The Rebirth of Doctor Who
It was one of the biggest comebacks in British television history when Doctor Who blasted back onto screens in the spring of 2005, now some sixteen years later let’s take a look at how the BBC resurrected the Doctor and transformed Saturday nights in the 21st century. After a new, American produced series of Doctor Who failed to materialise in the wake of a lack of interest following Paul McGann’s outing in the title role in the 1996 TV movie, the rights to the show were left to wither away in a dusty corner of the BBC with only the occasional charity spoof episode (1999’s actually quite good The Curse Of Fatal Death that saw Rowan Atkinson initially play the Doctor before regenerating into Jim Broadbent, Richard E Grant, Hugh Grant and latterly Joanna Lumley) or webcasts on the new BBCi service ( Scream Of The Shalka which saw Richard E Grant once again assume the role, leading to him being referred to in press releases as the ninth doctor. SOTS itself even makes reference to ...