September 10th, 2013
93 comments
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50th Anniversary Title “The Day Of The Doctor”
Doctor Who 50th anniversary schedule
Schedule Includes a raft of programmes to mark the 50th anniversary of the first episode of Doctor Who.
A 75-minute special called The Day Of The Doctor will star the soon-to-leave Matt Smith and David Tennant.
Smith said: “Hope you all enjoy. There’s lots more coming your way.”
Other highlights include a BBC Two lecture by Professor Brian Cox on the science behind the hit show and the drama An Adventure In Space and Time, written by Mark Gatiss.
The one-off programme stars David Bradley, of the Harry Potter films, as William Hartnell – who was the first Doctor in 1963.
Restored episodes
BBC Four will introduce new audiences to Hartnell, with a re-run of the first ever story. The four episodes are being shown in a restored format, not previously broadcast in the UK.
BBC Two’s flagship arts programme The Culture Show is to present Me, You and Doctor Who, with lifelong fan Matthew Sweet exploring the cultural significance of the BBC’s longest running TV drama.
A 90-minute documentary on BBC Radio 2 will ask “Who Is The Doctor?” – using newly-recorded interviews and exclusive archive material to find an answer – while BBC Three will be home to several commissions.
For those less familiar with the show, Doctor Who: The Ultimate Guide will provide a handy primer.
The Doctor Who Site
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The Mr Master
September 11th, 2013 - 3:45pm75, 75!??!! Is that all . that’s SHORTER than 2 parted episodes. It should be MORE , MORE!!??!?!
Scott’s TARDIS
September 11th, 2013 - 10:52amHere’s a trilogy!
The Name of The Doctor
The Day of The Doctor
The Fall of The Doctor
Scott’s TARDIS
September 11th, 2013 - 8:51pmOr The Triumph of The Doctor.
Trenzalore
September 11th, 2013 - 8:52pmNo the silence of the doctor sounds better
Scott’s TARDIS
September 11th, 2013 - 8:53pmNo it doesn’t. : )
the astronaut of death
September 11th, 2013 - 8:58pmI prefer silence of the doctor it has a better ring to it
Scott’s TARDIS
September 11th, 2013 - 9:02pmWell I don’t. And when is the Doctor silent? We all know he’ll regenerate, he won’t die.
Scott’s TARDIS
September 11th, 2013 - 9:05pmAstronaut of death, please explain what you mean by ‘better ring to it’?
the astronaut of death
September 11th, 2013 - 9:08pmit just sounds better as a title
the astronaut of death
September 11th, 2013 - 9:08pmbut I think your idea is great to
Scott’s TARDIS
September 11th, 2013 - 9:09pmBut what does ‘ring’ mean?
the astronaut of death
September 11th, 2013 - 9:10pmI don’t know it is just an expression thing that is used a lot in these circumstances
the astronaut of death
September 11th, 2013 - 9:12pmso do you understand now
Scott’s TARDIS
September 11th, 2013 - 9:15pmNot really, I don’t get how you can use a word that you don’t even know what it means, but never mind.
booboo
September 11th, 2013 - 9:17pmbetter ring to it is an old saying used quite lot
i basically means sounds better
the astronaut of death
September 11th, 2013 - 9:19pmI know what it means
the title is a good title and it sounds good it has a ring to it
the astronaut of death
September 11th, 2013 - 9:19pmthat is what I said 🙂
Scott’s TARDIS
September 11th, 2013 - 9:21pmOh right, but you just said that you don’t know. Silence of the Doctor is a bit wired in my opinion, because we all know he won’t die. That’s why Peter Capaldi is going to be the new Doctor…….
Dalek The Supreme
September 13th, 2013 - 8:56pmSilence of the Doctor is great, but would only make sense if the Silence show up. If not, Fall of the Doctor, Triumph of the Doctor, both sound pretty good.
DOCTOR WHO ONE
September 11th, 2013 - 8:59amMy friend Joe on Deviant Art, known on that site and this one as ‘The British Cup of Tea’, reckons that that the Christmas Special will also use ‘the Doctor’ in the tile, such as ‘The Fall of the Doctor’ or ‘The Time of the Doctor’ which is what he suggested on a Journal I wrote yesterday on Deviant Art –
1)The Name of the Doctor
2)The Day of the Doctor
3)The Fall of the Doctor / The Time of the Doctor
The TARDIS
September 11th, 2013 - 7:59amQuick question: what would people rather see – a 75 minute special in 3D or a 90 minute special in 2D?
