An image released by official Doctor Who media leaves no doubt that the the world’s first live working television system, demonstrated by Scottish inventor John Logie Baird, is featured in the third Doctor Who 60th anniversary special The Giggle.
In his laboratory on 2 October 1925, Baird successfully transmitted the first television picture with a greyscale image: the head of a ventriloquist’s dummy nicknamed “Stooky Bill” in a 32-line vertically scanned image.
Fans speculate that the image below from the first Doctor Who 60th anniversary teaser trailer depicts John Logie Baird entering the Toymaker’s (Neil Patrick Harris) shop Mr Emporium. Russell T Davies teased in Doctor Who Magazine that the man in the still plays a significant role.
“Wait a minute, who’s that? The man with an umbrella and his back to camera, walking into the bright red shop in the rain, who’s he? That’s a lovely guest star. Wonderful actor. Walking past unnoticed. Wait and see!”
Stooky Bill makes a cheeky appearance on the UNIT tower viewscreens in The Giggle.
Where better to a obtain a ventriloquist dummy’s head than a toy shop?
Doctor Who will return on 25 November 2023 with The Star Beast, the first of three Doctor Who 60th anniversary specials starring David Tennant as the Fourteenth Doctor and Catherine Tate as companion Donna Noble — followed by Wild Blue Yonder on 2 December and The Giggle on 9 December.
Ncuti Gatwa will star in his first full Doctor Who episode as the Fifteenth Doctor in the Doctor Who Christmas special The Church on Ruby Road alongside Millie Gibson as companion Ruby Sunday on 25 December.
A new 8-episode Doctor Who series starring Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson will debut in Spring of 2024 followed by the 2024 Christmas special later in the year.
BBC One will be the exclusive home of Doctor Who in the UK and Ireland and all new episodes will be exclusively available to stream on iPlayer in the UK. Disney+ will be the exclusive home for all new episodes of Doctor Who outside of the UK and Ireland.