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Disney+ to become Canadian streaming home of Doctor Who in 2023

BBC and Disney have announced that Disney+ will become the exclusive global streaming home for Doctor Who next year. A Disney+ Canada spokesperson confirmed to MobileSyrup that this will include Canada.

The new episodes of the long-running British sci-fi series are set to release on Disney+ and BBC in late 2023. Russell T. Davies, who spearheaded the 2005 revival of Doctor Who, serves as showrunner on the upcoming season.

Ncuti Gatwa (Sex Education) will play The Fifteenth Doctor in the new season, while fan-favourite David Tennant (The Tenth Doctor) will return to play The Fourteenth Doctor in three 2023 holiday specials. Catherine Tate, who played Donna Noble alongside Tennant’s Doctor, will also reprise the role for these specials.

BBC is planning all of these premieres next year in celebration of Doctor Who‘s 60th anniversary.

All 13 modern seasons of Doctor Who are currently streaming in Canada on Crave.

Image credit: BBC

Source: BBC

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Unfinished Doctor Who story Shada finally completed

Tom Baker is back as the Fourth Doctor in the finally completed ‘lost’ ‘Doctor Who’ story ‘Shada.

Back in 1979, the adventure was set to be the celebratory end to the seventeenth series of the BBC One sci-fi show, penned by acclaimed ‘Who’ writer Douglas Adams.

It was set in Cambridge and showed the Doctor, his robot dog K9 and his companion Romana team up with retired Time Lord Professor Chronotis to defeat the evil alien Skagra who is attempting to steal the secrets to the prison planet Shada.

However, the serial had to be scrapped when partway through filming when a strike at the BBC meant work had to be abandoned, making ‘Shada’ an almost mythical tale amongst fans of the program.

BBC Worldwide has now announced that ‘Shada’ is being released as a digital download, and on DVD and Blu-ray, combining the original completed footage with new animated sequences to fill in the gaps.

Baker, 83, and Lalla Ward, 66, have reprised their roles as the Time Lord and companion Romana for the animations as well as other members as the original cast and the actor is delighted that he has finally got the chance to finish the story.

He said: "’Shada’ was one of my favorite ‘Doctor Who’ stories. I have many fond memories of shooting the location scenes in Cambridge, and it was disappointing not to finish the story in studio. I’m so glad that BBC Worldwide have found a way to bring fans a complete visual version."

‘Shada’ was previously recreated as an animated webcast in 2003, with Eighth Doctor actor Paul McGann taking the lead, and it was also novelized by writer Gareth Roberts in 2012.

It is being produced by the team behind the highly successful and critically acclaimed animation of lost ‘Doctor Who’ story ‘The Power of the Daleks’ and lost ‘Dad’s Army’ episode ‘A Stripe For Frazer’.

The team were granted access to nearly seven hours of raw footage from the original 1979 ‘Shada’ shoot from which they are editing the new production from scratch, with all the original film negatives re-scanned in full HD and digitally remastered.

‘Shada’ will be released as a digital download on Friday November 24, and on DVD and Blu-ray on Monday, December 4.

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Michelle Gomez finished with Doctor Who

Michelle Gomez has confirmed this series of ‘Doctor Who’ will feature her final appearances as Missy.

The 51-year-old actress will be seen reprising her role as the first female regeneration of villainous Time Lord The Master in this week’s episode of the BBC One sci-fi show, entitled ‘Extremis’, and she will also feature in the Series 10 finale.

But fans of her alter ego better make the most of these appearances as Michelle admits she’s off with showrunner Steven Moffat and Peter Capaldi, both of whom are departing ‘Doctor Who’ this year, because she feels the character is intrinsically linked to Peter’s Twelfth Doctor.

Speaking exclusively to Digital Spy, she said: "My guys, my lads, Missy’s men – they’re all moving on! Steven writes so amazingly for me – it’s like he’s got my voice in his head, and I don’t know how that would be, moving forward. I’m probably just shooting myself in the foot here. This time next year, I’ll be like, ‘Why did I say that?! I’ll work for anybody!’ – but I don’t know how I’d feel about being The Master to any other Doctor, because I feel like I’m part of Peter’s time … At the moment, it just feels like this is the end of an era – there may be something in the future but at the moment, I feel like this is the end of a chapter."

In the series finale, ‘Doctor Who’ history will be made when Michelle appears alongside the returning John Simm, who is reprising his role as The Master for the first time in seven years, in what will be the show’s first ever multiple Master story.

And Michelle believes fans will love what she and John, 46, do together on screen with their individual depictions of the same character.

She teased: "I would say … think of it in terms of … a two-headed Master! That’s what I’ll give you. It’s sort of … two Masters in one, in a way! I hope that’s not giving too much away!"

