The 60th Specials – The Top 3 Things We’re Excited For

With the Doctor Who 60th Anniversary Specials starring David Tennant and Catherine Tate almost upon us, now is the perfect time to round up the gang and dive into the things we’re all most looking forward to. Here we go…

Jordan Shortman

The DoctorDonna

When the news broke that David Tennant and Catherine Tate were returning for some new adventures to celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of Doctor Who I must admit to being more excited that Catherine Tate was coming back! Tennant had already returned in The Day of the Doctor, but Tate was one of my favourite companions as Donna Noble. It wasn’t until I completed a recent re-watch of the entire modern era that I realized how much I loved the Tenth Doctor and Donna.

Gone was the nonsense with the companions fancying the Doctor and here was someone who was just the Doctor’s best friend, in a way I don’t think the term could be used since he travelled with Sarah Jane Smith. The Doctor and Donna truly were the best of friends and hearts, both fictional and real, were broken when Donna left at the end of Journey’s End.

It seems right that Russell T. Davies is bringing the pair back together again and not just Donna meeting another Doctor. She needs to be with a Doctor she will recognise, even if this is the Fourteenth and not the Tenth. I can’t wait for their chemistry to sparkle on the television again as we see the best of friends coming together again to save the universe at Saturday teatime.

Surprises and Returning Characters

Alongside the news of David Tennant and Catherine Tate coming back, we got some images of Neil Patrick Harris as a mysterious store owner. I don’t think it came as a surprise to anyone that he was playing The Celestial Toymaker but what a way to connect the modern era with the classic. It was a surprise to find though that they were adapting The Star Beast for a television audience, Davies’ previous era had a track record of adapting novels and audio adventures into onscreen adventures and given the Doctor’s recent comment in the Children In Need special, “The canon’s are in flux,” could this mean that Russell is trying to take things from more multi-media outlets, there is certainly enough material out there to adapt and characters to introduce on screen, and how good does Beep The Meep look?

Also kept as a surprise was the return of Bonnie Langford as Mel and UNIT. Not only are they both in the Sixtieth celebrations, (thanks to the Disney+ trailer), they are ongoing characters in Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor era! I can’t wait!

The Future

We could talk for hours about how excited we are about the upcoming specials but I’m also really excited for Ncuti Gatwa’s era to begin on Christmas Day with The Church on Ruby Road. And there is so much exciting stuff to come. What sort of Doctor will he be, what will Ruby Sunday be like? Will they work well together? What will the TARDIS look like?

So many questions and not long to wait now. And now paired with the BBC, Bad Wolf Studios and Disney, Doctor Who’s future is in safe hands!

Maria Kalotichou

No1

The first has to be meeting the 14th Doctor and knowing why that face is back. Is it similar to the 12th Doctor whose face was a reminder of Caecilius and to save people? He will have to save Donna again? David Tennant is obviously rocking the checked suit and blue coat look which gives him I think a more serious look. The flawed hero.

As David Tennant has a second bite at the role I’m curious to see the differences between the 10th and the 14th Doctor. It’s a tricky one because David Tennant was so popular originally that you want some familiarity but it’s a different man with an older face now. I’d like to see a harder edge although Russell T Davies says he is “slightly more human”. Does that mean he is more emotional? It would seem so from the trailer.

No2

It has to be seeing Donna Noble! There is something just so right about how David and Catherine spark together and the humour they bring together. I can’t wait to find out what has gone on in Donna’s life since we last saw her in 2010. When the 10th Doctor first met Donna Noble she was in a wedding dress and furious at being kidnapped. The 10th Doctor couldn’t quite charm her like other companions. Despite her rough edges which protected a woman down on herself and frustrated by her life Donna’s realism held the Doctor to account and perhaps the 14th Doctor needs her again.

The trailer shows that despite getting a lucky lottery ticket Donna is really sad. It’s always about character for me and I’m glad we are seeing the Nobles again. Sylvia and Wilf were on opposing sides sometimes but you felt the tightness of that family and Wilf with his enthusiasm is the kind of grandad I wish I’d had.

No3

I’ve tried to keep away from any spoilers but I’m guessing the specials are three separate stories and I’m excited to have fresh adventures with one of the best partnerships of modern Doctor Who as part of the 60th anniversary. Don’t the new UNIT headquarters look posh?

I really hope Kate Lethbridge Stewart gets a meaty story in the specials which she hasn’t had really since the Zygon adventure with the 12th Doctor. I’d love to also see her share a glass or two of scotch with the Doctor toasting to her father in between all the adventures.

Harry Marciniak

Is it here already? Life is funny like that, innit? Things seem so far away and then they just creep up on you! Here are the things I wanna see:

A Dynamic Portrayal of the 14th Doctor

The 14th Doctor is quite possibly the most unique of all time, looking exactly the same as a previous incarnation. And yet, he isn’t unique, because he looks like a previous incarnation! What a weird turn of events this is! Consequently, I feel that this performance and character have to be unique.

Obviously, everyone wants to see David Tennant back and it’s a treat that we get to see him play Doctor Who once again. But to make this great rather than simply ‘good’, I need some dynamism. I would like to see a portrayal from Tennant that is different from the one he curated before.

Different how? I’m not too picky. Obviously, there will be similarities because we are nostalgic for this version of the Doctor. But to take full advantage of this opportunity for an actor to play two incarnations of the Doctor, I really hope that this version of this, urm, version is clearly much older, wiser, more damaged yet more put-together than the younger version of this… version.

