Interviews with actors for this story had been performed previous to the SAG-AFTRA strikes.
Fire up the TARDIS – it’s nearly time to return to a world of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey adventures, because the Doctor Who sixtieth anniversary specials draw nearer. Everyone’s favorite Gallifreyan can be bounding again onto our screens in November – and with earlier showrunner Russell T. Davies again, plus earlier stars David Tennant, Catherine Tate, and a model new streaming residence within the type of Disney+, the three upcoming particular episodes promise an thrilling mixture of previous and new Who.
“It’s just like the band getting again collectively for one final hurrah,” star David Tennant tells Empire completely, for our model new Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom challenge. Audiences will keep in mind that Tennant’s Doctor and Tate’s Donna parted methods after he was compelled to wipe her reminiscences of him, in an effort to save her life. These new specials discover Donna having a type of sense reminiscence of her time with the Doctor, speaking to her mum about feeling like “one thing’s lacking”. She and daughter Rose (Heartstopper’s Yasmin Finney) are quickly pulled into a brand new escapade with the Doctor, instigated by the presence of a fluffy little alien generally known as ‘The Meep’ (voiced by Miriam Margolyes) of their shed. Davies took inspiration for the storyline from The Star Beast, a Doctor Who caricature from 1980. “I wanted to deliver Donna again into the story,” Davies explains to Empire. “Which meant setting it in London, which meant one thing alien touchdown on prime of London, and I mechanically considered Star Beast as one of the simplest ways to inform that story.”
And what a narrative it guarantees to be. The set-up for these episodes was stunning sufficient – within the season finale final 12 months, Jodie Whittaker’s thirteenth Doctor regenerated into David Tennant, moderately than the anticipated new Doctor, Sex Education’s Ncuti Gatwa. But simply because Tennant’s face is acquainted, doesn’t imply that this is identical Doctor that he performed earlier than. “That was the primary thrilling piece of mischief that Russell created,” says Tennant. “That I used to be going to be Doctor No. 14 moderately than Doctor No. 10 once more. You’ll simply have to attend and see why the 14th Doctor is a lot just like the tenth.” And it feels like that sense of mischief – and experimentation – is threaded by means of all the collection of anniversary specials. “I used to be stunned,” admits Tennant, “after I noticed what that first script was primarily based on, then I learn the second script, which is in contrast to any Doctor Who episode ever. These new specials are Russell off the leash.” Consider us very, very excited.
Read Empire’s full Doctor Who story – talking completely to David Tennant and Russell T. Davies – within the new Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom challenge, on sale Thursday 26 October. Pre-order a duplicate on-line right here, or turn out to be an Empire member to entry the digital version on launch day. The Doctor Who sixtieth anniversary specials will air on the BBC in November.
