Can we figure out the Doctor Who Series 2 episode titles using trailer clues, past experience and a few glimpses into the time vortex?
The Nurse
For the first episode of Doctor Who Series 2, let’s think back to Russell T Davies‘ previous season openers: ‘Rose,’ ‘New Earth,’ ‘Smith and Jones,’ ‘Partners in Crime’ and ‘Space Babies.’ Presumably, Russell T Davies will be penning the first episode of Doctor Who Series 2 as well, which narrows down the title possibilities. Somewhat.
One thing to note is that, with the exception of ‘New Earth,’ all of Davies’ previous season openers have either named or involved people in some way, and so an obvious punt for episode one would be ‘Belinda,’ as we’re guessing the new companion Belinda Chandra will be introduced in this story. But that might be a little non-descript, so how about ‘The Nurse’? This is how Belinda refers to herself in the trailer, after all.
It’s also worth noting that three of Davies’ five openers have involved children and / or hospitals in some way, so if it’s not ‘The Nurse,’ our backup predictions would be ‘Nurse Who’ or ‘Nurse What’ or ‘The Hospital at the End of the Universe.’
Thud!
Many New Who series feature punchy one (or two) word titles, and there are some great ones in the back catalogue: ‘Blink,’ ‘Midnight,’ ‘Listen,’ ‘Knock Knock,’ ‘Kerblam!’, ‘Boom,’ to name a few. Moreover, many of these titles are onomatopoeic, so we confidently predict that – at some point in Doctor Who Series 2 – we will have a word-sound as an episode title.
And there are still some juicy ones that haven’t been used yet. How about ‘Crash,’ ‘Bang Bang’ or ‘Hiss’? Actually, Torchwood has already had an episode called ‘Kiss Kiss Bang Bang,’ so perhaps that’s one title we can rule out.
Our prediction? ‘Thud!’ Hopefully this title wouldn’t be selected for the season finale, as it does sound rather ominous (and not in a good way.) But we’d love to see it at some point in the series.
Another contender would be ‘Ding Ding’ for the cartoon episode, although we’ve something else in mind for that one…
Welcome to Sunny Town
We know that Doctor Who Series 2 will feature a runaway cartoon in the shape of Mr Ring-a-Ding, voiced by Alan Cumming. We also know that his character has the ability to transform people into cartoons, and in the German Doctor Who Series 2 trailer, there was a clip of this very thing happening to the Doctor and Belinda. Moreover, they were seemingly transported into Mr Ring-a-Ding’s cartoon home of Sunny Town, so how about ‘Welcome to Sunny Town’ as an episode title?
Alternatives might include ‘Midnight in Sunny Town’ or ‘Death in Sunny Town.’ However, the fact that this is a cartoon episode does open the door to other possibilities. Maybe the production team will opt for something spoofy, in the vein of ‘The Shakespeare Code.’ How about ‘Doctor Who and the Seven Dwarfs’ or ‘Phantasia’? Given that Disney is co-funding this series, it’s unlikely they would run into copyright problems…
Interstellar
Another upcoming episode in Doctor Who Series 2 is the one involving the Interstellar Song Contest, hosted by guest star Rylan Clark. And whilst we don’t think the production team would be quite so ballsy as to call the episode ‘Interstellar’ (given that we already have a science fiction movie of the same name) it would be appropriate.
Presumably, music is a major theme of this episode, so it’s possible that the title will allude to this in some way; we had ‘The Devil’s Chord‘ in Series 1, and indeed it’s possible that the villain from that story (Maestro) could make a return appearance. So how about ‘Song of the Devil’ as an alternative, or ‘The Devil’s Song’?
Love Inc.
At some point in Doctor Who Series 2, it’s inevitable that we will have a Doctor-lite offering of some kind; every Russell T Davies season has had one so far (with the exception of the 2005 series) and indeed we had two Doctor-lite stories in 2024.
