Smallscreen News

Doctor Who films in the U.S. for the first time

By April MacIntyre Oct 10, 2010, 16:54 GMT

The BBC announced today that season six of Doctor Who will open with a "spectacular two-parter set in the U.S. and penned by ‘Who supremo’ Steven Moffat." Courtesy of BBC

Exciting news for fans of one of the oldest science fiction smallscreen dramas on telly; Britain's Doctor Who is coming to the Colonies!

Upcoming season’s first two episodes will be filmed in the U.S.

The BBC announced today in a press release that season six of Doctor Who will open with a "spectacular two-parter set in the U.S. and penned by ‘Who supremo’ Steven Moffat."

According to BBC America, key scenes will be filmed in Utah for a story set in the late ‘60s in which the Doctor, Amy and Rory find themselves on a secret summons that takes them on an adventure from the desert in Utah - right to the Oval Office itself.

Production on episodes one and two of the new season starts in Cardiff this month and Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill will then travel to America in mid November to shoot pivotal scenes. They will also be joined by Alex Kingston who reprises her role as River Song.

Showrunner and lead writer, Steven Moffat, told the BBC: “The Doctor has visited every weird and wonderful planet you can imagine, so he was bound get round to America eventually!  And of course every Doctor Who fan will be jumping up and down and saying he’s been in America before.  But not for real, not on location - and not with a story like this one!  Oh, you wait!”

Piers Wenger, Head of Drama BBC Wales and Executive Producer, added: "Steven's scripts generally inspire us to go that extra mile - this time we're going that extra four thousand. Thanks to our friends at BBC America and to the continuing ambition of our lead writer and production team, the first two episodes of Matt Smith's second season as the Doctor are going global and look set to become Doctor Who's most action-packed and ambitious season opener yet."

Premise for new season

Continuing from the Doctor Who Christmas special guest starring Katherine Jenkins and Michael Gambon which is due to premiere during the holiday season; season six will start airing on BBC America in spring 2011 and has been split into two blocks, with the second block airing in autumn 2011.

For up-to-the-minute information on BBC AMERICA, forthcoming U.S. premieres, art work and news from the channel, log on to www.press.bbcamerica.com.

BBC AMERICA is distributed by Discovery Networks.  It is available on digital cable and satellite TV in more than 68 million homes.