There's been the much talked about trailers, a variety of fan theories, a companion's confirmed departure and one or two unexpected twists already… the countdown to Peter Capaldi's second series of Doctor who is definitely on.
The intrepid Timelord returns to our screens this Saturday in The Magician’s Apprentice.
The new season promises a host of delights including new monsters, retro Daleks and a cameo from Game of Thrones star Maisie Williams, aka Arya Stark.
Ahead of the series nine launch, we take a look at some of the connections between the much loved sci-fi series and our fair shores of Scotland.
1 The show is responsible for creating an award-winning porridge recipe
The Doctor has visited Scotland many times but one of his jaunts helped an award-winning porridge maker find his winning recipe. In 2012 Englishman Benedict Horsbrugh won the World Porridge Making Championship and the coveted Golden Spurtle with a recipe inspired by a Terrance Dicks novelisation of Terror of the Zygons, a story in which the Doctor visits Loch Ness.
After winning the award, Horsbrugh, a Director of Quality Management for UNIVEG, said: “When I was nine I was inspired by Tom Baker in the book Doctor Who and the Loch Ness Monster. He has a disagreement with Sarah Jane about making porridge, and I learnt that you just need to use a pinch of salt.”
2 An SNP poster made a guest appearance in the show in the 1960s
The SNP may have made their mark in Westminster at the last General Election but the party had left their stamp on the city of London decades earlier. In The Web of Fear, a previously lost Patrick Troughton story from 1968, an SNP poster is clearly visible as the Doctor battles a Yeti invasion in the London underground.
3 The show inspired Outlander author Diana Gabaldon
The Doctor has had a few Scottish companions and one of them helped inspired the creation of Outlander and its leading man Jamie Fraser. Outlander author Diana Gabaldon came up with the idea to set her hit novel in Scotland during the Jacobite Rebellion while watching a re-run of 1969 story The War Games. Jamie Fraser is based on the Doctor’s companion in the story, Jamie McCrimmon, a piper from 18th century Scotland.
Gabaldon got the name for her hero from Jamie, played by Frazer Hines. However, she says the character's surname, Fraser, is a coincidence as the PBS station she watched the story on cut off the credits. She did not learn Frazer Hines' name until years after Outlander was published.
4 JK Rowling almost made a guest appearance in the show's Christmas special
Doctor Who has featured cameos from a plethora of stars including Peter Kay, John Hurt and John Cleese but Harry Potter author JK Rowling narrowly missed out on the chance to make a guest appearance on the show in 2008. Show runner at the time Russell T Davies had planned for Rowling to meet the Doctor and battle witches and wizards in the series’ Christmas special. However, Doctor at the time David Tennant thought the story sounded like a spoof and it was pulled, later replaced by The Next Doctor.
5 Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood has one of its main institutes based in Glasgow
The show has sparked a number of spin-off’s over the years, including K9 and Company, Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood, which starred Scot John Barrowman as Captain Jack Harkness, but did you know that one of Torchwood’s official main bases was in Scotland? Torchwood Two, one of the four main Torchwood institutes, was supposed to be located near the waterfront development on Glasgow’s River Clyde. It is supposed to have been disbanded at some point before the 456 crisis of 2009.
6 Peter Capaldi is one of only two actors to appear in the show before becoming the Doctor
Peter Capaldi may be the current Doctor but he holds the honour of being one of only two actors to have appeared in the show before taking over the reigns as the rebel Timelord. Capaldi appeared alongside David Tennant’s Doctor and a barely recognisable Karen Gillan, aka Amy Pond, in a story called The Fires of Pompeii. The only other actor to have been in the show before playing the Doctor is Colin Baker who appeared as Maxil, a Gallifreyian guard commander who got to shoot Peter Davison’s Doctor in 1983 story The Arc of Infinity.
7 The Doctor is a former student of Glasgow University
The Doctor also claimed to be a former student of the University of Glasgow. In 1966 story The Moonbase, Patrick Troughton’s Doctor said that he studied medicine under Joseph Lister at the Scottish university in 1888. Lister left the university in 1877 so it would appear that some time travelling trickery may have been afoot.
8 The Doctor accidentally dropped former companion Sarah Jane Smith in Aberdeen, not South Croydon
Glasgow’s not the only Scottish city to play a significant role in the series. In the 1976 story The Hand of Fear the Doctor said goodbye to companion Sarah Jane Smith, dropping her off in South Croydon. However, notorious for its terrible sense of direction, the TARDIS in fact dropped Sarah off in Aberdeen, something she revealed during her return to the show in 2006 for School Reunion with tenth Doctor David Tennant.
9 Peter Capaldi drew fan art for the Doctor Who Fan Club magazine as a teenager
Twelfth Doctor Peter Capaldi, like fellow Scot and former Doctor David Tennant, was a superfan of the show before securing the coveted role. As a teenager he regularly wrote to the show’s production team, asking for set photographs and even asking to be made President of the official Doctor Who Fan Club. He also penned letters to the Radio Times about the show and even dabbled in a bit of fan art, with one of his drawing adorning the front cover of the Doctor Who International Fan Club magazine in May 1976.
10 Peter Capaldi turned down the chance to play the Doctor in 1996
Peter Capaldi may be the Doctor but he actually turned down a chance to play the Timelord in 1996. Capaldi was asked to try out for the role when they were casting for the TV movie, which started Paul McGann. However, the Scot said he could not have coped with the disappointment if he had not got the role and instead decided not to audition for it.
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