While fans may still be left waiting for the resolution of last year’s agonizing Doctor Who cliffhanger, there’s a new adventure coming their way this summer that may sate their appetites. One of the Doctor’s most mysterious incarnations is set to return, and fans will be able to follow her across time, space, and multimedia. Doctor Who: Circuit Breaker is a wildly ambitious crossover that will send the Doctor into almost every form of media there is.
Jo Martin returns as the Fugitive Doctor in Circuit Breaker; recruited by UNIT’s Petronella Osgood (Ingrid Oliver) and her assistant Andrew (Omari Douglas) to investigate the mysteries of the Black Archive, she’s thrown into an adventure that pits her against some of the Doctor’s deadliest foes, including the Daleks, the Cybermen, the Sontarans, and the Weeping Angels. Unfortunately for her, while they’ve all sworn vengeance on her, she hasn’t met them yet. The multimedia storyline will hop across all manner of games, comics, audio stories, and prose, as it crosses over into Doctor Who licencees Titan Comics, Doctor Who Magazine, BBC Audiobooks, East Side Games, Puffin, Penguin Random House and Big Finish. It kicks off on June 25 on UNIT’s website, and continues with new updates all summer. The full list of chapters is below:
Date
Story
June 25
Calling the Doctor – UNIT website written by Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson
July 8
Adversary of the Daleks – Titan Comics, written by Dulce M. Montoya and Dan Watters, with art by Roberta Ingranata and Sami Kivelä
July 23
The Honourable Society – Doctor Who Magazine issue 632, written by Jason Quinn and illustrated by Anthony Williams
July 30
The Deadliest Weapon – BBC Audiobooks Audio Original written by Steve Lyons, narrated by Jo Martin with David Banks as the Cyber-Leader
August 4
Dawn of the Daleks –Titan Comics, written by Dulce M. Montoya and Dan Watters, with art by Roberta Ingranata and Sami Kivelä
August 6
Castling – East Side Games written by Mario Mentasti
August 17
Don’t Blink! – UNIT website written by Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson
August 20
The Doctor and the Three Witches – Puffin book written by Janelle McCurdy
August 27
Moment Mori – East Side Games written by Mario Mentasti
August 31
The Black Archive Files – Circuit Breaker DVD release
September 3
The Kaleidoscope– Penguin Random House book written by Jo Martin
September 22
Full Circuit – Big Finish audio story written by Robert Valentine
September 24
Short Circuits – Big Finish audio story written by Robert Valentine
Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz Which Sci-Fi World Would You Survive? The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars
Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you’d actually make it out of alive.
💊The Matrix
🔥Mad Max
🌧️Blade Runner
🏜️Dune
🚀Star Wars
01
You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do? The first instinct is often the truest one.
02
In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely? What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires.
03
What kind of threat keeps you up at night? Fear is useful data — if you’re honest about what you’re actually afraid of.
04
How do you deal with authority you don’t trust? Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything.
05
Which environment could you actually endure long-term? Survival isn’t just tactical — it’s physical, psychological, and very much about where you are.
06
Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart? The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are.
07
Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all? Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they’re actually made of.
08
What would actually make survival worth it? Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another.
Your Fate Has Been Calculated You’d Survive In…
Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for.
The Resistance, Zion
The Matrix
You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You’re a systems thinker who can’t help but notice the seams in things.
You’re drawn to understanding how the system works before figuring out how to break it.
You’d find the Resistance, or it would find you — your instinct for spotting constructed realities is the machines’ worst nightmare.
You function best when you have access to information and the freedom to act on it.
The Matrix built an airtight prison. You’d be the one probing the walls for the door.
The Wasteland
Mad Max
The wasteland doesn’t reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That’s you.
You don’t need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon.
You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it — and you’re good at all three.
You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider.
In the wasteland, that distinction is everything.
Los Angeles, 2049
Blade Runner
You’d survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely.
You read people accurately, keep your circle small, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer.
In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional.
You’re not a hero. But you’re not lost, either.
In Blade Runner’s world, that distinction is everything.
Arrakis
Dune
Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards.
Patience, discipline, and political awareness are your core strengths — and on Arrakis, they’re survival tools.
You understand that the long game matters more than any single victory.
Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You’d learn its logic and earn its respect.
In time, you wouldn’t just survive Arrakis — you’d begin to reshape it.
A Galaxy Far, Far Away
Star Wars
The galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn’t have it any other way.
You find meaning in being part of something larger than yourself — a cause, a crew, a rebellion.
You’d gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire’s grip can be broken.
You fight — not because you have to, but because standing aside isn’t something you’re capable of.
In Star Wars, that willingness is what makes all the difference.
Who Is the Fugitive Doctor?
The event order of the Doctor Who multimedia storyline Circuit Breaker.Image via the BBC.
Members of the Doctor’s species “regenerate” into a different individual at the moment of death; thus, the various actors to have played the character over the years are considered to be his (or sometimes her) various incarnations. It was generally believed that the first incarnation of the Doctor seen on-screen when the show premiered in 1963, who was played by William Hartnell, was the character’s first incarnation. That, however, was thrown into question in the 2020 episode “Fugitive of the Judoon,” when the then-current Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) met a woman (Martin) who was apparently a past incarnation she had no memory of. It was later explained that the Doctor had previously led many lives that she was unaware of; Martin has since reappeared several times in the role.
The future of the TV side of Doctor Who is somewhat up in the air at the moment. After the show’s latest season premiered last year, the series lost its international streaming partner, Disney+, while also leaving the show on a massive cliffhanger. A Christmas special is planned to air later this year, which will presumably solve the mystery of why the Doctor’s latest incarnation (Ncuti Gatwa) seemingly regenerated into Rose Tyler (Billie Piper), the onetime companion of the Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant Doctors.
Doctor Who: Circuit Breakerkicks off on June 25. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.
Release Date
May 11, 2024
Network
BBC One
Directors
Alex Pillai, Peter Hoar, Ben Chessell, Julie Anne Robinson, Jamie Donoughue, Amanda Brotchie, Dylan Holmes Williams
Writers
Steven Moffat, Pete McTighe, Kate Herron, Inua Ellams, Juno Dawson
