Doctor Who News, Articles, Cast and Crew Interviews

[Alan]

New Guinness World Record for Doctor Who
Sunday, 27 November 2022 - Reported by Marcus

https://www.doctorwhonews.net/2022/1...octor_who.html

Guinness World Records have confirmed that Doctor Who has earned another entry in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Since the screening of The Power of the Doctor last month, the record for the longest gap between TV appearances of an actor playing a television character is now held by William Russell, for his portrayal of First Doctor companion Ian Chesterton.

Russell played Chesterton in the first episode of Doctor Who in 1963. He stayed with the series for two years, appearing in 77 episodes. His last appearance was in The Planet of Decision, the final episode of The Chase, broadcast on the 26th June 1965.

Although the character has been mentioned in the series since then, Ian has not actually appeared in the series until he was seen in the last few minutes of The Power of the Doctor, screened on 23rd October 2022.

The gap between appearances is therefore 57 years 120 days.

The previous record holder was Philip Lowrie who returned to the role of Dennis Tanner in Coronation Street after 43 years.

Doctor Who already holds a number of Guinness World Records including the most consecutive sci-fi TV episodes ever, with 871 episodes so far.

In 2016 Peter Capaldi accepted the Guinness World Records title for the Largest Gathering of People Dressed as Doctor Who Characters, at the La Mole Comic Con in Mexico City.

In 2012 the simultaneous broadcast of The Day of the Doctor to 94 countries was named the world's largest-ever simulcast of a TV drama.

[Alan]

Filming has officially begun today _(05/12/22) for the next series of #DoctorWho! #shorts

[Alan]

Doctor Who Magazine: Issue 585
Thursday, 8 December 2022 - Reported by Marcus

https://www.doctorwhonews.net/2022/1...issue_585.html

The latest edition of Doctor Who Magazine is now available.

The adventures of the Fourteenth Doctor, as played by David Tennant on TV, continue in Doctor Who Magazine issue 585. Part Two of the epic new comic-strip adventure Liberation of the Daleks, written by Alan Barnes and illustrated by Lee Sullivan, sees the Doctor’s greatest enemies invade the pitch during the 1966 World Cup Final…

Other highlights of the new issue include:

• A giant double-sided poster!
• Letter from the Showrunner – Russell T Davies presents his Christmas Countdown, packed full of teasers for the stories to come.
• Production Diary – script editor Scott Handcock provides exclusive updates about forthcoming episodes, direct from Doctor Who’s HQ.
• Gallifrey Guardian – all the latest official news, including an exclusive chat with Millie Gibson about her casting as companion Ruby Sunday.
• Meet the New Team – Doctor Who crew members tell us what they’re looking forward to in the 2023 Specials and beyond.
• All I Want For Christmas is Who – seasonal highlights from the past are recalled, including festive memories from Nadia Albina, Sophie Aldred, Nicholas Briggs, Nicola Bryant, Peter Davison, Barnaby Edwards, Philip Hinchcliffe, Louise Jameson, John Leeson, Katy Manning, Peter Purves, Dan Starkey, Mark Strickson and Matthew Waterhouse.
• Talk of the Town – in his first-ever interview for DWM, actor Cy Town talks candidly about being a Dalek operator and shares previously unpublished pictures from his photo albums.
• Brushed by Greatness – acclaimed artists Colin Howard and Andrew Skilleter, and Kit Bevan (brother of the late Phil Bevan), discuss new books showcasing some of best Doctor Who illustrations from the pre-digital era.
• The Watchers – fans who were lucky enough to be granted studio visits in the 1970s and early 80s recall the thrill of watching Doctor Who being made.
• Christmas in Another Dimension – what if Doctor Who had enjoyed Christmas Specials during its first 26 years? DWM imagines what could have been…
• The DWM Christmas Quiz – the traditional seasonal challenge!
• Other Worlds – the essential guide to forthcoming stories in the expanded Doctor Who universe.
• Previews, reviews, prize-winning competitions, Time and Space Visualiser, Public Image and more.

Doctor Who Magazine Issue 585 is on sale Thursday 8 December from panini.co.uk and WH Smith priced £7.99 (UK).

Also available as a digital edition from pocketmags.com priced £6.99.

