In an article in Doctor Who Magazine 535 featuring director Wayne Yip, actor Nikesh Patel, who played Mitch in the Doctor Who New Year’s special Resolution, revealed the measures writer and showrunner Chris Chibnall took to keep the appearance of the Reconnaissance Dalek in the special a secret.
“I got a call from my agent saying they’d love you to be in the Doctor Who Special. I asked them to send me through a script and it was a cracking read, but also a confusing read. It was a really tense horror thriller, but this buried, ancient tentacled evil was only referred to by a codename! As someone who’s not a die-hard Who fan, I thought, ‘That’s a step too far, surely?’”
“In the readthrough, Jodie [Whittaker] stuck with the codename”, he said with a laugh. “Although with hindsight she did it with a wry smile.”
So what was this mysterious codename?
Kevin!
That’s right, Kevin, according to Charlotte Ritchie on Twitter. Ritchie played Lin in Resolution.
Exclusive: it was Kevin. Which took away a lot of the drama. No disrespect to the name. https://t.co/xZXA9BPRvb
— Charlotte Ritchie (@Charitchie) February 7, 2019
Can you imagine sitting through an entire readthrough, listening to Jodie Whittaker refer to “the most dangerous creature in the universe” as Kevin?
There’s no word yet on whether Chris Chibnall, who also wrote Arachnids in the UK, has a “Kevin” agenda.
