Alden Bates' Weblog

Does Doctor Who series 3 end with a two-part story or a three-part story? The remainder of the post is cut to avoid spoiling people who haven't seen the end of the series yet - Utopia screens in the US this Friday.

So, are Utopia, The Sound of Drums and The Last of the Time Lords one story, or is Utopia to be considered separate?

Case for three-parter:

• Totally Doctor Who says it's a three-parter.
• Utopia has "TO BE CONTINUED" in big letters at the end, plus there's the whole cliffhanger thing.
• All three episodes have the same writer, involve the Master, and the Toclafane which appear in the latter two episodes are directly related to Utopia.
• Phil Collinson said so, according to DWM editor Tom Spilsbury.

Case for two-parter:

• Utopia was in a different production block, and has a different director.
• The Radio Times says Utopia is a separate episode.
• As Wikipedia points out, The Sound of Drums doesn't start with a recap of Utopia, as is customary.
• The gallery on the BBC's official Doctor Who site lists Utopia separately.

The BBC press release is entirely unhelpful.

Other sites vote:
Two-parter: Outpost Gallifrey, Torchwood TV
Three-parter: Doctor Who Reference Guide, Wikipedia, TV.com, TV Squad, Eye of Horus

The IMDB listing is no help, and finally trying to get a consensus in the Outpost Gallifrey thread is, of course, like herding cats.

I'm inclined to go with Utopia/The Sound of Drums/The Last of the Time Lords being a three-parter, simply because one of the producers said so. It seems that they originally said Utopia was separate so that the cliffhanger ending would be a surprise, explaining the Radio Times listing. The fact that Utopia is part of a different production block's not really a reason either, when you consider The Trial of a Time Lord (regarded by many as one story).