This week's edition of the Radio Times has devoted a lovely two page spread about the Southerdown Beach filming for Series 5 of Doctor Who. Enjoy!



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BBC2 / BBCHD - 16th and 23rd July 2009 -10.00pm

We're back to the regular series format for Episode Five after the giddy heights of the previous week's Hitchcock homage. Kicking off with the Astons returning from a night out and Joy desperate to get doll Freddy attached to her breast, this utterly bonkers series has us actually believing that Freddy really is alive. But more on that later. Bob asks the Crabtree sisters the questions that we all would like answered: 'How do you go to the toilet?' 'I assume each of you has your own anus?' Not something to ask in polite company whilst you're digging into a nice chocolate eclair.

There is a a wonderfully sick gag when Mr. Lomax spins an extremely heart-rending tale outside Ian's bedroom door in order to get him to talk and eventually hand over Snappy the Crocodile. Typically, Shearsmith and Pemberton weave a tale of Hamley's black mohair bears made in memory of all the children that drowned after the Titanic sank and Lomax's need to keep the inner child alive through his collection, all beautifully and mournfully scored by Joby Talbot, and then undercut it with Ian opening the door behind Lomax and in a thick brummie accent declare, 'I can't hear a word you're saying'.



After a brief catch up with the panto dwarves, which for me is the weakest of the sub-plots in the series, we're back to Joy Aston and little Freddy Fruitcake. He's started to call for his mum over the baby intercom and in a rather disturbing sequence, lit rather fantastically too, Joy goes to Freddy's room only to see her doll, animated and darting about the room. It's a wonderful play on Child's Play but also reminiscent of the TV movie Tales Of Terror where the iconic Karen Black is menaced by a rather savage voodoo doll. As Joy is bitten and then attacked, she yells, 'I think you need some Calpol!' The scene does rather get overworked with Freddy, riding a toy car and knocking Joy down the stairs. The boys have obviously been watching The Omen again.

Love the great visual joke of the nurse shrieking at the huge teddy bear seemingly walking down the ward towards her only for Robert to pop out from behind it on his visit to the comatose Debbie. There's a nice visual reference to the earlier mention of Biggins switching the Christmas lights on (and quite honestly the late Autumn would have been the ideal time to show this series. It seems odd that this is going out in July if you ask me) as Robert emulates the story of Sleeping Beauty and wakes Debbie up with a kiss and the lights go on with a cheer outside the window.

Whilst Joy deals with the murderous Freddy and we get that marvelous twist of George and Nicola plotting to bump her off (even though it's fudged slightly as to how Freddy actually becomes so animated), Jelly and Jolly get to sit in a car and do nothing more than give us exposition about Jolly working as a consultant in a psychiatric hospital (as revealed in the previous episode) and surprise, surprise that all the characters were inmates being cruelly treated by the evil Nurse Kenchington (Eileen Atkins in wonderfully severe form).



Despite this rather uninspiring revelation, the episode has one more moment of brilliance to offer up. David and Maureen have lured their next victim from Murder And Chips to a wax works and it is while David prepares to murder him that all the wax works of Haigh, Christie (Shearsmith doing a blindingly good version of Richard Attenborough as Christie from 10 Rillington Place) and Ellis come to life, take the piss out of each other and the actors who played them on screen and then proceed to do a musical number with Jack The Ripper as the leading man! It's breathtakingly left field, wonderfully performed and scored and a perfect summation of David's troubled little mind. David and Maureen wander off without killing their victim, Robin, it seems. Robin has an idea for a Murder And Chips evening where all the wax works come to life. Spookily, Jack tells him it's already been done.

By Episode Six, Joy is out for revenge against Nicola and George, both of whom have assumed she's died of heart failure after Freddy's attack. Lomax's associate, Tealeaf, has driven off with the Crabtree sisters in search of Snappy's owner. The tedious sub-plot with Robert and the panto drags on again, with Debbie now convinced Robert is her fiance, but it does provide us with a reinvigorating twist when Robert's friend Kerry reveals that it is she with the telekinetic powers and not him. It's the liveliest that plot has been through the entire series.



Better is the short scene in casualty when a distraught Joy, screaming that her baby's head has come off, is told by the Doctor, 'I'll get you a needle and thread.' And I love that whole sequence with Tealeaf and the Crabtree sisters in the van. In an attempt to steal the money Tealeaf...er...Michael Fry has to pretend to want to date Kelly Su. Chelsea is horrified, 'He's just interested in what's between your legs. All that filthy green stuff.' 'You are talking about the money, ain't you?'

