Doctor Who revisited an old character in New Year’s Day special Eve of the Daleks, though not necessarily someone you would’ve expected to see again.
As the episode reached its climax, the Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) and her friends tricked the Daleks into detonating a stash of fireworks hidden underneath Elf Storage, destroying the building and the alien nasties with it.
With the time loop caused by the TARDIS having subsided, our heroes were able to escape the building and enjoy the resulting fireworks display.
A lone figure was also seen to be enjoying the fireworks from a distance, filming it on his phone. “Good display!” he remarks, before noticing there’s nobody else around. “Just for me, is it?”
Fans with long memories with have spotted that this bystander is none other than Karl Wright (played by Jonny Dixon), who previously appeared in Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor Who debut The Woman Who Fell to Earth.
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In that story, Karl was being hunted by Tzim-Sha (Samuel Oatley) and was accosted by the alien bounty hunter on a train in Sheffield and later at Skylark Building Services, where Karl worked as a crane operator.
In the years that followed, it seems Karl has relocated to Manchester, where Eve of the Daleks is set – who can blame him after what he experienced in Sheffield? (It’s possible that he was just visiting the city, but given that poor Karl appeared to be spending New Year’s Eve alone, we’re guessing he hadn’t travelled for a night out.)
Prior to his Doctor Who appearances, actor Dixon was best known for playing bully Matthew “Mooey” Humphries on Grange Hill from 2003 to 2007 and also portrayed Darryl Morton on Coronation Street between 2007 and 2009.
Read more about Doctor Who:
- Doctor Who: Eve of the Daleks’ time loops explained
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- Doctor Who: Eve of the Daleks addresses series 13 Flux plot holes
- The Sea Devils will return to Doctor Who in Spring 2022 special
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