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Doctor Who is hitting cinemas in 3D. Inspired by Danny Boyle, a special 50th anniversary episode of adventures in time and space will be filmed and broadcast in 3D both on TV and at the pictures.
Doctor Who turns 50 on 23 November, which is appropriately enough a Saturday. The 50th anniversary special episode will be broadcast as usual on BBC One, and in 3D on BBC HD.
To watch in three dimensions, you’ll need a 3D TV. Check out our TV reviews here, or just hop in your time machine and set the co-ordinates for your local fleapit.
Doctor Who returns to our screens on 30 March with eight episodes starring a bow-tied Matt Smith and Jenna-Louise Coleman, leading up to the birthday celebration.
Rumours are flying of a return for previous Doctors, despite the fact the first three actors to play the Doctor are dead. No problem for a Time Lord: in 20th anniversary special The Five Doctors, first Doctor William Hartnell was replaced by another actor. Fourth Doctor Tom Baker, who had just left the show, declined to return, so the script was rewritten to incorporate footage from unbroadcast episodes. Baker was replaced by a waxwork for photoshoots.
The Doctor had his first adventure in the third dimension in 1993 with Dimensions in Time, a segment of Children In Need that saw then-incumbent incarnation Sylvester McCoy — last seen with bird pooh in his hair in The Hobbit — and companion Sophie Aldred joining previous Doctors and friends in mingling with those cheeky chirpy EastEnders in Albert Square.
The Danny Boyle vision
In announcing new Who and the new line-up of shows, the BBC says new programmes will apply the “Danny Boyle vision”, referring to Boyle’s Olympic opening ceremony and its “a bold, adventurous, authorial approach that exports because of its Britishness not despite it”.
In the Saturday teatime mining-hackneyed-myths-and-legends slot we’ve had Merlin, we’ve had Robin Hood, and now we’ve got Atlantis. What’s next: Up Pompeii?
On the plus side, the 13-part Atlantis is written by Howard Overman, the twisted mind behind the foul-mouthed, demented and utterly brilliant Misfits.
Are you excited about the 50th anniversary, or is 3D a silly gimmick? Tell me your thoughts in the comments or on our Facebook page.
