When they run Doctor Who on the BBC, they always have that companion piece; Doctor Who Confidential. Finally they have it on BBC America, although it is not on the channel proper, but relegated to their web site. Still, it means those of us in the US have access to it the same day as the new episode, and now that the episode airs here the same day it does there, I feel quite a bit better about how my Doctor fix gets delivered.
My favorite BBC Radio station was always BBC7’s 7th Dimension, their science fiction and fantasy showcase which sadly got shut down a while ago, at least as a separate entity. It didn’t just go away, though; they folded it into BBC Radio 4Extra, where it joined up with some other quality radio plays and book readings. Last weekend, they aired Terry Pratchett’s Only You Can Save Mankind, and they are running J.G. Ballard’s The Drowned World this week, James Follett’s The Destruction Factor, and the outer space comedy The Laxian Key. While the Pratchett episodes have mostly evaporated (just one left at the moment), you can still listen again to the others. But the exciting bit is what is coming, starting with a brand new Doctor Who radio play, Cobwebs, which begins Monday at 6PM (GMT/UT, adjust for your local time zone) and runs each day for 4 episodes through Thursday. This one stars Peter Davison as The Doctor, Janet Fielding as Tegan, Mark Strickson as Turlough, and Sarah Sutton as Nyssa; I can’t wait. While I am still heartbroken that the Tom Baker/Elisabeth Sladen new radio plays will now never be made since we lost Lis (Tom will still be doing new ones), it is good to know there continue to be new Who stories being created by our old friends.
Nor is this phenomenon unique to Doctor Who. According to this SFX story, they are wrapping up production on Torchwood this week, and are about to go into the studio to record three new Torchwood radio plays. The first one they did, Lost Souls, was aired on the day CERN fired up its super collider in September of 2008, referred to as Big Bang Day by a lot of people who wondered if they would blow up the planet (and don’t you feel silly now?). Then in 2009 they did three more, called Asylum, Golden Age, and The Dead Line. These stories took place between seasons two and three, airing consecutively on July 1st, 2nd, and 3rd of 2009, followed immediately by season three, Children of Earth, which ran for 5 consecutive nights, July 6th through the 10th. These are all excellently done radio dramas, and if you haven’t heard them yet you can buy the disks from Amazon or download them from iTunes, and they are worth every penny. The three new episodes will be broadcast on BBC4 sometime this summer, which you can listen to online.
Sadly the reports have come in today that Elisabeth Sladen, the actress who played Sarah Jane Smith, has died at the age of 63. She was without a doubt the longest running companion, working with Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker in the 1970s and 1980s, then returning several years ago to partner up with David Tennant, and finally getting her own series, the Sarah Jane Adventures. There is one more season of that in the can ready to be broadcast, so there are still new adventures waiting. The most moving tribute I have seen so far came from Russell T. Davies, although another really nice one came from Airlock Alpha. It is fitting that the BBC announcement was a part of the Doctor Who News segment of the site, and includes Steven Moffat’s reaction. And BBC Worldwide put together this YouTube collection of some of Sarah Jane’s finest moments.
The first full length season 6 Doctor Who trailer went online very shortly ago (it had 302 views when I got to the web page, so its fresh!). It looks like its going to be another exciting season, and thanks to io9 for the heads up on this one.
Starz has announced that the air date for Torchwood: Miracle Day will be July 8th, 2011. On that day we will get to see the premiere episode of season 4, which will get a 10 episode run. That run will bracketed by season 6 of Doctor Who on BBC America, which starts the first half of the season on April 23 and breaks a few weeks before Torchwood starts. After Torchwood runs, Who returns! I wish I could say that we will be getting Sarah Jane Adventures after that, but I don’t believe they have run in the US since season 1; I have had to wait for the DVDs to see them.
But you can see this year’s Red Nose Day Doctor Who episodes online; enjoy!
Doctor Who returns to BBC America with season 6 on April 23rd. Of course, this Friday, March 18th, The Doctor, Amy and Rory will be showing up for Red Nose Day in an all new adventure. Folks on this side of the Atlantic may have to wait until the DVD comes out to see it, but they have put The Curse of Fatal Death online for viewing even in this country. That was the Steven Moffat written episode from 1999’s Red Nose Day which starred Rowan Atkinson as The Doctor, at least at first.