'Potter' director Yates to bring 'Doctor Who' to the big screen

By Anthony Pearson Nov 15, 2011, 0:20 GMT

A big screen movie adaptation of BBC\'s long running and hugely popular sci-fi series, "Doctor Who." The movie will likely follow the Time Lord known as the Doctor on one of his time and space adventures. ...more

David Yates, director of the final four "Harry Potter" films will direct a big screen version of BBC's long running and well loved time traveling sci-fi show, "Doctor Who."

In an interview with Variety David Yates told them that he, alongside Jane Tranter, head of BBC's Worldwide Production (LA Office) are currently looking for the best writers to tackle bring the Doctor to the big screen.

"We're looking at writers now. We're going to spend two to three years to get it right," Said Yates. "It needs quite a radical transformation to take it into the bigger arena."

A radical transformation will mean that the movie will be a separate entity to the BBC television series. It will not be a "follow up" of the show. David Yates stated;

"Russell T. Davies and then Steven Moffat (Doctor Who TV series writers/producers) have done their own transformations, which were fantastic, but we have to put that aside and start from scratch."

Doctor Who the television has been running since 1963, though went off screen for 16 years between 1989 and 2005, when the show was successfully rebooted. The show follows the adventures of an eccentric time travelling Time Lord known simply as the Doctor.

Whilst "Doctor Who" is a British show, David Yates did not rule out the possibility of employing American writers to script the upcoming "Doctor Who" movie.

"We want a British sensibility, but having said that, Steve Kloves wrote the Potter films and captured that British sensibility perfectly, so we are looking at American writers too," he said.

The news is likely to get all "Doctor Who" fans buzzing with questions and anticipation for more news, however I wouldn't get excited too soon, as the release of the movie is likely still many years away. A BBC spokesman claimed;

"The project is unlikely to reach cinemas for several years and as yet there is no script, cast or production crew in place."