TVSquad

(S04E07) The Doctor and Donna are caught in the middle of an Agatha Christie murder mystery adventure. Literally.

The British have always been proud of their history. This is evident in the excellent quality of most historical dramas done by the BBC. Doctor Who, being a BBC production, has displayed this in spades having had the Doctor already meet two of their most famous writers in previous seasons (Charles Dickens and William Shakespeare). The tradition continues in this episode when the Doctor and Donna travel to England in 1926 and meet Agatha Christie in the midst of a set of murders.

Spoilers after the jump...

(S02E13) Well, despite some ups and downs throughout the season, to say that this second run went out with a bang, both literally and emotionally, would be an understatement. Definitely, this ranks as one of the best episodes of the series so far and so amazingly surpasses the first season finale in every way. Where that was a silly overblown giant monster romp, this one existed on a much more intimate level within the lives of our cast of characters.

The cast and crew spent all season really fleshing out this team for us and making us learn to love and care for each of them; all of it leading to this stunning finale. Now the events herein could really resonate. Now you might be asking why such a generic Torchwood picture for such a key episode? I see it as a tribute. To what? Well, if you've seen the episode, maybe you know what. If not, what the hell are you doing here? Go watch it already.

In the No Duh News category, Sci Fi Channel has reported that they've acquired the fourth series (or season) of Doctor Who for air beginning in April. What's great additional news is that they've also picked up The Sarah Jane Adventures as well. The latter series focuses on Elisabeth Sladen's Sarah Jane, one of the most popular and famous "companions" in Who History, as she battles to keep Britain and the world save from alien encounters and invasions.

Sarah Jane is aided by a small group of children in her quest. And while the series has a lower budget than Who and is geared more towards a children's audience, I still found it to be tremendously fun. And any opportunity to see K-9 is worth it in my book!

Once again the fate of David Tennant's role as the Doctor on Doctor Who is in question. Earlier this year there were rumors that Tennant would not resume his role for the fourth series of the popular science fiction program. However, those rumors were quickly refuted.

Now comes word directly from the BBC that the show will not be returning for a fifth series until 2010 (the fourth series premieres in 2008). It was postponed to allow Tennant to play Hamlet with the Royal Shakespeare Company late next year. A spokesperson for the show said it was too early to comment on whether or not Tennant would return for a fifth series.

Please note that the title was meant to be said in a very sleazy voice, stretching out the word "ladies" to "lay-deez" accompanied by an inappropriate waggle of the eyebrows. Now that the finale of Doctor Who has aired, loads of news regarding the upcoming Christmas special and fourth series has started coming in and all that news is about the ladies (again: "lay-deez").

First off, it has been announced that music super-star Kylie Minogue will be the Christmas special companion. The only film I have seen her in is Moulin Rouge!, but I don't think the Green Fairy's giggling and playful rump-shaking is enough to create a fair appraisal. But judging by Kylie's overall fabulousness, I think she'll do a pretty good job in "Voyage of the Damned" special. There's two more bits of casting news I've included after the jump, but they include spoilers from the series three finale! Don't keep reading unless you've seen it already! You have been warned! Exclamation mark!

[SPOILERS AHEAD]

Television and I don't see much of each other during the summer months, even during this era of year-round original programming. One reason why is, well, it's summer. I spend enough time cooped up in a small cubicle staring at a computer screen that I use summer to stretch my legs a bit. The other most likely reason is that I still have the mentality that there's nothing good on television to watch during the summer. Chalk that up to years of never-ending repeats while I was growing up.

Still, there are a few shows that I will watch on a regular basis, and there are some new outings that look interesting. So, without much fanfare, here is what I'm going to be watching this summer.

Well, it was fun while it lasted.

According to UK tabloid The Sun the newest incarnation of Doctor Who, which has been a hit both in the UK and here in North America, will be ending its run after the fourth series finishes up next year. The decision to end it didn't come from executives over at BBC1. Rather, it came from Executive Producer Russell T. Davies, the man who relaunched the adventures of the good Doctor back in 2006.

According to The Sun article Davies wants to concentrate on other projects. So, he's decided to end the show while it's still on top in the ratings (the show is watched by 8 million viewers in the UK each week). David Tennant, who has portrayed the Doctor since the second series, has signed on to continue playing the role through the end of the series.

The Sci Fi channel has announced it will begin airing Doctor Who series three in July. The third season of the program is already airing on the BBC, but American Whovians are used to waiting a little while to get their fix.

The new season will kick off with the Christmas special episode "The Runaway Bride," so I guess this will be a sort of Christmas in July. David Tennant will reprise his role as the Doctor, although it's anybody's guess whether he'll be back for a fourth season. With the departure of Billie Piper, the Doctor will pick up a new traveling companion, Martha Jones, played by Freema Agyeman. But you if you've been following our reviews, you already knew that.

