Jodie Whittaker has confirmed that they’re in the final stages of filming Doctor Who Series 12, a shoot which has taken 9 months and is expected to consist of 10 episodes.

Talking on the Zoe Ball Breakfast Show on Radio 2 on Friday 4th October 2019, Whittaker, who plays the Thirteenth Doctor, said:

“It’s such an exciting feeling. We’re coming to the end of shooting, and we’re all really, really excited to show it off. There is so much happening; there really is. It’s 9 wonderful months of running about and coming up against some very exciting monsters along the way. Yeah, it’s gonna be great! I’m in my trailer right now with Mandip Gill [Yasmin Khan], who is overseeing this bit of information to make sure I do it properly.”

The only monsters confirmed for Series 12 are the Judoon – the big space rhinos that debuted in Smith and Jones (2007), created by former showrunner, Russell T. Davies – but there’s plenty of evidence that the Cybermen are coming back too.

We know Chris Chibnall will be writing numerous episodes of the next run of stories, but further scribes are still to be confirmed. The directing roster, however, includes Jamie Stone, Nida Manzoor, Lee Haven Jones, and Emma Sullivan.

We’re a tad worried that it’s taken 9 months so make 10 episodes; then again, we don’t know if the cast needed time off to film other shows (certainly Bradley Walsh, who plays companion, Graham O’Brien, is presenting The Chase too, but he seems to be fitting that in around Doctor Who pretty well). And we don’t know whether this shoot includes an extra special episode, perhaps at Christmas, although that is looking unlikely.

Doctor Who Series 12 is expected to begin in early 2020.