The synopsis and cast list have been revealed for The Story & the Engine, which promises to be one of the most unusual episodes of Doctor Who Series 15.
The story is written and directed by newcomers to Doctor Who in Inua Ellams and Makalla McPherson, respectively, and the former is due to make a guest appearance in his own episode too! It’s relatively rare for a crew member to cameo in Doctor Who, though it has happened before, in, for instance, City of Death (in which director Michael Hayes appears), and most notably in The Brain of Morbius.
It’s a slightly longer tale as well, running to 47 minutes.
Here’s the synopsis for The Story & the Engine:
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?
And joining Ncuti Gatwa and Varada Sethu, we have:
- 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
The story is only the second in Who history to have an ampersand in its title, the other being Love & Monsters — yes, that’s the type of pointless trivia you get visiting The Doctor Who Companion! (The BBC is also listing it with an “and”, but we’ll ignore that for now and see what goes up on screen…)
The Story & the Engine will air on BBC1 on Saturday 10th May 2025 at 7:10pm, but will be available on BBC iPlayer and Disney+ (the latter for global audiences) from 8am (GMT) that same day.
