DOCTOR WHO: No Christmas Companion, Just Nardole and a "Superhero"


Well, at least there's a telephone box with plenty of room to change in.

The RadioTimes has some new details on the upcoming Doctor Who Christmas Special, revealing that the Doctor won't have a temporary companion before Pearl Mackie arrives in Series Ten as his new companion Bill.

The article confirms that Nardole, played once again by Matt Lucas, will have "a major role" that occupies the "companion space".  Lucas' return as Nardole in the 2016 Christmas Special was announced last June.

"The Doctor won’t have a temporary companion this Christmas, and essentially, that space will be taken by Nardole," said their source.  "He’s not a companion as such, but it’s not as if he doesn’t play a similar role."

Nardole first appeared in the 2015 Christmas Special "The Husbands of River Song" as a member of the human colony of Mendorax Dellora, and an employee of River Song. Nardole was told to find the surgeon River Song needed to extract the Halassi Androvar from the head of King Hydroflax.  Unfortunately, Nardole found the Twelfth Doctor and brought him to River Song instead.

When River and the Doctor escaped Hydroflax’s ship with his head in a bag, Hydroflax’s mechanical body turned to Nardole for strategic information.  Although Nardole claimed to know little of River’s plans, there was only one way for Hydroflax’s body to be sure, so it removed Nardole’s head and attached it to its own.

After the crash of the Harmony and Redemption on Darillium, Hydroflax's body was recovered from the wreckage.  As the hostile onboard computer was destroyed by the Doctor, Nardole and another head, Ramone, shared control of the body, working in a restaurant situated before the Singing Towers.  When River arrived several years after the crash, Ramone was in control as Nardole was getting some "me time" inside the body, something he admitted was hard when he greeted River from inside Hydroflax's body.


In addition, the article reports that Canadian actor Justin Chatwin will play a "superhero character" who is "a brash figure with an American accent – and in all likelihood a few dark interstellar secrets of one sort or another."

Chatwin, 33, is probably best known as Jason Kellerman on the BBC America series Orphan Black and as Tom Cruise's son in the 2005 film adaptation of War of the Worlds. He's also appeared in the movies Dragonball Evolution and Josie and the Pussycats, and on episodes of American Gothic, Shameless, Lost, Weeds, and Smallville.

The 2016 Christmas Special will be written by showrunner Steven Moffat and directed by Ed Bazalgette.  Series Ten follows sometime in April 2017.

Posted on September 29, 2016 .