- An unreleased Doctor Who episode titled’The Suicide Exhibition may be released in audio format 17 years after being shelved
- Written by Mark Gatiss, the episode features the Tenth Doctor battling Nazis in the British Museum in an Indiana Jones-style story
- Doctor Who will return with a Christmas Special in 2026, and the BBC confirms its commitment to the series after Disney’s departure
An episode of Doctor Who that never quite made it to the small screen on the BBC could soon see the light of day.
The scrapped episode had been penned for David Tennant’s run as the Tenth Doctor, but was replaced by The Fires of Pompeii – hard to argue with, that’s a stellar pick.
Although from the sounds of things, this episode entitled The Suicide Exhibition, would have been a memorable entry as well.
Penned by Mark Gatiss, the story would have seen the Tenth Time Lord take on the Nazis in the British Museum for an Indian Jones-style caper. Instantly sold.
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The episode was intended for the 2008 series, with Gatiss previously saying that it had been ‘on the verge of production for a while’. Now, it could finally make its way to the avid Whovians in audio form.
When asked about the episode by the Radio Times, Gatiss confirmed he still has a copy of the script, adding: ‘It’s rather good, I think. Big Finish has expressed an interest. It’s all gone very quiet, though. I’m waiting for that emergency phone call!’
Of The Suicide Exhibition, Gatiss previously said: ‘The title came from this thing I was reading about how, in the First World War, they were evacuating stuff from museums to various Welsh museums.
‘All this precious stuff, they hid in places like salt mines. But what they had in both World Wars was this amazing thing called the Suicide Exhibition.
‘People still needed stuff to see, for spiritual succour. So if they had 300,000 Anglo-Saxon pots, they just put some of them out that they could afford to lose! If a bomb fell, it wouldn’t matter, because they had loads of them.’
He explained that he wrote one draft set in the First World War, but showrunner Russell T Davies then asked him to move it on a war, saying, according to Gatiss: ‘Let’s make it the Nazis and do the full Indiana Jones on it.’
Describing the episode, Gatiss said: ‘The whole museum was a puzzle box of sliding doors and traps and stuff.’
Given how cinematic that sounds, if you want our two cents, perhaps the script could be saved for the upcoming Doctor Who series, which we finally know is on the way.
According to a BBC statement, Doctor Who will return in 2026 for a Christmas Special written by Russell T Davies.
We also now know that Disney will not continue its partnership with the BBC on future seasons.
The statement also outlines the BBC’s commitment to the show and assures fans that a new series will be announced in due course, which ‘will ensure the TARDIS remains at the heart of the BBC.’
Doctor Who is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
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