20 Years Later, This ‘Doctor Who’ Two-Part Story Has Never Been Topped

Doctor Who might be on indefinite hiatus right now, but if the timey-wimey history of the world’s longest-running sci-fi show has taught us anything, it’s that the Doctor always finds a way to regenerate. The flagship BBC franchise has survived for over 60 years because its primary characters can be seamlessly recast, a built-in narrative reset button used to reinvent the show without starting over. Since no iteration of the Doctor or a companion lasts long-term, exit stories are a mainstay of the series, delivering action-packed and emotionally charged episodes to mark the end of their journey.

As the first companion of the revival era, Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) completely redefined what it meant to travel alongside the Doctor, setting the bar as a fiercely loyal, utterly grounded, and tremendously brave co-lead. It’s only fitting that her departure led to the best two-part storyline in Doctor Who‘s 892-episode history, “Army of Ghosts” and “Doomsday,” unmatched in the scale of its universal existential stakes, and the finality in its devastating, intimate conclusion. An exit story is, by nature, epic; what makes this two-episode finale rise to greatness is that, much like the character of Rose herself, it’s shot through with heavy doses of humanity, humor, and heartbreak.

Rose Tyler Built the Foundation for a Modern ‘Doctor Who’ Companion

Image via BBC

In the classic era of Doctor Who, companions were students to the Doctor’s teacher. As mostly normal people with extraordinary skills but minimal personal history, they served as a relatable lens for the audience by asking questions of their deeply eccentric partner, and driving the plot in ways the alien Doctor could not. The 2005 revival made down-to-earth, working-class Rose Tyler not just a companion but a co-lead to the initially brooding, traumatized Ninth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) and placed heavy emphasis on her everyday life and family dynamics to give her depth. She still asked questions, but also took on the role of emotional anchor to help him heal from the Time War, and their bond grew from mentor-mentee to a partnership on equal footing.

The first farewell of the revival came quickly, as the Ninth Doctor departed spectacularly after just one season. The charming, goofy Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) was externally the complete opposite of his predecessor, but deep down still grappled with grief and loneliness. Fueled by real-life explosive on-screen chemistry and each character’s deep mutual need, another classic Doctor Who rule was scrapped with the addition of unspoken romantic tension to their relationship, which made the season they spent together feel charged with emotional realism. Rose built the foundation for modern companions with the Ninth Doctor; with the Tenth Doctor she became arguably the best companion of all time, challenging him to become more human and giving him something to fight for.

“Army of Ghosts” Starts Rose Tyler’s Exit From ‘Doctor Who’

The first of Rose’s two farewell episodes, “Army of Ghosts,” began in present-day London, where Rose and the Doctor drop by for a routine check-in with her mother, Jackie Tyler (Camille Coduri), reinforcing that, until the very end, despite the priority of the Doctor in her life, she still put tremendous weight on her family and those she left behind. They learn millions of ghosts have been appearing three times a day on a regular schedule, a phenomenon attributed to residual echoes of lost loved ones and accepted by humanity; Jackie, too, has embraced this through reuniting with her long-passed father, a bit of foreshadowing for what’s to come. After tracing the energy to the Torchwood Institute – home of Doctor Who’s best spin-off – it’s learned they’ve been conducting controlled openings into a temporal breach in the void between parallel universes, letting in the ghosts in “ghost shifts” and harboring a mysterious sphere that came through the breach as a source of unlimited energy, while unknowingly letting in a team of Cybermen, who have infiltrated the institute.

Rose’s ex-boyfriend, Mickey Smith (Noel Clarke), has also come through the breach; after traveling with Rose and the Doctor, he had decided to live permanently in the parallel universe as head of the Preachers, a human resistance group fighting the newly-invented Cybermen, and take care of his grandmother, who wasn’t alive in their world. Mickey’s return is one of the most satisfying moments of closure in the two-part finale, as the goofy, fearful kid who spent the better part of two seasons being wildly insecure is now a confident, assertive, seemingly happy adult, much like Rose had come into her own – but we’re only given a beat to consider this, as he tells her he was engaged in battle when the entire population of Cybermen mysteriously disappeared, and was following a lead that took him back to their world using a universe hopping device. It’s not long before we learn how they did it, as the team that infiltrated Torchwood force open the breach and the millions of ghosts on the ghost shift are revealed to be the millions of missing Cybermen, manifested all over the world and wreaking havoc.

