Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Doctor Who - Series 10: Casting & Writers Confirmed

It was nearly two months ago that Pearl Mackie was confirmed as new companion, Bill and now with production starting up, the BBC have released some interesting new items about Series 10 of Doctor Who.



First of all, Matt Lucas will be reprising his role as Nardole from The Husbands Of River Song and it seems that from the press release, it'll be for multiple episodes. I have to admit, this isn't news I was particularly hoping for to be honest. The character wasn't that great in the Christmas special and while I appreciate that Moffat's last run is aiming for a lighter tone, I think there are better past guest characters that Moffat could've brought back instead. Moffat on Lucas's return ....

“Delighted and slightly amazed to be welcoming Matt Lucas back on to the TARDIS - and this time it’s not just for Christmas, he’s sticking around. One of the greatest comedy talents on planet Earth is being unleashed on all of time and space.” 

The first two episodes of the tenth series will be written by Steven Moffat and Frank Cottrell Boyce, the latter returning since writing the eighth series episode, In The Forest Of The Night. Both episodes will be directed by Lawrence Gough. The second block of episodes will be penned by Sarah Dollard (Face The Raven) and Doctor Foster's Mike Bartlett. That's an interesting bunch of writers so far. Also guesting in the series will be Stephanie Hyam (Jekyll & Hyde, Peaky Blinders). Hyam will be playing a character named Heather, according to her online CV.


As for the main companion herself, Moffat did drop a few more hints about Pearl Mackie's Bill. In an interview for the 500th issue of DWM, Moffat stated that Bill could be short for Billie (or possibly, Belinda), name wise, that the character will be from the present day and that unlike Rose, Amy and Clara, the character is not a "forgotten princess" type. When also asked about meeting Bill's family, Moffat stated that we'll meet people around Bill, which sounds intriguing. Moffat has also stated that he will be writing four episodes for the upcoming series.


Meanwhile with filming for BBC3 online spin-off, Class still underway, creator Patrick Ness has confirmed through his recent tweets that at least one of the regular male character will be gay and will have a boyfriend. Ness didn't specify who the character will be but seeing as we only have two regulars with Greg Austin and Fady Elsayed, it's guaranteed to be at least one of these two characters. Although I had hope we'd get an LGBT character in this spin off, I'm really glad that Ness has now confirmed it though.

Matt Lucas Press Release: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/doctorwho/entries/6d059f23-2325-4a46-9b5e-cd0ad94b4a59
Class News: http://www.denofgeek.com/uk/tv/class/37676/class-patrick-ness-talks-lgbt-representation

Class is currently filming and will air on BBC3/BBC1 and BBCAmerica in the autumn. Filming for Series 10 of Doctor Who starts June 20th with a Christmas special to air this year.

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