After months of rumors, Doctor Who stars Bradley Walsh and Tosin Cole have finally confirmed that they’re exiting the sci-fi drama after the show’s upcoming holiday special, Revolution of the Daleks.
In a new interview published on the official Doctor Who website, Walsh and Cole said that their last appearance as The Doctor’s (Jodie Whittaker) time-traveling companions Graham O’Brien and Ryan Sinclair, respectively, is packed with a lot of drama.
“It is very, very dramatic,” Walsh said of the 70-minute holiday special, which finds O’Brien, Sinclair, and Yasmin Khan (Mandip Gill) teaming up with Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) to fend off a Dalek invasion, while The Doctor is locked away in an alien prison. “It is very sad. It is quite sad and poignant is the word. You can expect a lot of poignancy from the episode.”
Without spoiling anything, Cole described his final scene “emotional.” He, however, admitted that he’s looking forward to wrapping up filming to have a rest.
When asked what they’re going to miss the most from working on the show, Cole said: “it has to be the team on the screen and behind it as well as the amazing fans.” He explained that people on the screen like him come and go, but the people behind the scenes and the fans will always be there keeping the Doctor Who world “alive and exciting.”
For his part, Walsh said he’ll miss “everyone and everything” about being part of Doctor Who, adding that he’s still in “constant contact” with the cast and crew.
Whittaker, meanwhile, was “absolutely devastated” about Walsh and Cole’s departure from the show, which is understandable, as the trio ― together with Gill ― joined the Doctor Who franchise all at the same time in season 11 back in 2018.
“Both of them had to carry me to my trailer,” Whittaker said of Walsh and Cole during their last shooting day together. “I haven’t cried like that for such a long time. Brad couldn’t cope with it at all! Tosin was like ‘I really can’t cope with you getting this upset.’”
While Walsh and Cole are leaving the series, Whittaker will continue to star in the series alongside Gill. It’s not clear, however, if there will be an addition to the show’s main cast, or whether Whittaker and Gill will travel time and space as a duo in season 13.
Doctor Who’s Revolution of the Daleks, which will also star John Barrowman, Nathan Stewart-Barrett, Chris Noth and Harriet Walter, is set to air on BBC One and BBC America on New Year’s Day.