After a shocking cliffhanger on New Years Day, Doctor Who returned in truly dramatic style. As we said in our review for the episode, Spyfall Part Two was exhilarating if uneven outing for Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor, and even if it did answer some of the questions it raised last week, we still have a lot more that need answering:

1. Does the TARDIS team trust the Doctor?

With the Doctor AWOL for most of the episode battling the Master, the TARDIS ‘fam’ of Ryan (Tosin Cole), Yaz (Mandip Gill) and Graham (Bradley Walsh) were more or less left to their own devices to stop Daniel Barton (Lenny Henry) and the outer-dimensional alien’s plan to conquer Earth. But when the Doctor did return, however one thing became clear: the gang realised they actually knew next to nothing about their new friend. Even when asked about her history with the Master and her home planet of Gallifrey, the Doctor was sketchy with her answers. We don’t think this bodes well for the trust in the TARDIS.

2. Where did The Master go?

Barring a major subversion of our expectations, we don’t think this is the last we saw of the Master. The question is though, as he was lead away by Nazi soldiers, how will he get out of this one? We’re sure he’s got it handled, however – and will turn up when the Doctor least expects him to, as always.

3. Why did The Master destroy Gallifrey?

The big revelation at the end of the episode was that the Doctor’s home planet of Gallifrey – which was being kept safe in its own pocket universe – had been destroyed. The Master told the Doctor that it was he who had destroyed Gallifrey and their own people, the Time Lords. The Doctor seemed shellshocked at the news – but this actually draws a very interesting line between the two enemies, since the Doctor herself destroyed Gallifrey during the Time War, to stop the insane, war-weary Time Lords from destroying the universe.

4. What did the Time Lords do?

So, what exactly did the Time Lords do to warrant their own destruction? The Master hinted at a dark secret in their species’ past – but neglected to tell the Doctor anything more, warning her that she would have to find out on her own, ‘like I did.’ Oh, and whatever it is – it is definitely connected to the Timeless Child.

5. Who – or what – is the Timeless Child?

As we correctly predicted last week – the storyline of this season will see the Doctor uncover the secret of the Timeless Child.

This was hinted at all the way back in the second episode of Whittaker’s first season, where the Doctor is spooked when the very ominous-looking Remnants mention ‘the Timeless Child.’ ‘We see deeper though, further back,’ they said. ‘The Timeless Child… we see what’s hidden, even from yourself. The outcast, abandoned and unknown…’ We’re going to take another punt now and guess that the mystery of the Timeless Child lies in the origin of the Time Lord race, or even perhaps in the Doctor’s own personal history – her first companion in the TARDIS was her granddaughter Susan, whom she left on Earth… Doctor Who returns next Sunday on BBC One.

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Doctor Who explained: Who is the Timeless Child in Doctor Who? What is the theory?

DOCTOR WHO season 12 threw a curveball in the mythology of Gallifrey recently with the introduction of the Timeless Child concept. But who or what is the Timeless Child?

BBC series Doctor Who took another twist in its latest episode Spyfall Part Two after the Master (played by Sacha Dhawan) revealed he’d razed his home planet of Gallifrey to the ground. He went on to talk of the Timeless Child with the Doctor (Jodie Whittaker), which has left many Whovians scratching their heads.

In the episode, the Doctor visited her planet – which was being hidden within a pocket in the universe – only to find the Master wasn’t lying and it was in a decimated ruin.

When the Time Lady went back to her spaceship, she received a holographic message from her fellow time traveller and foe.

He told her: “I had to make them pay for what I discovered.

“They lied to us. The founding fathers of Gallifrey… everything we were told was a lie. We’re not who we think, you or I.”

He added: “The whole existence of our species, built on the lie of the Timeless Child.”

The Doctor saw a flashback to herself in robes as a child on Gallifrey, suggesting the Master’s words had triggered something inside her.

In the flashback, the child looked up to the sky which was purple with a burning white light in the middle, hinting at something sinister.

To make things even more perplexing, the Master seemed to know all behind the Timeless Child.

He simply told the Doctor: “I’d tell you more – but why would I make it easy for you? It wasn’t for me.”

This is now the second mention of the Timeless Child, which was referred to in Whittaker’s first season in the episode The Ghost Monument.

She was told by monsters she had a secret buried deep insider her consciousness.

They said: “We see deeper though, further back,” they said at the time. “The Timeless Child… we see what’s hidden, even from yourself. The outcast, abandoned and unknown…”

The Timeless Child is likely to be explored further in this season with Doctor Who showrunner Chris Chibnall appears to be setting up an epic story arc.

This isn’t the first time Doctor Who has delved into the past of a Time Lord, The Sound of Drums revealed how John Simm’s incarnation was sent insane by his own race.

The Master ended up becoming mad after looking into the Time Vortex as a child.

