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| The Thirteenth Doctor |
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 This season is the eleventh to air following the show’s revival in 2005, and is the thirty-seventh season overall. It saw the introduction of Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor - the first female incarnation of The Doctor - it was also Chris Chibnall’s first season as the show’s Executive Producer and head writer.
This season contains 10 stories broadcast during 2018 and the Christmas special that was broadcast on the 1st January 2019. For the first time since the show’s revival all these stories contain single episodes.
Jodie Whittaker’s predecessor Peter Capaldi departed from his role as the Twelfth Doctor after the previous season, having played the role for three seasons. His final appearance was in the 2017 Christmas special, "Twice Upon a Time". Steven Moffat stated in February 2017 that Chris Chibnall tried to persuade the actor to continue into this season, but despite this, Peter Capaldi still decided to depart.
The search for the actor to portray the Thirteenth Doctor began early in 2017, after Chris Chibnall completed work on the third series of the ITV series Broadchurch, for which he is also the head writer and executive producer. It is reported that Chris Chibnall had the final say on the actor, although the decision also involved Charlotte Moore and Piers Wenger, the director of content and head of drama for the BBC respectively. Media reports and bookmakers speculated as to who would replace Peter Capaldi as the Thirteenth Doctor, with Ben Whishaw and Kris Marshall among the most popular predictions. However, on the 16th July 2017, it was announced after the 2017 Wimbledon Tennis Championships men's finals that Jodie Whittaker would portray the thirteenth incarnation of The Doctor.
The first story introduced a new set of companions - Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole, and Mandip Gill as Graham O'Brien, Ryan Sinclair and Yasmin Khan, respectively. The new companions were first revealed by the BBC on the 22nd October 2017.
Bradley Walsh is best-known for hosting game shows like The Chase and Wheel of Fortune. He is also familiar to fans of Coronation Street for playing the part of Danny Baldwin between 2004 and 2006. He started out as a professional footballer for Brentford FC and launched a music career notching up the biggest-selling debut album of 2016 by a British artist. This though is not Bradley Walsh’s first experience of the world of Doctor Who - He has stated that he has watched the show for 50 years and even briefly appeared as a villain in the 2008 The Sarah Jane Adventures story Day of The Clown. He has commented: ‘I remember watching William Hartnell as the first Doctor. Black and white made it very scary for a youngster like myself’.
Tosin Cole is no stranger to the world of sci-fi as he has already appeared in Star Wars: The Force Awakens with a speaking role as a member of Red Squadron. He joins the elite group of Warwick Davis, Dave Prowse and Felicity Jones who have starred in both Doctor Who and Star Wars. Tosin Cole has also had roles in the EastEnders spin-off E20 and Hollyoaks, so has already worked with Mandip Gill. ‘I'm grateful and excited to be a part of this journey with the team’, Tosin Cole said of his casting. ‘I'm looking forward to jumping in this Doctor Who universe’.
Mandip Gill, who has worked in film, theatre, radio and television, got her first major television role in 2012 when she was cast as Phoebe McQueen in Hollyoaks. She was in this soap for three years before her character was killed by an infamous murderer. She has also appeared in Doctors, Cuckoo, Casualty and in Kay Mellor's BBC drama Love, Lies and Records. Mandip Gill said she was ‘over the moon’ to join the ‘iconic’ Doctor Who, adding: ‘Certain roles seem unattainable and this is one of those, so much so I didn't believe it to be true for the first few weeks’.
Chris Chibnall, the show's new head writer, described the trio as ‘three of Britain's brightest talents’ and he added ‘The new Doctor is going to need new friends’. As this progressed The Doctor tried out various names for her three travelling companions before settling on 'Team TARDIS'.
In addition, Sharon D Clarke played the recurring role of Graham’s wife Grace. Sharon D Clarke appeared in several seasons of Holby City as well as shows such as The Bill, New Tricks and Death in Paradise.
It was announced in January 2016 that Season Thirty Six (New Series 10) would be Steven Moffat's final series as executive producer and head writer, after seven years as showrunner.
Including Chris Chibnall writers for this season were: Malorie Blackman, Vinay Patel, Pete McTighe, Joy Wilkinson and Ed Hime. All, except for Chris Chibnall are new to Doctor Who.
Chris Chibnall wrote six stories and co-wrote a seventh with Malorie Blackman.
Malorie Blackman is a former Children's Laureate and has written over 60 books for children and young adults.
Vinay Patel is a playwright and screenwriter from south-east London. His television debut Murdered by My Father, won the 2016 Royal Television Society Award for Best Single Drama and was nominated for three BAFTAs.
Pete McTighe is the originating writer of Wentworth, the female prison drama that has sold to over 150 countries, remade in several international territories and won dozens of AACTA (Australian BAFTAs). Logie and ASTRA awards including Most Outstanding Drama several years in a row. He has written over a hundred hours of television drama and has been nominated for five Writers Guild Awards.
Joy Wilkinson has been selected as a Screen International Star of Tomorrow. She has had two screenplays featured on the Brit List and at the time of being approached to write a story for the show she had several projects in development in the UK and US, Her television scripts include the critically acclaimed BBC five-part drama The Life and Adventures of Nick Nickleby.
