Now here’s a story that is exciting, puzzling and, for all we know, wrong. According to the Radio Times, the Doctor Who 50th anniversary special will feature four Doctors. Yep, that’s four. Not just Matt Smith, David Tennant and John Hurt, but “one of the five former doctors who wielded the Sonic Screwdriver before the Eccleston reboot”. Blimey, that’s news.

So who is it? Naturally enough, Who fans have taken the Sonic Screwdriver reference entirely literally and have ruled out Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and William Hartnell as they never actually used it. Hartnell’s death in 1975 would also seem to rule him out. However, we think that reference to the screwdriver might have been a bit more generic than those obsessive types are assuming because most normal people don’t know about who did or didn’t use the sonic, even if they work for the Radio Times.

The relative age of these actors is also a factor in assessing who might be appearing. In theory they should look like they did when they were playing the Doctor and, let’s be honest, they don’t. Of course the other thing to consider is whether this is a complete red herring. We actually got a bit of all of them in the last episode so it’s not beyond the BBC to use a bit of trickery to get any one of them in via old footage.

Interestingly enough, all the living candidates have, at one time or another, said they are not in it. But in the interest of pointless speculation, here’s our assessment of the runners:

William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee: Dead. No chance unless it’s a cheat.

Tom Baker: Love it to be true but he’s 79. Mind you, he’s game for a laugh.

Peter Davison: Looks surprisingly different nowadays. But didn’t he don the cricket sweater for Children in Need?

Colin Baker: Apart from his strained history with the BBC and Doctor Who, he is the one who looks the most different to his time of Tardis-tenure.

Sylvester McCoy: Doesn’t look too different and, more importantly, he’s always game for absolutely anything; he also has a raised profile due to his Hobbit role. Our money is on Sylvester.

Paul McGann: Lot of people going for this one but come on, is he a proper Doctor? Slightly disappointing if true (sorry Paul).

Christopher Eccleston: No chance and also ruled out by the press release.

So, McCoy and McGann are the front runners unless they cheat. Which they might. Let’s see them keep this secret.

Source: Radio Times

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