductor's erasure, the Doctor takes Turner back to his old life, where the trauma he had suffered that made him turn traitor has been undone. The Doctor helps UNIT defuse the bomb, and they imprison the Sontaran platoon.

In supplementary stories, there are glimpses of the backstory of the Conductor and Turner. The former uses his wiles to obtain a timeship and a loyal group of Sontaran soldiers, the latter - with help from the Conductor - comes to the attention of UNIT, who will eventually hire him. 

Context:

I decided to experience each and every part of the extended universe epic that is Circuit Breaker. This third of three blog posts covering the epic focusses on the three parts that became available in September 2026. Penguin's Doctor Who Books imprint novel The Kaleidoscope was first, published on the 3rd of the month, followed by two audio releases a few weeks later. I read or listened to each of these during September 2026 as they came out. I also read the supplementary material provided on the UNIT website; this included fictional mission debriefs from Andrew Turner and extracts from Martha's journal that acted as a catch-up on the other parts of the epic before the big finale, full cast audio Full Circuit. This was followed by an epilogue release of a couple of short story audios providing backstory for characters, Short Circuits. Both audio releases were from Big Finish. Full Circuit came out on the 22nd, and Short Circuits on the 24th September.

First Time Round:

By the end of the epic, I was in my stride with Circuit Breaker, with each release pre-ordered and picked up and enjoyed immediately that it arrived. From early in September to about half way through the month, I read The Kaleidoscope (written by Fugitive Doctor actor Jo Martin). Not long after I finished the novel, a CD copy of Full Circuit (by Robert Valentine) dropped through my letter box. After I listened to that, I listened to the MP3 version of Short Circuits. It wasn't available on CD only as a download, either purchasable on its own or in a bundle with Full Circuit. It comprised two stories, Battleships (by Alex Hewitt) and Get Rich or Die Trying (by Alex Hewitt from a story by Natasha Siegel). I listened to both towards the end of September, rounding off the epic.

Reaction:

To return to my foodie metaphor from the previous two posts, I felt each of the three parts of this last batch needed to be a substantial course, as everything before had been more like a set of small sharing plates. Having now finished all three, I'm happy to report that the creators didn't make a mezze of it...  okay, sorry for that terrible joke, but I can confirm that each of the final three parts of Circuit Breaker is definitely a meal to get one's teeth into. The most substantial is The Kaleidoscope, a full length novel by Jo Martin. Big Finish's full audio finale is exciting and has laser gun battles with Sontarans and the like, but it's still something of a chamber piece with only a few characters. The Kaleidoscope sprawls in comparison, the action covering multiple locations on Earth and in outer space, populated by characters old and new. Martin's plot is probably a bit too convoluted; but the strength is in the colour and character she brings. Some of the convolutions are forgivable as they are necessary manoeuvres to set up the Fugitive Doctor with a childhood that chimes with Martin's own heritage. At some point as a young-seeming girl she arrives in London, is then adopted by a couple and goes to live in Jamaica. This allows Martin to leaven the sci-fi story with characters and textures unique to a particular place, and one previously unexplored in Doctor Who. The book even has a glossary of the Jamaican proverbs used in the text added as an appendix. But this is - what? - at least the third secret life that the Fugitive Doctor has had and subsequently forgotten. A long-term fan can get dizzy trying to follow the continuity: the Stella Palmer identity was presumably dropped when the Division caught up with the Fugitive Doctor, then she worked for them again, escaped again, and hid out on Earth again.

