We've known for a few days now that Doctor Who, with Ncuti Gatwa at the controls of the TARDIS as the Fifteenth Doctor, will be back on our screens on 11 May. To keep us all anticipating that fact, the show has dropped a brand new trailer for the new series. Have a look, but try to avoid stepping on any butterflies, won't you?
Yes, the new trailer certainly relishes the expanded scope and scale of the series thanks to the Disney+ partnership. The Doctor has always been known for whooshing around in space and time, but now the show can keep up in a visual sense with all the top quality concepts and chatter we expect from Doctor Who with Russell T. Davies at the helm.
And talking of concepts and chatter, the other latest news is that Steven Moffat – who worked alongside Davies on the first returning series in 2005 and then succeed him as showrunner, leading the series during the Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi eras – is back writing a new episode. Despite previously being firm on the idea that he'd not return.
“Yes, okay, fair enough – apologies to everyone I’ve very slightly misled – I am in fact writing an episode of the series of Doctor Who. Exactly like I said I never would," he says in trademark wry style. "What can I tell you? There was begging, there was pleading but finally Russell agreed to let me have another go — so long as I got out of his garden. Working with old friends and a brand new Doctor I couldn’t be happier. Sorry I was a bit reticent on the subject for so long. It was all part of an elaborate plan that would have delighted millions but at the last minute I forgot what it was." His episode will be directed by Julie-Anne Robinson.
The new release pattern for the show has naturally caused some consternation, especially given that the first two episodes of the new run featuring Gatwa and Millie Gibson's Ruby Sunday will land on the iPlayer at midnight on the 11th, ahead of their airing on that evening on BBC One.
Viewers outside Britain will see the show launch on Disney+ simultaneously (so, say, 7pm on the East Coast of the States and 4pm on the West Coast on May 10). One episode will follow weekly at the same time around the world.