In the episode, the Thirteenth Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) travels to 17th century Lancashire, alongside her companions Graham O'Brien (Bradley Walsh), Ryan Sinclair (Tosin Cole), and Yasmin Khan (Mandip Gill), finding themselves in the middle of a witch hunt held by a local land owner.
Meanwhile, Yasmin finds the old woman being buried by her grand-daughter, Willa Twiston, who is also Becka's cousin, and saves her from a tendril made of mud.
The tree Becka chopped down is in fact a disguised alien prison keeping the Morax war criminals within, its systems now damaged and malfunctioning.
The following day, James tells the Doctor that all records of the events will be erased before he and Willa watch in surprise as the group leave in the TARDIS.
"[1][2][3][4] Towards the end of the episode, when warning King James not to resume the witch trials, Graham partially quotes Quentin Tarantino's version of biblical verse Ezekiel 25:17, from his film Pulp Fiction.
[10] In a 2021 interview, Wilkinson revealed the story had changed several times during development, beginning as more centered around the actual Pendle Witches, with King James being a later addition.
[23] It received an official total of 7.21 million viewers across all UK channels, making it the 17th most watched programme of the week, and had an Audience Appreciation Index score of 81.
"[12] A novelisation of this story written by Joy Wilkinson was released in paperback and digital formats 11 March 2021 as part of the Target Collection.