Doctor Who: Series 15 (Season 41)

The Doctor has parted with his previous companion, Ruby, and is again travelling time and space alone. He meets a potential new companion, Belinda, a human abducted from Earth by alien robots, but she only wants to go home. To the Doctor's alarm, every attempt to return her home fails: the TARDIS is simply unable to return to Belinda's time. The Doctor and Belinda have to go "the long way round" in order to return to Earth in May 2025...a date of huge significance for the human race.

The fourteenth series of the relaunched Doctor Who was an attempt to clear the decks and get the show back into the big leagues, after a decade of gradual commercial decline under previous showrunners Steven Moffat and Chris Chibnall. Russell T. Davies, the superstar writer who'd relaunched the show to huge success in 2005, returned with plans for a connected number of different shows in the same universe, with the main show to be led by a charismatic new actor (the charismatic Ncuti Gatwa), all backed by big money courtesy of a new international distribution deal with Disney+.

Things didn't exactly pan out, with the show's commercial decline not only continuing but accelerating (despite a brief bump of interest in the specials led by David Tennant). Crucially, the show delivered several hugely-praised episodes (such as 73 Yards and Dot & Bubble) but also possibly the worst single episode since 2005 (Space Babies). More to the point, there was general discontent with the show's tone, which seem pitched towards very young viewers who simply weren't interested, and with the season's "mystery box" approach to storytelling, setting up companion Ruby Sunday as a puzzle to be solved, "subverting expectations" by giving her the most ordinary backstory possible and then discarding her immediately. The season had a very mixed reception as a result.

This second series under Davies' stewardship continues to be a mixed bag. The Christmas special Joy to the World, penned by Steven Moffat, has a huge amount of potential which isn't well-realised. Much-heralded guest star Nicola Coughlan hasn't got a lot to do or work with, and it's Steph de Whalley's scene-stealing turn as hotel manager Anita (who has to work with the Doctor for a year whilst he waits for his timestream to sort itself out) which becomes the most successful idea from the episode. Otherwise it's a little underwhelming.

The season itself kicks off with The Robot Revolution, introducing new companion Belinda Chandra (a great performance by Varada Sethu, of Andor fame and who had a guest spot in the previous season's Boom). Potentially clever ideas are let down by a clunky denouncement and the episode lurching between tones without much elegance or subtlety.

Lux puts the Doctor and Belinda in a Miami cinema in the 1950s, where they are menaced by a cartoon character who tears itself out of the screen. An impressive technical feat which combines real menace and tension, and a brief nod at 1950s social issues without smashing the viewer over the head with them with the subtlety of a mallet. A rare example of Davies knowing when less is more.

The Well is easily the season's - and the entire era's - highlight and sees the Doctor having to deal with a creature that can only be perceived in certain circumstances. The atmosphere is creepy, the tension builds superbly and the episode is enhanced by a terrific guest performance by Rose Ayling-Ellis.

Lucky Day is an almost wholly Doctor-and-Belinda-lite episode, with the story focusing on Ruby and UNIT on Earth as they deal with an unusual threat. There's something deliciously contrarian in the Doctor Who universe that the most successful conspiracy theorists are the ones who don't believe in aliens, telepaths or computers controlling everything, and Jonah Hauer-King gives a great performance as the supremely punchable Conrad. It's Millie Gibson, once again, who emerges as the star of the episode with her enthusiastic performance. However, once the story reaches its well-executed midpoint twist, Davies seems at a loss how to proceed, and the episode bogs down in lots of righteous shouting before an unsatisfying ending.

The Story & The Ending is an episode about the power of story and myth, as retold through a group of customers attending a barbershop in Lagos, Nigeria. It's a richly atmospheric piece, thanks to Inua Ellams' excellent script, and there's some tremendous visuals. The episode is let down a little bit by not having any real location shooting in Nigeria, an odd limitation when the press for the show is constantly hollering about the increased budget (recalling that the supposedly much cheaper Chibnall era had multiple episodes shot on location in Africa). But the inventiveness and atmosphere here is compelling.

The Interstellar Song Contest is a surprisingly enjoyable, fun bit of total nonsense, with the Doctor and Belinda attending "Eurovision but in space," complete with minor C-list celebrities and some bonkers novelty acts like the meme-generating "Dugga Doo." There's some good comic beats but the episode is let down a little by pulling its punches and teasing the return of the Doctor's long, long-missing granddaughter Susan (last seen in an episode that aired in 1983), only to not really do anything with the idea.