This episode pretty much preoccupies itself with setting up the big reveal about who is the blackmailer and how they are connected to the characters' incarceration in Ravenhill. The writers try to keep us guessing over the blackmailer's identity - could it be Mr. Jolly, or Robert, or Nurse Kenchington (she might not be dead as we are led to assume)...and whilst all this is going on in a frenzy of quick cutting between the characters that's actually quite annoying here, Maureen's down at B&Q buying an indoor barbeque for the last of the Murder And Chips crowd. And she has a little moment of realisation when David's friend spells it out about his 'bad murder'.



Meanwhile, Mr. Jelly has been inadvertently handcuffed to a pensioner from a care home. Don't ask. He's returned home to discover his front door open and Mr. Jolly's body on the floor of the living room. He's been suffocated by a blue plastic bag. Watch out for the blue plastic bag. And are we sure it's really Mr. Jolly lying there? It's the episode's Macguffin. Whilst he and the pensioner hide from a man in black carving up Jolly's body, she regaling him of stories about vibrators, back at the theatre the panto turns into a moment from Carrie as Kerry reveals that it was her wot dunnit. She does a splendid Sissy Spacek routine with slamming doors, and pins Debbie against a wall with the Seven Dwarves' pick axes.

If that isn't bonkers enough, Kerry then manages to put the blame on Robert in front of the other dwarves (such a cruel joke that they're all too small to climb up on stage to the rescue) and as he escapes, the queeny Brian materialises in full wicked Queen drag and belts him across the head with a shovel. Did I mention this series was seriously deranged?



Joy breaks into Ravenhill to perform a blood transfusion from the kidnapped Nicola and Michael Fry also arrives to complete the purchase of Snappy the Crocodile. 'Look, he's already got the colour coming back into his cheeks!' cries Joy as Nicola's blood leaks out of Freddy's unseeing doll eyes. Maureen returns to the flat, now fully realising that their murder spree was based on David's misunderstood confession of 'I've done a bad murder'. It's a brilliantly dark scene as an overdosed Maureen grabs a pillow and decides to suffocate David in order to spare them both arrest. Except of course, David isn't in bed, a balloon bursts where his head should be and Maureen, realising she's poisoned herself, shoves her fingers down her throat. Twisted stuff.

As Joy drains Nicola of blood, back in his mansion Lomax is depressed that his latest helper loves Tony Hancock. She promptly and aptly quotes that infamous line from The Blood Donor. Lomax gets a call from Tealeaf, now locked in a room in Ravenhill with Snappy, and obviously Lomax will join the rest of the characters, including David carrying a rather suspicious blue plastic bag, for the finale in Episode Seven.

Official site

SPOILERS AHEAD

You have been warned.

It seems, judging by the blurry trailer below that debuted at this weekend's Comic Con, that we might possibly know a number of things and definitely can confirm others about the final days of the Tenth Doctor.

Timothy Dalton's opening narration opens onto a quick grab bag montage of returning characters (Donna, Wilf, Sylvia and the Ood) and then that final moment when a hoodie wearing blonde chap by the name of John Simm turns to the camera and announces his return as...The Master!

Blimey.

And it looks like the final Tennant episode is called The End Of Time

Video footage from the Comic Con Doctor Who panel with Russell, David, Euros and Julie.



A quick snippet from the Comic Con Being Human panel with Aiden Turner and Russell Tovey.

At last, a new trailer for the forthcoming Doctor Who special, The Waters Of Mars. Now this really looks the business! Roll on November.

UPDATE: LIVE BLOGGED: The full report on the Doctor Who panel is now on Digital Spy - preview clips confirm John Simm is back as the Master.

UPDATE:
RTD and David Tennant on San Diego telly during their Comic Con visit!



David Tennant, Rusty T and The Barrowman introduced screenings of Torchwood: Children Of Earth Day 5 and Planet Of The Dead to an enthusiastic crowd at San Diego Comic Con. Two panels, one for each show, will follow.



On Sunday July 26th, a Doctor Who panel will be held from 10:00-11:00am (US time). David Tennant will be joined by RTD, Julie Gardner and director Euros Lyn. Plus, we suspect, some juicy clips from Waters Of Mars? Hope so.

