Doctor Who Series 5

The fifth series of Doctor Who is the first series of the show to feature new showrunner Steven Moffat. It also marks the first series featuring Matt Smith as the eleventh incarnation of The Doctor.

On the 6th October 2009, the BBC revealed a new logo to accompany the series. The new logo features an ident that uses the initials DW to form a box-like shape that looks like a TARDIS with a light on top.

The series is due to begin in the UK Saturday 3rd April 2010, following the departure of David Tennant and the end of the 2009 specials.

Companions and Casting

It was announced in May 2009 that Karen Gillan would be cast as The Doctor's new companion. Later on, the name of the character - Amy Pond - was revealed, although not much else is known about her at the current time.

Some photos taken during filming have revealed Alex Kingston (who played the mysterious future companion, Professor River Song) to be involved in the series. It's not known for sure whether Kingston will be reprising her former role.

The cast is joined for a number of episodes by Arthur Darvill, who plays Amy's fiance Rory Williams.

The TARDIS is destroyed and rebuilt

At the end of the fourth series, the TARDIS is destroyed during The Doctor's regeneration. It catches fire, columns collapse and the police box windows are blown out.

The TARDIS interior gets a complete overhaul for the fifth series, and has split levels, stairs leading off to mysterious rooms and a new console. Explaining about the new TARDIS and how it was built, Steven Moffat told TV & Satellite Week:

[it] contains gadgets galore, from a gramophone speaker to a typewriter. The Tardis rebuilds itself in the first episode because it was damaged when David Tennant regenerated,’ explains Steven Moffat. ‘Mart’s Doctor is mad so the Tardis builds itself around that and gives him what it thinks he would understand. Like Mart’s Doctor, it is a gorgeous shambles, a mess and elegant at the same time.

Steven Moffat takes over as showrunner

The fourth series of Doctor Who marked the departure of Russell T Davies as showrunner. He is replaced by highly regarded writer Steven Moffat, who wrote popular Doctor Who episodes such as The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances and The Girl In The Fireplace. Moffat describes his vision of Doctor Who:

I see Doctor Who as a fairy tale. And by a fairy tale, I don’t mean something sweet and nice and kind and funny. I mean something scary and terrifying. Fairy tales are the means by which we tell our children the world is dangerous.

And, yes, I know Matt Smith looks like he’s the youngest Doctor ever, but in the show it’s not an issue. It really isn’t. He’s an imperious, up-himself Time Lord. When you see him bossing Winston Churchill about in an upcoming episode, he seems like Churchill’s dad! You just don’t question it. Oh, and let me just say one thing about this series as a whole. There’s a big twist to come – don’t assume you know everything, and don’t assume you’ve understood everything you’ve seen.

Joining Moffat in heading up the production team are Piers Wenger and Beth Willis. The show continues to be made by BBC Cardiff.

Series 5 Story Arc: Cracks in the universe

In the first episode of the series, The Eleventh Hour, The Doctor confronts an alien multiform, which tells him:

The cracks in the skin of the universe. Where did they come from? The Pandoric will open. Silence will fall.

The same crack has been seen a number of times throughout the series. It appears in roughly the same shape, high on either side, descending into a valley in the middle.

Crack-spotting!

The following lists the appearances of the 'cracks in the universe' that have been seen in series 5:

• The Eleventh Hour - Amy Pond's bedroom wall has the first crack, which The Doctor opens with his sonic screwdriver. The second crack is seen on the TARDIS monitor as the episode ends. The Doctor sees this, but switches the screen off.
• The Beast Below - As the episode ends, the camera pans the length of the space-whale and reveals a crack in the brickwork. Light appears to be seeping through the crack.
• Victory Of The Daleks - Again, at the end of the episode, the TARDIS dematerialises and a crack in the wall behind is revealed.

Series 5 Episodes

A number of fifth series episode titles have been announced, along with the names of their writers and directors: