New Doctor Who Season Nine Production Image Released (UPDATED)

Image Source: BBC (@bbcdoctorwho)

Another day, another block of time-travelling escapades for the Twelfth Doctor and Clara!
The BBC have today unveiled a new production image fresh from the set of their long-running science-fiction drama Doctor Who as filming continues on the programme's ninth season since its 2005 revival.

Starring World War Z's Peter Capaldi in the role of the twelfth incarnation of the eponymous eternal time traveller and Captain America: The First Avenger's Jenna Coleman as his ever-faithful travelling assistant Clara Oswald, the series' 2015 run will once again comprise of twelve episodes as was the case with 2014's Season Eight. Quite whether it'll be bookended by a Christmas Special a la "The Christmas Invasion" - "Last Christmas" has yet to be officially announced, but if historical precedent tells us anything, then there's a relatively high likelihood of the show's annual festive status quo staying intact.

Focusing on the here and now, though, with Toby Whithouse's recently-announced two-part story (which, in case anyone here missed the news, will form Episodes 3 and 4 of Season Nine) apparently having completed filming last week, the production team are moving on to shoot the opening instalment of this year's season, better known to anyone who watched "Last Christmas" on Christmas Day 2014 as "The Magician's Apprentice", as part of Block 2 of their production schedule. Whilst executive producer (and in this case screenwriter) Steven Moffat hasn't been forthcoming with regards to details surrounding the plot of his latest season opener to date, that isn't likely to prevent the show's fanbase from discussing Episode 1's potential contents; indeed, the first production image (above) depicts a electronic screen behind director Hettie MacDonald (who also served as the helmer of Moffat's much-loved 2007 Who tale "Blink")'s clapper-board which sports a considerable number of ominous red dots, an enigmatic teaser that's sure to serve as the subject of countless speculative analyses in months to come, not least since the iconography doesn't look completely dissimilar to objects commonly associated with the show's foremost fictitious military agency, U.N.I.T. (a.k.a. the Unified Intelligence Taskforce). In other words, let the hysteria begin...

Doctor Who will return to BBC One for a new series of high-octane adventures taking place throughout the realms of time and space this Autumn.

UPDATE - As filming continues on "The Magician's Apprentice", CultBox are currently reporting that Jemma Redgrave has been spotted by fans on the set of Season Nine's première instalment. Unless they're mistaken, then, Redgrave will seemingly reprise her role as Kate Lethbridge-Stewart (or Kate Stewart for short), a character who was recently confirmed to be receiving her own spin-off series in the form of UNIT: Extinction - an official Who spin-off created by Big Finish so as to allow Kate and UNIT face off against the Autons - the cover for which can be found below. If and when the BBC officially announce Kate's first appearance on the show since 2014's "Death in Heaven", On-Screen will convey all of the relevant details right here soon afterwards.

Image Source: Big Finish