The Sun have been gossiping about next year's Doctor Who specials recently. If you believe this bastion of truth-telling, we can look forward to: the return of John Simm as The Master, Catherine Tate as Donna Noble and Paul McGann as The Eighth Doctor. To be frank, I'm bored by the never-ending procession of DW rumours inbetween seasons -- most of which turn out to be false (David Bowie as an alien! Ben Kingsley as Davros!) or just spoil the surprises.
My thoughts on these latest rumours, then:
John Simm. Again, so soon? Well, at least Russell T. Davies set-up a return for The Master that won't require a regeneration. I'm just not very excited about seeing Simm's anarchic, problem child take on The Master again. Incidentally, the big Who villains are being used too frequently. I can understand wanting to bring the Daleks back regularly, but The Master should be a rare treat.
Catherine Tate. If she does comes back, it'll be another instance of RTD ruining a perfect farewell for a character (as he did Rose, by dragging her back for season 4.) I just find miraculous returns from death, amnesia of parallel dimensions cheapens the series. Why should we care about life-threatening dangers if we're accustomed to people being brought back to life all the time? No, they should leave Donna alone.
Paul McGann. This is the only rumour I'm excited about, because it would be a treat for fans and hopefully provide a neat end to the Time War concept. The Sun says filming with McGann starts in October, with the actor reprising his role as The Doctor from the 1996 TVM, but with shorter hair. Fans have been desperate to see McGann's Doctor again (the one good element of the otherwise insipid American TVM), and we know RTD accepts his appearance as canon -- with McGann appearing as an illustration in season 3's "Human Nature". The Sun say McGann will be seen in flashbacks, but why not a full-on Two Doctors-style scenario? That would be genuine "special event" television.
