New and short promotional tv spots for this year’s 60th-anniversary special of Doctor Who have been spotted on BBC One these past few weeks, with the brief teasers showing a fast-paced, cryptic, and scrambled few seconds of footage, with dialogue even being played in reverse, leaving the Whovian community to decipher amongst themselves.
Alongside the return of David Tennant and Catherine Tate will be Neil Patrick Harris, whose character has yet to be revealed, however, the most recent teaser for the upcoming special may have just confirmed that Harris will be starring as the Celestial Toymaker, proving many theories and speculations within the Whovian fandom right.
During the latest promo, fans were quick to realise and share online that the original Toymaker’s laugh can be heard in the background of the cryptic and scrambled footage, which is either the confirmation fans have been waiting for, or a random nod to the Hartnell-era villain – watch below via the CoveredGeekly Twitter.
Who Is The Celestial Toymaker In Doctor Who?
The Celestial Toymaker, aka the Toymaker, has already once come across the Doctor’s path, originally played by Michael Gough during the 1960s era of Doctor Who that starred William Hartnell as the first Doctor that has now become the longest-running science fiction series in the history of television.
The Toymaker went by many names during his stint in the series, some being the Puppetmaster, Cosmic, Crystal Guardian, and even the Mandarin, and first appeared back in April 1996 during Hartnell’s third season of Doctor Who.
He was known as a powerful being who could essentially trap sentient lifeforms in wicked and childish games, using their literal freedom as the stakes, games that the Toymaker hated to lose so much, he had them rigged to forever be in his favour.
As seen in the small glimpses of Harris’ version of the character, it is clear that he’s up to something, with Tennant’s Doctor and Tate’s Donna Noble potentially being entangled in multiple games created by the sinister Celestial Toymaker.
The cast and crew of Doctor Who have yet to officially confirm these details.
The Doctor Who 60th Anniversary releases in November 2023.
