Season 54 (Doctor Who)

Season 54 of Doctor Who, also known as Series 2 premiered in January 2020 and was scheduled to air 13 episodes across the entire year, over 6 different serials, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the season aired 8 episodes across the entire over 4 different serials. It featured Ace Bhatti as The Doctor, Jayd Johnson as Chrissie Finch, and in the final serial, Alex Jennings as Bertie Reynolds.

Original Plans
Season 54 was treated as Series 2, and although it doesn’t actually feature any of the TARDIS team from Series 1, it does pick up, airing wise, just a week after Series 1, and features exactly the same production team, as well as the same look and feel as the previous season.

Season 54, therefore, was mostly the same, and just another planned 13 episodes, apart from the fact it was a new Doctor, played by Ace Bhatti, and the fact there was a new companion played by Jayd Johnson. Alex Jennings was set to reappear as Bertie, in a recurring capacity, beginning in the season finale, as Alex Jennings didn’t wish to continue playing the role as a regular due to the chaotic nature of the production of Season 53, however, Jennings later decided to go against the idea of him in a recurring position and was credited as a series regular in the finale.

Hodges viewed Season 54 as the one where the show could really get going, as he said that Series 1 was about gaining the audience’s trust, with familiar elements and returning villains, whereas Series 2 was about getting into the meat of good quality Doctor Who.

COVID-19's Effect on Season
Like Season 53, the broadcast format of this season was maintained, with a premiere on January 1st and the finale on December 25th. However, unfortunate unplanned events took effect, as after only 6 full episodes had been shot, with about 50% of the seventh in production, the BBC made the decision to suspend production of Doctor Who due to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, which would later become the worldwide pandemic, throughout 2020 and 2021. It wasn’t until late August that production was resumed again, with Episode Seven being completed, and a new re-written Episode 8 being shot, to act as the season finale.

During the hiatus in production, Episode 3’s broadcast was pushed back a month to May 2020, with Episode 4 now airing a month, not a week, afterwards, with it’s own individual episode title. This continued for the third serial, The Age of Discovery, with it’s first episode airing in August and it’s second in September. As the year closed, the newly shot final story was broadcast, the first part being in November and the concluding episode on Christmas Day.

Effects of the ViacomCBS Report
At the start of the year, ViacomCBS, who had just formed, from Viacom and CBS in December, and now the owners of 50% of the Franchise commissioned a report into it’s future. The main takeaways were that the logo was changed once again, this time to the 1970 logo, to act as a unified brand logo, the Chapter system was overhauled and a new Franchise Executive, Mal Young, was appointed, although Jane Espenson remained on as the Executive Supervisor of Doctor Who’s Television Output. Young as of episode five, would be credited as an "Senior Executive Producer".

Regular

 * The Doctor - Ace Bhatti
 * Chrissie Finch - Jayd Johnson
 * Bertie Reynolds - Alex Jennings (2/D)

Recurring

 * Edward the Confessor - Ian Gelder
 * Vajahnari - Guy Henry
 * The Keeper - Don Warrington
 * The Rogue - David Thewlis
 * Wilson - Bradley Gardner
 * Caitrin Ryan - Gillian Anderson

Guest

 * Macbeth - Alex Ferns
 * Macduff - Robert Cavanah
 * Siward - Forbes Masson
 * Prince Malcolm - Iain De Caestecker
 * Thorfinn the Mighty - Michael Cochrane
 * Little Girl - Tabitha Byron
 * Witches - Helen Anderson, Seylan Baxter
 * Macbeth Actor - John Gaffney
 * Macduff Actor - Ian Grieve
 * Witches Actors - Maria Hippolyte, Karen Teoh
 * Robbie - Jade Alleyne
 * Simone - Siobhan Finneran
 * Angus Finch - Ryan Fletcher
 * Father Ciarán - Richard Dillane
 * Sue - Emily Head
 * Bella - Katie McGlynn
 * Arnie - Darren Boyd
 * Yusef - Jimmi Harkishin
 * Young Simone - Sophie Ryder
 * The Boy - Tyler Howitt
 * Amerigo Vespucci - Jamie Blanch
 * Juan de la Cosa - José Dumont
 * Carriço - Guilherme Prates
 * Venâncio - João Lagarto
 * Teobaldo - Victor de Sousa
 * Felipe - Bruno Miranda
 * Bastos - Oscar Valsecchi
 * Roar of the Vlienex - Nicholas Briggs
 * Man - Dale Wilder
 * Old Woman - Joan Blackham
 * Young Man - Lee Byford

Crew
To be added.

Filming
To be added.

Aliens and Enemies

 * Macduff
 * The Witches
 * Vajahnari
 * Simone
 * The Vlienex
 * The Rogue

Physical Media
To be added.