This December’s Doctor Who Christmas special is set to be momentous for a number of reasons, with Twice Upon a Time serving simultaneously as Peter Capaldi’s final adventure as the Doctor, Steven Moffat’s final writing credit and Jodie Whittaker’s first appearance as the Thirteenth Doctor.

But of course the episode will also have the distinction of hosting the return of the very first incarnation of the Doctor, originally played by William Hartnell in the first 1960s episodes of the show and now taken over by David Bradley (after the Harry Potter and Game of Thrones star previously played Hartnell in 2013 making-of drama An Adventure in Space and Time).

And it’s the original Doctor’s inclusion that raises some of the most interesting possibilities about the upcoming episode. Since Bradley’s involvement was announced it’s been revealed that at least some of the action is taking place during Hartnell’s final episode The Tenth Planet, with the episode trailer depicting sets and characters from the episode.

Even more interestingly, the opening scene of the Twice Upon a Time trailer morphs between archive footage of Hartnell and new colourised footage of Bradley, leading many fans to wonder whether the finished episode will feature more recreations of the classic (and partially lost) episode – speculation only fanned by episode director Rachel Talalay in a recent interview.

“I feel like I’m an expert in the Tenth Planet! I think I’ve watched Tenth Planet more than anybody,” Talalay told the This Week in Time Travel podcast earlier this month when asked about her expertise classic-era Cybermen for the series 10 finale.

And then, she added an enticing postscript.

“Sections of it I’ve watched over and over again for reasons that will become clearer over Christmas,” she said.

“And also different reconstructions and the animated reconstructions. So yeah – I’ve watched sections of it a LOT.”

So could this suggest Talalay has been poring over these classic scenes so she can accurately recreate them just like Hartnell’s speech from the trailer? Will we see more morphs from the original episode to brand-new footage, or was that technique only intended for a one-off promotional shot? And generally speaking, will we spend this Christmas enjoying sections of the First Doctor’s final hours lovingly reimagined on screen, or watching a story that largely ignores the earlier one altogether?

Frustratingly as ever, we can’t know for sure until nearer the time. But we reckon old series fans like Moffat and Capaldi would be loth to miss out on the chance to pay tribute to a truly classic episode of Doctor Who – and even if they did go in a different direction, there are doubtlessly legions of fans who could stitch together the two stories for fleeting online acclaim.

One way or another, we’ll almost definitely see these two separate estranged figures brought together – and in the end, isn’t that what Christmas is all about?

Doctor Who returns to BBC1 this Christmas

Elisabeth Sladen – the actress best known for her portrayal of Sarah Jane Smith in Doctor Who and The Sarah Jane Adventures – is getting a special tribute in the Whoniverse.

It’s thanks to John Barrowman and sister Carole, who have created a new comic-book character in Sladen’s honour. Simply called Sladen, the character will be introduced in Torchwood: The Culling #1 after she’s discovered in a pod buried in the Arctic.

Why was she there? How will the Torchwood team react to her arrival? And Will K9 have a cameo? We’re not quite sure – details are being kept a mystery.

Revealing the new character in a Facebook post, John and Carole – who write the comic book series – said: “We are very excited to bring this new character Sladen to the world of Torchwood. You all know both Carole and I were great fans of the wonderful Elisabeth Sladen who played Sarah Jane Smith and what a better way to pay homage to her and create a character with her last name.

“Elisabeth Sladen/ Sarah Jane Smith was the mother of our ship on Doctor Who and now Sladen lives in Torchwood.”

They also hinted: “Now Captain Jack must battle his worst nightmare… or greatest daydream!”

Elisabeth Sladen died at the age of 63 from pancreatic cancer in 2011. However, her Who role is still fondly remembered, with The Sarah Jane Adventures celebrating its 10-year anniversary last week.

The casting of Jodie Whittaker as the new star of Doctor Who this summer took many fans by surprise, with her status as the first female Doctor kept under wraps for months before being unveiled during the Wimbledon tennis final.

However, some fans have since pointed out that there were some hints towards the Time Lord’s gender change in the most recent series of the BBC sci-fi drama, with Peter Capaldi’s Doctor hoping the future could be “all girl” in series finale the Doctor Falls and previously explaining his species ability to change gender to companion Bill (Pearl Mackie) in World Enough and Time.

“We’re the most civilised civilisation in the universe,” he said. “We’re billions of years beyond your petty human obsession with gender and its associated stereotypes.”

And of course, even before that we had the fact that the Doctor’s longtime nemesis the Master (previously played by Roger Delgado, Antony Ainley, Eric Roberts and John Simm) had regenerated into a woman herself in 2014, Michelle Gomez’s Missy – a choice that departing head writer Steven Moffat now says was the catalyst for Whittaker’s casting.

“I mean I suppose we’ve been heading in this direction for a while with the Master becoming a woman,” Moffat told The Showbiz Lion at the Edinburgh TV festival.

“I always thought the moment the Master became a woman, the Doctor would NEVER allow that to stand without having a go at the same.”

So clearly, a female Doctor was written in the stars for years – and Moffat seems pretty pleased that it’s finally happened.

“I think it’s absolutely wonderful. I think it’s thrilling,” he said.

“But never mind the fact everyone’s talking about how it’s a woman – it’s Jodie Whittaker! That’s the great thing. Jodie Whittaker, one of the best actors of her generation, is playing the doctor.

He concluded: “I’ve already seen her first little tiny bit and it’s brilliant.”

Sounds like a truly masterful enterprise – in more ways than one.

Doctor Who returns to BBC1 this Christmas

Russell T Davies has called the apparent backlash over a female Doctor Who “outrageous”.

Earlier this year, it was revealed that Jodie Whittaker would replace Peter Capaldi to become the 13th and first ever female Doctor during this year’s Christmas special.

Following the announcement, there was a lot of praise for the decision, with a number of famous faces coming out in support of the refreshing and progressive change.

The decision did prompt some criticism, however, from certain sections of the fanbase, but according to former showrunner Russell T Davies, the naysayers were few and far between.

Elsewhere in the interview, Davies was asked how he felt about some of his narrative choices being retroactively changed by Steven Moffat during his time as showrunner, specifically relating to Gallifrey’s salvation in ‘The Day of the Doctor’.

“When you leave Doctor Who, you have to take a deep breath and think it’s all up for grabs now, it’s all there to be rewritten,” he mused.

“It was interesting. I love that episode. It wasn’t so much the Time Lords disappearing, it was all the Daleks shooting themselves.

“It was like, couldn’t any of them [have] missed?”

Doctor Who returns December 25 to BBC One.