Who is “Foreman”?

Barry Rice is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

Who is “Foreman?”As it turns out, the question is its own answer.

As you’ll recall, it was the very first image ever shown when Doctor Who premiered in November 1963: a sign for I.M. Foreman’s junkyard at 76 Totters Lane, standing before an incongruous old police box. It’s only fitting then that the name “Foreman” should also come to represent an ambitious new unofficial fan series — one that doesn’t just spin-off from the Doctor Who canon, it reboots it entirely. You see, Who IS Foreman.

Foreman is the brainchild of actor/illustrator Jack Miles and Blackveil Entertainment, described as a “collective” of creative minds collaborating on various artistic ventures. And when I say this is a reboot of Doctor Who, I mean a TOTAL reboot. Miles stars as the First Doctor, but don’t be fooled: this is not William Hartnell we’re talking about. This is a young, adventurous Doctor…which also means we won’t be seeing Susan or any other grandchildren anytime soon. It wouldn’t be Doctor Who without companions, though, and the first companion revealed by the production team is Nirvi Chandeytra, played by internet personality Claudia Boleyn.

Born of a dissatisfaction with the current direction of Doctor Who, Foreman‘s creators intend to create an exciting hybrid of the Russell T Davies era combined with the best of the classic era. A main point of contention for Miles and his crew is a perceived lack of diversity in the recent series, and it’s an issue they intend to tackle head on. Miles identifies as gender-fluid (and prefers they/them/their pronouns), and Boleyn is an outspoken bisexual feminist. She’s also British-Indian, and will obviously bring that quality to her character, as well. Described as a “lapsed Muslim,” Nirvi is a twenty-one year-old Politics student, swept into a live of thrills with the Doctor.

One element that will stay mostly true to its original self is the TARDIS, recently unveiled at the True Believers Comic Festival in Cheltenham. The TARDIS retains its famous blue police box exterior, but in Foreman sports a taller, thinner physique. Artwork has also been revealed for the Doctor’s redesigned sonic screwdriver and some preliminary designs for Axos and the Axons, getting a new look from their original appearance in 1971’s The Claws of Axos.

Possibly the most exciting part of the Foreman project is that it’s open-source; Blackveil welcomes auditions from all artists: actors, writers, musicians, illustrators, graphic designers, and more. I said above that Foreman is a “fan series,” but that description is perhaps a bit limiting. Foreman is intended as more of a multimedia franchise, if you will. In addition to filmed episodes, there are plans for prose adventures, audio dramas, and even illustrated art projects.

No release dates have been announced, but the team is deep into pre-production, with plans for an initial run of six episodes. For more information and updates, check out their official website/Tumblr at BlackveilEntertainment.org, and follow them on Facebook and Twitter.

Do you think Doctor Who suffers from a lack of diversity, Kasterborites? Will you be watching Foreman?

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