The show's two-part finale is a mixed bag. The first episode sees Earth transformed into an unquestioning state loyal to the Rani (a superb performance by Achie Panjabi) with even the Doctor and Belinda unable to remember their true identities. Obviously, eventually they realise something is up and lead the fight back. Wish World is a little clunky but builds up a nice feeling of dread and tension. 

Unfortunately, this promise is immediately squandered in The Reality War. As is now well-known, the original plan for the episode (which would have addressed Susan and other story threads) was completely derailed by Ncuti Gatwa's decision to leave, resulting in hasty reshoots and a complete change to the second half of the story. These decisions result in a hasty removal of the Rani, the complete pointlessness of teasing the return of Omega and then doing nothing interesting with him, and then having the Doctor stumble around for half the episode before finally regenerating. It's great to see some old faces returning, but the episode feels like it's the walking wounded, whatever original promise it had lost as it struggles to tell a different story to the one it was set up for.

As the confusing episode ends, fans will likely be left wondering what the heck happened with Susan, if the Doctor has imposed a child who shouldn't exist on his companion Belinda for no apparent reason, and why the Doctor now looks like one of his former companions. A whiff of desperation can be detected, as if Davies is more interested in stoking the fires of Reddit and celebrity columns rather than just telling a good story with a good enough reason for existing.

The fifteenth series of the relaunched Doctor Who (***½) is solid. It has a potential future classic and several very good episodes. No Space Babies here. But the season-long arc is resolved painfully blandly, the final episode is a total mess (for the second year in a row), and the season somehow ends up feeling less than the sum of its parts. The cliffhanger is daft, and there's a general lack of confidence to proceedings, which frustrates after the good work done by The Well, Lux and The Story & The Engine.

• 15X1: Joy to the World (***½)
• 15.1: The Robot Revolution (***)
• 15.2: Lux (****)
• 15.3: The Well (*****)
• 15.4: Lucky Day (***½)
• 15.5: The Story & The Engine (****)
• 15.6: The Interstellar Song Contest (***½)
• 15.7: Wish World (***½)
• 15.8: The Reality War (**½)

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Doctor Who: Series 14 (Season 40)

The Thirteenth Doctor has regenerated into the Fourteenth, but the new Doctor is shocked to find himself wearing the same face as a prior incarnation. Returning to Earth, he is immediately reunited with former companion Donna Noble, and plunged into a sequence of events hinting at the arrival of a terrible old enemy. That threat resolved, the Fifteenth Doctor arrives to take over the mantle, and solve the mystery of Ruby Sunday.

It's fair to sat that the Chris Chibnall years of Doctor Who, spanning Series 11 - 13 of the "new" era, were divisive at best. His first season was weak, with variable writing and some dreadful episodes. Things improved, until his final run of episodes (the Flux mini-series and the splendid specials Eve of the Daleks and Power of the Doctor) was respectably solid, dragged down only by the awful Legend of the Sea Devils. But plunging ratings and dwindling audience appreciation saw the BBC decide to regroup and go in a new direction.

And that new direction was, er, an old one. Showrunner Russell T. Davies, who had brought the show back from the abyss in 2005, returned. He brought back David Tennant, the most popular of the new Doctors, with him, and also reintroduced Catherine Tate as Donna. The Doctor-Donna pairing helped make Series 4 arguably the strongest of Davies' original run.

This back-to-basics approach was hugely popular with the BBC but also appealed to Disney, coming on board as international distributor for the first time. It also helped celebrate the show's 60th anniversary in 2023 without having to resort to a "multi-Doctor special," something Davies was not keen on, despite the success it had last time out. Disney also seems to have been keen to try to get the show back to a clean slate to appeal to new viewers.

These three specials are...okay? They're certainly not the resounding back-to-form smash hit successes I think anyone was hoping for, but they're a long way from disastrous. The Star Beast - somewhat randomly - adapts a 1980 comic book story where the Doctor has to help the cute-and-helpless Meep, who turns out to be more than he seems. The result is a fun knockabout adventure, though it has to be said the forced comedic beats are torturous at best (and makes one recall that the first Davies era could have some of the cringiest humour you'd ever seen in your life, but you can overlook it for spectacular episodes like Human Nature or Blink).

