Posts Tagged ‘Series 6’

Writer, actor Mark Gatiss will pen another episode of Doctor Who, it has been confirmed.

Gatiss, who has been contributing since Doctor Who came back in 2005, penned episodes The Unquiet Dead and The Idiot’s Lantern in the first and second series respectively. He was more recently responsible for this year’s divisive Victory of the Daleks.

The news comes from returning director, Richard Clark (Gridlock, The Lazarus Experiment), who tweeted, “In the thick of Dr Who. New drafts coming along. Mark Gatiss story wonderful”. Clark later added that Gatiss’ story should end up being the fourth episode of Series 6.

Clark is also directing Neil Gaiman’s story which had a story readthrough yesterday.

Neil Gaiman, who is writing episode three, said on his blog, “All I’ll say is that the table read was pretty amazing, the guest star or stars will be fabulous, Matt’s great, Arthur’s wonderful and I never got to say hullo to Karen (who was amazing).”

Will the Daleks appear in the next series? In the past it’s been a safe bet that Doctor Who’s most famous monster will make an appearance at some point during each series. But Steven Moffat has hinted that may no longer be the case.

Talking at the Edinburgh TV Festival, Moffat said, “There will be a Dalek story when we’ve got a good idea for a Dalek story. [When it does eventually happen], there will be lots of different kinds of Daleks.”

While Moffat doesn’t rule it out entirely, it sounds like there isn’t anything planned at the moment. Although, of course, it’s equally possible Moffat is just playing his cards close to his chest.

This year’s Dalek redesign proved controversial with some fans who felt the colourful makeover had reduced them to nonthreatening ‘Power Rangers‘…

The Daleks have appeared in every series since Doctor Who came back in 2005, except the Specials (save a cameo flashback). So how would you feel about their potential absence from the next series?

While Matt Smith is reportedly signed up until 2013, Karen Gillan’s future in Doctor Who is a little hazy.

A source has apparently told The Sun that Karen Gillan is leaving Doctor Who and (spoiler warning) Amy Pond will be killed off permanently in the Spring 2011 finale.

Naturally this is The Sun, so take it with a lorry load of salt, but Steven Moffat has promised a “game-changing” event and that would certainly fit the bill.

When asked recently about her future Gillan remained quiet, “Who knows? I’m just taking it series by series and I’m just having fun. So, I don’t know. I have no idea”.

“I’m signed up for [series 6] of Doctor Who so I have no plans for anything else right now, but I would love to get into theatre after this series. I think Lady Macbeth is a character I could really get into – and she’s from Inverness like me.”

Gillan has also talked a little about the Christmas special, “We are about to start in a week and a bit on the series [6], which is exciting. We’ve finished the Christmas special so that’s all in the can and it’s a good one. It’s really funny but it’s also heartbreaking and you get a glimpse into Amy and Rory’s honeymoon, which is an interesting one. There’s a really, really scary [monster] in the Christmas special.”

[The Sun]

Well that didn’t take long! Fresh after yesterday’s news, the BBC has confirmed that Series 6 will air in two parts. Seven of the 13 episodes will air in Spring 2011 while the remaining six will follow in Autumn of 2011. The press release follows.

The BBC and Steven Moffat have announced today that the transmission of the next series of Doctor Who, in 2011, will be split into two blocks, transmitting in spring and autumn.

The split transmission is the result of a request from Steven Moffat to write a new Doctor Who story arc which involves a big plot twist in the middle of the series. By splitting the series Moffat plans to give viewers one of the most exciting Doctor Who cliffhangers and plot twists ever, leaving them waiting, on the edge of their seats, until the autumn to find out what happens.

Steven Moffat said: “The split series is hugely exciting because viewers will be treated to two premieres, two finales and more event episodes. For the kids it will never be more than a few months to the next Doctor Who! Easter, Autumn, Christmas!!”

This is the biggest change to the Doctor Who format in years, so we want to know how do you feel about this? Answer in our poll below and leave any further thoughts in the comments.

Update: The BBC has now confirmed Series 6 will be split into two parts airing Spring and Autumn 2011.

For the past five series Doctor Who has aired in the spring of each year, but that may all be about to change.

Digital Spy has spoken with BBC1 controller, Jay Hunt, who has confirmed that scheduling changes are being discussed.

“We’re talking about what form Doctor Who will take. I think the interesting thing with having Steven [Moffat] running that show now is it will be very much a creative decision. He will decide what he thinks is right for the show.”

Rumours about the show moving to Autumn have been floating around for a while now, but this is the first official sign.

It’s possible the show could air with a split series, half airing at Easter and the remainder in the Autumn, as rumoured for Series 5.

Obviously nothing is confirmed yet one way or the other, so we’ll just have to wait and see how this one develops.

Writer Neil Gaiman has given some updates on the status of his upcoming Doctor Who episode.

Gaiman, who is penning the third episode of Series 6, wrote on his blog on Friday, “We’re about ten days away from the Doctor Who table reading. I spoke to the Director for the first time yesterday. And the script is pretty much the script.”

