So So Gay
Jon B reports on the BBC’s announcement of a high-profile ‘iconic’ guest star for the new series of Doctor Who.
WARNING – ‘Spoilers!’ to quote River Song…
The BBC caused much excitement on Sunday 5 August by breaking the news of an ‘iconic’ star set to feature in series 7 of Doctor Who as part of the preparations to mark the 50th Anniversary of the cult science-fiction show in 2013.
The news was broken by the official Doctor Who twitter feed and led to immediate speculation on social networking sites. A number of possible contenders were mooted, from former Doctors through to previous stars and companions of the rebooted series. Tom Baker had recently mooted a willingness to return to the series for the 50th Anniversary, whereas Colin Baker had recently indicated than such an invitation was probably unlikely to come in his direction.
Of course, the term ‘iconic’ could mean anything and even wilder speculation threw forward the names of other distinguished actors such as Alan Rickman and Patrick Stewart, alongside some suggestions which we at So So Gay were confident were meant in jest (such as Her Majesty The Queen parachuting from the TARDIS).
As it transpired, those who interpreted the term ‘iconic’ in a wider sense had it correct and the BBC tweeted just after midnight to confirm that the guest star would be Richard E. Grant. Whilst this admittedly may not have the sort of excitement factor that would have greeted the announcement of a big guest star from the past, it is notable for the actor’s previous connections with the long running sci-fi TV show, as Grant has previously portrayed two non-canonical depictions of the Doctor. No details have, as yet, been revealed by the BBC concerning exactly how Grant will be deployed within the new series, with speculation centring on a role for him either in the Christmas special or in the 2013 block of the new series. Either way, it it will be intriguing to see how Stephen Moffat makes use of such a high-profile guest star.
Check back to So So Gay for more news as we get it.
http://youtu.be/qrEUBl2pacU
