Jemma Redgrave and UNIT confirmed for Doctor Who season 14
Jemma Redgrave is to reprise her role as Kate Lethbridge-Stewart in Doctor Who season 14, the BBC has confirmed.
This also confirms the return of UNIT to the show, the organisation that defends Earth from alien forces and has featured in the BBC science fiction show from the classic era forward. Some had already speculated UNIT could be involved in the new episodes after eagle-eyed fans spotted a UNIT set on Google Earth in Cardiff’s outdoor part of the Bad Wolf Studios lot.
The BBC made the announcement in a tweet that also confirms Welsh actor Aneurin Barnard has officially joined the cast. It was already expected that Barnard would be seen in the series after fans spotted the actor’s face on a number of political posters in Cardiff during outdoor filming of the show in a shopping centre. His character has been confirmed as Roger ap Gwilliam, who we understand from the photos on set is a political candidate for what appears to be the Albion Party. No official details have been released about Barnard’s character at this stage beyond the name.
Doctor Who season 14 is currently filming in Wales and fas have spotted a new monster on the outdoor set in Swansea. It is expected that the episodes that are being filmed now for season 14 will be screened at some time in 2024.
Season 14 will be the first episode of the new Ncuti Gatwa era as the Fifteenth Doctor and he will be accompanied by his companion Ruby Sunday, played by the former Coronation Street star Millie Gibson. The pair’s tenure in the TARDIS will begin around the festive period of 2023 before the rest of the eight-episode series airs across 2024.
Before that Doctor Who will return in November 2023 with three one-hour specials starring David Tennant as the Fourteenth Doctor to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the show. The specials will also see the return of Donna Noble played by Catherine Tate and the introduction of Yasmin Finney as Rose and Neil Patrick Harris as an enemy.
The 2023 specials will be the first episodes of the show to be produced under returning showrunner Russell T Davies and the first to be made as part of a new deal between the BBC and Disney to make Disney+ the streaming home of Doctor Who outside of the UK.
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