Message from the Doctor (webcast)
- You may be looking for the transmission itself or A Message from the Doctor.
Message from the Doctor was a webcast featuring the Thirteenth Doctor.
Designed to urge viewers — particularly children — to remain calm during the COVID-19 worldwide outbreak, it took the form of a video message from the Doctor about what to do in a crisis.
A prose version of the story, accompanied by a new illustration by Sonia Leong, made up the first instalment in the Adventures in Lockdown anthology.
Summary
The TARDIS detects an upsurge in psychological signals from somewhere in space and time and sends out an emergency transmission. In this transmission, the Thirteenth Doctor is self-isolating, or hiding, from an army of Sontarans. The Doctor then describes what to do in a worrying situation before saying that she'll see the person watching the transmission very soon and ending the message.
Cast
Crew
Worldbuilding
- The Doctor's TARDIS has detected an upsurge in psychological signals from "somewhere in space and time".
- The Doctor is "self-isolating" from an army of Sontarans.
Notes
- Jodie Whitaker filmed the webcast at home inside a wardrobe.
- The words "COVID-19" and "coronavirus" are not mentioned during the webcast, and the Sontarans do not make a physical appearance.
- The webcast appeared on both the Doctor Who and the CBBC Newsround pages on the BBC website — the latter for the benefit of children who were left feeling anxious about the situation.
- In the case of "in-character" appearances of the Doctor, this is the second time an actor has recorded footage in the role from home. The first time was in 1973 when the Time Lords' video screen in The Three Doctors showed an image of the First Doctor in a garden, which is rumoured to be shot in William Hartnell's own garden at home.[source needed]
Continuity
- The Thirteenth Doctor hiding in a wardrobe from a Sontaran served as her profile picture when speaking to all her previous selves during a different crisis. (WC: Doctors Assemble!)
External links
- Official Message from the Doctor page on the Doctor Who website