However, speculation about a movie announcement has now been toned down and you can read all about that over at io9 in their brief chat with Tennant, Davies and Gardner.

Apparently a BBC America rep has also let it slip that the BBC have commissioned Torchwood for a fourth series!

UPDATE:

Three lovely Comic Con posters courtesy of AMC. Full size PDF versions are available to download from the AMC site.







As posted up on the AMC Prisoner blog yesterday: (and thanks to Thierry Attard for flagging this up too)

"Today at Comic-Con 2009, Prisoner fans were treated to a special screening of AMC's all new, nine-minute Prisoner preview. The extended trailer introduces Six (Jim Caviezel), Two (Ian McKellen) and a number of other characters from the show. Fans of the original '60s series will also learn definitively whether Rover will make an appearance in the AMC miniseries. Watch the full video online to find out yourself."



First impressions: Intriguing, fascinating, the locations look superb and then there's that iconic shot of Rover...dare I say it ? I'm looking forward to this.

Be seeing you.....

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BBC2 / BBCHD - 2nd and 9th July 2009 -10.00pm

Episode Three opens in very confident style. A nightmarish, colourfully garish 'Clown Court' where Mr. Jelly is accused of stealing Mr. Jolly's act and then told 'you killed her, didn't you'. Anyone tuning in at this point must have thought they'd gone mad because it's quite simply one of the oddest things that's been seen on British television for a while. It's beautifully and simply put together by director Matt Lipsey who then goes to town on dutch angles and wide lenses, dropping in litle moments such as the little girl in a party frock bashing away on a typewriter like some diminutive court stenographer. It culminates in a life sized Mr. Punch slicing off Mr. Jelly's hand. Somehow, I can't see this being a Christmas panto at Drury Lane.

Dawn French provides another helping of malignant put downs ('I see Dr. Miriam Stoppard has snuck back in. Hello, Miriam? How's Tom? Oh, no. Sorry, of course she left you for Felicity Kendall') as she introduces her class to a birthing pool. French has been perfect for the role of Joy Aston, providing a strained pathos for a clearly delusional woman whilst also being brilliantly acerbic in her observations of mums to be.



The Sowerbutts are also at their revolting best. The scene where Maureen chews a piece of sausage in order to then make it digestable for her repellent son is certainly memorable, especially when there's that great tag to the joke when she makes him use a fork when he tries to pick the part digested food off his plate with his fingers. They realise that their previous murder has now turned into a serial killer spree to kill all those who saw him 'do a bad murder' at the Murder And Chips evening. Meanwhile, in Dudley, the search for Snappy the crocodile goes on with the Crabtree sisters and Mr. Lomax converging on the house of eBay sellers Karen and Bob. Love the reveal of the two sisters pressed up against the patio window.



Perhaps one of the best sequences in Episode Three is the flashback to a younger Mr. Jelly and the complications of the surgery for his RSI (from too many kids' parties) and an origin story for the 'red raw stump' and also for Mr. Jolly, who turns out to be his surgeon. It's genuinely tragic when Jelly wakes up, in full clown make-up incidentally, to hold up his bandaged arm and that pathos is carried by Shearsmith's lovely performance. It's bittersweet, undercut with that gag of both his GP and his surgeon providing a running commentary, and there's a bravura piece of visual storytelling as we see Jelly trained to use his prosthetic limb whilst gradually he gives away all his tricks of the trade as an entertainer to Mr. Jolly who, by the end of the sequence, has donned bright purple gloves and clown make up and stolen his entire act. Wonderfully done.

And it doesn't end there. Flash forward to the present day and there's a frantically hilarious chase sequence round an indoor children's play area (the 'no shoes' gag is great, the soap in the eye moment is hilarious) that is again told in a purely visual slapstick manner, harking back to the masters of silent comedy, including some great hand held shooting too. Back with Joy Aston, a video arriving in the post gives us a clue to how all these characters are connected. And Freddy seems to be acquiring a life of his own as Joy's husband confronts her about her obsession with the doll.



David and Maureen, dragged up as beauticians from The Gentle Touch beauty salon ('...this is Jill Gascoigne and I'm Maggie Forbes'), and here Shearsmith and Pemberton are also clearly giving us an homage to a very similar scene in the cult classic Theatre Of Blood, barge in on Murder And Chips player Cheryl McGinnis (Janet McTeer) to give her a very special make over ('...when I first met Jill, she looked like Brian Blessed, didn't ya Jill'). It's a very funny scene and McTeer is really game to be left to the mercy of Shearsmith and Pemberton.

