doctor-who-christmas-banner

‘Doctor Who’ has a long history with Children in Need, routinely contributing to the BBC’s annual charity telethon. Past contributions have included production of the short that introduced David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor, bridging the gap between the first two seasons of the modern series, as well as the 1983 broadcast of the show’s twentieth anniversary outing, ‘The Five Doctors’.

Airing today, this year’s Children in Need telethon offers ‘Who’ fans a sneak peek at this year’s Christmas special, ‘The Return of Doctor Mysterio’. The nearly three minute clip largely introduces the cast of the special. In addition to the Doctor and Nardole, this includes a particularly dramatic entrance by Justin Chatwin’s superhero character, who we now know goes by the alias “the Ghost”. We also meet journalist Lucy Fletcher and an unnamed man who will presumably serve as the special’s villain. While we still don’t know much about these new characters, the parallels to superhero iconography are clear. If the Ghost is Superman (and Moffat has admitted to modeling the character at least somewhat on the Man of Steel), then Lucy is Lois Lane, with our nameless corporate villain standing in for Lex Luthor.

You can check out the preview footage here:

‘Doctor Who’ will return on Christmas day with the broadcast of ‘The Return of Doctor Mysterio’, which will also be screened in select cinemas on December 27th and 29th. After that, the series will go back on hiatus until spring 2017, when producer Steven Moffat kicks off his farewell season, which will culminate with next year’s Christmas special. In addition to returning star Peter Capaldi, the upcoming season and specials will feature Pearl Mackie, Matt Lucas, Justin Chatwin, and Charity Wakefield.

If you’re interested in donating to Children in Need, you can do so here.

Be sure to check back with ScienceFiction.com for more news on ‘The Return of Doctor Mysterio’ and the upcoming tenth season of ‘Doctor Who’ as they approach!