The BBC has revealed new images from the upcoming trilogy of specials commemorating Doctor Who’s 60th-anniversary. Among the stills (H/T The Radio Times for the story), are shots of David Tennant as the Tenth-turned-Fourteenth Doctor, alongside Catherine Tate, who reprises her role as Chiswick temp Donna Noble. “The show is just beginning…” the post below is captioned.
In another of the stills, Tennant’s Time Lord can be seen emerging from the doorway of the TARDIS. Beep the Meep, a cuddly-yet-deadly alien creature voiced by Miriam Margolyes, is pictured among a collection of inanimate, cuddly bedroom toys, while Neil Patrick Harris dances through a high street sieged by chaos, with a cane, top hat and tuxedo.
In a separate post on Doctor Who’s X (formerly Twitter) channel, a wood carving of a sad clown’s face fuelled ongoing speculation that the Celestial Toymaker would reappear for the 60th-anniversary. The clown face has been linked to a duo of clowns, Clara and Joey, featured in the 1966 serial The Celestial Toymaker.
The show is just beginning… ❤️❤️➕🔷 #DoctorWho pic.twitter.com/ATgdbne9q6
— Doctor Who (@bbcdoctorwho) September 15, 2023
Together, the two clowns were pawns used by the Toymaker in a game of Blind’s Man Bluff. “The Celestial Toymaker is coming…” wrote one Twitter user, @rafcorreia. Could this carving be connected to the Celestial Toymaker?
Earlier in the week, a still shared to Doctor Who’s social media featured sketches on a drawing board that one fan suggested could be television blueprints designed by inventor John Logie Baird. “Top right plan looks like his first mechanical TV and the circular diagram is a Nipkow disc.”
Intriguingly, a Reddit user, dopeyjenius, suggested that the Celestial Toymaker had created a ventriloquist dummy featured in a recent specials trailer (who they believe could be Stooky Bill – a real-life doll created by Baird). Coincidence?, time will tell.
Doctor Who can be streamed via the BBC iPlayer, with classic episodes on Britbox. What are you most excited to see from the future of the series? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
Plans are forming… 📜 #WhoSpy pic.twitter.com/9xzHbUEmyu
— Doctor Who (@bbcdoctorwho) September 12, 2023
