Doctor Who casting director Andy Pryor has revealed what inspired the show to bring back David Tennant and Catherine Tate.
The pair have returned as the Doctor and Donna Noble for the show's ongoing 60th-anniversary specials, and during a chat with Digital Spy, Pryor explained how a lockdown tweet-along led to the huge comebacks.
"The idea was that people would press play on a DVD or online, wherever they could find an episode, and people would tweet along with the episode, including Russell T Davies," he recalled. "I did one or two myself, as well as people from the show and cast members."
Related: Doctor Who theory suggests Donna will die in the final David Tennant special
"David and Catherine got involved with that and Catherine really enjoyed it. Then it kicked off this conversation about how we'd love to do more," Pryor went on to reveal. "Russell was like, 'Absolutely. Let's do more.'"
"So it kind of happened organically, rather than it being a conscious decision to bring them back and reboot the show, as it were," he added, noting that it's "more of a nod to the past and the future at the same time".
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The specials are to wrap up this weekend, with Tennant's Doctor set to regenerate into Ncuti Gatwa's Fifteenth Doctor.
The latter's "first epic adventure" will air on Christmas Day (December 25), titled 'The Church on Ruby Road', which will also introduce new companion Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson).
Related: Doctor Who's Wild Blue Yonder shows the big change in David Tennant's two Doctors
In other news, Davies has responded to the secrecy surrounding last weekend's second special 'Wild Blue Yonder', which sparked rumours of big cameos that didn't end up materialising.
"We kept this very secret. I think that might have had an unfortunate effect. I think everyone's expecting Matt Smith, Peter Capaldi and the ghost of William Hartnell," he said on The Official Doctor Who Podcast.
"Actually, I kept this secret for a very simple reason, because I think it's nice to keep some episodes secret, but also because this is the simplest one of the lot. If you describe this episode, they arrive on the spaceship and they meet evil versions of themselves, that's it. Do they win? Yes they do, of course they do."
Doctor Who returns for three 60th-anniversary specials, concluding with 'The Giggle' on December 9. The show airs on BBC One in the UK and Disney+ elsewhere.
Classic episodes of Doctor Who are now made available via BBC iPlayer in the UK as well.
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Sam is a freelance reporter and sub-editor who has a particular interest in movies, TV and music. After completing a journalism Masters at City University, London, Sam joined Digital Spy as a reporter, and has also freelanced for publications such as NME and Screen International. Sam, who also has a degree in Film, can wax lyrical about everything from Lord of the Rings to Love Is Blind, and is equally in his element crossing every 't' and dotting every 'i' as a sub-editor.
After teaching in England and South Korea, David turned to writing in Germany, where he covered everything from superhero movies to the Berlin Film Festival.
In 2019, David moved to London to join Digital Spy, where he could indulge his love of comics, horror and LGBTQ+ storytelling as Deputy TV Editor, and later, as Acting TV Editor.
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