Spoiler Last time K'anpo pretended to be a Tibetan monk. No reason why he can't be pretending to be a WWI British officer this time.
Has to be The Brig's dad. K'anpo is way too obscure though Gatiss loves that era. If he got Moffat to bring back Alpha Centauri, I wouldn't rule it out but otherwise I'd say the father of the Brigadier.
Spoiler: At last guess... 1929 - The Brig is born 1965(?) - Kate is born 1968 - The Web of Fear (Brig meets Two) 1968-1972 - Lethbridge-Stewart novel series 1972 - The Invasion (four years later) 1973-1978 - The Third Doctor Era 1978-1980 - The Early Fourth Doctor Era 1981 - The Brig retires 1987 - Mawdryn Undead (six years later)* / The Five Doctors (Brig meets One/Five) 1995 - Downtime (fan film, but 1st appearance of Kate) 1998 - Battlefield (Brig meets Seven) 2000 - The Spectre of Lanyon Moor (BF audio, Brig meets Six) 2003 - Minuet in Hell (BF audio, Brig meets Eight) 2004 - Kate joins UNIT(?)** 2007 - The Warkeeper's Crown (DWM comic, Brig meets Ten) 2009 - Enemy of the Bane (SJA) 2010-2050's - Happy Endings / The Shadows of Avalon 'Second lease on life' (NA/EDA novels. Eventually returns to 2010 at right physical age.) 2011 - The Brig dies at age 82 * "There's nothing you can do about [Mawdryn Undead's dating]. It's just stuffed. You just pretend it's taking place in an alternate universe..." - Ben Aaronovitch ** Kate appears in 'Deimos Rising,' another fan film set in October 2003, and she's not yet with UNIT there. (After checking the DW wiki) It's more likely that Gatiss would be playing the Brigadier's grandfather, not his father. Books/comics have established that father (also named Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart) was in British Intelligence in WWI, and later encouraged/pressured his grandson to join the military. The father, Gordon, would still be a teenager at this point. Given that the Lincoln/Heisman estate has to give permission for anything involving the Brig, and they've cooked up a whole family tree for the Brig in their Lethbridge-Stewart novels, I'd assume they'd want to keep things consistent.
Exactly why does he have to be the Brigadier's father, or even related to him? Moustaches are very common among British Army officers. There's even a joke about it in one of the recent novels in the Lethbridge-Stewart series.
Yeah, I don't get the sudden obsession with seeing the Brigadier's father or grandfather. It's like saying The Doctor is going to meet an Aussie stewardess, therefore she must be Tegan's mother or granddaughter or whatever.
It depends greatly on where and when the Doctors end up. Is it actually World War I, or is it the planet of War from War Games? Because that had soldiers from World War I as well fighting on and on. The Second Doctor put and end to it, but the aftermath cost him his freedom and a regeneration. They haven't yet tied the 12th Doctor's appearance to saving Gallifrey from Day of the Doctor yet? Last chance I guess. Remember that Moffat likes to fill in gaps in the Doctor's timeline and likes for all regenerations to be covered (when possible). Might as well fill in the regeneration gap between the second and third Doctors while he has the chance. Maybe the Doctor remembers a face when the Time Lords force his regeneration, and its the face of this British officer/that stuffy fellow he ran into a few times before (Three Doctors and Five Doctors), queue regeneration sequence from Reece Shearsmith to Mark Gatiss to fill in the gap. Another gap....or fill in ....the Watcher. Fill in all the plot holes to give the 13th Doctor a smooth surface to enter this new life and move forward without having to backtrack in the Doctor's life.
It's because the announcement of his casting said he was playing a character that echoed through all of Dr Who... There aren't that many options left for that.
Ah, okay, I missed that detail. That makes a bit more sense. Still, I much prefer the idea of K'anpo e en if he's a far lesser known character.
You don't really get a family tradition of cabin crews the way you get family traditions of military service, though.
True but why make him look like that and put him on the poster if you're not going to make the Brigadier connection?
I should have asked him when I bumped into him a few weeks ago in Cardiff on a street corner! Dammit!
Yeah I shot down the he's the Brig rumour on social media, as if he was then by the time of The Web of Fear, Lethbridge-Stewart would be about 79! I assumed that it may have been an ancestor unless was part of The Wargames, but someone on twitter actually pointed out that Gattis in the uniform is almost a spitting image for JRR Tolkien! https://blogs.mhs.ox.ac.uk/innovatingincombat/jrr-tolkien-world-war-one-signals-officer/ Could just be a coincidence of course, as has been mentioned moustaches on World War One British Officers are almost part of the uniform.
You wouldn't have a 50-year old Captain in the trenches anyway, so his actual age means nothing (as is often the case on screen) - I suppose his playing Tolkien is possible, if the Doctor's going to give him some inspiration. Apparently there are new monsters, so if they're orcs or something...