Ed Hime's work on Series 4 and 5 of Channel 4's Skins earned him a nomination for a BAFTA Craft Breakthrough Talent in 2010. He has stated ‘Skins feels a long way from the Whoniverse, but I've always wanted to write for Doctor Who and I couldn't believe it when I got the call’.
Directors for this season were: Jamie Childs, Mark Tonderai, Sallie Aprahamian, Jennifer Perrott and Wayne Yip. All, except for Wayne Yip, are new to Doctor Who.
Jamie Childs directed four stories, having also directed the trailer which unveiled Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor. He was the Second Unit Director for 8 episodes of Poldark.
Mark Tonderai was born in London but raised in Zimbabwe. He worked for BBC Radio, even hosting his own series, The Mark Tonderai Show. He then turned to writing and directing for film and television.
Sallie Aprahamian has been directing television for over two decades. Her body of work includes many critically acclaimed shows including Extremely Dangerous, BAFTA-nominated The Sins, the RTS-nominated Real Men, the BAFTA-nominated The Lakes, the RTS-nominated Teachers and This Life. She was also the lead director on the second series of Lip Service.
Jennifer Perrott came over to the UK, from Australia, to film "The Tsuranga Conundrum" and "Kerblam!". She previously directed 6 episodes of Doctors and 5 episodes of the Australian Soap Home and Away.
Wayne Yip had previously worked on Doctor Who and Class during the Steven Moffat era. He was the first returning director, since Chris Chibnall took over as showrunner.
A lifelong fan of the programme Chris Chibnall has written for Doctor Who since the 2007 Tenth Doctor story "42", having previously been the lead writer for the spin-off series Torchwood. Chris Chibnall created and wrote all three seasons of Broadchurch, earning widespread critical acclaim. He has also been the executive producer of Born and Bred, Law & Order: UK and Camelot, in addition to Gracepoint, the American remake of the first season of Broadchurch.
Chris Chibnall was joined by two other executive producers: Matt Strevens' career as a producer has included The Bill, Skins, Misfits and Cucumber, as well as the 2013 Doctor Who docudrama An Adventure in Space and Time. Sam Hoyle was an associate producer on Broadchurch after previously working on that show as a script executive; he has also been an assistant producer on 3 Non-Blondes, a script executive on The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby and Jinx, and a story editor on Camelot.
Chris Chibnall talked about taking on the Doctor Who job, as he prepared to become the show's new executive producer, alongside Matt Strevens. Speaking to Mark Lawson, for the Royal Television Society's members magazine, Chris Chibnall admitted that he took a long time to decide to take the job ‘I finally said yes because I love the show to my bones I resisted it for a very long time, and the BBC really had to woo me. But in the end, I had ideas about what I wanted to do with it. When I went to them and said, 'This is what I would do', I actually expected them to say, 'Let's talk about that,' but they said, 'Great!'’.
Pre-production for this season began in late October 2017. After filming was expected to begin in late 2017 it officially began with the first story in November 2017. This season was shot using Cooke and Angénieux anamorphic lenses for the first time in the show's history, a creative decision made in order to make the show look more cinematic. Location filming in January 2018 took place in Cape Town, South Africa. This was for "The Ghost Monument" and "Rosa". Other international location filming for this season was carried out in the Province of Granada in Spain for "Demons of the Punjab".
Murray Gold announced in February 2018 that he would step down as the programme's composer, having served as the musical director since 2005, and that he would not be composing the music for this season. On the 26th June 2018 executive producer Chris Chibnall announced that the musical score, including a new version of the theme tune, for this season would be provided by Royal Birmingham Conservatoire alumnus Segun Akinola. As part of the BAFTA Breakthrough Brit programme in 2017, Segun Akinola had already been recognised as a rising star among composers. His work on television series such as Black and British; A Forgotten History attracted the attention Chris Chibnall, who has said 'We're over the moon Segun's agreed to join us. To provide the score for the next phase of the Doctor Who adventure. From our very first conversations, it was obvious Segun was a passionate, collaborative and delightful human being as well as a fantastic and bold composer We're looking forward to introducing the world to his exciting and emotional soundtracks for the Thirteenth Doctor'.
It was announced that Segun Akinola's music for this season would include a fresh take on the legendary theme tune. 'Doctor Who is woven into the fabric of British culture and recognised globally', he has said. 'I am absolutely thrilled to be given the privilege of working on such a beloved series and to bring my musical voice to it'.
Segun Akinola graduated from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire with first-class honours and the National Film and Television School with an MA in Composing for Film and Television. His previous work includes scoring Shola Amoo's 2016 films A Moving Image and Dear Mr Shakespeare. In 2017 he completed the scores for BBC Two/PBS' The Human Body: Secrets of Your Life Revealed and Expedition Volcano. Other credits include the original music for a number of BBC Panorama documentaries.
