It seems that the recent announcement that Neil Gaiman’s Doctor Who Series 7 script featured Cybermen may have been prompted by the revelation that someone foolishly left a copy of the script in a cab.
As revealed on Reddit this week (and as a Reddit regular, I have to apologise for not spotting this!), a copy of the episode – currently titled The Last Cyberman – was left in a taxi. The finder of said script – a lady – passed her concern to a friend who then got in touch with the Doctor Who production team to arrange its return (hopefully after reading, enjoying and then completely forgetting the script – come on, you would!).
Now, there’s no suggestion that it was Gaiman’s own script left in the cab – he’s an international jet-setter who was probably not in the UK at the time – and indeed a quick glance at the image above reveals the name of an actress: Eve De Leon Allen, who you may know from children’s show Nuzzle And Scratch (me neither).
However, the leaking of the script – safe return or not – reveals a couple of facts:
Most importantly, it confirms that Jenna-Louise Coleman’s character is called “Clara”. This is (we believe) the first time that this has been identified in print from BBC materials, and corroborates location shooting reports.
Meanwhile Warwick Davis’ character is called “Porridge”.
Oh, and did you see that Warwick Davis has recently tweeted his excitement of being involved in a Cybermen episode?
Just finished my first day’s filming on #DrWho. It’s been my ambition for years. And to top it all – there are Cybermen in this episode!
— Warwick Davis (@WarwickADavis) November 7, 2012
Well, you would be, wouldn’t you?
Does it say Clara or Ciara?
How’s that for divine providence; one of my titles in an earlier report this week is actually the name of the script!