The Story and the Engine

I know the gods, and you are not them.

The Fifteenth Doctor

Synopsis

In Lagos, the mysterious Barber reigns supreme. The Doctor discovers a world where stories have power, but can he stop the Spider and its deadly web of revenge?

Review

The Story and the Engine is a testament to how flexible Doctor Who can be as a show. It is all too welcome, coming from the pen of a new writer for the show, and focuses in on the power of stories, rather than that of the spider travelling through time and space with a barber shop on its back.

I felt that there was a real confidence about this story straight from the cold open, in which Inua Ellams very efficiently sets out the basic premise of how the story will work, without giving away too much at the same time. We do not see the face of the Barber, for instance, and we do still have an explanation as to how the Barber’s clippers, windows and chairs all interconnect to feed on the power of stories later, but the basics are all there and present the stories being told to our cast of characters. Once the opening credits end, the story wastes no time in getting the Doctor involved in the action. Like a lot of stories this series, this one clearly has a ton of ideas but not enough time to explore them all fully. I personally felt that the story could have benefited from having one of the Barber’s prisoners run out of stories, and see what the consequences were for this. This could have possibly upped the tension, but I can see that it may be harder to sell the Barber’s redemption at the end of the story if that character had ended up dying as a result. The core idea, of having a vessel travelling through space powered by stories is strong though, and the idea of having the barbershop occupy space in Lagos and travelling the Nexus is the icing on the cake.

Ultimately though, the story is a chamber piece, with a small cast and set largely within the confines of Omo’s barber shop. From my research into Ellams’ other work, he has written about the importance of barber shops in the black community previously in his play Barber Shop Chronicles. Here, when the Barber arrives and gives Omo a hair cut, he states that he felt the soul of his establishment transfer to the newcomer. He was powerless to stop his clients joining him in the barber eshop, and were going there in advance of important occasions; a naming ceremony, a competition, a visit to a sick relative in hospital. This is something that the Doctor appreciates the importance of too, as I’ll go into below. The Doctor states that they swap stories, and when implored to tell a story to power the machine, he tells one about Belinda’s life as a nurse, rather than one about Daleks, Cybermen, Weeping Angels or Ice Warriors. The Doctor’s story is more powerful than the previous ones, speeding up the ship and being shown as moving pictures, rather than the drawings we have previously seen.

You planned this, Omo?

I have to get these men home.

And because I have no home, I’m what? I’m expendable?

Their families need them.

And I have none, so I don’t matter?

The Fifteenth Doctor and Omo Esosa

This series has so far has allowed Ncuti Gatwa to flex his muscles much more than his first run of episodes ever has. He is allowed to run the full gamut of emotions in this episode, as we see his Doctor full of joy as he walks through the market in Lagos, shifting to fear and apprehension as he notices the warning signs and the missing people posters, before becoming angry when he realises that his friend Omo has essentially betrayed him, leading him to feel anger as one of his safe spaces is taken away from him. This moment is one that Gatwa delivers quietly as he asks Omo how he could take a place he had considered as a home away from him. The Story and the Engine brings this incarnation of the Doctor’s race front and centre, with him admitting that there are places that he is not welcome. This is something that we have seen glimpses of during Gatwa’s run in stories such as Dot and Bubble and briefly in Lux, but it is nice to have this insight into how this incarnation of the Doctor manages to deal with this. Whilst Lux states that the Doctor gets on and shines in the face of this prejudice, this must get wearing and the show acknowledging that even the Doctor can only take so much is an important step. After all, this is a Time Lord who is used to being able to act as if he owns the place, but this Doctor is one who needs a place to feel like he belongs more than any of the post-Time War Doctors.

My body is like a barbershop – all of them inside, telling their stories, bickering! I will not fail them.