[Alan]

Shirley Coward 1934 - 2022
Saturday, 10 December 2022 - Reported by Marcus

https://www.doctorwhonews.net/2022/1...ey_coward.html

Shirley Coward, the woman responsible for creating the first regeneration effect in Doctor Who, has died.

Shirley Coward was a Vision Mixer for BBC Television for over 30 years. She worked for the Corporation in the days when most programmes were either transmitted live or recorded 'as live'.

At the time, the role of the Vision Mixer was vital as they were the person who operated the Vision Mixing desk, the piece of equipment which controlled which camera or video source was fed to the recording machine or transmitter. It's a role that has almost disappeared in TV drama but is still vital in live television programmes, such as Strictly Come Dancing and News programmes.

Following a Camera script written the director, it was the Vision Mixer that set much of the pace of the programme, a job that demanded absolute accuracy. Many mistakes made in live television recordings could be glossed over but it was difficult to hide a cut to the wrong camera.

Shirley Coward worked on many productions for the BBC including many episodes of Doctor Who, and in October 1966 she found herself rostered to work in the BBC studios at Riverside on the final episode of the first Doctor's final story The Tenth Planet.

At the end of the story, William Hartnell collapsed before regenerating into Patrick Troughton. No clear plan had been made as to how to achieve this transformation, with one thought being that Hartnell could just cover his face with a cloak before it was removed to reveal Troughton's face.

Coward suggested to Director Derek Martinus, that they could take advantage of a fault on the second bank of her vision mixing desk, which was causing the incoming image to break up. By using this distorted effect, and mixing between banks of the Vision Mixer, Coward could produce a much more spectacular regeneration effect.

In an interview for the BBC DVD release of The Tenth Planet Shirley Coward explained how the effect was achieved.

It was my job to do the mixes so we had a fluent transition face from William Hartnell's face into Patrick Troughton's. The first I knew about it was when I arrived in the studio, but nobody was exactly sure how they were going to do it.

They knew roughly what they wanted, they wanted one face to come through the other. It was a matter of the studio engineers and cameramen all trying out things. We discovered that the actors cheekbones matched, which helped us enormously.

We had William Hartnell on one camera and Patrick Troughton on another and through the B bank of the Vision Mixing desk, which was breaking up, we could make Patrick's face break up and William's face break up

I started with William Hartnell's face, absolutely straight on the A bank, then slowly mixed to the B bank where I had his face, exactly the same shot, breaking up. I then mixed on the B bank to Patrick's face breaking up and then mixed slowly back to the A bank where I had Patrick's face absolutely straight.

Shirley Coward worked on at least 44 episodes of Doctor Who. As the woman who created the first regeneration, it was fitting she Vision Mixed the 20th-anniversary story, The Five Doctors, which saw the return of the First Doctor, albeit played by a different actor.

Other productions she worked on include Bomber Harris, EastEnders, The River, All Creatures Great and Small , Talking Heads, In Sickness and in Health, Three Up Two Down, Galloping Galaxies!, Dear John, )Tenko, Juliet Bravo, Titus Andronicus, Only Fools and Horses, Last of the Summer Wine, By the Sword Divided, The Two Ronnies, Rentaghost, Ever Decreasing Circles, Aladdin and the Forty Thieve, Don't Wait Up, Just Good Friends, Butterflies, Dombey & Son, Yes Minister, Terry and June, To the Manor Born, To Serve Them All My Days, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, The Enigma Files, Blake's 7, Secret Army, Rings on Their Fingers, Pennies from Heaven, Survivors, Blue Peter, The Tragedy of King Richard II, The Six Wives of Henry VIII and The Canterbury Tales

First Doctor Regenerates | William Hartnell to Patrick Troughton

[Alan]

Chris Boucher 1943 - 2022
Sunday, 11 December 2022 - Reported by Marcus

https://www.doctorwhonews.net/2022/1...1943_2022.html

The writer Chris Boucher has died at the age of 79.

Chris Boucher contributed three stories to Doctor Who, all of which were transmitted in 1977 and starred the Fourth Doctor played by Tom Baker.

His first contribution was the story which saw the introduction of a new companion Leela played by Louise Jameson. The Face of Evil. Leela was conceived as an intelligent but uneducated savage who would be educated by the Doctor.

