'Doctor Who' Season Premiere Preview Clip Has Flood Watch As Belinda’s Abducted

I hope you like interviews too because there’s four in here. One for each regular and showrunner Russell T. Davies

Missed her by thaaaaaaat much. There’s barely or less than a day until Doctor Who returns for its second series with Ncuti Gatwa as the Fifteenth Doctor as he takes on Belinda Chandra, played by Varada Sethu as his newest companion. After so many glimpses through teasers, behind the scenes videos, including where Sethu answered fan questions, and apparently dozens of stills, a substantial preview clip for the season premiere “The Robot Revolution” was posted to the show’s main YouTube channel Thursday.

The clip sees the mysterious Mrs. Flood speed out of her house but remains on her property, watching as the robots kidnap Belinda, who wants her to pass along messages to her friend Lucy that her cat has “gone to live on a farm”, and attempt convincing the police about her predicament. She then worries about her mom and dad, so she asks Flood to tell them what’s happening, and that she loves her. Davies reveals that her dad is a taxman, while her mum is a violinist. Instead of interfering, Flood waved goodbye as the transmit was initiated and the rocket took off. It’s then when the Doctor arrives, screaming for her, just missing his chance to rescue her. Flood runs back to hide, telling the audience “You ain’t seen me.”

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Written by showrunner Russell T. Davies and directed by Peter Hoar, “The Robot Revolution” set the stage previously as so: “Under a starlit sky, two teenage sweethearts share a moment. Alan Daniel Budd (Jonny Green) presents Belinda with a certificate stating that he named a star in her honour: Miss Belinda Chandra. Seventeen years later, Belinda is working the night shift as a nurse at London’s Able Free Hospital. Later in the very early morning, Robots (voiced by Nicolas Briggs) smash their way into her London home. They’re from the planet Missbelindachandra One – and they want their queen back. Belinda is taken away in the Robot’s rocket. The robots are waging war against the human Missbelindachandrakind. The Missbelindachandrabots serve a single master: the A.I. Generator, a being of immense (processing) power and zero patience. Dare to disagree, and you’re fried to a crisp. It gets worse. The A.I. Generator wants to marry Belinda! Can the Doctor rescue Her Majesty Queen Belinda and quash the robot revolution?” The rest of the cast list includes Evelyn Miller, Max Parker, Nadine Higgin, Caleb Hughes, William Ellis, Jeffin Kunjumon, and Belinda Owusu.

In the leadup, Davies, Gatwa, Sethu and Dobson have all given interviews. Gatwa has teased that the meaner side there was a taste of in the Christmas special “Joy to the World” will occasionally surface. In fact he’s just out of Bethlehem and ready for his next companion. He says “There are moments when you see darker elements of the Doctor or his more vindictive elements, which was exciting because I hadn’t seen that before, or that the Doctor has that in him… the Doctor is a humanoid lifeform and therefore a complex emotional being who has dark elements to them as well. It’s interesting to play with that this season.” He calls working with Rylan, Rose Ayling-Ellis, and Jonah Hauer-King this season great in their own unique ways. Talking about the Doctor’s dynamic with Belinda, he tells “He’s very used to sort of charming his way out of anything and getting what he wants, but Belinda doesn’t want to be in a spaceship with him – she… has no interest in exploring the universe with a madman that breaks all his promises…Belinda has accumulated more responsibilities throughout her life…It’s an interesting dynamic. It starts quite push and pull… The amount the Doctor learns from Belinda about himself, and the less desirable qualities… actually helps him to grow. Each companion helps the Doctor to grow, but this one is in a very different way because he’s learning about the sides of him that aren’t great.” He calls the season as whole “revealing”, that there plot points and journeys crucial to Fifteen’s characterization. That there are “layers peeled back from the Doctor and his life” from this section and the grander entirety. And he wants the viewer to understand a healthy work-life balance.

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Sethu revealed that not only did she have Millie Gibson, who continues to play last season’s companion Ruby Sunday this season, on hand for companion advice, but Mandip Gill, who played Thirteenth Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) companion Yasmin Khan, reached out. She describes Belinda as “quick-witted, brave and independent”, and “very rooted in her own values and beliefs”. Sethu describes Belinda and the Doctor’s relationship as “deeply loving and healthy” where they “really care about each other”, protective of one another while being caring of others and selfless. Their value systems align and they’re “truly equals”. What results, in her eyes, is a beautiful friendship and a great team. In one of the behind the scenes videos, Davies describes that she manages to warm up to such an amazing and capable man so quickly. He also previously revealed that Mrs. Flood will be appearing in every episode this season. Dobson describes being overjoyed by being part of things, impressed by the reception she’s witnessed on the convention circuit and the cosplay attempts she’s seen. Because the nature of Mrs. Flood has been a long-coming big reveal in her second season, a lot of the interview is quite coy.

In his own interview, Davies chimed “The vision is to be bigger, and brighter, and bolder than ever.” He described darker swings along with bolder ones, which align with Gatwa’s descriptions. The Interstellar Song Contest, essentially Eurovision for all of space that will occur in the sixth episode, is said to be the “biggest and maddest thing” the show has ever done. He confirms that the Doctor can’t take her home to the specific date of May 24, 2025 at 7:30 AM for very important reasons to uncover. And he had a lot more to say but there is already a lot here. Check out the full interview in the sources.

Doctor Who’s new season premieres Saturday, April 12, with an 8 AM BBC iPlayer posting that amounts to a 3 AM Eastern / Midnight Pacific stateside on Disney+, the series’s international home. So far, it’s been revealed that “The Robot Revolution” will make its linear debut at 6:50 PM on BBC One, while “Lux” the following week will air at 7:15 PM. Of course, May 24 is the date of the premiere of “Wish World”, the first part of the two-part season finale. But before all that, Gatwa will be presenting the entire Jeopardy! category “Time Travel Is Possible!” on Friday’s episode. That’s going to be fun.

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Source: Doctor Who (1, 2, 3, 4), BBC