Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special: Matt Smith, David Tennant, John Hurt… and Daleks!

The BBC announced today that The Doctors — Matt Smith, David Tennant, and John Hurt — will battle the deadly Daleks in the show’s 50th anniversary special.

When the series returns this autumn, the highly-anticipated, can’t-get-here-soon-enough adventure will star Matt Smith, Jenna Coleman, David Tennant, Billie Piper, John Hurt and Joanna Page. In a surprise twist in the Series 7, Part 2 finale “The Name of The Doctor,” it was revealed that John Hurt would be playing a Doctor alongside Smith and Tennant.

After the Zygons, the Daleks are the second monster announced for the 50th anniversary special. As Whovians may already know, the Daleks have been a part of British and sci-fi culture since they began terrifying audiences in 1963, when they made their first appearance in “The Daleks.” The shape-shifting Zygons have only been featured once in the classic series in “Terror of the Zygons,” although they have appeared via flashbacks or been mentioned in others, including in the reboot series in “The Pandorica Opens“ and “The Power of Three.”

Steven Moffat, showrunner, lead writer and executive producer of Doctor Who, said:

“The Doctor once said that you can judge a man by the quality of his enemies, so it’s fitting that for this very special episode, he should facing the greatest enemies of all.”

The 50th anniversary special was shot earlier this year at BBC Cymru Wales’ Roath Lock Studios in Cardiff and across South Wales. Filming also took place at the Tower of London as well as in Trafalgar Square for a huge stunt, which saw Matt Smith dangling from a TARDIS alongside Nelson’s Column.

The Doctor Who 50th anniversary special will premiere on 23 November on BBC One in the UK and BBC America in the U.S.

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