Latest news with #Gallifreyan
Spectator
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Spectator
Spectator Competition: Who's who?
For Competition 3405 you were invited to submit a scene in which Doctor Who has regenerated into someone very unexpected. Plenty of interesting transformations resulted, featuring among others Paddington Bear, Mary Berry and two Jacob Rees-Moggs, but the winners of the £25 vouchers are below. The Doctor, regenerating as a tall, meaty-faced man in jeans, a plaid shirt and his mid-sixties, soon got clumsily busy for comic effect with screwdrivers, sonic and otherwise, setting about the Tardis console and causing Fleetwood Mac to play at excessive volume before sending us zagzigging erratically across spacetime on a far from grand tour. 'What could possibly go wrong?' he bellowed, overemphasising every word in apparent exoneration of his haphazard driving skills. When finally we materialised, it was in a sodden wheat field near Chipping Norton and Daleks were massing. 'I've seen off South Oxfordshire Council,' The Doctor chuntered, 'so this lot should be an absolute doddle.' Utilising the element of surprise, The Doctor whipped off the top of each Dalek to reveal inside a startled, black-clad gay ballet dancer. They fled, The Doctor pursuing them for the damage they'd done to what turned out to be his durum wheat. Adrian Fry Jax watched helplessly from behind the containment field as The Doctor melted and reformed. She was astonished to see a middle-aged, portly, bald white man in a blue suit, with a mauve tie that overlapped his name tag on its lanyard. Only the letters 'Ric H' were visible. 'Help, Doctor, get me out!' she yelled. 'Alas, Jax, a writ of habeas corpus does not run on Chagos. Although some Time Lords hold that Gallifreyan law is 'grandfathered' from the colonial period, the better view is that, absent positive Xiblaxian law –' 'Then use the sonic screwdriver!' 'It's a Level 5 quantum-electric emitter, not lic-ensed here, I'm afraid.' 'But we have to stop the Xiblaxians invading Earth!' 'Their not being signatories to the Galactic Sentient Rights Treaty, whereas Earth is, makes that intricately tricky.' In desperation, Jax transformed herself into a co-elenterate and oozed through a gap in the field… Frank Upton The Tardis, looking strangely like a muddy Range Rover, came crashing Earthwards into an armour-strewn wheat field. Out stepped a man in red corduroy trousers and a chequered jacket. 'All right, then, Ange,' he said, 'where are we?' A flame-haired Deputy Time Lord in high-vis vest and golden training shoes read from her chart: 'Well, Doctor –' 'Hang about. Just call me Nige when the cameras aren't watching. I'm so thirsty after all that warp speed stuff. Got a fag, by the way?' 'Yiss, Nige, but they 'aven't been invented yet. We're in medieval France, right near't'end o't'Undred Years' War wi' England.' 'Right, so we've got three immediate ishoos for this latest series. One, how do I introduce tobacco to 15th-century Europe? Two, at least one episode must be called 'Daleks in Best Bitter Battle'. And three, why stop after only 100 years? This English/French stuff could run and run!' Nicholas Lee Regenerated, The Doctor proved a conservatively dressed, fogeyishly fastidious old Etonian whose preferred method of communication was the newspaper article. He immediately set about having the Tardis refurbished after the manner of a Georgian rectory, particularly concerned not to own a television, for all that he would be pursued across spacetime for a licence. Said Tardis, reliably unreliable, haphazardly materialised on alien worlds or at historical periods beset by extraterrestrial incursions unrecorded even in Macaulay. This new Doctor, rising above such nonsenses, tarried onlywhere anecdotes about Margaret Thatcher might be authenticated or country sports freely engaged in. If his forthright, witty arguments failed to convince the Daleks of the folly of authoritarianism, it can only have been that they did not number among his readers. His symposium in a disused quarry with Walter Bagehot and T.E. Utley on constitutional democracy will be published here, culminating in the traditional cliffhanger. Russell Clifton Their time had come at last. For millennia the Time Lords had thwarted the Daleks' universe-conquering ambitions. Now the Lords were tired and predictable, their clock was running down. This time they had failed to find their human stooge. Ha! The invincible Daleks would rumble forwards, exterminating everything in their path. Their Doctors had always been ridiculous figures – a hammy old man, a TV scarecrow, lots of boring white Englishmen. There was even a Scotch one. As for the woman and the black African! – woke Time Lords: what a joke! Things were hotting up on Planet Earth; the next encounter would be Armageddon for those feeble poseurs. The familiar screeching sound approached, the Daleks awaited their moment of triumph. The door opened and a giant lettuce appeared, screaming, 'I was right all along. We have ten years to save the West!' Basil Ransome-Davies The Tardis slowly stopped spinning, teeter–tottered for a moment, then fell on its side. The front door (now the roof) was pushed open and a portly middle–aged man awkwardly clambered out. He was wearing a dark blue suit and matching tie, charmingly paired with a bright yellow life-jacket. He ran his hands over himself, noting the bulging belly, balding pate and thick jowls. He looked horrified. 