Wild Blue Yonder is the trilogy's most "standard" adventure, with the Doctor and Donna arriving on an abandoned spacecraft and encountering some really odd creatures. This is an episode that, at its best, is eerie and discomforting in the way the best Doctor Who can be, and early on feels like a classic in the making. Unfortunately. the episode is let down by the idea not really being strong enough to fill 54 minutes, and some of the effects are downright woeful considering that the Disney influx of cast reportedly doubled the show's budget (the show looking cheaper visually than during the Chibnall era, despite having more resources, becomes a recurring problem). As a result the episode feels like a lot of unfulfilled potential.

The Giggle sees the return of old-school villain the Celestial Toymaker, now played with charismatic relish by Neil Patrick Harris, as he takes on the Doctor with the fate of reality at stake. The Doctor has to join forces with UNIT to take down this most cunning of opponents. This is easily the strongest of the three specials, thanks to Harris's superb performance and Davies giving him some terrific dialogue, with a deadly battle of wits between the Toymaker and the Doctor. Unfortunately, a promising and disturbing episode peters out at the end, with Davies feeling a little too clever in himself in coming up with the idea of "bigeneration," allowing the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Doctors (the latter played Ncuti Gatwa) to coexist and team up to take down the Toymaker. The end of the episode is well-intentioned with some nice lines on mental health and a brand new start for Fifteen, but it's also a bit vague and confusing. It feels like the need to introduce the Fifteenth Doctor through an unnecessary gimmick dilutes the episode of its power. Still, Gatwa makes an immediate, positive impression as the Fifteenth Doctor.

The Church on Ruby Road is the 2023 Christmas special, and the first Doctor Who Christmas special since 2017. The special introduces new companion Ruby Sunday, played with winning charisma by Millie Gibson. The storyline resolves around time-travelling musical goblins, which feels a bit random (though turns out to be part of a wider storyline about fantasy invading the scientifically plausible universe), but Gatwa and Gibson sell the hell out of it, resulting in a mostly watchable slice of nonsense. Davies also opens a mystery box about Ruby's origins, which (at this stage) intriguing and a bit eerie. However, there is a feeling here that we've done the whole "companion as a puzzle for the Doctor to solve" thing before with Clara, and that was done better. Still, an okay start to this Doctor - companion pairing.

That doesn't last long though. Space Babies is the first episode of Series 14 proper and is terrible. The Doctor and Ruby arrive on a spaceship and are chased around a bit by a terrifying monster. This is promising. They then find the spaceship is crewed by talking babies, which is...not so much. Cue lots of of horrible lip-synching and some over-enthusiastic voice acting, but it can't really overcome the weak script, poor dialogue and the laughable explanation for the monster. This is not a promising opening to proceedings.

The Devil's Chord fortunately sees an immediate improvement, with the Doctor having to face down the mysterious Maestro, an entity which can weaponise music. This intersects with a visit to 1963 where the Doctor and Ruby want to meet the Beatles and run afoul of Maestro. The ending of the episode is a little weak (despite the excuse for a fun musical number), but the deliciously evil performance of Jinkx Monsoon as Maestro strengthens the episode.

Boom sees the return of former showrunner Steven Moffat with what he does best, a conceptual episode. The concept is that the Doctor steps on a landmine and can't get off without killing himself, resulting in Ruby having to try to save the day solo. It's not Moffat's strongest work, but it's a solid enough piece about the commercialisation of warfare, with weightier themes than Davies' last few scripts.

By this point the new era of Doctor Who feels like it's off to an underwhelming start and needs a shot in the arm, and fortunately it immediately gets it in the form of 73 Yards. One of Davies' strongest-ever scripts, the episode see the Doctor vanish after stepping into a fairy circle, leaving Ruby alone, haunted by a woman who appears exactly 73 yards away from her. Whenever anyone speaks to the woman, they immediately flee in terror and disown Ruby, including her mother and members of UNIT. Unable to enter the TARDIS, Ruby goes on to live the entire rest of her life. As a high-concept piece, this is a rival to Midnight and Turn Left, falling short only because we never get a convincing reason why people scream and run away from the mystery woman, which feels like a rather large plot hole. Still, an eerie and strange episode with a great guest performance by Aneurin Barnard, and a totally dominant performance by Millie Gibson who was dropped in the deep end here (this was her first-filmed episode) and smashed it.

