Happy Birthday Doctor Who!

After 45 glorious years, BBC's Doctor Who is still going strong! The wonderful science-fiction show, originally designed as an educational history programme, has developed into so much more, complemented with a handful of spin-offs, still on our TVs today! This series, noted in the Guinness World Records for the longest running sci-fi show, tells the story of a Time Lord, an alien from a planet named Gallifrey. Throughout the years, the fictional now 945 year old has regenerated into a new body nine times, and has had a countless number of (mostly human) companions, joining him on his adventures in the TARDIS, in time and space.

This programme is now ingrained in British culture, and it's doubtful that you'll find a family in Britain who haven't heard of the terrifying pepper-pot 'Dalek' monsters, the Doctor's arch enemy. Doctor Who ran regularly from 1963 until 1989, and after one TV movie in 1996, the show was revived, in 2005 (with the ninth Doctor, player by Christopher Eccleston). Contrary to many producers' and critics' belief, it was immensely successful, and has been broadcast ever since.

The main character is the Doctor, and currently in his tenth regeneration (played by David Tennant), he is still discovering adventures and aliens - such as the Daleks, Cybermen, Ood and Sontarans among (MANY) others, both here and there around the universe, and on his favourite planet, Earth. He has had three companions in the new series; Rose Tyler (Billie Piper), Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman) and Donna Noble (Catherine Tate). Without doubt, this must be my favourite TV series - I simply cannot miss an episode.

A new character was introduced in the first new series - Captain Jack. His character proved to be a popular character, and an spin-off was made starring him as the main character of a secret organisation called Torchwood, dealing with alien activity on Earth (OK... Cardiff, where the studio, I mean time rift is). This is a great show. Another spin-off was created in 2007, starring 1970's companion Sarah Jane Smith as the main characters, with her teenage companions dealing with Alien mysteries. I watched a few episodes, and it was really excellent too.


To be sure that you don't miss any of the episodes of those series, here are the dates of the next shows: Doctor Who - Christmas Day BBC1, Sarah Jane Adventures - Monday 24th November BBC1 4:35 pm and Torchwood - Spring 2009 on BBC.

All of these series are exceedingly brilliant - I would completely recommend you to watch them. One of the episodes attracted 13 million viewers - imagine almost 7 Stockholms watching simultaneously! You can watch some clips on YouTube or Google Video or if you're in the UK, why not catch up on some of the latest episodes on BBC's iPlayer?

Today is the exact 45th anniversary of Doctor Who. Long live the Doctor! Here are some great resources for finding out more. Enjoy! Oh, and if you liked my post, please leave a comment!

• Doctor Who official website
• Article on Wikipedia
• Dr Who Online