By Patrick Cremona

Published: Saturday, 02 April 2022 at 12:00 am

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The director of the upcoming Doctor Who Easter special Legend of the Sea Devils has teased that the episode will be Jodie Whittaker’s “last chance to have fun” on the sci-fi juggernaut.

Whittaker is stepping away from the TARDIS later this year after three seasons in the role, and this episode will be her penultimate outing ahead of a BBC centenary special, airing in late 2022.

That final instalment is likely to take on a more serious tone – including the Doctor’s regeneration – but if new quotes from Haolu Wang are anything to go by, Legend of the Sea Devils looks like a real rip-roaring ride.

“This is very much an adventure episode,” the director explained in an interview with Doctor Who Magazine. “Because Jodie is regenerating in the next episode, this is her last chance to have a bit of fun with the gang. But it’s done in a way that we maybe haven’t seen on Doctor Who before. It’s quite epic, but also very emotional.”

The episode will pit the Doctor and her companions – Mandip Gill’s Yaz and John Bishop’s Dan – against the titular monsters, who are making their first major appearance in the new Who era.

And it’s not just alien creatures they have to do battle with as they find themselves up against a fearsome pirate queen named Madame Ching (Crystal Yu) in 19th century China.

The official synopsis provided by the BBC describes the episode as a “swashbuckling special adventure” and continues: “Why has legendary pirate queen Madam Ching come searching for a lost treasure? What terrifying forces lurk beneath the oceans of the nineteenth century? And did Yaz really have to dress Dan up as a pirate?”

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