Could Toby Whithouse’s upcoming Doctor Who episode – shooting for which is currently under way in Spain – be set in the Old Wild West?

That’s certainly the impression when one looks at the evidence:

The stars and crew have headed for southern Spain to an area once used for Hollywood westerns in the 1960s and 70s

Whithouse himself has stated that

“My episode is in a genre I’ve never written before — frankly, no one has written in that genre for quite a while now.”

As most Doctor Who genres have been covered since 2005, the one that stands out is the western, last attempted in 1966′s The Gunfighters, which starred William Hartnell as the Doctor who is mistaken for dentist and gunslinger Doc Holliday in the events leading up to the famous Gunfight at the OK Corrall.

It is worth noting that The Gunfighters has the lowest Audience Appreciation record of any Doctor Who serial.

Meanwhile, Farscape star Ben Browder (above) has been cast as a yet-unnamed character in the episode, reports Doctor Who Magazine. Browder played the key character of John Crichton in the slow-burning Farscape which ran between 1999 and 2003. He later appeared in Stargate SG-1 as Lieutenant Colonel Cameron Mitchell.