Dr. Who News Updates:
Freema set for Doctor Who return
Freema Agyeman is set to return to Doctor Who.
The actress
will reprise her role as Martha Jones in the fours specials marking
David Tennant's final appearance as the Time Lord.
A Doctor Who
insider told The Sun: "Freema's on board. It's early days so it's
unclear what exactly Martha will be up to in the new show.
"Whatever happens it's good news for Freema and shows that whatever friction there was between her and Who bosses has gone."
Meanwhile it seems Martin Clunes was set to be the new Doctor Who, but pulled out due to a pay disagreement.
The
Men Behaving Badly star had signed up to appear in the Christmas
special, The Daily Mirror reports, and producers wanted him to take
over from David Tennant this year. But four days before filming, the
deal allegedly collapsed after they failed to agree terms.
A
source said: "Producers wanted Martin to take over Tennant's job
full-time and were desperate to see him in the Christmas episode. They
saw it as a trial for the main job but they found the whole casting
process very frustrating. Talent comes at a price and the show could
simply not afford Martin. It's a shame as he would have been perfect."
Martin's
agent admitted he had been approached for the Doctor Who Christmas
special but denied there was a dispute over cash and that the deal
collapsed four days before filming.
A Doctor Who spokesman added: "We don't comment on casting."
Show bosses eventually plumped for little-known actor Matt Smith.
Eleventh Dr. Who is Set for 2010
The 11th Doctor Who has been cast as of early 2009 and is now known to be British actor, Matt Smith. According to the BBC:
Matt Smith has been named as the actor who will
take over from David Tennant in Doctor Who - making him the youngest
actor to take on the role.
At 26, Smith is three years younger than Peter Davison when he signed up to play the fifth Doctor in 1981.
Smith will first appear on TV screens as the 11th Doctor in 2010.
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(continued from above...)
He
was cast over Christmas and will begin filming for the fifth series of
Doctor Who in the summer. Tennant is filming four specials in 2009.
Smith was named as Tennant's replacement in Saturday's edition of Doctor Who Confidential on BBC One.
He
said: "I've got this wonderful journey in front of me where I've got
this six months to build this Time Lord - and that's such an exciting
prospect."
Piers Wenger, head of drama at BBC Wales, said that as soon as he had seen Smith's audition he "knew he was the one".
"It was abundantly clear that he had that 'Doctor-ness' about him," he said. "You are either the Doctor or you are not."
The 11 Doctors
1. William Hartnell (1963-1966)
2. Patrick Troughton (1966-1969)
3. Jon Pertwee (1970-1974)
4. Tom Baker (1974-1981)
5. Peter Davison (1982-1984)
6. Colin Baker (1984-1986)
7. Sylvester McCoy (1987-1996)
8. Paul McGann (1996)
9. Christopher Eccleston (2005)
10. David Tennant (2005-2010)
11. Matt Smith (2010 - ?)
Wenger said a broad range of people had been auditioned, but they had not set out to cast the youngest Doctor.
Smith's
TV debut was in the 2006 adaptation of Philip Pullman's The Ruby in the
Smoke, which starred former Doctor Who companion Billie Piper as Sally
Lockhart.
He has also acted opposite Piper in the follow-up, The Shadow in the North, and in ITV2's Secret Diary of a Call Girl.
In 2007, he had a leading role in BBC Two's political drama Party Animals, in which he played a parliamentary researcher.
Smith's
stage work has included stints with theatre companies such as the Royal
Court and National Theatre. His West End debut was in Swimming With
Sharks opposite Christian Slater.
He was born in Northampton in 1982 and studied drama and creative writing at the University of East Anglia.
Creative team
Tennant said in October that he would stand down from the show after filming four special episodes in 2009.
The
star is due to begin shooting the first special this month, just weeks
after surgery on his back forced him to pull out of a London run of
Hamlet.
The last of these special episodes is expected to run in early 2010.
With
a new creative team in place for the 2010 series led by executive
producers Steven Moffat and Piers Wenger, the casting of the Doctor was
the first job to be completed before scripts could be finalised.
Doctor Who began in 1963, and seven actors played the Doctor before the show was dropped in 1989.
After
a TV movie in 1996 - starring Paul McGann - the TV series returned in
2005 with Christopher Eccleston in the lead role. Tennant took over the
same year.
...
Previously: Popular
Dr. Who star,
David Tennant has been offered a £1.5 million deal to stay on as
Doctor Who
in the new season which is scheduled to air in 2010. although there
will be four 'special episodes' airing during the hiatus. It currently
shows on the BBC in the United Kingdom and on the Sci-Fi Channel in the
USA, with syndication showings on BBC-America.
The BBC had
feared Tennant would depart the massively popular series after filming
four special episodes. The broadcaster has reportedly tabled a "massive
bid" to persuade the actor to continue as the
Time Lord for the fifth series.
It has been reported that Tennant will decide on his future after he meets with new executive producer Steven Moffatt.
"It
will be a new team and David has to meet everyone to make a final
decision," a source reportedly stated. "We're gearing up to offer him a
massive deal. He's interested. Everyone thought he was going, but it’s
not as open and shut as that."
Tennant, who recently completed filming a Christmas special, will soon star in a Royal Shakespeare Company production of
Hamlet.
