BuzzFeed: "Peter Capaldi Named As The New Star Of Doctor Who"

Yep, it's true. After much speculation, BBC has finally named Number Twelve. Peter Capaldi will take over as as the Doctor from Matt Smith, who will depart the role in this year’s Christmas Special.

At BuzzFeed, you can read my latest post, "Peter Capaldi Named As The New Star Of Doctor Who," about the casting of Peter Capaldi as Number Twelve.

The TARDIS is getting a new inhabitant in the form of 55-year-old veteran actor Peter Capaldi.
After weeks of speculation (and much interest from London bookies), BBC finally announced on Sunday just who will be taking over as the Time Lord at the center of long-running British science fiction drama Doctor Who once current series star Matt Smith leaves in December’s Christmas Special.

“The decision is made and the time has come to reveal who’s taking over the TARDIS,” executive producer and head writer Steven Moffat had teased ahead of the broadcast. “For the last of the Time Lords, the clock is striking twelve.”
The news of Capaldi being cast as the Doctor was announced on a live BBC One special, Doctor Who Live: The Next Doctor, which lifted the shroud of secrecy surrounding the highly anticipated casting news. The live special featured live and pre-recorded appearances from Smith, Peter Davison (the Fifth Doctor), and Colin Baker (the Sixth Doctor), as well as Bernard Cribbins and former companions Katy Manning (Jo Grant), Anneke Wills (Polly), Janet Fielding (Tegan), and Bonnie Langford (Mel). Asked for three words to describe the new Doctor, Moffat said, “Different from Matt.”

Capaldi is most definitely different to Smith — at least in age, as like Smith, he’s male and white. (For those hoping that the Doctor would regenerate into a woman, you’ll have to wait. It won’t be happening on Moffat’s watch, as he oddly made a joke about it not happening anytime soon.)

Capaldi walked out on stage (during what appeared to be a Time Tunnel-like laser light show) to much fanfare from the audience. “It’s so wonderful to not keep this secret any longer, but it has been absolutely fantastic in its own way,” said Capaldi. “So many wonderful things have happened. For a long time, I couldn’t tell my daughter, who would be looking on the internet and seeing that so-so should be Doctor Who and so-so should be Doctor Who and they never mentioned me.”

As for preparing for the role, Capaldi said that it was a bit of a challenge, though he has been a huge fan of the Time Lord for most of his life.

“It was quite hard because, even though I’m a lifelong Doctor Who fan, I haven’t played the Doctor since I was nine on the playground,” joked Capaldi, who said that he missed the call from his agent with the news of his casting (he was filming BBC’s Three Musketeers in Prague). “She rang me up and said, ‘Hello, Doctor!’ and I just started laughing and I’ve been laughing ever since.”

Continue reading at BuzzFeed...

BuzzFeed: "The Doctor Is In: Matt Smith On Leaving Doctor Who, A Female Doctor, And More"

The 30-year-old actor will depart cult British sci-fi drama Doctor Who after this year’s Christmas Special. Here's what he told BuzzFeed about his decision to leave, the possibility of a female Doctor, stealing socks, and more.

At BuzzFeed, you can read my latest story, "The Doctor Is In: Matt Smith On Leaving Doctor Who, A Female Doctor, And More," in which I sit down with Doctor Who star Matt Smith to discuss his decision to leave the British science fiction drama, the possibility of a female Doctor, and what's next for him.

Matt Smith is wearing bright turquoise socks. The 30-year-old star of Doctor Who is lolling around on a leather couch deep within the cavernous confines of the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles, a day before he’s set to appear on a panel celebrating the 50th anniversary of the British science fiction drama at the Television Critics Association summer press tour.

When I draw attention to his socks (they coincidentally match the shirt I’m wearing), Smith proudly draws up his trouser leg to take a closer look. “They’re a similar color to your shirt!” he says, enthusiastically in a fashion not unlike the Doctor himself. “I always steal a pair of socks on every photo shoot I do.” He pauses. “It’s my thing.”

Smith looks drastically different from his on-screen persona as the Doctor, having transformed himself to play a tough guy in Ryan Gosling’s directorial debut, How to Catch a Monster, which will be Smith’s first appearance after he wraps up his tenure on Doctor Who later this year. There’s the 50th anniversary special airing November 23rd (on BBC One in the U.K. and BBC America in the U.S.) and then the Christmas Special, where the Doctor will regenerate into… Well, who knows who he’ll become yet? Neither Smith nor executive producer Steven Moffat are giving us any clues about which actor (or actress?) might step into the role and play Number Twelve. What follows is an edited transcript of the conversation between Smith and BuzzFeed.

