The Giggle

303 – "The Giggle"
Doctor Who episode
Promotional poster
Cast
Others
Production
Directed byChanya Button
Written byRussell T Davies
Script editorScott Handcock
Produced byVicki Delow
Executive producer(s)
Music byMurray Gold
Series2023 specials
Running time62 minutes
First broadcast9 December 2023 (2023-12-09)
Chronology
← Preceded by
"Wild Blue Yonder"
Followed by →
"The Church on Ruby Road"
List of episodes (2005–present)

"The Giggle" is the third and final of the 60th anniversary specials of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who, written by Russell T Davies, directed by Chanya Button and broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 9 December 2023. It features the final regular appearances of David Tennant as the Fourteenth Doctor and Catherine Tate as Donna Noble, introduces Ncuti Gatwa as the Fifteenth Doctor and guest stars Neil Patrick Harris as the Toymaker, a character last seen in The Celestial Toymaker (1966). The episode also features the return of Jemma Redgrave and Bonnie Langford as UNIT commander Kate Lethbridge-Stewart and Mel Bush, respectively.

Set directly after the events of "Wild Blue Yonder", the episode sees the Doctor, Donna and UNIT confronting the return of the Doctor's old enemy, the Toymaker, who is behind a series of signals in a form of a "giggle" being transmitted, causing the human race to go insane over their opinions.

The episode was watched by 6.85 million viewers and received positive reviews from critics, who praised Harris’s performance and the writing, though the episode's "bi-generation" was met with a polarized response.