“Technically it’s probably the tenth draft, but I’m not really counting any more. (The “Cut ten pages” draft of the trip to Australia was the last one that felt like major surgery.) Steven Moffat came to my rescue when I felt like I couldn’t even pick it up again, and for that, he is a hero.”

“It hasn’t really changed that much. It just gets tighter and, I hope, more like itself. Slowly, draft by draft, it’s being turned up to eleven. Anything that wasn’t moving the plot forward has gone. Lots of interesting chatty background conversations in the TARDIS, gone. Lines of dialogue that were fun in themselves but weren’t really needed? Gone. And the food scene? Very gone indeed. It’s been gone since draft six. Given that it’s not there any longer, and that that tells you absolutely nothing about the story except that it now doesn’t have a scene with a bowl of food in it, I thought I’d borrow it back from Lucien’s library.”

Gaiman included a cut extract from the script which you can read by heading to his blog.

Steven Moffat has confirmed he will write five of the 13 episodes from Series 6, plus the upcoming Christmas special.

“I’m doing the Christmas special plus five, so it’s the same. Six again. I’m basically following what Russell [T Davies] did. Having worked out the sums and worked out how he does it, I thought that’s a perfect way of doing it,” Moffat told Den of Geek.

He added that he has found the increased workload of working on both Doctor Who and Sherlock a tough balancing act, “The last year has been extraordinary. I’ve had about four days off, and that includes Christmas day. I work every weekend, I get up early in the morning, I go to bed late at night. There is no way of balancing it.”

“It’s extraordinary, but it’s great fun too! Great fun, so long as it doesn’t kill me.”

Steven Moffat has dropped a few Series 6 hints in the latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine (issue 424, out now).

“You’ve seen more than you think. The Doctor has noticed what you have not,” says Moffat. “And when the biggest jaw-dropping twist finally comes – well, the second one – you’ll realise you’ve known about it from the very beginning…”

Damn you and your teasing ways Moffat! It’s something to speculate on though.

Moffat also talks a little about the Xmas special, though, once again, he isn’t revealing much as it’s too early.

“We’ve got big ideas and big plans for this special, and it’s quite unlike any Doctor Who Christmas special we’ve done before. All I’m telling you now is that it’ll be 60 minutes long and the Doctor and Mr and Mrs Pond will all be present and correct.”

Series Five of Doctor Who may now be over, but it doesn’t mean the end of the Whoniverse. In fact, there’s still plenty to look forward to over the next few months and beyond. Let’s take a look at what’s coming up leading all the way up to the Sixth Series.

The Adventure Games

Coming soon, we have two more Adventure Games. Unlike the first two, episodes three and four will feature entirely new monsters created especially for the games. No word on release dates yet, but consider that the space between the first two releases was under a month. We could be looking at a late July release for episode three and late August for episode four.

The Sarah Jane Adventures

In Autumn, The Sarah Jane Adventures will return for a 12-part fourth series. The old gang is back although there will be some key cast departures this year. The Eleventh Doctor will make an appearance in the intriguingly titled Death of the Doctor written by Russell T Davies. Companion of the third Doctor, Jo Grant, is also returning. SJA has traditionally aired around September/October.

Christmas 2010

Steven Moffat is writing this year’s Christmas episode and has vaguely described it as “the most Christmassy Christmas special there’ll ever be”. There are rumours the Yeti returning based on some concept art from Peter Mckinstry’s site, but he has actually confirmed this was for the Doctor Who DVD Files Magazine and not the Christmas special. Perhaps the Doctor will find himself on the Orient Express – in outer space – chasing an Egyptian goddess. Or it could have just been a throwaway scene at the end of The Big Bang.

Series 6

Series 6 is expected to air in Spring 2011. Matt Smith and Karen Gillan return (presumably with Arthur Darvill as Rory). It’s a long time off but we’ll be keeping a close eye on filming which is set to begin in July. We might get a glimpse at Matt Smith’s costume tweak that he recently hinted at. Will a fez be part of the new attire? Not if River Song’s about!

Torchwood

The fourth series of Torchwood was confirmed at the start of the month and will feature the return of Captain Jack and Gwen, with stories this time taking place internationally. Unfortunately Torchwood is even further off than Series 6 of Doctor Who, with a rough Summer 2011 start date mooted.

While The Big Bang answered a fair few questions, it also left more open. For example; who was voice in the TARDIS, who was controlling it and what caused it to explode; who exactly is River Song, what is her relationship to the Doctor and who did she murder; and just who or what is the Silence?

Tonight’s episode of Doctor Who Confidential gave some hints of what to expect in the next series and it was revealed that Steven Moffat has plotted the Silence Will Fall story arc beyond the fifth series.

“Something that we’ve been hearing about throughout this series is going to continue and become more significant, and we’re going to learn more in the next series, which is the Silence.” said executive producer Beth Willis.

Moffat added “What is that? Who is that? Who are the Silence and what’s coming. The whole point of the Silence is next series. Also who is River Song? Who is she really? That’s what we’re going to find out next year.”

Here’s the video extract;

We’ve got a long time to speculate!