“The Star Beast” is the first of three hour-long special episodes of Doctor Who, marking the program’s 60th anniversary.

Based on a comic written by Pat Mills and Dave Gibbons for Doctor Who Magazine in 1979, the episode was written by returning head writer and showrunner Russell T Davies and directed by Rachel Talalay,

First broadcast on BBC One on 25 November 2023. It serves as the reintroductions of David Tennant and Catherine Tate, with Tennant making his first regular appearance as the Fourteenth Doctor, having previously played the Tenth Doctor during Davies’ original tenure as showrunner. Tate reprises her role as Donna Noble.

It’s back to the pulpy SciFi stories of old. With an alien that turns out to be nasty, along with soldiers with Stormtrooper like aiming capacity. But a minimum of silly techno-babble and less talking.