DOCTOR WHO - coming back! (1 Viewer)

[MatthewLouwrens]

For those of you who are fans of the classic British show about the Time Lord who travels through time and space in a police phone box that's bigger on the inside than the outside...

With the exception of the 1996 TV movie starring Paul McGann, it has been 14 years since the Doctor was on our screen on a regular basis. In that time, there have been constant rumours about the show coming back. Now, it has been officially announced that the Doctor is returning, and a new series will air on BBC One, probably in 2005 at the earliest.

From BBC News

Doctor Who returns to TV

Doctor Who, the cult science fiction series, is returning to TV screens.
The much-awaited comeback will be produced for BBC One by BBC Wales and written by the acclaimed Welsh dramatist Russell T Davies - a self-confessed fan.

Davies' credits include hit dramas like Bob and Rose, Queer as Folk, The Second Coming, Touching Evil, and The Grand.

For Davies - who was brought up in Swansea, but now lives in Manchester - writing for Doctor Who is a dream come true.

"I grew up watching Doctor Who, hiding behind the sofa like so many others," he admitted.

"Doctor Who is one of the BBC's most exciting and original characters. He's had a good rest and now it's time to bring him back!"

BBC Wales' Head of Drama Julie Gardner will act as executive producer alongside Davies and Mal Young, Controller of BBC Continuing Series.

"Russell is one of Wales's leading TV writers. It will be a thrill for BBC Wales to work with him on such a landmark TV series," Ms Gardner said.

"This is very early days and it is unlikely anything will be on screen for at least two years but it is very exciting and I can't wait to get started."

The first Doctor Who - played by William Hartnell - was first seen on 23 November, 1963. He was followed by seven more, before the series being axed in 1989.

Although Sylvester McCoy was the last actor to play the Doctor in the TV series, Paul McGann recreated the role in a TV movie version in 1996.

Despite disappearing from TV screens, the series still has a loyal fan base and videos and DVDs of the episodes, along with a whole range of associated merchandise, continue to sell well.

The Doctor Who Experience - an exhibition which features costumes and memorabilia from the series - opened in Llangollen in 1994 and attracts 50,000 visitors a year.

Doctor Who conventions are big business across the world, and the internet hosts countless websites devoted to the enigmatic series of doctors in their various guises and their arch enemies.

The appeal of the Time Lord from Gallifrey was so enduring that the BBC decided to mark the 35th birthday of the series with a week of programmes in November 1998 - but the shows were only broadcast on the digital service.

Although little has so far been revealed about how the new Doctor Who series will look - or who will be given the starring role - its writer has clear ideas of the way he wants it to feel.

"The new series will be fun, exciting, contemporary and scary," he said.

"Although I'm only in the early stages of development, I'm aiming to write a full-blooded drama which embraces the Doctor Who heritage, at the same time as introducing the character to a modern audience."

Mal Young said launching a new era of Doctor Who to a 21st century audience would be a challenge, but one to which the team were looking forward.

"Doctor Who is a much-loved, truly iconic piece of television history," he explained.

"It's time to crank up the Tardis and find out what lies in store for the Doctor, and we're thrilled to have a writer of Russell's calibre to take us on this journey.

"However, we're at the very early stages of development and further details, including casting, will not be available for some time."

The BBC has said it is far too early in the day to discuss possible storylines, characters, villains or who might play Doctor Who - and no budget has yet been set.

Like previous series, the new one will be aimed at a family audience, but no details are available on when it will be scheduled or the number and length of episodes.

Also see this article from the Telegraph...

It'll be interesting to see how it goes. I'm looking forward to it.

As for who will play the Doctor, Richard E Grant has recorded audio as the Ninth Doctor for an animated story to be broadcast on the BBC internet site in November, to celebrate the 40th anniversary. Assuming this has been in preparation for a while, I would be surprised if there hadn't at least been discussions with him about the possibility of picking up the role for a TV series. (Incidentally, Richard E Grant also briefly played the 10th Doctor in a comedy version for charity, The Curse of Fatal Death).

