Space And Time
Celebrating 60 years of Doctor Who
On Saturday 17 December, the costumes for the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby Sunday were revealed on Doctor Who social media accounts. Fan art quickly followed, of course!
Ncuti Gatwa also took to Instagram to reveal some images from the costume trailer, including – if you squint as only fans can – a guide as to how his Gallifreyan nails would look…
On Christmas Eve the official Doctor Who social media accounts teased that something was coming on the following day, leading fans to speculate wildly (Who fans speculating? Never!) that it could be a mini episode or indeed a “Beyoncé” release of a Christmas special. It was, as many suspected, the first proper trailer for the three 60th anniversary specials.
The 60th anniversary trailer was viewed over one million times within 24 hours!
The cast was announced for the 60th anniversary specials. Alongside the previously revealed David Tennant (as the Fourteenth Doctor), Catherine Tate as Donna Noble and Neil Patrick Harris – previously described by showrunner Russell T Davies as “the greatest enemy the Doctor has ever faced,” – there are Jacqueline
King as Sylvia Noble,
Karl Collins as Shaun Temple and Ruth Madeley as Shirley Anne Bingham. Madeley will also appear as Hebe in a new Sixth Doctor Adventures box set from Big Finish in May. Fans also got their first glimpse of Yasmin Finney as Rose.
Some familiar faces to long-time readers of Doctor Who Weekly also appeared in the trailer, in the form of what looks like – though we have to stress it has not been officially confirmed! – Beep the Meep and Wrarth Warriors.
These characters first appeared in comic book story “The Star Beast”, which was published from 14 February to 3 April 1980. The story – which was originally rejected by the BBC before becoming a comic strip – has been reprinted several times over the years and was also adapted by Big Finish.