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.

Synopsis
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Cast

 * The Doctor - David Tennant
 * The Doctor - David Morrissey
 * Miss Hartigan - Dervla Kirwan
 * Rosita - Velile Tshabala
 * 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, as seen in the teaser trailer at the end of Journey's End.
 * 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 will be broadcast for the first time.

Ratings
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Rumours

 * Recurring press and fan rumours suggest that Tennant will regenerate in this story, despite producer Julie Gardner announcing that he is to appear in all the special episodes planned for 2009. Guest star David Morrissey is often referenced as being the next actor to play the Doctor, however as of September 2008 no information has been officially released regarding the nature of the character he plays beyond the fact that, for reasons yet to be revealed, he is referred to as The Doctor.
 * 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 .

Filming Locations
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Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors
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Continuity

 * This is the first time the Cybermen have returned in the new series since Doomsday, when the Cybermen were sucked into the void.

DVD and Other releases
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