Doctor Who fans call Dot and Bubble hard-hitting ending 'best ever'

The latest episode of the BBC sci-fi hit saw Ncuti Gatwa blow viewers away in the final moments.

Doctor Who S1,01-06-2024,Dot and Bubble,5 - Dot and Bubble,Lindy (CALLIE COOKE),*NOT FOR PUBLICATION UNTIL 0001HRS, SUNDAY 26TH MAY, 2024*,BBC Studios/Bad Wolf,James Pardon
Callie Cooke starred in Doctor Who episode Dot and Bubble. (BBC)
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Doctor Who fans have said they were "blown away" by the ending to latest episode Dot and Bubble, which they called the "best ending ever".

The episode followed a future world where teens live inside a social media bubble but are being preyed upon by giant man-eating slugs that Ncuti Gatwa's Doctor is trying to save them from.

But a gut-punching moment in the closing scene was all viewers could talk about as they praised Gatwa's acting.

Dot and Bubble was an unusual episode of Doctor Who as the lead was a guest star, Callie Cooke who played social media obsessive Lindy Pepper-Bean.

But if fans thought the sci-fi series had relinquished the starring role, they were in for a surprise in the final scene where Ncuti Gatwa completely stole the show as the Doctor in a hard-hitting moment.

Doctor Who S1,01-06-2024,Dot and Bubble,5 - Dot and Bubble,Finetime,*NOT FOR PUBLICATION UNTIL 0001HRS, SUNDAY 26TH MAY, 2024*,BBC Studios/Bad Wolf,James Pardon
The episode's completely undiverse cast led to a shocking finale. (BBC)

The episode saw a group of privileged teens living in a social media bubble picked off in alphabetical order by giant man-eating slugs, with Lindy turning on her popstar crush Ricky September by causing his death to save her own life.

The Doctor and Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) tried to save Lindy and her friends throughout the episode by contacting her on social media, but she confused viewers by continually brushing them off.

However, when they finally met face-to-face in the final scene and viewers realised every other character was white, a shocking racist comment from Lindy showed the real reason she wouldn't engage with the Doctor, despite him pleading with her to let him save them.

Doctor Who S1,11-05-2024,Generics,The Doctor (NCUTI GATWA) & Ruby Sunday (MILLIE GIBSON),BBC,Nwaka Okparaeke
Viewers praised Ncuti Gatwa in the final scene of the Doctor Who episode. (BBC)

Viewers were left stunned by the ending and Gatwa's performance, as one person commented: "I was like... Why is everyone white apart from the Doctor? Like it felt off, because Doctor Who always tries to be as diverse in its casting as possible Then came the twist at the end and all those microagressions made more sense. Slug supermacy!"

Another wrote: "I’m calling it. The last 5 minutes of tonight’s Doctor Who, Dot and Bubble, is the best ending of an episode of Doctor Who ever. Ever.

Someone else admitted: "I was thinking all the way through what a load of bs this is. Then came the ending , which totally blew me away" as another person added: "Felt like a fairly throwaway episode (apart from Ricky, who is a KING) and then… oof! That ending. Well played."

One viewer wrote: "An ending for the ages made more remarkable because it was Ncuti's first scene - wow," and someone else agreed: "That ending won’t be leaving my head anytime soon."

Susan Twist in Doctor Who episode Boom. (BBC)
Susan Twist made another Doctor Who appearance. (BBC)

This week's episode again featured an appearance from actor Susan Twist, this time playing Lindy's mum.

She has had small roles in every episode this series, leading to plenty of theories from viewers on what the true reason behind her repeat appearances could be.

Fan suggestions have included that she could be Ruby's birth mother, although showrunner Russell T Davies has tried to throw people off the scent on the show's official podcast.

He said: "We ran out of actors actually, genuinely, there was a shortage at Equity. So we keep using Susan Twist for a lot of things, just because we like her. And that’s the simple reason why.

"There’s nothing behind it. No mystery, no nothing. She’s just there. I said, ‘Come on, Sue, come on, have a laugh.’ Yes, she keeps cropping up, faithful viewer. Yes, we’ve noticed. Yes, you’ve noticed."

Doctor Who airs on BBC One at 6.45pm on Saturday and streams on BBC iPlayer from midnight on Friday.