Doctor Who brings back surprise character from Jodie Whittaker's debut
But probably not anyone you were expecting.
Doctor Who revisited an old character in New Year's Day special Eve of the Daleks, though not necessarily someone you would've expected to see again.
As the episode reached its climax, the Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) and her friends tricked the Daleks into detonating a stash of fireworks hidden underneath Elf Storage, destroying the building and the alien nasties with it.
With the time loop caused by the TARDIS having subsided, our heroes were able to escape the building and enjoy the resulting fireworks display.
A lone figure was also seen to be enjoying the fireworks from a distance, filming it on his phone. "Good display!" he remarks, before noticing there's nobody else around. "Just for me, is it?"
Fans with long memories with have spotted that this bystander is none other than Karl Wright (played by Jonny Dixon), who previously appeared in Jodie Whittaker's Doctor Who debut The Woman Who Fell to Earth.
In that story, Karl was being hunted by Tzim-Sha (Samuel Oatley) and was accosted by the alien bounty hunter on a train in Sheffield and later at Skylark Building Services, where Karl worked as a crane operator.
In the years that followed, it seems Karl has relocated to Manchester, where Eve of the Daleks is set – who can blame him after what he experienced in Sheffield? (It's possible that he was just visiting the city, but given that poor Karl appeared to be spending New Year's Eve alone, we're guessing he hadn't travelled for a night out.)
Prior to his Doctor Who appearances, actor Dixon was best known for playing bully Matthew "Mooey" Humphries on Grange Hill from 2003 to 2007 and also portrayed Darryl Morton on Coronation Street between 2007 and 2009.
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Doctor Who will return to BBC One in spring 2022. Visit our Sci-fi hub for more news, interviews and features, or find something to watch with our TV Guide.
Authors
Morgan Jeffery is the Digital Editor for Radio Times, overseeing all editorial output across the brand's digital platforms. He was previously TV Editor at Digital Spy and has featured as a TV expert on BBC Breakfast, BBC Radio 5 Live and Sky Atlantic.
