The trailer for the Doctor Who 60th anniversary specials has broken records for the franchise. The longest-running sci-fi television series in history, Doctor Who first debuted in 1963, and currently has over 850 total episodes. 2023 will be the franchise’s 60th anniversary, and there are several episodes slated to premiere in November 2023 to commemorate the occasion. The specials will feature the newly-regenerated Fourteenth Doctor, David Tennant, as well as the upcoming Fifteenth Doctor, Ncuti Gatwa. Several actors from the Doctor Who franchise are also expected to appear, including the late Bernard Cribbins as Wilfred Mott.
On December 25, the official Doctor Who YouTube channel released a teaser trailer for the 60th anniversary specials, and the video is already breaking massive records for the franchise. To date, the trailer has the highest number of views for a Doctor Who trailer on YouTube since 2018, currently sitting at 2 million views in four days. It is also the most-liked official Doctor Who trailer on YouTube ever, with over 74,000 likes, and had the best opening for an official Doctor Who trailer of all time, with 1.5 million views after one day. Check out the record-breaking numbers, and the trailer, below:
Why Doctor Who’s 60th Anniversary Is Already Building Hype
The hype for the Doctor Who 60th anniversary specials has been building for quite some time. Excitement has been in the air ever since they were announced to be in development with prior Doctor Who showrunner Russell T. Davies in 2021. It wasn’t until the teaser trailer released earlier this year that fans of the sci-fi franchise got a glimpse of what is to come. The Doctor Who 60th anniversary specials are also building hype thanks to how they will use various elements from the franchise’s decades of lore, which allows it to be an epic event highlighting Doctor Who‘s legacy and setting up the future.
For instance, the Doctor Who 60th anniversary teaser revealed Neil Patrick Harris being introduced as a classic villain from the series. He is most likely the Celestial Toymaker, a character who hasn’t appeared on-screen since 1966. It also offered a quick glimpse at Beep the Meep, a cute and cuddly-looking creature who is actually a galactic conqueror, and at a Wrarth Warrior, who is akin to an intergalactic police force. There are also rumors that Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi’s past Doctors will appear in the Doctor Who 60th anniversary special episodes.
With classic Doctor Who villains making their return to the screen and excitement building for Gatwa to take over from Tennant as the Fifteenth Doctor, the anniversary specials are eagerly awaited by fans. While there is no set release date just yet, viewers have less than a year to wait before the expected November 2023 premiere for these episodes. And, if the massive success of the trailer is any indication, the 60th anniversary Doctor Who specials could do some serious record-breaking of their own.
Source: Doctor Who/Youtube, @StarWhovian/Twitter
