2009

From Tardis Wiki, the free Doctor Who reference
Revision as of 02:52, 26 July 2009 by 23skidoo (talk | contribs) (→‎July: update)
2009


Doctor Who Universe

January- March

April

May

June

October

Unknown

Alternate timelines

Real World

NOTE: This section includes announced and surmised events in the future; dates, events, and titles are subject to change.

January

  • 01 - BBC TV broadcasts an edited version of the July 2008 Doctor Who at the Proms concert, previously released on radio and the Internet. The broadcast includes the television debut of the audience-interactive mini-episode Music of the Spheres. An extended version of the broadcast, including the performance of "Song for Ten", is later made available for UK Digital viewers.
  • 02 - Who fandom is caught by surprise when the BBC announces that the actor to play the Eleventh Doctor is to be announced in a special edition of Doctor Who Confidential the next day,
  • 03 - During a special edition of Doctor Who Confidential, the BBC announces that Matt Smith has been cast as the Eleventh Doctor.
  • 04 - The announcement of Matt Smith as the new Doctor is front page news in many UK newspapers. Since these are Sunday publications, many receive international distribution.
  • 06 - John Scott Martin dies.
  • 14 - Production begins on Planet of the Dead with the first cast read-through of the script. David Tennant, as he did regularly during Series 2 and 3 and less regularly during Series 4, records the event for posterity for a series of video diaries (dubbed "The Tennant Tapes") later posted to the BBC's website.
  • 16 - The website of the UK newspaper The Guardian publishes a column condemning then-rumored plans to film one of the 2009 specials in Dubai, citing the United Arab Emirates' human rights record.[1]
  • 19 - Filming begins on Planet of the Dead, the first of four one-hour Doctor Who specials to air during 2009 and early 2010 in lieu of a full season. These specials will mark the end of David Tennant's era as the Tenth Doctor, and also conclude Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner's tenures as producers. Concurrent with the start of production are rumours that Michelle Ryan and Lee Evans had been cast in the special. The rumours are later confirmed by the BBC, which releases publicity photographs of Ryan with David Tennant. According to Doctor Who Magazine #405, Planet of the Dead is the first Doctor Who episode to be produced in high-definition.
  • 22 - David Tennant's first day of shooting on Planet of the Dead ("The Tennant Tapes 2").
  • 28 - Media in the UK and United Arab Emirates report that a transportation mishap has resulted in a double-decker bus intended for filming scenes for the Easter 2009 special Planet of the Dead on location in Dubai, being heavily damaged, forcing writers Russell T. Davies and Gareth Roberts to revise part of their script. The resulting BBC News report serves as confirmation to earlier rumours that Doctor Who is in fact filming at least part of Planet of the Dead in the Middle Eastern country. This marks the first full-scale production of a Doctor Who installment outside Europe since the 1996 telefilm was shot in Canada and only the second regular TV episode to film major scenes outside Europe since Planet of Fire was partially filmed in the Canary Islands in 1984.
  • 29 - BBC Books launches the first in a planned series of 10 shorter novels forming the story arc The Darksmith Legacy, with the publication of The Dust of Ages and The Graves of Mordane.
  • Late January - The weekly magazine Doctor Who Adventures publishes its 100th issue.
  • 31 - Release of The Key 2 Time - The Judgement of Isskar.

February

March

  • The BBC series Tonight's the Night (hosted by John Barrowman) launches a contest for viewers to create their own Doctor Who monster. Following the 28 March deadline finalists will be chosen to take part in further competition on the series. The winner gets to appear in a specially written Doctor Who scene (which is similar to A Fix with Sontarans, as David Tennant appears as himself, and it also breaks the fourth wall)
  • 3 - The BBC announces that outgoing Doctor Who executive producer Julie Gardner will be joining the Los Angeles branch of BBC Worldwide in June 2009, serving as executive producer of American-market projects.
  • 13 - From Raxacoricofallapatorius With Love, a special mini-episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures, airs in the UK as part of Comic Relief's Red Nose Day. This is the first mini-episode to be based upon a spinoff of Doctor Who. David Tennant co-hosts the main BBC broadcast of of Red Nose Day with Davina McCall, introducing the SJA mini-episode and also taking part in a Doctor Who-themed round of the quiz show Mastermind. The SJA mini-adventure is originally given the title Funny for Money in pre-broadcast publicity, but so-writer Clayton Hickman later confirmed the official title on the Doctor Who Forum.[2]
  • 14 - Canadian premiere of The Next Doctor. The cable network Space is airing the special rather than the CBC, marking a possible major shift in how future episodes of the revived series will be broadcast in that country.
  • 16 - A quarter century after their use was phased out across the UK, Edinburgh's police department announces plans to reintroduce "TARDIS-style" police boxes.[3]
  • Mid-March - For the fourth consecutive year, episodes of Doctor Who written by Steven Moffat are nominated for the annual Hugo Award: Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead. Also nominated: Russell T. Davies' episode Turn Left (resulting in some controversy among fans who expected his Midnight to be nominated. Competition for the award includes episodes of Battlestar Galactica and Lost.
  • 18 - In a speech to members of BAFTA, Russell T. Davies reveals that production of Series 3 of The Sarah Jane Adventures had been impacted by BBC budget cuts and had nearly been cancelled on three occasions.[4]
  • 26 - The BBC Book series The Darksmith Legacy continues with the publication of The Colour of Darkness and The Depths of Despair.
  • 30 - Release of The Key 2 Time - The Chaos Pool

