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The Two or More Doctors

Tuesday, August 22nd 2007.

I'd been hoping for a 45th Anniversary story next year - ideally an extra episode in November rather than part of Season 4 or a replacement for the Christmas Special. Then came the recently leaked news from Sylvester McCoy at the Day With A Doctor event in Auckland, New Zealand on Saturday and Sunday.

According to McCoy, Peter Jackson revealed to him that Peter Davison is due to return for a multi-Doctor episode in Series 4.



The first thing to strike me was that Peter Jackson was the source of the news. He's a self-confessed Who-fan who's already been linked to a possible Doctor Who movie, and he's a particular fan of McCoy whom he had lined up for the part of Bilbo Baggins if Ian Holm hadn't come through.

'Coincidentally' the Sun have revealed it will be a two-Doctor story written by Stephen Moffat for this year's Children In Need on Friday, November 16th 2007. The fact that the Sun only reveals this after the McCoy leak suggests they're stringing a story together, but on past performances this would suggest a normal length episode (the most recent specials were the Little Britain specials, which stretched to about 45 minutes so they could be released on DVD).

All the same, I'm surprised that McCoy would be told about a multi-Doctor story by a third party. Of the 'classic' Doctors only he and Davison bear enough physical resemblance to their previous selves to appear without a more complex plot, so his omission would have led me to think Russell was plumping for a Two Doctors style reunion rather than a 'multi-Doctor story'.

Of course it is still an unconfirmed rumour, and if true could indeed just be Davison and Tennant. certainly having two Doctors is more manageable than a three or more Doctors story, especially within the confines of a single story.

This tallies with Character Options announcing they're releasing some old series figures and 'select monsters', so the possibility of a more-than-two Doctor story is pretty strong.


So if it is a multi-Doctor story, what other Doctor's will appear? McCoy appears to be a no-no, and unless he's audio-only Colin Baker's Doctor is unlikely to appear. Based on commitments McGann and Eccleston might be available.


Eccleston has finished filming as Dr Jekyll in Michael Almereyda's New Orleans, Mon Amour TV movie, but I'm not entirely sure how comfortable he and the production team would be if rumours around his departure are founded in truth.


McGann is certainly available. His next film, Naked in London was actually filmed in 2005, and he's completed filming 6 episodes of True Dare Kiss for the BBC.


On that basis I'm plumping for it being a three-header - Davison, McGann and Tennant - and i'm also thinking it will involve the return of the Master (or even a couple of Masters again!). I'm also wondering if it will turn out to be a two-parter. Two linked two-Doctor stories would certainly be a surprise from a TV point-of-view.


I'm firmly of the view that the McGann Doctor is the one in most need of an appearance, although that might require the Mill to do a simplied CGI variation on his TARDIS interior. Certainly a Davison interior would be pretty easy to do, if incongruous with modern design standards.


If its Davison, the other question is "is he alone?". I'd suspect so on the basis that none of the old Companions look as similar to their former selves as Davison does (with the possible exception of Mark Strickson). That said I can see an old companion being the reason for the two Doctors meeting, but I don't see it being a Davison companion. If Gary Russell has any influence then Leela or Romana are the likeliest, although that would require K9 yet again!


Not as impossible as you might think - production of the K9 series was delayed until this year, and if broadcast next year the story is likely to immediately precede its general release, which would be seen as complimentary publicity rather than a conflict of interests.


Of course, if the Children in Need story is true, then that doesn't count as a 45th Anniversary story, does it? November 2007 is only the 44th Anniversary, which leaves an opening for a second special next year....



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All text contained within Psychopomp and Circumstance is copyright © Adrian Middleton, 2007. All thoughts and opinions expressed within the confines of this thread are those of the author and do not, in any way, reflect the views or opinions of any other group or individual connected with the newapocrypha site.


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