Anyway, exciting news for all Doctor Who fans. Hoping it all works well.

 

[Al Shing]

Good news, but it looks like they might incorporate the Paul McGann TV movie as canon, which would mean the Doctor being half human will have to be considered canon. I was hoping it could be ignored, like those Peter Cushing movies.

 

[andrew markworthy]

Given Russell T Davies's previous work, I'm imagining it's going to be something like Will & Grace in Space, with a predilicition for adventures based around Manchester rather than disused Cornish clay pits.

 

[MatthewLouwrens]

I think it has to be considered canon anyway. I mean, it was a BBC co-production, right? And Sylvster McCoy regenerated into McGann. So it's difficult to ignore it.

Besides, McGann was such a good Doctor, even in a poor story, that it would be a shame to pretend he didn't exist.

And, regarding Will & Grace in Space, the Telegraph article says that we are not going to have a gay Doctor. Which is good. Fans still haven't gotten over the friendly kiss in the McGann movie, they'll never cope with a gay Doctor. And they would never get the Saturday night family audience they're apparently aiming for.

 

[MatthewLouwrens]

From the Telegraph article...

Davies will work initially on just one six-part series.

Now, what does this mean? Does this mean that the series will be six episodes long initially, or that Davies is writing the first story, which will be a six-parter. I'm hoping for the latter, because I think one of the strengths of Doctor Who was that the multiple episode stories really allowed time for stories to develop. A few years ago, I read something where someone was discussing wanting to bring back Doctor Who for stand-alone hour long episodes, and that just seemed wrong - not enough time to develop. So I'm hoping the new Doctor Who will retain the multiple episode story format.

Of course, the actual press release does not mention anything about six episodes, so who knows where the Telegraph got that information from. (If you want to see the press release, it's up at theBBC Doctor Who website)

 

[BrianB]

Please let this be good. Please let this be good. Please let this be good.

 

[Al Shing]

Does this mean that the series will be six episodes long initially, or that Davies is writing the first story, which will be a six-parter.

In Britain, a series means a season, so I would read it as a six episode season consisting of an arc, like the Trial of a Time Lord, or the Key to Time seasons.

 

[Bill Street]

WOOO HOOOO!!!!!

I am so psyched---

So, Who's it gonna be??

If they don't bring back Paul McGann... I'd love to see Anthony Stewart Head play the Doctor!

Bill S.

 

[Jason Seaver]

So, Who's it gonna be??

If they don't bring back Paul McGann... I'd love to see Anthony Stewart Head play the Doctor!

A friend and I were discussing this a few years ago, and we came up with Stephen Fry as the perfect guy for the cast: He's English, intelligent, plays eccentric well, fit enough to not slow the rest of the characters down but he's also clearly not going to solve problems with his fists, and he comes off as so asexual that you don't need to worry about the constant parade of 17-year-old girls who travel with him.

 

[PhilipG]

Stephen Fry? Yeesh, let's hope not. He's much too cheerful. It's campy humour that killed off Doctor Who in the first place (and atrocious writing that was the nail in the coffin for the McGann movie).

OTOH if they get ASH I really will throw up.

I'd rather see Richard E Grant (back) as the Doctor. Or how about (wild card idea)... Christopher Eccleston.

I for one hope they disregard that awful McGann episode, and bring back Sly McCoy for the first ten minutes... so they can shoot him again!

 

[andrew markworthy]

Does this mean that the series will be six episodes long initially

The majority of Brit shows these days either: (a) run over two or three consecutive nights or (b) are once per week for between 6 and 13 weeks. It looks like the latter sort of thing is proposed for the new Dr Who.

Incidentally, Stephen Fry would be rather better than you might initially suppose. However, even better would be Hugh Laurie (who played Bertie Wooster in the series where Stephen Fry played Jeeves). My personal vote would be for Kenneth Branagh - implausible, I know (though I believe he once stated in an interview that it's a part he'd love to play) but a man can dream, can't he?

