Just aired on Saturday night with this year’s Doctor Who Christmas special is this first trailer for Season 6 of the show. Matt Smith is at his best in the role when he’s in full-on madcap/madman mode, and Season 6 (as well as the Christmas special) looks to offer him plenty of opportunities, plus plenty of River Song awesomeness.
‘Doctor Who: A Christmas Carol’ Trailer
BBC America has released a trailer for Doctor Who‘s “A Christmas Carol,” this year’s Christmas Special, which guest stars Michael Gambon and Katherine Jenkins.
Doctor Who Christmas Special Airing Christmas Day
BBC America has announced that this year’s traditional Doctor Who Christmas Special will air in the U.S. on Christmas Day at 9:p.m. EST. Leading up to the Christmas Special will be a marathon of selected Doctor Who episodes from past seasons, including prior years’ Christmas Specials. The marathon begins at midnight on Christmas Eve.
Inspired by Charles Dickens, the episode is titled “A Christmas Carol” and written by showrunner Steven Moffat. Moffat describes the episode:
“Oh, we’re going for broke with this one. It’s all your favorite Christmas movies at once, in an hour, with monsters. And the Doctor. And a honeymoon. And… oh, you’ll see. I’ve honestly never been so excited about writing anything. I was laughing madly as I typed along to Christmas songs in April. My neighbors loved it so much they all moved away and set up a website demanding my execution. But I’m fairly sure they did it ironically.”
The Doctor’s current companions Amy Pond and Rory Williams are onboard for the adventure, along with special guest stars Michael Gambon and Katherine Jenkins.
Christmas Day will also be the premiere of the “Doctor Who Prom,” a live concert featuring Matt Smith (the Doctor), Karen Gillan (Amy Pond), and Arthur Darvill (Rory Williams) as hosts. The Prom was filmed earlier this year at Royal Albert Hall and includes appearances by the Weeping Angels, the Daleks, and the TARDIS. The BBC National Orchestra of Wales, which records the soundtrack for the series, will perform Murray Gold’s music from the TV show as well as a selection of classical favorites. No exact details have been released on when the Doctor Who Prom will air.
Doctor Who is currently filming its sixth season premiere in Utah — the first time the show has ever filmed in the United States — for a story set in the late ‘60s. Smith, Gillan, Darvill, Alex Kingston (River Song), and guest star Mark Sheppard are involved in the location shoot. Season Six premieres in Spring of 2011.
Doctor Who Filming 2-Parter in U.S.
For the first time ever, the BBC’s hit smash Doctor Who is filming somewhere outside of the U.K. The two-part Season Six premiere is filming in the United States.
Doctor Who head honcho Steven Moffat is writing the script for the season opener, which sends the Doctor and his companions Amy and Rory to the late ’60s, where they’re summoned secretly to deal with some kind of threat that takes them from the Utah desert all the way to the Oval Office. The popular character of River Song, played by Alex Kingston, is also joining the gang for the adventure.
The BBC‘s production on the two-part season premiere begins in Cardiff this month, and then in mid-November the four stars will travel to America to shoot some pivotal scenes.
Hmm. If the Doctor visits the White House in the late 60s, then that puts him in the office of either Lyndon Johnson, or Richard Nixon. What kind of “secret summons” might result in the Doctor standing in the White House in the late 60s?
The highly anticipated sixth season will follow the new Doctor Who Christmas special, airing this holiday season, which guest stars Michael Gambon and Katherine Jenkins. Season Six’s thirteen episodes will debut on BBC America in Spring 2011, but for the first time ever is being split into two blocks, at the center of which the action will leave off with an enormous cliffhanger, which will then be resolved with the second block of episodes, which premiere in Fall 2011.
Doctor Who comes to home video with extras
The BBC is soon going to announce that Doctor Who: The Complete Fifth Series (which is what Brits call a season) is on its way this November.
According to the LA Times, Season 5 will drop on November 9th on both DVD and Blu-ray, with two brand new scenes filmed just for the home collection. Written by showrunner Steven Moffat, these new scenes feature stars Matt Smith (the Doctor) and Karen Gillan (Amy Pond) in moments called “Meanwhile, in the TARDIS…” which are set between the episodes proper. Hijinks are almost certain to ensue.
The home video set is also expected to include all 13 episodes of Season 5, along with all of the usual behind-the-scenes features. Given the level of quality this season has maintained — which many thought impossible after David Tennant’s and Russell Davies’ departures — I’d call this set a must-have.