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Synopsis[edit][edit source]

When the Doctor and Belinda land in Lagos for another Vindicator reading, the Doctor goes to a barbershop to meet an old friend. There, he discovers a mysterious barber trapping the patrons, feeding an engine with their stories.

Plot[edit][edit source]

Omo Esosa sits in a chair, getting a haircut, and tells a story about how he met the Doctor, his village saved by the mysterious man in the blue box. As he speaks, images splay out on the wall behind him, depicting his story to the men listening eagerly. As he finishes, they all look at a pair of lights on the wall in tense anticipation, relaxing when they switch from red to green. Omo tells the others not to worry, the Doctor always comes, and the light switches back to red, alarms blare, and the room shakes.

Belinda Chandra insists that the Doctor take her home, and he suggests that they head to Lagos, Nigeria, the communications hub of Africa, and a place he loves - home of his favorite barbershop. Belinda expresses confusion at this - the TARDIS can do his hair; but he explains that it's about community, about being himself, since it's the first time he's ever been a black man. Belinda understands and sends him off to enjoy himself in Lagos after he takes a Vindicator reading.

The Doctor winds his way through a market, greeting everyone as he passes, before he comes to his friend Omo's barbershop, Omo's Palace, finding those assembled in the middle of a story. As the door closes behind him an alarm goes off in the TARDIS, alerting Belinda that something has gone wrong. The Doctor notices that everyone present is on missing posters outside, and he watches as the man's hair grows back. The light in the barbershop flashes to red, people scramble to decide who still has a story left, and someone sits down, telling the story of Yo-Yo Ma and a shaman, of music and of time. As images flicker on the wall, the Doctor looks on in wonder, and asks how it works, begins testing by throwing out words from his travels. But it has to be a story, it has to be with a haircut. A new barber has taken over the shop, he came one day, and as if by magic the shop became his.

A woman enters the barbershop, Abby, bringing food, the door closes behind her, and an alarm in the TARDIS sounds again. The Doctor recognizes her, but can't place her. The light switches to red again, and the Doctor sits down, telling the most powerful story he knows, not of Weeping Angels or Ice Warriors, but of an ordinary life. Of Belinda Chandra doing her job, helping someone all night long, even on her grandmother's birthday, a simple gesture of thanks two weeks later. Abby watches a screen in another room, seeing it lighting up, noting that they're accelerating, as the story ends. The Barber is impressed with the power of his stories, and tells Abby when she comes out that they need to recalibrate the engine. Omo asks if they can be let free now that the Doctor has come, his stories being effective, his hair having grown in the interim more than any of theirs. But Abby locks the door and the pair leave. The TARDIS sounds an alarm yet again, this time showing Belinda an image of the barbershop.

The Doctor is furious that Omo betrayed him, is willing to trap him here, and refuses to listen as everyone tries to tell him not to open the door. He forces it open with his sonic screwdriver, finding a vacuum on the other side. A vacuum with only giant web and a large spider traversing it, the barbershop on the back of the spider. The Doctor closes the door with great effort, and the Barber emerges from the backroom, explaining that the shop is in Lagos and in outer space at the same time, only Abby and himself able to travel between. Outside, Belinda finds herself lost, but is pointed towards the shop by a young girl, entering it, glad to see the Doctor. Reunited, the pair confront the Barber, calling him a coward who hides his face, having no real power. Rising to the taunt, the Barber names himself, calling himself Anansi, Sága, Bastet, Dionysus, Loki, the god of stories. The pair burst out laughing - the Doctor has met Bastet, Sága, Dionysus, Anansi. He's partied with them, Anansi even tricked him to marry his daughter. This man isn't any of them.

And so the man admits, he's the person who did their work for them. Wherever the gods went, he took their stories, cleaned them up, refined them, wrote them down, all for humans to repeat them, to keep the gods alive. Without him the gods would not exist. The web outside is his creation as well, the nexus, a web that connects cultures and ideas. He was so successful that the gods abandoned him, and now he wants vengeance. The engine winds down, so much power drained from the Doctor opening the door. Abby criticizes him, and the Doctor recognizes her at last - Anansi's daughter, Abena. He's sorry that he was unable to help her, but he was a fugitive at the time, and had his own story.

