Summary

• Doctor Who solves its contradictory continuity by using the Toymaker's jigsaw puzzle, making everything canon.
• The show's deliberate confusion in continuity is due to its unexpected longevity and various showrunners.
• Fans can now make their own connections and interpretations, freeing Doctor Who to tell new stories without being restrained by canon.

Doctor Who has brilliantly solved the issue of its contradictory continuity, putting an end to the canon debate once and for all. Unsurprisingly, a TV show that began in 1963, pre-streaming and pre-social media, doesn't all hang together as a cohesive narrative. It's even less surprising when the central character in Doctor Who is an alien time traveler who regularly reminds their companions and the viewers at home, that "time is in flux." Aside from real-world catastrophes, "fixed points" like the sinking of the Titanic or the destruction of Pompeii, all bets are off when it comes to canon and continuity in Doctor Who.

That hasn't stopped fans arguing over what's part of the established Doctor Who canon since the early days of fandom in the 1970s. Now, however, current showrunner Russell T Davies has gifted Doctor Who with a handy coverall answer for inconsistencies in canon, courtesy of the Toymaker (Neil Patrick Harris). In "The Giggle", the third and final Doctor Who 60th anniversary special, the Toymaker informs the Fourteenth Doctor (David Tennant) that he used his powers to make "a jigsaw puzzle of your past." However, rather than being a complete picture of Doctor Who continuity, the Toymaker's jigsaw is a selection of mismatched pieces, effectively meaning that everything is canon.

Doctor Who's Continuity Has Always Been Confused & Confusing

The Doctor Who books also complicated the canon

Doctor Who continuity is deliberately confusing because never in anyone's wildest dreams was it expected to run for over 60 years.

Steven Moffat once told an audience at San-Diego Comic Con in 2008 that "It is impossible for a show about a dimension-hopping time traveler to have a canon," and yet fans still try to tie it all together. Doctor Who continuity is deliberately confusing because never in anyone's wildest dreams was it expected to run for over 60 years. Given that home video recording wasn't widely accessible for over a decade of classic Doctor Who, it's no surprise that some stories contradicted others. It's why the destruction of Atlantis has been depicted multiple times in Doctor Who, and it's why, ultimately, the task of tying together the show's continuity is a fruitless one.

There have been various takes on the Doctor's reasons for leaving Gallifrey over the decades, from stultifying boredom with a corrupt political system to fleeing political office, to fears over a prophecy of a terrifying hybrid. All of these explanations were true at the time, until the next showrunner interested in the Doctor's origins decided to offer an alternative solution. Given that the show is called Doctor Who, the lead character will never 100% confirm or deny which version of the events is the cast iron truth, anyway. It's why the BBC has specifically avoided dictating an official Doctor Who canon like the Star Trek and Star Wars franchises have.

This is particularly important given that, during the 1990s, Doctor Who existed almost exclusively in novels and comic strips. As a public service broadcaster, the BBC couldn't explicitly state that the Doctor Who books — which were a consumer product — were part of the official canon. Similarly, because people had invested in following the adventures in the Virgin New Adventures and BBC books ranges, they couldn't turn around and tell those readers that they'd completely wasted their time and money. It's far easier to tacitly acknowledge that all Doctor Who spinoff media is canon, regardless of whether it contradicts what's on-screen.

The Toymaker Just Explained All Doctor Who's Continuity Errors

Doctor Who's past is a jumble of jigsaw puzzle pieces

In "The Giggle", Neil Patrick Harris' Toymaker tells the Doctor that they've made a jigsaw puzzle of the Time Lord's past. In the in-vision commentary for "The Giggle", Russell T Davies tells David Tennant and executive producer Phil Collinson that this is a way to open up Doctor Who canon. Rather than being a puzzle that the Doctor has to fit together to get a clear image of their history, it's a jumble of disconnected pieces without a box. Interestingly, this echoes something that Doctor Who novelist and screenwriter Paul Cornell once spoke about in his blog:

Not giving a toss about how it all fits together is one of Doctor Who’s oldest, proudest traditions, a strength of the series.

By being able to blame all of Doctor Who's inconsistencies on Neil Patrick Harris' Toymaker, Russell T Davies has freed things up for fans to make their own connections, if they so desire. The jumble of jigsaw pieces that make up the Doctor's history could fit together to make them a Timeless Child, half-Human, both or neither. None of it matters, and it allows Doctor Who to get on with the business of telling new stories, freed from the shackles of The Canon, as it embarks on the next 60 years.

The Giggle (& Its Novelization) Confirm Everything Is Canon

Doctor Who's 50th anniversary webisode also referenced supposedly non-canon adventures

Even before the Toymaker and the Doctor confront each other, "The Giggle" subtly establishes that everything is canon. When the Fourteenth Doctor arrives at UNIT H.Q., he's greeted by Kate Stewart (Jemma Redgrave) who mentions facing off against the classic Doctor Who monster, the Yeti. This hasn't happened in officially televised Doctor Who, and so, is presumably a reference to the unofficial spinoff movie Downtime, which also featured the Brigadier (Nicholas Courtney) and Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen). Meanwhile, the novelization of "The Giggle" by James Goss, refers to the BBC book The Devil Goblins of Neptune featuring Jon Pertwee's Third Doctor.

These references to supposedly non-canon Doctor Who adventures aren't exclusive to "The Giggle," either. In the 50th anniversary minisode The Night of the Doctor, Paul McGann's Eighth Doctor referred to his Big Finish audio companions before regenerating. Doctor Who's historic bi-generation further expands the canon, allowing for brand-new adventures for classic Doctors, as teased in Tales of the TARDIS. Doctor Who no longer has to be bound to continuity, thanks to just one line from the Toymaker that enables a bold new era where literally anything and everything is possible.

Doctor Who returns to BBC One and Disney+ in May 2024.