The hit British sci-fi show Doctor Who has seen the titular doctor interact with past and future versions of himself. During the series finale of Russell T. Davies’ run on the show, the Tenth Doctor worked alongside another version of himself he never expected. The two-part finale saw the creation of a half-human/half-Time Lord version of the Tenth Doctor, dubbed the “Meta-Crisis Dotoctor” by fans, thanks to a botched regeneration.
The Meta-Crisis Doctor was “banished” to an alternate reality where the Doctor’s former companion and love interest Rose Tyler was living. The finale ended with this clone Doctor and Rose starting a new relationship that she and the original Doctor could never have, thanks to the clone’s human side letting him age as a human does. Fans speculated for years what happened to the two until Big Finish’s audio dramas and a short story provided answers to what happened to Rose Tyler and the half-human Doctor.
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The Siege of Big Ben takes place a few years after “Journey’s End.” The audio drama begins with Jackie and the new Doctor’s attempts to stop alien invaders from accessing the Doctor’s growing TARDIS. The unlikely pair struggle at times, with Jackie reminding the Doctor that his original counterpart thought situations through and chose peaceful solutions if they were available instead of blowing things up.
The two eventually discover the alien invasion is just a ruse, with the true culprit being UNIT member Brigadier Krista. The Brigadier lost her daughter during the Cybermen conversion takeover depicted in the Series 2 episode “The Age of Steel” and wants to use the TARDIS to bring her daughter back. Jackie convinces Krista that time travel rules do not allow people to change their personal timelines, and Krista stands down.
The Doctor, still believing in “no second chances,” reports Krista’s actions to Pete and has her arrested, which does not sit well with Jackie, who believes Krista simply made a mistake. The audio drama ends with Jackie hoping she can be friends with the Doctor again while noting the changes between him and the original.
Flight Into Hull! takes place soon after the prior audio drama and features Jackie and the Meta-Crisis Doctor working together again. After being tricked by Rose and Pete into going on a zeppelin ride together, Jackie and the Doctor are forced to contend with another Jackie from an alternate world.
This alternate Jackie reveals herself as a scientist looking to save her dying world by invading and replacing the people of the original Jackie’s world. Jackie tries to convince her counterpart that their lives are equal and that it’s wrong for the alternate Jackie to kill others to save her world. Jackie even worries that the Doctor may allow the new Jackie to go through with her plans, as she could possibly help the Doctor in growing his TARDIS, thanks to her science background.
Ultimately, the Doctor forces the alternate Jackie to teleport back to her own world when he destroys the zeppelin’s auto-pilot and sends it crashing down. During the crash, the Doctor declares how deeply in love with Rose Tyler he is, and he and Jackie make up from their previous argument. The two escape the crash landing and return to their family. Jackie later recalls how eager Pete and Rose were to claim credit for the zeppelin ride being a success even though they had nothing to do with the invading alternate Jackie.
The short story The Turning of the Tide by Jenny Colgan tells a slightly different version of events. Two years after “Journey’s End,” Rose Tyler is pregnant with the Meta-Crisis Doctor’s child. The Doctor now goes by Corin because Rose decided she wanted him to have a name and refused to call him “the Doctor.” Corin works as a general practitioner, while Rose is working toward a diploma in Early Years care.
The two peacefully live in a house together until aliens called the Cask Men come to Earth to steal the ocean and sell it. In this version of events, the Doctor’s mind is more affected by his human half, causing him to have trouble remembering the Cask Men from their original universe and how to stop them. The couple ends up stopping the Cask Men from stealing the ocean by infiltrating their ship. The story ends with Rose giving birth to their child. Though a clear departure from the audio dramas, both this story and the audio dramas serve as proper final endings for the Meta-Crisis Doctor by giving him a true family.
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