Saturday, September 23, 2023

Doctor Who - Newest 60th Anniversary Specials Trailers/More Confirmed Casting

With exactly two months until the 60th anniversary of Doctor Who, the BBC have released the latest trailers for the upcoming three specials (The Star Beast, Wild Blue Yonder and The Giggle) and they really delivered with this one.


First of all, a lovely new promo pic of the 14th Doctor (David Tennant) and Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) as the new trailer showed plenty of clips of the latter's reunion with her best friend as the specials teased of something so bad that even the TARDIS ran away from it. What exactly could that something so bad be?


Is it Beep the Meep (Miriam Margoyles) who has befriended Donna's daughter, Rose (Yasmin Finney) and has claimed sanctuary in the Noble/Mott shed? Maybe, but its more likely to be the Toymaker, played by Neil Patrick Harris. After a year of everyone guessing the character, both the trailer and subsequent press release confirmed the worst kept secret going. Given that it's been 57 years since the character last battled the Doctor on the small screen, it looks like the Toymaker will be upping the ante this time.


Of course, Beep the Meep, the Wrarth Warriors and the Toymaker aren't the only returning elements of the anniversary specials. With UNIT also back and clearly getting a fancier looking base of operations, Kate Lethbridge-Stewart (Jemma Redgrave) was also confirmed, though again fans had already assumed she would be in these specials. Adding new blood though would be Ruth Madaley's Shirley Anne Bingham who gets a nice scene with the Doctor as he brings her up to speed about Donna. The trailer also teased the possibility of the Doctor not being able to save Donna again.


Last but not least, if you've forgotten that Ncuti Gatwa's 15th Doctor appears in the anniversary specials, the last clip in the trailer showed him once again. Where is he though in this particular scene? Gallifrey? The Edge? UNIT after The Toymaker blasts the 14th Doctor? Somewhere else altogether? It's an intriguing final shot nonetheless. Meanwhile Russell T. Davies indicated that more surprises were to come as we head towards November for fans and new viewers alike. 

Doctor Who returns to BBC1 and Disney+ from November with the exact release pattern to be confirmed in later weeks.

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