And whilst we have no idea what such an episode could be called, it’s also possible that Doctor Who Series 2 will have a more off-beat ‘romantic’ episode, somewhere. There’s certainly a precedent for this. We had ‘Boom Town’ in 2005, which essentially saw the Doctor going on a date with one of his foes. Then there was ‘The Girl in the Fireplace’ and ‘Love & Monsters’ in Series 2. We had ‘Human Nature‘ in Series 3, and ‘The Forest of the Dead’ in Series 4. Then there was ‘Rogue‘ in 2024.
It’s also been a while since we had the word ‘Love’ in an episode title, so we confidently predict that we will see it somewhere in Doctor Who Series 2, most probably as part of a Doctor-lite adventure. (This is based on nothing but pure guesswork, you understand; Lovarzi’s only ‘source’ is ketchup.)
The Sons of Destruction
Ever since Doctor Who began, we’ve had titles like ‘The Cave of Skulls’ and ‘The Forest of Fear’ and ‘The Seeds of Doom’ and, ahem, ‘City of Death.’ So there has to be a ‘Something of Something’ title in Doctor Who Series 2.
Indeed – fun fact – every Russell T Davies season since 2005 has had a ‘Something of Something’ title. We’ve had ‘The End of the World,’ ‘The Parting of the Ways,’ ‘Rise of the Cybermen,’ ‘The Age of Steel,’ ‘Army of Ghosts,’ ‘Evolution of the Daleks,’ ‘The Family of Blood,’ ‘The Sound of Drums,’ ‘Last of the Time Lords,’ ‘Voyage of the Damned,’ ‘The Fires of Pompeii,’ ‘Planet of the Ood,’ ‘Forest of the Dead,’ ‘Planet of the Dead,’ ‘The Waters of Mars,’ ‘The End of Time,’ ‘The Legend of Ruby Sunday’ and ‘Empire of Death.’ Phew.
So if we don’t have a ‘Something of Something’ title in Doctor Who Series 2, then there is something wrong with the universe. So let’s boil this down. We’ve got End, Parting, Rise, Age, Army, Evolution, Family, Sound, Last, Voyage, Fires, Planet, Forest, Waters, End, Legend and Empire.
Again, many of these words are either collective pronouns, or allude to people in some way: Age, Army, Evolution, Family, Empire. You could also have Rise at a push.
Then we have: World, Ways, Cybermen, Steel, Ghosts, Daleks, Blood, Drums, Time Lords, Damned, Pompeii, Ood, Dead, Mars, Time, Ruby Sunday and Death.
The common themes here are particular people or baddies, or words that allude to death, such as Death itself, or Dead, or Blood.
Therefore, the most likely title is one that involves either people or monsters, and an allusion to death. Our prediction? The Sons of Destruction. Oof. Get it on a t-shirt, quick.
Armageddon
Finally, Doctor Who Series 2 will need a doom-laden, sad-sounding season finale. And there are some belters in the back catalogue: ‘The Parting of the Ways,’ ‘Doomsday,’ ‘Last of the Time Lords,’ ‘Journey’s End,’ ‘The End of Time’ and ‘Empire of Death.’
Most of these have a feeling of finality; there’s not much that can happen after ‘doomsday’ after all, or the end of time for that matter. ‘Journey’s End’ – you’re going no further, you’re done. ‘The Parting of the Ways‘ – the end of a relationship.
And the BBC itself doesn’t know if Series 3 is going to happen or not (they have publicly stated that it has yet to be commissioned) so there is even more pressure on the last episode of Doctor Who Series 2 to have an air of finality about it. How about ‘Armageddon,’ or ‘The End of the Road’?
What do you think of our Doctor Who Series 2 episode predictions? Let us know in the comments below, and tell us your predictions as well.
Doctor Who Series 2 is set to land on Saturday 12th April on BBC, BBC iPlayer and Disney+ outside of the UK, where available.
Oooh, weird! I just commented about the cartoon world BBC 8th Doctor novel and then you said there’s going to be a cartoon episode!!! Weird coincidence! I hadn’t seen the trailer!!!!!