This story was followed by one of the most acclaimed stories in Doctor Who's cannon, The Robots of Death a 'whodunnit' set on a futuristic mining machine. Later in the year, his final story was Image of the Fendhal.

Although Chris Boucher never wrote for Doctor Who again his contribution to British Television is impressive. Immediately after Doctor Who he became the Script Editor for the BBC's new science fiction series Blake's 7. It was a role he was recommended for by the Doctor Who script editor Robert Holmes.

Boucher served as Script editor for the entire run of Blake's 7 and also wrote several stories including the dramatic final story which saw the deaths of all the main characters.

He was the Script Editor for the second series of the detective series Shoestring show in 1980 before he moved on to the police series Juliet Bravo. Staying with police series he script edited the series set on the island of Jersey, Bergerac from 1983 until 1987.

In 1987 he created his own series combining his knowledge of both Police series and Science Fiction with Star Cops, seen by some as a replacement for Doctor Who. Nine episodes were made with a tenth being canceled due to industrial relations problems.

Other work included episodes of The Bill for Thames Television and the Jim Davidson comedy Home James. He also wrote a number of Doctor Who books featuring the character of Leela.

The death of Chris Boucher means that no writers for Doctor Who from the 1960s or 1970s now survive.

[Alan]

The Look of the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby Sunday
Saturday, 17 December 2022 - Reported by Marcus

https://www.doctorwhonews.net/2022/1...by_sunday.html

The BBC has released the first images of the Fifteenth Doctor and his companion Ruby Sunday in costume.

The new Doctor, played by Ncuti Gatwa, will take control of the TARDIS next Christmas following three specials starring David Tennant as the Fourteenth Doctor.

The pictures show Gatwa in his new outfit as The Doctor. He is currently filming series fourteen at the Bad Wolf studios in Wales. He is joined by new companion Ruby Sunday played by Millie Gibson.

A video has also been released on YouTube Shorts

[Alan]

New Trailer Released
Sunday, 25 December 2022 - Reported by Marcus

https://www.doctorwhonews.net/2022/1..._released.html

There may be no Doctor Who festive story this year. but the BBC has released a trailer looking forward to the 60th Anniversary specials out next November.

Teaser Trailer | 60th Anniversary Specials

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!!!

[Alan]

In Memoriam 2022
Saturday, 31 December 2022 - Reported by Chuck Foster

https://www.doctorwhonews.net/2022/1...riam_2022.html

Toby Hadoke has published his annual memoriam of those who have delighted us both in front of and behind the scenes of Doctor Who and its extended worlds, who sadly passed away in 2022.

Doctor Who In Memoriam 2022
Remembering those whom we lost from the worlds of Doctor Who this year. Includes a small number from before 2022 whose deaths only came to light this year.

[Alan]

Doctor Who Magazine: Issue 586
Wednesday, 4 January 2023 - Reported by Marcus

https://www.doctorwhonews.net/2023/0...issue_586.html

In the latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine Millie Gibson talks about playing new companion Ruby Sunday.

In an exclusive interview, she talks about what it’s like acting alongside Fifteenth Doctor Ncuti Gatwa, and how she discovered she’d secured the role:

I went to get a spray tan for the NTAs [National Television Awards], and I was in the room waiting to dry off when I got this WhatsApp call, asking me to join the call with all my agents. I picked up the phone and they were like, ‘Are you good at keeping secrets?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ They said, ‘Are you really good at keeping secrets? Cos you’ve got it.

Other highlights of the new issue include:

• From Cardiff with Love – in an another world exclusive, Doctor Who executive producers Phil Collinson, Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner and Jane Tranter are interviewed together for the first time and discuss the future of the series.
• Liberation of the Daleks Part Three– the adventures of the Fourteenth Doctor continue in the epic comic-strip adventure written by Alan Barnes and illustrated by Lee Sullivan.
• Letter from the Showrunner – Russell T Davies reveals how and why he returned to Doctor Who.
• Production Diary – script editor Scott Handcock files his latest report on the making of forthcoming episodes, direct from Doctor Who’s HQ.
• Gallifrey Guardian – all the latest official news, including an exclusive update from Phil Collinson.
• 60 Objects, 60 Years – from Flambeaux in 1963 to Cybermats in 1967, the first part of this ongoing series tells the story of one object from every year of Doctor Who’s history.
• No Time to Die – sets from The Daleks’ Master Plan are recreated in CGI, providing new insights into this mostly missing story.
• The Fact of Fiction – travel back to a chilly London in the year 1814 and uncover secrets of the Twelfth Doctor story Thin Ice.
• The Watchers – fans who were lucky enough to be granted studio visits in the 1980s recall the thrill of watching stories such as Frontios, The Happiness Patrol and Ghost Light being made.
• Other Worlds – the essential guide to forthcoming stories in the expanded Doctor Who universe.
• Previews, reviews, prize-winning competitions, Time and Space Visualiser, Public Image and more.