The light turns red, and the Barber insists the Doctor tell a story. The Doctor refuses, demanding to know what vengeance is being planned. The Barber relents - he plans to cut out the gods from memory when he reaches the center of the nexus, erasing them from existence. The Doctor is horrified, this will damage humanity, as it will harm their ability to tell stories, to pass down information, insisting that this is horrific. He refuses to sit down and speak, he won't let the spider go further. As the shop descends into chaos, everyone arguing, Abena proclaims that she will tell a story, and begins to braid the Doctor's hair. And she tells a story of plantation slaves transmitting information through the braids on their hair, maps to freedom for anyone who could escape, hidden in a place where the overseers would never check. As the battery stabilizes, the Doctor and Belinda run into the back room, finding themselves in a maze, a maze for which the Doctor has the map on his head.

The pair come to a room full of artifacts from various cultures and the ship's engine, an engine that runs on stories, a heart inside a brain. The Barber enters the room behind them, having cut Abena off from the outside, the Doctor disrupting the flow of power, slowing the spider down but not stopping it. The Barber insists that the Doctor has done nothing. So the Doctor suggests that they consider Ernest Hemingway, who wrote a story in six words. The Doctor's six word story is "I'm born. I die. I'm born." And energy begins to flow into the engine, never-ending energy, as his past lives flicker across the screens. But the Doctor has disrupted the engine, it can't process the power. He tells the Barber that now it's his choice - he can save the people in the shop by opening the door. But the engine will disintegrate. The Barber unlocks the door and Omo, Adena and the rest out front escape. The Doctor sends Belinda back as he sits with the Barber, talking to him, convincing him that he still has more to live for. The pair escape the shop at the last moment as it collapses, the engine exploding, destroying the spider it rode on.

Omo apologizes to the Doctor, and says that he should have protected the Doctor, they're part of the same community. The two make up. Omo gives the Barber his shop, saying that he's retiring, and gives him a name, his father's name, Adétòkunbo. Adétòkunbo steps back into the barbershop, now his. The Doctor and Belinda step back into the TARDIS, one step closer to home.

Cast[edit][edit source]

• The Doctor - Ncuti Gatwa
• Belinda Chandra - Varada Sethu
• Omo Esosa - Sule Rimi
• The Barber - Ariyon Bakare
• Rashid Abubakar - Stefan Adegbola
• Tunde Adebayo - Jordan Adene
• Obioma Okoli - Michael Balogun
• Abena - Michelle Asante
• Paramedic - Simon Bailey
• Consultant - Adrian Pang
• Patient - Tessa Bell-Briggs
• Mrs Flood - Anita Dobson
• Market Seller - Inua Ellams
• Security Guard - Funmi James
• Poppy - Sienna-Robyn Mavanga-Phipps
• The Doctor - Jo Martin

Crew[edit][edit source] Executive Producers Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner and Jane Tranter with Joel Collins and Phil Collinson Written by Inua Ellams Produced by Vicki Delow Directed by Makalla McPherson Director of Photography Ashley Barron ACS Production Designer Phil Sims Visual EffectsOne of Us Make-up Designer Julie Kendrick

Casting Director Andy Pryor CDG/CSA

Music Murray Gold

Costume Designer Pam Downe Edited by Carly Brown Special EffectsReal SFX

Original theme music by Ron Grainer • Title sequence by Painting Practice & Realtime Visualisation Music conducted by Alastair King • Assistant to Composer - Sam Dinley • Music performed by BBC National Orchestra of Wales

General production staff

• Executive Producer for the BBC - Nick Lambon
• Production Executive - Steffan Morris
• Co-producer - Sharon King
• Line Producer - Angela Phillips
• Production Manager - Delmi Thomas
• Supervising Location Manager - Iwan Roberts
• Location Manager - Alex Moore
• Assistant Location Manager - Shuaib Said
• Location Assistant - Victoria Louise Jolliffe
• Unit Manager - Kyle Yates
• Production Co-ordinator - Liam Hobbs
• Production Assistant - Lisa Elena Williams
• Production Secretaries - Chris Harkus, Eryn Parsons
• Production Office Runners - Rugie Begum, Thani J Subkhi
• Production Accountant - Peter Stainthorpe

Script department

• Script Editor - David Cheung
• Assistant Script Editor - Hilla Hamidi

Camera and lighting department

• 1st Assistant Directors - Kole Onis, Dan Mumford
• 2nd Assistant Director - Charlie Campbell
• 3rd Assistant Director - Jennifer Day
• Floor Runners - Devante Fleming, Micah Joshua Brown
• Script Supervisor - Nicki Coles
• Camera Operator - James Chesterton ACO
• B Camera Operator - Steve Rees
• Camera Trainee - Chai Lee Tan
• Key Grip - Bobby Williams
• Grip - Ken Hodgson
• Gaffer - Mark Hutchings
• Rigging Gaffer - Chris Kiley
• Best Boy - Gareth Sheldon
• Electricians - Andrew Williams, Benji Hutchings, Jon Down, Christian Davies

