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Doctor Who's cryptic new teaser backs up fans' plot theory for 60th anniversary

Fans are on the edge of their seats!

Neil Patrick Harris in Doctor Who

BBC Studios

Published: Wednesday, 13 September 2023 at 11:42 am

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A new Doctor Who teaser photo has seemingly backed up a fan theory for the upcoming 60th anniversary.

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The official Doctor Who Twitter (recently rebranded as X) account posted a behind the scenes photo of part of an old-looking room with a drawing board, an old couch with pieces of paper across it and windows covered up in newspaper.

While this may seem like an interesting insight into the upcoming episodes, fans are convinced it has confirmed a fan theory from a few months ago.

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In response to the tweet, a Twitter user wrote: "This is probably John Logie Baird's TV schematics. Top right plan looks like his first mechanical TV and the circular diagram is a Nipkow disc."

In June 2023, fans began theorising that Neil Patrick Harris's character is the Celestial Toymaker. The Toymaker is a villain who hasn't been on screen since the 1960s and with this, and fans are convinced he will be making a return.

In real life, John Logie Baird is the creator of the television, and a Reddit theory has furthered the idea of the Celestial Toymaker's return and Baird playing a key role in the upcoming series.

The Reddit user wrote: "The fun connection here is that the first image broadcast by John Logie Baird in 1925 was the face of Stookie Bill… a ventriloquist dummy (as shown briefly in the new trailer). So… did the Toymaker make the dummy? Has he been using TV as his new realm this whole time?"

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Talking about Harris's character, one Twitter user wrote: "He's playing the Celestial Toymaker, 100%. He's gotta be! The apron, the tools, the look – it can't just be me who sees it, right? We already know Russell's bringing in characters from the comics so this wouldn't be too much of a stretch!"

Harris has kept quiet about his role in the upcoming series, and added more mystery to his character after posting a photo of himself in his role on Instagram alongside the caption: "Never looked more dashing. Thank you for inviting me into your Whoniverse, @russelltdavies63. I'll try my hardest to do my worst. This Doctor has no idea what's in store. And even if he does… Who cares? Ha ha ha HA ha-ha-ha!"

Read more:

Russell T Davies' new era of Doctor Who has already seen four major casting announcements, with David Tennant and Catherine Tate confirmed to be returning to their roles.

Ncuti Gatwa will play the new Doctor and Yasmin Finney will play a new character called Rose, it has also been confirmed.

Doctor Who is available to stream on BBC iPlayer. Episodes of the classic series can be streamed on BritBox – you can sign up for a 7-day free trial here.

Check out more of our Sci-Fi coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what's on tonight.

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Authors

Black and white cut-out portrait headshot of Katelyn Mensah, smiling against a lime green background.

Katelyn MensahSenior Entertainment Writer

Katelyn Mensah is the Senior Entertainment Writer for Radio Times, covering all major entertainment programmes, reality TV shows and the latest hard-hitting documentaries. She previously worked at The Tab, with a focus on reality TV and showbiz news and has obtained a BA (Hons) in Journalism.

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