Doctor Who Magazine Issue 586 is on sale Thursday 5 January from panini.co.uk and WH Smith priced £6.99 (UK).

Also available as a digital edition from pocketmags.com priced £5.99.

[Alan]

Series 14 _{(a.k.a. Series 40)} Update
Monday, 9 January 2023 - Reported by Marcus
https://www.doctorwhonews.net/2023/0...14_update.html

The BBC has revealed that Jemma Redgrave will be returning to the cast of Doctor Who as Kate Lethbridge-Stewart in the next series currently being filmed in Wales.

Redgrave has played the character, the daughter of Doctor Who legend Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge Stewart, in 9 previous episodes of Doctor Who, playing opposite the last three Doctors.

She is the daughter of the actor Corin Redgrave and has a long career in film and television as well as on the stage.

Also joining the series is the actor Aneurin Barnard.

Barnard is a welsh actor best known for playing Davey in the film Hunky Dory, and Claude in the American thriller drama The Truth About Emanuel. He played the husband of Cilla Black, Bobby Willis, in the biopic about the star's life and Tim in Thirteen, as well as the murderous King Richard III in The White Queen.

In Doctor Who he will be playing the character of Roger ap Gwilliam

The eight-part series staring Ncuti Gatwa as the fifteenth Doctor will be broadcast next year on BBC One in the UK and streamed worldwide on Disney +

[Alan]

Anita Dobson and Michelle Greenidge in Series 14 _{(a.k.a. Series 40)}
Friday, 20 January 2023 - Reported by Marcus

https://www.doctorwhonews.net/2023/0...series_14.html

The BBC has confirmed that Anita Dobson and Michelle Greenidge will be starring in the next series of Doctor Who.

Anita Dobson is best known as the neurotic pub Landlady Angie Watts in the BBC soap EastEnders, playing the role from the series launch in 1985 until 1988. Other television roles include the 1989 ITV sitcom Split Ends.

In 2003, she was nominated for the Olivier Award for Best Actress for the National Theatre production of Frozen. She has also starred in the West End as Mama Morton in the musical Chicago (2003) and Gertrude in Hamlet (2005), and made her RSC debut in the 2012 revival of The Merry Wives of Windsor. Her film appearances include Darkness Falls (1999) and London Road (2015).

Michelle Greenidge is best known for her portrayal of Valarie in the Netflix series After Life. She played Lola Okonedo Akimbo in the BBC Two comedy Mandy, PC Williams in the police comedy-drama Code 404 and Rosa Babatunde in the Russell T Davies television drama It's a Sin.

She has also worked in theatre with some of her credits including Ear for Eye, At the Feet of Jesus, Super Skinny Bitches, House, All Saints, Stopcock, Do You Pray?, The Distance Between Us, People Who Need People, The House They Grew Up In and Omega Time

Both actresses will join Doctor Who for its fortieth season, the 14th series since the show returned in 2005. The series will star Ncuti Gatwa as the Fifteenth Doctor and will screen in 2024.

Doctor Who will return in November 2023 with three special episodes to coincide with the 60th anniversary with David Tennant as the Fourteenth Doctor.

[Alan]

Season 9 announced as next Collection Blu-ray
Thursday, 26 January 2023 - Reported by Marcus

https://www.doctorwhonews.net/2023/0...n_blu_ray.html

The BBC has announced that Season 9, the third season starring Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor is the next release to come to Blu-ray.

Across an action-packed twenty-six episodes, the Doctor and Jo (Katy Manning) face off against Daleks, Ogrons, Sea Devils, Ice Warriors, Mutants and their old enemy the Master (Roger Delgado). Joining them in their adventures are the UNIT team of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (Nicholas Courtney), Captain Yates (Richard Franklin) and Sergeant Benton (John Levene)

All episodes have been newly remastered from the best available sources.
The Collection: Season 9 Blu-ray box set also includes extensive special features including:

• MAKING THE TIME MONSTER Looking back on the Season 9 finale with Katy Manning, John Levene and more.
• MICHAEL E BRIANT AT THE HELM A profile of director Michael E Briant.
• LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION Katy Manning and friends revisit the filming locations of Season 9.
• THE FELL GUY A profile of prolific stuntman Stuart Fell.
• BEHIND THE SOFA Five new Behind the Sofa episodes featuring Katy Manning (Jo), Peter Davison (The Fifth Doctor), Wendy Padbury (Zoe), Sarah Sutton (Nyssa), Janet Fielding (Tegan), Sophie Aldred (Ace) and director Michael E Briant.
• BLU-RAY TRAILER A brand new slice of classic Doctor Who.
• MOVIE-LENGTH EDITIONS Special repeat screenings of DAY OF THE DALEKS and THE SEA DEVILS, previously unavailable.
• CONVENTION FOOTAGE A chance to hear from UNIT’s Nicholas Courtney and Richard Franklin, recorded in 1986.
• 5.1 SURROUND & DOLBY ATMOS SOUND On THE SEA DEVILS (episodic and omnibus edition).
• HD PHOTO GALLERIES Including many previously unseen images.
• AUDIO ARCHIVE Features many unreleased gems.
• INFO TEXT Behind-the-scenes information and trivia on every episode.
• PDF ARCHIVE Including scripts, exclusive unseen BBC production files and other rarities

Doctor Who: The Collection – Season 9 includes the following stories from 1972:

• DAY OF THE DALEKS
• THE CURSE OF PELADON
• THE SEA DEVILS
• THE MUTANTS
• THE TIME MONSTER

This eight-disc box set also includes hours of special features previously released on DVD including Documentaries, Featurettes, Audio Commentaries, Day Of The Daleks Special Edition and more.

A specially shot announcement trailer has debuted on the Doctor Who YouTube channel, written by new series contributor Pete McTighe (KERBLAM! and PRAXEUS) and featuring Katy Manning back as Jo.

Defenders of Earth! | The Collection: Season 9 Announcement Trailer
Jo Jones - defender of ALL life on Earth! #DoctorWho: The Collection returns with the Third Doctor's third season as the next instalment

The season is available to preorder on Amazon.

[Alan]

Sylvia Syms 1934-2023
Friday, 27 January 2023 - Reported by Marcus

https://www.doctorwhonews.net/2023/0...1934_2023.html

The British actress Sylvia Syms has died at the age of 89.

Sylvia Syms was a star of British cinema. She appeared in a number of iconic movies including Ice Cold in Alex, No Trees in the Street, Victim, and The Tamarind Seed.

She appeared in Doctor Who in 1989 playing Mrs. Pritchard in the Seventh Doctor story Ghost Light.
Sylvia Syms was born in South East London in 1934. At the age of five World War II broke out and she became one of the thousands of children who were evacuated from London, moving first to Kent and then, in 1940, to Monmouthshire in Wales. She later recalled the trauma of being separated from her mother, who was to die of a brain tumour when Syms was just 12.

At 16, she suffered a nervous breakdown and contemplated suicide but, at the insistence of her stepmother, had psychotherapy which helped her through the crisis.She trained as an actor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art

After graduating she quickly moved into filmmaking earning plaudits with her second role, playing the delinquent daughter of Anna Neagle in My Teenage Daughter. The following year she had a key supporting role in the kitchen-sink drama Woman in a Dressing Gown, for which she was nominated for the Bafta for best British actress

A couple of years later she was appearing alongside John Mills in the war movie Ice Cold with Alex. She later played the wannabe singer Maisie in Expresso Bongo. By 1960 had worked with Flora Robson, Orson Welles, Stanley Holloway, Lilli Palmer and William Holden.

In 1961 she played the wife of Dirk Bogarde in the film Victim. The movie dealt with homosexual activity, then unlawful in the United Kingdom, and the movie is thought to have helped change the law. In 1963 she played Tony Hancock's wife in The Punch and Judy Man. Another comedy followed with The Big Job alongside Sid James, Dick Emery, and Joan Sims.

