Introduction

Although the early 2000's were relatively quiet for Doctor Who news in the press things hotted up in 2003, particularly when the BBC announced in September that Doctor Who was coming back with a new series in 2005.

Prior to this the mainstay of press coverage were the continued rumours of a film/new TV series, many of them highly inaccurate, a very few more informed (see left). Most reported that the BBC were interested in making a film but many were confusing and confused as to where the facts lay.

Perhaps one of the more interesting 'facts' to emerge, according to the Manchester Evening News, Thursday 16th March 2000, was that Russell T Davies (Queer as Folk) had been asked by the controller of BBC 1 to develop a new series, this was later confirmed by the man himself. Apparently this idea ran into problems due to BBC Worldwide's complex and never ending plans for a film (vague or vaguely confirmed depending on the time of the year, who you believed and the state of the tea leaves at the bottom of BBC canteen cups!).

Elsewhere things in 2000/2001 were a little clearer, BBC Radio 4 commissioned a pilot for a Doctor Who radio series. Unfortunately changes at the top of Radio 4 meant that this was later rejected. The pilot did, however, turn up in 2001 on the BBC Doctor Who Website as a web broadcast.

To the delight of all concerned this proved to be such a success that a number of other web broadcasts, or webcasts as they have been named, were commissioned starting in 2002 and culminating with 2003's Cosgrove Hall animated Scream of the Shalka, starring Richard E Grant and debuting on the 13th of November.

Additionally Doctor Who became one of the first BBC programmes to be released on the 'new' high-quality video format DVD. Much of the UK DVD press seemed pretty excited by this and gave over pages to articles and reviews particularly for the November 2000 release of the Tom Baker classic Robots of Death.

Then, to the surprise and delight of many, in September 2003 it was announced officially by the BBC that none other than Russell T Davies had been appointed by to create the long awaited new BBC Doctor Who series!

This news was rapidly followed by the 40th anniversary of the series and all the attendant coverage this garnered, much of which also mentioned plans for, or rumours about, the new series. Many newspapers also ran coverage of the UK Gold Doctor Who @ 40 weekend as a part of this, especially given the lack of any related BBC TV programmes over anniversary itself (BBC 1 ran a new Documentary about the series at the end of December instead).

The New Series Announcement

The cutting at the top of the page (mentioning Russell T Davies) was published in 2000 (click on the thumbnail or see the 2000 page for the full scan) so it would appear that some sections of the press were certainly on the right track back then. In September 2003 a new series was announced officially by the BBC to be part written and produced by none other than Russell T Davies.

The series has been commissioned by BBC-1 controller Lorraine Heggessey, is to be written by Russell T. Davies (his credits include Bob and Rose, Queer as Folk, The Second Coming, Touching Evil (with Paul Abbott), The Grand and two sci-fi/fantasy series Dark Season and Century Falls), it will be produced by BBC Wales in conjunction with Mal Young, Controller of BBC Continuing Series (or his successor in the job), who will also be an executive producer of the series along with Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner, the Head of Drama at BBC Wales.

On the 20th of March 2004 it was announced that Christopher Eccleston (Our Friends in the North, The Second Coming, The Others, 28 Days Later, Gone in Sixty Seconds) is the new Doctor (that's the Ninth for continuity freaks) and in May 2004 it was announced that Billie Piper is playing companion Rose Tyler.

Filming began in Cardiff in July 2004 and we have many behind the scenes photographs and further details on our New Series News and Main pages.

The 2004 page is being regularly updated with press articles relating to the new series as and when they appear.

You can find also out more by following the links below to other sites:

• » The BBC Press Release
• » Outpost Gallifrey News Page

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