DOCTOR WHO
DOCTOR WHO’S FESTIVE SPECIAL PROMISES TEARS AND TINPOT FEARS…
Whittaker and co tell us everything they can’t tell us about this year’s special.
With Doctor Who, major show changes and cosy consistency often go hand in hand. Shot – in a stroke of good luck – prelockdown, the show’s latest festive special looks set to be no exception. Although the existence alone of ‘Revolution Of The Daleks’ right now sounds a note of reassuring familiarity, it doesn’t shy away from a series shake-up or two.
In 2019’s New Year’s Day Who special, ‘Resolution’, Jodie Whittaker’s Doc made a prescient promise to a stroppy scrapyard Dalek: “Earth is protected by me and my mates, this year and every other.” Two years on, ‘Revolution’ sticks to her forward-thinking word, with one characteristic wrinkle: picking up from Series 12’s climax earlier in 2020, we find the Doctor imprisoned off-world by space-rhino police bruisers the Judoon. As she struggles in isolation, her co-travellers (or “fam”) Yaz (Mandip Gill), Ryan (Tosin Cole) and Graham (Bradley Walsh) are struggling to adjust to a Doctor-less life on Earth when a Dalek makes its narky presence known. But how do you fight Daleks without a Doctor?
One answer is, with a reassuringly familiar face. After his cameo in 2020’s ‘Fugitive Of The Judoon’, John Barrowman’s saucy cosmic cheesecake Captain Jack Harkness returns for the special, bringing with him insights into travelling with the Doctor that reach back to Series 1 classic ‘The Empty Child’ in 2005. As showrunner and writer Chris Chibnall says of Jack, “He’s funny, he’s dynamic, he’s a wonderful part of
Doctor Who history. I knew we’d need a character who might help the family in the Doctor’s absence. He has a particular perspective on the Doctor and being with her and without her, or him. He brings a lot of things to the table. And he has a great coat!”
SKARO TACTICS
Praising the “different level of energy” Barrowman brought to the set, Gill also reports that “he shared his coat, so that was lovely of him”. As a character, Jack shares more still with Gill’s Yaz, who finds herself emotionally stricken by the Doctor’s absence from her life. “He also has his own relationships with being with the Doctor and losing the Doctor,” says Gill, “so Yaz and him really click with each other. It almost feels like he’s the one person who will really understand what it’s like to lose her.”
Though Chibnall and Whittaker (“I’m not saying anything”) play coy on whether or not Jack meets the 13th Doctor on-screen, the Cap certainly reacquaints himself with some other old associates. While the family struggle to tackle the Daleks, Jack has experience to draw on. “He definitely gets involved,”
says Chibnall. “He has some past history with the Daleks, seeing as they killed him – small detail in his life.”
For many reasons (long story), Jack became effectively immortal after his death by Dalek in 2005’s ‘The Parting Of The Ways’. Similarly, Skaro’s metallic despots always find ways to survive, despite seemingly terminal encounters with genocidal temps, explosive microwave ovens or otherwise. They may undergo the odd design tweak – expect a makeover in ‘Revolution’ - but death is never the end.
Name-checking voice actor Nicholas Briggs and original designer Raymond Cusick, Chibnall attributes that immortal appeal to “performance plus design.” For Whittaker, a Dalek encounter is a rite of passage for any Doctor that also hits the right note of discomforting familiarity for viewers. “I think what’s brilliant is it requires no previous knowledge of the Who universe.
A Tardis is a part of people’s vocabulary whether they’ve seen the show or not, and it’s the same with the Dalek… Also, it is interesting how scary they are. Because it’s like, they’re not very fast. But they’re really creepy.”
FAM DRAMATICS
Whatever kicks off between fam and Dalek, it has at least one major impact, reveals Whittaker: “As the Doctor, I will say that the fam as a four is no more.” Confirming long-standing rumours, ‘Revolution’ will be the last stand for Graham and his step-grandson Ryan, after two seasons of travels with the Doc.
While Whittaker declares herself “devastated” about the departures of her two Tardis pals – “I’ve not cried like that for such a long time” - Chibnall promises she won’t be alone: “We’ll all be in tears watching it. It’s a really important part of the special, where you get lots of thrills, lots of spills, lots of humour, lots of Daleks and lots of emotion. It’s hard, but we don’t shy away from what it means for this family to have its final moments together. It was emotional off screen and it’s emotional on screen.”
And will the door be left open for their return? “You’ll have to see, won’t you?” says Chibnall, grinning as he re-powers the spoiler guard. Even with Revolution in the air, it’s good to know some things don’t change. Kevin Harley
‘REVOLUTION OF THE DALEKS’ WILL SCREEN ON BBC ONE AND IPLAYER OVER THE FESTIVE SEASON.
‘IT WAS EMOTIONAL OFF SCREEN AND IT’S EMOTIONAL ON SCREEN’
JODIE WHITTAKER