So this weekend the Internet was abuzz with the report that Paul McGann’s Doctor had a new costume

According to this report on the Doctor Who News Page, Paul McGann unveiled the new costume, or rather the jacket, the carrying bag and the WETA-designed sonic screwdriver at a New Zealand convention. Of course he didn’t really spell out what it was for other than it had the BBC blessing. Could this mean McGann was coming back to TV in the role he played in 1996 and sporadically on audio (and a webcast) for a decade?

Probably not.

The answer should be clear for anyone who’s looked at a Big Finish audio cover or a BBC book…

There were only so many still photographs taken during the making of the 1996 TV Movie. While other Doctors had a wealth of stills taken from the making of every story, plus regular publicity photocalls separate to the making of the episodes (and today’s TV Doctors have special photo sessions purely for merchandising), the TV movie had as many stills as you would make for a TV movie that shot for a month or so at the start of 1996. And they’ve probably cycled through all of those repeatedly in all the Eighth Doctor merchandise out there (in fact I think a great website would be in tying the book or CD covers that came from a particular still—come on Internet…)

15 years on, McGann is still making audios and those seasons of audios are being repeated on BBC7 regularly. It’s no wonder Big Finish might want to refresh the image somewhat from the 100-150 or so photo pool they can draw from. A new costume makes sense, particularly since McGann has been vocal of how unimpressed he was with the green velvet victorian number he wore and especially the wig he used.

So I think the answer is it’s purely to promote the Big Finish audios. Sorry McGann lovers.

Now the question I have is… will there be a toy version, like they did with the Sixth Doctor’s Real Time costume?