Doctor Stu
September 11th, 2013 - 8:57pm90 minute in 2D
cyberman2
September 22nd, 2013 - 6:12pmtoo hard a question. 90 minutes but in 2d or 3d but only 75 minutes. ill just say both
the astronaut of death
September 10th, 2013 - 8:15pmI think this November tv wont be known as tv anymore
it will be known as doctor who
the astronaut of death
September 10th, 2013 - 7:27pmcant wait for the 50th and the the doctormentry
Trenzalore
September 10th, 2013 - 6:55pmThe Christmas special should be called-silence of the doctor
Matt Smithy
September 10th, 2013 - 6:52pmBooboo what do you think about all this? I think it’s great news 😀
Davros Flatley
September 10th, 2013 - 6:46pmSeries 7 finale: The Name of the Doctor
50th Anniversary special: The Day of the Doctor
Christmas special: The End of the Doctor
A trilogy!!!
Trenzalore
September 10th, 2013 - 6:56pmThe Christmas special should be called-silence of the doctor
Davros Flatley
September 10th, 2013 - 7:29pmA rumor mentioned Twelfth Night
Trenzalore
September 10th, 2013 - 9:30pmNo the silence of the doctor is better
Scott’s TARDIS
September 11th, 2013 - 8:05amI prefer The End of The Doctor.
TheDoctorGallifrey
September 12th, 2013 - 5:49pmMaybe the Twelve Days of Christmas?
Doctor, 13th
September 10th, 2013 - 6:39pmGonna watch the 50th, the docu-drama and the first ever episode. I love title (it was even one I guessed) but I’m disappointed with the length.
100000BC
September 10th, 2013 - 7:55pmWhat’s wrong with the length? It’ll be the joint longest single episode ever (With the End of Time part Two) so for a modern day DW it’s quite good – especially seeing as though the Name of the Doctor introduced some of it and parts of the storyline may leak in to the Christmas special.
drjakeyoung
September 10th, 2013 - 8:47pmthe movie and 5 doctors were joint longest single episodes ever i believe, with them both being around 90 minutes.
MasterKasterborous
September 10th, 2013 - 10:08pmI would have preferred it at 90; it would have been the biggest of the new series then.
100000BC
September 11th, 2013 - 8:35pmEven so, point still remains.
100000BC
September 10th, 2013 - 6:16pmMay watch science thing for a laugh. Got An Unearthly Child (Or 100,000BC as it should be called – An Unearthly Child is the 1st episode of 100,000BC.) on VHS so not too fussed but this leaves the BBC with a problem – Do they air the 50th anniversary special or the episode it’s the anniversary of at 5.15pm (Original time of broadcast of An Unearthly Child)?
Vlarp
September 10th, 2013 - 6:37pmI can assure you that this does *not* leave the BBC with any problems at all.
An Unearthly Child is being shown on BBC-4, which does not begin broadcasting until 7pm – it shares its channel space with CBeebies, and they are NOT going to cut CBeebies two hours short just to please ultra-picky fans who think it’s somehow important that something has to be shown at the EXACT TIME it was originally shown.
As for the BBC-1 special, there’s no way it’s going out at 5.15pm – that’s far too early, showing it then would mean throwing ratings away. They want to make the biggest possible ratings splash, so it will be smack in the middle of prime-time.
100000BC
September 10th, 2013 - 7:46pmNo well I don’t think it should matter either, just that some people may.
MasterKasterborous
September 10th, 2013 - 10:10pmTo be honest; it can be either An Unearthly Child or 100,000BC depending on the documentation you look at. (What do you call Mission to the Unknown?) There are also several examples of stories featuring an episode of the same name.
The TARDIS
September 10th, 2013 - 6:02pmAt the moment, I can’t help but feel slightly underwhelmed. As nice as all of the other shows are, it is the special that matters most to me. And at the moment, it seems to be something of an “eighth anniversary” with the only past Doctor being David Tennant. And as for the fact they didn’t even make a new full series… I’ll forgive it if it’s good, but it will have to be good!
