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Doctor Who viewers praised Neil Patrick Harris’ performance as The Toymaker on the BBC show on Saturday night.
The American actor, 50, made his debut on the hit sci-fi show in the third and final 60th anniversary special, starring David Tennant and Catherine Tate.
Neil played the devious villain The Toymaker, who last appeared in the drama in 1966, when he was played by Michael Gough in the four-part The Celestial Toymaker story.
Showrunner Russell T Davies previously described Neil’s version of The Toymaker as the “greatest enemy the Doctor has ever faced” when the villain made his grand return in the episode titled The Giggle.
Putting his own spin on the character, viewers were seriously impressed by his performance and took to social media to talk about his “creepy” performance and his character’s creepy laugh.
Doctor Who viewers praised Neil Patrick Harris’ performance as The Toymaker on the BBC show on Saturday night.
Writing on X, formerly known as Twitter, fans argued that Neil was “perfect” for the role and admitted they were left with “chills” watching his performance.
One said: “What a gift to have Neil Patrick Harris in this episode”, a second wrote: “Well Neil Patrick Harris does it quite well.”
A third commented: ‘Ten seconds into #DoctorWho and @ActuallyNPH has me in the palm of his hands! This is a villain!
Another tweeted: “I’m not even a fan of Neil Patrick Harris and he’s already giving me chills as Toymaker #DoctorWho,” and one added: Neil Patrick Harris is perfect as The Toymaker.
‘You are recognizing me, aren’t you happy, doctor, to see me again after so many years?’
The original Toymaker had William Hartnell’s first Doctor turn invisible for two episodes in 1966 and had several living toys as servants.
The Toymaker was an enigmatic being outside of time and time, and David Tennant’s Doctor theorized that he had allowed the villain to burst into reality by playing a game at the end of the universe.
In the second 60th anniversary special, Wild Blue Yonder, the Doctor threw salt on the ground in an attempt to trick two villains, allowing the Toymaker to travel to the real world.
Neil played the evil villain The Toymaker, who last appeared in the drama in 1966, when he was played by Michael Gough in the four-part story of The Celestial Toymaker.
Putting his own spin on the character, viewers were seriously impressed by his performance and took to social media to gush about his “creepy” performance.
Spooky scenes on Saturday saw the Doctor come face to face with The Toymaker once again as the villain drove the human race mad and turned humans into puppets for his enslavement and amusement.
Upon meeting The Toymaker, Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) asked the Doctor: ‘Who is he?’ to which the Doctor looked terrified and said: ‘The Toymaker.’
“We meet again, doctor,” the toymaker declared, before disappearing to play hide-and-seek as his eerie laughter echoed through his toy store.
As Donna and the Doctor tried to find their way around their toy shop, which became a maze of doors, Donna asked, “Who’s the toymaker? What is he?”
To which the Doctor explained: ‘When I was young, I was so sure of myself that I made a terrible mistake. I let the TARDIS fall into another realm… where science is a game and we are all toys.
‘He found his way to reality and I think it’s all thanks to me. I got smart, didn’t I? I threw that salt at the end of the universe, played a game and let it in.
The Doctor seemed terrified of the Toymaker when he tearfully told Donna that he didn’t think he could save her from the formidable villain.
The Toy Maker had driven the humans on Earth crazy, before challenging the Doctor to a game, which put the planet at stake, forcing the Time Lord to agree to try to save the Earth.
In addition to his terrifying nature and ability to change reality on Earth, The Toymaker also brought an injection of song and dance to the episode while invading UNIT.
The villain suddenly appeared at the UNIT base singing and dancing to the Spice Girls anthem, Spice Up Your Life, and proceeded to turn people and weapons into toys to win the battle.
In a tense confrontation with the Doctor, The Toymaker surprisingly shot the Doctor, forcing him to regenerate.
Showrunner Russell T Davies previously described Neil’s version of The Toymaker as the “greatest enemy the Doctor has ever faced” when the villain made his grand return.
He said: ‘I played one game with the First Doctor, I played the second with this Doctor, so your rules state that I must play the third game with the next Doctor!’
As his regeneration began, the Doctor said: ‘It’s time, here we go again! Alonzee’, however, David’s face remained as he apparently did not regenerate.
Then he asked Donna, ‘Could you pull? This time it feels different’, and as she pulled his arms around her, Ncuti Gatwa appeared alongside David’s Doctor, making her debut in the role.
In an unexpected twist, both David and Ncuti’s doctors remained on screen, with Ncuti shouting, “No way!” -his first words as a Doctor.
David said: ‘You’re me’, while Ncuti replied: ‘No, it’s me.’ I think it’s really, really me! Oh-ho-ho it’s completely me! Don’t just stand there, push!’
When asked what happened, Ncuti’s doctor said: ‘Bigeneration, I have bigeneration. There’s no such thing, two-generation is supposed to be a myth, but-!’
The Doctor couple then confronted The Toymaker and managed to beat him at his own game, making the villain disappear.
David’s doctor said, ‘Best of three, and my prize, Toymaker, is to banish you from existence forever!’
‘No, You can not. “But I…it’s not fair, please,” the toymaker said, before giving the ominous warning: “My legions are coming.”
However, it appears that it is not the end, as a mysterious hand was seen picking up the Toymaker’s gold tooth that had been left behind, after the Toymaker told the Doctor how he defeated the villain The Master and trapped him in the tooth. .
Elsewhere in the episode, Bonnie Langford made her long-awaited return, more than three decades after she originally boarded the TARDIS.
Spooky scenes on Saturday saw the Doctor come face to face with The Toymaker once again as the villain drove the human race mad and turned humans into puppets.
Donna and the Doctor tried to find their way around their toy shop, which became a maze of doors as the Toymaker tricked them with his games.
The Doctor seemed terrified of The Toy Maker and tearfully told Donna that he didn’t think he could save her from the formidable villain.
In a tense confrontation with the Doctor, the Toy Maker surprisingly shot the Doctor, forcing him to regenerate.
In a surprising twist, Ncuti made his long-awaited debut as he emerged from David and the pair appeared side by side, leaving two doctors to fight the toymaker.
Elsewhere in the episode, Bonnie Langford made her long-awaited return, more than three decades after she originally boarded the TARDIS.
Bonnie made her Who debut in 1986 as Melanie alongside Sixth Doctor Colin Baker.
The actress reprized her role as the Doctor’s former companion Melanie Bush, who worked at UNIT alongside returning character Kate Lethbridge-Stewart (Jemma Redgrave).
Bonnie made her Who debut in 1986 as Melanie alongside the Sixth Doctor Colin Baker, and went on to be the companion of the Seventh Doctor, Sylvester McCoy.
He came face to face with David’s Doctor when he was brought to UNIT to help find out who was driving the human race crazy, and everyone became convinced they were right, wreaking havoc on the streets.
Looking at Melanie once more, the Doctor smiled, put his arms around her, and said it was “the best news” that she was working with the military organization UNIT.
Melanie told Donna: ‘I was just like you, I was one of her mates!’
He then revealed that he had spent time traveling the stars after leaving the Doctor, before deciding to return to Earth.
She shared: ‘I had to face the only thing I had been running from, I had nothing, my family was gone. But then Kate offered me a job and here I am!’