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Jan 31, 2024

Paul McGann's Doctor Who 2023 Return Can't Beat The Eighth Doctor's Best Comeback 10 Years Ago

Paul McGann's involvement in Doctor Who's 60th anniversary is confirmed, but his return can't top the Eighth Doctor's famous cameo from 10 years ago. Although Paul McGann has been included in Doctor

Paul McGann's involvement in Doctor Who's 60th anniversary is confirmed, but his return can't top the Eighth Doctor's famous cameo from 10 years ago.

Although Paul McGann has been included in Doctor Who's 60th anniversary celebrations, his return brings back wistful memories of a far more dramatic comeback during the 50th anniversary. 2023 marks 60 years of watching a wooden police box fly through time and space causing mischief, but the occasion is even more special for coinciding with the reinstatement of Russell T. Davies as Doctor Who showrunner, the arrival of Ncuti Gatwa as the Fourteenth Doctor, and Doctor Who's new era on Disney+. Speculation and excitement are rampant for what surprises are ahead and, more specifically, which familiar faces will be bringing a bottle of Aldebaran brandy to the festivities.

Although Doctor Who's trio of 60th anniversary TV specials are on the horizon, the franchise is currently celebrating its milestone birthday with Doom's Day. This multi-platform event sees the titular Doom on a 24-hour search for the Doctor, and has already included recognizable characters such as Missy and K-9 in comic and literary form. Continuing the series in September 2023 will be the Big Finish audio release "Dying Hours." Starring alongside Sooz Kempner as Doom will be Paul McGann, reprising his role as Doctor Who's Eighth Doctor (via BBC).

Related: Doctor Who Doom's Day - What It Means For The 60th & Season 14

Any opportunity Doctor Who gets to bring back Paul McGann and banish memories of the ill-advised 1990s TV movie is a welcome one. The Eighth Doctor will make a vital contribution to the Doom's Day narrative, and inject a not-insignificant dose of star power. 10 years ago, however, McGann's contribution to Doctor Who's party-of-the-decade was very different. In a surprise release, short film "The Night of the Doctor" dropped online, not only showing the Eighth Doctor in live-action for the first time since 1996, but revealing his regeneration and bridging directly into TV special "The Day of the Doctor."

Despite not being the main event, McGann's comeback emerged as an undisputed highlight of Doctor Who's 50th anniversary. Adding Paul McGann to Doom's Day is great, but represents a far more low-key, less franchise-shattering turn compared to "The Night of the Doctor" 10 years prior. The Eighth Doctor has been ever-present in Big Finish's Doctor Who audios, so for those anticipating an Eighth Doctor Disney+ spinoff TV show announcement, or a live-action cameo from an Eighth Doctor companion in Doctor Who's 60th anniversary TV specials, McGann appears to be slated for a more modest role in 2023. For now, at least.

Paul McGann joining Doctor Who's 60th anniversary celebrations as a detached voice in Doom's Day doesn't automatically prevent the Eighth Doctor appearing alongside David Tennant and Ncuti Gatwa in Doctor Who's upcoming TV specials. Russell T. Davies is all but guaranteed to have surprises waiting in the wings, and former Doctors could be among them. It does, however, seem unlikely that RTD would sign off on McGann in Doom's Day if the actor were also lined up for a live-action cameo later in 2023.

Even if Paul McGann's Eighth Doctor does rock up in Doctor Who's 60th anniversary TV episodes, the potential gravity of that guest spot has been drained by "The Power of the Doctor," Jodie Whittaker's regeneration story that aired back in January 2023. Alongside Peter Davison, Colin Baker, and Sylvester McCoy as the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Doctors, respectively, Paul McGann featured as part of a quasi-dream sequence, offering advice to the doomed Thirteenth. By virtue of being his second live-action appearance of 2023, any potential Eighth Doctor cameo in Doctor Who's 60th anniversary specials would pack a significantly lighter punch.

Sources: BBC