The Doctor returns to virtual reality with an original interactive short film.
With the twelfth season of Doctor Who scheduled to arrive in 2020, fans of the long-running BBC series have at the very least a 10-month void to fill before they’re blessed with more time-skipping adventures from the thirteenth Doctor and her Companions.
To help ease the pain brought on by this brutal drought of space-hopping content, BBC is releasing an interactive VR animation that follows the thirteenth Doctor on a brand new, never-before-seen adventure that offers you the chance to become the Doctor’s Champion and take on yet another world-ending threat.
A collaborative effort between BBC VR Hub and Passion Animation Studios, Doctor Who: The Runaway sees Jodie Whitacker reprising her role as the thirteenth Time Lord as she works alongside the user throughout a deadly journey aboard the legendary TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimension in Space).
Image Credit: BBC Studios
“Fans will experience the TARDIS like never before in this thrilling new interactive story,” states Jo Pearce, creative director for the BBC’s digital drama team, in an official release. “As ever, the Doctor is full of warmth, wit and charm – helped by a wonderful performance from Jodie – which puts fans at the heart of the story as they immerse themselves in this beautifully animated world.”
The 12-minute interactive animation was written by Victoria Asare-Archer and features new original music from longtime series composer, Segun Akinola. The films director, Mathias Chelebourg, has considerable experience within the medium and is responsible for VR films such as The Real Thing and Alice, the Virtual Reality Play; the ladder of which received several nominations at the Venice Film Festival.
“Our team at the BBC VR Hub has been creating new experiences with the goal of helping to usher virtual reality into the mainstream, and Doctor Who is exactly the sort of series that can help more people to try this new technology,” adds Zillah Watson, head of BBC VR Hub. “The show has been pushing boundaries for over 55 years, and VR enables Doctor Who to explore a whole new dimension of storytelling.”
Doctor Who: The Runaway will be available later this year. No word as of yet on an official release date or confirmed platforms.
Doctor Who made its original VR debut back in December 2017 with Doctor Who Time Vortex VR, a short game released on Google Cardboard, Google Daydream, Samsung Gear VR, HTC Vive, and WebVR that had users safely navigating the TARDIS away from various hazards and obstructions.