How liberating is it to leave behind that Doctor Who coif and the bowties?

MS: I’ve got to be honest, it is quite liberating. Although I’m putting Miracle-Gro on it because I need to get it back for September to go and shoot the regeneration [scene]. But it is freeing, shaving it off. Walking round at Comic-Con, people didn’t recognize me as much. Just generally, people recognize me much less, and that’s quite nice as well, because you can be more anonymous.

It helps when you’re walking around Comic-Con wearing a Bart Simpson mask. Was that surreal, walking around surrounded by some of your biggest fans?

MS: I went up to the BBC America booth and I tried to talk to people, but I put on an American accent. I was like, “Hey, how’s it going, man? I like your TARDIS thing,” and whatever and no one wanted to talk to me! There was one girl in particular who had a backpack on with Tom Baker-y straps like a scarf. And I was really trying to talk to her and she was just not interested.

At what point did you know that it was time to move on from Doctor Who?

MS: It’s something that I was considering for a while. It’s one of those jobs where there’s never a right time, because part of you just wants to do it forever. It’s such wonderful storytelling and it’s the most wonderful character and it’s the most wonderful cast and crew, and so much about it is right. I think you have to keep challenging yourself and keep challenging the show. For the show, it’s the right time and it will re-galvanize it. The show will get bigger and better, and I’ll become a fan and look back on my time and just go, “I’ve had the most wonderful journey.”
What was the conversation like that you had with Steven Moffat about your decision?
MS: To be honest with you, it’s, that’s something that I’d like to keep private, because it’s a private conversation and Steven is a dear friend of mine. It was something that we talked about a while ago as well, in rough terms. In my head I just knew that, after the 50th anniversary, I’d look at retiring the bow tie, as it were.

But Steven was supportive, I imagine.

MS: Yeah, yeah, he was. But obviously as well, it’s one of those things. It wasn’t easy for both of us because we’ve worked together for three years, and creatively and personally, we’re close. Part of me would have liked to have continued and finished the journey with him, but also, for me, I just felt like it was time for a change of lifestyle.

Continue reading at BuzzFeed...

The Daily Beast: "Five Facts About the New Doctor Who Companion, Jenna-Louise Coleman"

Her two previous Doctor Who characters all look alike... and they've all died. Jace Lacob rounds up five facts about new Doctor Who companion Jenna-Louise Coleman.

At The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "Five Facts About the New Doctor Who Companion, Jenna-Louise Coleman," in which I round up five facts about the new Doctor Who companion, Jenna-Louise Coleman, who joins Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor when the show returns to BBC America and BBC One on March 30.

Clara... who?

The Doctor—the centuries old time-traveler whose 11th incarnation is played by Matt Smith—has had his fair share of companions over the last 50 years, but the Time Lord is about to get yet another in the form of 26-year-old British actress Jenna-Louise Coleman, who steps into the TARDIS officially when Doctor Who's seventh season returns for its back half on March 30.

Coleman has turned up on Doctor Who twice already in the past year, playing very different characters with the same appearance and a similar name. There she is in "Asylum of the Daleks" as Oswin Oswald, the starship Alaska's junior entertainment manager whose soul is trapped in the body of a souffle-loving killing machine. There she is again as Clara Oswin Oswald in 2012's Christmas Special, "The Snowmen," playing a 19th century governess who gets caught up in one of the Doctor's plots. (It involves killer snow, memories, Richard E. Grant, and the disembodied voice of Sir Ian McKellen. Don't ask.)

Coleman's characters have a tendency to die, but the last sighting of Coleman—wandering around the graveyard where her 19th century doppelganger is bured in the 21st century—points towards an undeniable truth: they are all, somehow, the same woman, echoing across time and space.

Coleman is no stranger to television, even if American audiences aren't that familiar with the actress, who has appeared in ITV/ABC's Titanic miniseries (written by Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes), Captain America: The First Avenger, and Stephen Poliakoff's Jazz Age period drama Dancing on the Edge. But for those who want to know more about the actress who is taking over as the Doctor's official companion, a role last played Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill's Amy and Rory, below are five facts about Jenna-Louise Coleman.