 

[Stephen_Opipari]

I'm so geeked about DW coming back I don't know what to say.

Stephen Fry was supposedly in the lead back when the Beeb was trying to get Doctor Who 2000 off the ground as a TV show back in 99.

There's really been no mention about who will play the Dr yet from anywhere from the looks of it. I hope that McGann is given the opportunity to reprise the roll as the 8th Doc. His Big Finish DW audios have been quite good. Heck maybe they'll run with multiple people as the Doctor, that would be cool 1 story with the 8th and 1 with the 9th.

 

[Dan Hitchman]

If it's anything like the "new" look of sci-fi with Braga's and Berman's atrociously written Enterprise, then I hope they don't bring back Doctor Who, and spare his fans the agony of another Galactica 2003 on Sci-Fi.

Something tells me they're going to go with a nod towards the hip, teenage crowd (as more and more shows are steering towards that demographic) with hot babes (not that I don't mind some eye candy as long as the women can act and aren't just there to drool over!), young hunks, etc. with as much angst-riddled and superfluous dialog as Smallville and Dawson's Creek rolled together.

Who cares about solid, gripping story lines when young, beautiful people are flapping their cologin-injected lips and taking their clothes off to expose (often-times) surgically altered bodies...

I liked the slightly older (not ancient), wiser look of the Doctor (which would scew the demographic). Tom Baker was my favorite Doctor of the bunch. He seemed to have a grip on humor and dramatic acting considering the low-budget look and feel of the show.

If the writers do decide on more rock solid sci-fi and less space "camp" then I will tune in.

Dan

 

[Paul_Sjordal]

I can't wait to see this. Any idea how long it'll be before it shows up on the SciFi channel here in the U.S.?

I'll assume this version of Doctor Who will be decent given that American TV executives won't be involved. The ones involved in that American remake should all be taken out and shot. It was filled with every single bad cliché of American TV of that year and contained none of what made the original series good.

I'm still really angry about that one. To quote Ebert, "I hated hated hated this movie."

 

[Mikel_Cooperman]

This is good news just as long as they dont water it down like the American TV Movie a few years back.

 

[Al Shing]

I can't wait to see this. Any idea how long it'll be before it shows up on the SciFi channel here in the U.S.?

More likely it'll be a showpiece for BBC America first, and then move on to PBS channels.

Has SciFi ever shown any Doctor Who in its history?

 

[Bill Street]

Has SciFi ever shown any Doctor Who in its history?

Yep, back when Sci Fi first began airing it aired Dr. Who.

Bill S

 

[Jason Seaver]

However, even better would be Hugh Laurie

I didn't initially consider him, but he can be sinister when he wants to be. Just a question of him blending the two sides of the character - I think he'd probably come off more schizophrenic than his partner in crime.

 

[Mikel_Cooperman]

If it's anything like the "new" look of sci-fi with Braga's and Berman's atrociously written Enterprise, then I hope they don't bring back Doctor Who, and spare his fans the agony of another Galactica 2003 on Sci-Fi.

Science Fiction lite does seem to be the rage these days doesn't it? Simple plots so people can watch why they are reading the paper; where you dont have intricate story arcs to keep track of or fascinating characters for that matter.

If it's up the quality of B5 or Farscape, chances are it will be gone after a season, especially if its on the Sci Fi channel.

 

[MatthewLouwrens]

A friend and I were discussing this a few years ago, and we came up with Stephen Fry as the perfect guy for the cast: He's English, intelligent, plays eccentric well, fit enough to not slow the rest of the characters down but he's also clearly not going to solve problems with his fists, and he comes off as so asexual that you don't need to worry about the constant parade of 17-year-old girls who travel with him.

Stephen Fry was in the McCoy audio story Death Comes To Time that was webcast from the BBC site. e was a Time Lord Minister (as in government, not religion).

Sadly, I never got to hear how that story ended (really should get the CDs).