Everything you need to know about Doctor Who series 10 episode 11 – World Enough and Time

This week’s episode is called World Enough and Time, a reference to a poem by Andrew Marvell called To His Coy Mistress (presumably a reference to Michelle Gomez’ villain Missy) which contains some significant lines for fans who’ve been watching the Doctor and Missy’s vault storyline this series:

Had we but world enough and time,

This coyness, lady, were no crime.

We would sit down, and think which way

To walk, and pass our long love’s day.

[…]

But at my back I always hear

Time’s wingèd chariot hurrying near;

And yonder all before us lie

Deserts of vast eternity.

Thy beauty shall no more be found;

Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound

My echoing song;

Hmmm... curious and curiouser…

When is it on TV?

The episode will air on Saturday 24^th June on BBC1 at 6.45pm

What happens in it?

The Doctor tests Missy’s newfound good nature by giving her a lifesaving mission on a ship being pulled into a black hole – but when the arrival of the Mondasian Cybermen and John Simm’s previous incarnation of The Master complicate matters, will she still resist the call to evil?

As series showrunner Steven Moffat exclusively told us:

“My name’s Doctor Who.”

Friendship drives the Doctor into the rashest decision of his life. Trapped on a giant spaceship, caught in the event horizon of a black hole, he witnesses the death of someone he is pledged to protect. Is there any way he can redeem his mistake? Are events already out of control? For once, time is the Time Lord’s enemy...

Who’s in it?

Peter Capaldi, Pearl Mackie and Matt Lucas return as the Doctor, Bill and Nardole, with Michelle Gomez also back as female reincarnation of The Master Missy.

However, fans will be most excited to see John Simm back in the episode as an earlier version of The Master, last seen transported back into the Time War in 2010 episode The End of Time part two and now returning for unknown purposes.

Who’s written it?

Series showrunner Steven Moffat has penned this story, the third-to-last Doctor Who episode he’ll ever write when you factor in series finale The Doctor Falls and December’s Christmas special, which will mark his departure from the series.

Who are the baddies?

Well, take your pick – between the Mondasian Cybermen (back after 50 years, above), John Simm’s Master and (potentially) Michelle Gomez’s Missy, there’s a veritable avalanche of evil for the Doctor to deal with this week.

Anything else?

This week’s episode has been hinted to feature a significant character death, with much of the evidence pointing towards Pearl Mackie’s companion Bill being the one to meet her maker.

However, considering the story takes place on a spaceship where different areas move at different time speeds (due to its immense length and its gradual absorption into a black hole), we’d say any characters killed off won’t remain so for long.