Dot & Bubble is another concept episode, this time the concept being that we're pretty much locked into the POV of guest character Lindy Pepper-Bean (a tremendous performance by Callie Cooke), a member of a species who spend their whole life locked in a literal social media bubble (a VR bubble that surrounds their heads with people messaging them, only rarely turning the bubble off). The metaphor is not the subtlest (though delivered a bit more cleverly than normal) but the setup makes for great tension as the Doctor and Ruby can only communicate with Lindy through IM and have to convince her of a looming alien threat and how to get to safety. The episode's concept is great, and it has an absolutely vicious sting in the tail that really caps the whole thing off, with Gatwa giving his best performance to date. The only reason the episode drops a note is that this is the second episode in a row which barely features the Doctor (an unfortunate side-effect of Gatwa's Sex Education Season 4 filming schedule overrunning), which feels a bit rough given we're still getting to know him.

Rogue is a Doctor Who-by-the-numbers story, a period piece set in 1813 with the Doctor and Ruby attending a period ball that's upset by shapeshifting aliens. There's a nice spin as a time-travelling bounty hunter (played with charismatic gusto by Jonathan Goff) shows up and thinks the Doctor is one of the aliens, leading to some tension as they try to prove their good intentions to one another whilst Ruby investigates the real aliens. The episode relies a little too heavily on the novelty of the Doctor and Rogue's flirtatious relationship (which is not as much of a novelty as Davies seems to think it is since, y'know, Captain Jack exists) rather than focusing on the primary conflict, but the pacing is good. The rest of the guest cast is outstanding as well, with Indira Varma giving a typically great performance and Camilla Aiko providing a winning turn.

The Legend of Ruby Sunday sets up the season finale with some genuinely chilling moments, as the Doctor tries to uncover the identity of Ruby's mother with cutting-edge UNIT technology. The tension and mystery builds with relish until we get to an epic cliffhanger ending, the effectiveness of which is only let down by the majority of viewers having zero idea whom the surprise bad guy actually is.

Empire of Death takes the promise of Legend and pretty much flushes it away. Legend built up a sense of genuine dread through good pacing and some eerie setpieces. Empire is just bland, rushed, confusing, illogical and defeats the returning villain with extreme rapidity. Everyone does their best with a confused script, but the episode just feels like a huge letdown.

Series 14 and its attendant specials (***½) are okay, two outstanding near-classics let down by a generally more juvenile tone than the era immediately before, and the sheer awfulness of Space Babies and Empire of Death. This isn't Russell T. Davies strutting back onto the stage to save the day with the greatest hits, its more like to play his new, late-career album which is okay, bordering on solid, but sound a bit like a 60-year-old guy trying to get down with the kids a bit too hard. The best episodes in this batch are when everyone forgets they're trying to save Doctor Who, chills out and just writes good episodes. When anyone (especially Davies) overthinks it, things start falling apart. Still, a long way from being the worst season of Doctor Who in its history, or since its reboot, and the optimism is there that maybe we can get back to the franchise at its best.

• 14X1: The Star Beast (***½)
• 14X2: Wild Blue Yonder (***½)
• 14X3: The Giggle (****)
• 14X4: The Church on Ruby Road (***½)
• 14.1: Space Babies (*½)
• 14.2: The Devil's Chord (***½)
• 14.3: Boom (****)
• 14.4: 73 Yards (****½)
• 14.5: Dot & Bubble (****½)
• 14.6: Rogue (***½)
• 14.7: The Legend of Ruby Sunday (****)
• 14.8: Empire of Death (**)

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DOCTOR WHO springs shocking season cliffhanger

NOTE: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE MOST RECENT EPISODE AND SEASON OF DOCTOR WHO

Doctor Who - more or less - sprung a surprise regeneration on viewers at the conclusion of tonight's episode, The Reality War. Ncuti Gatwa bowed out as the Fifteenth Doctor after just two seasons and eighteen episodes (and the end of a nineteenth) in the role, one-and-a-half years after his first appearance, marking the shortest tenure for a Doctor since Christopher Eccleston departed in 2005 after just one season, thirteen episodes and three months. This is also the first time that a regeneration was not heavily-trailed in the media beforehand, though several spoiler sites did leak the news a few weeks before broadcast.

