At the end of the Doctor Who season 10 finale, the Twelfth Doctor bumped into himself, as David Bradley’s First Doctor appeared out of the snow to interrupt his future self’s regeneration. The scene promised a very fan-pleasing Christmas special to come, which we know will feature the two Doctors teaming up, before Peter Capaldi bows out of the show for good.
It appears that the special will be even more of a love letter to the past than we realized, though, as some new comments from director Rachel Talalay suggest that whole scenes from a classic story will be recreated in the new episode. We know that the First Doctor we meet in this instalment will be at the end of his life, which means there will definitely be some crossover with 1966’s “The Tenth Planet,” which saw Doctor No. 1 regenerate into Doctor No. 2.
Speaking to the This Week in Time Travel podcast, Talalay talked about how she had to study the story to the point that she’s become an expert in it for her work on the Christmas special. This might not have been the easiest job, either, considering that half of the story is missing and only exists in the form of animation built around the surviving audio footage.
“I feel like I’m an expert in The Tenth Planet! I think I’ve watched Tenth Planet more than anybody. Sections of it I’ve watched over and over again for reasons that will become clearer over Christmas. And also different reconstructions and the animated reconstructions. So yeah – I’ve watched sections of it a LOT.”
We already got a glimpse of the recreated scenes in the Christmas special trailer. If you recall, it opened with footage of original actor William Hartnell before it morphed into the newly reconstructed scenes featuring David Bradley. Starring and written by two lifelong fans – Peter Capaldi and Steven Moffat – it’s no surprise that the special will take the opportunity to lovingly recreate the Doctor Who of yesteryear. Let’s just hope it results in another classic new outing for the beloved show.