MasterKasterborous
September 10th, 2013 - 10:11pmThe Zygons?
[email protected]
September 11th, 2013 - 3:11amNo he’s completely right. I can’t believe that in this, the 50th anniversary year, we didn’t even get a full season’s series! Unbelievable. And now what was supposed to be a movie is only 75 minutes long. The secret with Who these days is never expect anything good, so you’ll never be disappointed, and when there occasionally is OK stuff you will be pleasantly surprised.
[email protected]
September 11th, 2013 - 3:12ami put email and name in wrong bits, can someone fix that please? Thanks
Scott’s TARDIS
September 11th, 2013 - 8:09amHe’s wrong. You didn’t actually expect there to be Classic Doctor’s did you? They all look too old! And anyway, The Zygons are back , and they didn’t appear in the new series. They appeared in 1975’s Terror of the Zygons. And how is 75 minutes not a movie? It’s feature length (over 60 minutes), so technically, it’s a movie.
The TARDIS
September 11th, 2013 - 3:23pmThey could at least have included Paul McGann… I don’t see how it can hope to celebrate 50 years with only one classic series monster who’s only in it briefly. Frankly, I don’t care what classic Doctors look like, I just want them in there.
Scott’s TARDIS
September 11th, 2013 - 3:43pmHow do you know they are in it briefly? Have you seen the episode? It also has The Daleks, who are classic monsters.
The TARDIS
September 11th, 2013 - 9:23pmIt has been reported that they are only in it briefly, can’t remember where though. And the Daleks in it are new series Daleks, so it doesn’t really count. In that sense, Asylum of the Daleks would be a better anniversary episode.
Scott’s TARDIS
September 11th, 2013 - 9:24pmBut there’s only one thing that was missing from Asylum of the Daleks………a good episode.
the astronaut of death
September 12th, 2013 - 7:13amI don’t know why but when I first watch a episode and don’t watch it for a while. some times I just think back and go it was not that good of an episode. but when I re watch it I find it actually rather good .my opinion just changes of an episode suddenly
so about 5 months ago I would have said it was not very good
but now I think it is good as I watched it last week
The TARDIS
September 12th, 2013 - 8:13amI know it wasn’t good, but it featured old daleks. I don’t think it would be a good anniversary episode.
Doctor Stu
September 10th, 2013 - 5:47pmStephen Moffat better have been planning this for years and put a whole TARDIS load of effort into it because I’m expecting this to be one of the best doctor who episodes I’ve ever seen.
RORY DOCTOR RIVER POND
September 10th, 2013 - 5:09pmooh! nice name!
Scott the Raptor
September 10th, 2013 - 4:47pmHow exciting! A simply divine title! So excited!
RYCBAR123
September 10th, 2013 - 4:40pmI’m melting with joy! 😀 Glad that they’re re-running the first episodes; I’ve never seen them! :3
Vlarp
September 10th, 2013 - 6:42pmThe opening story has been available on DVD for years and VHS for decades… and while episode 1 is undoubtedly excellent, you will probably be disappointed by episodes 2-4.
100000BC
September 11th, 2013 - 8:38pmAgreed. I have both versions of episode 1, with the “Pilot” version on “The Hartnell Years” VHS.
Dalek Smith
September 10th, 2013 - 4:15pmnice choice of title 🙂
The TARDIS
September 10th, 2013 - 4:12pmWell that really sounds like taking over telly to me…
the astronaut of death
September 10th, 2013 - 4:14pmthat’s brilliant
just imagine doctor who everywhere
The TARDIS
September 10th, 2013 - 5:42pmDoes Matt Smith’s quote mean that there is more to be revealed?
100000BC
September 11th, 2013 - 8:39pmHopefully.
Adam
September 10th, 2013 - 4:10pmThis revealed the day before my birthday thank you BBC
The Cyber Squirrel
September 10th, 2013 - 6:14pmThis was released on my Birthday!
