This production company was originally created in April 1987 to secure the American production rights to the BBC series Doctor Who; in conjunction with Center City Studios (Chicago), including Terry Nation (writer) and Edward Meekin (actor). Acquisition efforts continued until September 1991. The rights were never made available to us. The BBC was already in negotiations to reboot Doctor Who via a movie and then eventually a new series.

Banyan Day Productions was revived, as of May 2017, in order to produce original, independently written, Sci-Fi and Fantasy media. Specifically, in association with Dream Shatter Studio and CineVera Entertainment, we have launched Return of Who, a fan-based Doctor Who series that starts with a trilogy. These three episodes are collectively called Something WHO and DIFFERENT.

The first of these episodes is entitled “Hide and Seek”. It will feature a quite befuddled and very confused newly regenerated Doctor (from a previously female version). This fresh Doctor (played by Scott Goodman) will be a re-visitation to a version of a previous incarnation of The Doctor (resembling Jon Pertwee). (As The Curator said in “The Day of the Doctor”: “And in the years to come you might find yourself revisiting a few ... but just the old favourites, eh?”.) The beginning of the episode will include Samuel Peter Rendell and William Reverend-Magister Reid as The Master. The bulk of this first episode will be flashbacks (inside The Doctor’s head) and, over the course of the trilogy, his eventual rediscovery of a core identity as THE Doctor.

For this initial episode, we will include Daleks (voiced by Joe Anderson) and Cybermen (also voiced by Joe Anderson), an appearance by Jo Grant (as portrayed by Rachel Quilter), Captain Jack Harkness, and references to River Song, and the Time Agency; as well as the use of the Gallifreyan Stellar Manipulator (more commonly known as the Hand of Omega). This would set up the episodes that later follow the initial trilogy (those involving references to Morbius and the appearances of The Doctor’s incarnations previous to Hartnell’s portrayal, as seen in the episode “The Brain of Morbius” — now established by the BBC as canonical). This, as well as subsequent episodes (post-trilogy onward), would include appearances by Stuart Grant as Tom Baker’s Doctor; and would later introduce Jeremy Blankenship as one of the pre-Hartnell incarnations.

The second episode, entitled “Ogre, Orgron”, will include Movellans, Ogrons (additionally references to the Ogron Brarshak), and various Sonic Screwdrivers. Becoming less confused and befuddled, The Doctor is continually plagued by his numerous previous dealings with the Daleks (as we shall see in detail in episode three, “The Doctor Returns”).

In his final episode of this trilogy, The Doctor gains some composure and settles into a fairly stable personality, but not before encountering the Daleks and The Master, and gaining a companion (or two) of a somewhat familiar (yet derivative) nature. There will also be references to Hooded Crows, K-9, Bernice Summerfield, and the Draconians (including reference to the Draconian Kraden and the Sontaran Stomm).

In addition to the Something WHO and DIFFERENT and The Morbius Eight, there are ideas for multi-Doctor stories (episodes similar to “The Two Doctors” and “The Day of the Doctor”). They will include Simon Baker as Troughton’s Doctor; additionally, we would love to have Peter Davison and Sylvester McCoy make guest appearances as their respective Doctors. We have a pool of Voice Actors that includes: Luke Orridge, Dante Lonebear, Stuart Grant, and Joe Anderson.

Always bear in mind that this is not meant to be an alternate reality. This series is written as a continuation of the Whoniverse as it now stands in its entirety. In some ways, The Doctor as presented in the Something WHO and DIFFERENT Trilogy is at the very least number 25 (27th incarnation).

Production teams include Nigel Lumen of CineVera Entertainment and Shawn Robinson of Dream Shatter Studio as Video Producers and Editors, Brian Mattocks and Samuel Peter Rendell for Props, and Jean A Dickey and Joshua Anderson-Grey.
We are currently negotiating with James Burgess, Chris Oconnor, Scott Ernest Smith, and Shaun Hughes for their involvement.

This is going to be a very enjoyable and interesting endeavour!

Visit our FaceBook page @BanyanDayProductions.

For more information, email Glyn Hnutu-healh, the Showrunner and Head Writer.