Doctor Who star David Tennant to guest star on "Sarah Jane" spin-off

In what is perhaps a shrewd move on the BBC part, Doctor Who star David Tennant will appear as the Doctor in a two-part episode of the series spin-off, The Sarah Jane Adventures.

Elizabeth Sladen has already crossed over play Sarah Jane Smith a few times since the revival of the series back in 2005. Now this will be the first time that the Doctor will guest on her show. Of course, this entitles the fans to seeing Tennant a few more times before his swan song as the Time Lord at the end of the year. Plus, one assumes, The Sarah Jane Adventures -heading into season three - should see it's highest ratings yet, if only because while the character has been mentioned on SJA and the other spin-off, Torchwood, the Doctor has actually never appeared on them.

Tennant returns as the Doctor in The Waters of Mars this November, followed by the two-part finale this Christmas and New Years. His appearance on SJA will air in September, however.

Other news comes that indeed, a motion picture version of Doctor Who is in the works. The same production team running the show, will produce a big screen version of the series. However, there is no timetable for release of said film or if it would involve current Who star David Tennant or incoming 11th Doctor, Matt Smith, or something else completely.

BBC names 11th -and youngest - Doctor Who

Little known British actor Matt Smith, 26, will take over the lead role of the Doctor when the series returns for a 5th season on the BBC in spring of 2010. After numerous rumors that the role would go to an older, more seasoned actor (or potential actress) the announcement of Smith has surprised fans. At 26, he is three years younger than Peter Davison -the 5th Doctor - when he took over the role in 1981. And while Davison had a fan following with his work in All Creatures Great and Small, Smith's work at the BBC began in 2006, with the adaptation of Philip Pullman's The Ruby in the Smoke, which starred former Doctor Who companion Billie Piper. He has also acted opposite Piper in the follow-up, The Shadow in the North, and in ITV2's Secret Diary of a Call Girl. In 2007, he had a leading role in BBC Two's political drama Party Animals, in which he played a parliamentary researcher.

For some fans, their casting of someone so young seems to confirm that the BBC is more concerned with the tween audience -especially girls - than anything else. Of course, like here in Hollywood, the younger you are, the better demographics you get, the better profit you make. In theory anyways.

Still, one hopes that despite his age, the series can be pulled from the doldrums by new showrunner Steven Moffat, who'll have a year to make the fifth series the best since the show was brought back in 2005. He is, perhaps, a better writer than Russell T Davies, in the effect that his scripts are filled with more depth and with better dialogue. Davies was great for bringing huge set pieces to the show, but if you look too close at his scripts, you find its way too fanish and lacks a lot of substance.

There is to be three more specials of Doctor Who featuring outgoing David Tennant, with the next one to be aired around Easter. A third will probably air in late summer, while the fourth, and last of the 10th Doctor, will air Christmas Day of this year.

David Tennant to leave Doctor Who

In what is really no surprise (at least for me) Doctor Who star David Tennant announced he'll give up the role of the time traveling Doctor at the end of the 5 specials airing in 2009. Which means when the sci fi series returns for a fifth full season in 2010, there will be a new Doctor at the helm of the TARDIS.

When the series was cut short for 2009 due to Tennant's six month stint in Hamlet and then series show runner Russell T Davies announced his departure at the end of those five specials, there was some speculation that Tennant would leave also. Over the last few months, word had come from various sources that BBC was willing to give Tennant a huge raise plus a movie deal to return for a fifth season (and his fourth year in the role).

But in the end, one thinks the programs popularity was the reason for his decision.

He's at the height of his career right now, winning awards and praise from critics for his perfomance in Hamlet and has a huge following around the world. I'm sure movie offers are coming in left and right. If he was to stick around, I think he would regret missing out on some great roles that would stretch him as an actor.

All good things, as the saying goes.

I look forward to those five specials and what incoming showrunner Steven Moffat plans to do with the show in 2010.

Read more here.

BBC confirms a year hiatus between series four and five of Doctor Who

What happens when a TV star agrees to take on the role of Hamlet with the Royal Shakespeare Company, one that will run July through November of 2008, and one that will conflict with the time you usually film your hugely popular series?

For the BBC, it throws a spanner into the juggernaut that is the revived Doctor Who series.

Filming is already underway on series four of the show, schedule to bow in the spring of 2008, followed by airing here on Sci Fi next summer. After that, the show will not return as a full season until 2010.

However, there will be 4 Doctor Who specials, starting with the 2008 annual Christmas Special, followed by 3 more of those “specials” peppered out through 2009. All of them will star David Tennant as the Doctor.

A fifth series has been commissioned, but the BBC was mum on if Tennant will continue on with the title role, as there had been speculation that both he and show runner Russell T. Davies would depart before filming on series five would begin production.

The BBC press release came after unconfirmed rumors -at the time - that were speculation the series going on hiatus after series 4 screens on BB1. Then the Royal Shakespeare Company confirmed that Tennant indeed would be spending 6 months with their production as Hamlet.

Doing the math, most people realized that while Tennant would be doing Hamlet, it was also suppose to be doing a potential fifth series as the Doctor.

While this hiatus comes on the heels of series star David Tennant’s agreement to play Hamlet for 6 months, one cannot help but remember the near year off TOS took back in the 1980's. And that was forced by the BBC. Back then, of course, its departure for a year was based on many factors: low ratings, directionless stories and high violence. It would also hasten the end of Colin Baker’s tenure as the Doctor, as he was not asked back when production resumed. It would be cancelled in 1989, after three more, unremarkable seasons. One hopes history will not repeat itself.

Anyways, the BBC seems to be going out of its way this time to say that this is a “temporary hiatus” in 2009 after which they are emphasizing the series will return for a full fifth year in 2010. And like Tennant’s future involvement in a fifth series, there is no word if Davies will also continue as show runner beyond the 2008 Christmas Special and the three other stories set to air in 2009.