Sci Fi says the second season of Doctor Who drew more than 1 million viewers each week, which are pretty good numbers for the niche cable network.

[via Digg]

If I didn't know better, I'd suspect that the constant rumours concerning the fate of actor David Tennant as the current incarnation of Doctor Who is nothing more than a ploy to keep news about the show constantly appearing in the UK newspaper headlines and sustain interest in the new series.

We now have another report, this time in The Guardian's Media Monkey column, which states that Tennant has indeed signed on for a third series, again, citing another "industry insider".

The Daily Mirror newspaper in the UK is claiming that Scottish actor David Tennant has signed a £1million deal to continue playing the lead role in Doctor Who for a fourth season.

Given that the fourth season was only confirmed in the last few days by the show's executive producer, Russell T. Davies, it doesn't seem unlikely that news of Tennant's committment (or abandonment) would soon follow (especially since it helps keep The Doctor in the headlines in the run up to the new series starting on 31 March).

Doctor Who executive producer Russell T Davies says the show will be back for a fourth series (that's British for season). He made remarks at the London premiere of series three.

What's less clear at the moment is who will be playing the Doctor in series four. Current Doctor David Tennant has remained silent on the issue. Series three has actress Freema Agyeman playing Martha Jones, the doctor's new assistant. She fills the void left by Billie Piper's departure from the program.

It had been widely suspected that a fourth season was already on deck, but Davies' confirmation should come as good news for Doctor Who fans. Now if only Americans didn't have to wait months or years for each new season to show up on the SciFi channel.

Well, more animated than he usually is. We're talking about pen-on-paper (or cursor-on-monitor) animation here for current Doctor David Tennant and his trusty sidekick Martha (played by Freema Agyeman).

They will both star in a new 13-part animated adventure 'The Infinite Quest' for the second series of BBC's Totally Doctor Who. In the cartoon Martha and The Doctor will follow a trail of clues to find the location of the Infinite, a legendary lost spaceship. The series will take place during Doctor Who's upcoming third series (known as season to us across the pond).

Also starring with Tennant and Agyeman will be Anthony Head, who portrayed evil headmaster Mr. Finch in last season's episode 'School Reunion'. This time around he will be voicing the character of Baltazar - Scourge of the Galaxy. Hm, that title sounds catchy. Maybe it should be the new slogan for TV Squad.

I'm going to start off with the negative stuff, because I'm well aware that these are the gems that people want to read so that they can tell me how I'm so horribly, horribly wrong.

I'm not angry, just disappointed: Project Runway, Scrubs. God, Project Runway was just plain painful this season. Not only did we have to put up with Vincent and Angela for an ungodly long time, they were brought back for an additional challenge! Then, Jeffrey, the designer with the worst collection of all (well, in my personal opinion), won the whole competition. Livid, I was. I definitely expected better taste from what I've long considered the classiest reality program on television. And as for Scrubs, I think it's lost its charm... JD does that stupid nasal voice all the time (it's at its worst when he does that damn "zoom zoom zoom"), his pregnant girlfriend is an awful character, and Dr. Cox's hair looks like something ripped off a 70s model home floor. I used to think Scrubs was hysterical, but it's really missing something now and I've almost lost complete motivation to watch. If the upcoming musical episode doesn't restore my faith, I doubt anything will.

A good bit of information is coming from the Doctor Who camp about the upcoming third series (what we call season here in the colonies). First off, the show will premiere in March in the UK and in the fall here in the US, most likely on SciFi Channel.

David Tennant returns as the Doctor, but without his trusty partner Rose Tyler. That's because, to the disappointment of many fans, Billie Piper decided to quit the show after the second season. She will be replaced by Freema Agyeman as Martha Jones. If the name sounds familiar, or it looks like you've seen her before, that's because she had a small role in the Doctor Who episode "Army of Ghosts". What can the Doctor and Martha look forward to this upcoming season? Well, they'll meet up with William Shakespeare, confront witches and vampires, battle a Dalek invasion in 1930's Manhattan, and reunite with Captain Jack Harkness. In other words, the usual.

What is it about Doctor Who that makes people want to leave? First we had Christopher Eccleston (The Doctor) calling it quits after one series. Then Billie Piper (Rose) left after two. Now The Sun is reporting that David Tennant (The Doctor) may not be coming back after he finishes series three, his second with the show. According to reports, he has been offered £1million to come back for series four. Digging out the calculator, converting pounds to dollars, dividing by episodes, that's more than what those crazy kids over at Lost are getting.

Of course, he could also be floating his exit in the press as a bargaining tool. Maybe he wants more money, a personal chef, or just all the Toblerone he can possibly eat. Whatever the case, I'd like to see him stick around. I'm really enjoying his work as The Doctor in series two, currently airing in the U.S. on SciFi. But given the recent history of the show, anything can happen.