2009 (production)

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2009 in

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the DWU • production history • vital statistics • releases

2009 was a year in which a number of events important to the production of Doctor Who and its spin-offs occurred.

January

• 2 January - Doctor Who fandom was caught by surprise when the BBC announced that the actor to play the Doctor was to be announced in a special edition of Doctor Who Confidential the next day.
• 3 January - After months of speculation since 26 October, actor Matt Smith was finally announced as the Eleventh Doctor, succeeding David Tennant's Tenth. This announcement was broadcast on BBC One as Confidential episode The Eleventh Doctor.
• 4 January - The announcement of Matt Smith as the new Doctor was front page news in many UK newspapers. Since these are Sunday publications, many received international distribution.
• 8 January - Word reached the Doctor Who production team that a transportation mishap had resulted in the London double-decker bus being shipped to Dubai for use in location filming for Planet of the Dead being heavily damaged. Russell T Davies convened an emergency meeting to discuss how to proceed; the damage was written into the script.
• 9 January - Big Finish's Bernice Summerfield audio story Glory Days was recorded.
• 10 January - Big Finish's Bernice Summerfield audio story Secret Origins was recorded at the Moat Studios.
• 16 January - The website of the UK newspaper The Guardian published a column condemning rumoured plans to film one of the 2009 specials in Dubai, citing the United Arab Emirates' human rights record.
• 16-17 January - The Big Finish audio story The Angel of Scutari was recorded at the Moat Studios.
• 19 January - Concurrent with the start of filming of TV: Planet of the Dead were rumours that Michelle Ryan and Lee Evans had been cast in the special. The rumours were later confirmed by the BBC, which released publicity photographs of Ryan with David Tennant.
• 28 January - Media in the UK and United Arab Emirates reported on the damage to the double-decker bus earlier in the month prior to filming the Easter special Planet of the Dead. The BBC News report served as confirmation to earlier rumours that Doctor Who was filming at least part of Planet of the Dead in the Middle Eastern country.

February

• 5 February - The official trailer for Torchwood: Children of Earth was unveiled at the New York Comic Con and online.
• 16 February - The Big Finish audio story The Stealers from Saiph was recorded at the Moat Studios.
• 18-19 February - Big Finish's audio adaptation of the unproduced TV story Mission to Magnus was recorded at the Moat Studios.
• 19 February - From Raxacoricofallapatorious with Love was filmed entirely within the 13 Bannerman Road attic set at Upper Boat Studios. (DWMSE 23)
• 19 February - The BBC announced that Lindsay Duncan had been cast as Adelaide, a character described as the companion of the Tenth Doctor, in the as-yet untitled second 2009 special.
• 22-24, 26 & 27 February - The second series of Big Finish's audio series Cyberman was recorded at the Moat Studios.

March

• March - An online version of Doctor Who DVD Files was launched, allowing those who already owned the DVDs, or unable to buy the magazine internationally due to licensing restrictions, access to the printed content of the magazine. The subscription-based site also made the contents of the Doctor Who: Battles in Time series available to international fans.
• March - The BBC series Tonight's the Night launched a contest for viewers to create their own Doctor Who monster. Following the 28 March deadline, finalists would be chosen to take part in further competition on the series. The winner would appear in a specially written Doctor Who sketch.
• March - A trailer for the upcoming K9 spinoff series was unveiled at the MIPTV show in Cannes and was later posted online.
• 3 March - The BBC announced that outgoing Doctor Who executive producer Julie Gardner would join the Los Angeles branch of BBC Worldwide in June 2009, serving as executive producer of American-market projects.
• 5 March - The Big Finish audio story The Glorious Revolution was recorded at the Moat Studios.
• 9-10 March - Big Finish's audio adaptation of the unproduced TV story The Nightmare Fair was recorded at the Moat Studios.
• 16 March - A quarter-century after their use was phased out across the UK, Edinburgh's police department announced plans to reintroduce "TARDIS-style" police boxes.
• 16 and 18 March - The Big Finish audio story Patient Zero was recorded at the Moat Studios.
• Mid-March - For the fourth consecutive year, episodes of Doctor Who written by Steven Moffat were nominated for the annual Hugo Award: Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead. Also nominated was Russell T Davies' episode Turn Left, resulting in fan controversy; his Midnight was expected to be nominated. Competition for the award included episodes of Battlestar Galactica and Lost; this year Doctor Who did not win, and the award went to the made-for-Internet short film Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.
• 18 March - In a speech to members of BAFTA, Russell T Davies revealed production of Series 3 of The Sarah Jane Adventures had been impacted by BBC budget cuts and had nearly been cancelled on three occasions.
• 21 March - A scene for The End of Time Part Two was shot early to accommodate Jessica Hynes' schedule and allow her to appear in a cameo.
• In the weeks following its broadcast of The Next Doctor, the Canadian television network Space confirmed it had obtained the Canadian broadcast rights to the 2009 specials and Series 5, and announced it would air Planet of the Dead in June. This ended speculation over the future of Doctor Who on the CBC, although it was not yet known whether the CBC or related networks would retain broadcast rights to the first four seasons. Up to at least the end of Series 4, the CBC had been a sometimes-credited co-producer of the series; presumably this announcement meant that arrangement had ended.
• 23 and 25 March - The Big Finish audio Paper Cuts took place at the Moat Studios.
• 26 March - The Big Finish audio story The Drowned World was recorded at the Moat Studios.

