Doctor Who: Osgood Lives and Set to Return in Season Nine
Many fans were devastated when Doctor Who fan favorite character, Osgood (played by Ingrid Oliver), met her demise in the season eight finale, “Death in Heaven,” of the long-running sci-fi TV series. However, since this is a series about time travel, it makes writing around a character’s death easier to deal with. BBC America recently confirmed this week that Ingrid Oliver will return as UNIT scientist Osgood for the upcoming ninth season of Doctor Who.
Series lead writer and executive producer Steven Moffat opted to bring back Osgood, the so-called biggest fan of the time traveling Gallifreyan. Speaking on Osgood’s return, Moffat stated: “Osgood is back, fresh from her recent murder at the end of last series. We recently confirmed that Osgood was definitely dead and not returning – but in a show about time travel, anything can happen. The brilliant Ingrid Oliver is back in action. This time though, can the Doctor trust his number one fan?”
Details on the nature of Osgood’s return are slim. All BBC America has revealed is that Osgood will return in a two-part episode featuring the shape-shifting aliens called the Zygons, who last appeared in the show’s 50th anniversary special, “The Day of the Doctor.” The episode also marked Osgood’s first appearance. It is not clear if Osgood will actually be resurrected, similar to say Strax, or if the encounter for the two-parter will merely be Osgood before she met her untimely demise at the hand’s of the female incarnation of the Master, aka Missy (Michelle Gomez).
Commenting on her return for the show, Oliver stated her character’s reappearance: “As every actor who’s worked on Doctor Who will tell you, there’s always the secret hope you’ll get the call asking you to come back. To actually receive that call is both unexpected and brilliant. The word ‘honour’ gets banded about a lot, but it really is, it’s an honour. Especially because I was so sure Osgood was a gonner after the last series!”
The upcoming two-part episode with Osgood and the Zygons is now being filmed in Cardiff, Wales. It was written by Peter Harness (Doctor Who – “Kill the Moon”), produced by Peter Bennett and directed by Daniel Nettheim. Also set for guest roles in the double episode are Jemma Redgrave Katie Lethbridge-Stewart, Jaye Griffiths, Cleopatra Dickens, Sasha Dickens, Abhishek Singh, Todd Kramer, Jill Winternitz, Nicholas Asbury, Jack Parker and Aidan Cook.
Season nine of Doctor Who, starring Peter Capaldi as the Doctor and Jenna Coleman as Clara Oswald, will premiere in fall 2015 on BBC America.