Never-seen-before moment from Doctor Who will finally air 55 years later-Asyia Iftikhar-Entertainment – Metro

Patrick Troughton’s Doctor Who swan song will air in brand-new colour, and feature a special scene (Picture: BBC)

The BBC will air unreleased Doctor Who footage of the Second Doctor’s (Patrick Troughton) regeneration as part of the show’s 61st anniversary celebrations.

The Second Doctor’s final ten-part adventure, The War Games, aired in 1969 and dramatically ended in his forced regeneration as his image slowly fades away on screen while he screams ‘No.’

Now, the BBC has confirmed a ‘spectacular new coloursation’ of this Classic Who story with ‘updated visual effects’ in a 90-minute feature length experience for modern audiences.

And for the hardcore Whovians out there, the broadcaster has also confirmed it will release the ‘never-before-seen regeneration into the Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee)’.

As well as ‘recovered footage not seen since the original broadcast’.

Current showrunner Russell T Davies, praised the ‘vivid and new’ version of this ‘all-time classic’ and added that bringing ‘old stories back to life’ was the plan ever since his return to the show in 2023.

The Second Doctor’s regeneration will be just one of the unreleased bits of footage viewers will be treated to in the new colourisation (Picture: BBC)

The 1969 episode colourisation marks the 61st anniversary of the series (Picture: BBC)

He added: ‘I actually watched this transmit in 1969, at 6 years old, terrified of the Roman soldiers, fascinated by villains with glinting spectacles, and in awe of the Doctor’s brand new origin. Now fans old and new can enjoy it all over again.’

The brand-new colourisation comes a year after the BBC released The Daleks with all-new colour, one of the First Doctor’s (William Hartnell) most famous adventures given its introduction of the show’s iconic villain.

And after witnessing Who history, fans will be able to enjoy the Doctor Who festive special helmed by Ncuti Gatwa’s 15th Doctor on Christmas Day.

The episode, called Joy to the World, will star Bridgerton actor Nicola Coughlan and is written by BBC veteran Steven Moffat.

‘When Joy checks into a London hotel in 2024, she opens a secret doorway to the Time Hotel – discovering danger, dinosaurs, and the Doctor,’ the synopsis reads.

‘But a deadly plan is unfolding across the Earth, just in time for Christmas.’

And Steven added that the premise centres around a hotel that has started using time travel to sell all the unsold nights in their rooms throughout history.

The teaser trailer, which dropped earlier this month, showed Gatwa and Coughlan in a room together when they are suddenly transported back to the dinosaurs.

Speaking to BBC South East News, the Sherlock co-creator also explained how he got involved with the upcoming special.

‘The truth is – I absolutely love doing Doctor Who Christmas because I’m a big fan of Christmas, I absolutely adore Christmas.

‘Then the email came through saying, “Steven, I need to get onto series two, I’m never going to finish this Christmas script – could you come in and write one?”

‘Not complete his [Russell T Davies’s] script, just come in and do another one from scratch.’

He has already returned once during the 15th Doctor’s run for the tense episode, Boom, which also introduced the future companion, played by Varada Sethu.

The War Games will air on 23rd December 2024 on BBC Four and BBC iPlayer. The original episodes are available in The Whoniverse on BBC iPlayer.

Doctor Who Christmas special, Joy to the World, airs on BBC One on December 25.

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