She was again nominated for a British Film Academy award for the 1974 film The Tamarind Seed where she starred with Julie Andrews and Omar Sharif. In 2006 she played The Queen Mother in the Stephen Frears film The Queen

From the mid-seventies onwards her main work was on Television appearing in many supporting roles. In 1991 she portrayed Margaret Thatcher in Thatcher: The Final Days for Granada. She played Marion Riley in the ITV comedy-drama series At Home with the Braithwaites and in 2007 joined EastEnders for a short run playing dressmaker Olive Woodhouse.

Her last role was in the 2019 series Gentleman Jack, where she played Mrs Rawlinson

Sylvia Syms died peacefully on Friday at Denville Hall, a care home in London for those in the entertainment industry.

She is survived by her two children, Beatie and Ben Edney who said

Our mother, Sylvia, died peacefully this morning. She has lived an amazing life and gave us joy and laughter right up to the end. Just yesterday we were reminiscing together about all our adventures. She will be so very missed.

[Alan]

Doom’s Day Launched
Monday, 20 March 2023 - Reported by Marcus

https://www.doctorwhonews.net/2023/0..._launched.html

Doom's Day, a new special multiplatform story celebrating Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary, has been launched by BBC Studios

The new story introduces a brand-new character who is on a 24-hour pursuit of the Doctor

Someone has sent literal Death after Doom. She can only outrun it for 24 hours. Unless she can find the Doctor.

Launching later in 2023, this standalone transmedia series will allow Doctor Who fans to follow Doom, the Universe’s greatest assassin, as she travels through all of time and space in pursuit of the Doctor to save her from the ever-approaching Death. She only has 24 hours and a vortex manipulator to save herself before her fate is sealed forever.

Stand-up comedian, comedy sketch artist, and actor Sooz Kempner will be the face and voice of Doom. Kempner is a graduate and Associate of the Royal Academy of Music, She is a multi-award-winning stand-up comedian, comedy sketch artist, and actor. Known for her viral impersonation videos, Kempner recently wrapped on a forthcoming Big Talk/CBS Studios series for Freevee and throughout 2023 will be on tour with her solo comedy show, Playstation, before returning to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this summer.

A number of fan-favourite characters will feature along her journey.

Doctor Who Showrunner Russell T Davies says:

Doom’s Day is a huge new adventure for the whole Doctor Who universe - starring the brilliant and hilarious Sooz Kempner as an intergalactic assassin. Her adventures will span comics, audio, a novel, video games stories and more, expanding the world of Doctor Who into brand new territories. Beware the Doom’s Day, it’s coming for us all.

Sooz Kempner says:

To be part of the Doctor Who universe, a British institution up there with cups of tea and James Bond, is surreal and amazing! I love everything about Doom and can’t believe I get to travel across time and space with her.

Doom’s Day will kick off on Doctor Who digital channels later this year followed by products from Doctor Who Magazine, Titan Comics, Penguin Random House, East Side Games, Big Finish and BBC Audio, each telling a section of Doom’s story.

Each partner will create their own adventures for Doom’s Day, each focusing on one of the 24 hours Doom has left on the clock. The standalone stories will also have an overarching narrative that will play out before the finale which will release on Doctor Who digital channels.

[Alan]

New Images of the Fifteenth Doctor Released
Thursday, 20 April 2023 - Reported by Marcus

https://www.doctorwhonews.net/2023/0..._released.html



The BBC has released new images featuring Ncuti Gatwa as the fifteenth Doctor.

The images are from the story currently being filmed for the series that will air in 2024.

Alongside Gatwa as The Doctor is Millie Gibson who plays Ruby Sunday, the companion in the story.

It’s official, the TARDIS has landed in the 60’s!

A first look at the Doctor and Ruby as they arrive in the swinging 60’s, as filming continues for the new series.

Doctor Who returns in November 2023 with three special episodes with David Tennant as the Fourteenth Doctor to coincide with the 60th anniversary. Ncuti Gatwa’s first episode as the Fifteenth Doctor will then air over the festive period.

Doctor Who will premiere exclusively on the BBC for the UK and Ireland. Disney+ will be the exclusive home for new seasons of Doctor Who outside of the UK and Ireland.