The Doctor's Daughter

Plot

The TARDIS brings the Tenth Doctor, Martha, and Donna to the planet Messaline. Human soldiers force the Doctor to place his hand into a progenation machine, producing a cloned daughter whom Donna names Jenny. The Hath, the planet's other inhabitants, take Martha hostage. Jenny causes an explosion that traps Martha on the other side of a corridor, where Martha tends to an injured Hath and earns their trust. The Doctor and Donna meet General Cobb, who explains that the humans and Hath were originally meant to coexist but a dispute over an artefact called the Source arose; Cobb believes the Source can wipe out the Hath. The Doctor inadvertently reveals the Source's location to both sides, and they prepare for battle. The Doctor confides to Donna that he resists Jenny travelling with them because she reminds him of those lost in the Time War. Donna notices numbered plaques in each room. The Doctor, Donna, and Jenny reach the Source, a terraforming device inside a colonising spaceship. Donna realises the plaques are completion dates; the ship landed only seven days ago, but generations of clones have degraded history into myth. The Doctor deduces the original conflict began from a power vacuum after the mission commander's death. Martha reunites with them with a Hath's help. The Doctor declares the war over and releases the terraforming agent. Cobb tries to shoot the Doctor; Jenny takes the bullet and dies in the Doctor's arms. The Doctor picks up Cobb's gun but cannot bring himself to shoot. He declares the humans and Hath should build a peaceful society. Martha returns home. Jenny later revives, commandeers a rocket, and leaves the planet.

Production

Russell T Davies stated that the episode "does exactly as it says on the tin. Jenny's death was originally to occur in what Davies called "a Generic Spaceship Room," but producer Phil Collinson suggested filming the scene at Plantasia botanical garden in Swansea. Georgia Moffett agreed that the daughter role was "an interesting, emotional, dramatic place for the character to go. Steven Moffat suggested that the character lives at the episode's conclusion. Moffett had previously auditioned for a smaller role in "The Unicorn and the Wasp"; Collinson revealed that upon seeing her, they realised there was a bigger part later in the series, so she waited until the time was right. Davison denied any nepotism, stating she got the part on her own. Moffett praised the episode and expressed a desire to return, calling on producers to "Bring Jenny back. Please! Tennant and Moffett, who met on the episode, began dating after filming and married on 30 December 2011.

Broadcast and reception

Unofficial overnight ratings put the audience for "The Doctor's Daughter" at 6.6 million, which represented a 38.4% share of everyone watching television at the time. The final number, once all recordings were counted, came to 7.33 million. While most shows lost viewers compared to the week before, Doctor Who actually gained. The day's most-watched programme was Britain's Got Talent on ITV1, which pulled in 8.17 million but was down by a million. Doctor Who was the top show on BBC1 that day and claimed the largest audience share of any Saturday programme. The episode scored an Appreciation Index of 88, classed as "excellent."

Critical reaction was split. David Chater of The Times called it "A wonderful episode – funny, exciting and strangely moving." Martin Anderson of Den of Geek! thought it was "rather good – though badly plot-holed" and felt it was hurt by Murray Gold's "incessant music." He also said it reminded him of Tom Baker-era Doctor Who, with dark, cheap corridors and two small warring factions for the Doctor to reconcile. Ian Berriman of SFX was less impressed, calling the episode "underwhelming." He argued that because viewers always suspect Jenny is a "redshirt," it's hard to care about her. He found the story "reasonably diverting" but said budget limits made it feel enclosed, and the plot—like "old-school Trek"—echoed the previous Sontaran two-parter in its themes of militarism and cloning. Lizo Mzimba of Newsround agreed on the similarities and said the episode's main flaw was trying to fit too much into 45 minutes, leaving interesting ideas underdeveloped and making it hard to feel any danger or menace from the human fighters or the Hath.