Eleven Time Lords to feature in 50th anniversary Doctor Who episode
Doctor Who is set to celebrate the sci-fi show’s 50th anniversary with a one-off adventure featuring all ELEVEN actors to have played the Time Lord since his arrival in 1963.
Show boss Steven Moffat is close to completing a script which will see the current Doctor, Matt Smith, needing the assistance of ALL his police box predecessors – even if three of them have died.
The half-century special, to be broadcast in November, will use studio trickery to resurrect the first three Doctors – William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee – in brief flashback scenes.
Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann have all signed up to record an anniversary audio adventure, and are keen to appear in the historic TV show, too.
Christopher Eccleston is said to be reconsidering an earlier decision not to take part, and David Tennant – a friend of Moffat – has hinted that he has been invited to reprise his role.
The final key to the special was Eccleston, who had previously said that he had no plans to return to the role but recently conceded he believed he “still had more to do with the character”. But companions such as Birmingham’s Arthur Darvill (Rory), Karen Gillan (Amy Pond), Billie Piper (Rose Tyler) and Freema Agyeman (Martha Jones) have all indicated that they are not involved.
There may, however, be a role for Alex Kingston, who plays the Doctor’s wife and who may be responsible for bringing all the previous incarnations together – against the Time Lord’s wishes.
Both Matt Smith and David Tennant are tight-lipped about the adventure.
“We’re as much in the dark as the majority of other people,” says Smith. “I haven’t seen the script so I have no idea what is happening. One thing’s for sure, we’ll make it the biggest in the show’s history.”
Tennant, interviewed on a radio show, claimed that he had yet to be invited – but gave the presenter a knowing wink.
It will not be the first time that previous Doctors have been gathered together. The 10th anniversary in 1973 was celebrated by The Three Doctors, starring Pertwee and Troughton, with film of Hartnell on a computer screen.
The 20th anniversary was marked by The Five Doctors, with Davison, Troughton and Pertwee joined by Hartnell lookalike Richard Hurndall, with film footage of Tom Baker, who had declined to take part.
The 30th anniversary – after the series had been axed – was celebrated with a bizarre charity crossover, which found McCoy, Pertwee, Tom Baker, Davison and Colin Baker in an episode of EastEnders.
The show was not on air when the 40th anniversary rolled round but an audiotape adventure starred McGann, Colin Baker, McCoy and Davison with additional archive recordings of Pertwee.
Fiftieth anniversary writer Moffatt says: “You can’t please everybody but you don’t want anybody to feel let down by a big anniversary episode.”
The 50th birthday will also be marked by a drama documentary about the character and the early years of the show.”
The Surgery
1. William Hartnell (1963-1966)
2. Patrick Troughton (1966-1969)
3. Jon Pertwee (1970-1974)
4. Tom Baker (1974-1981)
5. Peter Davison (1981-1984)
6. Colin Baker (1984-1986)
7. Sylvester McCoy (1987-1989 & 1996)
8. Paul McGann (1996)
9. Christopher Eccleston (2005)
10. David Tennant (2005-2010)
11. Matt Smith (2010-present)
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