Gatwa joined the show in 2023, marking the first time Doctor was regularly played by a black actor, although Jo Martin has made several appearances as the mysterious "Fugitive Doctor," an incarnation of debateable provenance, since 2020 (including in this current season). Gatwa's time in the TARDIS has been steered by returning showrunner Russell T. Davies, who brought the show back from a long hiatus in 2005 and took it to immense success before leaving in 2010. He returned in 2023 to help see the show through its 60th anniversary celebrations, initially with a returning David Tennant playing the Fourteenth Doctor for three specials before regenerating into Gatwa's Fifteenth. This era has also been co-produced with Disney+, resulting in impressive production values and international distribution.

However, this move has had questionable success, with mixed reactions to episodes. Episodes like Space Babies and Empire of Death have been castigated, whilst Dot & Bubble, 73 Yards and The Well have enjoyed critical acclaim. More worrying has been a ratings drop the show has been dealing with for the better part of a decade becoming more of a ratings deluge, with only 2.7 million viewers tuning in for the first-run airings of some episodes, the lowest in its history. Adjusted ratings for catchup and BBC iPlayer are coming more regularly in the 4 million range, not counting Disney+, and the show has been maintaining an average position as the 9th or 10th most-watched programme of the week, which is what it actually enjoyed back in the Tennant and Smith glory years, so the BBC has been less panicky about this than might be imagined, but certainly the hope that Davies could make the show appointment TV and bring it back to the forefront of the cultural conversation has been dashed.

Disney would also only commit to finding the show's performance for them on streaming to be "okay," for the relatively limited outlay (one rumour is that Disney is contributing about $3.5 million per episode, half or less of the total compared to the BBC, which is almost a tenth of what some of Disney's own headline shows are costing).

Neither the BBC nor Disney have committed to a further season of Doctor Who. The current series was the fifteenth since its return in 2005, but only the fifth since 2017, with lengthy gaps between seasons caused by COVID, production and scheduling problems. Davies had promised to end this with a return to the one season a year schedule popularised in 2005, but that plan failed at some point, with neither the BBC nor Disney willing to commit to a third series under their contract, possibly after Series 14 launched to only moderate success. Plans to start shooting Series 16 in March 2025 had been made, with Gatwa confirming his involvement on a talk show and Davies confirming four or more scripts had been written, but clearly plans changed.

More notable is that set leaks confirmed that Series 15 was due to end with the Doctor, Ruby and Belinda celebrating at a nightclub, then a face from the Doctor's past showing up, leading to a cliffhanger with Gatwa firmly still in the role for the following series. German Disney+ leaked an image from this version of the ending, confirming at least some aspects of it. However, the cast and crew apparently reconvened in February 2025 to reshoot the ending to the episode, with Gatwa now regenerating. Rumours speak of other filming opportunities opening up that would tie Gatwa to other projects for an uncomfortably long time (so don't be surprised to see an announcement in the near future of him joining another TV show or movie in a major role) and, with the BBC and Disney unable to commit to filming dates for the next series, he had to move on. What is true and what is speculation will only become clear with time.

Enhancing the surprise (for those not tuned into the spoiler sites) was the return of Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor, who made a surprise visit to help the Doctor through his regeneration. But the biggest shock was left for the very end: the Fifteenth Doctor apparently regenerated into a new form identical to that of his former companion Rose Tyler, played by Billie Piper. Rose appeared as a regular companion in 2005 and 2006 before making a return appearance in 2008. Piper reappeared during the 50th Anniversary Special in 2013 to play "The Moment," a sentient Time Lord weapon that takes on familiar forms. Whilst the Doctor has been played by actors with Doctor Who form before - Sixth Doctor Colin Baker had previously played a Time Lord military commander, whilst Twelfth Doctor Peter Capaldi had previously played a Roman and a Whitehall bureaucrat - they've never been played by an actor who had previously played one of their companions before.

More curiously the credits only said "introducing Billie Piper," without the usual tagline of "as the Doctor," or "as Doctor Who," which almost every previous Doctor has enjoyed. The BBC's accompanying press release and comments by Davies and Piper also only avoided directly saying she is playing the Sixteenth Doctor, despite the clear implication on-screen. The press release also said that Piper was planning to return to Doctor Who for "one last time," hinting that this might only be for one special or series rather than a long-term commitment. Of course, with no new season commissioned, there is the possibility (however slim) that she might not even get that.

The move is certainly interesting, with fandom predictably divided on the response, some pondering if this kind of stunt-casting is the only thing that can get eyeballs back on the show, or if it feels increasingly desperate. As usual, time will tell.

