The BBC has annouced that children’s novelist Frank Cottrell Boyce is the final writer for the new series of Doctor Who.

As rumoured earlier this week, the writer for the 2012 Olympics opening ceremony has written Episode 10 of Series 8.

The episode will feature a cast of child actors including Harley Bird (voice of Peppa Pig), Abigail Eames (The Crimson Field), Ashley Foster (The Woman In Black) and Jaydon Harris-Wallace (CITV Text Santa).

Cottrell Boyce commented: “Of all the thrills that pen and paper have brought into my life, there’s nothing that quite compares to the buzz of unlimited possibility that rushes through your fingers and into your brain when you write the words: ‘Interior … TARDIS’.”

He revealed: “I was flabbergasted to be asked to write an episode – partly because I’ve been so absorbed in the last few series that I’d sort of forgotten that it wasn’t real.”

Showrunner Steven Moffat added: “Frank’s script is pure magic – and everything I could have hoped for from the genius behind the Olympics opening ceremony!! Doctor Who is born anew in the mind of a genius!”

The episode will be directed by Sheree Folkson (Casanova, Hit & Miss).

Cottrell Boyce has previously written 24 Hour Party People and Danny Boyle’s 2004 movie Millions. Most recently he co-wrote the script for The Railway Man, starring Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman.

Series 8 will begin on BBC One on Saturday 23 August with a feature-length premiere episode entitled ‘Deep Breath’.

> Here’s everything we know about Series 8 so far.

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