Doctor Who - Tender Times Are A Coming!

I joke but yes, a few months ago upon this year's Christmas special of Doctor Who getting cancelled this news has resurfaced.

Officially announced a few days ago, any production company can shoot their shot and pitch ideas on how to revitalise the show for a modern audience. While there are no specifics on casting for the 16th Doctor or even episode counts, there's a desire to try to get the show back in production by 2028/2029 as well as a possibility of it continuing to film in Cardiff. With any luck, this hopefully will see a positive change for the show moving forward. I'll post more concrete news as it presents itself.

While the main show itself might off air, the multimedia event saga also known as Circuit Breaker has had Jo Martin's Fugitive Doctor rather busy and has been single handledly keeping the Doctor Who social pages mostly alive. Better than that, this event has brought about the much welcomed return of Freema Agyeman's Martha Jones. You can read the Fugitive Doctor and Martha's reunion in the books The Kaleidoscope by Jo Martin and the short story The Doctor And The Three Witches in Time Lord Fairy Tales.

Last but not least, it's been over nine months since BBC1 released spinoff series, The War Between The Land And The Sea. According to Russell Tovey, who played Barclay Pierre-Dupont in the show, Disney+ will supposedly release it in 2027. The latter themselves have yet to comment on this. Personally, I'm not holding my breath and I suspect anyone outside the UK/Ireland who has wanted to see this show already did through other means.

I'll keep posting further updates on the Whoinverse when they become available.

Doctor Who News - Missing Episodes Recovered And Other Bits

It's been a while since I've done a Doctor Who related blog. Actually, I think this might be the first one this year.

Let's start things off on a positive note first. There was the recent news of two more missing episodes being recovered. Those episodes were The Nightmare Begins and Devil's Planet from The Daleks Master Plan. This now means that there's 95 episodes from the classic era that are still missing. These recovered episodes are now available to watch on BBC iPlayer. I watched both of them last night and it made me happy to have seen them properly for the first time. Here's to more missing episodes getting recovered.

Now on to more frustrating things. 

Christmas 2026. Six months since a special was announced, we are still none the wiser as to what the hell is going on with it. Aside from Russell T. Davies causing more division among fans with his poor choice of sound bites (love RTD but he's not helping himself these days), both him and the BBC have given us little to work with. 

If the special is going to be a David Tennant and Billie Piper led one and it looks like it will be, then it could be a while before filming commences as both are filming upcoming seasons of Time and Wednesday respectively.

That's assuming it's this particular pair leading the upcoming special. Surely, we're due some actual news on the special within the next few weeks? 

Last but not least but what the hell is going on with The War Between The Land And The Sea? It's been nearly four months since it's debut on BBC1 and Disney+ have yet to release it to international audiences. In fact, at this point it's starting to look less and less likely they'll even bother with this show. 

After publicly cutting ties with the main show itself, are Disney+ going to bother releasing a spin off to it? I don't think they will. In fact, I'm surprised they just didn't dump it all at once during the start of the year. If you still haven't seen it, you might have to find other methods in order to watch the show.

Hopefully my next blog in relation to the show will be something more telling about it's actual future.

My Review of The War Between The Land And The Sea: "The End Of The War"

 

Written by Russell T. Davies

Directed by Dylan Holmes Williams 

Barclay (to reporters): "Tell them we won the war."

Victory really didn't come in the greatest form here. I know, I know. There had to be a return of status quo of sorts but even I felt bad for Homo Aqua a bit here and that's in spite of that reprehensible thing that Tide did at the start of the episode.

After so much talk of Severance in the last two episodes, it turned out to be a virus. One that the Prime Minister (Vincent Franklin) signed off on being injected into Barclay, who then passed it to Salt and who then inadvertently doomed hef own species.

It was cruel, it was callous and it worked all too well. In some respects, I'm actually shocked that Barclay and Salt themselves didn't die. As for their love story, kind of funny that RTD decided to mirror both Doomsday and Journey's End, only minutes apart from each other.

It looked like the Sea Devils/Homo Aqua's near extinction also nuked any chance of Barclay and Salt being together. Then it turned out that RTD wanted Barclay to be a sexy Gill-Man and those two lovers ended up being together. I desperately wanted Barclay to survive this miniseries and I'm glad he did. I'm still mixed about him and Salt as I do feel their relationship needed to be fleshed out more.

