Actress Jodie Whittaker bows out as The Doctor in this October’s “Doctor Who” BBC Centenary special. Said episode also serves as the final outing of showrunner Chris Chibnall.
In their place comes actor Ncuti Gatwa and returning showrunner Russell T. Davies with the latter making his big debut handling the show’s 60th anniversary special due to air late next year.
Whilst specifics of that special are under wraps, what is known is that former stars David Tennant, Catherine Tate and the late Bernard Cribbins are all set to appear in the special episode.
That we even know that is due to photos taken of the group filming scenes in public, leading to speculation this could be a lost ‘Doctor-Donna’ adventure. Over the weekend though, Tennant appeared at Fan Expo Boston and teased (via Collider) that there’s a lot more to it than that:
“What I think is interesting about the fact that Catherine Tate and me may have been filming, you see, because we are slightly unfortunate (or fortunate) in that we were filming some scenes that were in the public so it had to be admitted that we were in it.
So most of what’s been filmed with other people has all been inside. So, there is lots more coming than people think, which is very exciting. And as far as I know, no-one has quite figured out yet what Catherine and I are doing there. I think there is a lot of theory, a lot of speculation, but I’m very excited for people to see the tiny little cog we are in Russell’s great machine.”
The already shot 60th anniversary special is expected to air sometime in late 2023 ahead of the full fourteenth season of the revived series in 2024 with Gatwa in the lead. Filming for that season begins this November.
