Doctor Who’s John Barrowman finally confirms fate of Captain Jack Harkness in series 13

DOCTOR Who's John Barrowman has finally confirmed the fate of Captain Jack Harkness in series 13.

The 54-year-old - who has starred in much-loved show on/off since 2005 - will not be returning to our screens for the highly-anticipated thirteenth series that will air later this year.

John's alter-ego first made his epic appearance in Doctor Who 16 years ago, which later led on to him bagging the main roll in spin-off series Torchwood from 2006 to 2011.

He returned to the sci-fi show in 2007 for the third and fourth series, and again in 2010 for the twelfth season.

The star recently made another epic comeback last year for the Christmas special, which has left fans wondering if he'll keep be back again.

However, John recently told that any suggestion he would do is "totally inaccurate". 

Season thirteen was supposed to air back in 2020, but the coronavirus pandemic meant that production of the show was shutdown last year.

Back in September 2020 it was revealed that social distancing measures were put in place so that the cast and crew could return.

To make up for it, in December fans were treated to a festive special which was fortunately filmed before the Covid-19 outbreak.

The latest series will be its shortest to date as the pandemic continues to take its toll on TV production.

Instead of 11 episodes like every other season, there will be just eight.

And fans will be happy to know that Jodie Whittaker will return as The Doctor for her third series in the role.

Mandip Gill is also back for her third season as Yaz, meanwhile Liverpudlian comedian John Bishop will become one of the new faces as he joins the TARDIS team as Dan.

Bosses stressed that the set will be entirely Covid-19 compliant with testing and social distancing to ensure the cast and crew are safe at all times.

Talking about the new series, Showrunner Chris Chibnall said: “In this strangest of years, the Doctor Who production team have worked wonders to get the show back into production.

We’re thrilled to be back making the show. Given the complexity of making Doctor Who, and with new and rigorous COVID working protocols, it’s going to take us a little longer to film each episode, meaning we expect to end up with eight episodes, rather than the usual eleven.

"But rest assured, the ambition, humour, fun and scares you expect from Doctor Who will all still be firmly in place. For everyone around the world, this is a challenging period — but the Doctor never shirks from a challenge!”

Doctor Who is available to stream now on BBC iPlayer