Continuing to ramp up excitement for the end of the series – which also sees the return of the Mondasian Cybermen for the first time in over 50 years – Michelle added: "Something awful happens, which is down to Missy just being dreadful. She just can’t help herself – there’s a moment where she just remembers that she is totally evil. So that is in there … you won’t be disappointed!"

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BBC Wordlwide and Skype launch first ever Doctor Who Bot

The first ever Doctor Who Bot is being launched by BBC Worldwide and Skype.

The Twelfth Doctor (Peter Capaldi) will open the TARDIS doors and invite players to help him save the Universe in an exciting interactive digital experience titled ‘The Saviour of Time’.

In a world first, users get the opportunity to be the Doctor’s companion as the bot immerses them in the specially-written, six-part interactive adventure which will require them to communicate directly with the Time Lord in order to solve puzzles to progress in the game as they search for the mysterious Key To Time, which is scattered across space in six segments.

The bot – which has a plot created by Joseph Lidster who has worked on spin-off shows ‘The Sarah Jane Adventures’ and ‘Torchwood’ – launches on Wednesday (03.05.17) across multiple territories and a new chapter will be made available every Sunday at 6pm BST after episodes of ‘Doctor Who’ Series 10 air on BBC One, BBC AMERICA (USA), Space (Canada) and ABC (Australia).

Speaking about the brand new experience for Whovians, Jaclyn Lee-Joe – Chief Marketing Officer at BBC Worldwide – said "It’s hugely exciting to be launching a Doctor Who Bot on Skype – which gives us the opportunity to deliver a new form of digital story-telling with our cutting-edge brand. Through this new innovation we get to experience first-hand how bots can help deliver digital first content, and immerse audiences, old and new, in the ‘Doctor Who’ universe like never before."

Steven Abrahams – Group Product Manager, Studios and Strategic Partnerships for Skype – added: "Our goal is for everyone in the world to experience the best Skype has to offer and the Doctor Who bot with BBC Worldwide brings a range of new features and functionality. We’re excited to see the bot bring users and fans one step closer to meeting the iconic Doctor."

In order to access the Doctor Who Bot, Skype users need to search for "Doctor Who Bot" in the Skype Bot Directory, read the bot’s profile and terms, and then click "Add to Contacts".

To see new updates as they begin to roll out, users need to be on the latest Skype app for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, or Web.

The Doctor Who Bot will be available from the Skype Bot directory in the US, Canada, UK, Australia, Republic of Ireland, New Zealand, India, Singapore, Italy, Spain, France, Netherlands, Austria, Sweden, Czech Republic, Estonia, Portugal, Russia, Mexico and Brazil.

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John Simm returning to Doctor Who as The Master

John Simm has announced he is returning to ‘Doctor Who’ as The Master.

The actor first portrayed the evil Time Lord in 2007 in the final three episodes of Series 3 – ‘Utopia’, ‘The Sound of Drums’ and ‘Last of the Time Lords’ – when he battled Tenth Doctor David Tennant.

Simm then returned at the end of 2009 for Tennant’s farewell story ‘The End of Time’ making his final appearance in the role on New Year’s Day in 2010 as Tennant regenerated into Eleventh Doctor Matt Smith.

Michelle Gomez then took over the famous role in Series 8 as later regeneration Missy, the first woman to portray the character, but now Simm is back to face Twelfth Doctor Peter Capaldi in his final series and his new companion Bill Potts, played by Pearl Mackie.

Revealing his incredible return, Simm, 46, said: "I can confirm that it’s true, thanks to the power of time travel I’m back! It’s always a pleasure to work with this great team of people and I can’t wait for you all to see what The Master gets up to in the next series."

Viewers will witness a first for the show as Simm and Gomez will appear together on screen in a multi-Master episode, something which follows the various multi-Doctor adventures where fans have seen their favorite Time Lords come together such as the 1983 feature-length episode ‘The Five Doctors’ which marked the show’s 20th anniversary with Fifth Doctor Peter Davison working with his previous incarnations.

Showrunner Steven Moffat – who was keen to keep the sensational spoiler under wraps – said: "Nothing stays secret for long on ‘Doctor Who’ but you’ll have to wait a little bit longer to see exactly what The Master is up to and how he makes his return to face the Doctor. It’s been a huge pleasure to have fan favorites John Simm and Michelle Gomez face to face in the same role! It’s not often you get to see a solo personality clash."

Other classic foes confirmed to appear in Series 10 include the Daleks, the Ice Warriors and the Mondasian Cybermen – making their first appearance in the sci-fi show for over 50 years.

‘Doctor Who’ returns on Saturday 15 April with ‘The Pilot’.