We've all felt for some time that a new Doctor Who
spin-off is long overdue, we even came up with some
suggestions of our own. Just a few years back we were spoilt with Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures all broadcasting in the same year as the main series. Nowadays though, with the gaps between seasons, it sometimes feels like we're suffering a real Who drought.
So you can image how excited we all were when regular contributor Wil discovered a brand new Doctor Who spin-off in the works, called A Wild Endeavour. We sent Wil on his own endeavour to find out more.
So you can image how excited we all were when regular contributor Wil discovered a brand new Doctor Who spin-off in the works, called A Wild Endeavour. We sent Wil on his own endeavour to find out more.
A Wild Endeavour focuses on the beginnings of the Doctor and the Master before they had their names and titles as the 'hero' and 'villain'. The characters are to be stripped back to their basics, so the audience can see them develop in a new unique way, to become the characters we’ve seen in Doctor Who for the last fifty years. Through this we will gain a proper explanation about what happened to the characters prior to the show’s beginning.
Essentially it's a Doctor Who prequel. It's
approved by the BBC, and will pay homage to Who canon. I had a chat
with the supervising producer of the project, Alex Doyle, about what
we can expect from A Wild Endeavour.
“We're telling the story that delves deeply into
the Doctor's origins. These
are dangerous waters. It was important from the beginning that we be
very careful not to contradict ANY existing Doctor Who canon. In addition to the TV show there are a whole
series of novels and audio drama, comic books.... So we had to be
careful that we stayed to true to the legend of Doctor Who. The
mystery of the Doctor is a core element of the show and for fans this
is very important. We are not giving away too much. Fans will definitely NOT learn the Doctor's
name.
A Wild Endeavour has a very interesting twist. We will not know who is 'Who' (if you pardon the pun), that is to say we will not know which character goes on to become the Doctor and which one the Master. Also the two male actors have no inclination at all about which role they will be playing!
“This
story is as much about the Master as it is the Doctor. In their youth
both the Doctor and the Master were very much aware of the corruption
that had enveloped their government. The Master was more of a moral
conscious at the time. One question we look to answer is how does he
descend into madness? How does the Master become the megalomaniac we
are more familiar with?”
A Wild Endeavour has a very interesting twist. We will not know who is 'Who' (if you pardon the pun), that is to say we will not know which character goes on to become the Doctor and which one the Master. Also the two male actors have no inclination at all about which role they will be playing!
We're not revealing the identities of the Doctor and the Master because we want the viewers to be attached to the characters,” Alex said, “So when the Doctor loses his friend - the audience feels they are losing a friend too.”
Before work began on the project the producers met with Doctor Who Executive Producer Brian Minchin and the BBC legal department. Approval was granted and a Kickstarter page was set up to help fund the pilot, if successful the pilot will be filmed on location at BBC London/Cardiff from May this year, and the producers hope that in the long term the show can potentially air on the BBC as a series.
 |
| Rahul Kohli (Doctor or Master?) and Alex Zur (Master or Doctor?) |
Playing the two leads will be Rahul Kohli and Alex Zur. Their companion (and audience surrogate) will be played by Gabrielle Dempsey, who can also be seen in Game of Thrones this year. With this casting, and not knowing who is Who (pun again!) it could mean that we have a non-Caucasian actor playing the Doctor for the first time ever. I asked Alex how they decided upon this potentially controversial casting.
We
looked at a mass of auditions and in the end ethnicity didn't matter.
We knew we had found our actor in Rahul Kohli, and we were not about
to drop someone who played the character better than anyone else we'd
seen simply because he was not white. The problem though would be
that since a big part of the concept behind the show is that the
audience doesn't know WHO IS WHO? having an actor that they believed
was definitely NOT the Doctor could be a problem. We've solved that
in a pretty creative way... and tied up a few continuity contradictions
between the classic series and new Who in the process... You'll just
have to wait and see on that one.” Alex teased.
 |
| Gabrielle Dempsey plays companion Sydney Lambert |
Both Rahul Kohli and Alex Zur are featured in this promotional teaser for A Wild Endeavour:
There
are several Who veterans already attached to A Wild Endeavour, Yee
Jee Tso and Daphne Ashbrook, who both appeared in the 1996 Doctor Who
TV movie, have joined the cast, and there may be a few surprise
cameos as well. Without giving any actual names away, Alex teased the
initials N.B.
 |
| Daphne Ashbrook plays Harmony |
I think it
sounds like a great concept, and I hope it comes to fruition. It's
really all down to Doctor Who fans like you and I now, if the
Kickstarter total is reached then this project will go ahead. We
all have the chance to make it a reality, that's something quite
special.
As
with any Kickstarter project, if you do pledge a certain amount and
the target is not reached then no funds will be taken, you will not
lose any money. There are many funding incentives on offer, including
set visits, your name in the pilot and there's even a speaking role
up for grabs.
You
can find a lot more information about A Wild Endeavour on the
Kickstarter page and website, plus in the video below, which is introduced by Yee Jee Tso and features many members of the cast discussing their roles.
Follow Wil on Twitter