“Doomsday” Makes ‘Doctor Who’ History and Doubles Down on Drama

Image via BBC

At this point, things are still feeling a bit like a standard exit finale in many ways; lots of action, character returns, and a primary enemy, but just before the end of the episode, it’s discovered the mysterious sphere wasn’t just a space object, but a ship built for the void between universes, holding a second enemy: four most powerful Daleks, the Cult of Skaro. “Doomsday” pulls the throttle back at full tilt, giving an unprecedented initial face-off between the Doctor’s two biggest enemies, who had until this point never met in battle. We also get the most legendary robot diss battle in Doctor Who‘s 63-year history, and maybe in the history of any sci-fi show ever, in the form of an exchange Mickey calls “Stephen Hawking meets the Speaking Clock” that sees both sides mercilessly hurl insults and lasers.

It’s all fun and games until Mickey accidentally touches the Genesis Ark, a prison ship built by the Time Lords during the Time War used to banish the entire Dalek race, and releases millions of Daleks into the world to join the melee with the Cybermen, and all the humans caught in between. Now there’s double the danger, but to double the intrigue, Mickey’s fellow Preacher, Jake (Andrew Hayden-Smith), uses a dimension-hopping device to take the Doctor to meet with Rose’s parallel universe dad, Pete Tyler (Shaun Dingwall), a successful millionaire who once had a hand in creating the Cybermen, but fought to take them down and lost his version of Rose’s mom in the process. Pete tells the Doctor he needs his help to seal the breach between parallel universes for good, or both universes risk being destroyed. When Pete, the Doctor, Mickey, and Jake return from the parallel universe, we’re given yet another satisfying moment when Jackie gets to see a lost loved one, and this time, he’s real. While it’s awkward for a moment, the chemistry is nearly instantaneous.

A Heartbreaking ‘Doctor Who’ Farewell to Rose Tyler

Image via BBC

The ongoing universe-ending calamity, now maxed out in terms of the stakes, shifts back into focus when the Doctor realizes, thanks to his spiffy 3D glasses, that everything that’s come out of the void is covered in “void stuff, and if he opens the breach and reverses it, the void will suck it back out of where it doesn’t belong. He sends everyone to the parallel universe to protect them, but the ever-loyal Rose returns to the Doctor’s side to help him. The plan works, but at the last second, Rose loses her grip and falls towards the void. Pete uses the dimension-hopping device to save her, but as the breach is now sealed, it means she’s trapped in the parallel universe forever, and separated from the Doctor for good.

It’s a heartbreaking moment of loss, and of desperation. Two people whose bond was infinite have now been torn apart with utter finality, unexpectedly and with absolutely no notice, which isn’t always the case in exit stories. A while later, we’re given a glimpse at the parallel universe, where the Tylers are reunited, Jackie and Pete in love, and Mickey still hanging around. It’s almost like we’ve started back at the beginning, but Rose still hasn’t had that closure of saying goodbye. A dream leads her to Bad Wolf Bay, where the Doctor has harnessed the power of a star to have one last exchange through the single remaining breach. They banter for a few minutes, but the dagger to the heart comes at the very end: Rose breaks down and tells him she loves him, but the connection cuts before he’s gathered himself enough to finish his reply.

It’s been a full 20 years since the “Army of Ghosts” and “Doomsday” two-part finale first premiered in July 2006, but there’s never been anything that’s come close to Rose Tyler’s final journey with the Tenth Doctor. The high-stakes, history-making spectacle that ends in an intimate moment that will always be a “what if?” remains the most compelling, hilarious, and heartbreaking story arc ever created in the Doctor Who ​​​​​​franchise. It’s a true testament to the duo being two of the all-time greatest characters brought to life on the small screen, as even after all these years, it still packs one hell of a punch to the gut.