Russell T. Davies Returns to Doctor Who as New Showrunner

To be fair, if it were secret, you wouldn’t know it. The rumour is saying that it’s been dressed up as filming for Horrible Histories.

 

Has anyone considered that maybe the rumors are half true and Tennant is coming back, but Davison, Baker, and McCoy are doing a Five-ish Doctors 2?

 

And who expected Jenna to show up in Asylum of the Daleks?

Er, just because no effort appears to have been made means nothing. As with Jenna Coleman in Asylum, her bits were filmed separately and secretly. How can you possibly say with certainty that Davison or anyone else didn't have a few hours shooting on a closed set separately to the main filming? If they're in it, and I'm not remotely convinced, then likely we're talking a few minutes screen time, which would be incredibly easy to do secretly with a minimal crew.

indeed. It doesn't make a lot of sense, surely they'd be better placed for the 60th, and assuming it isn't just complete BS which is highly likely, maybe someone is getting their specials mixed up? Irrespective of the plausibility of their appearing, the logistics are eminently possible, hell anyone could cameo for all we know, William Russell, Janet Fielding, Sophie....anyone (who's still with us obviously)

 

Hell, with the rise of Zoom, etc, they could probably record their bits from their living rooms and have the TARDIS console room green-screened in behind them, for a not-reusing-old-footage version of the All Thirteen! bit in TDOTD...

 

TBH I'd be more interested in some of the Doctors showing up *in* Horrible Histories! That'd be a cool centenary gag for that show.

 

...the people who control the money decide whether the idea is marketable enough to approve it.

 

Which is 2/3 moot here because the commission is in and getting the green light is not a factor

 

Why would the production team decide to go all secretive with regards to appearances from the Bakers, Davison, and McCoy when they didn't bother trying to keep anything else about the filming of the Centenary Special hidden?

 

Which do you think sells more copies of the radio times down the road, and may attract back viewers who may have decided not to hang around? And where do you want that news coming from? The tabloids? Internet forums? Or a nice glossy cover next to the sweets?
We are not so post-print new-media that controlling when and how your big apologetic carrot comes out (if it exists) isn’t an important choice.

 

If only there was a recent example of a long-running franchise where the studio kept secret the return of previous actors who’d played the lead role, despite heavily promoting other aspects of the film…

 

You’re aware how spoilerphobic and secretive the Chibbs regime has been?

 

Indeed. I had no idea John Barrowman was going to return the first time. And no one knew about Jo Martin or The Fugitive Doctor going into that epiosde.

Going even further back, I'm trying to recall if John Hurt showing up as whoever was leaked before that cliffhanger.

 

They didn't bother to keep much of anything secret with regards to the filming of the Centenary Special (or Series 13, for that matter, but more on that in a second).

Everything we saw from the filming of the Centenary Special came either from Jodie and Mandip's official Instagram accounts, the official Doctor Who Instagram account, or third-party set tracker sites whose pictures were allowed to remain up unchallenged.

We also learned most of what we knew about Series 13 ahead of its airing because of the same sources, just with the additional source of John Bishop's official social media account(s).

Sony wasn't letting the actors involved in No Way Home frequently share specific pictures of the film shoot through their official social media accounts, or doing so themselves through the film's official social media accounts.

 

Curious how you keep saying they haven't bothered keeping anything secret about the Centenary Special. Have you already watched the episode? We don't know anything about the episode but you're acting like we already have a detailed synopsis, cast list, episode title, trailers, everything!

 

This is false:

* We know that Sacha Dewan's Master came back

* We know that Bradley Walsh came back

* We know that Jodie filmed her part of the regeneration

And the sources for these things, as I noted, were Jodie and Mandip's official social media accounts and the official Doctor Who Instagram account, along with third-party set tracker sites who were allowed to freely disseminate their set pictures.

 

That's barely anything.

Admittedly, I forgot about The Master returning, but the other two points were expected.

Either way, it's still not much all and there's plenty of room for surprises and unexpected developments.

 

Remember how John Simm's return was kept secret all through filming and only revealed in the trailers? The classic Cybermen were announced while they were being filmed because they couldn't keep them hidden while filming, but they kept the return of Simm's Master a surprise. At least, until BBC marketing decided to ruin it.

 

"They don't appear to have made any effort to keep anything secret" reminds me a little of this exchange in Sherlock Holmes: The Adventure of the Devil's Foot:

"I saw no-one!"

"That is what you may expect to see when I follow you."

 

This thread is too funny! We haven't seen them keeping anything secret. Therefore, there are no secrets!

 

I know it could be absolutely wrong, but the Wiki page for the 2022 Specials lists the "Early 2022" installment as....

Spoiler: Title

Legend of the Sea Devils