http://entertainment.timesonline.co....cle6959368.ece

So Claire's character knows the Doctor's future also?

Thanks Jess. Sounds like she could be something like The Watcher , who was the future Doctor foreshadowing Tom Bakers incarnation towards regeneration

So you think his Mum maybe guides the Doctor? interesting idea.Would that not mean she was still alive somewhere though if she was sending messages to her son?

though of course Claire never actually confirms she's playing the Doctor's mother ..

don't you think ALL Mums guide their sons??

*thinks back to Mr Weedle's mum when Weedle first met him *

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Interesting. If she is some sort of Gallifreyan Prophetess, she could be sending her son messages from the past to reach him in the future. Therefore she could be dead by now, but the Doctor is only just receiving the messages.

It sounds to me like she may be saying "There's no indication in the script that she's his mother, but then again it doesn't say she isn't."

That's a good idea. Now we just have to wait and see - not long to go now!

Oh so you're thinking she's playing a ghostly presence that will never be fully explained? Maybe but i'm just thinking her identity will probably be revealed at some point ..

If Claire is playing the Doctor's mother- if she was to be guiding him would he not see her and know he was looking at his mum ..

Or maybe if Ten doesn't know her-part of his journey would be finding out who this guide is ..?

All this is assuming Claire Bloom's character is guiding the Doctor though-but we'll only know if thats the case or not when the episodes go out ..

Its amazing that so many clips have been released, so much shown, yet we still know so damn little about what the plot actually, truly entails! its fantastic!

Just as a word of warning, actors are incredible luvvies and braggers, so it's quite likely Bloom, like most actors, are 'bigging' up their part.

She may well have a significant role in the piece, but don't be surprised if she's just a cmall cog in a big wheel.

She's fairly high up the revealed cast list, only behind David Tennant, John Simm, Bernard Cribbins, Timothy Dalton, Catherine Tate, Jacqueline King and June Whitfield, suggesting a fairly big part.

I wasn't aware of that - Thanks, she may well be then !

No, I didn't mean to suggest anything, really. Her vagueness in the interview reminds me of the sort of answers David Morissey was giving last year at this time when asked if he was really the next Doctor. So I think no matter what character she is playing, she'd answer "Possibly his mother, possibly not" when asked if she's playing his mother.

To the discussion between JCR and swadey, I'm thinking her billing may be in recognition of who she is, rather than the size of her part.

I agree with that....also I feel now that the Mother thing is quite too obvious...so chances are she isn't....oh my a thought just struck me....

What if the rumours that the time lords are back...and she isn't the Doctor's mother as such....but The Mother...so basically that is her title? Or she may not be a Time Lady at all...and she still could have that as a title given to her by her followers/admires because she is a prophetess?

I'd certainly prefer that as a concept. Giving the Doctor a mother (or other close family member) just raises too many issues in my opinion - chiefly, why has there been no mention of them over the past 46 years? It's bad enough we've had Susan floating around as a loose end all this time.

Also, the Doctor doesn't have such a good track record with mothers. Do we really want to see DT slapped by Claire Bloom?

It's really hard to speculate. Sometimes we find out a big name is attached and we discover it's only a cameo, sometimes without any interaction with the Doctor at all. Other times it turns out to be an unexpectedly substantial role, like Clive Swift's in Voyage of the Damned

Heres a comment from Russell on Claire's character ..


-it's the 'woman in white' reference that makes me think shes going to be a ghost like presence -hope her identity is eventually revealed though .