The Supreme Dalek
September 10th, 2013 - 4:09pmYay! So excited! 😀
I personally think after the Anniversary Episode, the show will never be the same again (in a good way though!).
the astronaut of death
September 10th, 2013 - 4:03pmI would have preferred a more dark title
DOCTOR WHO ONE
September 10th, 2013 - 3:11pmGREAT TITLE !! 😀
And a good choice too, considering that Saturday 23rd November 2013 will be the Doctor’s 50th Birthday.
Well, the series will be, his already gone way past 50 being 900+ years old and all that.
matparks08
September 10th, 2013 - 2:57pmThe problem with repeats is that everything you can see is out on dvd or even online. Does anyone remember the excitement years ago when BBC2 announced they would repeat every doctor who story from Spearhead from Space onwards. They stopped after Silurians because after 7 weeks of it nobody was watching it anymore. DWM even got excited about Inferno going to be seen on TV for first time in years but it didn’t happen. I think as a one off AUC is great but I don’t think repeats on BBC are the answer anymore – though when they used to happen in the 90s it was still quite an exciting occurrence!
TARDISTIME
September 10th, 2013 - 1:58pmI think they should re air The 1st and last episode of every Doctor
Excalibur Screwbolts
September 10th, 2013 - 3:17pmIt would be a bit difficult to repeat Hartnell’s last episode and Troughton’s first, wouldn’t it? And the first episodes of Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy are awful.
You also have to bear in mind that 63-89 DW is so completely different to current DW that many people who are only familiar with the current series will be shocked at how cheap, tatty and slow the original was. The only people who are going to clamour to watch repeats of the original series are, bizarrely, the hardcore fans who already have them all on DVD.
Big D
September 10th, 2013 - 1:32pmForgive my pessimism but I cannot help but feel a little underwhelmed by what has been announced.
Delighted (obviously) about the special, the restored AUC and the Gatiss drama BUT the remainder??? Where are the stories from each individual Doctor? What about specials on the companions and the enemies of the Doctor etc etc??
For such a big event as this (and given the amount of money the series has made the BBC) I was expecting a bit more than this.
The TARDIS
September 10th, 2013 - 5:44pmI know the feeling… All of the stuff about “more Doctor Who than ever” and “we’re taking over the television”… Still yet to see that.
All of the other stuff is all well and good, but one thing I would like is a full series to celebrate the anniversary.
The TARDIS
September 10th, 2013 - 5:45pmOh, and more than one past Doctor.
Cassandra
September 10th, 2013 - 1:28pmNaturally, I own all the extant episodes of Doctor Who (and all the recreated ones using the original audio tracks) but for those who are new to the Doctor meeting the original will be both a treat and a surprise.
He is no “hero” in the sense the Doctor is today…being quite willing to smash Za, son of the great firemaker, over the head with a stone. He is also seen lighting a pipe (the Doctor SMOKES???) well, he did ONCE. Probably Old Toby or Longbottom Leaf.
In the second serial, the Daleks, he is quite willing to leave Barbara (or Barbara and Ian) behind at several points. He’s quite happy to let the Thals fight their own battles, too. As is everyone else until they remember they are missing something. The only one the Doctor won’t abandon (while she’s in trouble) is Susan.
So, as I say, “Old Grumpy” isn’t the Doctor fans of Matt Smith and David Tennant have come to know. But he IS the first (and he became more heroic as time went on).
Big D
September 10th, 2013 - 1:37pmYou are quite right Cassandra. Those new to the Doctor WILL be in for a surprise. Im therefore disappointed and surprised that the BBC arent screening a story from each Doctor in the run up to the anniversary in order for new fans to aquaint themselves with the Doctors past that laid the foundations for what they know now.
Martin
September 10th, 2013 - 1:26pmNo official line from the BBC on any of their official sources?
Dalek The Supreme
September 10th, 2013 - 1:21pmRepeat of the very first episode AND a great title and satisfactory running time for the 50th Anniversery Special! It sure will be the Day of the Doctor! 😀
matparks08
September 10th, 2013 - 1:18pmThere’s certainly a lot here to be excited about. An Unearthly Child being repeated is definitely an added bonus. Not too sure we need a ‘science lecture’ but it’s all shaping up to be a great celebration.
Anonymous
September 10th, 2013 - 1:07pmCool