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Ah, the long, dark winter months between Christmas and Easter. In recent years, they’ve come to signal not only the wait for spring, but also the wait for new episodes of Doctor Who. We’re teased with a brand spanking new hour of Time Lord adventures on 25th December… and then told to wait several months for the next one. But, finally, the wait is nearly over. Last Saturday marked the four-week mark until the beginning of the new series, and with its approach have come all sorts of teasers, hints and tidbits of information.
On top of all the intriguing casting news (Lily Cole, Hugh Bonneville, David Walliams, James Corden, Michael Sheen and did I mention Hugh Bonneville?), ten days ago we were also treated to two mini episodes in honour of Comic Relief. ‘Time’ and ‘Space’ were essentially a less nostalgic, ramped up version of 2007’s Children in Need episode ‘Time Crash’; the emphasis was very much on the “comic” with these little slices of fun, but if they’re an indication of how life will be with a married couple on board the TARDIS, the answer would be, as you’d expect, rather smutty. What you really should do is check out the wonderful 1999 Comic Relief sketch ‘Doctor Who and the Curse of the Fatal Death’. Not remotely canon, but excellent fun, and the very first time Steven Moffat wrote for Doctor Who.
But the real news on Comic Relief night came with the revelation that Doctor Who would return at Easter in ‘The Impossible Astronaut’. Not long after, it was confirmed that this episode would be followed by ‘Day of the Moon’; this is the first time since Doctor Who returned in 2005 that a series has kicked off with a two-parter, although the last couple of openers have been longer than the usual 45 minutes. In fact, these episodes were filmed in America in one of the biggest location shoots the programme has attempted, and they also mark the return of the enigmatic River Song to the Doctor’s life. We’ve been promised that full identity will be revealed in series 6, although just when remains to be seen.
To really ramp up the excitement, though, the BBC released two videos last week. First was the most teasery teaser trailer I’ve ever seen; it gave away practically nothing that the title of the first episode hadn’t already let slip, and yet was a masterstroke in building anticipation. What really whet the appetite, however, was Friday’s prequel to the first episode; the American president assures a creepy girl who got his number from a ‘spaceman’ that there’s nothing untoward in his office; the camera moves to reveal a suited alien standing behind him. Sure, it basically revealed absolutely nothing, but the short scene was a classic example of Moffat scariness, and made me more eager than ever to see this first episode.
And all of this says nothing of the announcement that one of the series’ most anticipated episodes, written by legend Neil Gaiman, will be entitled ‘The Doctor’s Wife’. If that doesn’t get Whovians speculating wildly, nothing will.
We've had 'The Doctor's Daughter' and 'The Next Doctor' before, so I'm hoping there's more to 'The Daughter's Wife'. Otherwise Doctor Who will become one long double-date.
That prequel was terrifying but awesome! I can' wait for the series to start!
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