The new logo - the first major redesign since 2010 - was unveiled at the BBC Worldwide showcase on the 20th February 2018. This logo was designed by the creative agency Little Hawk, who also created a stylized insignia of the word ‘who’ enclosed in a circle with an intersecting line, typically used for social media accounts.
The BBC confirmed that this season would air in the autumn of 2018 and would consist of only ten episodes (as opposed to the twelve which had been the norm during Peter Capaldi's era, and the thirteen for Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant and Matt Smith). However, each episode would be around 50 minutes long (as opposed to the previous standard length of 45 minutes), with the exception of the opening story, "The Woman Who Fell to Earth", which was 63 minutes long and the final story, "Resolution", which was 60 minutes long.
Members of the regular cast made their first-ever panel appearance at the San Diego Comic-Con in July. The panel featured Jodie Whittaker, Tosin Cole and Mandip Gill along with Chris Chibnall and fellow executive producer Matt Strevens.
The first teaser for this season was released during the final of the 2018 FIFA World Cup on the 15th July 2018, almost exactly a year after the announcement of Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor. Jodie Whittaker, Mandip Gill, Tosin Cole, Chris Chibnall and Matt Strevens promoted the show with a panel at the San Diego Comic-Con on the 19th July 2018 where the first trailer was revealed.
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| Team TARDIS |
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The opening story, "The Woman Who Fell to Earth", saw the introduction of Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor - the first female incarnation of The Doctor - and introduced a new set of companions - Graham O'Brien, Ryan Sinclair and Yasmin Khan (played by Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole, and Mandip Gill respectively).
In this story when a strange woman falls from the sky life for Graham, Ryan and Yasmin will never be the same again as they become involved helping The Doctor defeat an alien creature and save the life of an innocent man. But this results in heartache when Graham’s wife Grace is killed.
In "The Ghost Monument", in an attempt to be reunited with her TARDIS, The Doctor and her three new companions find themselves stranded on an alien planet, infamously called Desolation, helping two space pilots, Angstrom and Epzo, who are the final two competitors in the last ever Rally of the Twelve Galaxies. The goal is to reach The Ghost Monument which Doctor discovers is the TARDIS - and so their only means of escape from this deadly planet.
The next story "Rosa" sees The Doctor, Graham, Ryan and Yasmin arriving in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955 where they find themselves making certain that history remains in place by ensuring that Rosa Parks will become a pivotal figure in the US civil rights movement, by thwarting the efforts of a time-travelling criminal from the future.
The TARDIS returns The Doctor and her three companions to modern day Sheffield in "Arachnids in the UK" where they encounter a ruthless tycoon, who is causing an environmental disaster, and some very large spiders...
Doctor Who has never been shy of introducing some cute looking, but deadly creatures. And so in "The Tsuranga Conundrum" The Doctor, Graham, Ryan and Yasmin band together with a group of strangers in a fight for survival when they find themselves aboard a hospital spaceship trying to prevent catastrophe when a Pting arrives on board and starts to cause havoc.
In "Demons of the Punjab" Yasmin persuades The Doctor to take her to India so that she can discover her grandmother's hidden history. The Doctor and her friends however, arrive in 1947 Punjab, as India is being torn apart and demons are haunting the land.
"Kerblam!" sees The Doctor and her three travelling companions investigating mysterious disappearances in a large warehouse, that belongs to the galaxy's largest retailer, Kerblam!, when a mysterious message arrives in a package addressed to The Doctor. But not all is at it seems with deadly robots roaming the huge warehouse and a management oblivious to a very disgruntled employee.
"The Witchfinders" sees The Doctor, Graham, Ryan and Yasmin arriving in 17th-century Lancashire where they become embroiled in a witch trial run by a local landowner. The Doctor takes control but her attempts to bring an end to the senseless killings are soon scuppered by King James I whose arrival only serves to intensify the witch hunts. But The Doctor soon becomes suspicious that there may be something even more dangerous at work. However, before she can discover the truth she finds herself being accused of being a witch.
In "It Takes You Away" the TARDIS arrives on the edge of a Norwegian fjord in the present day. There The Doctor, Graham, Ryan and Yasmin discover a boarded-up cabin and a blind girl named Hanne who has been deserted by her father and who is frightened of a monster that she believes is roaming the forest. It is not long before The Doctor discovers a portal to another dimension, some very dangerous creatures and a toad...
In the next story The Doctor and her three travelling companions get caught up in "The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos". Answering nine separate distress calls The TARDIS arrives on a desolate planet where they find the remains of a brutal battlefield. But they soon discover that the planet holds far more secrets. It is not long before The Doctor, along with her travelling companions, find themselves heading towards a deadly reckoning - and a huge dilemma for Graham who has a huge settle to score as when he encounters the creature that is responsible for the death of his wife.
As the New Year begins, a terrifying evil is stirring, from across the centuries of Earth’s history when, in the final story of this season "Resolution", The Doctor, Graham, Ryan and Yasmin return home. But there peaceful homecoming is shattered when they have to overcome another threat to planet Earth. The threat may just be one entity but this time The Doctor has to thwart the plans of a reconnaissance scout whose mission, if successful, could result in a full-scale invasion by the Daleks.
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