Doctor Who Teases New Trailer Release Date

Coded message seemingly reveals date for new trailer for David Tennant's Doctor Who return.

By Jamie Lovett

It seems like a new trailer for Doctor Who will land on BBC One this Saturday. That's how fans interpret the latest "glitch" on the channel, which has used faux broadcast interruptions to market Doctor Who's upcoming 60th-anniversary specials starring David Tennant. The latest of those glitches revealed binary code that, when translated into English, reads, "Their time has come, Saturday 23 September, BBC One, 6:10 p.m." Playing the video in reverse reveals the Doctor Who theme song followed by the beginning of the Strictly Come Dancing theme. That makes sense since Strictly airs at 6:15 p.m. on Saturday. The Doctor Who trailer (or preview or whatever else it may be) should lead straight into the dancing competition.

We can't know for sure that it is a trailer that will debut, but that is the leading theory among fans and makes sense as the Doctor Who specials are less than two months away from debuting. If the Strictly music indicates that Doctor Who plans to use the entire five minutes leading into the reality show, then it could be a more extended preview. Fans only have to wait a few more days to find out. 


Doctor Who's New Era

Russell T Davies returns to Doctor Who as showrunner for the anniversary specials and Doctor Who Season 14, which recently wrapped production. Davies has big plans for Doctor Who. He believes Doctor Who should be a franchise with multiple shows comparable in scale to Star Wars, Star Trek, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. With the added financial backing from Disney, he may make his vision a reality. There are already reports of a UNIT spin-off starring Jemma Redgrave being in the works.

"So I thought – with no criticism whatsoever towards the people who were running it at the time, because they were running it within the BBC's measures – it was time for the next stage for Doctor Who. I thought the streaming platforms are ready, the spin-offs are ready; I always believed in spin-offs when I was there," Davies told GQ in January. "I did Torchwood as a spin-off, The Sarah Jane Adventures as a spin-off. Those spin-offs declined when I left, and I can see why. And I very much left after 2008, when the money became scarce, I think that's fair enough for the public service broadcaster that the money is spent on other things."

When does Doctor Who return?

Doctor Who's three 60th-anniversary specials starring David Tennant as the Fourteenth Doctor air in November. Catherine Tate joins him as the Doctor's companion, Donna Noble, facing off against Neil Patrick Harris' villain.

Ncuti Gatwa debuts as the Fifteenth Doctor in the 2023 Christmas Special. Doctor Who Season 14 airs in 2024.

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