Doctor Who Season Nine Episode 1 Title Announced

Source: The Guardian

Everyone's favourite Time Lord wasn't lying when he likened himself to a magical conjurer!
Executive producer Steven Moffat has today announced the official title of the opening instalment of Doctor Who's ninth season since its 2005 revival. Tentatively scheduled to broadcast during the latter half of 2015, the latest series of the BBC's long-running science-fiction drama will star Peter Capaldi in the titular role of Theta Sigma for the second consecutive year, but Moffat and his intrepid band of semi-propagandists have yet to reveal whether it'll additionally feature Jenna Coleman as Clara Oswald once more.

All will be revealed on that front when "Last Christmas" airs in a week's time, it seems. Before then, however, the programme's ever-extensive fanbase will have much to debate thanks to the revelation that next year's run will open with an instalment entitled "The Magician's Apprentice". Just as Season Eight's début outing boasted an infuriatingly vague name in the form of "Deep Breath", so too does Moffat appear intent on keeping the exact nature of his next contribution to Who's ongoing story arc a closely-guarded secret until such a time when Season Nine's première is within arm's reach. Whilst these three words adorned the cover of Trudi Canavan's fantasy novel of the same name, though, odds are that this'll be anything but a direct adaptation - quite to the contrary, that the resident showrunner and Stephen Thompson had Capaldi's Doctor compare his attire to that of a wizard despite "hoping for minimalism" in "Time Heist" suggests that the former screenwriter is intending to allude to his predecessor's script, although quite whether the use of the word "Apprentice" is coincidental or intended to imply that Coleman's beloved character will depart the TARDIS in just under seven days is most certainly a matter that's open for discussion. Let the speculation commence...

Doctor Who returns to our screens with its 2014 Christmas Special, "Last Christmas", next Thursday, December 25th (better known as Christmas Day, for those who haven't already heard) at 6.15pm on BBC One.