1. One of her first television roles was on the long-running British soap Emmerdale, where she played Jasmine, one half of the show's "groundbreakingly ‘normal’ lesbian couple," alternately a troubled student, barmaid, and journalist. And a murderer, as it turns out. The character was written off the show when Jasmine was sent to prison for manslaughter after she bludgeoned her would-be rapist to death with a chair leg and then dumped the body in a lake. "As a first job I'm grateful for it," she told The Guardian earlier this year. "Though by the end I was quite restless. It was a brilliant experience. But I was ready to leave when I did."

Continue reading at The Daily Beast...

The Daily Beast: "Alex Kingston's Journey Through Time"

Alex Kingston reprises her role as River Song in Saturday’s Doctor Who and travels back in time for the new season of Upstairs Downstairs. I talk to the former ER star about River, Downton Abbey, historical lesbians, and more.

Over at The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "Alex Kingston's Journey Through Time," in which I talk to Kingston about Doctor Who and "The Angels Take Manhattan," Upstairs Downstairs (which returns to PBS' Masterpiece on Oct. 7), Downton Abbey, River Song, historical lesbians, and more.

Upstairs Downstairs isn’t typically known for its salaciousness.

The costume drama’s legendary original run—between 1971 and 1975 on ITV—kept the characters’ sexuality more or less off-screen, but the recent BBC revival series, which returns to PBS’ Masterpiece on Oct. 7, has taken a more overt approach to human sexuality than its predecessor, with one character—Claire Foy’s Lady Persephone—painted as a notorious Nazi sympathizer and professional party girl who hops into bed with just about anyone.

Season 2 of Upstairs Downstairs introduces a lesbian to the staid 165 Eaton Place of 1936 in the form of Alex Kingston’s Dr. Blanche Mottershead, an archaeologist and resolutely modern woman whose romantic past is tinged with bittersweet loss. When her former lover, Lady Portia Alresford (Emilia Fox), now married with children, writes a steamy roman a clef about their time together, Kingston’s Blanche is exposed and 165 Eaton Place is once again plunged into scandal.

“She will shake up the equilibrium in the house a little bit,” Kingston told The Daily Beast. “And by the end of the series, she has done just that.”

For Kingston—who starred on medical drama ER for seven years and who reprises her recurring role on Doctor Who this Saturday—it was Blanche’s sexuality that lured her to the project.

“That more than anything hooked me because I thought it would be quite interesting to play,” said Kingston, 49. “In a curious way, it was almost easier for women to be physical with other women then, because men and society didn’t take it seriously ... It was thought of as a little dalliance that didn’t mean anything. It wasn’t exactly a threat to the patriarchy and to the world that men had created ... or as much as a societal threat that it became later, actually.”

The series doesn’t shy away from depicting the romance between the two women, showing them embracing and in bed together, as well as in several sexually charged scenes. (It led the Daily Mail to write, as a headline, “Pass the smelling salts, Hudson! The lesbian bedroom scenes that would NEVER have appeared in the original Upstairs Downstairs.”) Kingston’s Blanche is positioned as a whiskey-drinking free thinker whose career choice—looking at the relics of the past—is juxtaposed with her view toward the future. It’s no accident that she appears in the series just as the world teeters on the brink of World War II.

“The Second World War radically changed how society live, what family meant, and what women’s roles were,” Kingston said. “Blanche is right on the cusp of all of that. She had created a career for herself, as an archaeologist sought out by the British Museum for her expertise ... in comparison to Lady Agnes [Keeley Hawes], who really didn’t know who she was or what her function was, other than looking rather beautiful in the house and producing babies for her husband. Blanche is not prepared to be that woman.”

Continue reading at The Daily Beast...

More from Moffat: Outtakes From My Interview with Doctor Who Showrunner Steven Moffat

Yesterday, over at The Daily Beast, I ran my interview with Doctor Who head writer Steven Moffat, in which we discussed the shocking identity of River Song (Alex Kingston), criticisms of “bad girl” companion Amy Pond (Karen Gillan), the tenture of Moffat and series lead Matt Smith, and we dispelled quite a few (false) rumors about Season Seven along way.

Not everything from the time I spent with Moffat made it into that interview, so below you'll find some of the outtakes that were cut for length from The Daily Beast Q&A with Moffat.

