Russell T Davies shares Star Trek hint about Doctor Who title

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In his Letter From the Showrunner column in Doctor Who Magazine, Russell T Davies had this to say:

“…sometimes little surprises happen, way beyond anything we could predict. The other day, someone in Star Trek: Picard suddenly said one of our episode titles out loud! Okay, that’s hardly surprising in a show where someone’s always saying ‘This could be… The End of the Galaxy!’ But it was odder than that.”

Considering Davies wrote the column around the time Jinx Monsoon was announced as starring in Doctor Who Series 14 (April 3), I’m going to guess Davies was watching episode 8 of Star Trek: Picard. I’ve watched Surrender but don’t possess the knack of remembering dialogue verbatim. Being resourceful, I checked a website which publishes the transcripts of all the Star Trek: Picard episodes. My guess for the Doctor Who title is The Talking Door. I could easily be wrong in my guess. Davies invites fans to write in to Doctor Who Magazine with their own guesses.

Davies also mentioned some Doctor Who open-air, midday location filming “the other day” with the cast hanging off wires. These stunts weren’t witnessed by fans.

In another part of the magazine, it was confirmed that actresses Sophie Ablett and Millie Kent are joining the cast of Doctor Who Series 14. These actresses and the names of their characters were already discovered. Ablett is playing Valerie and Kent is playing Marti Bridges. The same person who discovered these cast members discovered that Tim Hudson is playing another Bridges in one of the 60th anniversary specials — Edward Lawn-Bridges.

In DWM’s Production Notes column, script Editor Scott Handcock revealed that the director of photography for Block Five is Chas Bain. According to Bain’s CV, the director of the fifth and final filming block of Series 14 is Jamie Donoughue. The final filming block contains the Series 14 finale. Donoughue confirmed this to Directors UK.

Doctor Who composer Murray Gold

Composer Murray Gold confirmed in his DWM interview that he is not only composing the music for the Doctor Who 60th anniversary specials but will also go on to compose for Doctor Who Series 14. Gold has finished composing music for Special One and Special Three. Series 14 contains scripts with “musical environments”. Block Four, the one Ben Chessell is currently directing, has “a lot of music in it”. Gold revealed that Episode Two is one of two episodes Chessell is filming.

Doctor Who will return in November 2023 with three 60th anniversary specials starring David Tennant as the Fourteenth Doctor and Catherine Tate as companion Donna Noble. In the following festive period, Ncuti Gatwa will star in his first full Doctor Who episode as the Fifteenth Doctor. Doctor Who Series 14 starring Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson will debut in 2024.

Doctor Who Magazine #590 cover

Doctor Who Magazine 590 is on sale Thursday 27 April from Panini and WH Smith. The magazine is also available as a digital edition from Pocketmags.