First appearing among the Doctor Who season 14 cast as Captain Poppy in “Space Babies,” Mavanga-Phipps’ character is now confirmed to be the daughter of Belinda Chandra (Varada Sethu). It’s also explained near the end of “The Reality War” that Poppy’s dad is actually an unseen member of the Doctor Who season 15 cast, a character called Ritchie Akingbola. This apparently dispelled the theory that Poppy is the Doctor’s offspring. That said, there are a lot of clues to suggest that Poppy actually is the daughter of Doctor Who‘s main character.
The Doctor Was Poppy’s Original Father (Because Of The Wish World)
Poppy’s unexpected return in “Wish World” makes the most sense if she’s created by the Wish itself
The two Ranis repeat May 23, 2025, over and over again in “Wish World” and “The Reality War.” Doing so makes the fabric of reality wear thinner each time so that Omega can be reached and rescued from the Underverse. To keep everyone in check during the Rani’s plan, Desiderium – the Pantheon’s God of Wishes – has his powers harnessed and redirected by Conrad Clark (Jonah Hauer-King), thrusting the world into an old-fashioned and idealized version of what he believes Earth should be like.
The Wish that Conrad helped create pairs the Doctor and Belinda off as a married couple, and Poppy returns as their daughter. Because Poppy had already appeared in the distant future as the ship’s captain in “Space Babies,” it’s confusing how she could have returned on 21st-century Earth. That said, Desiderium’s powers would make such a thing possible to complete the illusion of the Doctor’s “family” being complete. In other words, it’s likely that the Doctor’s original theory about Poppy just being part of Wish was true, and that she was generated because of the Doctor’s pairing with Belinda.
Why Poppy Disappears In The TARDIS
The end of Desiderium’s Wish takes a little longer to affect Poppy’s existence
Poppy is spared the initial purge of all things Wish-generated by hiding with Belinda in the Zero Room, which Susan Triad (Susan Twist) built at the request of the Doctor. The strange space protects everything inside from external influences, giving Poppy the best chance of surviving the end of the Wish, just in case she wasn’t actually real. While everyone initially celebrates Poppy’s continued existence, she eventually disappears in the TARDIS, with Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) being the only character who remembers her.
Poppy’s vanishing act is attributed to the glitches left behind by the Wish, but I think that’s too convenient an explanation. If Poppy had always been a flesh-and-blood child born to Belinda and Ritchie before the Wish, then there would be no real reason for her to vanish along with the rest of the illusion that enveloped the Earth. The other glitches were incredibly minor, like nations’ borders being moved and slight deviations in how people defined certain colors.
Because Time Lords have now been revealed as sterile, Poppy’s birth with the Doctor as her father was now impossible, thanks to the end of the Wish. As such, she vanished.
The delayed and gradual disappearance of Poppy from the TARDIS probably happened the way it did due to the residual protection she’d enjoyed while inside the Zero Room. When she was removed from the box that Susan built, she started to be exposed to real time, and her status as a product of the Wish resulted in her falling victim to everything else that Conrad had helped to create. Because Time Lords have now been revealed as sterile, Poppy’s birth with the Doctor as her father was now impossible, thanks to the end of the Wish. As such, she vanished.
Why Ritchie Akingbola Becomes Poppy’s Father In Doctor Who Season 15’s Ending
The Doctor shifts reality and alters Poppy’s lineage so she can exist outside the Wish
When Fifteen is saying his final farewell to Belinda and Poppy, Sethu’s character says, “Why does it feel like there’s something I’ve forgotten?” and even looks at Poppy when she says it. The Doctor offers an emotional explanation about forgotten things still happening, with one possible interpretation being that Belinda has forgotten that Poppy began as not just her daughter, but the Doctor’s as well.
“Hello, Pops. Can I tell you a secret? I can’t have children. But if I could, I wish that she was exactly like you. Except I brought all wishes to an end. Clever old me.”
– The Doctor to Poppy in “The Reality War.”
Ritchie is only mentioned very late in the story, so perhaps Fifteen rewrote reality again to give Poppy a human father so she could come back and exist safely outside the Wish. If so, then Poppy is still effectively the daughter of the Doctor, even if she no longer has any Time Lord DNA. Ritchie may have already existed, but the Doctor’s rewrite changed Ritchie’s story so that he fathered Poppy.
Was Belinda Always Coming Home For Poppy?
Belinda was originally only ever trying to get home so she didn’t miss work
If Belinda didn’t have a daughter until “Wish World,” then this reinforces the ever-strengthening theory that Poppy belongs to both Belinda and the Doctor, with Ritchie being little more than a reality-stabilizing afterthought so that Poppy could live without her Time Lord DNA – which now couldn’t possibly have been contributed by the Doctor due to his race being sterile outside the Wish. In short, Belinda’s motives for returning home were only related to Poppy after the Doctor had shifted reality by a degree to restore his daughter to the universe.
What Poppy Being A Human Means For Doctor Who Season 16
Poppy could still be part of the Doctor’s (& Susan’s) family tree, despite now being human
Assuming for a second that Susan can’t regenerate, this could be attributed to a human lineage, and she could actually be a descendant of the Doctor through Poppy.
Plus, with the recent reveal that all Time Lords are sterile and therefore incapable of procreation, it’s now even more confusing how Susan came into existence in the first place. On the other hand, Susan has never been revealed to have the ability to regenerate. Instead, it has only even been presumed. Assuming for a second that Susan can’t regenerate, this could be attributed to a human lineage, and she could actually be a descendant of the Doctor through Poppy. If Susan returns again in Doctor Who season 16, this could start to be cleared up even further.
