This news summary on the tenth 21st Century season of Doctor Who will be updated regularly as more details are revealed.
Christmas 2016 special: ‘The Return of Doctor Mysterio’
Airs at 5.45pm on Sunday 25 December 2016.
Written by Steven Moffat.
Directed by Ed Bazalgette.
Guest cast: Matt Lucas as Nardole, Justin Chatwin as Grant Gordon, Charity Wakefield as Lucy, Tomiwa Edun as Mr Brock, Aleksandar Jovanovic as Dr Sim, Daniel Lorente as teen Grant, Logan Hoffman as young Grant.
Official synopsis: “This Christmas sees The Doctor join forces with a masked Superhero for an epic New York adventure. With brain-swapping aliens poised to attack, the Doctor and Nardole link up with an investigative reporter and a mysterious figure known only as The Ghost. Can the Doctor save Manhattan? And what will be revealed when we see behind the mask?”
Peter Capaldi: “It reminds me rather of the early Superman movies with Christopher Reeve. They had a great mix of irony and fun, thrills and chills, which on reflection is, in a way, how Doctor Who is. It has a very festive feel about it, without it being incredibly snowy and Bing Crosby-ish.”
Steven Moffat: “I’ve always loved superheroes and this Christmas Doctor Who dives into that world. My favourite superhero is Clark Kent. Not Superman, Clark Kent.”
Justin Chatwin: “Working with the amazing people at Doctor Who has been one of the most fun and rewarding projects I’ve ever had the pleasure of being involved with.”
Christel Dee: “Nardole is quite different from your normal companion … he’s almost like an anti-companion. But not in a horrible way – in a really, really funny way. [The Doctor and Nardole] make such a great double act that’s going to make for a really funny Christmas special.”
BBC source: “The Doctor won’t have a temporary companion this Christmas and essentially that space will be taken by Nardole. He’s not a companion as such but it’s not as if he doesn’t play a similar role.”
Mark Gatiss: “I think the Christmas special… which is the only one this year…I think is one of [Steven Moffat]’s best ever scripts, absolutely beautiful. It made me cry.”
Steven Moffat: “[Bill won’t] be in Christmas [2016], because that would blow the series launch … So there’ll be somebody else – a different, guest companion – this Christmas, like how River Song played the companion role in last year’s Special.”
Episode 1: ‘The Pilot’
Written by Steven Moffat.
Directed by Lawrence Gough.
Produced by Peter Bennett.
Guest starring Stephanie Hyam as Heather, gymnast Robert Penny.
Steven Moffat: “I want it to feel like Episode 1 of a brand new show. I want to leave just as it’s all beginning…”
Steven Moffat: “We’ll introduce [Bill] in the first episode of 2017, and she’ll run through that series.”
Steven Moffat: “How we first encounter [Bill], and how we first encounter the Doctor next year, is very unusual for us.”
Steven Moffat: “A new face in the TARDIS, a new voyage about to begin: welcome aboard the amazing Pearl Mackie! This is where the story really starts.”
Peter Capaldi: “…it’s so specific, the story we’re doing with the companion.”
Steven Moffat: “I think we’ve got a really cool new idea about how to [introduce the new companion].”
Steven Moffat: “I think every time we get a new companion – even more so than a new Doctor – you are sort of saying, ‘This is the beginning. This is where it starts. You can join in here’.”
Continued on the next page…