As Oscar Wilde said in the first chapter of The Picture of Dorian Gray, there is only one thing worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about. For fans of Doctor Who, the talking about often takes precedence over the actual show itself. We are perpetually bombarded with two rumours, but this year a third has also taken root. What can it all mean? I’ll explain…

The rumours

I ignore the stage managed next episode includes Missy… kind of thing, most of which seem stage-managed by the BBC, and concentrate on the big stuff. The biggest, and most frustrating of all is the Omnirumour, ie the suggestion of more missing episodes. This comes up with distressing regularity, and while I believe there are more episodes out there, they will be harder to find, older, more deteriorated and so on. Barring a surprise stash from a secret fan with a cine camera, or a lockup full of supposedly destroyed tapes, logic tells us there will be only a few more episodes found in the next few years. A graph would demonstrate, and I may produce one in the future. I haven’t heard much on this for a while, so expect it to pop up again before Christmas.

There’s also the who will be the next Doctor rumour, and that has been very busy this time round, but seems to have peaked a month or so ago. This hasn’t stopped RTD suggesting the next Doctor has been cast, which might mean an announcement soon (and there’s a Big Finish announcement today!)

The return of John Simm only survived as a non-spoiler for a few hours, but there’s a more remarkable rumour in this season of surprise nods to the past, and it’s the David Bradley reprising the First Doctor in the Christmas special (as covered everywhere, including the Radio Times). It’s a big story (if true), and the BBC has recast Hartnell’s Doctor before (and technically regeneration is the biggest recasting finesse of all [I was going to say fudge, but finesse is more positive]). Is it true? Well the story has legs, but no new details have emerged. If we take it the next Doctor is now cast, we can imagine the special has been filmed. If so, please can he also collect Susan (happy birthday Carol Ann Ford btw) and let her have one more show, even if she also regenerates at the end?