Yaz returns home for her grandmother’s birthday, and finds herself receiving a gift rather than giving one: a broken watch which is said to have belonged to her grandfather, whom she never met, though Yaz is disappointed when her grandmother refuses to explain why the watch has never been repaired. But Yaz has something that most family researchers don’t – access to a time machine – and convinces the Doctor to journey back to the events surrounding the breaking of the watch. But since Yaz has no idea what events transpired, she’s unwittingly bringing the TARDIS and her fellow time travelers into danger: her grandmother was married on the day that British-ruled India was divided into sovereign India and Pakistan, with tensions between soon-to-be-displaced Hindus and Muslims about to explode into widespread violence. Two aliens, whom the Doctor assumes to be assassins interfering in the timeline, appear repeatedly, though not for the reason that the Doctor expects. The grandfather Yaz never met will die on this day, and if Yaz is too careless with her own intervention in her family’s history, she could cease to exist as well.
written by Vinay Patel
directed by Jamie Childs
music by Segun AkinolaCast: Jodie Whittaker (The Doctor), Bradley Walsh (Graham O’Brien), Tosin Cole (Ryan Sinclair), Mandip Gill (Yasmin Khan), Leena Dhingra (Nani Umbreen), Amita Suran (Umbreen), Shane Zaza (Prem), Hamza Jeetooa (Manish), Shaheen Khan (Hasna), Shobna Gulati (Najia), Ravin J. Ganatra
(Hakim), Bhavnisha Parmar (Sonya), Emma Fielding (voice of Kisar), Nathalie Cuzner (performance of Kisar), Isobel Middleton (voice of Almak), Barbara Fadden (performance of Almak)
Notes: In additional to appearances on Coronation Street and EastEnders, Leena Dhingra has a prior Doctor Who appearance (as Miss Chandrakala in 2008’s The Unicorn And The Wasp). Shane Zaza appears in TNT’s Will, and appeared in the Nosedive episode of Black Mirror, while Hamza Jeetooa appeared in two episodes of the original BBC version of Being Human.
LogBook entry by Earl Green
