Contains spoilers for Doctor Who: Resolution

It’s an experience only select actors can claim: playing a character controlled by an on-board tentacled squid alien set on world domination. That was the fate of archaeologist Lin in this year’s Doctor Who New Year special, Resolution.

Played by Charlotte Ritchie (Fresh Meat, Siblings, Call The Midwife), Lin and colleague Mitch (Nikesh Patel) uncovered the ancient remains of an alien enemy underneath Sheffield Town Hall. That alien, as we all now know, was a Dalek.

Speaking to Ritchie while promoting her ace new gaming sitcom Dead Pixels, coming next week to Channel 4, she told us a little bit about her experience on Doctor Who.

Den Of Geek: Tell us about wearing that Dalek prosthetic and how it worked

The prosthetic was really cool actually, it was designed by these two guys [Lee Radford and Robert Allsopp, we think] with very little notice. I think like, a week’s notice, maybe two weeks, something insane like that.

They made this animatronic sort of squid monster that was connected to me with a weighted harness that was strapped around my belly and over my shoulders, like a backpack. It had some arms that were pinned to me and two animatronic arms that would wiggle around in my face. They were controlled by remote-control, a bit like a joystick and that was really cool.

It smelled so bad! Weirdly, the material that they used really stank.

How did you go about channelling the Dalek in your performance?

The way I channelled the Dalek was just being terrified of the fact that I had to portray someone being piloted by a Dalek so it sort of came through as like, genuine fear that I was experiencing. It was really cool. It was really cool. I found it very scary to do because it’s quite an action-packed episode [directed by Wayne Yip], and something I’d never done before but it was great to watch.

I actually really enjoyed it. I so rarely really enjoy things when I’m in them. You feel so stressed but I managed to forget about it, and it was just so fun. Good show!

Doctor Who: Resolution is available now on BBC iPlayer.

Jason Reitman is crossing the streams. The son of original Ghostbusters director Ivan Reitman will direct a sequel that he has been keeping secret from everyone but his dad, according to Entertainemt Weekly. The Ghostbusters sequel will be a continuation of the original 1984 film, which starred Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, the late Harold Ramis, Sigourney Weaver, and Ernie Hudson. There is no word yet on whether anyone from the original movie will put in appearances.

Jason Reitman (Thank You For Smoking, Juno, Up In The Air, Young Adult, The Front Runner), who appeared in the original film as a child actor, co-wrote the screenplay with Gil Kenan (Monster House).

“I’ve always thought of myself as the first Ghostbusters fan, when I was a 6-year-old visiting the set. I wanted to make a movie for all the other fans,” Reitman told Entertainemt Weekly. “This is the next chapter in the original franchise. It is not a reboot. What happened in the ‘80s happened in the ‘80s, and this is set in the present day.”

No plot details have been have been revealed yet. “This is very early, and I want the film to unwrap like a present. We have a lot of wonderful surprises and new characters for the audience to meet,” Reitman told EW.

Dan Ackroyd said he was holding out hope for a Ghostbusters sequel in November 2018, but while Ivan Reitman said in June 2017 that he’d like to see a Ghostbusters crossover movie, the Ghostbusters sequel is not attached to Paul Feig’s 2016 reboot, Ghostbusters: Answer The Call, which starred Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Leslie Jones, Kate McKinnon.

Production on the film begins this summer. It’s being produced by Sony Pictures and Ivan Reitman’s production company, Montecito Pictures.

“It will be a passing of the torch both inside and out,” Ivan told EW. “It was a decision he had to come to himself. He worked really hard to be independent and developed a wonderful career on his own. So I was quite surprised when he came to me with Gil and said, ‘I know I’ve been saying for 10 years I’m the last person who should make a Ghostbusters movie, but…I have this idea.’ Literally, I was crying by the end of it, it was so emotional and funny.”

The original film spawned the animated series The Real Ghostbusters, and a sequel, Ghostbusters II, which Columbia Pictures released in 1989.

Ghostbusters III is due out summer 2020.

