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BBC America announced today that the new era of Doctor Who will make its U.S. premiere on Saturday, April 17, 2010, soon after the UK broadcast. This announcement comes much to the delight of American audiences, including yours truly. The upcoming new season, which will star Matt Smith as the eleventh incarnation of the famous Time Lord known simply as ‘The Doctor’ and Karen Gillan as his enigmatic travel companion, Amy Pond.
Travelling both through time and space, the new series has the mysterious Doctor and Amy Pond together exploring sixteenth 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-episode 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.
The Waters of Mars - Saturday, December 19th at 9/8c on BBC America.
Mars, 2059. Bowie Base One. Last recorded message: "Don’t drink the water. Don’t even touch it. Not one drop."
Lindsay Duncan (Rome, Longford) joins the Doctor as his sharpest and most strong-minded companion yet for the first of three final Doctor Who specials.
The Waters of Mars is a dark, scary thriller that sees the Doctor land on the planet Mars, at a base in peril. A creeping infection beneath the Martian surface threatens not only the human race but also the Doctor's most fundamental beliefs.
Together with Adelaide Brooke - the base's commander, played by Lindsay Duncan - the Doctor must defeat a seemingly unstoppable menace before it can reach Earth and wipe out mankind.
The Doctor must fight not only the water but destiny itself. While also confronting his own existence, when the prophecy about his future begins to resonate. Is his song about to come to an end?
From The Doctor Who News Page:
A roundup of news for the broadcast of Torchwood: Children of Earth around the world.
United Kingdom (BBC1, 6th-10th July)
United States (BBC America, 20th-24th July)
Canada (SPACE, 20th-24th July)
Australia (UKTV, date unknown)
The Next Doctor - Saturday, June 27th at 9:00pm ET/6:00pm PT with encores at Midnight and 3:00am ET/9:00pm and Midnight PT on BBC America.
It is Christmas Eve, 1851, and Cybermen stalk the snow of Victorian London. When the Doctor arrives and starts to investigate a spate of mysterious deaths, he encounters a woman named Rosita (Velile Tshabalala) and another man who calls himself "The Doctor" (David Morrissey). After failing to capture a Cybershade, the two men talk and the current Doctor thinks the other is a future regeneration of himself. However, "the Next Doctor" seems to be lacking many of the current Doctor's memories.
Meanwhile, the Cybermen are planning an attack on Earth, helped by their human ally, Miss Mercy Hartigan (Dervla Kirwan). The two Doctors must combine forces to defeat the ruthless Miss Hartigan. But are two Doctors enough to stop the rise of the CyberKing?
In a turnabout from a previous arrangement, BBC America now has first US broadcast rights for the soon-to-be-aired hour-long specials of Doctor Who.
The Next Doctor, the show's 2008 Christmas episode, will make its US debut at 9:00 p.m. on June 27th, followed by Planet of the Dead in July 26th. Specific US air dates will be determined for the subsequent specials after they've aired in the UK. 
BBC America - which has to bid for British shows just like any other American broadcaster - will continue its first run deal on Torchwood, airing that show's third season in July. Other science fiction shows debuting on the network this summer include Being Human (starting July 25) and Survivors, starring Doctor Who's Freema Agyeman (date TBA). The third season of ITV's dinosaur time romp Primeval is currently airing on the network.
Current BBC America president Garth Ancier says that's the network should always have had Doctor Who. "If I'd been here [when the original deal was made]," Ancier said, "we wouldn't have sold it, to be quite honest." For the last four years, the Sci Fi Channel has held first rights, with BBC America holding second rights.
Planet of the Dead - Saturday 11th April at 6:45pm on BBC One.
When a London bus takes a detour to an alien world, the Doctor must join forces with the extraordinary Lady Christina, in this one-off seasonal special. But the mysterious planet holds terrifying secrets, hidden in the sand. And time is running out, as the deadly Swarm gets closer.
Planet Of The Dead features David Tennant as the Doctor, Michelle Ryan as Lady Christina and Lee Evans as Malcolm. It is written by Russell T Davies and Gareth Roberts.
Planet Of The Dead is also being simulcast on the BBC HD channel – the BBC’s High Definition channel available through Freesat, Sky and Virgin Media.
Official: David Tennant Leaving DW After TV Specials
David Tennant will be leaving Doctor Who at the conclusion of the 2009 specials currently in production, the actor announced live on stage Wednesday evening at the National Television Awards.
The Guardian newspaper broke the story prematurely, reporting on their website (in a report subsequently pulled down) that Tennant is "vacating the TARDIS and leaving the BBC's Doctor Who series at the end of next year. Tennant's decision brings to an end his popular four-year tenure as the time lord." The article went on to say that the BBC had confirmed that the actor "would complete the filming of four special episodes to be screened this year and in early 2010, as well as 2009's Christmas special."
