Doctor Who ready to come out of the Tardis for Saturday TV series
- Publication: The Daily Telegraph
- Date: 2003-09-26
- Author: Tom Leonard
- Page: 3
- Language: English
- Notes: A reader replies
AFTER aeons drifting hopelessly lost in the space/time continuum, Doctor Who is finally coming back to Earth.
In a move that heralds the most eagerly anticipated comeback in television history, BBC1 said yesterday that it is developing a new series of the sci-fi classic.
The BBC hopes that Doctor Who, which ran from 1963 to 1989, with a brief reappearance by an eighth incarnation of the Time Lord in a film in 1996, will once more become a fixture of Saturday early evening viewing.
The announcement should at least halt a long-running campaign by Doctor Who's army of dedicated fans to force the BBC to bring it back.
But in a development that may alarm purists, the new series is being written by Russell T Davies, the creator of Queer As Folk, the controversial Channel 4 drama about gay life in Manchester, and Bob and Rose, an ITV drama about a homosexual man falling for a straight woman.
Although Davies says he wants to "introduce the character to a modern audience... Lorraine Heggessey, the controller of BBC1, insisted yesterday that she did not expect a gay Doctor Who.
She stressed that Davies had been chosen primarily because he is an "absolute Doctor Who fanatic" who had asked to write a new series.
She said it was too early to say which of the doctor's most famous enemies, who include the Cyber-men, the Master and the Sea Devils, would return, but insiders said it was unthinkable that the Daleks would not be trundling back into action.
The actor who will follow in the footsteps of such popular Dr Whos as Tom Baker, has not yet been considered, she said. Possible candidates include Richard E Grant, who is appearing in a BBC Internet version of Doctor Who, Paul McGann, who starred in the 1996 version, and Alan Davies, who has been linked to the role in the past. Ms Heggessey said she had wanted to bring back the series for two years but the rights were held by BBC Worldwide, the corporation's commercial arm, which has been trying to agree a film deal with a Hollywood studio.
"Worldwide has now agreed that, as they haven't made the film and I've been waiting for two years: it's only right that BBC1 should have a crack at making a series," she said. Davies, who also wrote the critically acclaimed ITV drama Second Coming, will start writing in the New Year. The series is unlikely to be broadcast before 2005.
He said yesterday: "I grew up watching Doctor Who, hiding behind the sofa like so many others. He's had a good rest and now it's time to bring him back. "The new series will be fun, exciting, contemporary and scary." Davies will work initially on just one six-part series.
Tom Baker: famous Dr Who
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- APA 6th ed.: Leonard, Tom (2003-09-26). Doctor Who ready to come out of the Tardis for Saturday TV series. The Daily Telegraph p. 3.
- MLA 7th ed.: Leonard, Tom. "Doctor Who ready to come out of the Tardis for Saturday TV series." The Daily Telegraph [add city] 2003-09-26, 3. Print.
- Chicago 15th ed.: Leonard, Tom. "Doctor Who ready to come out of the Tardis for Saturday TV series." The Daily Telegraph, edition, sec., 2003-09-26
- Turabian: Leonard, Tom. "Doctor Who ready to come out of the Tardis for Saturday TV series." The Daily Telegraph, 2003-09-26, section, 3 edition.
- Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=Doctor Who ready to come out of the Tardis for Saturday TV series | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Doctor_Who_ready_to_come_out_of_the_Tardis_for_Saturday_TV_series | work=The Daily Telegraph | pages=3 | date=2003-09-26 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=19 April 2024 }}</ref>
- Wikipedia (this page): <ref>{{cite web | title=Doctor Who ready to come out of the Tardis for Saturday TV series | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Doctor_Who_ready_to_come_out_of_the_Tardis_for_Saturday_TV_series | work=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=19 April 2024}}</ref>
