The first trailer for Jodie Whittaker’s era of Doctor Who features a nod to a past Doctor and, hopefully, a nice nod to the ongoing 80th anniversary celebrations for the weekly British humour comic, the Beano.
As the Doctor’s golden regeneration energy sweeps through the lives of new companions Graham, Ryan and Yasmin (Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole and Mandip Gill), subtly changing their lives in small and fun ways, Graham’s newspaper is replaced with a copy of the 1981 Beano Summer Special.
Yes, the very same Special the Eleventh Doctor, Matt Smith, hid behind in the 2013 episode The Rings of Akhaten, he went back in time to the 1980s to spy on the parents of then-companion Clara Oswald (Jenna Coleman).
The Beano was of course quick to offer the Doctor Who Production Team other back copies of the comic if they needed them.
When the same special Beano featured on Doctor Who, DC Thomson reprinted it as part of the regular comic, released Wednesday 15th May 2013, after they were inundated with messages from fans asking for copies.
The front cover of that weekly issue also features a caricature of Matt Smith and Dennis the Menace making short work of a Dalek.
Editor-in-chief Mike Stirling told the Daily Record at the time: “Everyone at The Beano was delighted to see one of our summer specials appear on Doctor Who. We’re big fans of the show and so are our readers, who haven’t stopped talking about it.”
The Daleks have made “sight gag” appearances in the Beano many times over the years, of course, including an earlier appearance by the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) in a special Comic Relief edition of the title.
• Doctor Who returns to BBC1 this autumn
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The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: Doctor Who, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Television