Perhaps the Doctor’s own mythology will be expanded upon in this series.

Could the Doctor herself have created Gallifrey or perhaps the Timeless Child is something deeper?

Considering the Master says the Time Lords told a “lie”, the inference is this is something which concerns their whole race and could change everything.

Along with this arc, viewers will also meet the Judoon again and the Cybermen.

There will also be some guest appearances from Anjli Mohindra, Laura Fraser and James Buckley.

Doctor Who season 12 airs on BBC One on Sunday at 7.10pm

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DOCTOR Who fans were left mourning the home planet of their favourite Time Lord on Sunday night.

The BBC sci-fi smash returned for the second part of its Spyfall adventure and suffice to say it seriously upped the ante.

After thwarting The Master’s attempts to send her companions crashing to their death on a nose-diving plane, The Doctor pulled off a hack of planet-saving proportions.

However, while Jodie managed to prevent yet another alien invasion, she was left reeling as The Master (Sacha Dawan) dropped a bombshell about Gallifrey.

The villain revealed that the once thriving civilisation was “pulverised, burned, nuked… all of the above.”

Taking credit for the mass destruction, The Master continued: “I had to make them pay for what I discovered. They lied to us. The founding fathers of Gallifrey.

“Everything we were told is a lie. We are not who we think, you or I.

“The whole existence of our species is built on the lie of The Timeless Child. Do you see it? It’s deep in all of our memories, our identity.”

The Timeless Child was first referenced last season by clairvoyant monsters The Remnants and was brought up again in last week’s premiere.

The Remnants told The Doctor it was something “hidden, even from yourself,” buried deep in her subconscious.

Refusing to provide any more insight, The Master signed off: “I’d tell you more, but why would I make it easy for you? It wasn’t for me.”

Given The Master’s track record of deceit, it’s no surprise that The Doctor was sceptical of the explosive claims.

However, upon visiting Gallfirey at the end of the episode, she was crushed to discover that he was telling the truth.

Fans at home were equally heartbroken to see the former metropolis in ashes and took to social media with their thoughts.

“This was one of the saddest scenes I’ve seen in Doctor Who. The Doctor going back to Gallifrey and seeing it burn. It was heartbreaking to see Gallifrey like this,” one fan wrote on Twitter.

A second added: “I’m so over the master. I use to love him so much. I still can’t believe he killed all the Time Lords and destroyed Gallifrey.

“I’m heartbroken over that episode. I was so happy when the doctors (plural) saved Gallifrey. Now it’s gone.”

A third fumed: “Fight me, Chris Chibnall and Sacha Dhawan, what have you done to my favourite planet?”

While a fourth raged: “So I slept on it and nope, I’m still so angry with Doctor Who. What they’ve done regarding Gallifrey just completely s***s all over Day of the Doctor! Ughhh. Not happy.”

The furore comes after fans spotted a number of crossovers between Doctor Who and Dracula last week.

Doctor Who continued on Sunday night at 7pm.

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Doctor Who: Why The Master Destroyed Gallifrey

Doctor Who season 12 has finally revealed the true fate of the planet Gallifrey – and it looks as though the Doctor will never go home again.

Doctor Who has revealed the final fate of the Doctor’s homeworld, Gallifrey. The Doctor has always been considered the most enigmatic of the Time Lords, refusing to bow to the typical Gallifreyan philosophy of non-interference. As a result, the Doctor has rarely been welcome there.

Russel T. Davies’ Doctor Who relaunch established that Gallifrey had fallen, with both the Time Lords and the Daleks wiping one another out. For years, the details of the Time War remained shrouded in mystery, but the 50th anniversary special “The Day of the Doctor” finally revealed that Gallifrey had survived. A clever gambit had transported Gallifrey into a pocket dimension, where it remained, secure and gradually recovering from the conflict.

Until the events of Doctor Who season 12, episode 2, “Spyfall” Part II. The episode saw the Master taunt the Doctor, telling her that Gallifrey had been razed to the ground. Naturally, the Doctor was unable to resist heading to Gallifrey when the Master was defeated – and she was horrified to learn that he hadn’t been lying. But the Master had left a final holographic message for her, one that triggered in the event he was beaten and she visited Gallifrey. There, the Master claimed personal responsibility for the fate of Gallifrey.

The Master explained that he had uncovered an ancient secret of the Time Lords, a truth that had been hidden by the founding fathers of Gallifrey. According to the Master, the whole existence of Time Lord society was built on “the lie of the Timeless Child.” Whatever this Timeless Child may be, the Master’s discovery so outraged him that he traveled to Gallifrey and avenged himself upon his people. He destroyed his own homeworld, and apparently wiped out all the Time Lords of Gallifrey. The Master essentially committed a terrible act of genocide against his own race.