UPDATE: Yes, as a few of you have worked out, this is an April Fool’s Day gag, intended to cheer fans up at this tumultuous time. We don’t think the Monk is returning to our beloved show, but hey, you never know!
Original article:
As the dust settles on Series 12, Chris Chibnall has started to talk about the “bold and exciting” new episodes of Series 13, due to air in 2021. Perhaps most excitingly, Chibnall promises the return of a well-loved character from way back in 1965!
“Really excited about this one!” Chris Chibnall explained at a recent BBC press event. “It’s an iconic character and I think you’ll love what we’ve done to him. Let me introduce you to the Time Meddling NUN!”
Fans of the character originally played by Peter Butterworth and seen in two Hartnell stories, The Time Meddler and The Daleks’ Master Plan will be “bowled over by the casting – but I’m not going to tell you who it is yet!” said Chibnall . “Of course, the Monk, or should I say the Nun, will be back to her old mischief making ways. Only she would be bold enough to change history to allow the Nazis to win the war and to introduce a Time Lord computer virus which means the Fam will now express themselves in song! Let’s face it – fans have been crying out for a musical episode for years and now we will deliver!”
Chibnall confirmed that Graham, Yaz, and Ryan will return for this special episode, “but whether by magic, parallel universe, or through three wishes granted by the P’ting, you’ll just have to wait and see!”
In an episode modelled on the template created by Joss Whedon for the musical episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Once More With Feeling, the Time Meddling Nun will have Team TARDIS quite literally dancing to her tune with numbers arranged by resident composer, Segun Akinola. Graham returns to his roots in Nazi-occupied London and leads resistance fighters in a rousing chorus of Doing the Lambeth Walk; Yaz sings her heart out in a solo number entitled Who Am I and What Am I Doing Here?; the Doctor and the Nun will sing a duet based on Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado and entitled Two Little Girls from Gallifrey. It isn’t yet clear if Tosin Cole as Ryan Sinclair will be given a number, but some plot details have filtered out about a major arc for his character.
POTENTIAL SPOILER ALERT:
In this version of history, Ryan enrolls as a senior Nazi and infiltrates the German high command. “As always, this episode will be underscored by an ethical theme and message,” Chris Chibnall explained seriously. “We chose the Nazis as figures of evil from history, not least because so little is known about them and they allow us to press home the important message that racial prejudice is wrong.”
So, what do you think, dear reader? Are you as excited as we are by the prospect of a musical episode? Do you welcome the return of the Time Meddling Nun and the innovation of an all-singing, all dancing Team TARDIS? Or is the Monk/Nun’s change of gender a change too far? Let us know!