The BBC has commissioned fourteen new episodes of the UK's brilliant sci-fi series Doctor Who. Showrunner Steven Moffat retweeted this news on Tuesday from the Doctor Who Magazine Twitter feed. The same Tweet also confirmed that current Doctor Matt Smith will be returning for his third series of the show as well, for yet another year of an absolutely brilliant performance. "[Matt will be returning] definitely," Moffat asserted.
The fourteen episodes will likely consist of a Christmas special and thirteen episodes of the regular series. 2011's Christmas special is slated to begin filming next month, with production for series 7 commencing shortly after that.
Still unknown is whether Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill will be returning to their roles of Amy Pond and Rory Williams for series 7. It seems unlikely, as both have signed onto other projects. Two years has been the longest amount of time any companion has spent with the Doctor since the show started back up in 2005, so I don't think they'll be back in a regular capacity next year (though I would imagine Moffat will bring them back for occasional guest roles).
"I've got a plan and I'm not telling you what it is," Moffat later tweeted to his followers. "Now hush or River shoots you with her Spoiler Gun."
Doctor Who recently aired its midseason finale, "A Good Man Goes to War," in the UK. The episode will air on Saturday, June 11, in the U.S., on BBC America. The show will return in the fall to finish out its sixth series, starting with the episode "Let's Kill Hitler."
Very sad to hear that Moffat and Smith will be back. Moffat is good for single episodes, but he's made a mess of the series. Smith I never bought as "the Doctor". In my opinion he has all the depth and range of Elmo.
Conversely, though, some people such as myself have the very opposite opinion.
Hear, hear! Matt is tied with Tom as my favorite.
Eccleston wasn't bad at all, but Tennant I could have done almost entirely without, tho he seems a nice enough chap and a decent actor. There was entirely too much mawkishness during his tenure for my tastes.
Matt Smith has a clear vision and is workign it well, tho oddly, I found hsi early work in "The Beast Below" even better that what has followed; he was a bit drier and seemed more of an academic in that ep. Nonetheless; a great performance all along the way.
I must admit though, that while I FAR prefer Moffat to Davies, the Moff seems to have been recycling ideas of late.
tennant and matt in my opinion the best
I my opinion the best doctors are the ones from the old series. Is not the actors fault they all carry out great performances if you ask me, but what can you do when you have to act with such a bad script!!!
This series don't follow "doctors who" stories! when did the doctor had a daughter. Who's the morron that came up with this pile of rubish!!! You get the idea, they are turning the whole series into a soap!!!
Agree about Moffat. How excited were people when they heard this great writer was going to be given the chance to sit in the driver's seat! And what a pile-up on the freeway the last 2 years has been!
Matt I'm ok with – not the best, not the worst. His charm makes me like him, even if I don't at all buy a 900+ year old Time Lord in a geeky, 27(ish) year old body. Moffat practically promised he wouldn't hire a young guy to play the role, and went ahead and did it anyway. It's a forgiveable decision, but then he went and created the character of Amy to travel with him – holy cow. He deserves taking out behind the barn and shot for that one.
Am I the only one completely bummed that Amy and Rory might not come back? This sucks.
I’m not terribly bummed. I really like them both, but I would like to see the Doctor form a new dynamic with a different companion/companions.
Well, they just started to grow on me this season and now they might be leaving? Not cool.
Oh well.
no. i'm with ya. completely bummed.
I will be sad to see them go but i think it'll be good to have some new companions. Though i hope it's not such a fail as when Donna and Martha followed Rose. That was just horrible.
DW FOREVER.
Bad Wolf
You may not be the only one who's bummed, but personally, I'm ecstatic. Not that I mean to dump on your pain, but the pain Amy has given me for the last 2 years is about to end, and I couldn't be happier. I won't go on about it, but there's no question I'm looking forward to seeing a change. Sadly, I don't trust Moffat to make decisions for this show anymore. So I am preparing for the worst, just in case.
I want to see Alex Kingston reprise her Role as River and her and the Doctor have a bigger adventure next series together, a younger river and an older doctor where the doctor knows more about her than she does him. I just love Alexs acting as River and the river song character/story line.
I think amy and rory may last longer than people expect, karen, matt and arthur seem to connect together as colleagues and With more good writing from Moffatt It could be a good series. Afterall they now have to bring in the baby/child river thing into account unless it gets fully resolved this series and amy and rory decide to leave the doctor.
Just to put some perspective here: Karen Gillan has signed to do a TV movie that filmed last month. That's not the same as singing on to projects that'll take her away from Doctor Who. Similarly, just because Arthur Darvill is doing a play that doesn't render him unavailable either. If either get signed to a TV series, or a major year-long project like the Lord of the Rings trilogy, then OK, that's a sign. But for now it's anyone's guess until the end of the season. All that said, as noted even in the original series most companions barely lasted a year, so change is part of the formula. Just as long as they keep Smith who is fast rivalling and in some cases is surpassing Tennant (braces for flames – I liked Tennant too!). Anyway, if Rory and Amy do leave, those of us who saw the mid-season finale already saw who we want to be the next companions. And it's not River. (To say any more will be a spoiler for those who haven't seen it yet.)
i love you i wont you back can i kiss you i wont your auto graph and the other two amy ad rory
Yeah, totally.
Matt Smith is okay as the Doctor; not my favorite but not the worse. And as for Amy and Rory leaving I think it is needed to keep Doctor Who "fresh" and it will help Matt Smith's Doctor develop more with a new companion (s). And we should keep in mind the 50th year of Doctor Who is coming up so I would expect to see another long term story line developing in preparation of that milestone. Who knows, maybe a non-human companion? Romana escaping from E-Space or a the Doctor finding a regenerated Susan Foreman to travel with? Or perhaps the Doctor having to resolve the Time War instead of just locking it into a bubble universe lost in the void.
They should bring Christopher Eccleston back somehow! He hardly had enough time, and he was so "brilliant"!
I'm just relieved that the Doctor isn't really going to die in the final episode of series 6!
He is going to make a ganger of himself to get zapped by the astronaut.