Art department

• Supervising Art Directors - Robyn Paiba, Faye Boustead
• Art Directors - Hattie Gent, Jon Horsham
• Assistant Art Director - Eleri Lloyd
• Art Department Assistant - Ilee Khezrzadeh
• Art Department Co-ordinator - Martin Davies-Redgrave
• Art Department Accountant - Dan Pey
• Production Buyer - Helen O'Leary
• Assistant Buyer - Jac Cox
• Petty Cash Buyer - Oyrania Vakoulis-Morris
• Set Decorator - Adrian Anscombe
• Action Props Buyer - Becky Moore
• Storyboard Artist - Michael Collins
• Graphic Designer - Stephen Fielding
• Standby Props - Phill Bull, Jonathan Barclay
• Standby Carpenter - Lee Hosken
• Prop Hands - John Thomas, Atiff Tahir, Jason White, Matthew Shrimpton, Scott Jones, Ingo Hans, Jamie Southcott
• Standby Art Director - Brad Perry
• Rigging - Shadow Rigging
• Standby Rigger - Nigel Owen
• Standby Painter - Jessie Thomas
• Prop Master - Nick Thomas
• Props Chargehand - Stuart Rankmore
• Prop Storeman - Charlie Malik
• Construction Manager - Rhys Griffiths
• Construction Coordinator - Ffion Roberts
• Construction Chargehands - Ashley Bullock, Gareth Jones
• Practical Electrician - Phillip D Jones
• Scenic Artists - Inga Jastrumskaite, Mike Carter, Shane Patterson
• Draughtspersons - Katja Allen-Kormylo, Imogen Dhesi
• Carpenters - Christopher Hawksworth, Dave Martynski, Dean Page, Harriet Jones, Huw Morgan, Jason Thomas, Jonathan Tylke, Mark Borde, Mikey Davies, Patrick Watts, Richard Griffiths, Sam Burridge

Costume department

• Costume Supervisor - Maria Nicholson
• Assistant Costume Designer - Raïssa Hans

Make-up and prosthetics

Movement

• Stunt Co-ordinator - Derek Lea
• Stunt Performer - Paul Joseph
• Wire Supervisor - Max Schofield

Casting

• Casting Associate - Becky Rossmaur
• Casting Assistant - Kristian Wall

General post-production staff

• Post-production Producer - Ceres Doyle
• Post-production Supervisor - Louise Sutton
• Post-production Co-ordinator - Marley McCallum
• On-line Editor - Christine Kelly
• Assistant On-line Editor - Monika Bednarczyk

Special and visual effects

• Additional VFX - BBC Wales Graphics
• VFX Producer - Anne Akande
• VFX Editor - Harri McAinsh
• Assistant VFX Editor - Catrin Rees
• VFX Co-ordinators - Chrysti-Anne Wright, Stephanie Kate Jones
• Colourist - Gareth Spensley

Sound

• Sound Recordist - Alex Thompson
• Music Editor - Marnie Davidge
• Re-recording Mixer - Paul McFadden
• Audio Post-production - Bang Post Production

Not every person who worked on this adventure was credited. The absence of a credit for a position doesn't necessarily mean the job wasn't required. The information above is based solely on observations of the actual end credits of the episodes as broadcast, and does not relay information from IMDB or other sources.

Worldbuilding[edit][edit source]

• The Barber claims to be Anansi, Dionysus, Sága, Loki, and Bastet. In return, the Doctor relates encounters he had with all of those deities: winning a bet against Anansi, having a drinking contest with Dionysus that caused a drought in Athens, watching Marvel movies with Sága, and losing a game of chess to Bastet.
• The Story Engine has a large collection of artefacts related to stories. The room of shelves includes a human skull, several mirrors, a bronze statue of Ra, a life-sized statue of a bearded man, sheet music, a helmet, copies of The Old Man and the Sea, A Moveable Feast, and To Have and Have Not, and a statue of a charioteer. The area around the heart has a statue of a dancing Hindu goddess, a gong, a clock, a statue of an Indian elephant, a model ship, several televisions, Jumanji, and a marionette.