The Reality War, and all of Doctor Who's 14th and 15th series, are available to watch now on BBC iPlayer in the UK, and on Disney+ worldwide.

DOCTOR WHO gets 60th anniversary episode titles and new trailer

The BBC has unveiled a short trailer for its upcoming Doctor Who 60th anniversary specials. The BBC will air three special episodes in November to commemorate the anniversary, and now we know what they're called.

The first episode is called The Star Beast and sees the newly-regenerated Fourteenth Doctor (David Tennant) arriving on contemporary Earth, confused as hell as to why his new incarnation looks identical to his tenth. The Doctor is drawn into a conflict between the cute Beep the Meep and the monstrous Wrarth Warriors, who are pursuing the fluffball for reasons unknown. Also involved is the Doctor's former companion Donna Noble (Catherine Tate), her daughter Rose (Yasmin Finney) and grandfather Wilfred Mott (the late Bernard Cribbins, in his final Doctor Who appearance).

The second episode is called Wild Blue Yonder and sees the Doctor and Donna confront a mysterious showman (Neil Patrick Harris).

The third episode is called The Giggle and nobody is talking about that one. It's presumed that this episode will explain why the Fourteenth Doctor resembles the Tenth, and will see his regeneration into the Fifteenth Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa).

All three episodes are written by Russell T. Davies and directed by Rachel Talalay, Tom Kingsley and Chanya Button respectively.

We won't have to wait too long for more Doctor Who, either. The Fifteenth Doctor will get his first full outing in the Doctor Who Christmas Special (the first since 2017), presumed to be aired on Christmas Day this year, and then Series 14 proper, consisting of eight episodes, will follow in early 2024 and see the Fifteenth Doctor joined by new companion Ruby Sunday, to be played by Millie Gibson.

BBC confirms new DOCTOR WHO companion

The BBC has confirmed that actress Millie Gibson is joining the cast of Doctor Who as the new regular companion. She will play the role of Ruby Sunday and will debut alongside Ncuti Gatwa as the Fifteenth Doctor.

Gibson made her screen debut in 2017 playing Indira on the BBC children's drama Jamie Johnson. Two years later she joined the cast of Coronation Street, Britain's longest-running soap opera (three years older than Doctor Who itself), as Kelly Neelan. She picked up significant critical notices in her three years on the show.

At 18, Gibson is the joint-youngest actress to appear as a companion, a position she shares with former actors Jackie Lane (who played Dodo Chaplet in 1966), Sarah Sutton (Nyssa, 1981-83) and Matthew Waterhouse (Adric, 1981-82). However, due to the much longer lead-time on production these days, she'll have turned 19 by the time her first episode airs.

Based on the wording, it sounds like Gibson will first appear in the 2023 Christmas Special, when Gatwa is expected to take over full time as the Fifteenth Doctor. Prior to that in November, there will be three anniversary specials airing to celebrate Doctor Who's 60th anniversary, with David Tennant playing the Fourteenth Doctor, with a story arc revolving around the mystery of why his new appearance is identical to a former one (Tennant previously played the Tenth Doctor from 2005 to 2010, returning for a guest spot in 2013). Catherine Tate is also returning as former companion Donna for these specials. 

Gatwa is expected to cameo in these specials as the "new" Doctor apparently tries to work out why his regeneration has gone awry, possibly in dream sequences or mental images of some kind.

Doctor Who is expected to return to the screens in November 2023, on the BBC in the UK and Disney+ internationally.

Multiple DOCTOR WHO specials for 60th Anniversary confirmed

It's been rumoured for a while, but it's now been seemingly confirmed that we will be getting multiple Doctor Who special episodes for the 60th Anniversary in 2023.

Previously a single special written by returning Russell T. Davies and directed by Capaldi-era favourite Rachel Talalay had been confirmed, with David Tennant returning as the Doctor (in an unspecified manner) and Catherine Tate and Bernard Cribbins returning as former companions Donna and Wilfred. Yasmin Finney had also joined the cast as Rose Temple-Noble, believed to be the daughter of Donna and husband Shaun.

New shots confirm that Chanya Button is directing "Episode 3," suggesting that there will be at least three specials in total. Button is a newcomer to Who, but has previously directed for World on Fire, The Spanish Princess and Whitstable Pearl.

