Doctor Who brought back to life in new series
- Publication: CanWest News Service
- Date: 2005-04-19
- Author: Alex Strachan
- Page:
- Language: English
Charles Dickens, action hero. As unlikely as that sounds, it's just another day on the job for the splendid, revived Doctor Who, a small sci-fi treasure the whole family can enjoy.
In a deft, daffy outing called The Unquiet Dead, Christopher Eccleston's manic Doctor and his irrepressible companion Rose (Billie Piper) finds themselves in 1869 in Cardiff, Wales, where a local mortuary, Sneed and Company, is having a devil's time making sure the recently departed stay that way.
It's Christmas week, snow lies over the cobblestone lanes and an excitable Dickens (Simon Callow) is delivering an over-the-top lecture about A Christmas Carol at the local Barbican when he receives a most unwelcome visitation from one of Sneed's flock ("Mr. Sneed, for shame! How many more times? It's ungodly!").
For his part, Sneed knows he will find his wayward client eventually: "She's 88. She can't have gone far." Such mirth!
Watching the confident revival of one of the U.K.'s most silly and beloved serials has been one of the pleasures of the TV year so far. A CBC/BBC co-production, the new Doctor Who is already a bona fide hit in the U.K., where, in true British tradition, Eccleston quit the job precisely because it became a hit. (He was fearful he might be typecast in future roles.)
This past weekend, Eccleston's successor was named: Scottish actor David Tennant. Tennant, 33, will become the 10th Doctor when filming resumes on the series this summer.
Eccleston made 13 episodes in all; tonight's outing on CBC is only the third. Not so long ago, Doctor Who was presumed dead and buried. No one could have anticipated the magnificent, epic, entertaining journey it has become. Like the hapless Sneed, Doctor Who writer Russell Davies has succeeded in bringing the dead back to life. Who knew?
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- APA 6th ed.: Strachan, Alex (2005-04-19). Doctor Who brought back to life in new series. CanWest News Service .
- MLA 7th ed.: Strachan, Alex. "Doctor Who brought back to life in new series." CanWest News Service [add city] 2005-04-19. Print.
- Chicago 15th ed.: Strachan, Alex. "Doctor Who brought back to life in new series." CanWest News Service, edition, sec., 2005-04-19
- Turabian: Strachan, Alex. "Doctor Who brought back to life in new series." CanWest News Service, 2005-04-19, section, edition.
- Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=Doctor Who brought back to life in new series | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Doctor_Who_brought_back_to_life_in_new_series | work=CanWest News Service | pages= | date=2005-04-19 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=1 September 2024 }}</ref>
- Wikipedia (this page): <ref>{{cite web | title=Doctor Who brought back to life in new series | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Doctor_Who_brought_back_to_life_in_new_series | work=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=1 September 2024}}</ref>
- Title: Doctor Who brought back to life in new series
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