 This is the fourth Christmas special of the revived show. During its airing it had a viewing audience of 13.1 million viewers making it the second most watched programme of Christmas Day in 2008.
David Morrissey plays the titular Next Doctor – a man who believes himself to be a Time Lord - and Velile Tshabalala plays his companion Rosita. Executive Producer, Russell T Davies, on talking about both ‘Doctors’ working together, has described Rosita as ‘probably cleverer than the two of them put together’. It has been revealed that Russell T Davies chose the name Rosita for the Next Doctor's companion, because it contained elements of 'Rose' and 'Martha' – two of the real Doctor’s companions.
David Tennant and David Morrissey have previously worked together on the acclaimed BBC drama Blackpool. Interestingly at one point in this drama, David Tennant's character can be seen walking past the Doctor Who Exhibition in the town!
Dervla Kirwan plays Mercy Hartigan, who Russell T Davies has described, in this story's podcast commentary, as ‘dark a villain as you will ever have’.
The ten incarnations of The Doctor, to date, appear in this story through an infostamp projection. Apart from Peter Davison's newly filmed appearance as the Fifth Doctor in the special mini-story "Time Crash", "The Next Doctor" marks the first time footage of The Doctor prior to his Ninth incarnation, and any footage made prior to 2005, has been used within a story since Doctor Who was revived in 2005. The footage of the First Doctor (William Hartnell) is taken from "The Time Meddler"; the Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton) from "The Ice Warriors"; the Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee) from "Terror of the Autons"; the Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) from "City of Death"; the Fifth Doctor from "Arc of Infinity"; the Sixth Doctor (Colin Baker) from The Trial of a Time Lord story "The Mysterious Planet"; the Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) from "Time and The Rani"; the Eighth Doctor (Paul McGann) from the 1996 television movie "Doctor Who: The Movie"; the Ninth Doctor from "Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways"; and the Tenth Doctor from "Human Nature/The Family of Blood". Further footage of the Tenth Doctor appears from other stories including "Blink", "Tooth and Claw", "The Runaway Bride", "Voyage of the Damned" and "The Lazarus Experiment". Previously the ten Doctors were all illustrated in A Journal of Impossible Things, a book featured in "Human Nature/The Family of Blood", however only a few of these illustrations were actually shown on screen. Audio clips of Roger Delgado and Anthony Ainley, as The Master, were used in "Utopia".
This special sees the return of the Cybermen, (of the design of the parallel universe's Cybus Industries Cybermen), following their previous appearance in the two-part finale of Season Twenty Eight (New Series 2) 2006 story "Army of Ghosts/Doomsday".
This is the only Christmas Special so far in the show to be set in the past and Russell T Davies revealed to the Radio Times: ‘The Doctor finds himself staring at that inevitable day when his tenth incarnation must die…’.
Miss Hartigan is heard to use the expression 'Excellent', previously associated with the 1980's Cybermen.
This is the first Christmas Special for which a new song has not been written.
When trying to trigger Jackson's memories, The Doctor is heard to refer to 'not blinking', 'weeping angels' and 'Sally Sparrow', all of which featured in "Blink". The Doctor also refers obliquely to past companions, noting to Jackson Lake that they either leave him, meet someone else or forget about him. A red herring as to Jackson Lake's identity refers to a Time Lord's consciousness being contained in a pocket watch, in reference to the events of "Human Nature/The Family of Blood" and "Utopia"; however, the watch does contain the answer to Jackson Lake's identity when opened.
The Doctor mentions the events of "Army of Ghosts/Doomsday". Although the Doctor Who spin-off series, Torchwood, furthered that story in the episode "Cyberwoman". These Cybermen have survived the apparent destruction of the Void, using Dalek technology developed in the Void to pass through dimensions. It is also implied by The Doctor that the events of Season Thirty that allowed the Cybermen to escape the Void, as it also allowed Rose Tyler to return to her own universe.
The Cyberleader is seen to sport a brain-revealing helmet, similar to the converted John Lumic/Cybercontroller from "Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel". The helmet's face has been painted black, however, possibly a design nod to Kroton The Cyberman, who appeared in comics strips in Doctor Who Weekly and Doctor Who Monthly.
Interestingly Jackson Lake's ‘TARDIS’ features a bell in its basket. Could this be his version of the Cloister Bell – albeit a much smaller version - that announces danger in the real TARDIS?
Most of the location filming was carried out in the streets of Gloucester. This proved so popular that crowds of over 1,000 people gathered on some evenings hampering the shooting schedule. The main setting of Torchwood, their Torchwood Hub was also redesigned and used as the workshop for the children.
This story was filmed during production of Season Thirty (New Series 4), the first time a Christmas special has been rolled into production of the preceding season. This allowed the second story of the Season Thirty (New Series 4) finale, "The Stolen Earth/Journey's End" to include a trailer for this story.
The pre-credits sequence of the special were broadcast as a special preview during the 2008 Children in Need appeal in November 2008.
Unlike previous seasons the ending of this story does not include a trailer for the next story it does though contain, just before the end credits a caption stating that 'Doctor Who will return in PLANET OF THE DEAD'.
The end credits also include for the first time a ‘Cymru Wales’ logo.
Following on immediately after this story, on BBC3, was an untitled episode of Doctor Who Confidential presented by Anthony Head. This programme was released in full in The Complete Specials Box Set in January 2010.
Also shown, after this story on BBC3, was a short 10 minutes programme called "Christmas Moments". Presented by Anthony Head it contained excerpts and behind the scenes footage from previous Christmas, and Christmas related, editions of Confidential – including "The Unquiet Dead", "The Christmas Invasion", "The Runaway Bride", "Voyage of the Damned" and "The Next Doctor".
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The Firsts:
The first story of Season Thirty (New Series 4 Specials).
The first story, of the revised series, that The Doctor is without a companion.
The first appearance of a CyberKing - a giant Cyberman-shaped robot ship.
The first appearance of a Cybershade.
The first Christmas Special to be set in the past.
The first story, of the revised series, that includes footage of The Doctor prior to his Ninth incarnation, and any footage made prior to 2005.
The first Christmas Special for which a new song has not been written.
The first time a Christmas special has been recorded as part of the production schedule for the preceding series.
The first time the pre-credits sequence have been broadcast as a special preview.
The first time the ending of a story does not include a trailer for the next story.
The first Doctor Who story to include the ‘Cymru Wales’ logo in the end credits.
Catrin Lewis Defis' first involvement in the show as Associate Producer.
The first Doctor Who story to be directed by Andy Goddard.
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(Position = 107 out of 200)
(Position = 3 out of 10)
(Position = 149 out of 241)
