Who is The Meep in Doctor Who? Well, what we do know so far is this cute-looking furry alien with big wide eyes (see main picture) is voiced by Miriam Margolyes and the character will be part of the first special for Doctor Who's 60th anniversary called "The Star Beast" alongside David Tennant as the Time Lord and Catherine Tate as Donna Noble.
At an exclusive Doctor Who launch event at Battersea Power Station in London on November 6, 2023, the famous new producer, showrunner and lead writer Russell T Davies revealed much more! While The Meep's part in "The Star Beast" story remains under wraps so as not to give away spoilers. Russell revealed that the creature's history goes back to 1979 when The Meep was featured in an obscure comic story that appeared in "Doctor Who" magazine...
Russell says: "The Meep came from an old comic strip in 1979 that I always loved and I needed a story. You need two stories going on at once, you’ve Donna's and you need an alien invasion at the same time. It's such a classic story of a lonely alien. The astonishing thing is that the story us from 1979 which is two years before E.T. came along. I reckon Spielberg read that story and it’s time for the reckoning!
"Similarly there's a very good comic strip in 2018 that kind of ripped off E.T. about an alien falling to Earth and finding friends and finding children as friends.
"The Meep's made absolute sense as the the story fitted the template of Doctor Who and allowed for Donna’s story to be revealed at at the same time. Dave Gibbons drew the spaceships in the 1979 comic strip and I think we’ve been very faithful to his designs"
Russell also thinks the BBC Marketing department may have missed a trick as we won't be able to buy toy Meeps for Christmas. "You know, I don’t think anyone picked up on that," he laughed. "I think all the toymakers are like, yeah, we’ll see how we do in a year’s time. I don’t think there is a Meep plushy at all. If someone knocks one up in a month they'll be rich!"
Miriam Margolyes on voicing The Meep in Doctor Who
The Meep's voice Miriam Margolyes stars as Mother Mildred In Call The Midwife and last year presented Miriam’s Dickensian Christmas on Channel 4. She also played Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter movies.
On becoming the voice of The Meep in Doctor Who, Miriam Margolyes says: "I'm relieved I got to work on Doctor Who before I died. With sci-fi you never know. Thank you for making an old woman very happy."
Russell T Davies adds: "An extraordinary loop of circumstances led us to Miriam. Emily who brought Doctor Who back onto screen is Miriam Margolyes’ lodger. It’s weird isn’t it? I didn’t get to meet Miriam, I never have. Phil our producer went and did that and Emily was there and I didn’t get to meet her. I do love her though. She was just delighted to be in Doctor Who. It was one of those things she’d never done. Funnily enough Ralph Fiennes was on Radio Two this morning and he said I love Doctor Who. Who knows on him?"
When can you see The Meep In Doctor Who
The Meep appears in the first Doctor Who 60th anniversary special The Star Beast on Saturday November 25 2023 on BBC1 in the UK and on Disney Plus in the US and rest of the world.
* The remaining two Doctor Who specials are called Wild Blue Yonder and The Giggle before David Tennant's Doctor regenerates into Ncuti Gatwa and he takes over for the Doctor Who Christmas special called The Church on Ruby Road.
