No, it's almost certainly Joanna Page, wearing a ginger wig to play Elizabeth 1st, as seen in other set pap photos.
I just saw that image for the first time, elsewhere. I made a man-squee. Seriously, this pic is just so frakking awesome. Well, to me anyway.
Apparently it's Press Day on the shoot today, so you can expect lots of news stories over the weekend. Chris Evans has been talking to Tennant and the Special has been described as the "Band Aid" of Doctor Who, featuring appearances of people from throughout its 50 year history, so make of that what you will. Also, while La Piper still hasn't been spotted, her Stand-In (soon to be ex-Stand-In?) has posted photos of herself online in costume, wearing a Max Max-ish post-Apocalyptic Chic style outfit.
In an interview on the Jonathan Ross Show, Matt Smith said “The thing is with Who, you will understand it more when you have seen it, but ‘paintings’ – that is all I am saying.”, suggesting that paintings of some kind will feature prominently. As soon as I read what he said I guessed that said paintings may feature previous incarnations of the Doctor. So perhaps the "appearances" mentioned in the Evans interview will be in painting form.
^ I'm still hoping there's some sort of Dorian Gray aspect to those paintings - the paintings have aged while the Doctor stays young. This would allow the likes of Baker or Davison to play their roles as they currently look.
For what it's worth, John Hurt's character seems to be wearing the costume that Moffat originally intended for Matt Smith- or one very similar...
That leather jacket is generic enough, but it looks a lot like Eccleston's... Mind you, I'm thinking that elements of all previous Doctors' costumes will be sprinkled liberally around this show. We already saw scarf on that UNIT girl. Mark
Some people are seeing alternate, past, or future Doctors all over the place, while I think it's just what you're describing above. Mr Awe
I'm guessing she's probably an ex-double at this point... I wonder if she's actually going to be the Companion to John Hurt's Doctor rather than Tennant? It would explain why she hasn't been shooting with him.
You think they'd sack her over this picture? That would be so timey-wimey it would make the audience's noses bleed.
io9 has noticed the John Hurt rumor. This is probably my favorite sentence: I've watched fans on Gallifrey Base go into meltdown mode since the rumor surfaced, and there's a part of me that hopes the rumor is true just to see widescale nuclear destruction in fandom.
If it is true I'd expect him to be wiped from history at the end of the story putting everything back the way (we thought) it was. **** The most interesting part of the whole rumour to me has been the suggestion that he's filling the function in the story that Eccleston would have if had agreed to appear. Add that to Rose's post-Apocalyptic outfit and it does raise some interesting possibilities that may tie in with the suposed Series Finale synopsis that has appeared.
Would Moffat really follow one story with alternate timelines (assuming the "Name of the Doctor" rumors are true) with another story with alternate timelines? Is the man really that bereft of ideas? Oh, wait. It's Moffat we're talking about... I've seen that stated elsewhere, but it honestly feels like wishful thinking to me. That said, it could be true.