Alert Doctor Who fans may have noticed that the second episode of Ncuti Gatwa's premiere double bill, 'The Devil's Chord', contains a reference that carries over from the 60th anniversary specials, with the mention of "The One Who Waits".
The moment comes just as Gatwa's Doctor has vanquished Maestro (Jinkx Monsoon), with help from The Beatles, naturally. The elemental force of music herself is being sucked up into the top of the famous Abbey Road piano, but not without getting a few last words in.
She shouts: "The One Who Waits is almost here!" Ominous. Then, the fabulous, if extremely unhinged baddie vanishes.
Who is The One Who Waits?
We previously heard the overwrought moniker in the third and final anniversary special 'The Giggle', as the Toymaker spun out the tale of his backstory for the Doctor, then played by David Tennant.
Neil Patrick Harris' dastardly gamesman lured the Doctor into a face-off – but not before a classic villain monologue.
"I came to this universe with such delight," he said. "I played them all, Doctor – I toyed with supernovas, turned galaxies into spinning tops, I gambled with God and made him a jack-in-the-box."
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But then the Toymaker confessed: "There's only one player I didn't dare face – The One Who Waits. I saw it, hiding, and I ran."
The Doctor, clearly not recognising the name, tries to peel more information from the Toymaker, but he only adds: "That's someone else's game."
So The One Who Waits is likely going to be part of a long-running arc, teased out by showrunner Russell T Davies like Bad Wolf and Torchwood were.
And it looks like The One Who Waits is nothing but good news, if it's an entity both the Toymaker and Maestro have some trepidation about. They were both touted as being god-like beings and very nearly defeated the Doctor, but The One Who Waits instils fear in both of them...
This new big bad could be linked to the overarching storyline being teased out over Ruby's (Millie Gibson) parentage. In the first two episodes, we see the snow of that Christmas night at the church on Ruby Road return, as does the motif of that song from Home Alone used in the festive special.
When the snow starts to fall in 'The Devil's Chord', Maestro is confused over whether "he" was there that night – could the "he" referred to be The One Who Waits? If he was there that night Ruby was left at the church as a baby, we could meet The One Who Waits by the end of the season.
The penultimate episode is entitled 'The Legend of Ruby Sunday', so will likely be when we understand who else was there that night in the church and how it relates to these over-arching storylines being teased out. Stay tuned.
Doctor Who continues on BBC iPlayer in the UK and Disney+ elsewhere.
Previously Deputy TV Editor at Digital Spy and, before that, a TV Reporter at The Mirror, Rebecca can now be found crafting expert analysis of the TV landscape, when she's not talking on the BBC or Times Radio about everything from the latest season of Bridgerton or The White Lotus to whatever chaos is unfolding in the various Love Island villas. When she's not bingeing a boxset, in-the-wild sightings of Rebecca have included stints on the National TV Awards and BAFTAs red carpets, and post-match video explainers of the reality TV we're all watching.
