Yahoo News Doctor Who's David Tennant regeneration originally included reference to classic villain
David Tennant's Doctor Who regeneration originally included a reference to a past character, new material has revealed.
The final 60th anniversary special, 'The Giggle', included a ground-breaking bi-generation twist, which saw Tennant and Ncuti Gatwa's Doctors appear alongside one another after they split from one another during the regeneration.
But the latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine has revealed that there was material cut from this sequence that includes a reference to an iconic villain from the show.
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In an excerpt from the original script, Donna (Catherine Tate) and Mel (Bonnie Langford) have a brief conversation while watching the Fourteenth Doctor's hands glowing during the regeneration process.
Donna asks Mel: "Have you seen this before?"
Mel then says: "No, I missed it, I was unconscious. Well, the TARDIS was attacked, by the Rani, she was this evil Time Lady, although not evil, more like amoral, and she dragged the TARDIS down to this planet called Lakertya."
The reference is to the Rani, a neurochemist and renegade Time Lord who experiments on species and who became an enemy of the Doctor.
She first appeared in the show in 1985 and was played on screen by Kate O'Mara for eight years. O'Mara was playing the character when the Sixth Doctor regenerated in classic episode 'Time and the Rani' – the moment that Mel is referring to in 'The Giggle'.
The Rani has also featured in various Doctor Who audio dramas, and was voiced by O'Mara in 2000. Siobhan Redmond played a new incarnation of the character in 2014 and 2015, following O'Mara's death.
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While this reference was ultimately cut from the episode, it has led to renewed speculation that the Rani could potentially return in future episodes of Doctor Who.
We do know that returning showrunner Russell T Davies enjoys thinking ahead, as he recently posted a photo of himself and Imagine… host Alan Yentob standing outside the TARDIS in Cardiff's Bad Wolf studios, with the caption: "Happy New Year's Eve! And the point is – there, right behind us, that's one of the sets from the Christmas 2024 episode of Doctor Who!
"The future! Right there. But what terrible secrets does it hide?"
Doctor Who returns in May, airing on BBC One in the UK and Disney+ elsewhere.
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