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"The identity of John Hurt&amp;#039;s character in Doctor Who may have been revealed. Alien star Hurt appeared in the BBC sci-fi drama&amp;#039;s May finale - credited as &amp;#039;The Doctor&amp;#039; - and will return in the forthcoming 50th anniversary special.  The Telegraph now quotes Who costume designer Howard Burden as saying that Hurt is portraying a previously unseen &amp;quot;dark Doctor&amp;quot;. &amp;quot;There was a gap between Paul McGann playing the Doctor and Christopher Eccleston, when we didn&amp;#039;t see a regeneration, and John Hurt will fit into that gap,&amp;quot; Burden&amp;#039;s quotes read. &amp;quot;He is a past Doctor, not a future Doctor.&amp;quot;  The notion of Hurt playing an &amp;#039;in-between&amp;#039; Doctor was already a popular theory amongst Doctor Who fans. The idea first surfaced when the 73-year-old actor was seen on the set of the 50th special sporting a leather jacket similar to the one worn by Eccleston&amp;#039;s Ninth Doctor. The anniversary instalment - also starring Matt Smith and David Tennant - will air on BBC One on Saturday, November 23. &amp;gt; Doctor Who and the big finale question: Who is John Hurt playing? Watch John Hurt&amp;#039;s first appearance in Doctor Who below:      "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/doctor-who/news/a495786/doctor-who-john-hurt-character-identity-confirmed/>