En route, the box with his remains breaks open and the Master in the form of a snake-like ooze leaks out, infecting the TARDIS.

After exiting the TARDIS, the Doctor is shot by a gang chasing down Chang Lee, a young Chinese-American man.

At the hospital, after the bullets are removed, cardiologist Dr. Grace Holloway attempts surgery to stabilise his unusual heartbeat, but is confused by his strange double-heart anatomy.

To solve this conundrum, he needs an atomic clock, and there is one on display at the San Francisco Institute of Technological Advancement and Research.

The Doctor does not immediately recognise the Master, but discovers his true identity en route, and escapes with Grace.

As he connects the proper TARDIS circuits to do this, the Master takes control of Grace's body, and she strikes the Doctor unconscious.

The Doctor wakes to find himself chained above the Eye, the Master poised to take his remaining regenerations while Lee and Grace watch.

Enraged, the Master kills him, forces Grace to open the Eye and begins drawing the Doctor's lifeforce.

After being released from The Master's control, Grace completes the final circuits to put the TARDIS into a time-holding pattern, preventing the destruction.

Casting sessions took place in March 1994; actors who actually auditioned for the role include Liam Cunningham, Mark McGann, Robert Lindsay, Tim McInnerny, Nathaniel Parker, Peter Woodward, John Sessions, Anthony Head, and Tony Slattery.

[1] Among the actors who were invited to audition for the role of the Doctor but declined the opportunity were Christopher Eccleston[6] and Peter Capaldi.

Eccleston turned down the offer to audition for the TV Movie because, at the time, he felt he did not want to be associated with a "brand name" so early in his career.

John Debney was commissioned to write the score for this film, and intended to replace Ron Grainer's original theme with a new composition.

The VHS release contains both the name Doctor Who and the phrase The Sensational Feature Length Film (plausibly read as a subtitle).

The movie premiered in Canada, on the Edmonton, Alberta CITV-TV station on 12 May 1996, two days prior to its Fox Network broadcast.

[10] Maureen Paton in the Daily Express praised the movie "At last we have a grown-up hi-tech Doctor Who in Paul McGann...only a low-tech Luddite would miss the endearing amateurism of the old teatime serial format...the makers would be mad not to pursue the option of a series.

"[11] Matthew Bond of The Times, by contrast stated "If the series is to return it will need stronger scripts than this simplistic offering, which struggled to fill eighty-five minutes and laboured somewhat in its search for wit".

Gillatt added "although very entertaining, stylishly directed and perfectly played, the TV movie perhaps tried a little too hard to be what Doctor Who once was, rather than crusading to demonstrate what it could be in the future".

Finally, on 25 August 2010, Dan Hall of 2entertain confirmed that the 2010 updated version would be released in North America sometime in the next twelve months following extensive negotiations with Universal Studios.

[15] Two months afterward, a North American DVD release date for the 2-disc Doctor Who: The Movie – Special Edition was announced to be 8 February 2011.

Alongside a documentary on the Eighth Doctor, it also features an introduction from then current show runner Steven Moffat.

[18] All releases are for DVD unless otherwise indicated Music from the movie was on a promotional-only soundtrack album published by the composer, John Debney.

All music is composed by John Debney, except where notedThe television movie was novelised by Gary Russell and published by BBC Books 15 May 1996.

A revised[28] Target Books edition titled The TV Movie was published in paperback and as an audiobook 11 March 2021.