{"id":24370,"date":"2022-10-23T22:00:49","date_gmt":"2022-10-23T20:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1725644"},"modified":"2022-10-23T22:33:45","modified_gmt":"2022-10-23T20:33:45","slug":"doctor-who-brings-back-classic-doctors-for-centenary-special","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/doctor-who-brings-back-classic-doctors-for-centenary-special\/","title":{"rendered":"Doctor Who brings back classic Doctors for centenary special"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Morgan Jeffery\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Sunday, 23 October 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Doctor Who\u2019s centenary special might have marked Jodie Whittaker\u2019s departure from the BBC sci-fi series<\/a>, but she wasn\u2019t the only Doctor to make an appearance.<\/p>\n

Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann all made surprise cameos in The Power of the Doctor<\/a>, alongside David Bradley (reprising the role of the First Doctor, as originally played by the late William Hartnell).<\/p>\n

The feature-length episode saw the Doctor (Whittaker) forced to regenerate by her nemesis the Master (Sacha Dhawan), who hijacked the process to take over the Doctor\u2019s body himself. However, our hero\u2019s consciousness survived, emerging into a desert landscape where she discovered a figure dressed in ornate robes\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, you\u2019re obviously one of the more determined of us,\u201d the First Doctor tells Thirteen. \u201cYou refuse to pass through \u2013 quite the strength of character, this incarnation.\u201d<\/p>\n

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David Bradley as the First Doctor.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

In turn, the figure takes on the form of Doctors no. six (Baker), five (Davison), eight (McGann) and seven (McCoy) as it\u2019s explained that these past incarnations still exist as \u201cvestiges of [the Doctor\u2019s] consciousness\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the place you pass through during the process of regeneration,\u201d the Fifth Doctor explains of the mysterious mindscape. \u201cGo past here, there\u2019s no way back.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why we\u2019re here,\u201d the Eighth Doctor adds. \u201cTo stop you moving any further through. You are not finished.\u201d<\/p>\n

(The Eighth Doctor is also the only incarnation to wear a familiar costume in this sequence, with his outfit resembling the one McGann sported when he last returned to the role, in 2013 mini-episode The Night of the Doctor. \u201cI don\u2019t do robes,\u201d he insists.)<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is why you manifested here \u2013 to remind me, there\u2019s always a way!\u201d says the Thirteenth Doctor, buoyed by the intervention of her past selves \u2013 the \u201cGuardians of the Edge\u201d \u2013 to find a route back to existence to thwart the Master\u2019s insidious plot.<\/p>

Speaking about the top-secret scene at a press screening for The Power of the Doctor, Jodie Whittaker said: \u201cThe scene for me where I get to meet other iterations was such an emotional day, such a wonderful day. And it was like being at the ultimate Comic-Con!\u201d<\/p>\n

Doctor Who<\/a> showrunner and the episode\u2019s writer Chris Chibnall added: \u201cTo see Colin back on the set of Doctor Who was an incredible thing. He called [Jodie] the boss. And to see Sophie [Aldred, who plays Ace] and Sylvester back on the set.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of the surviving actors to have played the Doctor in the series\u2019 original run, only Tom Baker (the Fourth Doctor) was absent from the special, while none of the show\u2019s leading men from 2005 onwards \u2013 Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant, Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi \u2013 were featured either.<\/p>\n

Explaining the reasoning behind which faces were featured, Chibnall said: \u201cI wanted it to be classic Doctors and, you know, there\u2019s not a huge amount of those.<\/p>\n

\u201cI also didn\u2019t want to tread on anything that might be happening in future, so those ones felt the right ones. To be honest, it was just a bit of an instinct. So those are the ones \u2013 we asked them and they said yes.\u201d<\/p>\n

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David Tennant and Peter Davison in 2007\u2019s Doctor Who mini-episode Time Crash.<\/span><\/figcaption> BBC<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

Besides the sequence set at the Edge of Existence, two of the classic Doctors \u2013 Davison and McCoy \u2013 also resurface later in the episode. This time wearing their classic costumes, they appear as manifestations of a TARDIS hologram for touching reunions with their respective companions, Tegan (Janet Fielding) and Ace (Sophie Aldred).<\/p>\n

The Power of the Doctor marks Peter Davison\u2019s first appearance in an official (and canonical) Doctor Who story since 2007\u2019s Time Crash, with McGann appearing for the first time in nine years and making only his third ever on-screen outing as the Eighth Doctor.<\/p>\n

McCoy last appeared in the 1996 Doctor Who TV movie, while Baker\u2019s absence has been the longest, with the actor last appearing in the television series as the Sixth Doctor in 1986, 36 years ago.<\/p>\n

Bradley, meanwhile, first played William Hartnell himself in the 2013 docu-drama An Adventure in Space and Time<\/a>, before going on to take on the mantle of the First Doctor in 2017 episode Twice Upon a Time<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now, what price a Guardians of the Edge spin-off from Big Finish?<\/p>\n

Read more about Doctor Who:<\/strong><\/p>\n