Back in the panto, midget Robert uses his telekinetic powers to ensure Sleeping Beauty Debbie lives up to her character's name. And the bidding for Snappy the crocodile is a joyous pisstake of anal collectors everywhere as the sellers attempt to pass off a sock with buttons as Snappy and Lomax and the Crabtrees are reduced to insults (...'serves you right for dealing with Mr. Magoo there'. 'That sounds rich coming from a Push Me Pull You').

A fabulous episode ends on a shock revelation as Joy watches the video, featuring all the characters in a mental institution and David plaintively singing "A Land of Our Own" from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and we see Mr. Jolly amongst the medical staff.



Episode Four is a three-hander between Shearsmith, Pemberton and fellow Leaguer Mark Gatiss. I don't quite know what they were trying to achieve by emulating Hitchcock's classic Rope, and similarly using a single set and continuous takes as well as lifting many visual tropes from the film. It opens as the film opens, a slow pan towards an apartment window and then a quick cut to two people strangling a third. The Hitchcock is laid on a little too thickly by having the stabbing strings from Psycho playing over the murder and would seem initially to just come over as indulgence. However, once the body is despatched into an antique trunk, Maureen whips off her marigolds and ironically deflates the tension by comically inflating her gloves whilst Henry Kelly announces on the radio they've just been listening to 'Movie Magic'.

Shearsmith in particular should be singled out for his performance here, perfectly capturing Maureen's exhaustion and world-weariness under the layers of latex. It's a brilliant tragi-comic creation. And after two and a half minutes of no dialogue, Maureen sums it all up with, 'Well, shall I put the kettle on? I'm absolutely gasping!' Whilst David eloquently sums up the serial-killer raison d'etre, Maureen succintly responds with, 'Like I say, it's more-ish' and she is only really bothered about trying out some pyramid tea bags.



In the end, Episode Four is not about the flummery of riffing from Hitchcock's Rope. It is about Maureen as a serial-killer and the revelations about the fate of David's Dad. David maybe obsessed with the history of such killers but it's Maureen who really is a killer even though initially she blames David. As David reels off a litany of poisoners and Maureen, as she dusts the victim's flat, snaps back her cynical responses ('Which Doctor administered lethal doses of hydrobromide?' 'Oh, I don't know. Dr. Legg off Eastenders') it all culminates with the accusation that he poisoned his own Dad with 39 sleeping pills in a dinner of instant potato

Shearsmith and Pemberton are masters of these characters, even if this does disrupt the format of the series at this point, and it's a chance for us to get beneath the surface and find out what makes the Sowerbutts tick. It's pure performance, with little or no incidental music and just a roving camera for company. They breathe some much needed humanity into what were, originally, just a pair of comedy grotesques. The revelations are painful and quite disturbing. And then there's the 'cheering up' tape. Utterly hilarious. Black Lace's Superman Song, a much reviled party favourite, will never be quite the same again. Love the bit where Maureen flutters her cardigan as she does her version of Superman.



They are interrupted by the arrival of Mark Gatiss. He plays Jason Griffin...or does he? We're led to believe he's the James Stewart character and is investigating the Sowerbutts trail of murders. The episode's terrific bluff is that in fact he's an actor who has come to audition for the Murder And Chips troupe. Before he gets to reveal that we are treated to a great bit of line feeding between all three performers. Maureen's description of what they use the Queen Ann chest for (after the requisite boob jokes) is lovely, 'Broken glass, nettles, dead wasps, that sort of thing' and has a Leagueish surreality about it. And Griffin's recital of Freud's theory about each man wanting to sleep with his mother and kill his father is the cue for some further physical comedy from Pemberton. And if you watch Gatiss closely you'll realise that as soon as Maureen mentions police work being more like working in a bank he drops the Griffin character momentarily, offering a glimpse of the man's true identity.

A wonderful, funny episode with one of the highlights being the scene where David attempts to stab Griffin only for the cuckoo clock to go off and the ensuing embarrassed silence broken finally by David proferring a plate of biscuits and simply saying 'Hobnob?'. Hitting the heights of farce with moving dead bodies and covering them with coats, it's at this point that Gatiss turns out to be a very camp amateur actor, who works at the Abbey National, thinking he's come to an audition ('Oh, I'm really nervous. Sorry, I keep trumping. It stinks, ' he says with a waft of his hand).



