Dr Who season 12: What you need to know

Doctor Who’s new season, which will air on Australian screens just after New Year’s Day, is so scary it even left its cast members freaked out.

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Exclusive: Doctor Who is blasting back onto Australian screens just after New Year’s Day and this latest season is so scary even the Time Lady herself was quivering in her boots.

At the London premiere for the 12th series of the beloved sci-fi drama last week, News Corp Australia got to see Thirteenth Doctor Jodie Whittaker’s latest adventure weeks before the rest of the world did.

Spyfall Part 1 – appearing on ABC and ABC iview on January 2 – sees Whittaker and her mates (played by Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole and Mandip Gill) investigating an alien plot targeting the world’s top secret agents. Think Doctor Who meets James Bond.

Whittaker – now in her second year as the first female Doctor Who – told an excited audience of celebrities, UK political leaders and little kids that she has spent most of the past year filming in a state of terror as she faces old foes and new creepy villains.

“Sometimes it’s the suggestion of fear that can get me. I’m not very good with the dark, I’m not very good with long corridors in the dark,” she said in London.

The Doctor is back in an action-packed episode. Picture: Supplied/BBC

“And when you pretend there’s a giant spider is running at you, and someone wazzes a tennis ball across the floor, it still freaks you out.

“Even if you’ve rehearsed it seven times, things like that can get me … and if one of you gets scared, the rest of you gets scared … we keep going on about episode three.”

The contents of the episode are top secret until it airs, but we can reveal this season will see the Doctor face classic monsters like the dreaded Cybermen and the rhino-like Judoon.

Her assistant Bradley Walsh – also host of the UK’s most popular quiz show The Chase – pipes up: “I don’t scare easily but there is a moment in episode three that made me really, really jump.”

News Corp can also reveal the Doctor will be joined on her first adventure for the year by UK national treasures Stephen Fry and Sir Lenny Henry.

The London premiere was bursting with love for a show that has captivated people both in the UK and Australia for more than 55 years.

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Ryan, The Doctor, Graham and Yaz are all back for the new season. Picture: Supplied/BBC

Whittaker plays a particularly historic role in this franchise to helm the TARDIS following 12 blokes including David Tennant, Matt Smith, Peter Capaldi and Tom Baker.

And ever since Doctor Who came back in 2005, it has evolved from cult classic to global hit with a fan base to rival Star Wars or Game of Thrones.

The Thirteenth Doctor said in London that she can’t go anywhere these days without finding a fan of the sci-fi show who tells her how much the series has meant to them.

“If someone sees you out of context, it’s a really wonderful thing. Someone was really lovely to me today, a lady in a coffee shop,” Whittaker said.

“Her knowledge of it far surpassed mine and her love of it started at a much younger age. Her life has been soundtracked by Who and then she bumps into you … it’s a very lovely moment for both of you.

“We – as members of the Who world – will forever be welcoming new family members.”