The BBC Doctor Who website has now posted the full news: "I've had the most brilliant, bewildering and life changing time working on Doctor Who. I have loved every day of it," the actor says. "It would be very easy to cling on to the TARDIS console forever and I fear that if I don't take a deep breath and make the decision to move on now, then I simply never will. ... I'm still the Doctor all next year but when the time finally comes I'll be honoured to hand on the best job in the world to the next lucky git - whoever that may be." Tennant added that he "always thought the time to leave would be in conjunction with Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner who have been such a huge part of it all for me. Steven Moffat is the most brilliant and exciting writer, the only possible successor to Russell and it was sorely tempting to be part of his amazing new plans for the show. I will be there, glued to my TV when his stories begin in 2010." He furthermore says that he feels "very privileged to have been part of this incredible phenomenon, and whilst I'm looking forward to new challenges I know I'll always be very proud to be the Tenth Doctor." Says Russell T Davies, "I've been lucky and honoured to work with David over the past few years - and it's not over yet, the Tenth Doctor still has five spectacular hours left! After which, I might drop an anvil on his head. Or maybe a piano. A radioactive piano. But we're planning the most enormous and spectacular ending, so keep watching!"
Says the BBC News site, Tennant is quoted as saying, "I love this part, and I love this show so much that if I don't take a deep breath and move on now I never will, and you'll be wheeling me out of the Tardis in my bath chair." Tennant also says, "I think it's better to go when there's a chance that people might miss you, rather than to hang around and outstay your welcome," he said.
Tennant will appear in this year's Christmas special, as well as four specials being produced for 2009 and 2010 airdates by executive producers Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner. Tennant confirmed to BBC News that the four specials for 2009/2010 will be "the four last stories that I do." New incoming executive producer Steven Moffat will then take over the series with new leads as the show returns for a normal, fifth series of episodes in 2010.
More details as they come in...
David Tennant's announcement at the NTAs:
David Tennant BBC Interview on his departure:
The BBC Press Office and various media sources (originally broken by MediaGuardian) have announced that Steven Moffat is to succeed Russell T Davies as the chief writer and executive producer of Doctor Who when it returns for its fifth series.
The article states that Moffat will replace Davies in 2009, taking over as "showrunner" for the fifth series in 2010. Moffat has been responsible for several episodes of the revived Doctor Who to date, including the BAFTA Award-winning "Blink" and the forthcoming two-parter "Silence in the Library" and "Forest of the Dead".
Davies is quoted as saying: "It's been a delight and an honour working with Steven, and I can't wait to see where his extraordinary imagination takes the Doctor. Best of all, I get to be a viewer again, watching on a Saturday night!"
The BBC press release includes a comment from Moffat himself: "My entire career has been a Secret Plan to get this job. I applied before but I got knocked back 'cos the BBC wanted someone else. Also I was seven. Anyway, I'm glad the BBC has finally seen the light, and it's a huge honour to be following Russell into the best - and the toughest - job in television. I say toughest 'cos Russell's at my window right now, pointing and laughing."
Moffat will continue as a director on the board of Hartswood Films, which produced Coupling and Jekyll, where he is also working on a new comedy Adam & Eve with wife Sue Vertue.
CBBC Newsround has confirmed that Doctor Who will return for a fouth series to UK screens on 5th April 2008 though a start time has yet to be announced. Newsround also confirms that Totally Doctor Who will not be returning this year:
Doctor Who back at start of April
Doctor Who will be back on our screens on Saturday 5 April, with 13 new episodes.
In the Time Lord’s fourth series since he returned in 2005, The Doctor, played by David Tennant, teams up again with Donna, played by Catherine Tate.
The pair first met in the 2006 Christmas special, The Runaway Bride.
Last year head writer Russell T Davies told CBBC Newsround that the first episode features: "the most unusual monsters we’ve ever created".
"(It’s) the sort of creature we’ve never tried before," he added. The first episode is called Partners in Crime.
The series will also give us a chance to find out more about the Ood - last seen in the episodes The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit.
But the most frightening story looks likely to be a double episode written by Steven Moffat, the man behind the scary statues in Blink.
CBBC Series Totally Dr Who won’t be back this year, but there willl be some old friends returning to The Tardis.
Martha, (Freema Agyeman) who left The Doctor last summer, will be returning.
As will Rose (Billie Piper), who was stranded in another universe at the end of the second series.
And, who knows, some other favourite characters might well be coming back at some point in the series.
CBBC’s Doctor Who section can be found by CLICKING HERE.