'No,' he gasped. 'Surely not. Can I really have regenerated as… Ed Davey?' At that moment a Dalek materialised, making vague robotic threats. Doctor Davey-Who fumbled in his jacket for his sonic screwdriver, dropped it, tripped over his trouser legs and fell in a pond where, bobbing gently, he felt grateful for his lifejacket. A passing canoeist tried to help. Doctor Davey-Who somehow upended the vessel and both men were now floundering. The Dalek, watching from the sidelines, said: 'Ex…traordinary. What an idiot.' Joseph Houlihan No. 3408: Some like it hot You are invited to submit a poem about heatwaves (16 lines maximum). Please email entries to competition@ by midday on 9 July.
Metro
07-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Doctor Who's finale infuriated fans – but the next series will fix everything
Doctor Who is in an odd place both in the fictional universe it inhabits and our mundane reality. Last we saw, the tenacious Time Lord Ncuti Gatwa was burning away to reveal the Doctor's new face, and it looked very familiar. For whatever reason, the Last of the Time Lords appeared to have taken on the form of his old companion Rose Tyler (Billie Piper). Needless to say, this sudden and unexpected transformation has left a lot of fans very curious – and in some cases downright furious – about what's next for the good doctor. Annoyingly, however, the BBC and Russell T Davies have remained tight-lipped on the situation and at the time of writing, there's been no word on the beloved sci-fi series' future or whether Disney is interested in helping finance another run. So what's a Gallifreyan superfan to do then? Well, here at Metro we've gathered our team of dedicated Doctor Who experts – Deputy TB Editor Tom Percival, TV Reporter Asyia Iftikhar, and Senior TV Reporter Rebecca Cooke – and cracked out the crystal ball to predict what's next for the show, both in terms of the story and the thorny world of TV production. Wake up to find news on your TV shows in your inbox every morning with Metro's TV Newsletter. Sign up to our newsletter and then select your show in the link we'll send you so we can get TV news tailored to you. Don't worry, though, most of us are predicting a happy ending for the Doctor. It might just be me, but it seems painfully obvious where Doctor Who is going next. Regardless of Disney's involvement, I think we're getting at least one more special, and I don't believe that Billie is playing a true incarnation of the Doctor. Instead, it seems far more plausible that she's the Bad Wolf entity borrowing the Doctor's body. Basically, in this imagined special, we'd learn that Rose's consciousness exists in the Time Vortex as Bad Wolf. When 15 poured his regeneration energy into the time vortex to bring back Poppy, part of that consciousness merged with the Doctor. Sadly, it's not a true regeneration, and this new 'Meta-Crisis Rose Doctor' has a limited time until the body finishes 'cooking' and the true 16th Doc emerges. In that time, though, she has all Rose's memories and all the Doctor's abilities, so she decides to track down her Doctor… aka David Tennant. Over the course of a special, we then get 'Rose Doctor' travelling through the Doctor's timeline, running into some familiar faces (old companions and some returning Doctors perhaps?) before one final tear-jerking run-in with the 10th Doctor giving closure on Davies' tenure and the revived Doctor Who series. Basically it's one big happy ending. What happens next depends on whether the BBC wants more Doctor Who or not. But either way, I think it'll end with the Rose Doctor regenerating into the true 16th Doctor. This will either lead to a third season or, if the BBC decides it's done with Who, the regeneration will be left open-ended for some future writer to pick up a decade or so from now. Whatever happens, though, I think it's time for some fresh blood, and that means two things. Drop Russell T Davies and leave the nostalgia for New Who behind. Change is part of the show's DNA, and the refusal to 'regenerate' has been holding the series back. Disney will pull out of the deal, and the show will fall back into the BBC's hands, returning with a 2026 festive special