It concludes with that stunning confessional from Maureen when she's still convinced that Griffin is a real policeman. We find out that Maureen was a battered wife ('He used to beat me. It's what people did before they had tellys') and that she poisoned David's Dad. And that she 'created' David, made him a 'monster'. She has to explain herself when Griffin recounts what she confessed back to David and has just about bluffed her way through when Griffin pops up, discovers the dead body and the whole murderous cycle begins again. A superb script ends with Maureen smiling to herself as David strangles Griffin accompanied by Black Lace's song again. Such a very, very dark conclusion.

Official site

UPDATE: 23.30pm

Scooty has just come back from a recee of Fonmon Quarry:

"The filming base has indeed moved to Fonmon Quarry near Rhoose, the vans are now parked in a massive quarry, it blows the Waters of Mars one (from earlier in the year) out of the water! Pardon the pun! Anyway, no sightings of anything, there really aren't any good vantage points to be had unfortunately. Though I understand explosions are meant to be happening. Does cast some doubt on Forest of Dean filming for tomorrow though, maybe its a night shoot in the quarry then off to Forest in the morning..."

"...from the other end of the quarry you can see something being set up - more crashed spaceships?"

Thanks to Scooty for that update and the site pictures. More tomorrow.

Filming earlier today:


Combat geared soldiers on the prowl (c)Big Pictures.com

More intriguing goings on from today's filming at Southerndown Beach. I can bet there were no sunbathers today as the weather was truly appalling and heavy rain can be seen on some of the images here from Big Pictures.com (and thanks to Who Is Matt Smith for the huge galleries on their site for some of the following material too - go visit as there is a lot of material there).

Mysterious combat geared soldiers, River Song in similar get up, then seen conversing with the Doctor whilst in handcuffs. And Amy hidden under a big blanket (or is Karen just very cold?). Just what on earth is going on? And is Alex Kingston actually playing River Song. The BBC have confirmed Alex's involvement but they've kept quiet about who she is in the series. It's got to be River Song?


Alex tries her handcuffs for size (c)Big Pictures.com


The Doctor and River Song have a natter (c) Big Pictures.com


Matt in pensive mood and Karen under a blanket (c) Big Pictures.com

After today's tough shoot the unit has apparently set up this evening in Fonmon Quarry for a night shoot complete with explosions!

As ever thanks to the folks on Gallifrey Base for tracking stuff down and sharing.

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Beware: Spoilers



The internet and media is now littered with images from yesterday's filming on Southerndown Beach. I've got a few more shots for you from the filming courtesy of a lovely gallery from SkyTV.com

Thanks to them for those images and I'll no doubt be back later this week with further reports.









They've managed to get some good close-ups, including what looks like a new sonic screwdriver and a better look at Alex Kingston and Karen Gillan sharing a scene. I love the fact that Alex seems to be clacking about in high heels, with a handbag and wearing a cocktail frock, in the midst of crashed spaceship.

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It's been an overwhelmingly exciting day for us Who fans and the coverage still goes on. Here are a few shots from around the murky recesses of the internet. I think this shot, above, from the SFX website takes the prize for summing up today's filming. A beautiful shot. Thanks to SFX for that.

Gorgeous shot from The London Paper:



And here's a shot or two from the truly fantastic gallery at Holy Moly. Thanks to them.





It is not yet confirmed which episode is currently shooting but the director has now been identified as Adam Smith who has directed episodes of Skins and lots of music videos. The latest is that more filming will take place tomorrow on Southerndown Beach and then Wednesday through to Friday they will be on location again, this time in the Forest Of Dean.

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Direct from Gallifrey Base's favourite spoiler-hound, the legendary Scooty, we have a first hand report of the days filming and as ever a smashing bunch of photographs from the man himself.

"Well, well, well what an eventful morning! I was always dubious about a return to Bad Wolf Bay for the DW team, but lo and behold that is indeed where they were today, not anywhere that was actually used in Doomsday or Journeys End, but nevertheless this beach is turning into the most important location in Nu Who's history! We arrived at the beach and there was the TARDIS, not the TARDIS of recent times, but the Hartnell one. Retro. Back to basics. This is Moffat injecting the classic series right into the new series. "





"The TARDIS seems to have landed next to the crash landing of some sort of alien spaceship. Debris everywhere, all around and smoke is billowing all around. Thick smoke. Then Matt and Karen leave the TARDIS and have a look around. Flames around the TARDIS....River Song in a long black flowing dress seems to already be there. But she isn't unknown to the Doctor. He clearly recognises her as friendly and they have a chat. This scene was filmed over and over again."





