At this point it had been announced that David Tennant would soon be leaving the role of the Doctor so to have the 2008 Christmas special be called "The Next Doctor" is a pretty big tease. In the run up to the episode, David Morrissey (the suspected next Doctor) was having to avoid all sorts of question during interviews in order to not let any spoilers slip out!
I don't think I ever really suspected that David Morrissey would actually be the next Doctor but never the less I thought it was a neat idea of having the Doctor meet what he believes to be a future incarnation of himself. However I think the Doctor suspects pretty much straight away that this man is not him. One of the very first times we see this future Doctor he is brandishing his own version of the sonic screwdriver which is just a plain old screwdriver. Clearly he is not who he claims to be.
The obvious answer would be that he was simply an imposter, impersonating the Doctor but in fact the truth is a little more complicated and whole lot more heart breaking.
The Cybermen have come to Victorian London. A man called Jackson Lake stumbles upon them and in the struggle they kill his wife and kidnap his son. A Cyberman's info stamp also goes off in Jackson's face and beams all sorts of information about the Doctor straight into his head. Having lost his wife and child his mind breaks and he "becomes" the Doctor. He wants to be someone else because Jackson Lake has lost so much. I think we've all probably felt like that from time to time. His dream is to finally defeat the Cybermen and set sail in his TARDIS (his is a hot air balloon!), and travel through time and space. It is, as the Doctor puts it, "the perfect escape".
When the Doctor explains the truth to Jackson he shows him the info stamp which had given him all the information on the Doctor and what a treat this is for a Doctor Who fan. We see old clips of all the other Doctors!! Watching again this time I did not feel the same kind of excitement as this sort of thing has become more common place in the series now, especially around the 50th anniversary. But the excitement at the time was incredible!
The Cybermen are back for the first time since 2006. They are kidnapping children to help them work their machines to allow a giant Cyber King to emerge from the Thames and trample London. I think the Cybermen can sometimes rival the Master for insane plans. And to be honest I really don't understand why they need the kids as a workforce.
Helping them is a woman called Miss Hartigan. Her motivation for helping them is a little vague but it seems that she sees this as a way of asserting herself over the men who have overpowered her all her life.
With Jackson's son recovered things and the Cyber King defeated things become a little bit more upbeat. However when Jackson quizzes the Doctor on why he is now travelling with no companion the Doctor explains that the departure of each one of them breaks his heart. It's pretty unusual to hear the Doctor talk about his emotions this way and when he finally admits to it it does take you a bit by surprise and that probably makes it all the more upsetting.
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