In fact so much needed to be fleshed out. Severance itself could've been better explained. Tide as a more antagonistic member of Homo Amphibia could've been better utilised. The public turning on Barclay also could have been better handled and even the human villains could've done with being anything other than one dimensional. There's a lot of could haves here.

Then there's Kate Lethbridge-Stewart. I do think these last few episodes have cemented just how great an actor Jemma Redgrave can be with the right material. Kate really went through it with Ibrahim's death and while she helped Barclay get his happy ever after, she clearly needed help herself. Blackmailing her therapist certainly wasn't it and nor was that credit scene.

- The credit scene was Kate pointing a gun at a man for littering. I would've removed that scene.

- Barbara and Kirby really added nothing as characters to the show. What was the point of Salt being able to assume a male form? We could've had bisexual Barclay.

- This episode certainly accentured Russell Tovey's physique. I'm not complaining one bit about that.

- Shirley's husband was named Lawrence, Ibrahim appeared in flashbacks and Tide had his kind eat dogs. Definitely could've done without that scene.

- Standout music: Lorne Balfe and Alison Goldfrapp's version of Heroes.

- Chronology: Various locations in this finale. 

Overall, The End Of The War marked a mixed ending for something of a mixed series. For the most part, I did enjoy this miniseries with Russell Tovey, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Jemma Redgrave all giving excellent performances. Writing could've been stronger and cohesive in parts.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of The War Between The Land And The Sea: "The Witch Of The Waterfall"

 

Written by Pete McTighe 

Directed by Dylan Holmes Williams 

Barclay (to Salt): "You'll never swim alone."

After that rather lagging middle episode, this was something of an improvement. The deaths from before held some proper weight, baddies felt consequences (bye, bye Spears) and war was about to break. Oh and two characters got a lot closer.

The two characters of course being Barclay and Salt. Yes, this interspecies romance was telegraphed months ago and while Russell Tovey and Gugu Mbatha-Raw give it their best, something felt a bit off here. Mostly with Salt.

I feel like the character's personality almost shifted a bit too quickly and her wonders at the surface world felt almost too childlike at times. Then there's the off screen sex between her and Barclay and some attempts of flirty wordplay. It kind of worked but kind of didn't either. 

I also felt that Barclay and Salt who spent most of the episode off grid after both of them "betrayed" their parties were a bit too easily caught. Of course enlisting Barbara and Kirby would have the British army catching up with them. On the other hand, Barclay got captured, Salt went back into the water and Kate showed a darker side.

Jemma Redgrave definitely gave the best performance of the episode. Kate's grief for Ibrahim was actually affecting and she had some rather nice scenes with Shirley. She also had some tense moments with Homo Aqua's second ambassador, Tide (Samuel Oatley) and he was more keen on war than Salt happened to be.

With one episode left to go, I'm not sure how they're going to properly resolve all of this. Homo Aqua absolutely want a war and humanity certainly want one too. I feel like Barclay and Salt's love story will not have a happy ending either as there's likely going to be something that will sever them for good.

- Salt admitted that her kind's punishment for betrayal to swim alone forever. She alluded to Barclay's ears as fins and him tasting like her namesake.

- Tide mentioned that Homo Aqua can use rust and water in the air to mess with humanity if they don't follow the five year demand. Samuel Oatley previously played Tzim Sha in the eleventh series of Doctor Who.

- Ibrahim's killer was dealt with off screen, Kirby had a secret phone, Morris Gibbons was mentioned and Kate has a daughter living in Dubai.

- Chronology: From where the previous episode left off.

The Witch Of The Waterfall wasn't without it's problems but I liked it more than the previous episode. The aftermath of that death worked and there's something chaotic and messy about that Barclay/Salt hook up, though if this show was Torchwood, more potential would've been explored.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of The War Between The Land And The Sea: "The Deep"

 

Written by Pete McTighe 

Directed by Dylan Holmes Williams 

Salt (to Barclay): "We could make a difference, you and I. End the conflict between our species before it's too late."

