Final Preview: The Day of The Doctor

The Day of the Doctor

The Doctors embark on their greatest adventure in this 50th anniversary special.

In 2013, something terrible is awakening in London’s National Gallery; in 1562, a murderous plot is afoot in Elizabethan England; and somewhere in space an ancient battle reaches its devastating conclusion. All of reality is at stake as the Doctor’s own dangerous past comes back to haunt him.

Written by: Steven Moffat.

Director: Nick Hurran.

Filming: April 1, 2013 - May 5, 2013

Broadcast Date: November 23, 2013 at 7:50pm GMT

Length: 75 minutes.

Regular Cast: Matt Smith as The Doctor, Jenna Coleman as Clara Oswald.

Returning: David Tennant as The Doctor, Billie Piper as Rose Tyler, Jemma Redgrave as Kate Stewart.

Guest Cast: John Hurt as The Doctor, Joanna Page as Queen Elizabeth I, Ingrid Oliver as Osgood, Peter De Jersey as Captain, Ken Bones as The General, Orlando James as Lord Beeson, Marshall Griffin, Lisa Hammond, Jonjo O’Neill as McGillop, Philip Buck as Father, Ankur Sengupta as Arcadian Refugee.

Confirmed Details

Both the Daleks and Zygons will feature

Queen Elizabeth I will feature and has been seen in filming with David Tennant’s Doctor, possibly as a reference to the running gag from the RTD era of some kind of liaison between the two. Possible explanation on the the cards RE The ending of The Shakespeare Code.

The Zygons feature in both the Elizabethian section of the episode and the present day

“We’re delighted to confirm that the Zygons are returning to Doctor Who for the show’s 50th anniversary special. Aside from flashbacks these malevolent shape-shifters have only appeared once before, threatening Earth in the Fourth Doctor adventure, Terror of the Zygons. Despite the fact that their solitary outing was over thirty years ago they remain a popular old enemy and in the 2010 episode, The Pandorica Opens, they were amongst the massed aliens said to be gathering above Stonehenge. Later, in The Power of Three, we learnt that Zygons had one of their ships under the Savoy Hotel in 1890 and apparently replaced half the staff with imposters! But this time they really are back…” - BBC

Kate Stewart will return with UNIT

Scenes will take place at the London National Gallery and Matt Smith has suggested “paintings” are important as we’ve seen in one of the clips that has been released

Scenes of The Time War will feature

Bad Wolf will return in some form

Storyline

“We’ve got to set the Doctor off in a brand new direction. It’s chapter two of his life. Now something happens to him that changes the way he thinks and the way he will adventure from now on … This is where he finds his mission, he finds his destiny.” - Steven Moffat

“It’s a hugely important story to the Doctor. That was my mission statement. Very, very rarely in Doctor Who does a story matter to him very much at all. If you’re going to celebrateDoctor Who, you’re celebrating the Doctor – well, why not tell his story? What’s it like for him? What’s it like being him, what defines him, what defines what he is? How do you make that might moment in his life? What would be the Doctor’s most important day, what would be the show that would change him as a person for ever, alter the course of his life? That’s what’s big enough to do for the 50th, rather than just a parade of the greatest hits. …this is the adventure that he really remembers, and thinks, ‘That was the day everything changed.” - Steven Moffat

“There were some big, big explosions. The biggest explosions I’ve ever seen on Doctor Who when they were shooting the bits with the Daleks. And I suddenly got a feeling of what it might be like to be in a warzone! It was like being in a huge movie. There was rubble everywhere!” - Nick Briggs

“The 50th leaves the whole show going in a very different direction. It’s kind of a transformational episode for the show.” - Jenna Coleman

“It’s absolutely bloody brilliant! I think it’s an astonishing script. Steven Moffat is an outrageously good writer and as always with Doctor Who, it’s philosophical, it’s deep, it’s an adventure story and if you’re a kid, you’re going to be taken on an extraordinary ride. It raises all sorts of interesting questions for anyone who wants to go deeper with it. It’s funny and then on a sixpence it breaks your heart. It’s just wonderful!” - Jemma Redgrave

“I know that Steven has put in the groundwork already in an episode so that there can be more.” - Peter Davision on the regeneration limit

“Much as we’d love to tell you everything… I read the script and I clapped at the end. I think it’s hilarious, and I think it’s epic, and I think it’s vast, and I’m telling you nothing more! But you will not be disappointed” - Matt Smith

The Nature of the John Hurt Doctor

“Why not a mayfly Doctor, who exists for one show only? I’d often thought about that. Would it be weird in the run of the series to have the 45^th Doctor turn up and be played by Johnny Depp or someone? Would that be a cool thing to do? There was also the idea that if you could bring one classic Doctor back, you’d actually, impossibly, want it to be William Hartnell. You wouldn’t want any of the others. You’d want him to come and say ‘What in the name of God have I turned into?’ That’s the confrontation that you most want to see, to celebrate 50 years. Going round and round in circles on it I just thought ‘What about a Doctor that he never talks about?’ And what if it is a Doctor who’s done something terrible, who’s much deadlier and more serious, who represents that thing that is the undertow in both David and Matt. You know there’s a terrible old man inside them. Well, here he is, facing the children he becomes, as it were.” - Steven Moffat, SFX Magazine

“There was a gap between Paul McGann playing the Doctor and Christopher Eccleston, when we didn’t see a regeneration, and John Hurt will fit into that gap. He is a past Doctor, not a future Doctor.” - Howard Burden, Daily Telegraph

“Of course you have to remember that the Doctors are all one person, so I’m not outside of that … I was really impressed when I did it. Both the previous doctors – Matt Smith and David Tennant – boy, are they good at it. Whoa-wee! They are so quick … All that fake scientific nonsense. Terribly difficult to learn.” - John Hurt

Christopher Eccleston

“I had an initial contact with Chris and, in a very amiable and gentlemanly way, he didn’t feel that he could come back…” - Steven Moffat

No Classic Series Doctors to Return

“The absolute reality was we didn’t have all those Doctors about to come back through the door. There were limitations to who we could get back. They’re all brilliant, they’re all terrific, but time has passed. I think it would be beyond the dignity of all those very fine actors to want to force themselves back into a costume from 20 or 30 years ago. I was thinking more “What would be a grand old story for the Doctor? And what would speak to the generation who are watching it now, while still celebrating the fact that it’s been around for all that time?” Everyone wanted to see David again – that’s just a fact. And David and Matt together are glorious. That’s a joy.” - Steven Moffat, SFX magazine

“What we’re not doing is the traditional massive reunion. It’s a different kind of anniversary, and the spine of that is David and Matt.” - Steven Moffat

And Finally

“I’ve lied my arse off for months – you know nothing, so don’t make presumptions” - Steven Moffat

Images

Clips, Interviews and Trailers will follow later today