“It was just the most expansive thing I’ve ever read.”

By Louise Griffin

Published: Thursday, 30 March 2023 at 12:00 am


Excitement for the Doctor Who 60th anniversary specials is amping up, with the three directors now revealing new details about the highly-anticipated episodes.

As Russell T Davies returns to the show, it seems he’s on top form, with directors Chanya Button, Tom Kingsley and Rachel Talalay updating fans on the different “flavours” of each special.

Kingsley told Doctor Who Magazine: “A lot of my episode is quite weird,” adding that he worried 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,” he went on.

Talalay added that the first episode is reminiscent of “classic family Who” before the specials get more “expansive”.

Meanwhile, she teased that her special is action-packed, revealing: “My episode features lots of people in lots of scenes. There’s soldiers, there’s battles.”

Summing up the scripts, Button reflected: “It was just the most expansive thing I’ve ever read.”

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Doctor Who legends David Tennant (the Tenth and the Fourteenth Doctors) and Catherine Tate (Donna Noble) are returning for the epic new specials, which are set to air in November.

They’ll be joined by new cast members including Neil Patrick Harris, whose character is being kept under wraps (although there are plenty of theories) and Yasmin Finney, who’s playing a character named Rose, widely speculated to be Donna’s daughter.

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Doctor Who magazine.
Panini

Davies previously teased of the specials: “They’re back! And it looks impossible – first, we announce a new Doctor, and then an old Doctor, along with the wonderful Donna, what on earth is happening?

“Maybe this is a missing story. Or a parallel world. Or a dream, or a trick, or a flashback. The only thing I can confirm is that it’s going to be spectacular, as two of our greatest stars reunite for the battle of a lifetime.”