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TV PREVIEWS
Doctor Who, Saturday 6.45pm, BBC1
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Hmmm... this is going to be a preview with a difference. Unfortunately, Auntie is keeping details of Planet of the Dead – the first of this year's one-hour specials – firmly under her skirts, and she certainly isn't sending out any preview discs. So, we'll just have to base our preview on what we already know about the episode.
It kicks off with foxy jewel thief Lady Christina de Souza (Michelle Ryan) making her getaway from robbing a museum. Meanwhile, the Doctor (David Tennant) is in London to investigate a wormhole in time and space that might be threatening the Earth. When they both end up together on a London bus, in the middle of a police chase, it doesn't take long for the journey to take a “very unexpected detour into danger” - something most users of London Transport will readily identity with.
Finding himself stuck on a desert planet, the Doctor must work out how to get the bus and his fellow passengers back to Earth, while also dealing with the alien attentions of the Swarm – imagine flying stingrays with shark's teeth – and some apparently “disgusting” fly-headed lads called the Tritovores. With a bit of mobile phone trickery, he also ropes in the help of Dr Malcolm Taylor (Lee Evans), a scientist who is also investigating the wormhole back on Earth.
However, the production has not been straightforward. Filming of the desert scenes in Dubai was set back when a clumsy crane operator dropped and wrecked the £20,000 vintage bus while unloading it from a ship. The tight filming schedule, caused by Tennant's stint as Hamlet at the Royal Shakespeare Company, has also caused problems. In fact, the episode was still being finished this week, with a planned press launch being cancelled.
Anyway, we're sure they'll come up trumps. While Doctor Who purists can get a bit sniffy about the holiday specials, this promises to be an entertaining romp with the usual selection of oohs, aahs and eeks. The remaining three specials, culminating in the triumphant return of Bernard Cribbins and the Doctor's regeneration as Matt Smith, will be screened later in the year.
by Tom Murphy, Thursday 9 April 2009
