Doctor Who‘s Christmas special — available to stream with a Disney+ subscription — featured a lot of moments for fans to talk about, and the reveals continued in behind-the-scenes footage. Beyond my obsession with figuring out the deal with Mrs. Flood’s weird scene, I’ve learned the ep featured the franchise’s latest Teletubbies connection, which is still shocking even days after initially watching Ncuti Gatwa’s first full episode.
While I pay the goblins much attention in my key takeaways from Doctor Who‘s Christmas special, I’ll be keeping a closer eye on the creatures in future watches thanks to a recent segment from Doctor Who: Unleashed. Check out the clip below from the BBC’s TikTok account, which revealed one of the goblins was played by Rachelle Beinart, the costumed actress who has portrayed Po in Teletubbies!
@bbc
♬ original sound – BBC
When Beinart said Po’s greeting while dressed as the goblin, I couldn’t help but laugh. It’s genuinely surreal to hear that voice come from one of Doctor Who‘s more mischievous and violent creatures. I’m also mildly shocked that an actress who has been playing a TV character as iconic as Po since 2015 would be so eager to take a gig as a random Goblin in Doctor Who.
Unfortunately, the segment didn’t get into the why Beinart got involved in the special. But does anyone really need a reason to be part of one of the most iconic sci-fi shows of all time? Especially for an episode as important and relatively rare as one that fully introduces a new Doctor.
For those looking to seek out Rachelle Beinart by revisiting the special, it shouldn’t be that difficult to spot her during “The Goblin Song,” where she delivered a line about circus clowns and red balloons, among other places. Is the color reference a deliberate nod to Beinart playing Po? I’d love for that to be the case, but I don’t have the answer.
This Isn’t The First Doctor Who and Teletubbies Crossover
In what may be a shock to casual fans living in the United States, this definitely isn’t the first time Doctor Who and Teletubbies have crossed paths. The annual Children In Need charity drive held by the BBC made the first possible in 1998 via the special program titled “Future Generations.”
In the special, a child is telling a story while navigating through various BBC shows, including a trip through the Doctor’s TARDIS, where he witnesses Daleks rolling past. At that point, the camera zooms outward to reveal the special airing on the Teletubby Po’s belly, before zooming out further to reveal the child watching a Teletubbies ep. It’s as trippy as it sounds, especially considering how different the two properties are.
That special technically isn’t canon to the Whoniverse, though with the possibility of multiverses and the big twist that all past Doctors are potentially alive again, who knows where canon ends at this point? Perhaps in some universe, the entirety of Doctor Who takes place on Po’s television belly. Honestly, a story about it wouldn’t even be the most controversial episode Who has done.
Season 3 of DW‘s modern age did feature the children’s program in a more direct manner for the episode “The Sound of Drums,” with John Simms’ Saxon Master actually watching a Teletubbies episode on TV, which itself was a callback to the classic era’s ep “The Sea Devils.”
Outside of the aforementioned connections, Tinky Winky actor Jeremiah Krage worked as a stuntman in the Doctor Who episodes “Dark Water” and “Death In Heaven,” and there are some more minor contributions between shared voice actors and behind-the-scenes roles. Honestly, even with all that in consideration, it’s still mind-blowing to me that the actress behind Po was in the Christmas special, and I’m sure I’ll repeat that fact to anyone who listens every time I watch it.
A new season of Doctor Who is headed to Disney+ in the spring, and the Season 14 cast looks fantastic. Here’s hoping the new episodes can keep the same energy as the delightful Christmas special because I’m 100% on board with more of that.