2010 (production)

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2010 in

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the DWU • production history • vital statistics • releases

2010 was a year in which a number of events important to the production of Doctor Who and its spin-offs occurred.

• Big Finish Productions announced it was reviving its Short Trips line as a series of short audio dramas, with the first release expected in late 2010.
• 1 January - Almost immediately after the broadcast of the Tenth Doctor's final story, BBC Online's Doctor Who website began phasing in a new look featuring the new logo and material related to the Eleventh Doctor. Little of this was made available to Internet users outside the UK.
• 2 January - Following its broadcast of The End of Time, Part Two, the BBC received more than a hundred forty complaints from viewers alleging that the Eleventh Doctor's reference to not being ginger was a slight against redheaded people.
• 6 January - In response to complaints regarding widespread misinterpretation of the Eleventh Doctor's comment from the end of The End of Time, Part Two about not being ginger, the BBC issued an official statement clarifying that the line referenced the Doctor's previously-stated desire to be ginger in The Christmas Invasion, and also noting that both Donna Noble and Amy Pond were redheads.[1](dead link)
• 7 January - Doctor Who Magazine debuted a new look incorporating the new Doctor Who logo.
• Mid-January - The BBC began scouting for a new producer to take on Series 4 of The Sarah Jane Adventures.
• 19 January - Reports surfaced in US media that BBC Worldwide, Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner and Jane Tranter were planning to mount a US version of Torchwood for the American Fox network. John Barrowman was a potential star, reprising Jack Harkness, but at this point it was not known if the show would be a standalone remake or part of the established Whoniverse. According to The Hollywood Reporter a US-based "reboot" of Doctor Who was a possibility as well.
• 20 January - For the fourth consecutive ceremony, Doctor Who won the Drama category at the National Television Awards. David Tennant also received the NTA award for Best Drama Performance.
• 6 February - Noted fantasy writer Neil Gaiman announced via his blog that he would write an episode of Doctor Who for the 2011 season. This was also the first indication that the series was expected to continue beyond 2010.
• 17 February - The BBC, in advance of issuing a new trailer, released a new Eleventh Doctor promotional image featuring the the Doctor, Amy Pond, a Dalek, a Weeping Angel, and the first glimpse of a new character, the Smiler.
• 17 - Matt Smith chose the winner in a "design a TARDIS console" contest conducted on Blue Peter. The console design was scheduled to be incorporated into an upcoming Series 5 episode in some way.
• Around this same time, Broadcast magazine reported that a forty-second 3-D trailer had been produced for cinemas.^{[statement unclear]}
• 19 February - Doctor Who and Torchwood received several nominations for the 2010 Saturn Awards (scheduled to be awarded 24th June). The End of Time and Children of Earth were nominated for Best Television Presentation. Competition included the new versions of The Prisoner and V along with, strangely, The Tudors; David Tennant was nominated for Best Actor in Television; Bernard Cribbins for Best Guest Starring Role in Television (his competition included John Lithgow and Leonard Nimoy); and in the Best DVD Television Release category, the DVDs of Planet of the Dead and Children of Earth were nominated against full-season sets of Lost, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, the US version of Life on Mars and another BBC series, Primeval.
• 20 February - A 3-D trailer for the new series, featuring specially-shot footage, debuted on UK cinemas.
• March - The Canadian cable network Space took over the Canadian broadcast licence for Doctor Who seasons 1-4 and related Christmas Specials (save Voyage of the Damned which did not become available until April) from the CBC.
• 4 March - The BBC announced that it had not only commissioned a 4th series of The Sarah Jane Adventures for airing later in 2010, but also a 5th series to air in 2011. Brian Minchin was announced as the new producer for the series, although Russell T Davies stayed on as executive producer.
• 9 March - Doctor Who won Best TV Drama at the 2010 Television and Radio Industries Club (TRIC) Awards. The award was accepted by Bernard Cribbins.
• 17 March - On his official website, Tom Baker indicated that he was in discussions with Big Finish Productions about possibly recording an audio drama.[2]
• 18 March - A BBC press screening was held for The Eleventh Hour, during which producer Piers Wenger officially announced that a 2010 Christmas special was planned, and production of Series 6 was set to begin in July.
• 18 - Big Finish Productions issued a statement titled "Fourth Doctor Rumour Control" indicating that nothing official had been arranged regarding Tom Baker doing any recordings for the company, though Elisabeth Sladen, Louise Jameson and Nicholas Courtney were cited as being enthusiastic about possibly participating should such a project come together.
• 19 March - UK media gave extensive coverage to the previous night's press launch, with Steven Moffat, fresh from a dubbing edit of Victory of the Daleks, appearing on BBC Breakfast to promote the show.
• 19 - The American publication Entertainment Weekly's website reported on rumours that Jack Harkness might be made heterosexual for the proposed US version of Torchwood.
• 27 March - The first minute of The Eleventh Hour became available as a special preview on the BBC's Red Button service in the UK.
• 29 - 31 March - For the first time since the original series ended, the stars of Doctor Who embarked on a promotional tour for an upcoming season, with Matt Smith and Karen Gillan scheduled to make personal appearances in several cities accompanied by special screenings of The Eleventh Hour.
• April - The Canadian cable network Space was scheduled to take over the Canadian broadcast licence for the 2007 Christmas special Voyage of the Damned from the CBC, officially ending the CBC's association with the Doctor Who franchise. According to a January 2010 posting by the Doctor Who Information Network, Space was expected to broadcast the episode soon after.
• 1 April - Doctor Who Adventures magazine underwent a relaunch to introduce the new Eleventh Doctor-era branding and new editorial features.
• 1 - Guinness World Records recognised Doctor Who Magazine, which had celebrated its thirtieth anniversary in 2009, as the Longest Running Magazine Based on a Television Series.
• 5 April - For the fifth consecutive year, Doctor Who was nominated in the Best Dramatic Presentation - Short Form category at the Hugo Awards. Nominated this year were The Next Doctor, Planet of the Dead and The Waters of Mars; the competing nominees were the TV series Dollhouse and FlashForward.
• 8 - The Canadian press screening for The Eleventh Hour was held in Toronto. Steven Moffat participated in a Q&A conducted via Skype.
• 14 - A volcanic eruption in Iceland disrupted air travel to, from, and within Europe. Among those later reported as "stranded" in the US were Karen Gillan, Matt Smith, and Steven Moffat, all of whom took the opportunity to attend events in the Los Angeles area after the conclusion of their East Coast press junket.
• 19 April - The BBC Press Office announced that Katy Manning would return to the role of Jo Grant for a fourth season storyline of The Sarah Jane Adventures, an episode also to feature Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor.
• 21 April - A press event attended by a number of new-design Daleks announced details of the upcoming Doctor Who: The Adventure Games video game releases.
• 21 - The American FOX network announced it was dropping plans to produce a thirteen-episode, serialised series of Torchwood.