It was originally announced that there would be eight episodes in the season, but it has now been announced that the main series will consist of just half a dozen episodes, each of which will form part of an ongoing storyline<\/a>.<\/p>\n In addition, a trilogy of specials will now air in 2022 \u2013 one more than had previously been planned, with the first airing on New Year\u2019s Day 2022 and a second following later in spring 2022.<\/p>\n The third feature-length special, in which the Thirteenth Doctor will regenerate, will then air in autumn 2022, forming part of the BBC\u2019s Centenary celebrations.<\/p>\n A BBC spokesperson said, \u201cWith a six-part Event Serial announced for the autumn, and two Specials already planned for 2022, BBC One has now asked for an additional final feature-length adventure for the Thirteenth Doctor, to form a trio of Specials for 2022.\u201d<\/p> The news was included as part of the announcement that Jodie Whittaker and showrunner Chris Chibnall are set to stand down from their roles<\/a> at the end of the season \u2013 meaning that they each have only nine adventures left before they depart the show and a new Doctor<\/a> inherits the TARDIS keys.<\/p>\n News that the upcoming series would have a serialised story rather than the usual standalone episodes was first announced last weekend at Doctor Who\u2019s Comic-Con@Home panel, with Chibnall explaining the ambitious plans.<\/p>\n \u201cThe big thing we\u2019re going to be doing this year is that it\u2019s all one story \u2013 so every episode is a chapter in a bigger story,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd so we\u2019ve changed the shape of the series for this year.\u201d<\/p>\n And Chibnall has said that finishing his and Jodie\u2019s time on the show with an additional Special \u201cis a lovely bonus\u201d adding, \u201cIt\u2019s great that the climax of the Thirteenth Doctor\u2019s story will be at the heart(s) of the BBC\u2019s centenary celebrations.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, BBC Director of Drama Piers Wenger added that, \u201cJodie\u2019s final adventure to mark the BBC\u2019s Centenary in 2022 is set to be a Doctor Who Special to remember.\u201d<\/p>\n The upcoming series will see Whittaker\u2019s Thirteenth Doctor once again team up with Mandip Gill as Yaz, and the pair will also be joined by new companion Dan Lewis.<\/p>\n Meanwhile Game of Thrones star Jacob Anderson will also have a recurring role as new character Vinder<\/a> across multiple episodes, while more casting announcements are still to be announced.<\/p>\n And Chibnall has teased that there will be \u201ca lot of cliffhangers \u201d during the series, including \u201ca couple of my favourite cliffhangers that we\u2019ve done.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s been so many surprises that I never saw coming,\u201d added new series star John Bishop. \u201cNot at all. So I think there\u2019s definitely some shocks.\u201d<\/p>\n Read more: <\/strong>BBC confirms announcement of \u201cthe new generation of Doctor Who\u201d is coming soon<\/a><\/p>\n A third special will air in autumn 2022 as part of the BBC\u2019s Centenary celebrations. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":2403,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/07\/doctor-who-series-13-will-be-six-episodes-long-with-trilogy-of-specials-in-2022.jpg",1800,1198,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/07\/doctor-who-series-13-will-be-six-episodes-long-with-trilogy-of-specials-in-2022-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/07\/doctor-who-series-13-will-be-six-episodes-long-with-trilogy-of-specials-in-2022-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/07\/doctor-who-series-13-will-be-six-episodes-long-with-trilogy-of-specials-in-2022-768x511.jpg",768,511,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/07\/doctor-who-series-13-will-be-six-episodes-long-with-trilogy-of-specials-in-2022-1024x682.jpg",800,533,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/07\/doctor-who-series-13-will-be-six-episodes-long-with-trilogy-of-specials-in-2022-1536x1022.jpg",1536,1022,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/07\/doctor-who-series-13-will-be-six-episodes-long-with-trilogy-of-specials-in-2022.jpg",1800,1198,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"A third special will air in autumn 2022 as part of the BBC\u2019s Centenary celebrations.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/2402"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\""Doctor\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2021\/07\/Confused-Jodie-Whittaker-12ad499.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"Confused\\"")
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