As long as it isn’t simply a Tenth Doctor clone, I will be a happy chappy.

More Doctors… please

Many of us are content with three specials that solely focus on the adventures of the 14th Doctor and Donna, with no other incarnations making an appearance. And yes, while these specials will probably still be good fun without other Doctors showing up, I reckon about half the people who say they wouldn’t be slightly disappointed if we didn’t at least get cameos are lying.

I don’t know about you, but I’m confident that other Doctors will show up. Matt Smith, Peter Capaldi and Jodie Whittaker have all denied knowing anything about these specials. But I can sense them doing an ‘Andrew Garfield’, nervously trying to conceal the fact that they have been on set and done a bit.
Wild Blue Yonder, an episode mainly in shot in the studio and shrouded in a lot of secrecy, seems like the best bet for some Doctor cameos. If we don’t see any other Doctor’s besides Tennant, I will be very surprised indeed. I’m so confident in fact, that if I’m wrong I will force myself to rewatch The Leisure Hive and review it for this website.

And dare I say it… I have a feeling we may even see Eccleston?

OK, maybe that’s pushing it.

A Happy Ending for Donna Noble

I cannot… I will not accept it! The death of Donna Noble… nope. Please let her have a happy life on Earth with her family, content that she has many wonderful memories with the Doctor to look back on finally.

Russell T Davies seems to have been teasing a lot on social media that we are in for some heartbreak. And the Doctor himself says in the trailer that he might not be able to save Donna this time.

I’m pretty sure this is misdirection and I really hope it is! It was wretched to see Donna lose her memories in 2008. So I hope that by the end of these specials, she gets to remember how she is one of the greatest humans in the entire universe!

Matt Steele

“I know these teeth” were the first words uttered as the Fourteenth Doctor exploded onto our screens, leaving myself and Whovians everywhere to pick up their jaws from the floor. It seemed an almighty wait to endure when the credits rolled before we would see David Tennant bounding out of the TARDIS once more. Only now to be writing this mere days before the first of the new 60th-anniversary specials air; timey wimey indeed!

Without further ado, here are my top 3 things I’m most excited to see in the upcoming specials:

Donna, and the Nobles

Few companions resonated with the audience as well as ‘the best temp in Chiswick’ herself. Catherine Tate’s portrayal as Donna Noble is nothing short of tremendous, her platonic relationship with the Tenth Doctor is what really shines. Instead of yearning for The Doctor, the pair travel the universe as best friends, which allows their fabulous chemistry and humour to blossom. I can’t wait to see how the dynamic duo will reconnect after all this time. What has Donna been up to in the fifteen years since their tragic parting? Will their friendship have changed because of that?

Another member of the Noble family I’m simply ecstatic to see back is Wilfred Mott. After watching The End of Time, I thought the pairing of Wilf and The Doctor worked so well, it was a shame they couldn’t have had a whole series together. I unfortunately never knew my own grandfather, so I always had such a strong connection with Wilf, played by the late, great Bernard Cribbins. To see him back in the upcoming specials for one last performance won’t just be great, it will be an honour.

UNIT

No alien invasion, Grand Serpent, HQ demolition or Brexit cuts are going to stop the Unified Intelligence Taskforce. As seen in the trailer for the upcoming trio of specials, Kate Lethbridge Stewart and the rest of the gang are back to full force having relocated to Avengers Tower, Ahem… I mean a totally different, undisclosed, top-secret facility.

What I would love to see is the return of Petronella Osgood. The chemistry Kate and Osgood share on screen and on audio is wonderful, so when UNIT returned in the later part of the Chibnall era without her, the whole organisation felt like a jigsaw with the last piece missing.

Secrets Revealed

Finally, I, as much as I’m sure you are dear reader, am dying to know the answers to a whole host of burning questions the trailer has given us. Why is this face back? How will Donna remember and survive? What is the Celestial Toymaker up to? Can The Doctor save Donna this time? What does the new TARDIS look like? When are Beep the Meep plushies coming out? And above all else, as Ncuti Gatwa enigmatically says: “What the hell is going on here?”

All these questions and more will, I’m sure be answered in the coming days. All I know is that with The Doctor and Donna back together, Russell T Davies behind the pen and an incredible cast and crew, we’re in for one hell of a treat!

Garry

A big thank you to Jordan, Maria, Harry and Matt for their thoughts and the things they’re most excited about. I think it’s safe to say we’re all feeling the good vibes with Doctor Who at this moment: new and returning characters, returning writers and producers, new and returning monsters, a very cinematic looking show, a new Doctor and another new Doctor, we’ve just celebrated the official 60th birthday and now… we look forward to the celebration that will act as a springboard into the new era of Doctor Who.

I won’t go into great depth with three specific things I’m excited about (for one there are more than three and secondly the team have nailed it with the big ones above) so I’ll just say this: if you’re a long time fan or a newcomer, enjoy this moment and savour how amazing Doctor Who can be when handled with love and care by people who love it as much as we do. I’m sure when the 70th anniversary celebrations roll around we’ll be going through this again but for now, this is special and I can’t wait to see how David Tennant is back as The Doctor, what’s going on with Donna and the Nobles, what surprises are in store for us and beyond that, a new Doctor.

Enjoy Who fans and now more than ever… Aaaaaaaaaaaaaallons-y!