SciFiAndTvTalk

New Doctor Who Arrives On BBC America In April

Matt Smith as the 11th Doctor in Doctor Who. Photo copyright of the BBC.

BBC America announced today that the new era of the BBC's iconic BAFTA-winning drama, Doctor Who, will make its U.S. premiere on Saturday, April 17th, 2010, soon after the UK broadcast. Doctor Who, BBC America's highest-rated series ever, continues its tradition of rebooting with new lead actors and creative team. Matt Smith debuts as the new, Eleventh incarnation of the famous Time Lord alongside a new traveling companion, the enigmatic Amy Pond (Karen Gillan).

"Britain has a tradition of reinventing its iconic characters, like James Bond, Sherlock Holmes - and Doctor Who. In introducing the Eleventh Doctor, writer Steven Moffat is opening the show to a whole new audience, while serving fans with an exciting mix of intergalactic time travelling adventures. We can't wait to meet his new Doctor!"comments Richard De Croce, Senior vice President Programming, BBC America.

BAFTA-winning writer Steven Moffat, creator of some of the most frightening and award-winning Doctor Who episodes to date, takes over as lead writer and executive producer. Writers for the new series include Richard Curtis (The Boat that Rocked, Love Actually), Chris Chibnall (Law & Order UK, Torchwood), Toby Whithouse (Being Human, Torchwood), Mark Gatiss (The League of Gentleman, Sherlock) and Simon Nye (Men Behaving Badly, Hardware). Guest stars include SAG Award winner Alex Kingston (ER, Flash Forward), Oscar nominee Sophie Okonedo (The Secret Life of Bees, Hotel Rwanda) and Tony Curran (24).

Travelling both through time and space, the new series has the mysterious Doctor and Amy Pond together exploring 16th century Venice, France during the 1890s and the United Kingdom in the far future, now an entire nation floating in space. The first three episodes of the 13-part series have been confirmed as The Eleventh Hour, written by Steven Moffat, The Beast Below, also by Moffat, and Victory of the Daleks by Mark Gatiss.

Moffat's work includes the hit comedy Coupling, the critically-acclaimed thriller Jekyll, the new BBC series Sherlock and, along with Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish, the screenplay for The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, which is being directed by Steven Spielberg.

Piers Wenger and Beth Willis (Ashes to Ashes) also serve as executive producers on Doctor Who. It is a BBC Wales production for BBC ONE and distributed by BBC Worldwide.

As noted above, photo is copyright of the BBC, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!

Doctor Who: The End Of Time On BBC America

Wilf Mott (Bernard Cribbins), The Doctor (David Tennant) and The Master (John Simm) in Doctor Who: The End of Time, Part One. Photo copyright of the BBC.

THE final two Doctor Who specials, Doctor Who: The End of Time, Part One and Part Two, starring David Tennant as The Doctor, will premiere over the holiday season on BBC America. In Part One, it's the Tenth Doctor's final journey, but his psychotic nemesis, The Master (John Simm), has been reborn on Christmas Eve. With both determined to cheat death, the battle ranges from the wastelands of London to the mysterious Immortality Gate. Meanwhile, the alien race Ood, warn of an even greater danger approaching, as a terrible shadow falls across the entire Universe.

It's the beginning of the end for the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant). Photo copyright of the BBC.

Guess who's back???? John Simm as The Master! Photo copyright of the BBC.

In Part Two, the Doctor faces the end of his life as the Master's plans hurtle out of control. With the sound of drums growing louder and an ancient trap closing around the Earth, the Doctor and Wilf Mott (Bernard Cribbins) must fight alone. But sacrifices have to be made, and the deadly prophecy warns, "He will knock four times."

Bernard Cribbins as Wilf Mott (Donna Noble's grandfather). Photo copyright of the BBC.

This is not Bernard Cribbins' first journey aboard the TARDIS. The veteran British TV, feature film and stage actor played Tom Campbell in the 1966 Doctor Who movie Daleks' Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D., which starred the legendary Peter Cushing as The Doctor.

Written by Russell T. Davies and directed by Euros Lyn, Doctor Who: The End of Time also guest-stars Catherine Tate (as Donna Noble), Timothy Dalton (as The Narrator), David Harewood (as Joshua Naismith) and June Whitfield (as Minnie Hooper). Part One airs Saturday, December 26th @ 9:00 p.m. EST/PST on BBC America, with Part Two airing the following week, Saturday, January 2nd, 2010 @ 8:00 p.m. EST/PST.

