Doctor Who season 2 episode 6 ending explained: What does Graham Norton tell the Doctor and Belinda about Earth?

Doctor Who season 2 episode 6 premiered on Disney+ in the United States on May 17, 2025. Ben A. Williams directed the episode, titled The Interstellar Song Contest, which is written by Juno Dawson.

The episode centers on the Doctor and Belinda attending the Interstellar Song Contest in the year 2925. After the show is hijacked by two Hellians, Kid and Wynn, the time-traveling duo successfully saves the lives of 100,000 people in the audience. In the end, they find out that Earth was destroyed the day Belinda left the planet.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for Doctor Who season 2 episode 6.

What happens at the renowned song contest in Doctor Who season 2 episode 6?

Rylan and Sabine as seen in Doctor Who season 2 episode 6 (Image via Disney+)

The Doctor and Belinda step out of the TARDIS and find themselves at the Harmony Arena space station in the year 2925. The duo realizes they have landed at the 803rd Interstellar Song Contest and decide to stay for the extravaganza as both have fond memories of watching the show's previous installments.

A cat-woman called Sabine and Rylan Clark, who was cryogenically frozen but revived, take center stage as presenters. Rylan announces that the show is being broadcast to over 3 trillion life forms across the western galactic arm. Moreover, the song contest features 40 finalists from 40 different worlds competing for the ultimate prize.

But the 100,000 people in the audience are unaware that a gun-wielding man named Kid has stormed into the control room and hijacked the show. He has horns sticking out of his head and hails from the planet Hellia, whose residents are treated as scum by the rest of the universe.

Kid's accomplice is the staff member Wynn, who helps him switch the live broadcast feed to the dress rehearsal for viewers at home. But the Doctor notices the change on his screen and instantly triples the mavity field that encircles the space station as a safety net.

Liz Lizardine as seen in Doctor Who season 2 episode 6 (Image via Instagram/@bbcdoctorwho)

The first contestant, Liz Lizardine from the planet Lizoko, begins performing her song I Love You But My Heart Says No. The kid turns off the safety protocols, and the sirens begin to blare loudly.

Before anyone can react, the stadium's roof explodes and the hundred thousand audience members get sucked into deep space, leaving the arena totally empty. The Doctor and TARDIS get dragged into outer space, but Belinda gets stuck on the roof and remains inside the arena.

As his body starts freezing, the Doctor sees a vision of his granddaughter Susan Foreman urging him to find her. He propels himself through space on a confetti cannon and blasts inside the airlock, where Mike and Gary revive him. The doctor sets off to defeat Kid and Wynn and bring the audience members back to safety.

After fulfilling his mission, the Doctor and Belinda return to the TARDIS to head back to Earth. But they are interrupted by Graham Norton's hologram, who informs them that Earth was destroyed on May 24, 2025, due to an unknown cause. Inside the TARDIS, the Doctor plugs in the Vindictor, and they finally land on Earth on its last date.

However, alarm bells start going off inside, and the duo is shocked when an outside explosion blows the door inwards.

How does the Doctor defeat Kid and Wynn in Doctor Who season 2 episode 6?

An image of Kid and Wynn from Doctor Who season 2 episode 6 (Image via Disney+)

After taking over the control room, Kid activates the Delta Wave device, which uploads new software, written in the Hellian script, into the system. The Doctor figures out that the primitive Delta Wave targets the temporal lobe of the brain and will kill three trillion people watching at home once the software is launched.

With Mike and Gary's help, the Doctor gets access to the museum, where a hologram of the British presenter Graham Norton greets them briefly. Kid warns the Doctor (through the screen) to stop messing with the system.

In response, he threatens to cast his "body out into the void" and watch him "freeze to death" with a kind of vengeance that scares Belinda, who is watching from the other end of the arena.

Just before the software can transmit the deadly wave to three trillion people, the Doctor comes face-to-face with Kid, who shoots at him, only to watch the hologram disappear. The real Doctor appears behind him and shoots the device along with Kid's gun.

He proceeds to electrocute Kid through his hologram, three trillion times for all the people he intended to murder, and watches with satisfaction as Kid writhes in pain on the floor.

But the Doctor snaps out of his cruelty after seeing Belinda and hands over Kid and Wynn to the Justice Monolith. By using Gary's expertise with holograms and Mike's experience as a nurse, they trap each suspended individual using an tractor beam and revive them in Rylan's cryogenic chamber one by one. In the end, they save all the 100,000 people, who fill the arena again.

Cora is a Hellian in Doctor Who season 2 episode 6

An image of Cora and Belinda from Doctor Who season 2 episode 6 (Image via Instagram/@bbcdoctorwho)

As the audience is dragged into space, the only ones left inside the arena are Belinda, the contestant Cora Saint Bavier, and her tech-savvy partner Len. Moreover, the couple Mike and Gary, whose seats were taken by the Doctor and Belinda, are safe outside the arena.

Len tries to access the software, but finds that it's changed to Hellian. He claims that the Hellians practice cannibalism, perform witchcraft, and have horns at the back of their heads, which purportedly gives them psychic powers.

After Cora recognizes Kid from their screen, she comes out to Belinda and Len as a Hellian herself. She admits to hiding her identity so that she could participate in the contest, as Hellians are prohibited from singing.

Cora explains that her planet, Hellia, was once thriving with Hell poppies. But the Corporation ravaged her planet for Hell poppy seeds to use as a flavoring in Poppy Honey. The honey brand is also the sponsor of the Interstellar Song Contest, which is run by the Corporation. Kid and Wynn plan to punish the Corporation by making it responsible for the deaths of all its viewers.

After the Doctor and his group save everyone, the competition proceeds. Cora takes the stage and sings a Hellian ballad, which is met with rousing applause.

Mrs. Flood wages war against the Doctor in Doctor Who season 2 episode 6

The two Ranis as seen in Doctor Who season 2 episode 6 (Image via Disney+)

The mysterious Mrs. Flood is among the audience members at the Interstellar Song Contest. She watches the Doctor and Belinda from a distance through space-aged binoculars and happily remarks about the 'final link' when she gets an alert that the Doctor's Vindicator is ready and primed.

In the post-credits scene of Doctor Who season 2 episode 6, Mrs. Flood is the last person to be revived by Mike and Gary. She bi-generates into two women, called The Ranis, and prepares for the final battle with the Doctor.

Watch all the latest episodes of Doctor Who on Disney+ in the United States.

About the author

Deepti is an entertainment writer at Sportskeeda. She comes with more than 6 years of experience in the creative writing field and has written extensively for the entertainment and travel domains.

She holds a degree in Chemistry, but her true interest always lay in the creative field. A passion for reading from a young age fueled her desire to make a career change later in life and take up writing as her profession.

Apart from reading, her hobbies include watching movies, listening to music, and going to the beach. In her free time, she can be found looking up reviews of new and old films to add to her watchlist. She also enjoys watching foreign language films that help expand her knowledge base regarding different cultures around the world.

Asked to describe herself, she would promptly mention that she is a die-hard Swiftie and enjoys nothing more than listening to Taylor Swift songs on loop while writing.

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Edited by Tiasha