2023 is sort of over, however Physician Who followers have so much to look ahead to in these remaining weeks. Together with David Tennant returning for the sixtieth anniversary, we’ll formally meet Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Physician, who’s taking on the present following Tennant’s quick outing because the Fourteenth Physician. Whereas it stays to be seen if these two Docs will share any display time collectively, Gatwa has revealed that there’s an upcoming scene between his Physician and William Hartnell’s First Physician, and I’m so jazzed to see how they did it.
Hartnell was the primary actor to convey Physician Who’s title Time Lord to life, main this system from 1963 to 1966, after which briefly reprising the function for the tenth anniversary story “The Three Docs.” The actor handed away in 1975, however whereas being honored by GQ Journal on the Males of the 12 months ceremony (through Mirror), Gatwa shared that the late actor will in some way issue into an upcoming Fifteenth Physician story:
It has been a loopy yr. I shouldn’t say this however I shot a scene, in some way, with the first-ever Physician, William Hartnell. We find yourself in the identical scene collectively in some unspecified time in the future.
This gained’t be the primary time that William Hartnell has been utilized within the trendy Physician Who period. In 2013’s “The Identify of The Physician,” colorized and edited footage from one of many First Physician tales was manipulated to make it appear to be he was speaking to a Gallifreyan model of Jenna Coleman’s Clara Oswald, and later that very same yr, one other snippet of the character was briefly proven within the fiftieth anniversary particular “The Day of The Physician,” although the voice was offered by a distinct actor. Then in 2017’s “Twice Upon a Time,” footage of Hartnell bookended the episode that mainly noticed David Bradley enjoying The First Physician.
Given Bradley’s outing in each that episode and final yr’s “The Energy of The Physician,” in addition to having performed William Hartnell within the TV biopic An Journey in Area and Time, it’s fascinating that The First Physician is being introduced again to Physician Who by means of outdated footage of Hartnell fairly than bringing Bradley again once more. Extra importantly, the First Physician and Fifteenth Physician will in some way share a scene collectively, which needed to be fairly the feat of digital wizardry to tug off.
So now two questions come to thoughts. First, when will this pairing occur? Whereas one may assume the sixtieth anniversary is the very best guess for this given how huge an occasion it’s (David Tennant has set expectations sky excessive for the three-parter), Ncuti Gatwa particularly talked about capturing this scene as a part of his “loopy yr.” Physician Who Season 14 started capturing in the direction of the top of 2022 and wrapped in July, and Season 15 started final month, so it appears extra doubtless it’ll occur when Gatwa is lastly main the present?
Second, how will the Fifteenth Physician and First Physician come head to head? Physician team-ups are nothing new, however clearly it’s not possible to dedicate a complete episode to fifteen hanging out with 1, the latter of whom can solely seem by means of decades-old footage. For now, my cash’s us seeing a illustration of Hartnell’s character throughout the Fifteenth Physician’s thoughts, like how Jodie Whittaker’s Thirteenth Physician noticed variations of the First (performed by Bradley), Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eight Docs in “The Energy of The Physician.”
Whereas it stays to be seen when this crossover will occur, Physician Who followers can no less than look ahead to the start of Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Physician journey starting someday through the sixtieth anniversary, with these three episodes releasing on November 25, December 2 and December 9. Physician Who will proceed airing on BBC in the UK and Eire, however you’ll want a Disney+ subscription to observe new episodes going ahead when you reside elsewhere.
