Ever since the announcement of the return of David Tennant as the 10th Doctor, many Whovians have been wondering if they’ll be seeing any other regenerations of the beloved Time Lord in the ‘Doctor Who’ 50th anniversary episode. Unfortunately, if we are to take the word of the 7th Doctor, Sylvester McCoy, we won’t be seeing any of the 20th century Doctors who are still able to be part of the special.

While in the past, answers about their participation from those who have appeared in previous ‘Doctor Who’ episodes would have been taken with a grain of salt. However, the fact that the episode is currently filming, and no other casting announcement about the appearance of other Doctors from the BBC has been made, leads credence that we may only be rewarded with only 1 previous variation of the Doctor out of the 10.

While on the Australian morning show, ‘Mornings’ , Colin Baker (Sixth Doctor), Sylvester McCoy (Seventh Doctor) and Paul McGann (Eight Doctor) were asked whether they would be seen in the Doctor Who 50th anniversary special. Baker responded:

“They’re actually making it now. So the likelihood is, as we’re sitting here with you, that [we won’t be doing it].”

The news came as a disappointment to not only the show hosts but fans who were watching the show. ‘Mornings’ host David Campbell responded, “That’s sad -– I think everyone should be involved” which prompted McCoy to reply

“All the fanbases all over the world believe that, but not the producers at the BBC.”

Ouch! We already know that John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness) will not be in the special episode after announcing he was in talks with the BBC then tweeting a couple weeks afterwards that he will not be involved after all. According to his sister, Caroline, “the BBC is mad at him.”

But what about just having a Nu-Who Doctor reunion and have Christopher Eccleston appear as the Ninth Doctor? Supposedly, rumors had it that Eccleston was on board to appear but unexpectedly dropped out of the project before filming began. However, a source from the BBC has told Digital Spy that the rumors are naught as Eccleston was never supposed to be in the episode in the first place. “Chris met with Steven Moffat a couple of times to talk about Steven’s plans for the Doctor Who 50th anniversary episode,” indicated Digital Spy’s BBC source. “After careful thought, Chris decided not to be in the episode. He wishes the team all the best.”

So no previous Doctors beyond the 10th Doctor (Tennant) and no Captain Jack. We do have the return of Rose (Billie Piper), and with Kate Stewart (Jemma Redgrave) filming scenes at the Tower of London, we know that UNIT will be involved in some way. The fact that Ingrid Oliver’s character wears a Fourth Doctor scarf around her neck makes me think that while the return of the actors may be nonexistent, there will be numerous nods to the classic episodes. Granted, not the same thing as seeing the past Doctors, nor will it have the same impact, but at this point, “beggars can’t be choosers.”

Of course, there is still time to allow the actors to do a cameo in the episode even if it’s not in their Doctor form. Baker, McCoy and even Tom Baker really don’t look like their Doctor incarnations (while McGann could still pull off the 8th Doctor look), and it would still be great to see them spout out a funny one liner to Smith and Tennant.

What do you think? Are you upset there won’t be a 8 Doctor reunion for the 50th anniversary?

 Source: Radio Times