TVSquad

It's not enough to have a cameo appearance on Tonight's The Night. Now, David Tennant is once again reprising his role as everyone's favorite Time Lord in two episodes of the spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures.

He is also reprising the role for a second animated adventure before the year is done.

I can tell he already misses the role. When they do some sort of multiple Doctors story in a future Doctor Who, I'm sure with a minimum of coaxing (perhaps for a bag of crisps) he could be convinced to play the role again.

The third season of the series will broadcast in September, which would occur before the broadcast of Tennant's final bow and would well fit into the continuity of the series (loose as that continuity is).

As far as I'm concerned, Tennant is (to borrow a phrase from his predecessor) fantastic and couldn't appear as the Doctor enough times. I think he should have remained in the role for another couple of years, but that's just me.

Among other announcements, the BBC press office have announced that the Doctor Who spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures has been renewed for a third series ("series" is the British word for "season"). It is scheduled to return in Autumn 2009.

The Sarah Jane Adventures is more geared for younger children than its originator, but some of the episodes are pretty cute. I haven't been able to catch season two yet (I've watched season one). It's more a case of not having the time to catch them rather than a lack of interest (although admittedly I find Doctor Who itself more exciting than its spin-off, but I'm not the target audience. I think). I do want to see the episode in which Nicholas Courtney once again plays his Doctor Who character Brigadier Alastair Lethbridge-Stewart.

I just realized via the press release that one of Sarah Jane's child companions is called "Rani". One of the Doctor's nemeses was a Time Lady named the Rani. Is that a reference back to the original series?

One of the Doctor Who spin-offs will be host to a very special guest star, one that is familiar to Doctor Who fans from decades past. I'm leaving the revelation of who it is until after the jump so those not wishing to be spoiled about it don't have to be.