As the day quickly approaches to air the DOCTOR WHO 50th Anniversary special, fans today have a nice treat in the form of a seven minute mini-episode that reveals the origin of John Hurt‘s character introduced in the season finale. Hurt was credited simply as The Doctor at the end of that episode and will appear in the November 23rd episode airing simultaneously around the world alongside current and prior Doctors Matt Smith and David Tennant.
The special episode is also being presented as a way to guarantee another long run of DOCTOR WHO series beginning with the new series featuring Peter Capaldi as the new Doctor. I came into DOCTOR WHO late with the Matt Smith series and have loved the campy yet intelligent science fiction show that would never have lasted fifty years if it was produced in America.
This mini-sode also features the return of Paul McGann who played The Doctor only once in a FOX television movie that was intended to be the pilot for an American take on the show. McGann was the Eighth Doctor and here we see how his fate is connected to that of Tennant, Smith, and Hurt.