The anniversary plans of cult BBC1 sci-fi drama Doctor Who have been made that much clearer, after a recent announcement that the show will return to screens on BBC One this Easter.
The series is set to take on an eight-week run as of Saturday 30 March 2013, with the ’11th Doctor’ Matt Smith working alongside new companion ‘Clara’ (played by Jenna-Louise Coleman) in a batch of episodes penned by showrunner Steven Moffat, along with Neil Cross (Luther) and Mark Gatiss.
The episodes will, according to Moffatt, include a , a ‘base-under-siege’ story, a ’modern urban thriller’, an period drama described as ‘absolutely mental’, and a perhaps more anniversary-relevant ‘fanboy-pleasing finale’, while a further revealed concept is said to be fantasy author Neil Gaiman writing a new episode that features classic Doctor Who enemies ‘The Cybermen’.
In addition to the regular broadcast of Doctor Who this year, there will also be, as expected, a 50th anniversary special episode (presumably with a number of supporting documentary’s over the show’s legacy) airing in November to match the first episode’s airdate of 23 November 1963, and while official details have not yet been revealed, it is believed that it will guest star all 8 living actors who have played the lead, with ‘studio trickery’ set to be used to incorporate the remaining 3 (William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, and Jon Pertwee). However they are implemented into that storyline, it will probably be a more notable cameo than an appearance on a postage stamp or in a children’s book…
Mofatt previously stated of the scale of their plans to celebrate the world’s longest-running sci-fi series: “They are immense, they are considerable. [The episodes] will be full of tremendous surprises. But they wouldn’t be surprises if I accidentally said them now, would they? But I promise you, we’re going to take over television. Trust me.”
A trailer for the new half-season of Doctor Who can be seen below, but will the actual episodes live up to the hype of the ’50th anniversary’ tag?
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