The Return of Doctor Mysterio

264 – "The Return of Doctor Mysterio"
Doctor Who episode
Promotional image for the episode
Cast
Doctor Peter Capaldi (Twelfth Doctor)
Companion Matt Lucas (Nardole)
Others Justin Chatwin – Grant Gordon / The Ghost Charity Wakefield – Lucy Fletcher Adetomiwa Edun – Mr Brock Aleksandar Jovanovic – Dr Sim Logan Hoffman – Young Grant Daniel Lorente – Teen Grant Sandra Teles – Reporter Tanroh Ishida – Operator Vaughn Johseph – Soldier
Production
Directed by	Ed Bazalgette
Written by	Steven Moffat
Script editor	Nick Lambon
Produced by	Peter Bennett
Executive producer(s)	Steven Moffat Brian Minchin
Incidental music composer	Murray Gold
Length	60 minutes
Originally broadcast	25 December 2016
Chronology
← Preceded by Followed by → "The Husbands of River Song" —

"The Return of Doctor Mysterio" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. First broadcast on BBC One on 25 December 2016, it is the twelfth Christmas special since the show's revival in 2005. It is written by Steven Moffat and directed by Ed Bazalgette.

The episode stars Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor and Matt Lucas as Nardole, the latter reprising his role from the preceding episode, "The Husbands of River Song". The episode is set in New York City, and involves the Doctor and Nardole linking with journalist Lucy Fletcher (Charity Wakefield) and a superhero called The Ghost (Justin Chatwin) to combat brain-swapping aliens.

The episode received generally positive reviews from critics.

In New York City on Christmas Eve of 1992, an 8-year-old boy named Grant wakes to find the Doctor dangling outside the window of his family's apartment, and helps him come into his bedroom. Taking the boy to the rooftop, the Doctor reveals he accidentally set off a trap for a device he was building, and enlists him to help complete it. However Grant mistakenly swallows a wish-granting gemstone needed for the device, believing it to be medicine, effectively being granted his wish to be a superhero. Abandoning the device, the Doctor makes Grant promise to not use his new superpowers before he leaves.

Returning to New York in 2016 with Nardole, whom he rebuilt from Hydroflax's body, the Doctor conducts an investigation into Harmony Shoals, a multinational research company, discovering a news reporter named Lucy Fletcher performing a similar investigation. The group discover that it is being secretly run by a group of living alien brains that transplant themselves into any living creature they need for their plans, killing the company's owner, Mr Brock, for his body. Tracked down by Dr Sims, an employee the brains already took over, the group suddenly are rescued by a masked superhero named the Ghost, who transports Lucy close to her home. Returning to her apartment before her, Ghost transforms back into Grant, who works for Lucy as a nanny, only to be shocked to find the Doctor and Nardole waiting for him, having tracked him down via the gemstone fused to him.