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Totally Doctor Who was a BBC children's television series that aired Friday afternoons in 2006 to 2007 while series 2 and series 3 of Doctor Who were ongoing. It was a supplement to (and, cynically, an advertisement for) those episodes of Doctor Who. Unlike its parent programme, however, Totally was aimed specifically at children, the target audience of its home network, the CBBC.
Superficially, it was something of a junior version of Doctor Who Confidential, and even shared producer Gillane Seaborne and other members of her staff. It focused on various behind-the-scenes aspects of the show, and on strengthening viewers' understanding of the narrative threads running through Doctor Who. However, it had a very strong element of interaction with its target audience. Towards this end, young fans were always present in every episode, sometimes to actually help conduct interviews, and on other occasions providing a kind of live studio audience for the proceedings.
Totally Doctor Who did not return for the 2008 season, making it, as of 2010, the first and only series of the revived franchise not to be renewed. The proximate cause of its demise was the unwillingness of the CBBC to financially support both Totally and The Sarah Jane Adventures during the same fiscal year.
Presenters
The show was hosted by a male and female host, who, at least in the initial episode, facetiously likened themselves to the Doctor and his companion. This metaphor proved apt, as the original female host Liz Barker, was replaced by Kristen O'Brien in the second series. Only male host Barney Harwood was present in both series. The reason for the replacement was somewhat domestic: Liz Barker opted to leave to devote her time to motherhood.
Schedule
Except for the finale of series 2, the show always ran on the Friday before the new episode of Doctor Who that aired that Saturday. Thus, it acted as a kind of review of the previous episode and a preview of the one coming up. However, the two series had slightly different overall timing. Series 1 debuted the day before New Earth premiered. Series 2, however, debuted the Friday after Smith and Jones premiered. This meant that the first episode of series 1 reviewed 'The Christmas Invasion, but the first episode of series 2 reviewed Smith and Jones; The Runaway Bride was never addressed by Totally. Also, because series 2 had only 12 regular episodes, it ended before Last of the Time Lords had premiered. Thus, neither provided any kind of recap of a Doctor Who series finale.
Game show element
Both series of Totally featured a weekly competition.
Who-ru
In the first series, the contest was a trivia game called "Who-ru" — a contraction of the words "who" and "guru". It took place between two kids, or a kid and one of the key people from the Doctor Who production office. Usually, that person was an actor like David Tennant, but sometimes it was a production figure, like Russell T Davies. They then would be asked questions about narrative elements from the BBC Wales version of Doctor Who, and the winner would get some sort of exclusive Doctor Who merchandise. Although there would be occasional outbreaks of trivia in series 2, "Who-ru" effectively concluded at the end of series 1.
The game was somewhat notable to the history of British game shows in general, because it had to be quickly retooled after its debut in episode 1. Originally, the prize was that the loser had to give the winner a prized possession. However, when Noel Clarke beat a girl named Karen, she was forced to hand over something genuinely valuable to her — a dragon statuette that she had hand-painted. Karen appeared shattered by the loss, so Clarke improvised a return of the item to her, and gave up his "prized" possession — which was a Doctor Who-themed t-shirt. Thereafter, no one was asked to bring a prized possession, and the competition was blatantly for Doctor Who-related merchandise. Also, after episode 1, it was rare for a celebrity to play against a kid. Rather, the celebrity usually read the questions, and two kids competed against each other. The winner, or "Who-ru", won something specially brought by the celebrity, such as a signed script. The runner-up got a bag of commercially-available merchandise.
Companion Academy
Also during the 2006 series came a competition which proposed a series of physical and mental challenges to see how well they'd perform as the Doctor's companion. A group of judges, including Doctor Who Magazine editor Clayton Hickman, then "voted off" contestants each week, based upon their displayed aptitude in each test. At the end of the series, a winner was declared and given a day behind-the-scenes during the filming of series 3 of Doctor Who.
Team Totally
For 2007, the competitive element of the show was entirely different. This time, two teams of kids were assembled, who became effective regulars for the entire series. Each week, a figure from a different production department — like, for instance, Ed Thomas or Danny Hargreaves — came onto the show and told the two teams about a different skill used in making Doctor Who. The teams then had a limited time to work together to replicate that skill to the best of their ability. Then, the production professional would judge their work and declare a winner. The ones that had most completely finished the challenge got 2 points and the runners-up got 1 point. A running tally was kept, and the ones who had collected the most points by the end of the series were declared the winners. The prize, which had only been described as a "money can't buy Doctor Who experience, was finally revealed to be a weekend trip to Blackpool to meet David Tennant, and framed artwork of themselves as cartoons alongside the Doctor and Martha.
Viewer competitions
Along with the in-studio contests, the programme offered a number of opportunities for viewers to win Doctor Who-related merchandise. In series 1, viewers wrote in to the show, sometimes enclosing artwork. If their letter or artwork was featured on the show, then they got a Totally-branded mug. In series 2, there were two ongoing competitions. One was at the top of the program, and one nearer the end. At the beginning of most episodes, Barney would theatrically ask the question "Who goes there?", and a silhouette of a Doctor Who monster was shown. Viewers could then write in and identify the monster. If their correct answer were randomly selected, they would then win a branded mug and/or sweatshirt. In the back half of a show, a departing guest would place his or her hands in clay. The resulting handprints would then be fired and become the prize for viewers who correctly answered questions about the then-upcoming episode of Doctor Who.
New narrative
In its second series, Totally was also used to debut the first televised animated adventure in the history of Doctor Who. Called The Infinite Quest, the serial ran in five-minute segments throughout the series, and featured the vocal talents of David Tennant and Freema Agyeman, as the then-current televised TARDIS team. Technically, the final episode of Totally was given over to an omnibus edition of all 13 parts. As there had only been 12 episodes of the normally-formatted Totally prior to this omnibus, viewers had to watch the hour-long omnibus to see how the story ended.
List of episodes
- See List of Totally Doctor Who episodes for more information about particular guest stars and segment contents
Home video releases
Unlike Confidential, which is available (albeit in edited form) on DVD, no such release has occurred for Totally Doctor Who, with the exception of an edited-together version of The Infinite Quest, and some behind-the-scenes material related to the serial, which was released to DVD in the UK in 2007 and in North America in November 2008.