So, the Spider-Man: Far From Home trailer has arrived, finally giving us our first proper look at Jake Gyllenhall’s Mysterio. And while he seems to be playing a friend to Tom Holland’s Peter Parker (“He’s like Iron Man and Thor rolled into one!” his classmates enthuse), we’re not quite sold – Mysterio’s comic-book background suggests he’ll wind up being much more of a foe.

Quentin Beck, aka Mysterio, is one of Spider-Man’s oldest and most iconic arch-enemies. He’s a Hollywood stuntman and FX technician who becomes disillusioned with the industry, and so decides to put his skills to good use as a supervillain instead.

Ahead of Far From Home’s release this summer, here’s everything you need to know about the sequel’s most prominent new character: from his comic-book origins and villainous pursuits to his previous flirtations with the big screen and how he could fit into this particular Spiderverse.

He and Spidey go way back

Ol’ fishbowl made his first appearance in 1964’s The Amazing Spider-Man #13 in a story called “The Menace Of Mysterio”. Much like our fleeting glimpse of Gyllenhaal’s Mysterio in the Far From Home trailer, Beck introduces himself as a hero. After framing Spidey for a spate of robberies – and even convincing Peter Parker himself that he might have developed a subconscious dark side – Mysterio vows to take down the webslinger on behalf of New York City. It’s not long before he’s revealed as the real villain, though, kickstarting a long-running conflict between the two. Basically, Mysterio is not one to be trusted.

He’s got a few tricks up his sleeve

Beck might not be gifted in the superpowered sense, but that hasn’t stopped him from throwing down with Spidey and other heroes over the years. His stage combat training makes him a skilled fighter, while his background in special effects and illusions helped him to engineer an innovative (and natty looking) super-suit, concealing tech such as holographic projectors, sonar tracking and hallucinogenic chemical weapons. Oh, and he does a mean (in both senses of the word) sideline in hypnosis, too. You don’t want this guy messing with your mind…

He’s no stranger to nefarious schemes

Don’t trust Gyllenhaal’s nice-guy act in the trailer, which sees him siding with Spidey to take on the monstrous Elementals. In the comics, Mysterio has hatched more than a few evil plots – most of which involve using illusions and mental trickery to manipulate and try to kill Spider-Man. He was a founding member of supervillain team the Sinister Six, and even had a major run-in with Daredevil (in Kevin Smith’s “Guardian Devil” arc) in which he played a key role in the death of Karen Page. Don’t be surprised if Far From Home’s fantastic beasts have a lot to do with Beck’s scheming.

He’s nearly been on the big screen already

If Sam Raimi had had his way (and Spider-Man 3 hadn’t spiralled into the big-budget mess that stalled his Spidey franchise), it’s likely that Mysterio would have been one of the antagonists – alongside the Vulture – in the ultimately abandoned Spider-Man 4. It’s no secret that Raimi was a big fan of the Silver Age Spidey villains – hence his sympathetic takes on the likes of Green Goblin, Doc Ock and Sandman, and his…well, the less said about Venom the better.

Illustrator Jeffrey Henderson unveiled Mysterio’s planned involvement through some beautiful early concept art, while it was heavily rumoured that Raimi favourite Bruce Campbell (who had cameoed in each of the previous installments) would wear the fishbowl helmet in the film. “It would’ve been one absolutely kick-ass movie,” Henderson revealed. “We all really wanted to help Sam take Spider-Man 4 to another level so he could end the series on a high note.”

He’s a perfect fit for this Spiderverse

Thematically, Beck as a villain fits comfortably within the world of Holland’s Spidey and the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe, in which Earth-bound threats are escalating just as fast as those from outer space. Take Michael Keaton’s Vulture, the main antagonist in Homecoming – a hard-working average Joe who’s fallen on hard times and adopts fantastical technology to enact revenge against a society that idolises the Avengers. It seems like Far From Home could see Gyllenhaal’s Mysterio build on this concept and take it to the next level.

Spider-Man: Far From Home opens in cinemas on 5 July 2019