Doctor Who Season 14 Gets A Disappointing Episode Update
Russell T. Davies, showrunner the BBC series Doctor Who, has disappointing news about the upcoming season 14. Previous seasons of the revived series, which began airing in 2005, have consisted of 10-13 episodes. According to CBR, Davies has announced that season 14 will only feature eight episodes.
This is undoubtedly disappointing news for fans of the long-running series, but Davies wants to reassure fans that they have significant future plans that will excite the fandom. To soften the blow of the lower episode count, Davies revealed that they will bring back the Doctor Who Christmas specials in 2023 and 2024, at least one of which Davies will write. The 2023 episode will air shortly after the planned 60th Anniversary special set for November 2023.
This adds to the anticipation of this season, as viewers have almost a year to wait until the premiere. Davies makes his comeback as showrunner for the upcoming season after partaking in the Doctor Who revival in 2005.
Doctor Who Season 14, will once again see David Tennant as the lead hero after Jodie Whittaker’s portal of the Thirteenth Doctor. Tennant initially played the Tenth Doctor during Davies’ original run as showrunner. Ncuti Gatwa, well-known for his role in the Netflix original Sex Education, has already been announced as the Fifteenth Doctor and has secured a companion, Ruby Sunday, portrayed by Millie Gibson.
Both Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor and Sunday will be introduced in season 14.
The announcement that Doctor Who season 14 began filming on December 5, 2022, was revealed on the official Twitter account of the series. A behind-the-scenes photo featured the Doctor’s time-traveling TARDIS in the background, with the clapboard showing the date of filming. It also revealed that Dylan Holmes Williams, known for M. Night Shyamalan’s Apple TV+ series Servant, will be directing the first installment of this season.
The new season of Doctor Who will premiere on BBC and BBC America, with the three installments of the 60th Anniversary special, in November 2023. The cast for the anniversary specials will be Tennant, Gatwa, Catherine Tate, Bernard Cribbens, Jacqueline King, Karl Collins, Yasmin Finney, Mariam Margolyes, and Neil Patrick Harris.
According to IMDb, the synopsis for the 60th anniversary special describes the episode as the Doctor finding himself with an old face and something terribly wrong. Will Donna remember him? And why does he see the return of an old face?
Fans can also look forward to the Doctor Who spinoffs currently in pre-production. The spinoffs will feature several of the Doctor’s adversaries, including Cybermen, the Sontarans, the Sea Devils, the Weeping Angels, and the Daleks.
In a recent edition of Doctor Who Magazine, titled The 2023 Yearbook, Davies stated that if viewers thought the return of Tennant to the series was a shock, just wait, as there are plenty more surprises to come. He describes the path to the Fifteenth Doctor as full of mystery, horror, robots, puppets, danger, and fun!
