Doctor Who?
Some brief background information.
See below for information on the new 2005
BBC TV Doctor Who Series.
The 'Classic' Series - 1963 to 1996
- Doctor Who ran continuously on the BBC (British
Broadcasting Corporation) from 1963 to 1989. It briefly returned in 1996
for a special TV Movie that was co-produced with Fox
TV and Universal Television in
the United States. The programme will return in 2005 as
a 13 part 'flagship' BBC1 series.
- The First Doctor was played by William Hartnell,
a well known film and television actor in the 1940's and 1950's. When Hartnell left
the role in 1966 a clever device was created to allow a new actor to
take on the role, namely renewal (or latterly regeneration) of the Doctors
body and personality into a new physical form. The second actor in the
role was Patrick Troughton (1966-1969), he
was followed by Jon Pertwee (1970-1974), Tom
Baker (1974-1981), Peter Davison (1982-1984), Colin
Baker (1984-1986), Sylvester McCoy (1987-1989)
and Paul McGann (1996 TV Movie).
- Although the lead actor in the role has changed many times one thing
has remained constant, the Doctor travels through Time and Space in his TARDIS (Time
And Relative Dimension In Space) Time Machine. This machine, although
highly advanced by our standards, is disguised as a mid-20th Century
blue London Police Telephone Call Box.
- The programme's early success was cemented by the popularity of the Daleks,
a race of "hideous machine creatures" that became the Doctor's
arch enemies. Such was the impact of these "monsters" that
their name was subsequently listed in the Oxford English Dictionary.
They returned for many subsequent stories, their popularity only ever
being threatened by the "half man, half machine" Cybermen.
- In the early 1970's another potential nemesis for the Doctor appeared. The
Master, initially played by the brilliant Roger
Delgado, was also a Time Lord and, like the Doctor, had
the ability to regenerate. Anthony Ainley and Eric
Roberts (for the TV Movie) took on the role in later
years.
- It was only in 1969 that viewers discovered that the Doctor was in
fact a Time Lord and later, in the 1970's, that he was
from the planet Gallifrey.
- The BBC are
currently releasing DVD's (the final VHS Videos were
released in November 2003) of classic stories on a regular schedule and
publish new novels, based on past Doctors and the 8th
Doctor (Paul McGann), every month. In addition a series of critically
acclaimed licensed novellas were produced by Telos
Publishing until March 2004. These have been succeeded by the highly
regarded Time Hunter spin off range. Original audio
adventures are being made and released monthly (on CD) by Big
Finish.
- Old episodes of the programme are shown in a regular slot on British
cable and satellite station UK Gold.
- The 'classic' series is still aired in a number of countries around
the world, including the USA and Australia.
Doctor Who 2005
On Friday the 26th of September 2003 news broke that the BBC are making
a new series of Doctor Who, to be aired in
2005 on BBC1. This was the news that
all fans of the series have been waiting for 14 years to hear!
The series has been commissioned by BBC1 controller Lorraine
Heggessey and will star Christopher
Eccleston as the Doctor and Bilie
Piper as his 'assistant' Rose.
It is being produced and part written by Russell T. Davies (his
credits include Bob and Rose, Queer as Folk, The
Second Coming, Touching Evil (with Paul Abbott), The
Grand and two sci-fi/fantasy series Dark Season and Century
Falls). Other writers on the series are Paul Cornell, Mark
Gatiss, Steven Moffat and Rob
Shearman.
The 13, 45 minute, part series is produced by BBC
Wales in conjunction with Mal Young,
Controller of BBC Continuing Series (or his successor if he leaves
the BBC before the series airs). Young is Executive
Producer of the series along with Russell T Davies and Julie
Gardner, the Head of Drama at BBC Wales; the series' Producer is Phil
Collinson.
Filming commenced on the 18th of July 2004 on location in Cardiff, Wales,
which is where production is based, and is currently (October 2004) ongoing.
You can find out more by going to our New Series
News page and our 2003 & 2004 Cuttings
Pages.
More information can also be found by following the external links below: