It looks as though a familiar face has been cast in the Doctor Who festive special, as a character from the show's 1960s era.

Jared Garfield – best known for playing Nathan Nightingale in Hollyoaks – is listed as playing Ben Jackson in the new issue of Doctor Who Magazine.

The character of Ben – a Royal Navy seaman – was a companion to the first Doctor (William Hartnell) and the second (Patrick Troughton) and was played by the late actor Michael Craze from 1966-67.

BBC

[Above: William Hartnell with Michael Craze as Ben and Anneke Will as Polly]

David Bradley is playing the first Doctor in 'Twice Upon a Time' – and his companions Ben and Polly will also appear in the episode.

Garfield will play Ben, while Lily Travers (Kingsman: The Secret Service) will replace original actress Anneke Wills as Polly.

BBC

'Twice Upon a Time' will revisit the end of the first Doctor's era, as he encounters our current Doctor (Peter Capaldi) as both near their own regeneration.

For the first Doctor, that means becoming Patrick Troughton's second Doctor... and for the 12th, it means Jodie Whittaker's first female incarnation.

As series boss / writer Steven Moffat explained: "It's the 12th Doctor saying to Number One, 'Listen, you have to [change] or all of this stuff won't happen!' and the 1st Doctor saying, 'Well, what about you?' – they go off on a crazy adventure with Mark Gatiss and Bill Potts (Pearl Mackie) and decide whether or not they're going to carry on... which of course, they are!"

Doctor Who will return to BBC One and BBC America this Christmas for Capaldi's (and Moffat's) swansong, before returning with a new Doctor and a whole new team in 2018.

Doctor Who Magazine issue 516 is out this week.

Want up-to-the-minute entertainment and tech news? Just hit 'Like' on our Digital Spy Facebook page and 'Follow' on our @digitalspy Twitter account and you're all set.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io