I caught it on tape and thouroughly enjoyed it, and Billie Piper was brilliant, but Christopher Eccleston was something else, he managed to make the Doctor his own and the show had great comedy as well as a lot of action. Roses mum was funny close to the beginning where she was talking to the doctor. And I had to laugh when he had the plastic arm and it was attacking him. His face was a picture, and the way Rose casually said, 'I don't know, give a man an arm.'
Well actually, the first episode - "Rose" - was actually a kind of remake of Jon Pertwee's first story in 1970 - "Spearhead From Space". Robert Holmes who wrote it got a credit at the end of "Rose". I read an interview in which Russell T. Davies said that was his favourite Dr Who story from the old series.
I hope it works its what the fans deserve,i remember being glued to the set back in the sixties watching William Hartnell as the doc' and have enjoyed it ever since,hope the "new kids" out there get as much enjoyment out of it as i did.
Good old Jon Pertwee he was a great actor. But he did not like his role in Doctor Who. He prefered Worzel Gummedge I did not like that series, Doctor Who was the best for him!
Doctor Who has today been recomisioned for a Chritsmas special and another series.
Source: Media Guardian
Quote:
Second Doctor Who series already in pipeline
Jason Deans, broadcasting editor
Wednesday March 30, 2005
The BBC has wasted no time in commissioning a Christmas special and second series of its Doctor Who revival, less than a week after the time traveller returned to BBC1 after an absence of 16 years with nearly 10 million viewers.
However, the BBC head of drama commissioning, Jane Tranter, was unable to confirm whether Christopher Eccleston, the ninth doctor, or Billie Piper, who plays his sidekick, would be returning - opening up the possibility that the man with the sonic screwdriver might have to undergo yet another regeneration within a year.
Ms Tranter said she had commissioned the Christmas special and a second series of Doctor Who yesterday - just three days after the sci-fi show began its new 13-part run on BBC1 with 9.9 million viewers, beating off stiff opposition from Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway.
"So now we've got to start talking to Billie and Chris about what they want to do. I want to make Doctor Who again, but there is a mischievous element to it, in that you can keep regenerating [the Doctor]," she added.
"I think Chris is fantastic as Doctor Who. But we've still got another 12 episodes to go. People will have to wait and see what happens," Ms Tranter said, speaking at a Broadcasting Press Guild lunch today.
She added that Eccleston and Piper's contracts included options to do more series, which is standard practice in returning TV dramas.
But Ms Tranter indicated that it was not yet certain that the pair, who have been generally well received by viewers, critics and die-hard fans of Doctor Who, would continue to be part of the show after the current series.
The lead writer on the new Doctor Who series, Queer as Folk creator Russell T Davies, will be writing the Christmas special, which will be broadcast towards the end of this year.
Ms Tranter revealed that Doctor Who was "probably the riskiest thing I've ever commissioned", because of the cost and the commitment to a 13-episode series, adding that she was shocked at how popular the first episode had proved on Saturday night.
"In all honesty I had got myself into proverbial steel jacket as far as Doctor Who was concerned. I told myself I'd be completely and utterly thrilled if it got 6.5 million, but there was a little voice inside whispering '4.5 million'," she confessed.
She said that Barb's AI index, the audience research measure of how much viewers enjoyed a show, had scored 81 out of 100 for Doctor Who - above the average for the corporation's dramas, which is 78.
Ms Tranter added that the BBC had always envisaged that the Doctor Who revival would be scheduled early on Saturday evening, even though this put it head to head with Saturday Night Takeaway, one of ITV1's biggest entertainment hits.
"We wanted it to be early Saturday evening, because that had been the slot before, and Russell [T Davies] had written it with that time in mind. There's something there for every adult to chew on, but also something for children. If you played it at a different time, it's just not going to work," she added.
I think it would be a real shame if Eccleston or Piper left after just the 13 episodes...it's taken this long for Doctor Who to come back, the thought of a 10th doctor seems so premature.
The fact that Russell T Davies is on board is however reassuring- the scripts will be lovingly written regardless of the actors.
I was surprised at the length of series one- 13 episodes which took 8 months to film (bear in mind US dramas film 22+ episodes in that much time)....I just wonder if Eccleston feels it would take up too much of his time per year.
I've always thought British shows benefit from 8 week runs maximum....the US length series just don't seem appropriate given our actors like to do a variety of work. I just hope the BBC are prepared to compromise e.g. doing an 8 episode series filming in 5 months, rather than losing Eccleston to allow a longer series that increases revenue on foreign sales.
I said in the other thread that it would top 10 million on Saturday....I reckon we can expect it to fall off to around 7-8 million this Saturday, and probably finish the series after a slow decline on around 6-7 million [although expect a bump for episode 6: "Dalek" given the media coverage that'll receive]. Definitely good enough for a recommission, given it's a very rare thing in TV- good quality, clean, fun family drama ideal for a Saturday night.....that's outstanding public service broadcasting.