Now here was an episode where the meaning "treading water" would be a totally appropriate thing to say. Until the last five minutes that's exactly what this episode was doing. There's almost a tonal whiplash.

Let's cut to the biggest shocker of the episode - the death of Colonel Ibrahim. This episode so wanted to land a death as gutting as Ianto Jones from Torchwood: Children Of Earth episode Day Four. Sadly, it just didn't land for me.

I will give both Jemma Redgrave and Alexander Devrient their dues. They both tried their hardest to sell the moment and it was certainly a way to end this episode. However, it's just a painful reminder of how barely development both Kate and Ibrahim have been as characters. This should've felt devastating but it didn't and I felt for Kate. 

Ibrahim could've been a great character and he certainly had a likeable quality about him but we barely knew the guy. We were barely given a reason to invest in him and Kate as a couple. Watching the episode a second time and it still just didn't hit me like it should've. I hate that for me.

As for the rest of the episode, it felt an eternity for Barclay, General Pierce and other ambassadors to actually plummet the depths of the ocean for the next meeting with Homo Aqua. In fact it took up way too much time though it did build up Ted Campbell (William Gaminara) as a character.

Barclay and Salt's continued to build on their connection during the aquatic meeting with the latter's people. Just when things looked like they were going well, Ted revealed himself to be a traitor and people died underwater. Except for Barclay, who Salt decided to rescue at the expense of her own species. More on that in the review for the next episode.

- Barclay talked about nursing his mother through cancer. People online think he's a traitor, useless and a bootlicker to name a few choice insults.

- The cabinet meeting scenes with Kate, Sir Keith Spears and the Prime Minister really lag. Those type of scenes were better handled sixteen years ago on another spin-off I mentioned.

- I think we actually saw a glimpse of the original Sea Devils during that meeting but they were badly lit.

- Chronology: A few days seem to have passed since the events of the previous episode.

I really wanted to like this episode but I have to admit that The Deep was by far the weakest one so far. It just lagged too much, the Severance strand could've been handled better and that big death just didn't have the impact it should've. 

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of The War Between The Land And The Sea: "Plastic Apocalypse"

 

Written by Pete McTighe

Directed by Dylan Holmes Williams 

Kate: "You have to stop!"

Salt: "We are cleaning up your mess."

Yeah, we're picking up from where the opening episode left off, things certainly went from one extreme to another. Barclay went from an ordinary bloke to the most important man on the planet and a source of contention for both UNIT and his ex-wife.

UNIT - specifically Kate took little time in grilling Barclay about a potential past alliance with the Sea Devils, which Barclay denied. It did turn out that Salt saw Barclay's small act of compassion over a dead Sea Devil in the opening episode. It's why she chose him to be Ambassador for humanity.

I think Barclay's compassion might be both his weakness and a blessing. In the latter category, he knew what to say to get Salt on side a few times. This included a scene where Salt nearly got Barclay to drink dirty water from the Thames, only for Barclay to openly condemn humanity's abuse of the waters.

As for Salt's demands - they were both understandable but also not likely to pan out. Were Homo Amphibia/Aqua really going to wait forty years for humanity to clean up the water? Salt didn't think so, which meant dredging all the mess from the oceans and dumping it back on land. Salt wasn't messing about with her demands.

The demand of humans no longer using modes of travel isn't something that Salt can expect humanity go along. In fact, it was something that was pushed during the Diplomacy H20 scenes. It also provoked a different facet to Salt as well. A facet that genuinely surprised me.

As for the last demand, Kate couldn't get Barclay to stay on script throughout the episode, so I expected him to do something reckless. I'm not sure agreeing to the next meeting underwater was the wisest decision there, Barclay.

- Salt momentarily turned male and was played by Joshua Sinclair-Evans. I wonder if this will happen again if she's really angry. Those scientists working on Salt's dead kids can't end well either.

- Barclay was born November 15th 1982. He's a year younger than Russell Tovey himself. 

- Trinity Wells (Lachele Carl) appeared in this episode and Albion were also referenced along with the Doctor. I'm also not keen on Kate and Ibrahim being a thing.

- Chronology: Exactly where the first episode left off.

