Sounds like his agent just tweeted congratulations to a successful audition, so unlikely it's Who related. But well done for whatever role he got.
Are we sure that isn't a role in the Christmas special? He doesn't necessarily have to be playing Jamie were he returning to Doctor Who. Yeah, I know, even if he were playing a different character it seems unlikely Frazier Hines would have to audition for Doctor Who, unless it was done strictly as a formality. What? I think it would be great to have him on the show in any capacity, so I'm going to be optimistic.
Oh man, I would love that. That was one of my favourite DWM storylines anyway, and to see it with Capaldi...oh yeah.
Well, while they slightly did it with Sarah, having the Doctor meet an elderly version of his youthful companion would be a very nice story to tell (the closest we've got onscreen is Travers). Before Day of the Doctor turned out so good (and it happened int he comic strip, sort of), I was hoping to have old Ian meet young 11th Doctor, as a nice reversal of the original dynamic.
One of the biggest missed opportunities, IMO. I would actually have preferred that over Tom Baker's cameo. The cool thing is, Ian doesn't know about regeneration, so would have no reason to think or even suspect he was talking to the Doctor. At the end of their conversation, as the Doctor leaves, he could say something like "so long, Chesterfield" or whatever which would cause Ian to look in the Doctor's direction and see him entering the TARDIS, which would then take off. Could have been great
I've been hoping for precisely this since the show returned to see the very dynamic that diankra referred to. Even though I knew Tom Baker was going to appear (or rather knew he made the claim), I still hoped The Curator was going to be Ian. Huge miss opportunity, one that doesn't quite work as well with Peter Capaldi.
You're all absolutely right, it would have been awesome to see. However, hasn't NuWho established that because of their exposure to the Tardis, Ian and Barbara aren't aging? I vaguely remember hearing that somewhere.
I really feel they missed some really interesting opportunities with some of the past companions meeting the Doctor. Ian, as mentioned, should definitely have been a part of the 50th anniversary special - I don't care how, but he just should've been there. Criminal that he wasn't (almost). Same with Susan - not one flashback that could showcase her during the Time War? Again, 50th, have the War Doctor talk to her before setting up the Moment - then again, why couldn't the Moment itself be her? I dunno. And of course, the Brigadier. And/or Benton. Wouldn't the Sontaran two-parter in series 4 have been much better with the Brig in it, instead of the vacuum that is known as Martha Jones? Just imagine the good ol' Brig going around spouting "when will I ever fire bullets on aliens and won't have them bounce off them?" Hilarious, as well as emotional opportunities, gone forever.
That was hinted at in The Sarah Jane Adventures' "Death of the Doctor." Most of the new series' viewers are only familiar with the new series. And of the ones familiar with the older series, far more are familiar with Tom Baker than with William Russell or Carole Ann Ford. Old, low-budget, almost-live black-and-white TV is more the sort of thing for connoisseurs and completists than for average viewers. (Which I don't mean as a negative, since I'm one of the connoisseurs and completists myself.) So they could pay a certain amount of homage to the past, but it had to be in the context of a story directed mainly at the new series' audience and serving as a wrap-up of its own ongoing storylines.
Yes, that is mentioned in SJA, which I would be okay with ignoring if it meant a William Russell cameo. But even if you want to acknowledge it, there are ways to work around it, too. Indeed, due to scheduling conflict, Ian was replaced with the Brigadier. Of course, school headmaster seems an odd career choice for the Brigadier, but whatever.
Agreed. Another huge missed opportunity, up there with the Brig not appearing in DW proper. Although, William Russell isn't in the best of health. I met him at the 50th celebration and he was very cheerful, but you could tell he wasn't quite all there. I think he's almost 90! So, he may not have been up to appearing. Mr Awe
Yep. Also, Tom Baker's scene was only about two minutes, I'm sure William Russell could have managed that no problem.
At the very least, he could've appeared at the opening of the story, telling Clara that "her Doctor" called for her and such. Having that young bloke when you could've used one of the original actors from the first-ever story, and in a school setting no less... I just can't fathom it.
Getting a bit back on topic, I think it'd be interesting if Troughton's Dalek stories surface. Power is of course his debut, Evil looks like a fun story, and both stories in their own way anticipated some of the trends of the new series's Dalek episodes: -Power of course has the Daleks masquerading as servant robots, something they do again in Victory of the Daleks. -Evil features Daleks who have turned into good guys, something that seems to have happened in pretty much almost every New Series Dalek story-Dalek Sec in human form, Dalek Caan, "Metaltron", Oswin/Clara etc.)
It's gonna be a hard stretch given Power was only sold to three countries (Australia, New Zealand and Singapore) and Evil to four (Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Hong Kong), and the fates of the Australian and New Zealand prints are already known. We can only hope something was salvaged from the BBC when prints came back or they're sitting in a Singaporean vault somewhere. Spoiler: Series 8 Spoiler Into the Dalek, Ep802, does the same thing you mention for NuWho Dalek stories.
Sorry, little beind the times on the info, what did happen to the Australian prints? Were they video or film?