"On the behind the scenes front, both Karen and Matt were wonderful - polite, friendly, posing for photos, always smiling."

More of Scooty's photos can be found HERE

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More press coverage from the location, including a big SPOILER. You have been warned.



UPDATE: More images from The Sun of Alex Kingston and Matt Smith filming for Doctor Who this afternoon.



Alex Kingston, who played River Song in last year's Silence In The Library/Forest Of The Dead can be seen on set and reports from the lovely Gallifrey Base people indicate she is dressed in either black robes or a dress. The TARDIS has had a make over and now sports the Hartnell white bordered windows and the St. John Ambulance sign. Plus, it's blue. Very, very blue.



Oh, and Matt's costume also includes rolled up trousers and braces to hold them up!

Pictures courtesy of The Sun.



More when I get it!

UPDATE:

The Daily Mail has kindly covered the morning's filming at Southerndown Beach (that's Bad Wolf Bay to us fans) and here you can see closeups of Matt's costume and the somewhat revised TARDIS prop. The rumours of a revamp to the prop, harking back to the Hartnell original, were indeed true.



BBC Breakfast exclusively presented a preview of Series 5 of Doctor Who this morning. After months of mounting anticipation, it was the first viewing of Matt Smith's look for the 11th Doctor.

BBC Breakfast reveal with Lizo Mzimba and Ben Cook:




Looks like the series is giving us a tweedy, bow tie wearing Doctor. Very subtle 'English boffin' look and certainly not the rock dude look that was recently rumoured.

From the BBC Press release:

The latest incarnation of the iconic character is played by Matt Smith (Party Animals). Upon arriving on set in Cardiff, for his first day of filming, Smith commented;

“I feel very privileged and proud to be part of this iconic show. The scripts are brilliant and working alongside Karen, Steven and the rest of the crew is an inspiration because their work ethic and passion for the show is so admirable. I’m excited about the future and all the brilliant adventures I get to go on as the Doctor.”

Accompanying The Doctor on his further adventures in time is a new companion, Amy Pond, played by Scottish actress Karen Gillan (The Kevin Bishop Show) who will first meet The Doctor in episode one of the new series.

New showrunner and long-running Doctor Who fan Steven Moffat has developed this series and, as Lead Writer and Executive Producer, will be responsible for the overall creative direction of the show, as well as plot and character arcs. Moffat’s previous episodes of Doctor Who, including the BAFTA-winning episode Blink, have garnered widespread acclaim from critics and fans alike.



About the series Moffat commented:

“And here it is, the big moment - the new Doctor, and his new best friend. And here's me, with the job I wanted since I was seven. 40 years to here! If I could go back in time and tell that little boy that one day all this would happen, he'd scream, call for his Mum and I'd be talking to you now from a prison cell in 1969. So probably best not then. Matt and Karen are going to be incredible, and Doctor Who is going to come alive on Saturday nights in a whole new way - and best of all, somewhere out there, a seven-year-old is going to see them, fall in love, and start making a forty year plan...”

Piers Wenger, Executive Producer and Head of Drama, BBC Wales added:

“The scripts for the new series are every bit as funny, thrilling, scary and imaginative as you’d expect from the man who brought us The Empty Child and Blink. There’s a strange and perfect alchemy between Steven and Matt Smith and the next few months are going to be riveting as that relationship starts to emerge on screen. Steven always says he’s been waiting to do this job since he was seven. But it’s actually the Doctor who has been waiting for him.”

The new series follows on from three Doctor Who specials starring David Tennant which will transmit later this year.

Ben Stephenson, Controller, BBC Drama Commissioning says:

"I am thrilled that a whole new generation of children will forever say that their Doctor was the wonderful Matt Smith."

The series was co-commissioned by Ben Stephenson, Controller, BBC Drama Commissioning for BBC One and Jay Hunt, Controller of BBC One and will be produced by Tracie Simpson (Doctor Who) and Peter Bennett (Torchwood). Steven Moffat is Lead Writer and Executive Producer (Jekyll) with Piers Wenger, Head of Drama, BBC Wales and Beth Willis (Ashes to Ashes), also Executive Producing.

Filming is taking place in Cardiff until March 2010.