SUMMARY
- Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies explained the rare cameo of the Shalka Doctor in season 14, honoring writer Paul Cornell’s work and making the obscure miniseries canon to the main show.
- The Shalka Doctor’s appearance in the episode allowed for a nod to the 40th anniversary special and set the stage for a potential return in future seasons.
- Richard E. Grant’s Shalka Doctor could join the Fifteenth Doctor in a team-up, further cementing the webseries as part of Doctor Who ‘s history.
Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies has unpacked an obscure cameo that happened in season 14, explaining the appearance of a rare version of the Doctor. In Doctor Who season 14, episode 6, the Doctor is treated to images showing the faces of all the previous lives he’s had, including some like the War Doctor and the Fugitive Doctor. However, one of these faces is also that of Richard E. Grant, an actor who voiced the Shalka Doctor in 2003’s animated webseries “Scream of the Shalka.” This made the obscure miniseries canon to the main show.
Speaking with SFX Magazine (via GamesRadar), Davies revealed why he decided to include a hidden cameo from the Shalka Doctor within Doctor Who season 14. The showrunner revealed how the episode “The Timeless Child” in particular allowed them to get away with the obscure appearance, and how he wanted to honor writer Paul Cornell’s work on the original webseries too. Check out what Davies had to say below:
I wrote to [writer] Paul Cornell the night before, saying, ‘Please watch tomorrow because there’s such a treat in store,’ and he was so delighted. But it’s really nice when you can do things like that. That was a really nice moment between me and Paul, we’re old friends going back decades.
It was lovely. A little bit of payment there because he created the Ninth Doctor with the Shalka and we completely replaced him with Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor. So, how nice all these years later, to take a little lean back and sort of say, the door’s open now, thanks to ‘The Timeless Child’, and you can come in and own your Doctor again. Really, it’s not just fun, it’s a nice thing to do.
What The Shalka Doctor’s Appearance Means For Doctor Who’s Future
The Shalka Doctor Could Appear In The Flesh
The Shalka Doctor’s brief appearance makes the events of his miniseries canon to the main show, while also being a nod to the 40th anniversary special over 20 years later. Since “The Timeless Child” established other versions of the Doctor aside from the core ones in the show, it made sense for Davies to include the animated rendition of the character in the lineup. This helps ensure that, even though his webseries was just a small part of the larger franchise, it was still an adventure the protagonist had been on in a past life.
Grant’s appearance as the Doctor in the lineup sets the stage for a potential return of his rendition, possibly in Doctor Who season 15. The series is no stranger to seeing multiple Doctors teaming up, such as the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Doctors existing simultaneously thanks to bi-generation. However, past specials have seen team-ups like the Tenth and Eleventh versions, meaning a form of regeneration wouldn’t be necessary for the Shalka version of the character to meet the Fifteenth.
Since the cast of Doctor Who season 14 featured the return of many heroes and villains from the past, the Shalka Doctor coming back later on wouldn’t be a surprising development. A more direct reprisal from Grant could better cement the webseries as part of the show’s history, indicative of its importance to the many adventures the character has embarked upon. With a new door now open thanks to his appearance, anyone from the past could show up in the Doctor’s adventures moving forward.