Among the topics: whether we'll see Torchwood's Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) in the TARDIS anytime soon (and why River is, in some ways, a replacement for Jack), why Moffat seems to relish killing Rory (Arthur Darvill) over and over again, why Season Six was split into two halves for broadcast, how dark the second half of the season gets, and a brief discussion of Doctor Who's episodic budget.

The Daily Beast: What went into the decision to split the current sixth season into two halves?

Steven Moffat: We got in the heart of summer, and in the second half it tends to get slaughtered a bit. Not in the ratings, just aesthetically: you can hardly see your television set for the sunlight streaming onto it. Also, it just gives you another event. Our ratings went up for “A Good Man Goes to War,” it became an event episode, it got a Radio Times cover, it got a lot of fuss and attention paid to it. That would normally have been the mid-series dip, where we bottomed out and then started climbing a bit… And now we’re going to have another big launch for “Let’s Kill Hitler.” Why do it all at once? We make enough episodes to have two bites of the cherry, so why not do it?

The Daily Beast: How dark are these upcoming episodes?

Moffat: We’ve got quite a range. Tom MacRae’s is very dark, Toby [Whithouse]’s is very dark, Mark Gatiss’ is very dark. On the other hand, “Let’s Kill Hitler” is an absolute hoot. And the same time, it’s got to be moving as well. We’ve got six excellent episodes coming up and you run the full gamut from dark to hilarious and some of the maddest stuff we’ve ever done, and that’s Matt Smith, the comedy Doctor.

The Daily Beast: Any chance of a Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) appearance down the line?

Moffat: Not in these next episodes... People talk as if there’s a rule against it. There isn’t. It comes down to one thing: do we have a good story? He’s obviously a resource. Russell [T Davies] said there’s an extent to which River has taken his place: she’s the cheeky, flirtatious one, but I was the first person ever to write Jack. I love the character. If there was a good story, he would come in. We would have to say, why him and not River? But yeah.

The Daily Beast: She does inherit Jack’s leftover blaster gun, after all.

Moffat: That was in my head and that gun must have ended up in the TARDIS, logically. That must be what it is: she just found it in a trunk and stuck in in her [pocket] on some night, doing who knows what.

The Daily Beast: Do you relish killing Rory off time and time again?

Moffat: The truth is he’s only been killed once and that has pointed out the other times that that has happened. What actually happened was we had two consecutive stories where it happened and I couldn’t make the scene work in “Amy’s Choice,” so I brought that in order to make that work. The Doctor’s companions are always on the verge of death. But we do pay it off, having found ourselves in that situation that wasn’t planned, we do pay it off.

The Daily Beast: There is a sense of responsibility in dealing with the franchise. It is an iconic series, an iconic character—

Moffat: There’s no shame in saying that it’s a brand, that it’s a franchise. Brands and franchises employ a lot of people and bring joy to a lot of other people… Running it is a responsibility and a joy and a thrill and a learning curve bar none. There isn’t any other job that teaches you what you learn here. Doctor Who should be kept going forever just on the basis that every so often it will manufacture a fully-fledged showrunner and a fully-fledged star.

The Daily Beast: How much is a typical episodic budget?

Moffat: £1 million-something, which isn’t really much when you consider that we have extensive guest cast, standing sets that we barely use, and you can’t really go to Venus. I never really think about the numbers, but I know you’ve got three too many sets there. It’s an alien species, but if we have more than three of them in prosthetics, we’re screwed.

Doctor Who returns Saturday, August 27th for the second half of Season Six, kicking off with "Let's Kill Hitler," at 9 pm ET/PT on BBC America and at 7:10 pm GMT on BBC One.

The Daily Beast: "Doctor Who’s Global Takeover" (Interview with Steven Moffat)

Once a cult series, British sci-fi drama Doctor Who has become a global phenomenon, and new audiences are embracing the 900-year-old alien time traveler--now played by roughly 29-year-old Matt Smith--with alarming passion. (Witness the rock-star welcome Smith and co-star Karen Gillan got at July’s Comic-Con.) Doctor Who, under head writer Steven Moffat, who replaced Russell T. Davies last season, returns for the second half of its sixth season in the U.S. and the U.K. on Saturday.

Over at The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "Doctor Who’s Global Takeover," in which I sit down with Moffat in Los Angeles to discuss the shocking identity of River Song (Alex Kingston), criticisms of “bad girl” companion Amy Pond (Gillan), and rumors about next season.

Doctor Who returns Saturday, August 27th for the second half of Season Six, kicking off with "Let's Kill Hitler," at 9 pm ET/PT on BBC America and at 7:10 pm GMT on BBC One.

