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Anticipating the return of ‘'Doctor Who' - Will 2013 be the show's best year yet?

By Ian M.Cullen Mar 23, 2013, 3:38 GMT

To celebrate this, the BBC has a few events planned in the UK, but it seems to me that right now BBC America are embracing the 50th year of the show more than the BBC here in the UK, which is kind of strange.

As a fan of the series "Doctor Who," which returned in 2005 to great fanfare, I find it unbelievable that BBC America is doing a better job of celebrating the 50th anniversary of "Doctor Who" than the BBC is here in the UK!

As fans must already know. March 30th sees the return of "Doctor Who" and November 23, 2013 is the 50th anniversary of the series, which has had a lot of news coverage of late. 

To celebrate this, the BBC has a few events planned in the UK, but it seems to me that right now BBC America are embracing the 50th year of the show more than the BBC here in the UK, which is kind of strange. 

Sure we’re reading a lot about plans for a big convention in London later this year to celebrate the show's 50th year, but where's all the fanfare? 

As a fan, I read a lot about the 50th anniversary in various magazines such as SFX, Starburst and of course 'Doctor Who' magazine. All of which are embracing the excitement of the pending anniversary special, and of course the Mark Gatiss-penned dramatisation about the making of 'Doctor Who,' which is appropriately titled ‘An Adventure in Space and Time,’ a film that I am looking forward to.

But for the life of me, I can’t understand why the BBC here in the UK isn’t making a bigger deal of the 50th anniversary than our cousins at BBC America.  They have a hell of a lot of 'Doctor Who' archived at the BBC here in the UK. Sure, much of it is out now on DVD and is out there for streaming media and such, but why not run a season of Classic 'Doctor Who' stories as part of the build up to November 23?

Why not have a few shows dotted through the year to talk about the cultural impact of the 'Doctor' and of course, his most famous villains: The Daleks, The Master and the Cybermen.  

As someone who was introduced to "Doctor Who" with Tom Baker back in the 1970s, I’ve been fairly happy with the newer incarnations and love Matt Smith's interpretation of the character. 

With the seventh series of new "Doctor Who" about to conclude its run with eight episodes starting on March 30, we have much to look forward too, but will 2013 mark a landmark year in the series beyond it just being its 50th year. 

Coming up in late March and April through to May is the reintroduction of the Doctor’s new companion Clara, who is played by the fresh faced Jenna-Louise Coleman, who has already won the hearts of many fans inside of just two episodes in which she died, giving her the appropriate title of The Impossible Girl.  

Apparently Clara will be part of an overarching mystery in the forthcoming eight episodes in which the Doctor will learn more about her, but while he will be doing that. They’ll be taking on a new monster 'The Spoonheads' in the shows opening episode, and we’ll also see a return for the Cybermen in a new episode written by Neil Gaiman, who has reportedly made the Cybermen scary again. 

But the biggest development for series eight is the return of The Ice Warriors, which is a monster that we haven’t seen on the series since the late 1960s when Patrick Troughton’s second Doctor first encountered them.  

But what else lies in wait this year for "Doctor Who"?  Over the last 18 months there have been countless rumors and speculation about a multi Doctor episode, which will supposedly see all the surviving Doctor Who actors come back for a one off adventure, which would spotlight each one of them.  Many reports have suggested that the BBC will use similar technology that was used in the movie "Forrest Gump" in order to include William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton and Jon Petwee’s incarnations into the mix. 

However, pretty much all the surviving "Doctor Who" actors with the exception of Christopher Eccelston have stated that they’d love to return for a multi Doctor adventure, but none know if it is going to happen or not, but in a recent interview Peter Davison did reveal that the BBC had asked him to come in for talks about something "Doctor Who" related. But for all we know, that could well be a documentary or something.  

During the same interview Davison said it was unlikely for the surviving "Doctor Who" actors to appear in a special unless some technology was used to make them look like they did when they actually last portrayed the role and in some cases that was over 25 years ago. 

Back in 1983, when the BBC did the five Doctors, it had only been about 10 to 13 years since Pertwee and Troughton had last played the Doctor and they didn’t look too much older than they did when they last played the role.  So they got away with it.  

As a fan of the series, I can’t wait to see what Steven Moffat comes up with, but whether or not we see the classic Doctor Who’s return to the fold as yet remains to be seen, and given that the special, which will be in 3D is due to start shooting in a couple of weeks. Well I'm sure we’ll learn more in the coming weeks as to who is in it, and what new threat the Doctor will be defending us against. 

Ian M. Cullen is the editor and chief of the popular science fiction news and reviews site www.scifipulse.net - and also heads up SFP-NOW on www.scifipulseradio.com. He's a long standing fan of science fiction, television and popular culture and has written for Star Trek Magazine.