The Seventh Doctor himself, Sylvester McCoy, will be the headlining guest! Sylvester was the last Doctor to appear in Doctor Who during its original run, inhabiting the role from 1987-89. He later reprised his role in the 1996 Fox TV movie in which he handed the key to the TARDIS to Paul McGann. Sylvester has recently found fame as Radagast the Brown in the first film of The Hobbit trilogy.

Philip Hinchcliffe took over the producer’s chair from Barry Letts in 1974, and went on to shepherd Doctor Who through its most successful era ever, making Tom Baker a star, achieving record viewing figures, and introducing elements of horror that frightened and enthralled a generation on both sides of the Atlantic. Both Russell T Davies and Steven Moffat cite the Hinchcliffe era as a big influence on how Doctor Who is being made today.

If you’re a fan of classic Doctor Who stories, Stephen Thorne isn’t a face you will recognize, but his voice is unmistakable. Appearing in three stories in the series’ classic run, all behind masks, Stephen still managed to create some of the most iconic characters in Doctor Who history, such as Azal from “The Daemons” and Eldrad in “The Hand of Fear”. His most notable performance, though, was as the renegade Time Lord Omega in “The Three Doctors”.

Initially cast in a dual role as the villainous Silurians Alaya and her sister Restac in “The Hungry Earth” and “Cold Blood”, Neve McIntosh has gone on play a more benevolent Silurian who has helped The Doctor on many occasions. As Madame Vastra, the reclusive Silurian detective from the Victorian era, McIntosh has appeared in “A Good Man Goes To War” and “The Snowmen”, and is slated to appear again in the upcoming Series 7b.

Like Neve McIntosh, Richard Hope is known in Doctor Who for his Silurian roles, winning hearts and minds as a friendly, if slightly eccentric, doctor named Malokheh in “The Hungry Earth” and “Cold Blood”. Richard has since gone on to play all subsequent male Silurian roles in the series, including appearances in “The Wedding of River Song” and “Dinosaurs on a Spaceship”.

Starkey is known to Doctor Who fans for playing multiple Sontarans in five different episodes, as well as two episodes of The Sarah Jane Adventures and one of the Doctor Who Adventure Games. He has since won over the internet with his excellently hilarious performance as Strax, the Sontaran nurse who aids Madame Vastra and Jenny in “The Snowmen”.

Chip from Two-minute Time Lord will be our technical director again this year, and he will be performing a live version of his Two-Minute Time Lord podcast onstage, as well. Chip’s presentation during last year’s Radio Free Skaro show, entitled “This Is Gallifrey” was a tremendous success, and we look forward to see what Chip has in store for us this time around!