Plastic Apocalypse was a bit better than the opening episode. It certainly had a great time with living up to its title and you can tell that money was well spent on these first two episodes so far. It's heavy handed on its messaging but I'm enjoying the show.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of The War Between The Land And The Sea: "Homo Aqua"

 

Written by Russell T. Davies

Directed by Dylan Holmes Williams 

Barclay (to Salt): "Okay."

With one simple word, an ordinary man just made himself the Ambassador of humanity. Well, he agreed to it and this opening episode had a lot of agreement to it. Who was the man in question?

He's a low-level UNIT employee named Barclay Pierre-Dupont (Russell Tovey). His job should be to order transport for UNIT but for some reason, he's ended up replacing a higher up and because of that, Barclay got thrown into a situation out of his depth.

The episode opened with the capture of a Sea Devil (or Homo Aqua). Barclay was assigned his own UNIT soldier - Sergeant Hana Chakri (Francesca Corney) and he had a very human reaction to when the Homo Aqua died. The death of this creature saw the rest of the species making themselves publicly known to the world.

Suddenly Barclay found himself caught in a world much bigger than himself. There's shades of Donna Noble within Barclay as the episode went on to emphasis just how ordinary a person he happened to be. At times, it's a bit too on the nose as was the clear environmental theme of the episode.

With the episode largely focused on Barclay as a reluctant Ambassador for humanity, what about the aquatic side of things? For them, we see a few different species but Homo Amphibia leader Salt (Gugu Mbatha-Raw). She popped up as a rather intimidating figure, uninterested in UNIT's attempts of peace until she caught Barclay's attention.

Speaking of UNIT, we saw more of General Austin Pierce (Colin McFarlane) than we did Kate Lethbridge-Stewart (Jemma Redgrave). The latter in particular didn't appear until towards the end of the episode and she didn't really do much. Likewise other UNIT regulars like Shirley Bingham (Ruth Madeley) and Colonel Ibrahim (Alexander Devrient) also did very little here too.

- Barclay has an ex wife named Barbara (Ann Akinjirin) and a daughter named Kirby (Cat Gannon). He's also met the Doctor.

- The Whoinverse Logo was nowhere to be found, BBC4 had a remixed version of The Sea Devils prior to this episode airing and title card only had Russell Tovey and Gugu Mbatha-Raw as regulars.

- Standout music: Lorne Balfe does some nice score work, particularly with Barclay's Theme.

- Chronology: 2025 London as well as overseas for the opening scene.

Homo Aqua isn't subtle in its messaging or in it's need to remind viewers that Barclay Pierre-Dupont was an ordinary man. It's still a very strong opening episode and Russell Tovey gave the strongest performance as well.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

Doctor Who Day 2025 Round Up

I'm fully aware that it was yesterday that was Doctor Who Day with the show turning 62. 

So, did we get anything to really get excited about? Not really no.

To be honest, I wasn't really expecting a lot to happen yesterday but even I was surprised with how underwhelming things felt. In terms of what we got was the following.

• A release date for the Series 10 soundtrack. After eight years, it'll be released on December 12th.
• The scripts and deleted scenes for Series 15. The interesting bit being a certain moment from The Reality War revealed.
• The cast from The War Between The Land And The Sea wishing the show a happy birthday.
• A reveal of an upcoming anthology book titled 1001 Nights In Time And Space.

And that was about it really. No hints of any involvement in Children In Need. Nothing potentially tantalising for next year's Christmas special, which definitely appears to be Russell T. Davies last one. Not even a new trailer for the spin off that's airing on BBC1 in less than a fortnight. Speaking of which.

Let's talk about The War Between The Land And The Sea, shall we? BBC1 are burning it off with two double bills and finale (December 7th-21st) and it does feel like they simply want it out of the way. From what I can tell, the focus will be on humans Vs. Sea Devils with Barclay Pierre Dupont (Russell Tovey) and Salt (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) also forging a connection of their own. This could be a good show but it doesn't feel like the BBC have much faith in it at the moment.

Last but not least, was anyone hoping for a reunion between Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill? Well, you're getting one as the pair have teamed up for a new podcast titled The Pondcast. They'll be going over their time as Amy and Rory and one of the confirmed guests is Steven Moffat. While it feels everyone is doing a podcast at the moment, I really cannot wait to listen/watch this one. Going over one of the best eras of Doctor Who? Count me in.

