It's been a while since I've done a Doctor Who related blog and this last week had too many things come up that I couldn't ignore. The biggest one involving the future of the show itself.
Earlier in the week, The Sun newspaper wrote a rather mean spirited article about the future of Doctor Who being in doubt with the imminent arrival of Series 15 (or Season 2), starring Ncuti Gatwa as the 15th Doctor and Varada Sethu as Belinda Chandra. The article had the usual anti-woke talking points while making it clear that series star Ncuti Gatwa will be departing this series as the 15th Doctor.
The BBC didn't exactly alleviate these rumours by pointing out that they had a contract with Disney+ for 26 episodes. As others have pointed out those 26 episodes could possibly be referring to the 60th anniversary specials, Christmas 2023 and 2024, both of the 15th Doctor's two series and all five episodes of upcoming spin off, The War Between The Land And The Sea, starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Russell Tovey.
My own thoughts are this - I think as horribly written and mean spirited as that article was, this will all end up being mostly true. As you'll note, there's no confirmed Christmas 2025 special as of yet, Ncuti Gatwa has taken on projects since he finished filming the upcoming series of Doctor Who and Russell T. Davies has signed on to write a five part series for Channel 4 titled Tiptoe (that'll be a blog in itself when casting's announced for it). Quite frankly, we're heading into uncharted territory with the show where it'll likely be rested again or a new cast will usher in a third season, either with RTD at the helm or someone else altogether.
As for the upcoming series itself, another guest actor confirmed yesterday was Slow Horses actor, Christopher Chung. He'll be playing a character called Cassio in an upcoming episode but whether he's a friend or foe to the Doctor and Belinda, it's not made clear. In fact we're not sure what episode he's actually in, other than the fact that it's meant to be the scariest episode of the new series.
Going by the character's attire, it's either a planet setting of a base under siege type of story. This is the second time in the last few months a guest actor has gotten a press release with Rose Ayling-Ellis also being given one back in December. Yet, there's two actors who have yet to be publicly confirmed to be appearing in the new series and their roles are much larger.
Meanwhile, given the criticism of the writers room for Series 14 being a bit too small, it seems that will not be a problem for Series 15. The confirmed writers will include Juno Dawson, Inua Ellams, Pete McTighe, and Sharma Angel-Walfall while the directors are now confirmed as Alex Sanjiv Pillai, Peter Hoar, Amanda Brotchie, Ben A. Williams, and Makalla McPherson. It's a good pool of new and familiar talent for this upcoming series.
As for book fans, you get two of them and they will be released from May 29th. Spectral Scream by Hannah Fergesen will feature the 15th Doctor and Belinda while Fear Death By Water by Emily Cook has the 15th Doctor with a character named Grace Darling.
Last but by no means least, Big Finish have come up with the goods once again. For anyone who wanted a 9th Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) and Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) reunion, you've just got one and it's coming in August 2025 for good measure. From the Big Finish site itself ....
"Across 12 episodes, slotting neatly into that 2005 series, we have more Jackie Tyler, more Powell Estate, plus friends and enemies old and new through time and space. Our writers have done an amazing job recapturing the spirit of that very special season, and Chris and Billie have embraced these scripts with delight and gusto. They're having a blast, back on that trip of a lifetime – and they sound fantastic!”
I was hoping the moment Christopher Eccleston agreed to do Big Finish that this would happen and I'm so delighted that it is. Absolutely fantastic news.
Series 15 of Doctor Who is rumoured to premiere on BBC1, iPlayer and Disney+ from April 12th.
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