A couple of week's back, Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies teased 'Empire of Death' in the Radio Times by writing, "Apparently DW is coming back for Christmas, but it might just be a white screen on the BBC for an hour, because – trust me – not everyone comes out of this alive." Well, Christmas is safe – it's not much of a spoiler to say that eventually the Doctor does, in fact, win in his battle against Sutekh, the God of Death – but Empire delivers on Davies' promise by being a suitably cataclysmic season finale. We pick up immediately after the cliffhanger finale of ‘The Legend of Ruby Sunday,’ with Susan Triad and Harriet Arbinger spreading Sutekh's dust of death across the whole of the Earth.
The Doctor and Mel escape and quickly reunite with Ruby, fleeing the planet in the Remembered TARDIS, but the rest of humanity is not so lucky. In the episode's opening 10 minutes we witness the disintegration of Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, Morris Gibbons, and well, everyone else on Earth too (including, presumably, David Tennant's "retired" 14th Doctor, but let's not dwell on that can of worms too much). In truth, as soon as Ruby's family - and Mrs Flood! - are turned to dust, it becomes clear that there will need to be a reset of some sort before the story's end.
Even so, it's a bold opening that really sells the idea that Sutekh is a much bigger kind of threat than we're used to. Sure, the Master conquered the Earth in 'The Last of the Time Lords' and the Daleks tri.
