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The BBC All But Confirms Return of Classic Doctor Who Monster in Series 13

The BBC revealed a few scant details of the Doctor Who Series 13 opener earlier this week, when a spaceship was projected across George’s Pier Head in Liverpool.

This confirms that, shockingly enough, the Liverpudlian John Bishop will play a Liverpudlian companion, Dan Lewis, and will go up against a classic monster already seen during location filming but not actually confirmed by the production team just yet.

Ready for brief spoilers that will no doubt be officially confirmed pretty soon anyway?

Take a look at the tweet.

And yes, that does look an awful lot like a Sontaran ship, as previously seen in the Series 4 two-parter, The Sontaran Stratagem/ The Poison Sky.

That much might be obvious to us. Casual viewers, however, might think the bronze colour scheme and bumps mean it’s a Dalek ship (it’s really not though).

The Sontarans will apparently invade Liverpool, where the Thirteenth Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) and companion, Yaz Khan (Mandip Gill), will encounter Dan Lewis.

The war-loving clone race, created by Robert Holmes, are one of two returning monsters seen on location during filming.

It’s great to see the publicity machine whirring once more. Surely a trailer is imminent. Perhaps just before Strictly Come Dancing tomorrow night…?

Philip Bates

Editor and co-founder of the Doctor Who Companion. When he’s not watching television, reading books ‘n’ Marvel comics, listening to The Killers, and obsessing over script ideas, Philip Bates pretends to be a freelance writer. He enjoys collecting everything. Writer of The Black Archive: The Pandorica Opens/ The Big Bang, The Silver Archive: The Stone Tape, and 100 Objects of Doctor Who.

The BBC All But Confirms Return of Classic Doctor Who Monster in Series 13

by Philip Bates time to read: 1 min
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