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!

BBC America Unveils New Doctor Who Trailer

THIS past Saturday, BBC America posted a brand-new Doctor Who trailer to their website featuring the 11th Doctor (Matt Smith) and his new companion, Amy Pond (Karen Gillan). Check out the link below to view the trailer and more Doctor Who videos! The new season of Doctor Who premieres in Spring 2010 on BBC America.

The Doctor sweeps his new companion off her feet - literally! See for yourself: http://www.bbcamerica.com/content/123/doctor-who-video.jsp

Companion Piece

[caption id="attachment_1128" align="aligncenter" width="211" caption="Karen Gillan prepares to embark on her journey through Time and Space onboard the TARDIS in "Doctor Who." Photo copyright of BBCtv."][/caption] SINCE the early Sixties, the enigmatic Time Lord known only as "The Doctor" has relied on one or more of his travelling companions to help him save the universe from such extraterrestrial threats as the Daleks, Cybermen and Zygons. Scottish-born actress Karen Gillan will be doing just the same when her character joins a newly-regenerated Doctor (played by Matt Smith) in a new season of Doctor Who, which is slated for broadcast in 2010. According to a news report last week on the official BBC UK website -- Gillian has already appeared in the drama, having played a Soothsayer in The Fires of Pompeii in the last run [of the series]. "I am absolutely over the moon at being chosen to play the Doctor's new companion - I just can't wait to get started," she said. "The show is such a massive phenomenon that I can't quite believe I am going to be part of it. Matt Smith is an incredible actor and it is going to be so much fun to act alongside him." [caption id="attachment_1130" align="aligncenter" width="199" caption="Gillan in her role of a Soothsayer in "The Fires of Pompeii." Photo copyright of BBCtv."][/caption] The news report continued with comments by Piers Wenger, Head of Drama, BBC Wales, who said, "She [Karen] brings 'energy and excitement' to the role. When she auditioned alongside Matt we knew we had something special." Doctor Who writer and executive producer Steven Moffat went on to say that they saw some amazing actresses, "but when Gillan walked through the door, the game was up." Gillan, a native of Inverness, Scotland, became enamored of acting at an early age thanks to her involvement in various school productions and youth theatre groups. She studied acting at Edinburgh's Telford College, and then continued her training at the Italia Conti Drama School in London. The actress made her professional debut in an episode of the Scottish TV drama Rebus and went on to appear in such other shows as Stacked and The Kevin Bishop Show as well as James Nesbitt's upcoming feature film Outcast. As noted above, all photos copyright of BBCtv, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any form. Thanks!