Doctor Who: Redacted Podcast to star Jodie Whittaker in new adventure

While we’re all getting ready to say goodbye to Jodie Whitaker’s Doctor who has two episodes left in the hit show, it seems the actress has played the iconic Time Lord/Lady in a new adventure that we didn’t know about.

Hitting BBC Sounds on April 17th, Doctor Who: Redacted is touted as a Podcast – although, it’s surely more of an audio adventure, no? – Redacted is a 10-part adventure that will focus on Cleo Proctor (Charlie Craggs), Abby McPhail (Lois Chimimba) and Shawna Thompson (Holly Quin-Ankrah) – alongside some familiar faces including the Doctor (Jodie Whittaker), Rani Chandra, Kate Stewart, Petronella Osgood and Madame Vastra.

From this description, it seems the Doctor is not the star of the series but rather the catalyst behind it.

Doctor Who: Redacted follows Cleo, Abby and Shawna – three broke university drop-outs from different cities across the UK who remain connected via their paranormal conspiracy podcast, ‘The Blue Box Files’. The trio speculate over Abby’s favourite conspiracy theory – intent on finding out the truth behind the mysterious ‘Blue Box’ that keeps cropping up across history. What if this random police public call box was actually an alien ship?

They don’t know who the Doctor is, or if aliens are real, but soon find themselves caught in a supernatural conspiracy as they learn that everyone who’s ever met the Doctor is disappearing and being forgotten. Essentially, they’re being redacted from reality. The Blue Box Files is so unsuccessful that our heroes are the last ones to be affected by the redaction, making Cleo, Abby and Shawna the world’s only hope. Now it’s a race against time to uncover the truth.

Set in the Doctor Who universe, the series entangles past and current storylines, cameos from the Doctor’s friends and allies, as well as appearances from monsters and aliens, identifiable to fans and non-fans alike.

When Cleo’s brother Jordan, (played by comedian Jacob Hawley), gets redacted, they spend the rest of the series trying to find him. In the meantime Cleo is dealing with a mother who kicked her out for being trans when she was 16, whilst trying to find out what happened to her Dad – who mysteriously ‘disappeared’ when she was a kid. As the series unfolds we find Abby – the resident believer and Shawna – the skeptic, grapple with their own tribulations on the edge of a will-they, won’t-they romance, despite Abby’s controlling boyfriend.

Doctor Who: Redacted is scripted by bestselling author Juno Dawson, alongside a host of new and experienced writing talent, with a strong emphasis on diversity and regionality. The audio drama primarily explores the relationships between ordinary people unknowingly immersed in the Doctor Who universe.

Writer Juno Dawson, lead writer says: “Doctor Who was my first love, and it’s an absolute thrill to add to the ever-expanding mythology in podcast form for the first time ever. What a total privilege to write for something so beloved, and put my own little flag on the landscape.”

I’m still puzzled by the show being called a Podcast, perhaps something will be made more apparent when the series debuts. Whittaker has previously ruled out playing the Doctor on media such as Big Finish’s audio adventures, perhaps this will change that around… it would be great to hear what the actress can do with the character with scripts of Big Finish’s quality.

Otherwise, this sounds like a fun little outing; Doctor Who has dabbled many times with stories about the effect the Doctor has on people’s lives, more that the Doctor him/herself and it’s a great opportunity to do new things in the universe. Let’s hope this capitalises on that opportunity.

Tune in to Doctor Who: Redacted from 17th April 2022, on BBC Sounds after Doctor Who: Legend of the Sea Devils on Easter Sunday.

Source: DoctorWhoTV