From A FIELD IN ENGLAND to the Fields of Trenzalore... director Ben Wheatley is to get behind the camera for the first two episodes of DOCTOR WHO series 8.

Wheatley, known for his macabre aesthetic in darkly comic films such as KILL LIST, SIGHTSEERS, and A FIELD IN ENGLAND, will be teaming up with Twelfth Doctor Peter Capaldi and, presumably, writer Steven Moffat. His episodes will be filmed in December and January, before being broadcast as part of Capaldi's first series, believed to be a fitting twelve episodes in length, in autumn 2014.

Speaking to Screen Daily, Wheatley said: “I am very excited and honoured to be asked to direct the first two episodes of the new series of Doctor Who. I’ve been a fan since childhood (Tom Baker is my Doctor if you are asking). I’ve been watching the current run of Doctor Who with my son and have discovered it all over again. The work that has been done is amazing. I’m really looking forward to working with Peter Capaldi and finding out where Steven Moffat is planning to take the new Doctor.”

This is pretty damn exciting news - from Richard Curtis to Neil Gaiman, DOCTOR WHO has attracted several big name writers in the past few years, but not one big name director. Wheatley's imaginative eye should give us something special, as long as Capaldi's Doctor and Moffat's story can raise the series from the criticisms thrown at recent episodes.

In the meantime, the fiftieth anniversary special, THE DAY OF THE DOCTOR, will be broadcast on 23rd November, and we'll then see the TARDIS being handed over when the Doctor regenerates in a second special this Christmas Day.

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