Production of the specials began in May and is expected to continue for some weeks. There will then be a pause before shooting of Series 14 proper begins in October or November, with Ncuti Gatwa taking up his role as the Doctor. Gatwa's involvement in the specials is unclear, although he has so far not been spotted on set, suggesting that Tennant will play the Doctor for all three specials before Gatwa takes over full-time. Gatwa is currently shooting the Barbie live-action movie as well as the fourth season of his Netflix series, Sex Education.

Previously, Russell T. Davies had indicated that his first episode would air during the 60th Anniversary of the show, which does not fall until November 2023. However, rumours have been swirling in recent weeks that the specials may start airing some time before that. The BBC have not commented on these reports.

The next confirmed episode of Doctor Who is the "BBC Centenary Special," which will air in October this year as part of the BBC's 100th anniversary programming. The 90-minute special will be Jodie Whittaker's swansong as the Thirteenth Doctor and see her departure from the show, along with showrunner Chris Chibnall and companions Dan (John Bishop) and Yasmin (Mandip Gill).

David Tennant and Catherine Tate to return to DOCTOR WHO for the 60th Anniversary

The BBC has formally confirmed that former Doctor Who regulars David Tennant and Catherine Tate are returning to Doctor Who for the 60th Anniversary in November 2023.

David Tennant played the Tenth Doctor from 2005 to 2010, becoming arguably the most popular actor to play the role since Tom Baker (who played the Fourth Doctor from 1974 to 1981). Catherine Tate played his companion Donna Noble, debuting in the 2006 Christmas Special and returning regularly in Series 4 in 2008. Her last appearance came in Tennant's swansong, the special The End of Time, in 2010. Tennant's last appearance was in the 50th Anniversary special The Day of the Doctor in 2013, where he starred alongside Eleventh Doctor Matt Smith.

Returning showrunner Russell T. Davies is penning the 60th Anniversary Special, which is also expected to mark the first full episode for Ncuti Gatwa as the Fourteenth Doctor. Davies would not be drawn on how Tennant and Tate will return, encouraging speculation that it might be a dream, a flashback or a parallel universe. It's also not entirely clear if they are returning for the 60th Anniversary Special itself, or possibly a separate special or episode airing as part of the same celebrations.

It is so far unknown if the other Doctors of the modern age - Matt Smith, Peter Capaldi and Jodie Whittaker - are returning for the anniversary as well.

UPDATE: Actor Yasmin Finney (Heartstoppers) has also been cast for the 60th Anniversary, playing a character called Rose. Russell T. Davies often has characters called Rose in his drama, including the co-lead in Bob & Rose and, of course, Rose Tyler in his first stint in Doctor Who. It is unclear if this new character is a guest star or the new regular companion.

Ncuti Gatwa announced as the next DOCTOR WHO

The BBC has confirmed that Rwandan-Scottish actor Ncuti Gatwa (Sex Education) will take over from Jodie Whittaker as the next incarnation of Doctor Who.

Gatwa was born in 1992 and at 29 is one of the youngest actors to play the role, alongside Peter Davison, who was also 29 when he was cast in 1981, and Matt Smith, who was 27 when he took on the role in 2010. Gatwa was born in Nyarugenge, Kigali in Rwanda and was raised in Scotland.

Gatwa will be the first actor not born in the United Kingdom to play the role. He also becomes the fourth actor raised in Scotland (after Sylvester McCoy, David Tennant and Peter Capaldi) to play the role. He is the second black actor to play the role, after Jo Martin who debuted as the "Fugitive Doctor" in 2020, but will be the first to play the role full-time.

Gatwa graduated from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow with a BA in Acting in 2013 and has appeared in TV shows such as Bob Servant, Stonemouth and the forthcoming Masters of the Air. He has also acted extensively on stage. His best-known role to date was playing Eric Effiong on the Netflix series Sex Eduction.

It assumed that Gatwa will be playing the Fourteenth Doctor and will presumably debut in the BBC Centenary Special, expected to air in October this year, when Jodie Whittaker leaves the role. Russell T. Davies, who previously ran the show from 2005 to 2010, is returning to helm the next season, which is expected to begin with the show's 60th Anniversary Special in November 2023. Shooting is expected to begin within the next couple of weeks

According to Davies, "sometimes talent walks through the door and it's so bright and bold and brilliant, I just stand back in awe and thank my lucky stars." Gatwa has said he is, "deeply honoured, beyond excited and of course a little bit scared. This role and show means so much to so many around the world, including myself, and each one of my incredibly talented predecessors has handled that unique responsibility and privilege with the utmost care."