The BBC has released a timelapse video that seems to confirm that, when Doctor Who returns in the Autumn for Series 11, we’ll see a new TARDIS interior.
To underline the fact that an era of Doctor Who is over, the clip shows the TARDIS interior, as seen throughout the Twelfth Doctor’s tenure, being dismantled. Of course, it’s no great shock that a new interior will be introduced for Jodie Whittaker’s first season as the Thirteenth Doctor: the photoshoot to show off her outfit included a new TARDIS exterior, and Twice Upon A Time saw a burst of regenerative energy smashing the Old Girl to bits. Nonetheless, it’s incredibly sad to see this icon of the televisual landscape being taken apart.
Ready to shed some tears? Here goes…
This will affect all corners of fandom, of course, but feels especially gut-wrenching for all those folk who managed to visit this TARDIS as part of the Doctor Who Experience‘s TARDIS Tours opportunities. That includes a few of the DWC crew who entered the Doctor’s wonderful Space-Time Ship and felt the wonder of everything that ever happened or ever will.
Rumour has it that this interior – the first to be made in 360°, as previous models had one side missing in order to accommodate cameras and behind-the-scenes crew – will find a place in the city of Cardiff once more as a tourist attraction; others say it’ll “go on tour” around the country. I guess we’ll just have to wait to find out…
This particular interior debuted in 2012’s The Snowmen, with Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor proudly showing it off to the Victorian Clara Oswald (Jenna Coleman); other characters to travel in this TARDIS include Bill Potts (Pearl Mackie), Nardole (Matt Lucas), River Song (Alex Kingston), Madame Vastra (Neve McIntosh), King Hydroflax (Greg Davies), and the Van Baalen brothers (Ashley Walters, Mark Oliver, and Jahvel Hall). Notably, it was also the interior used in The Day of the Doctor, the 50th anniversary special.
Farewell, TARDIS interior. You will be missed.
Doctor Who Series 11 will begin in Autumn 2018.