In Doctor Who Magazine 587, executive producer Joel Collins, who hired Phil Sims as Doctor Who production designer, spoke of the “impossible” design concept ultimately chosen for the new TARDIS interior set.

“We talked thorough various concepts with [showrunner] Russell [T Davies], and there was one rough idea that was just too ambitious, and too impossible – but which everybody loved. Once I’d put it in front of Russell, he’s just too visually bright to unsee it. I’d go, ‘Yes, yes, but it’s completely mad, it’s never going to happen.’ Then we started to say, ‘Okay, how do we make this impossible space possible?’”

“So Phil brought in a brilliant engineer, who spent months trying to solve the engineering riddle of this impossible, logic-defying set, which no one in their right mind should ever have even drawn in the first place. But that kind of sums up the show…”

Collins’ description is tantalising, if vague. There are rumours that the set is wheelchair accessible.

A source on a popular Doctor Who forum, unaware of possible accessibility uses, described a “roller-coaster rail” coiling around the TARDIS interior from the console to raised walkways, likely a description of a sleek wheelchair ramp.

Actress Ruth Madeley, who uses a wheelchair, plays a character named Shirley Anne Bingham. She is featured in the Doctor Who 60th anniversary teaser trailer and will play an integral role in the new Whoniverse.

Doctor Who will return in November 2023 with three 60th anniversary specials starring David Tennant as the Fourteenth Doctor. In the following festive period, Ncuti Gatwa will star in his first full Doctor Who episode as the Fifteenth Doctor.

Doctor Who Magazine Issue 587 is available Thursday, 2 February from Panini and WH Smith. A DWM digital edition is available from PocketMags.