MASTER FILE - The only other survivor along with the Doctor of a long-dead alien race called the Time Lords, The Master, first played by Roger Delgardo, made his debut in the 1971  Jon Pertwee (Third Doctor) adventure The Terror of the Autons. For three seasons, the two Time Lords matched wits, until the Master's final appearance in the season 10 Doctor Who episode Frontier in Space. Delgardo was scheduled to guest-star in one more story, but, sadly, was killed in a car crash on June 18th, 1973 while working in Turkey on another project.

The Master was not seen again until the 1976 episode The Deadly Assassin. Portrayed under heavy make-up by actor Peter Pratt and in his thirteenth and final regeneration, the now grossly disfigured Time Lord was defeated by the Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker). In one last bid to save himself, The Master (still a husk of his former self and now played by Geoffrey Beevers) returned five years later in Baker's penultimate story, The Keeper of Traken. Taking over the mind and body of Tremas, a scientist from the world of Traken, The Master was reborn in the guise of actor Anthony Ainley. Following the death and regeneration of Baker's Doctor in Logopolis, The Master carried on with his quest for power and domination of the Universe, his schemes continually thwarted by Doctors Five (Peter Davison), Six (Colin Baker) and Seven (Sylvester McCoy). Ainley's incarnation of the character made his final appearance in the Seventh Doctor's swan song weekly TV adventure, Survival.

Feature film actor Eric Roberts reprised the role of The Master in the 1996 made-for-TV Doctor Who movie, which starred Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor. It was in the Tenth Doctor episode Utopia, that our hero crossed paths yet again with his old enemy, played by Sir Derek Jacobi. This incarnation of The Master, however, was unaware of his true identity, and only when prompted by a piece of technology did he recall his past lives as a Time Lord. When mortally wounded, The Master regenerated into a much younger version of his former self (actor John Simm). In what later appeared to be one final battle between him and  The Doctor, The Master refused to regenerate and died... or did he? John Simm is back as The Master to cause more chaos and destruction in Doctor Who: The End of Time.

The Doctor meets up again with a representative of the Ood. Photo copyright of the BBC.

Wilf and The Doctor are on the move! Photo copyright of the BBC.

Into the TARDIS! Photo copyright of the BBC.

Guest-star David Harewood (center) as Joshua Naismith. Photo copyright of the BBC.

Former companion Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) returns. Photo copyright of the BBC.

The Doctor can't quite believe his eyes! Photo copyright of the BBC.

Hello world! Yes, it's me, The Master. Photo copyright of the BBC.

As noted above, all photos from Doctor Who: The End of Time, Part One are copyright of the BBC, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!

Doctor Who - A Veritable Who ' s Who

 

[caption id="attachment_3134" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Tom Baker (The Doctor) and Mary Tamm (Romana). Photo by and copyright of Steve Eramo"][/caption] GUESS who I ran into yesterday in London, who being the operative word. Three very familiar faces from the world of Doctor Who were on hand to meet the fans at The Stamp Centre in the Stand, London - Tom Baker (The Fourth Doctor), Mary Tamm (Romana #1) and Rula Lenska (Styles from the 1984 Peter Davison episode Reserrection of the Daleks). All three actors happily spoke with fans, posed for photos and signed endless autographs. The line stretched the length of the street, but it was worth the wait once you got inside. All laughter and smiles, Tom Baker came out with wonderful stories to amuse the many fans, including one about a signing he did a long time ago. It seemed that every time he went to sign something, his drink would be whisked away. At the end of the evening and, not surprisingly, quite thirsty, he left for home. Not far from the signing venue, he was stopped by a young man who handed him a slip of paper. Turning it over, Baker obligingly signed, "Best wishes, Tom Baker," and handed it back. Puzzled, the young man asked, "What is this?" When the equally bemused actor explained it was an autograph, the man turned the paper over - it seemed that he was searching for an address and hoped Baker could point him in the right direction! As Mary Tamm and Rula Lenska chatted away with fans, Mary mentioned her new book - Mary Tamm - First Generation, The Autobiography, Volume 1, with a forward by Colin Baker (The Sixth Doctor) - which will be released this weekend. Check out www.marytamm.com for more details. I remember seeing Rula Lenska for the first time on American TV in an advert she did for VO5 hair products. Following that, I enjoyed her work on such shows as Rock Follies, Space: 1999, To The Manor Born and Take A Letter Mr. Jones. Again, despite the long lines, everyone walked away from the event quite happy. The Stamp Centre's next event will be on October 1st. Check out their website for further details - www.scificollector.co.uk [caption id="attachment_3135" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="The lovely Rula Lenska. Photo by and copyright of Steve Eramo"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_3136" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="The equally lovely Mary Tamm. Photo by and copyright of Steve Eramo"][/caption] As noted above, photos by and copyright of Steve Eramo, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!