Tonight’s the big night! The premiere of Doctor Who‘s ninth series, with the episode “The Magician’s Apprentice,” is one of the more highly anticipated things in the geekosphere this autumn, and the BBC is not resting on any laurels in their effort to make sure everybody is ready for it. Saturday morning in London, series stars Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman recreated one of the most iconic images in pop culture and British street history by taking a walk on London’s famous Abbey Road.
The road, of course, was the title of the final album recorded by The Beatles and the album cover, which depicted the four members walking across the empty street, has become the stuff of parody and poster art (I have that selfsame image of the Fab Four hanging in my bathroom. Sorry, my loo). But since there are only two cast members of Doctor Who, Capaldi and Coleman are joined by a couple of Daleks, giving the impression that the heroes are being led somewhere. Although, Abbey Road is far from deserted these days, and it looks more like a ton of people are refusing to help people being led away by Daleks.
It’s a really nice image, and if we were so inclined to read into things, it’s worth noting that Coleman is in the Paul McCartney spot with no shoes on. For years, the speculation was that Paul was actually dead and him being barefoot in the picture was an indication of that, if each of the four Beatles represented different parts of a funeral (John = God; Ringo = clergy; Paul = the deceased; George = gravedigger). But since they were all alive at the time the picture was taken, I’m going to call B.S., as I am that Clara’s dead, even if she ends up leaving the show.
I’m also a huge fan of Capaldi’s purple velvet jacket, looking very Pertwee. In fact, one of the running jokes about the Jon Pertwee era by the members of the production crew at the time is that you can tell how late into his tenure he is by how much of a bouffant the Third Doctor has. Capaldi’s only in year two, but his hair sure looks shaggier this time around.
How excited are you for tonight’s premiere? Check back here after you’ve watched the episode for my review!
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FEATURED IMAGE: BBC
IMAGE: Beatles.com
Kyle Anderson is the Weekend Editor, a film and TV critic, and resident Whovian for Nerdist.com. Follow him on Twitter!