Following The Ghost Monument, you might be wondering what to expect from Doctor Who Series 11, Episode 3. The episode, titled Rosa, will take Jodie Whittaker’s Thirteenth Doctor and her “new best friends” to Alabama in the 1950s, where Yaz Khan (Mandip Gill), Ryan Sinclair (Tosin Cole), and Graham O’Brien (Bradley Walsh) meet their first historical figure: Rosa Parks.
Here’s the trailer:
The civil rights activist is played by Vinette Robinson (Sherlock), with the story also starring Josh Bowman (Revenge). Here’s the synopsis:
“If she can live here her whole life, a couple of hours ain’t gonna kill me. They ain’t gonna kill me, right?”
Montgomery, Alabama. 1955. The Doctor and her friends find themselves in the Deep South of America. As they encounter a seamstress by the name of Rosa Parks, they begin to wonder: is someone attempting to change history?
The BBC has also confirmed that this episode will be written by a newcomer to the show, Malorie Blackman (Noughts and Crosses), alongside showrunner, Chris Chibnall. Showrunners typically rewrite scripts (to varying degrees, naturally) without getting on-screen credits, but this began to change under the leadership of Steven Moffat; it seems like Chibnall is following suit from his predecessor.
Rosa is directed by Mark Tonderai, who also helmed The Ghost Monument.
Rosa will air at 6.55pm on Sunday 21st October 2018 on BBC1.