Posted in: BBC, Disney+, Doctor Who, Preview, streaming, TV | Tagged: bbc, doctor who, Millie Gibson, Ncuti Gatwa, russell t davies, Varada Sethu

Doctor Who: RTD Shares Seasons 1 & 2, Christmas Special Updates

Doctor Who showrunner Russell T. Davies offered an impressive episode-by-episode update on the upcoming two seasons & 2024 Christmas Special.

In case you hadn't heard the news, last week was a huge week for Doctor Who Magazine – having officially released its 600th issue. To celebrate the milestone, Showrunner Russell T. Davies offered a pretty impressive production update on how things are going with Ncuti Gatwa (Fifteenth Doctor) & Millie Gibson (Ruby Sunday)-starring Doctor Who. Though his special edition of "Letter from the Showrunner" was written at the beginning of the new year – meaning that things have progressed production-wise since then – RTD offers an excellent "jumping-off" for fans looking to get a better sense of just how far ahead the team is with the two seasons and Christmas Special – and some interesting clues to what's to come…

Here's a look at the production update that RTD had to share regarding the first season & Christmas Special 2024:

Season 1 Episode 1: "Almost ready. Kind of… 95% there. Still finessing FX shots, and it doesn't have a finished score yet (and Murray's score is so vital, you could argue this still stands at 0%)."

Season 1 Episode 2: "The Devil's Chord": "I'd say 75% there. (My percentages are reached by the invaluable scientific method of me sitting here, looking out at the rain over Swansea Bay, having a gulp of tea, and guessing.) All the FX have been blocked and approved, awaiting a full render, but no score yet."

Season 1 Episode 3: "90% complete. God, this is gorgeous. We saw the final FX just before Christmas – wow! – and it was an incredible session. Normally, we just stare beadily at the FX and say, move that forcefield a bit to the left, and can it be green, not blue? (Followed by a weary voice on Zoom saying, 'When you saw it last month, you asked for the forcefield to be more to the right and blue, not green.') But in this session, we just let it play. We hadn't watched it as a drama for a while. And my God, the emotion. The depth. The performances. Beautiful."

Season 1 Episode 4: RTD shares that the episode is complete and could "transmit" on BBC One right now, if needed.

Season 1 Episode 5: "99% there. Still fiddling with luminosity and opaqueness and things. This has taken so long, I think it might have more FX shots than… well, anything ever. And my opinion changes daily, but is this Murray's greatest score?"

Season 1 Episode 6: "About 80% complete, with no score yet. It has comparatively few FX shots, and as a result, it's ticked over while bigger-FX episodes have been worked on. But it already looks gorgeous without a single pixel being tweaked."

Season 1 Episodes 7 & 8: RTD notes this will be the two-part season finale – and that "these are big." At the time that he was writing his update, the two-parter was "about 60% there." As for that remaining 40%, RTD adds that he's seen some preliminary plans and that he's "so excited."

Christmas Special 2024: This year's Christmas Special completed filming and was nearng the end of edits before being locked and the FX work gets underway.

And here's a look at the production update that RTD had to share regarding the second season:

Season 2 Episode 1: "99% shot! One final scene – literally, Scene One, featuring none of the regular cast – will be shot within the next fortnight. The rest of the material is now entering the edit, so the picture should be locked by the end of the month."

Season 2 Episode 2: "The script is on Draft 4, but not a single speck of footage has been shot. Although some camera tests look… oh, wonderful! I'm particularly excited about this episode because it does things we could never have done in the old days. And there's a great guest star who's been in in 'Doctor Who' before, in a different role.

Season 2 Episode 3: At this point, only camera tests were in play as the script moved onto its third draft – was expected to begin filming with Episode 2 "in six days' time."

Season 2 Episode 4: Episode is filmed, with FX teams beginning some preliminary work – though editing may take some time.

Season 2 Episode 5: With the script now on its fifth draft, RTD adds: "We haven't had an official tone meeting for this yet, but there have already been various methodologies meetings, with the director already on board, working out how the hell we shoot this."

Season 2 Episode 6: Describing the process as "epic," the episode's script is onto its ninth draft, "for reasons that will fill many pages of DWM one day. But all worth it, what a story!"

Season 2 Episode 7 & 8: RTD will get back to us on those, with the two episodes clearly in their early stages at that point.

And here's a look back at the teaser trailer that was released on Christmas Day for Season 1, with Doctor Who set to return to BBC, BBC iPlayer & Disney+ screens in May 2024:

Doctor Who: Looking Ahead to Season 1 & Season 2

A big update on Christmas Day, with the official teaser & press release for Season 1 confirming Yasmin Finney returning as Rose Noble. Along with Jemma Redgrave (Kate Lethbridge-Stewart), Aneurin Barnard (Roger ap Gwilliam), and Jack Forsyth-Noble (Will), Doctor Who Magazine #589 also confirmed that Bhav Joshi (Wedding Season), Eilidh Loan (Traces), Pete MacHale (Gangs of London), Miles Yekinni (Slow Horses), and Hemi Yeroham (Mamma Mia!) have joined the cast for the new series. In addition, Jinkx Monsoon (RuPaul's Drag Race) was also confirmed to have joined the cast – followed by Jonathan Groff (Glee, Mindhunter) and Indira Varma (Obsession, Game of Thrones) – as The Duchess – in May 2023.

Bonnie Langford was confirmed to be returning as Melanie Bush in June 2023, along with Lenny Rush (Am I Being Unreasonable) as Morris. In early August 2023, we also learned that Gemma Arrowsmith (Gemma Arrowsmith Sketched Out) and Mary Malone (Vera, The Prince) had joined the Christmas Special – while Majid Mehdizadeh-Valoujerdy (Hollyoaks) and Billy Brayshaw (Still So Awkward) had joined the Series 14 cast. In November 2023, we also learned that Nicola Coughlan (Derry Girls, Bridgerton) was set to guest star in the 2024 Christmas Special. On the writing side, we learned late last month that Kate Herron (Loki, Sex Education) & Briony Redman (Pont Brec) had co-written the episode that Groff and Varma are starring in during the upcoming series.

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