After all this time, Doctor Who Series 12 is approaching, a fact underlined by the recent “hostage video” of the de-aged Stephen Fry and Sir Lenny Henry CBE against a white sheet backdrop last week, and now emphasised with an exciting new trailer.
Once again starring Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor, her companions, Yasmin Khan (Mandip Gill), Graham O’Brien (Bradley Walsh), and Tosin Cole (Ryan Sinclair), we’ve been given quite a nice taste of what’s to come. It’s particularly welcome on November 23rd, celebrating Doctor Who’s 56th anniversary. (It becomes increasingly difficult to celebrate these things when the show is off air. I for one am wearing an 8-bit style Doctor Who t-shirt featuring the first 11 incarnations.)
With the aforementioned guest stars in tow, the trailer features Judoon, Racnoss-like scorpions, TARDIS-invaders, a Dalek-esque headset for Graham, not to mention Cybermen as the Doctor portentously declares “something is coming for me”.
For history-aware fans, however, most attention at this stage is of the guest stars, and from the trailer it seems Fry and Henry might be in the same episode. Both they, and Glenister, have prior history with the show, either directly or indirectly.
Doctor Who Series 12 Guest Stars Have Form
Robert Glenister is a well-known British character actor, perhaps best known for his lead role in Hustle. For Doctor Who fans, however, he is forever associated with Salateen (and his android duplicate), deputy to Chellak, in 1984’s The Caves of Androzani, the serial that saw the departure of Peter Davison from the show.
Back in 2004, Stephen Fry was famously listed among the writers set to contribute to revived show as writer. Apparently postponed for a year, before never being heard of again, various stories have circulated as to the true fate of that tale. Fry also appeared in the BBCi drama Death Comes to Time in 2003 as the Minister of Chance, a character later revived by Radio Static in the eponymous audio series, where the character is played by Big Finish stalwart Julian Wadham.
Says Fry: “Short of being picked for a British space exploration programme and I readily concede that I’m past the age where I’d be considered (if I was ever the right age for such a posting) – then being in an episode of Doctor Who will certainly do as a very sweet second-place excitement.”
Henry’s connection with Doctor Who goes back further, however. We’ll let him explain. “It was absolutely brilliant to be welcomed into the fantastical world of Doctor Who. The nearest I have been to the TARDIS was when I played the Caribbean Doctor in the Lenny Henry Show , so as a life-long (hiding behind the sofa type) Doctor Who fan this is a very special moment for me.”
Doctor Who Series 12 lands in early 2020 – some reckon there’s an episode on January 1st, but we’ll just have to be patient. For a more in-depth look at it, check this Doctor Who Series 12 trailer review on the Doctor Who Companion.