The next Doctor Who blog will either be something festive related or hopefully something news related. 

Doctor Who Future: Disney+ Part Ways, Christmas 2026 Confirmed And Spin-off Airing This Year

After months of radio silence, today of all days the BBC decided to drop a few bombs in regards to the future of Doctor Who. Most of these reveals won't shock but here goes nothing.

Let's get the obvious one out of the way first. After twenty one episodes, comprising of the eras for both the Fourteenth (David Tennant) and Fifteenth Doctors (Ncuti Gatwa) respectively, Disney have parted ways with Doctor Who. Of course, there's still the upcoming spin-off but yup, the show has been booted out of the House of Mouse. Going by the online reactions, most fans aren't particularly saddened by this turn of events. 

As for the future of the series, not only have the BBC doubled down on an animated spin-off that was announced a few months ago, they've also confirmed a Christmas special for 2026. Russell T. Davies will write the episode but as of yet, no cast members have been confirmed for the special. Of course I'm using a picture of David Tennant and Billie Piper (last seen in The Giggle and The Reality War) because I'm convinced both are likely going to be lined up for this episode. I'm also convinced this special will likely serve as a finale for Russell T. Davies divisive second era before the BBC confirm a future series in a few months with a different showrunner and Doctor no doubt.

Last but not least, there's upcoming spin-off,  The War Between The Land And The Sea. A few months ago, it was being pushed to 2026 but its now revealed that the show, starring Russell Tovey (Barclay) and Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Salt) will air on the BBC in December and on Disney+ in 2026. The five part series was written by Russell T. Davies and Pete McTighe and directed by Dylan Holmes Williams, focusing on a conflict between mankind and the Sea Devils. The series will also feature Jemma Redgrave, Alexander Devrient, Ruth Madeley and Colin MacFarlane.

Press Release: https://www.doctorwho.tv/news-and-features/bbc-confirms-future-of-doctor-who-and-a-new-christmas-special-in-2026

Filming for the 2026 Christmas special of Doctor Who will commence early next year. I'll post more details as they become available.

The Future Of The Whoniverse: Actual Details To Discuss

Yes, it's been months since I've posted anything in relation to Doctor Who and given how there's been very little to talk about, can you blame me? Today however changed that. Let's dive in.

So, what exactly is going on with Doctor Who itself? Well, according to BBC Chief Content Officer Kate Phillips "the TARDIS is going absolutely nowhere" and I quote. Whether the show will remain in partnership with Disney+ however does continue to be the unanswered question but Phillips has reassured that the show will continue on BBC regardless of the outcome with the streamer. This was mentioned at the Edinburgh Television Festival today.

It's not an entirely satisfying answer of sorts. Right now, we had an extremely divisive finale back in May that saw Ncuti Gatwa regenerate into Billie Piper and we're still none the wiser as to whether the latter will be playing the 16th Doctor and in what capacity. Looks like we're going to wait longer for that answer.

However in news that likely won't shock anyone, the indecision regarding the main show's Disney+ future has likely impacted upcoming spin off, The War Between The Land And The Sea. First of all, this had a trailer premiere back in May that got eclipsed by the reaction to the recent finale of the main show itself.

It's been now confirmed that this spin off won't air this year as originally thought. Instead, it'll go to 2026, so for those who were looking forward to UNIT versus the Sea Devils or a potential interspecies romance between main characters Barclay (Russell Tovey) and Salt (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), you'll be waiting a bit longer for that. Sadly, I did suspect this show was going to be delayed.

As for current showrunner, Russell T. Davies, he has been doing recent interviews but not really providing anything concrete in regards to the future of Doctor Who. A few weeks ago, he did talk about having the scripts completed for his upcoming Channel 4 show, TipToe. 

Speaking of Channel 4, it was confirmed this week that Steven Moffat would be writing a drama for them called Number10, based on a certain famous British house that's due to start filming soon. Casting announcements will be imminent.

What of Chris Chibnall though? He's got upcoming Agatha Christie adaptation, The Seven Dials Mystery for Netflix and an ITV adaptation of his book, Death At The White Hart.

