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The fourth series of the current Doctor Who is in production right now, with a Christmas special preceding the expected 13-week run in spring 2008. However, plans have been announced that keep Doctor Who going through at least 2010:
In short, the franchise will be taking a slower pace in 2009, with three "special" episodes and both series showrunner Davies and star Tennant signed up. A full series of thirteen episodes will lead the return in the 2010 season, though at this time it's not known who'll be returning for that (or not - odds are they haven't worked that part out yet, and in British TV this is not unusual).
Hints of this change had been received several weeks ago when the Royal Shakespeare Company announced David Tennant would be leading a production of Hamlet (and another role in Love Labours Lost) through much of next year when he would otherwise be filming Doctor Who. Between this and increasing fear that the two top BBC moneymakers would move on while the top BBC drama was still in its prime, it looks like the folks at the Beeb are giving the franchise a small breather while keeping the talent where they want and able to pursue other things for a while. In the meantime, I'm sure Torchwood and possibly the Sarah Jane Adventures will be ramped up to compensate for the missing Time Lord.
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My thoughts are they're doing this for two reasons: - To give David Tennant chance to explore other acting avenues while still being able to stay as the Doctor...such as to do that Hamlet production you mention. - They've over-stretched themselves, considering they currently have three series in the franchise in production at the same time. That's got to eat up the time of the production team. As it is we don't get the second series of Torchwood until 2008...so it does imply to me that producing Doctor Who, Torchwood, and Sarah Jane Adeventures concurrently is a little too much for them. My expectation is that by the 2010 series David Tennant will leave and Sarah Jane will be canceled.
Registered: Jul 2006
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