Doctor Who cast promise ‘real fear factor’ in full rundown of series 12 monsters – including Cybermen and Judoon
DOCTOR Who will be amping up the scares when it returns in 2020.
The BBC sci-fi hit, which will kick off its twelfth series on New Year’s Day, will be packed with monsters old and new, the cast have revealed.
Show runner Chris Chibnall previously teased that the Cybermen would be back in full force and Jodie Whittaker was quick to recount her own experiences with the robotic villains.
Discussing interacting with the models on set, she exclaimed: “It was scary – they’re massive!
“It’s handy that they’re [physically] there as well – because with the Pting episode [‘The Tsuranga Conundrum’] or the Spiders episode [‘Arachnids in the UK’], you’re guessing,” she continued to Radio Times.
“But obviously the Cybermen are right in front of you. So there’s a lot of instinctive reaction to go with.”
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Co-star Tosin Cole gushed about getting to work with the iconic androids.
“It’s nice, because that’s that classic Doctor Who villain. Even though we’ve done it for a year, now it’s like we’ve definitely cemented our way in this universe because we’re facing the Daleks last year, and now we’re facing the Cybermen this year,” he added.
“And with a really exciting episode as well,” Whittaker chipped in.
Meanwhile Chibnall teased that aside from their dangerous weaponry, the Cybermen operated on a symbolic level.
“I think we’ve got a really nice story for them. It’s really exciting. I think this year with the Cybermen I had a specific idea I wanted to do, it sort of joined up with something,” he explained.
“It’s not necessarily the Cybermen per se as a metaphor for something. I think there’s a tiny little shard in that story – but there’s something in every story that resonates.
“You’ll be getting Cybermen this year, you’ll have to wait and see whether they’re new, whether they’re old, what they are. But you’re definitely getting Cybermen.”
Elsewhere, the Judoon – a rhino-like species – are also set to make a comeback.
The aliens will pop up in Gloucester and predictably, wreak all manner of havoc before The Doctor and co arrive and smooth things over.
“They’ve got some presence. And when there’s a few of them powering towards you it’s very intimidating,” Whittaker said of the huge prosthetics involved in creating the beasts.
However, according to Mandip Gill, it’s neither the Cybermen or the Judoon who bag the title of scariest monster.
Instead, she promised a new beastie terrifying enough to rival the iconic Weeping Angels.
“There’s one that’s really scary - the fear factor, it’s really there. And that was a monster that was actually there, so we didn’t have to lie this time,” she said.
According to Whittaker, poor Bradley Walsh “bricked it” during filming – a sentiment he echoed himself.
Doctor Who returns to BBC One on New Year’s Day and is available to stream on iPlayer.