Posted in: BBC, Doctor Who, Preview, Trailer, TV | Tagged: , , , , ,


Doctor Who Preview Image: David Tennant's Fourteenth Doctor In Action

With less than a month to go until the 60th anniversary event begins, David Tennant gets the spotlight in a new Doctor Who preview image.



Article Summary

  • David Tennant returns (but as the Fourteenth Doctor) for the Doctor Who 60th Anniversary special event, beginning with "The Star Beast" on November 25th.
  • The highly-anticipated event also marks the return of Catherine Tate as Donna Noble, with Neil Patrick Harris, Yasmin Finney, Jacqueline King, and Ncuti Gatwa also set to appear.
  • The anniversary episodes were penned by Showrunner Russell T. Davies, who is currently working on Series 15.
  • The three-episode event continues with "Wild Blue Yonder" on December 2nd, and wraps up with "The Giggle" on December 9th.

This past week brought the big news that fans had been waiting for. BBC, Disney+ & showrunner Russell T. Davies' three-episode Doctor Who 60th Anniversary special event – featuring the returns of David Tennant (Fourteenth Doctor) and Catherine Tate (Donna Noble) – will kick off the festivities with "The Star Beast" on November 25th, followed by "Wild Blue Yonder" on December 2nd and "The Giggle" on December 9th. Now, we can get back to over-analyzing all of the preview images that Davies continues to release. Like the one below, showing Tennant's Fourteenth trying to make sense of things – but that look on his face has us concerned. And then there's that glowing coil in the background – the one that looks very familiar to a post #WhoSpy image. Here's a look:

doctor who
Image: BBC

And then there was this…

doctor who
Image: BBC

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. And let's not forget that Jemma Redgrave will be returning as UNIT head Kate (Lethbridge-) Stewart. Now, here's a look at the episode posters released for the anniversary event:

doctor who
Image: BBC
Doctor Who 60th Anniversary Event Launches on November 25th: Details
Image: BBC
Doctor Who Preview Image: David Tennant's Fourteenth Doctor In Action
Image: BBC

Now, here's a look back at the official trailer for the upcoming three-episode special event – followed by a fresh look at the trailer from Disney+ that was released earlier in October:

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). Here's a look back to when that all became official:

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:

Doctor Who Preview Image: David Tennant's Fourteenth Doctor In Action
Image: BBC

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.'"


Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!

Ray FlookAbout Ray Flook

Serving as Television Editor since 2018, Ray began five years earlier as a contributing writer/photographer before being brought onto the core BC team in 2017.
twitterinstagram
Comments will load 20 seconds after page. Click here to load them now.