Doctor Who fans, we're in for a long wait for some proper answers regarding the show's future.

The Maybe Uncertain Future Of Doctor Who - Opinion Piece

After last night's extremely divisive finale, The Reality War, the future of Doctor Who seems to be a much dicier place than before.

Where to begin with this one? Let's start with THAT regeneration scene.

Last night, and after 18 and a bit episodes, Ncuti Gatwa regenerated into Billie Piper. Yes, I couldn't believe it with my eyes and I had known about it for two weeks as did most Doctor Who fans. What the hell is going on?

If you look at the credits, Billie Piper is credited but not as the Doctor or Rose Tyler or even Bad Wolf/The Moment. It's very unusual, is it not? I mean, surely she's the Doctor. If not the 16th, then a yet to be labelled differently one.

The BBC press site had comments from Russell T. Davies and Billie Piper and both of them were vague about the nature of Piper's return to the series. Also with no news as to when the next series is happening, the show does seem to be in rather murky waters at the moment in regards to it's future.

Russell T. Davies has mentioned writing for the third series in his run with stories mapped out for a fourth run. It's also been rumoured in the press that the show will continue on BBC1, even if Disney+ abandon the series and I'm suspecting they will at this point.

Looking a bit closer ahead, last night also saw the first trailer for upcoming spin-off, The War Between The Land And The Sea released and it too confirmed a lot of rumours from months ago. It also looked pretty good, so I'm intrigued by it.

First of all, we've got Gugu Mbatha-Raw playing a Sea Devil named Salt. In fact, she's clearly the main character from the Sea Devils and her motive does seem to be one of peace. In particular, Salt seemed to be drawn to a human named Barclay, played by Russell Tovey. If rumours are correct, expect a romance between Salt and Barclay akin to The Shape Of Water.

Created and co-written by Russell T. Davies and Pete McTighe and directed by Dylan Holmes Williams, the five part series is coming soon to both BBC1, iPlayer and Disney+. The show will see the returns of current UNIT team Kate Stewart (Jemma Redgrave), Shirley Bingham (Ruth Madeley) and Colonel Ibrahim (Alexander Devrient). There also the inclusion of General Austin Pierce (Colin McFarlane) from Torchwood: Children Of Earth.

The trailer was brief but tantalising enough to intrigue. I just hope the spin-off can stick the landing.

Last but not least, here's a picture of a deleted scene from The Reality War. It's supposed to be the original ending, which would have had the Doctor, Belinda and Ruby celebrating May Day with Susan Foreman (Carole Ann Ford) spying on them, setting up the arc for a third season had Ncuti Gatwa remained on the show. That's the rumour at least. I would've preferred that ending.

We'll have to wait and see the future of Doctor Who. There's an episode of Doctor Who Unleashed celebrating twenty years of the revived series, featuring Russell T. Davies, Steven Moffat, Chris Chibnall, David Tennant, Ncuti Gatwa, Jodie Whittaker, Billie Piper, Varada Sethu, Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill to name a few. Hopefully answers are coming soon, regardless of outcome.

What do you think is about to happen to the series? What should happen with it?

Doctor Who Day 2024 Highlights (Spoilers)

Yesterday was the 61st birthday of Doctor Who and I purposely held off posting anything because I wanted to do a round up of stuff. Without further ado, here goes.

First of all, let's talk about upcoming Christmas special, Joy To The World. The festive special written by Steven Moffat and directed by Alex Pillai.

• A clip was released during Children In Need last week showing the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and Joy (Nicola Coughlan) facing off a dinosaur.
• The concept of the episode seems to involve a time travelling London hotel of sorts. There's a mix of different time periods though Joy is a contemporary character.
• No idea who the actual villain is but we do have a Silurian played by Jonathan Aris and Villengard also make an appearance.
• The episode will be simulcast on BBC1, iPlayer and Disney+ on Christmas Day. The exact time to be confirmed.

Stepping away from the special, as part of the show's 61st birthday, the BBC made the scripts for Season 1 (Series 14) available, including scenes that didn't make it into the episodes available. There's also a 10 minute video on the official YouTube page of deleted scenes to delight in.

