Doctor Who's set images and Matt Smith wants to return

Things have been fairly quiet on the Doctor Who front since the Christmas Special episode “The Time of the Doctor” bade farewell to Matt Smith’s version of the character and ushered in Peter Capaldi as the show’s new Time Lord. Jenna-Louise Coleman is set to return in season 8 as the Doctor’s companion Clara, along with a new character called Danny Pink (Samuel Anderson).

Capaldi’s Doctor has been described by showrunner Steven Moffat as being very different to the previous two incarnations. In contrast to their bouncy, friendly natures, the Twelfth Doctor will be “older, fiercer, madder [and] less reliable,” which will present new challenges within his friendship with Clara.

The eighth season of Doctor Who has been filming for several months now, with some location work taking place in Lanzarote and the rest across various parts of Wales. This week the crew has been on Aberavon Beach in Port Talbot, South Wales, and some new set photos (courtesy of Doctor Who TV and theSouth Wales Evening Post) show the Doctor, Clara, and a new character played by Ellis George all wearing very familiar-looking outfits as they stand on alien(?) shores.

The photos don’t spoil anything so you can feel free to take a look at them just a teaser of what’s to come. Also shown in the pictures wearing a silver spacesuit, is veteran TV actor Hermione Norris (Spooks), who will have a guest role in the episode.

During one of the very first set video leaks of Capaldi’s new tenure as the Doctor, there was strong evidence to suggest that Smith will get a voice cameo early on in season 8, in order to give the Eleventh Doctor a proper goodbye to Clara.  According to Doctor Who TV, Smith was asked at Calgary Expo whether he would want to return for something a bit more substantial, like a guest role or another special episode. He was very receptive to the idea:

“I love the idea of other Doctors coming back. Also that gives me the opportunity to come back, which I totally will by the way! I’m just waiting for the next anniversary. I spoke to Steven the other day and said ‘what’s the quickest one we can do?’”

Doctor Who only just celebrated its 50th anniversary, so the other big dates are still quite a long way off. On the other hand, next year will mark the 10th anniversary of the series’ reboot, so perhaps the BBC could arrange a special episode to commemorate that.