In an interview on the red carpet for the press launch of the first episode of Doctor Who Series 11, The Woman Who Fell to Earth, Bradley Walsh revealed, though he had been considering Chris Chibnall’s offer of a role in Series 11, he had not completely committed to signing for the role until Jodie Whittaker was revealed as the Doctor on July 16, 2017 during the Wimbledon Men’s final.

“They said ‘We want you to be one of the companions.’ I said ‘Great!’ And I said ‘That’s fine. That’s all good. Who’s the Doctor?’ And they went ‘Oh, we can’t tell you that.’ and I went ‘Ah, okay, well, what do they look like?’ They said ‘We can’t tell you that. What you are going to have to do is watch the Wimbledon final or the World Cup.’ (I can’t remember which.) And there was a clip in the middle of it and it was the Doctor reveal. And I went ‘Ah, wow! That is great!’ We hadn’t signed fully by then and I just signed immediately on the dotted line.”

Walsh also revealed this about the TARDIS:

“…you’ll see what it looks like inside later on…I can’t remember if it’s Episode 1 or Episode 2.”

The Woman Who Fell to Earth airs on BBC One Sunday, October 7 at 6:45 p.m. with a corresponding simulcast in participating countries.