April

  • Release of The Magic Mousetrap
  • Publication of Doctor Who: The Forgotten, a graphic novel-style release reprinting the The Forgotten story arc from IDW Publishing's Doctor Who comic book series.
  • Mid-April - In the weeks following its broadcast of DW: The Next Doctor, the Canadian television network Space confirms that it has obtained the Canadian broadcast rights to the 2009 specials and Series 5, and announces it will air Planet of the Dead in June. This ends speculation over the future of Doctor Who on the CBC, although it's not yet known whether the CBC or related networks will 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 means that arrangement has ended.
  • 11 - Broadcast of Planet of the Dead, the first of four one-hour special episodes of Doctor Who scheduled for broadcast during 2009 and early 2010 in lieu of a regular season in 2009. Co-written by Russell T. Davies and Gareth Roberts, it is the first episode on which Davies shares writing credit, is the first episode of the revived series to credit two writers, and is the first story to credit two writers since 1993's Dimensions in Time. It is also the first episode (as opposed to telemovie) of the series to be filmed in part outside Europe since 1984. The BBC did not officially announce the broadcast date until 1 April, leading to some erroneous reports that it would air on Easter Sunday itself, 12 April. The special, the first to be filmed in high-definition, was simulcast on BBC HD. An instalment of Doctor Who Confidential followed on BBC Three.
  • 16 - Publication of Judgement of the Judoon, Prisoner of the Daleks and The Slitheen Excursion. All three novels feature the Tenth Doctor without a companion, continuing the format established by The Eyeless. Notably, all three releases in this cycle (as well as the preceding Quick Reads release) feature returning monsters.
  • 30 - The BBC Books series The Darksmith Legacy continues with the publication of The Vampire of Paris.

May

June


Template:Pre-broadcast spoiler

July

August

September

Autumn

October

Late 2009

  • According to Russell T. Davies in SFX Magazine, the second of the 2009 Specials, The Waters of Mars, is scheduled to air around Christmas 2009 (though whether this means December 25 has yet to be confirmed as of March 2009), followed possibly by one or both of the remaining specials leading to David Tennant's regeneration into Matt Smith.[13] In early April 2009, however, Davies indicated that a "November-ish" broadcast was being considered for The Waters of Mars. As of May 2009 the only official word from the BBC, coming from the trailer featured at the end of Planet of the Dead is "later this year".
  • In his column in Doctor Who Magazine #409, Russell T. Davies hinted at the possibility of one final Tenth Doctor mini-episode before the end of the Tennant era. Exactly when, if, and what form such an episode would take remains unconfirmed as of July 2009.
  • Announced publication window for The Panda Book of Horror, a followup to the anthology Iris Wildthyme and the Celestial Omnibus.

December

  • 06 - 20th anniversary of the broadcast of Survival Episode 3, the final episode of the original 1963-1989 series.
  • Christmas? - the third of the four 2009 specials is expected to air around Christmas 2009; it is not yet known whether the fourth and last special will also air about this time, or later (possibly New Year's Day).

Unannounced dates

  • Production of the 2010 series is expected to begin, with Steven Moffat as new head writer and Piers Wenger as new producer and Matt Smith in the role of the Eleventh Doctor. Doctor Who Magazine, in an article on Smith published in early 2009, hinted that production could begin in mid-year.
  • The first season of the Australian-made spinoff series K-9 is expected to air in that country sometime in the second half of 2009, likely carrying over into 2010.[14] Broadcast of the series in other countries has yet to be confirmed.
2008 21st century
2000s
2010