The Fifteenth Doctor

The story hinges on the Doctor’s story, highlighted by the Barber to be never-ending, but is ultimately crucial to defeat his schemes, overpowering the story engine. I particularly liked Ellams’ use of the barbershop metaphor for the reality of being the Doctor. Shortly after The Eleventh Hour, I remember trying to write a short story based on the Eleventh Doctor’s line that he ‘was still cooking’, which would have focused on internal discussions of his predecessors following regeneration. It, obviously, didn’t go anywhere, but I was pleased to see a similar idea crop up on television. This story feels notable for having this Doctor mention some of his recurring foes for what feels like the first time, as the Daleks, Cybermen, Ice Warriors and Weeping Angels all get name checked here. We, of course, do have the montage of the previous Doctors in the conclusion to the story, which was a lovely moment, but I would be remiss not to mention the brief cameo by Jo Martin’s Fugitive Doctor when the Doctor explains why they could not take Abena with them. This was a genuine shock for me, and whilst Russell T Davies has made it clear that he is not undoing any of Timeless Child story line, having Martin actually show up for this was a pleasant surprise! Having characters know the Doctor from that time is quite a good idea, and Michelle Asante does a good job of depicting the resentment she clearly still feels towards the Doctor for being left behind.

I am sorry that I couldn’t take you with me. I was a fugitive back then. Anansi was wrong to offer that bet, and frankly, darling, I was busy, in a different story…that might be told one day.

The Fifteenth Doctor/The Fugitive Doctor

The story does broadly sideline Belinda, which after having a story featuring previous companion Ruby Sunday, does feel as though it is a bit of a misstep. The inclusion of a story about Belinda’s life as a nurse does go someway to rectifying this, showing her to be an exceptional nurse, spotting signs that a doctor and paramedic have missed to save a lady’s life. After finally working out why the TARDIS is warning her and where she needs to go, Belinda does get involved in the main narrative, but does fall into the more traditional companion role for the majority of the story. It is a nice moment when she tells Abena that rather than being told to stay behind in the TARDIS, it was in fact her who told the Doctor to go. Whilst it is a minor moment, the moment in which she tells Abena that hurt people hurt people is crucial to the Doctor saving the day, so she does serve a small but crucial role here.

The Barber, played by Aryion Bakare, is a really intriguing character. Originally masquerading as the god behind all stories, he is eventually revealed to actually be a mortal who was enlisted by the Gods to record their stories, before being cast out by them. Enraged and out for vengeance, the Barber wants to go to the heart of the Nexus to become storyteller-supreme, and has tricked Anansi’s daughter, Abena, into believing that he will be a good God. The Gods that the Barber is speaking about are separate, as far as we are aware, from the members of the Pantheon of Discord, and crucial for humanity to pass down traditions. This will involve killing Anansi, something which he has not disclosed to Abena. Believing that he is right to kill the gods, he is called out for his ego by Belinda, and given a second chance by the Doctor, who chooses to stay behind to save him as the story engine collapses.

Verdict: The Story and the Engine continues a strong run of stories. Gatwa puts in a particularly strong performance, but the story does feel as though it has more ideas than time to explore them all thoroughly. 8/10

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

Writer: Inua Ellams

Director: Makalla McPherson

Producer: Vicki Delow

Composer: Murray Gold

Original UK Broadcast Date: 10th May 2025

Behind the Scenes

• Writer Inua Ellams appears in this story. This makes him the second person to appear in a story that they have written, following Mark Gatiss in Victory of the Daleks.
• Ellams is the first black man to write for Doctor Who, and the fourth black writer overall, following Malorie Blackman, Charlene James and Sharma Angel Walfall.

Cast Notes

• Ariyon Bakare previously appeared as Leandro in the Twelfth Doctor story The Woman Who Lived.
• Stefan Adegbola played a newsreader in The Magician’s Apprentice.
• Michelle Asante played the part of neighbour in In the Forest of the Night.

Best Moment

Abena telling the story about how slaves used to braid maps into their hair to help them escape, whilst simultaneously providing information to the Doctor to enable him to save the day is a really great moment.

Best Quote

You know Hemingway. I saw some of his books back there. I met him. I wanted to see how good he was, so I challenged him. “Hemy, baby, write me the shortest story you can. He wrote it in six words. Short as hell¹. D’you wanna hear mine? I’m born. I die. I’m born.

The Fifteenth Doctor

Previous Fifteenth Doctor review: Lucky Day

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1. Interestingly, this story is misattributed to Hemingway. The six-word story is ‘For sale: baby shoes, never worn’ and first appeared in around 1906, when Hemingway would have been 7 years old. It was first attributed to Hemingway in 1991, 30 years after he had died. Of course, the Doctor might know better than all of us! ↩︎