Notes[edit][edit source]

• The episode has a smooth transition from the "cold opening" into the title sequence, with the title sequence first appearing in the shop window, and then the camera slowly zooming closer until the image fills the frame and the window fades away.
• The title of the episode was revealed on official social media on 22 March 2025.[1]
• On 8 May, the prequel short story What I Did On My Holidays By Omo Esosa, also written by Inua Ellams, was published on the Doctor Who website.[2]
  • Some of the artwork from it was shown on the shop window in this episode when Omo Esosa was telling his story of the Doctor.
• The story shares many themes and ideas with other work by Ellams.
  • The 2017 play Barber Shop Chronicles prominently explored barber shops as places of friendship and culture. It featured many barber shops, including one in Lagos. A version of the story about Yo-Yo Ma and the shaman was part of this play.
  • The 2019 play The Half-God of Rainfall depicted a world in which the gods of all religions coexist as separate figures who interact and fight with each other. Orunmila appeared, presented as the Orisha of stories. Ellams viewed the character Abena as echoing the title character of this play, as both are newly-invented children of gods.[3]
  • The 2020 poetry book The Actual had a poem about the Yo-Yo Ma story, as well as a poem comparing rapping to time travel which mentions Doctor Who.
• The Yo-Yo Ma anecdote is based on the musician's trip to Botswana which was filmed for the 1993 documentary Distant Echoes: Yo-Yo Ma & the Kalahari Bushmen.
• For the UK debut on BBC iPlayer, the episode was first released as an audio description version only. The standard version of the episode was then released a few minutes later.
• Episode writer Inua Ellams appears as a market seller, marking the second time a person has written and acted in the same episode, following Mark Gatiss in Victory of the Daleks [+].
• Sienna-Robyn Mavanga-Phipps as Poppy and Jo Martin as the Fugitive Doctor were omitted from the advance credits.[4]
• The Ernest Hemingway anecdote of challenging him to write a story in six words appears to be referencing 'For sale: baby shoes, never worn.', a story misattributed to Hemingway.

Myths[edit][edit source]

to be added

Filming locations[edit][edit source]

to be added

Ratings[edit][edit source]

to be added

Production errors[edit][edit source] If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.

to be added

• The Doctor uses the Vindicator, as he previously did in TV: Lux [+], TV: The Well [+], TV: Lucky Day [+] and COMIC: His Mad Pranks [+].
• Mrs Flood's cameo, for the first time, occurs in a flashback rather than the present, in the story the Doctor recounts about how Belinda saved a patient's life. She's seen walking down the hallway just before Belinda meets the patient again and is given flowers.
• The Doctor recognises Abby from his encounter with Anansi when he was the Fugitive Doctor, indicating he now has access to some of the memories that were erased by Division.
• Belinda sees an apparition of Captain Poppy just before she reaches the barber shop. When she later tells the Doctor about seeing a little girl, he guesses it was due to stories from the Story Engine leaking out.
• When the Doctor overcharges the engine with his endless story, it is shown with clips of the Second Doctor from TV: Tomb of the Cybermen [+], the Third Doctor in TV: Spearhead from Space [+], the Ninth Doctor in TV: The Doctor Dances [+], the Tenth Doctor in TV: Voyage of the Damned [+], the Twelfth Doctor in TV: The Zygon Inversion [+], the Thirteenth Doctor in TV: The Power of the Doctor [+] with audio from TV: The Woman Who Fell to Earth [+], audio of the Fifth Doctor from TV: The Five Doctors [+], the Eleventh Doctor in TV: Vincent and the Doctor [+], the Fourth Doctor in TV: Pyramids of Mars [+], the Eighth Doctor in TV: The Night of the Doctor [+], the First Doctor in TV: The Daleks in Colour [+], Tegan Jovanka, Vislor Turlough, and the Fifth Doctor in TV: The Five Doctors [+] (saying the line heard earlier), the Sixth Doctor in TV: The Ultimate Foe [+] and the Fifteenth Doctor in TV: Space Babies [+]. Clips of the Fourteenth Doctor in TV: The Giggle [+], the First Doctor in TV: "Flashpoint" [+], the Twelfth Doctor in TV: Heaven Sent [+] and a still of the Fifteenth Doctor in TV: Boom [+] appear in the background of the following scene.

in article: The Story & the Engine (TV story)/Gallery External links

• Official The Story & the Engine page on doctorwho.tv

Footnotes[

1. ↑ @BBC (2025-03-22). Doctor Who episode titles REVEALED! ⚡. YouTube. Archived from the original on 2025-03-22.
2. ↑ Inua Ellams (2025-05-08). Read an exclusive prequel to 'The Story & the Engine' from writer Inua Ellams. doctorwho.tv. Archived from the original on 2025-05-08.
3. ↑ Amanda-Rae Prescott (2025-05-10). Doctor Who Writer Explains "The Story & The Engine" Inspirations and Ending. Den of Geek. Archived from the original on 2025-05-11.
4. ↑ Doctor Who, Season 2, The Story and the Engine. BBC One. Archived from the original on 2025-04-30.