by which time they will have chosen the 16th Doctor proper. In the Christmas special, much like Susan's cameo was teased and never addressed again in season two, Billie Piper will make a fleeting appearance before the show quickly moves on. I believe she won't even last the full episode, and her cameo will be resolved perhaps even in the first 5 to 10 minutes, as the Doctor's regeneration goes wacky due to Rose's energy being in the Time Vortex after the Bad Wolf incident. Billie will then regenerate into thetrue16th Doctor, who will have their introductory adventure. The show will then return in 2027 for a full season three (ideally returning to, at least, the 10-episode structure provided for Jodie Whittaker's era) with a brand new companion. Belinda Chandra, Ruby Sunday, the 15th Doctor, and whoever Billie is portraying will be firmly left in the past – and, like you, I hope and assume there will be a new showrunner. It's fair to say the Billie Piper reveal has not gone down well. Most see it as the Whoniverse putting the brand on life support, where the memories of the good ol' heyday of the Russell reboot are intravenously administered to keep the dwindling fanbase hopeful that our ailing Tardis might pull through. So, if an idea like, say, bringing back a beloved companion and defying show logic by making her a Time Lord were to backfire, how best to style it out? This season gave fans a lot of things on their wishlist: big budget, stellar Doctor, lovable companion, some cracking episodes (Lux, The Well, etc). But still, it seemed the only fans tuning in were the meta superfans we met when the Doctor battled Mr Ring-a-Ding. Let's go out on a limb here and say that Disney won't back out. That Rose is the Sixteenth Doctor. (All the logical predictions have been taken.) In order to get fans back in and keep Disney sweet, we might have a big shake-up on our hands. Huge. Piper is so bonkers and out-there a person to appear in the regeneration, it could upset the time-space continuum enough to usher in the new normal: a Doctor-of-the-week format. More Trending Hear me out. Perhaps Piper is explained away with some timey-wimey nonsense, and perhaps it turns out the mechanics of Time Lord-dom are broken. He/she/they is regenerating every hour of television, to be precise. Which Doctor Who prediction do you think is right? So, for a one-off special season, playing the Doctor will be the new equivalent to hosting Saturday Night Live. Or going on Snack Wars. Or eating some chicken in whichever poultry promotional content you prefer. A rotating cast of 'Doctor Who's who'. The whiff of desperation is already in the air, so why not lean in? View More » Doctor Who is available to stream now on BBC iPlayer Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. MORE: Bake Off legend claims she's been dropped by the BBC after 10 years on TV MORE: Psychological thriller labelled a 'masterpiece' free to stream on BBC iPlayer MORE: TV fans have days to binge BBC's 'best crime drama' before return
Yahoo
12-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Are you a true Doctor Who fan? Prove it with our ultimate timey wimey quiz
With Doctor Who making a return to our screens, we have the ultimate timey wimey quiz to help you celebrate and prove you're a loyal fan of the hit sci-fi show. Ncuti Gatwa will be back in the TARDIS for more adventures in time and space in what will be his second full series. He will be joined by new companion Belinda Chandra, played by Varada Sethu, with Millie Gibson's Ruby Sunday also making a return. A number of guest stars are also featuring, including Rylan Clark, Alan Cumming and Rose Ayling-Ellis MBE. Lock in - all of time and space awaits! ✨ #DoctorWho returns April 12th on @BBCiPlayer in the UK and @DisneyPlus where available — Doctor Who (@bbcdoctorwho) March 24, 2025 Ahead of the new series, we have put together the ultimate wibbly wobbly timey wimey quiz. If you're fluent in Gallifreyan and know everything about the Time Lord inside out, it's time to prove your knowledge. Good luck! Geronimo! Allons-y! How'd you get on? Let us know in the comments. Still thirsty for more Doctor Who content? You can watch hundreds of episodes from the show all the way back from 1963. There are also spinoffs from the show in the form of Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures. Recommended reading: Everything to know about the new Doctor Who series from cast to guest stars How to watch all the Doctor Who episodes in order from 1963 to the present day Calling all Doctor Who fans - see the 12 most popular filming locations to visit The new series of Doctor Who begins on Saturday, April 12. It will be split into eight episodes, with a two-part finale. Series 15 will officially launch at 8am on BBC iPlayer and later the same day at 6.50pm on BBC One in the UK.
