Doctor Who drops first look at new monster following online treasure hunt

After weeks of clever clues and hidden codes, Doctor Who fans have finally cracked the #FindTheDoctor mystery, tracking down Jodie Whittaker’s Time Lord and receiving a couple of special messages from the woman herself in return.

But even more intriguingly, the virtual treasure hunt (which saw fans decipher regularly-released hints to unlock a special password) may have unveiled a first look at a new monster for series 13, with a couple of short clips interspersed with a voice note between the Doctor and Yaz (Mandip Gill).

Blink and you’ll miss them, but at the end of this call you can see a couple of flashes – of a dark, hooded and sunken eye set into grey skin and sharp, piercing teeth in a pinched mouth. Described by the BBC as “a sneak peek at something mysterious”, it’s hard to think we’re seeing anything other than a new alien foe faced by the TARDIS team this autumn.

Certainly, it looks very creepy – behind-sofa positions are primed – and with series 13 set to be a more serialised adventure, it could be that we’ll be seeing a fair bit of this new baddie in episodes to come. Assuming it is part of those new episodes, could this even be the enigmatic “Swarm” that showrunner Chris Chibnall warned us about in a recent panel? Anything is possible.

Of course, by that logic it could also be that this menacing figure is secretly a lovely fella and the Doctor’s new best mate – appearances can be deceiving, can’t judge a book by its cover or a monster by its flesh-shredding teeth – but with Whittaker’s departure looming, we can’t help but feel the Doctor is headed down a darker path instead.

Can the Doctor, Yaz and Dan (John Bishop) survive this new foe? And what are its plans for them anyway? Hopefully, we won’t have to complete another massive online scavenger hunt to find out that one…

Doctor Who returns to BBC One this autumn. For more, check out our dedicated Sci-Fi page or our full TV Guide.