Russell T Davies has hinted that the next series of Doctor Who will feature the Beatles.
In a Q&A about the show at BFI Southbank, Davies took to the stage alongside new Doctor Ncuti Gatwa and companion Millie Gibson to talk about the Christmas Special, The Church at Ruby Road, and the iconic sci-fi show's 60th anniversary.
He also teased what to expect from Doctor Who going forward – the beauty of the show, he said, was that nobody quite knew what the magic of the show was.
“I think every single production team for 60 years has been chasing after the answer to that… we see the next episode: completely different. And along after that is the Beatles," he hinted, "and that’s nuts!”
The Christmas special will see Gatwa assuming the role of the Doctor for the first time, after taking over the role from David Tennant in special episode The Giggle.
Speaking at the Q&A, Gatwa said that taking on the role of the Doctor was “so, so, so surreal.”
“We've seen that blue box and heard that [theme song] for so many years and then, after seeing the blue box…" he reflected, on his first time seeing the TARDIS, "to see my face is like, ‘What is going on?’” he added.
Despite the inherent weight of expectation that comes with playing the role (there have been 14 official doctors), Gatwa was adamant that he never felt the pressure to bring something new to the role.
“The role of the Doctor is everything anyway,” he said. “An explorer that has been around for a million years and so they have so many quirks and intricacies and rage and joy; they're just full of the whole kaleidoscope of emotions. To pick what I was going to bring out differently is a very hard question. I guess myself,” he added, to cheers from the audience. “I guess, my black and beautiful self!”
In the Q&A, Davies also talked about the process of writing the Doctor Who Christmas special – as well as how it linked to the later series coming out in spring.
“You always have to be aware that the new audience is coming in, so you kind of start from scratch and I personally think it should be as Christmassy as possible,” he said. “We have snow, we’ve got a church… this one’s about a fable, you know, the foundling on the church doorstep in the snow.
“That story then continues into the series: we come back to that church. There’s all sorts of bits. There were people in those scenes you don't know were there. There’s a lot more to come.”
