While we’re still a few months away, Jodie Whittaker’s final Doctor Who episode is coming soon, with fans around the world furiously speculating about what the centenary special could include.
Will Sacha Dhawan’s Master make an appearance? Could Jo Martin’s Doctor have her story concluded? And will we see the next Doctor (or David Tennant) arrive at the end, or have to wait until 2023?
For now, those questions remain unanswered – but that doesn’t mean we’ve not learned anything. In fact, this week Whittaker herself seems to have confirmed a persistent rumour about her regeneration episode, namely that former series companion Bradley Walsh (who departed in early 2021) will be back for her send-off.
The hint came during a conversation with current Who co-star John Bishop on the latter’s Three Little Words podcast, as the pair reminisced about their final day of filming together.
“We had a moment when we finished Doctor Who. We went out for a dinner, and we got talking about it, and I just… I just burst out crying,” Bishop recalled. “Because [of] these relationships that I’d established with people that I wasn’t expecting to establish.”
“There was me, Mandip [Gill], Brad [Walsh], and you, and we were in this private dining room, weren’t we?” Whittaker added. “And we just all became completely over-emotional.
“Brad like dived up, started giving you a massive hug. We just all… because also why we were upset and why we were all so emotional about it, was because there was just so much joy.”
“Yeah, it was joy, and also, I think appreciation and gratitude for having reached that point,” Bishop said. “But they all just laughed at me!”
“I wasn’t laughing at you, I laughed at Brad who bounced over to you,” Whittaker replied. “He is such, like, he was like a little mother hen.”
Rumours of Walsh’s return have swirled around for some time after photos of the actor on location with Bishop and other cast members were circulated on social media (and later deleted).
It’s believed that his character Graham – who stayed on Earth with his grandson Ryan at the close of New Year’s Day special Revolution of the Daleks – may return to bid farewell to Whittaker’s Thirteenth Doctor shortly before her regeneration into a new actor.
Now, without saying it outright, Whittaker may have added more evidence to the case of Walsh’s Who return. Why would he be attending an after-filming dinner with Bishop, Gill and Whittaker unless he’d been a part of that “emotional” shoot? And if he was just visiting (he is friends with all three independently), wouldn’t Whittaker and Bishop have mentioned why he was there?
No, the only reason they wouldn’t have felt the need to explain is that the reason for his appearance was obvious – he’d been there filming with them all day. We’ll still need to wait for official confirmation, but we’re sliding this one into “rumours that we basically all know are true and just pretend are still rumours” category. Adjust your scoresheets accordingly.
Doctor Who continues with Legend of the Sea Devils on BBC One this spring. For more, check out our dedicated Sci-Fi page or our full TV Guide.
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