The Next Doctor (TV story)

The Next Doctor is the announced title of the 2008 Doctor Who Christmas episode. It is the first of five special episodes planned for 2008-09 prior to the launch of Series 5 in 2010, and will mark the beginning of the final set of episodes to feature David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor, as well as producers Russell T. Davies and Julie Gardner.

Synopsis
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Plot
The Doctor arrives in 1851 on Christmas Eve. He has presumumbly recovered from the events of Journey's End. He hears a scream shouting his name. He excitedly runs to find Rosita, she still shouts for The Doctor and another man claiming to be a Time Lord arrives receiving his Sonic Screwdriver from Rosita, a Cybershade appears and the Doctor's point their Sonic Screwdrivers simultaneously saying "Allonsy!".

Cast

 * The Doctor - David Tennant
 * The Other Doctor - David Morrissey
 * Sarah Roche - Lara Goodison
 * Miss Hartigan - Dervla Kirwan
 * Rosita - Velile Tshabalala
 * Cybermen - Paul Kasey
 * Cybermen voices - Nicholas Briggs

Production crew
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Story notes

 * The episode was filmed during production of Series 4, the first time a Christmas special has been rolled into production of the preceding series. This allowed the Series 4 finale, Journey's End to include a trailer for the episode.
 * The Cybermen appear in the trailer, which included the onscreen caption Return of the Cybermen. That was confirmed as merely a tag-line rather than the title.
 * This episode introduces the Cybershades, which are believed to be mutated Cybermen.
 * Russell T Davies has guaranteed a twist ending so shocking that they might not show an early press screening, because they doubt that anyone will be able to keep it a secret.
 * For Children in Need 2008, two minutes of this episode have been broadcast for the first time. This showed the preview to the episode.
 * On the new trailer on the BBC's website it shows the 'Cybershades' who have a rusty cyber head and a yeti like body. It also shows that Miss Hartagan knows the Cybermen.
 * A cyber controller features in this episode as seen in the new trailer.

Ratings
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Rumours

 * The title of the story, The Next Doctor, was announced in late September 2008, and is expected to further fan the flames of speculation regarding the future of Tennant with the series. During his acceptence speech for "Best Drama Performance" at the National Television Awards on 29/10/08, he announced that he would not return for Series 5.
 * The Sun newspaper in the UK has reported David Morrissey will be playing The Doctor in this episode with David Tennant taking the companion role.The BBC's official Doctor Who website, has confirmed that David Morrissey is playing a character that calls himself The Doctor .
 * The announcement by David Tennant on 29 October 2008 that he would be leaving Doctor Who following production of the 2009 Christmas special is expected to renew speculation that the "Next Doctor" of this special could be a future incarnation, although Tennant's confirmation that he will appear in the four specials that follow suggests that a regeneration is unlikely to occur in this episode. In an interview with BBC Entertainment following his announcement, Tennant says the episode title "is more intriguing than before" but otherwise gives no indication whether it is to be taken literally.

Filming Locations
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Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors
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Continuity

 * This is the first time the Cybus Industries Cybermen have returned in the new series since DW: Doomsday, when the Cybermen were sucked into the void. It should be noted, however, that as yet it has not been confirmed that these are in fact going to be the Cybus Cybermen from Pete's World and not redesigned versions of the original Mondasian Cybermen.

DVD and Other releases
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