Richard Curtis is to write an episode of Doctor Who for the forthcoming new series, it's been revealed this morning. The story has broken at The Sun, and has been backed up by direct quotes from Curtis himself, with the writer revealing "There will be a monster. And a famous historical figure will battle the monster."

Richard Curtis, of course, is best known for the likes of Blackadder, Love Actually, Notting Hill, Four Weddings & A Funeral, The Vicar Of Dibley and a host of other projects (including, earlier this year, The Boat That Rocked). His motive for taking on the Doctor Who job is apparently in a bid to impress his children, who are fans of the show. Aside from the plot point that Curtis revealed above, however, there's little else known of his episode yet, and where it will sit in the forthcoming series of the show.

Curtis will nonetheless have noted, of course, that his long-time collaborator Hugh Grant has played the Time Lord in a Children In Need special. The same special also saw another Curtis regular, Rowan Atkinson, briefly take on the role of the Time Lord. The Sun seems keen to speculate that the character of Edmund Blackadder, in some form, will pop up in Curtis' Doctor Who episode, but we'd be really quite surprised if that happened.

More news as we get it...

The Sun