With the announcement of the first ever female Doctor with Jodie Whittaker in the lead role, we had our first big glimpse of what to expect from the future of the show. As we get closer and close to the 2018 air date for Doctor Who Series 11, the BBC has started to drip feed more information with new cast members being announced.
In addition to the big change at the helm of the TARDIS, the show’s own control is getting a change for Series 11 with Stephen Moffatt stepping down as the showrunner. His replacement is Chris Chibnell, who was the writer and co-producer of Torchwood. He also worked with Jodie Whittaker on Broadchurch, so he’s got experience with both the show and the new star.
Air date
The next series of Doctor Who will be arriving on BBC 1 in Autumn 2018, so there’s less than a year to go to see how it all comes together. It’ll be a ten week run of 50-minute episodes and with so much drama in Series 10 and so many changes to the show, there’s going to be a lot of interest, hype and teaser trailer to look forward to ahead of the air date. Episode one will be an hour long feature length show as it tries to establish all of the changes we know are coming to the storyline and cast.
Story
It’s all going to start for the 13th Doctor on the 25th December 2017 with the 2017 Christmas Special in which Peter Capaldi will be taking his bow and regenerating into the next incarnation. Guitars and Wayfarers are out and we’ll get a whole new style of Doctor to get to know.
With the departure of Bill at the end of the last series, there’s also going to be a new companion for The Doctor. The latest from the BBC is that there’s going to be a new creative direction from Chris Chibnell and with the three new regular cast members recently confirmed, it looks like it might be more than one companion this time around.
Cast
In addition to Jodie Whittaker as The Doctor, the three regular cast members confirmed for Doctor Who Series 11 are Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole and Mandip Gill. You’ll probably recognise Bradley Walsh from Coronation Street and ITV game shows like The Chase. However, both Tosin and Mandip are relative newcomers with both of their biggest roles to-date as a series regular in Hollyoaks.
Walsh will be playing a character called Graham, Tosin will play Ryan and Mandip will play Yasmin. There are no more details on the characters though, or how they’ll feature in the upcoming 11th series, but we’ll keep you updated as more information surfaces.
Sharon D Clarke (Holby City) will also be joining the cast in what the Beeb is describing as a returning character, so it’s going to be interesting to find out who she’s going to be.
Production
Chris Chibnell will be overseeing the creation of the new series, as well as being the head writer for the production. As ever, he’ll be joined by a host of writers for the the ten episodes, with Matt Strevens as the executive producer for BBC Studios.
First impressions
A new Doctor, new companion, new showrunner, new everything really, so it’s hard to see how it’s all going to come together to feel like a part of the legendary sci-fi show. However, change is at the hearts of Doctor Who and the BBC hasn’t let us down yet, so we’re keeping a good wedge of hope for Series 11.
We’re not too convinced by the addition of Bradley Walsh to the cast, but we’ll have to wait and see how he’s going to play it alongside the other newcomers. There’s a lot of change across the board, so the wise first impression is to sit on the fence and reserve judgement, which is what we’re doing for now. We’ll know more after the Christmas Special, and hopefully a trailer for the full series won’t be too far behind it.
