Doctor Who Series 11: Everything We Know So Far
5. Lessons From The History Makers
Eagle-eyed viewers will have noticed a couple of other faces in the comic-con trailer, including Jodie Whittaker’s Broadchurch co-star Shaun Dooley. But there has been scant official information about the roster of guest stars, never mind what roles they will be playing. Two potential spoilers have slipped out, suggesting that the Doctor will be encountering at least two historical figures.
First up, on Will Young and Chris Sweeney’s Homo Sapiens podcast, actor Alan Cummings, unaware that he was meant to be keeping it a secret, announced that he would be playing the Scottish king, James the First. He described the character as a ‘nice baddie’ – “a kind of dandy, foppy, coward who kind of comes alright in the end.” What’s more, he hinted that he may become a recurring character.
It’s not known just how such a story will be told, but there are a number of interesting lines the writers may have gone down. James 1st was the first king of Great Britain, he was the King at the time of the gunpowder plot, he sponsored the ‘authorised’ bible, and earlier as King of Scotland, he had an obsession with witchcraft and the demonic. Will he see the Doctor as a witch? Will the Doctor play a role in his decision to stop the witch trials?
According to set reports and confirmed by now deleted casting credit listed on Spotlight, the Doctor will also be meeting the 1950s civil rights activist Rosa Parks. We may well be seeing a recreation of the seminal moment in which Rosa Parks took a stand against segregation by refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man. With Chris Chibnall keen to make Doctor Who “the most inclusive show on television” and wanting to also see a return to the more educational and historical stories of the sixties, it’s not difficult to see why such a landmark event would appeal.