Dispatches from San Diego: Comic-Con 2011 TV Guide Panel

I'm not in San Diego for this year's Comic-Con (marking the first year in about six that I haven't traveled south for the annual pop culture confab) for a number of reasons. However, Televisionary correspondent Lissette Lira was on the scene to offer her report on Thursday's TV Guide panel as well as some photos from the fan-favorites sessions.

* * *

All in all the TV Guide panel was a bit of a mixed bag. While it was great fun seeing such an eclectic group of stars share the stage together, there were so many participants that everyone wound up getting a bit short-changed in the process.

Nonetheless, there were still a few memorable highlights, including Zach Levi passionately voicing his agreement with a fan about the need for the TV ratings system to be changed. Levi vowed to write more about the subject on the website Nerd HQ which he was promoting with his baseball cap. Levi also spoke about his hope that CHUCK fans will be happy with the show's finale.

At this point LOST's Jorge Garcia (soon to be seen on Fox's upcoming ALCATRAZ series) jumped into the conversation and advised him to avoid an ending in which the characters all turned out to be dead because, "the fans will never stop telling you how much they loved the series, but HATED the ending!"

In addition, DOCTOR WHO's Matt Smith offered a few details about the show's eventual return, noting that the Doctor will be wearing a new coat when we next see him in "Let's Kill Hitler" which he described as "a fantastic episode."

Smith also fielded a number of questions from audience members including one as to whether we might be seeing Captain Jack Harkness (played by John Barrowman) return to DOCTOR WHO at some point. Smith answered "John is always welcome back." Smith went on to say that with the 50th anniversary of DOCTOR WHO coming up in 2013 there has even been talk of other Doctors possibly coming back.

[Photos from the session follow after the jump...]

Death Takes a (Long) Holiday: Thoughts on Starz's Torchwood: Miracle Day

When we last saw Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles) and Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman), they had managed to save the world from a menacing alien incursion that threatened to harvest the world's child population. While Team Torchwood managed to save the day, it came once more at a heavy price: the loss of team member Ianto, the sacrifice of Jack's own grandson, and the discovery that Gwen herself was pregnant. Jack took off for the stars, while Gwen went into hiding.

Pyrrhic victories are something of Torchwood's stock-in-trade, really. The spinoff of Doctor Who, which originally launched in 2006 on BBC Three (and on BBC America here in the States), is far less sunny than its predecessor, more concerned with the darkness of both the extraterrestrial threats to the planet and to that inside its alien hunters. This is a series that revolves around some inherently flawed, damaged individuals who are constantly forced to make some tough choices. It naturally then inhabits the grey moral area where The Doctor himself would often fear to tread.

No stranger to change (it's been broadcast on no less than three different networks in the United Kingdom over the course of its run, Torchwood undergoes yet another transformation tonight as Starz launches its fourth season under the tagline of Torchwood: Miracle Day, a co-production between the pay cabler, BBC Worldwide Productions, and BBC One. With American currency comes some American presence as well: Barrowman and Myles (along with Kai Owen, who reprises his role as Gwen's husband Rhys) are now joined by a slew of Yanks as the latest threat being investigated by the fractured Torchwood Institute is global in nature. (More on that in a bit.) Thus, the action slingshots from Wales to Washington D.C.; and from Los Angeles to Shanghai; the budget is significantly larger than anything Torchwood has seen to date (look for a helicopter battle in Episode One to see what I mean); and there's a broader canvas as well. While Torchwood: Children of Earth presented a threat to the planet, Miracle Day actually carries it out, as the entire world changes overnight and Death itself is seeming vanquished.

When I sat down with Russell T. Davies a few weeks ago (which you can read more about here in my Torchwood set visit/interview piece), we discussed the notion that Torchwood didn't deal in metaphor, that it was instead presenting a science fiction story set in the real world. That definitely seems to be the case with Miracle Day, which for all of its talk of global consequences, focuses on the street level reaction to the so-called "miracle." That miracle is itself more of a curse than a blessing: a world without death is not a good place. After the initial jubilation at the thought of endless life, reality soon sets in: there aren't enough resources on the planet to sustain this continuum; endless life also means endless pain for those who should die from their injuries or conditions; and someone--or something--is pulling the planet's strings in order to pull off a sleight-of-hand illusion of this magnitude.

