Posted in: BBC, Doctor Who, Preview, Trailer, TV | Tagged: bbc, chris chibnall, doctor who, russell t davies, steven moffat

Doctor Who 60th Musical Event Brings Together RTD, Moffat, Chibnall

The Three Showrunners Unite! Russell T. Davies shared an image with Steven Moffat & Chris Chibnall at Doctor Who @ 60: A Musical Celebration.

Last weekend brought the best looks yet at what the BBC, Disney+, and Showrunner Russell T. Davies have in store with their upcoming three-episode Doctor Who 60th anniversary special event. And that came in the form of an official trailer that lived up to the hype in every epic way possible, as David Tennant's Fourteenth Doctor & Catherine Tate's Donna Noble (and all of mankind) find themselves at the mercy of Neil Patrick Harris' Toymaker. But before November hits, there's a whole lot more celebrating to go on – and one of those events took place on Thursday night. Held at BBC Hoddinott Hall in Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff, Doctor Who @ 60: A Musical Celebration celebrated the musical history of the long-running series. Featuring the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the Alastair King-directed BBC Singers, and BBC Radiophonic Workshop's Mark Ayres, Peter Howell & Delia Derbyshire, the event honored works from Murray Gold, Segun Akinola, Dudley Simpson, Paddy Kingsland, Ron Grainer, and others. It also created a very cool moment that RTD captured & shared on Instagram.

With the caption, "The three showrunners!" RTD posted an image of himself with Steven Moffat and Chris Chibnall – and with it being the season of the show's 60th anniversary, it just feels right. Here's a look at the post from earlier…

With Special One: "The Star Beast," Special Two: "Wild Blue Yonder," and Special Three: "The Giggle" set to hit screens this November, here's a look at the official trailer for the 60th anniversary of Doctor Who:

Joining Tennant & Tate for the anniversary episodes are Neil Patrick Harris in the big bad role as The Toymaker and Yasmin Finney as Rose – the daughter of Donna Noble and Shaun Temple (Karl Collins), with Jacqueline King returning as Sylvia Noble. In addition, Ruth Madeley is set to appear as Shirley Anne Bingham, and Bernard Cribbins is set to posthumously appear, reprising his role as Wilfred Mott. Fans of the comics can expect to see Beep the Meep (voiced by Miriam Margolyes) and the Wrarth Warriors play a major part, and – as if all of that wasn't enough – Ncuti Gatwa is expected to debut as the Fifteenth Doctor. With all three episodes written by Davies, we learned the episode titles during this weekend's Eurovision 2023 broadcast: Special One: "The Star Beast" (directed by Rachel Talalay), Special Two: "Wild Blue Yonder" (directed by Tom Kingsley), and Special Three': "The Giggle" (directed by Chanya Button).

Button, Kingsley & Talalay on Doctor Who 60th Anniversary Episodes

Directors Button, Kingsley & Talalay shared their reactions to first reading Davies's scripts with Doctor Who Magazine. "Each special has a really different flavour. It feels like Russell [T. Davies] flexing his muscles and showing all the different things 'Doctor Who' can do," Kingsley shared – a sentiment shared by all three directors. Here's a look at some of the highlights:

Kingsley Discusses "Absolute Nightmare" Episode, Teases "Aliens" & "The Thing" Comparison: "I opened mine and just tore through it. Even as a reading experience, it was so exciting. But I kind of got to the end of it and thought, 'Well, I pity whoever has to direct that cos it's an absolute nightmare!' I was planning to email my agent the next day and say, "It's amazing, but… no way." But when I woke up the next morning, I was still thinking about it, and I started to figure out: 'Well, how could you actually do this?' Because a lot of my episode is quite weird. Even at the readthrough, Rachel, your episode went down so well, and I was really jealous of you getting to direct it. Because there are so many complicated stage directions in mine, the reaction in the room was a bit like, 'Um, sorry, what?' Which made me think it was going to be a disaster. But of course, when you come to film it, it's actually really cool. It's got a lot of similarities with two of my favourite films, 'Aliens' and 'The Thing.' It's a little bit of the DNA of those mixed in with 'Doctor Who.'"

Talalay Read All Three & Outlines Some Key Differences Between Them: "I read all three, and my first reaction was, 'Wow!' The first one is classic family 'Who.' It's bringing back that world that Russell left [in 2010] with David and Catherine. And then after that, it becomes much more expansive, with Russell really throwing his massive imagination at it while also being thoughtful about setting up the next series.

Talalay's Episode Allowed Director a Chance to Embrace "The Stuff That Scares You": "My episode features lots of people in lots of scenes. There's soldiers, there's battles, and I thought, 'I haven't always succeeded in doing the action stuff, with loads of extras, that well in the past. This is really scary for me.' So I was determined to do that part really, really well. It's all about embracing the stuff that scares you."

Button's Episode "Was Just the Most Expansive Thing" That the Director Has Ever Read: "It was just the most expansive thing I've ever read. Every page I turned, it was a different world and a different idea and a different sort of bonkers and inspiring adventure. It was just the ultimate luxury to read it and go, 'This is a writer at the very peak of his abilities, completely unbound and confident in what he's putting on the page.' Which, as a director, is really empowering. It's challenging, in the most positive way possible, for someone to go: 'Here's a big idea; let's see how you do it.'"

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