April

• 1 April - As an April Fool's joke, word circulated around the Doctor Who set that Michael Jackson was paying a visit.
• 17 April - Big Finish Productions announced it was ending its long-running Short Trips series of short story anthologies, due to the BBC not renewing its licence in this area.
• 17 April - Russell T Davies completed the script for the Tonight's the Night skit, which Davies described as his last-ever Doctor Who script.
• 20 April - The Tonight's the Night skit was filmed.
• 23 April - The Big Finish audio story Ringpullworld was recorded at the Moat Studios.
• 24 April - The Big Finish audio story Freakshow was recorded at the Moat Studios.

May

• 12 May - David Tennant and Matt Smith filmed the regeneration sequence for The End of Time, Part Two; among those in attendance was Timothy Dalton. This was Smith's first performance on camera as the Eleventh Doctor. Russell T Davies met Smith for the first time just prior to shooting. Steven Moffat oversaw the filming of Smith's portion of the regeneration. According to Tennant, he left the studio before Smith filmed his segment, although a photograph of the two together was taken and REF: Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale - The Final Chapter suggested he wasn't quite that rushed.
• 12 May - Proving some things never change, a survey of parents of young children published in The Telegraph cited Doctor Who as a series blamed for giving children nightmares, with parents surveyed indicating they'd rather see it aired in post-watershed hours.
• 20 May - David Tennant filmed his final regular-series scenes as the Tenth Doctor for The End of Time, Part Two. Tennant's final scene was a green-screen action shot of him falling through a glass ceiling (the regeneration having been shot earlier). Afterwards, he was called back on set for an emotional celebration.
• 21 May - David Tennant filmed the 2009 BBC Christmas idents in London.
• After 21 May - David Tennant filmed his final performance as the Tenth Doctor for The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith.
• 26 May - The BBC and Russell T Davies announced David Tennant would appear as the Tenth Doctor in an upcoming two-part episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures.
• 29 May - The BBC announced that Karen Gillan, who previously appeared in The Fires of Pompeii, would co-star with Matt Smith as the new Doctor Who companion for Series 5.

June

• June - The Canadian cable network Space officially confirmed it had obtained the broadcasting rights to Doctor Who from the CBC, and would air the remaining 2009 specials along with Series 5 in 2010; in addition, it obtained Canadian broadcast rights to the first four seasons and the never-aired-in-Canada Voyage of the Damned in the spring of 2010.
• 2 June - Shaun Lyon announced that the Outpost Gallifrey website, the Doctor Who News website, and the Doctor Who Forum would all close as of 31st July. A detailed reason for closing the sites was not offered.
• 7 June - The Sunday Mirror included a poster of the Tenth Doctor and a Dalek maze reprinted from Doctor Who Adventures.
• 17 June - The UK tabloid The Sun published a leaked photograph of David Tennant and Timothy Dalton with Dalton in his Time Lord costume, spoiling what was to be a surprise reveal of the return of Gallifrey in The End of Time. This provoked an angered response from Russell T Davies in his correspondence with Benjamin Cook.

July

• July - DWM 411 reported John Leeson would reprise the role of K9 in the upcoming K9 spin-off series.
• 20 July - Production began on Series 5 of Doctor Who, with the BBC formally announcing the Doctor's new companion as Amy Pond and unveiling the first photographs of the Eleventh Doctor's costume and revised TARDIS exterior. Media coverage of the first day's filming also revealed a major guest star from Series 4 would return. The episode filmed was later identified as The Time of Angels.
• 26 July - Doctor Who was officially named the single most successful science fiction TV series by Guinness World Records. The honour was announced at the 2009 San Diego ComicCon. The same event also unveiled the first trailer for the David Tennant finale specials, confirming the return appearance of a longtime villain and indicating the title The End of Time for the finale. The ComicCon marked Tennant's first appearance at such an event; he was accompanied by John Barrowman and Russell T Davies.
• 31 July - The Internet's largest Doctor Who discussion board, the Doctor Who Forum, along with the original Doctor Who News Page, formerly known as Outpost Gallifrey, closed.

August

• 9 August - Steven Moffat's winning streak at the Hugo Awards ended when Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead was defeated by a Joss Whedon production, Dr. Horrible's Singalong Blog, in the Dramatic Presentation - Short Form category, which Moffat and Doctor Who had dominated since 2006. An examination of the voting results show only about a hundred votes separated Moffat from first place in the final tally. Turn Left by Russell T Davies had also been nominated for the award this year. As Moffat had not written any of the 2009 specials, the earliest he would be eligible again for a Hugo was in 2011.

September

• 5 September - Final e-mail exchange between Russell T Davies and Benjamin Cook to be included in Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale - The Final Chapter took place.
• Late September - Doctor Who Magazine announced the results of its "The Mighty 200" reader's poll in DWM 413. The Caves of Androzani was voted the reader's favourite story of all time (with Blink at #2), while The Twin Dilemma was voted least favourite.

October

• 30 October - Press preview for The Waters of Mars took place.

November

• 11 November - Fantasy legend Michael Moorcock announced he would write a Doctor Who novel for publication by the end of 2010.
• 21 November - Michael Moorcock wrote an article in The Guardian about Doctor Who, for which he would be writing a novel.

December

• 14 December - The Welsh government approved plans to develop a BBC Drama Village, a series of studios near Cardiff Bay to be used for productions such as Doctor Who.
• 17 December - Press showing for The End of Time, Part One, took place.