Doctor Who Update

Regular readers of this blog are aware of my obsession with the BBC sci-fi show, Doctor Who. The adventures of a timelord from the planet Gallifrey who travels across time and space in a TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimension In Space) that looks like a blue police box. (it's much bigger on the inside) I am especially fond of the newly relaunced version which began in 2005 with Christopher Eccleston (28 Days) as the Doctor and former pop star Billie Piper as his human companion, Rose Tyler. Russell T. Davies (Queer As Folk) has done a great job bringing back the Doctor with great wit, new found emotion and of course aliens and monsters. While still giving us the occasional two part story, thankfully we aren't subjected to the weekly cliff hangers that dominated entire seasons of the classic series. Thank goodness my PBS station showed the edited 'movie' versions of those stories instead of the individual episodes. Hopefully, the accumulated knowledge I am about to impart will allow me to cover other topics now, since you can update yourself on the latest news about the Doctor by using the links provided below. Here's the latest about the best SciFi show on television. The BBC's Doctor Who spin off, "Torchwood", starring John Barrowman, reprising his Doctor Who role as Captain Jack Harkness, heading up a team of investigators in a sort of "adult X-Files" hybrid, is a smash hit in the U.K. So far no U.S. broadcaster is lined up. The good Doctor is all over the U.S. though. The first series repeats are airing on Tuesday nights at 10pm on BBC America, with several repeats during the week, while the second season, starring David Tennant (Casanova, Harry Potter and the Goblet Of Fire) has it's two hour season finale Friday night (12/22) 8-10 pm & 11p-1am repeat on the Sci-Fi channel. SciFi has also confirmed on their website that they will run Series 3 sometime in 2007. The current series, along with the classic series are both now being offered to PBS stations again. KTEH 54 San Jose, CA is the first public TV station to aquire the Christopher Eccleston Doctor Who episodes. It is expected that public TV stations will get Doctor Who in a one hour block - the unedited episodes followed by a cut down version of the relevant Doctor Who Confidential episode, (a sort of 'making of' program) with the planned premiere on Tuesday April 10, 2007. Among the PBS stations showing the classic series are: MPT Maryland WCET Cincinnati IPTV Iowa KBTC/KCKA Tacoma/Centralia Doctor Who Series 1 Box Set DVD's (Christopher Eccleston) are now available from Amazon. Doctor Who Series 2(Release : Jan. 16th), starring David Tennant are available for pre-order . Both series DVD's box sets contain the Doctor Who Confidential programs (edited) as well. Christopher Eccleston has a role on the NBC hit show "Heroes" . His episodes will begin in Januarary. The BBC will also premiere another spinoff starring Elisabeth Sladen (as Sarah Jane Smith, former companion of the Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker incarnations of the Doctor who had a guest spot in the new series eoisode "School Reunion" in Series 2) called "The Sarah Jane Adventures" . Aimed towards kids, it is the story of Sarah Jane as an investigative reporter. The first episode will premiere on the BBC New Years Day. No U.S. broadcast is scheduled as yet. From "Outpost Gallifrey": The Sun has revived the story doing the rounds a while ago that Christopher Eccleston is tipped for the lead role in a remake of 1960s cult TV show The Prisoner which starred Patrick McGoohan. The article says filming on the joint Sky One/Granada TV/AMC production will begin in the spring, with the programme showing worldwide in January 2008. Season three with David Tennant begins on BBC with the Christmas episode "The Runaway Bride" co-starring Catherine Tate and Sarah Parish, premieres on Christmas Day and 13 new episodes featuring Freema Agyeman, who plays new companion Martha Jones, replacing Billie Piper, will air in the Spring of 2007 on the BBC. No word yet on Sci-Fi channel picking up series three. Doctor Who Links Doctor Who BBC Main Page Outpost Gallifrey (the ultimate fan and news site for all Doctor Who info.) Sci Fi Doctor Who Page BBC America Doctor Who Page To get updated emails on worldwide episode tv screenings, including episode titles, check out the "This Week In Doctor Who" news group on yahoo.