With the book's themes regarding memory, it must have seemed a good idea to include the amnesia-inducing Silence as an adversary. I'm not so sure. With the Fugitive Doctor's memory having been edited so many times already, adding even more (with characters referring back to scenes that the Doctor has forgotten, and we've not read about, as the Silence have intervened) adds to the confusion. There's mentions of the number of time-displaced items previously returned in the quest that's inconsistent with all the other parts of Circuit Breaker. Is that a plot point related to the Silence's brain editing, or just the usual slip that might happen, as mentioned last time, when editing a number of different texts to a tight deadline? I suspect its the latter. The Silence also have nothing to do with the Circuit Breaker epic; they're just engaged in their usual (and just as convoluted) shenanigans attempting to block the Doctor from going to Trenzalore and restarting the Time War and all that jazz. It might have been better to either invent a new alien or use red-eyed Ood or something. The Silence do give the novel one of its most memorable moments, however: giving the hypnotic suggestion to Stella Palmer's adopted mother causing her to walk into the sea and drown. Another positive is that the relationship between the Doctor and Martha is explored in a way that couldn't be done in other media. It's a shame that the curse of epic editing detracts again: Memento Mori, the story that came just before the book, ends with the Doctor and Martha deciding not to travel with each other again, and yet they still are. Also, because Big Finish have not secured Freema Agyeman's vocal talents, Martha disappears between the cliffhanger ending of the book and the start of the Full Circuit audio (staying behind in the Black Archive rather than going where the action is).

Full Circuit is fast paced and fun. For someone who has collected and experienced every part of the Circuit Breaker epic, finally hearing the interplay between the Doctor, Osgood and Turner performed rather than just seeing it written down was very enjoyable. Members of the dependable extended Big Finish repertory company, actors who've appeared many times across their different ranges, are present and correct. Jo Martin, of course, fronts her own series of Fugitive Doctor releases for BF - there's a reference to bad blood between her and the Sontarans that I believe is a reference to one of those stories, but it doesn't distract if you haven't listened to it (as I haven't). Jemma Redgrave as Kate and Ingrid Oliver as Osgood are both as good as we've come to expect from their many appearances over the years. Dan Starkey gets to do a slightly different version of a Sontaran, performing the sly villainy of the Conductor. There are some surprise cameos too, with the Doctor hearing snatches of speech from her future selves when in proximity to the time bomb. Guest star Omari Douglas has the best arc to play, giving us Turner as loyal puppy dog at first, before he's revealed to be a traitor, bitter and vengeful thanks to events in his past. Turner's treachery was not much of a surprise: it has been telegraphed from early on in the epic. I have a feeling this was deliberate, though. By allowing the audience to focus on who was the traitor, we might well have found ourselves distracted from the why. Turner's identity links in to a previous part of the epic in a satisfying way; I'm kicking myself that I didn't see it coming.

A dessert comes in the shape of the Short Circuits audio release. The two short stories that form this release were literally an afterthought (script editor of Full Circuit Alex Hewitt decided it would be interesting to see a little bit of the Conductor and Turner's backstory). Dan Starkey reads both, voicing a variety of characters with aplomb. They're not the most in-depth tales, but they don't outstay their welcome. Overall, the epic was enjoyable enough as a personal experiment, a good opportunity to experience new adventures of the somewhat unexplored character of the Fugitive Doctor. 

Connectivity:

Like the second batch, this third and final set of three parts of Circuit Breaker features prose published by Penguin books as part of their Doctor Who range, a scuffle with Sontarans, and at least one story with Martha Jones as companion.

Deeper Thoughts:

Back to the Wilderness - 3 of 3: Fleece or Golden? I pay an annual licence fee in the UK, so when I watch a new season of Doctor Who it is free at the point of use. This is not the case for Circuit Breaker, my make-do new season of Who in 2026. This 21st century wilderness period that we fans find ourselves in may turn out to be long or short (more on the possibility of the latter in a moment); whatever duration, though, we'll need something Doctor Who-related to sustain us. The first part of these deeper thoughts (see here) focussed on the diverting exercise of speculating about when and if a new series will be coming back and in what form, jumping hungrily on each scrap of news and devouring it. The good news about that pastime is that it's free, monetarily at least - there may be a psychological cost to all that uncertainty and obsession. The second part of these deeper thoughts (see here) highlighted the rich and sprawling back catalogue, the TV episodes and TV spin-offs from 1963 to 2025. Almost all of this is available and free at the point of use for UK licence fee payers. Outside of the UK, it's not so easy to access material from before 2005; one also would need to subscribe to more than one streamer to get everything from the 21st century. Many fans have already invested in home video releases of Doctor Who on DVD or Blu-ray, however; that investment would definitely pay off during any period with Doctor Who off air. In the original wilderness years starting in 1990, there was no streaming, the home video range was just beginning and having Doctor Who episodes to own and keep was a relatively new opportunity. Most fans therefore will find it much cheaper this time around watching old episodes during the gap before new episodes are made again.

The third and final source of sustenance is the vast pile of original work in the 'extended universe' of licenced Doctor Who tie-ins - comics, books, audios, short stories and more featuring the Doctor and/or any of the hundreds of other characters from the series. Circuit Breaker represents the latest batch of these, but more and more become available on almost a daily basis. In 1990, it was very different: there was almost nothing outside of fan fiction, and that was difficult to get in the era before the World Wide Web. Only the regular comic strip in the monthly Doctor Who Magazine kept the official story of Who going. A fan didn't have to worry about making choices and saving pennies until, as the decade wore on, original novels and then original audios become available. Since then, there have been so many releases that nobody but the most mega-rich superfan could collect them all. Those of us for whom budgets are more limited have to use discernment in our choices. So, was Circuit Breaker a good choice? Was it worth the money? As mentioned last time, I skipped the Blu-ray box set of TV stories that I already owned. That left 12 releases. Two of these were stories on a Doctor Who website and cost me no money. Another was a comic given away with Doctor Who Magazine, to which I anyway subscribe. Of the nine remaining, there were two Titan comics, three audios (one from BBC Audio, two from Big Finish) and a novel from Penguin. All of these were competitively priced and enjoyable enough examples of their kind.

Of the three remaining, two were events in the Lost In Time game app, which is free to download. One progresses through a chapter of the app's main story in several cut-scene snippets, the gaps between them getting longer as the milestones get progressively more difficult to achieve. The stories are kept simple so that the thread can easily be picked up. In a time-sensitive event like the two Circuit Breaker stories, though, one has to give the app more attention to get to the end of the narrative in the time allocated. To speed things up and avoid spending every minute of each event glued to one's phone, one can either watch ads or make in-app purchases. Avoiding the latter for reasons of cost, I had to indulge in the former. It wasn't that pleasant - the ads, generally for other mobile games, are repetitive, and some are exploitative and even exploitatively risqué - but it didn't cost any money. Finally, there was a short story added to a new paperback edition of the Time Lord Fairy Tales book. I got this as a gift; if it hadn't, though, I would have been miffed at having to buy a whole book just for a few pages of Circuit Breaker. The book is an odd one, comprising Doctor Who takes on Brothers Grimm or Hans Christian Andersen favourites. Some of these work (my favourite was a version of Little Red Riding Hood with Rose as the titular character, the Eccleston Doctor as the Woodsman, and a Zygon disguised as the grandmother), but its hard to imagine the book as a whole satisfying either child or adult. Additionally, the original stories were all written by one author (the recently departed and much missed Justin Richards); the new one is by a different author and serves a different purpose, so can't help but feel stylistically different and therefore tacked on.

On balance, I'd say that Circuit Breaker was worth the money. Having tried it once, though, I likely won't be rushing to collect every part of any future multimedia tie-in epic. Mind you, there might not be another one before Doctor Who returns to free-to-air TV again. Continuing the theme that I mentioned in the Deeper Thoughts of my last post, the timing of BBC press releases and news stories continues to undermine my theory that these new Who wilderness could run and run. After I was skeptical that the tender process would ever get started, there were announcements of the opening up for submissions; the process has now reached its deadline and closed. Subsequently, some production companies have gone on record that they have put in a bid, for example Jed Mercurio (of Line of Duty fame) with Hat Trick Productions. It's all looking very real. Outgoing showrunner Russell T Davies has suggested that the audience will be aware of a new Doctor and a new companion and production starting up as early as Summer 2027. Before that, the CBeebies version of Doctor Who (which I speculated might never get made) is likely to be on air. A 'first look' image of what the Better Half is already referring to as Doctor Who Muppet Babies (real title, Doctor Who: TARDIS Crew) was released in early October 2026. If I weren't digging in my heels and forcing myself not to, I might even feel a little excited.

In Summary:

Circuit broken.