Meanwhile if you've enjoyed the colourised version of The Daleks from last year, then how about another one. Yup, I'm talking about the imminent release of The War Games.

• It'll be a 90 minute version of the ten episode serial and will air on BBC4 on December 23rd. Exact time to be confirmed.
• It'll have an updated sound and score as well as visual effects to appeal to a modern audience.
• The episode will feature a never seen before regeneration between Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee's respective Doctors.
• Though not confirmed, I'd expect a physical release at some point for this updated version of the classic story.

Other highlights from yesterday included the mention of an auction for props and costumes (including an 11th Doctor jacket) in February 2025 as well as Steven Moffat having done a watch along for Boom last night. Oh and there was a six hour livestream of highlights, currently available on the official YouTube page and a Casio A159 watch with limited edition Christmas box and free TARDIS badge. Yup, that's a thing.

Last but by no means least, I haven't forgotten about upcoming spin off series, The War Between The Land And The Sea. What's been going on with that since I last talked about it?

• Thanks to set reports, Russell Tovey's character is called Barclay, who seems to be a political figure romantically involved with a Sea Devil.
• Gugu Mbatha-Raw seems to be playing the Sea Devil that Tovey's character is involved with.
• Other cast members who have been confirmed for the show include Patrick Baladi, Vincent Franklin, Adrian Lukis, Francesca Corney and Mei Mac.
• The Sea Devils have gotten a modern update akin to the Silurians from 2010.
• Russell T. Davies has written the first and fifth episodes while Pete McTighe has written the second and third episodes. Both of them wrote the fourth episode together while Dylan Holmes Williams has directed all five episodes.

As for the main show itself, Season 3 (Series 16) has yet to be officially greenlit by the BBC and Disney+ and we likely won't find out until after the upcoming second season airs in early 2025. Personally, I think it'll be renewed but with a few shake ups. 

Doctor Who - Joy To The World will air on BBC1/iPlayer/Disney+ on Christmas Day with Season 2 in early 2025. The War Between The Land And The Sea will also air, likely in late 2025.

Doctor Who - Series 15 Villain Revealed, Spin Off Updates And More

It's been a while I've talked about Doctor Who but a few things have emerged. It's gonna be a fun blog.

Now the next series - Series 15 or Season 2 finished filming months ago but yesterday, a lot of interesting rumours emerged. Most were debunked but peas some could be true? 

Something that does seem to have to merit would be the casting announcement of Archie Panjabi (The Good Wife, The Fall). It appears that she will be a villain for next season and possibly a very prominent one. However the BBC have yet to confirm her casting for the upcoming season.

Then there's upcoming spin off series, The War Between The Land And The Sea. Back in July, both Jemma Redgrave and Alexander Devrient were confirmed as Kate Stewart and Colonel Christofer Ibrahim along with Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Russell Tovey in still undisclosed roles. Also confirmed were Ruth Madaley and Colin McFarlane, reprising their roles as Shirley Anne Bingham and General Pierce. The Sea Devils were also confirmed and filming began last month. The five episode spin off is written by Russell T. Davies and Pete McTighe and directed by Dylan Holmes. The show will be released on BBC1, iPlayer and Disney+ in 2025.

Meanwhile Reddit lit a bit of a fuse among fans with a series of rumours, which since then have been debunked by scoopers but what ones were likely true? I mean it's obvious that Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) is in only some of the episodes for next season with one of them being a Doctor lite episode. Belinda Chandra (Varada Sethu) will be the main companion for the 15th Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) along with the second episode being in 1950s Miami. There's also spoilers for both Russell Tovey and Gugu Mbatha-Raw's characters that might be true but I'm not sure if they will. They're kind of exciting in one case tbh.

As for the rest of the spoilers, I'm not sure if the show should keep leaning too heavily into fantasy and not having Ncuti's Doctor encounter either Daleks or Cybermen in his second season does seem unwise to me. There's also a spoiler about Melanie Bush (Bonnie Langford) I'm not entirely keen on but the stuff about Mrs Flood (Anita Dobson) and Conrad (Jonah Hauer-King) does intrigue me. I'll provide to the Reddit spoilers but read them at your own risk. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Last but by no means least, Big Finish only had a live reading of The Stuff Of Legend with the 8th Doctor (Paul McGann) and Charley Pollard (India Fisher) and a respective guest cast. I'm hoping at some point Big Finish are able to release this for everyone else to see. Maybe even a BBC4 screening in November. 

