Day Of The Doctor Pics, Regeneration Limits And Season 8 News...

While we've all been distracted by the announcement of the haul of Troughton episodes, a lot has been going on with upcoming Doctor Who.

First off, SFX have scored a load of pictures of the three Doctors featured in the anniversary episode The Day Of The Doctor, giving us a good look at Hurt's "missing" Doctor (and look, his sonic has a "red" setting...), as well as getting a chance to see David Tennant in the latest version of the TARDIS, and offering a glimpse at the returning Kate Stewart (Jemma Redgrave).

Check them out:

In the same publication, Stephen Moffat has been talking 'bout re..regenerations (that was a Who reference. As in the band, not the show. It doesn't matter...)

Says the showrunner: "There has been a miscalculation of how many regenerations he has actually been through. I think you should go back to your DVDs and count correctly this time. Theres something you've all missed"

So what can he be talking about? Technically we don't see the regeneration between Pat and Pertwee (though Pertwee is wearing Troughton's outfit at the start of Spearhead From Space), there's the gap between McGann and Ecclescake, though we've all been talking about that since 2005 so that's hardly been "missed", there's the slew of faces in The Brain Of Morbius (though they've fallen into the same "just fucking ignore it" hole as the half-human bollocks), and other than that we're into dodgy ground with the half-regen moment in Journey's End, or the fact that he fixed River's wrist in The Angels Take Manhatten. Hmm...

Or maybe Moff's just being tricksy and fucking with us...

And if that still isn't enough Who news for you, Blogtor Who is reporting that production for Season Eight has been brought forward to November. Oh, and The Paternoster Gang (Vastra, Jenny and Strax) are now confirmed to be appearing in the new season. The latter is no surprise, to be honest - it makes a lot of sense for old faces to be around early on in the era of a new Doctor to reassure fans (excluding the main companions, of course, the only Doctors whose era has started without either returning allies or foes are Colin Baker and Matt Smith). Plus, even if he was in every single scene, the show still couldn't have enough Strax.

And if that still isn't enough, Empire have reported that on board to direct a couple of episodes is Ben Wheatley, of Sightseers and A Field In England fame. Whether this is for a two-parter or two separate episodes is still unclear, but there's little doubt that, in terms of directors at least, this is probably the biggest hiring coup the show has ever managed.

Says Wheatley: “I am very excited and honoured to be asked to direct the first two episodes of the new series of Doctor Who. I’ve been a fan since childhood (Tom Baker is my Doctor if you are asking). I’ve been watching the current run of Doctor who with my son and have discovered it all over again. The work that has been done is amazing. I’m really looking forward to working with Peter Capaldi and finding out where Steven Moffat is planning to take the new Doctor."

And, as a final thought: If production really starts next month, we're only a few weeks away from seeing Peter Capaldi in costume as The Doctor.

You sexy devil, you...

It's a good time to be a Who fan.

The Day Of The Doctor stars Matt Smith, David Tennant, Jenna Coleman, Billie Piper and John Hurt, and airs worldwide on the 23rd of November.