DOCTOR HOW

[21.20 - French Time] Matt Smith will return as The Doctor for a sixth series of Doctor Who in 2011, preceded by a Christmas special for this year - written by showrunner Steven Moffat.

Filming of series five wraps this Saturday ahead of transmission on BBC One at Easter. Shooting of the special and the 13-episode series six will begin early July in Cardiff (http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/cult/s7/doctor-who/news/a209476/doctor-who-confirmed-for-xmas-sixth-series.html).

The first episode of the Matt Smith/Steven Moffat era will be aired on April 3 at a time when both British television fiction and the BBC are at the parting of the ways. Increasing pressure on budgets weighs on dramas, with the Beeb and its commercial rival ITV struggling to maintain the quality of their respectives drama outputs in a rough economic climate.

Not only British indie production sector complains about budget cuts made by the Corporation, not only major BBC hits like Hustle now appear affected by these cuts, but the future of the BBC itself (with its commercial branch BBC Worldwide) is among the debates of the upcoming general election in the UK.

Doctor Who is the Beeb's flagship franchise and we'll see very soon if BBC drama budget cuts impact in some way or another the awaited fifth series. « I’ve now seen four or five episodes of the new Doctor Who and it’s bigger and better than ever, » said Ben Stephenson, the BBC’s controller of drama, to The Daily Telegraph in January. « The minute that those cuts affect how it looks then I agree that there’s something we need to do. » (1)

The show and its stars, Matt Smith and Karen Gillan will begin a UK tour later this month in order to introduce Eleventh Doctor and his companion to fans.

(1) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/6976497/Ben-Stephenson-BBC-One-dramas-dont-just-need-to-chase-ratings.html

Update (March 19): New trailer, thanks to Digital Spy (http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/cult/s7/doctor-who/news/a209692/the-second-who-series-five-trailer.html).