Series 15 Leaks: https://www.reddit.com/r/gallifrey/comments/1fic2sr/series_15_leaks_some_small_some_major_so/

Doctor Who: Joy To The World will air on Christmas Day on BBC1, iPlayer and Disney+ with Series 15 to be released in 2025 along with The War Between The Land And The Sea.

Doctor Who - SDCC 2024 Highlights: New Spin Off Confirmed, Details For Christmas Special and Series 15

Yup, after sitting out last year due to the writer and actor strikes, this year Doctor Who came to play at San Diego Comic Con in Hall H. The highlights as follows.

First of all, we had showrunner Russell T. Davies and series stars Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson aka, the 15th Doctor and Ruby Sunday at the infamous Hall H (moderated by Josh Horowitz) while also doing press interviews. There was talks of other franchises (both Star Trek and Star Wars), past Doctors that both Ncuti and Millie would like to see and even the talk of other Doctors appearing through CGI (though I'm not sure how serious RTD was about that one). Of course, there were far bigger highlights tonight at Hall H.

After months of speculation, the biggest reveal was the announcement of a spin-off, which has been titled as The War Between The Land And The Sea. As you can see, its very familiar casting. 

- Jemma Redgrave and Alexander Devrient are reprising their roles as Kate Lethbridge-Stewart and Colonel Cristofer Ibrahim. They will be regulars.

- Russell Tovey and Gugu Mbatha-Raw will play new regular characters for the show. Previously they played the roles of Midshipman Frame and Letitia Jones during Russell T. Davies first run of Doctor Who.

- The show will be five episodes, written by Russell T. Davies and Pete McTighe and directed by Dylan Holmes Williams. The latter directed the episodes 73 Yards and Dot And Bubble.

- Expect a massive battle with UNIT and the Sea Devils as the latter dramatically reveal themselves to humanity, causing an international crisis.

- Filming will start from next month with the show slated to air on BBC and Disney+ in 2025. The show will be made by Bad Wolf, BBC Studios and Disney Branded Television. 

I have to admit that while I was hoping a certain former companion would return for this show, this is a good cast line up. With filming happening next month, I expect more names will be revealed as cameras start rolling.

As for the upcoming Season 2/Series 15 of Doctor Who, a few tidbits were also revealed during the hour long panel.

- Ruby will be suffering from some PTSD when she returns. It's likely the fourth episode will be her returning episode of the next series.

- Varada Sethu's character will be Belinda Chandra. Is she related to Rani Chandra (Anjli Mohindra)? Time will tell. Will she have a connection to Sethu's other character,  Mundy Flynn? We'll see.

- Jonah Hauer-King's character (rumoured to be called Conrad) will be connected to Ruby. Filming from last year did reveal him to be a love interest.

- We can expect to see more of Anita Dobson's mysterious Mrs Flood in the next series.

- Another episode will have musical moments in the upcoming series.

- Don't expect the return of Strax (Dan Starkey) any time soon.

- Ncuti Gatwa really wants to meet the Daleks. Here's hoping he gets his wish next series.

Last but not least, we got something for upcoming Christmas special, thanks to a recorded appearance from Nicola Coughlan. What can we expect from Joy To The World?

- Nicola's character is called Joy and she's from 2024 London. The Doctor is going to have a significant impact on her life.

- There are scenes in 1940, 1962 and 1953. Scenes involving a train journey and a Mount Everest expedition.

- The Doctor seems to be looking for the right person to give a ham and cheese toasties and a pumpkin latte to. Joy seems to be the one to get his attention.

- There's a Silurian hotel worker who appeared in a scene where the Doctor and Joy first meet each other in Joy's hotel room.

- The episode's written by Steven Moffat and directed by Alex Pillai.

Overall, a good selection of information revealed at SDCC, hinting that the show's future is in good hands. 

Doctor Who will return with Joy To The World on Christmas Day on BBC1, iPlayer and Disney+. Series 15 will air in early 2025.