For the last week UK audiences have seen a very brief ‘interruption’ to their between-show BBC broadcasts as an image of Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor made a brief appearance, looking very worried indeed. Then, in the last few days all of the official Doctor Who social media accounts went dark, seemingly scrubbed from the interwebs. That was not a coincidence and, as most suspected this was a co-ordinated attention-grab ahead of an official announcement.
Saturday brought a longer tease and all the announcement of the the ‘umbrella’ title that will cover the six-episode run. FLUX will tell the story of Whittaker’s Doctor as she faces a host of aliens heading to Earth… which includes the Weeping Angels, Sontarans and the Ravagers (or possibly Ravages). What’s bringing them to our doorstep – so far we know very little. This will be the last full run for the Thirteenth Doctor, though Jodie will be featuring in three more specials which will take us through to her regenerating around a year from now. (This means an unveiling of the Fourteenth Doctor, even if an actor has been offered and accepted the role, could be as much as a year away from public knowledge unless the BBC are forced to reveal details by some sort of leak). The Doctor is joined by current companion Yaz (Mandip Gill) and the incoming John Bishop as ‘Dan’ and a recurring role for Game of Thrones’ actor Jacob Anderson as ‘Vinder’.
The teaser image, a profile picture of Whittaker’s Doctor with the iconic rainbow effect becoming unraveled has also been released. Once again, it matches the vivid hues that have been present throughout promotions of her run, but a palette that’s bizarrely at odds with the dark, inky title sequence of the same period. We also know that the show is officially returning on Sunday 31st October with the first episode of the run being shown on the BBC in the UK and BBC America on the same day.
