Friday, March 15, 2024

Doctor Who - Season 1 (Series 14) Airdate Confirmed/That Other News Discussion

Yes, finally, I'm doing another Doctor Who blog as today some major news came out in relation to the new series.

After a hefty period of radio silence, the BBC confirmed today that Series 14/Season 1 of Doctor Who, starring Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson as the 15th Doctor and Ruby Sunday will premiere from May 11th on BBC1 and May 10th on Disney+, albeit with a twist.

First of all, we're getting a double bill to begin with and secondly the episodes will premiere first at 12.00am on Saturdays before getting a regular slot on Saturday evening. Every week after that will be single episodes. Those first two episodes will also precede this year's Eurovision on BBC1.

The eight part series, which has yet to announce it's full writers at least has reiterated some of the guest cast. You can expect Michelle Greenidge, Angela Wynter, Anita Dobson, Jinkx Monsoon, Aneurin Barnard, Jemma Redgrave, Yasmin Finney, Indira Varma, Jonathan Groff, Bonnie Langford and Lenny Rush with more names to be announced over the comimg weeks.

As for series itself, showrunner and executive producer Russell T. Davies had this to say ....

"At last, it’s my great delight to unleash a whole new season of the Doctor and Ruby’s adventures together. Monsters! Chases! Villains! Mysteries! And a terrifying secret that’s been spanning time and space for decades. Don’t miss a second!"


Of course with this much needed news released today, I hadn't forgotten about another item that leaked two months ago. Yes, time to talk about this one.

Back in January, it was revealed that Andor actress Varada Sethu had been cast as a regular for Series 15/Season 2. In fact it had been revealed that Sethu's character would be the main companion for the 2025 series while Millie Gibson's Ruby would be a recurring character, scheduled to appear in three episodes next year.

I have to say that the handling of this situation has been extremely disappointing to say the least with the press being needlessly nasty towards Millie Gibson in particular. However I'm not too surprised that perhaps Ruby Sunday will be a shorter term companion compared to the longer term ones we've had in recent years. As for Varada Sethu, I'm guessing we'll be waiting a while before her casting will be confirmed officially.

Last but not least, there's a rumour going around that this year's upcoming Christmas special, starring Ncuti Gatwa and Nicola Coughlan might be written by Steven Moffat. If true, that's a surprise turn of events as it was assumed that Russell T. Davies would be writing it. At this point, it's definitely safe to assume that Moffat is back for the series.

Doctor Who will air at midnight on BBC iPlayer/BBC1 from May 11th and stream on Disney+ at 4pm/7pm from May 10th.

No comments: