Jodie Whittaker might have thought she’d waved goodbye to Doctor Who when filming for her final episode – the show’s centenary special – wrapped last year.
But it turns out she had one more story to bring to life: a new 10-part audio drama based on the long-running sci-fi series.
Titled Doctor Who: Redacted, the new audio series will launch on BBC Sounds alongside new TV episode Legend of the Sea Devils on Sunday 17th April, and will star Whittaker alongside other Who veterans such as Jemma Redgrave, Ingrid Oliver and Anjli Mohindra as their characters Kate Stewart, Osgood and Rani Chandra.
According to the BBC, the plot will follow a group of friends called Cleo (Charlie Craggs), Abby (Lois Chimimba) and Shawna (Holly Quin-Ankrah), connected via their paranormal conspiracy podcast called ‘The Blue Box Files,’ which tracks the path of a mysterious ‘Blue Box’ that keeps appearing throughout history.
Talking about what it was like to revisit the Doctor after officially wrapping filming on her final Doctor Who episodes in 2021, Whittaker told the BBC: “It was absolutely brilliant, I loved meeting Charlie (Craggs) and Juno (Dawson), their energy is ace, the writing is brilliant.
“It was wonderful to be a part of and great for me to revisit the character, having not really done anything apart from ADR since October. I think for Doctor Who fans they’ll really love the adventure, it’s ace!”
ADR, if you were wondering, means Automated Dialogue Replacement — it’s a common practise during post-production on TV and film projects, where actors record or re-record lines to make the audio a better fit for the final edit.
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Speaking about whether non-Doctor Who fans will enjoy the podcast, she added: “Yeah definitely, I think that’s the joy of Doctor Who, with each world that we visit whether in a podcast, an escape room, the TV show, audio book or anything like that – it’s got enough for everyone in it.”
She continued: “It’s got enough for Whovians but it’s also got enough for people visiting it for the first time. It never loses that wonderful Doctor Who identity which makes it unique, but it also never excludes.”
Speaking about whether it was hard to portray the Doctor without the visuals or other characters around her, she said: “Absolutely not! No it was fine, I don’t know if it will ever leave me, like I immediately start speaking at a hundred miles an hour.
“I think she (Juno) wrote me really brilliantly, I’m used to Chris’ voice being across everything I’ve done as the Doctor, so it was really interesting to have someone else’s version of my Doctor and it felt completely natural.”
Read more about Doctor Who:
- Doctor Who’s Mandip Gill says Yaz’s final appearance will leave fans in tears
- Mandip Gill injured her hand fighting Sea Devils in Doctor Who’s Easter special
- Doctor Who releases new Sea Devils behind-the-scenes pictures
- New Doctor Who pictures tease sword fights and Sea Devils
- Mandip Gill teases Thasmin development in Doctor Who’s next special
Doctor Who: Redacted begins on BBC Sounds on Sunday 17th April. For more, check out our dedicated Sci-Fi page or our full TV Guide.
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