TWIDW Supplemental - March 31, 2006
(posted 31st Mar 2006, 12:22pm - TWIDW post #0393)

1) KBTC 28/KCKA 15 Tacoma/Seattle, WA http://www.kbtc.org is adding Doctor Who back to their schedule on April 29, 2006. KBTC was one of the TV stations that had to drop Doctor Who while BBC Worldwide Americas was trying to shop the new episodes to various networks. The return of the Doctor to this station is proof that public TV stations can buy the episodes from 1963 to 1989 again. So far KBTC is the first and only station to announce the show's return, bringing it to 3 US public TV affiliates (Iowa Public TV and Maryland Public TV had not finished their contracts when the situation changed, so they never had to drop the show).

First up on KBTC:
Saturday April 29 - 6:30 to 9PM PDT - The Three Doctors - pledge special.

It is expected that Doctor Who will rejoin the regular lineup in May starting with The Time Monster, the first story after The Mutants, where the run was halted in late 2004. 2 25 minute episodes will air each week. The Three Doctors would likely be skipped as it is airing in April. Keep track up of updates with the Emerald City Androgums http://www.eskimo.com/~tegan/androgums .

2) BBC Two is airing "Dr Who and the Daleks", the 1965 theatrical
movie starring Peter Cushing released to capitalize on the
popularity of the Daleks in Doctor Who. It is an 80 minute remake of
the 1st Doctor Who Dalek story. This colour (and hopefully
widescreen) movie will air on BBC Two on Thursday 13 April from
11:10AM to 12:30PM in all BBC Regions.

3) The BBC's press info on their TV schedules for April 15 through
21 has pictures of Doctor Who and declares that Doctor Who premieres
in that week. Interestingly, they note that the Day and Time is to
be announced, even though previous official sources have announced
the premiere as Saturday 15 April at 7PM.

The features section is at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/proginfo/pdfs/tv/week16/bbctvwk16_hi
ghs.pdf , has a nice picture of the Doctor and Rose, and says that
the story Description is under Week 16 Unplaced.

In Week 16 unplaced -
http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/proginfo/pdfs/tv/week16/bbctvwk16_un
.pdf you get a slightly spoilery description of the episode "New
Earth" with cast information and a note that date and time are to be
determined.

In the Seven Day Document
http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/proginfo/pdfs/tv/week16/bbctvwk16_da
ys.pdf Strictly Dance Fever's early Saturday show is scheduled to
run from 6:15PM to 7:15PM, 15 minutes into the anticipated Doctor
Who broadcast time. Nothing has been announced for the period from
7:15PM to 8:50PM, so Doctor Who could air at 7:15PM (before the
lottery) or 8:05PM (after the lottery). And these documents may be
out of date, in which case Strictly Dance Fever may have been moved
back to 6PM to let Doctor Who premiere at the previously mentioned
7PM.

Hopefully the BBC will clarify what they have put out in the .pdfs -
otherwise the online Radio Times http://www.radiotimes.com should
have the final information on their website on 2 April.