BBC Doctor Who fans 'scared, shook and excited' as classic villain returns ahead of finale

Doctor Who viewers were "screaming" at their screens as the long running BBC sci-fi drama upped the ante ahead of the season finale. The latest installment is the penultimate in this season's eight episode run and saw the return of old friends and companions as well as a classic villain, Sutekh, making a comeback.

Fans were in awe of the jam-packed edition and left excited for what is to come following the "to be continued..." cliffhanger message. They took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to gush about the story.

@BELLA_SNOWDEN commented: "As a new #DoctorWho fan I am scared, shook, and excited! I don’t know who the hell SUTEKH is but when I saw To Be Continued I burst into flames. Next Season is going to be Massive!!"

@geekmystic was also in awe of the episode writing: "It's been a while since the words 'To Be Continued' made me scream and cuss at my computer screen. #DoctorWho."

@ZenoSamaDB enthused: "#DoctorWho Rouge was Great last week but sorry that new episode was something else. I can’t remember the last time a Doctor Who villain genuinely scared me that much. Glad they’re bringing back all these classic villains back and giving them new Life."

@loveandsnuggles was also impressed chiming in: "Ok this might be the best episode of #DoctorWho i’ve ever seen. i couldnt look away. I hope they stick the landing for the finale."

Meanwhile @TitanicTardis was so excited by what they had seen they commented in all capitals writing: "THAT EPISODE WAS LIKE..... OMGG IT WAS SO GOOD MY HEART WAS LITERALLY RACING THROUGHOUT IT!!! EVERYONE WAS FANTASTIC!!!!!! #DoctorWho."

However, @AnthonyCGreen1 was not a fan of the episode calling it a "confused mess". They wrote: "I suppose I'll have to do my homework and rewatch the #PyramidsofMars now, but how many of the 18-30 demographic #RTD is supposedly targeting will bother? #DoctorWho is a confused mess. Hail #Sutekh! And I wanted the proper #Susan to return."

The episode opened inauspiciously enough as The Doctor (played by Ncuti Gatwa) and his companion Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) landed the TARDIS in UNIT's headquarters to see what the agency knew about the mysterious woman (Susan Twist) they have been meeting everywhere.

It transpired her name was Susan Triad and she was a tech genius about to launch some huge new technology on the world and former companion Mel Bush (Bonnie Langford) was working undercover to try and get to the bottom of why she kept appearing to The Doctor.

There were plenty of familiar faces popping up as Heartstoppers Yasmin Finney made a return as Rose Noble, Jemma Redgrave reprised the role of Kate Lethbridge-Stewart for the second time this season and we yet again saw Anita Dobson's mysterious Mrs Flood. There were also some new faces including Lenny Rush playing a 13-year-old genius.

While the reunions and introductions made for fun scenes the story took a turn as they tried to use old footage to figure out the identity of Ruby's mother and realised there was something strange about it.

Things got even darker when Susan Triad stood in front of cameras to make her huge announcement and was revealed to in fact be Sutekh, the "god of all gods" who serves as "mother and father and other" of the Gods of Chaos who also include recent foes The Toymaker (Neil Patrick Harris) and Maestro.

Sutekh, who last appeared in Doctor Who almost 50 years ago, in a 1975 serial Pyramids of Mars, featuring the Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) and companion Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen) materialised inside UNIT HQ announcing that "all life will perish at my hand". Viewers will have to wait until next week's finale to see if The Doctor can vanquish the villain and save the world.

Doctor Who is on BBC One on Saturday nights with previous episodes available on BBC iPlayer.