Which brings us to the central mystery of Torchwood: Miracle Day as Jack and Gwen and their newfound comperes--including Mekhi Phifer's Rex, Alexa Havin's Esther, and Arlene Tur's Vera--attempt to unravel the puzzle of who or what is behind this global phenomenon, as the world soon slips into absolute chaos. (Intriguingly, there are also personal costs involved: immortal time traveler Jack Harkness is suddenly very mortal, even as everyone else on the planet is seemingly immortal. Interesting, that.) There's a pharmaceutical company which appears to have had foreknowledge of the advent of the miracle, government agents within the CIA and other organizations with their own agenda, and a whip-smart public relations executive, Lauren Ambrose's deeply mercenary Jilly Kitzinger, who is using the global event as a springboard to power.

How these various entities connect, as well as to Bill Pullman's unrepentant child killer-turned-media darling Oswald Danes, remains a mystery throughout Torchwood: Miracle Day, which keeps the wraps on the architect of its global event as various factions collide, repel, and come together in order to investigate the cause of the miracle itself. Children of Earth, while it kept the 4-5-6 in the shadows, was upfront about the extraterrestrial presence in the plot. Here, it's entirely oblique: there are no aliens front and center and many of the villains we encounter are painfully, woefully all too human. As the cost of a world without death mounts, we see the thin veneer of civilization slip away as humanity turns on itself. There is a brutally shocking moment in the gripping fifth episode--written by Jane Espenson--that sums this up entirely (which I won't spoil here) and shows just how fragile our society can be when it's pushed past its breaking point.

But that's the thematic arc, really. In terms of the nitty-gritty, Torchwood: Miracle Day is also about getting the band back together, in a way. Or at the very least, forming a new one. There's very little of Jack in the first installment as the pieces fall into place, and it takes five episodes for the team to get up and running again. But there's plenty of Gwen Cooper to go around. Myles and Barrowman are both at the top of their game and there's a sense of excitement in seeing their characters reunite once more; both manage to make it all seem very effortless. There's an ease to their on-screen rapport and to the sense of camaraderie and shared loss that they inhabit. We can't help but fall in love with both of them time and again.

The rest of the cast, however, is a bit of a mixed bag. Phifer's Rex Matheson is meant to be an arrogant, dashing CIA agent with a gruff and take-charge demeanor, but I found it very difficult to find him sympathetic as a character. Gruff, yes, but he lacked the sort of compelling charisma necessary to make Rex an engaging character; likewise, Havins seems too shaky at times. Yes, she's meant to be the naive ingenue sucked into this global conspiracy, but she seemed to be far too sunny and calm, as though she were in an entirely different show altogether. (A subplot involving her sister and nieces, which materializes a few episodes into the season, doesn't add any gravitas to her character. It's meant to give her some shading but it feels unnecessary and out of place as well, an odd misstep as Torchwood has often given its operatives outside familial issues to bounce off of, but I also found Episode Four, as a whole, to be weakest installment of the season to date.)

On the other end of the spectrum, Dollhouse's Dichen Lachman steals the scene when she appears a few episodes in as a steely espionage agent, and I cannot say enough positive things about the remarkable turns from Pullman and Ambrose. With Oswald Danes, Pullman is virtually unrecognizable from his earlier roles as he gracefully inhabits the part of a murderous pedophile who is compelled to become a celebrity out of a need to survive. His is the death that kickstarts the miracle, his death by lethal injection thwarted when the miracle hits. He's a true scavenger and survivor in every sense of the word, a man who knows his next meal may be his last and who looks to use the conspiracy as leverage to a new life.

Ambrose's Jilly remains one of the most tantalizing figures within Miracle Day, a publicity professional with an uncanny knack of being in precisely the right place at the right time. Whether she'll ultimately choose to side with the angels remains to be seen, even as she's caught up in events far larger than herself. And Arlene Tur is sensational as Dr. Vera Juarez, a doctor with links to Rex and to the emerging New World Order in the post-Miracle Day landscape. Tur is riveting to watch and a most welcome addition to the Torchwood canon.

For those wondering whether omnisexual Jack would retain his sexual voracity, fret not: his sexual orientation hasn't been changed for the fourth season and Starz makes good use out of its pay cable status with a storyline in the third episode that's sexually charged, to put it mildly. So too does Wales remain very much in the picture, despite the fact that Gwen leaves her Welsh hideaway to meet up with Jack and the others. Her familial plotline--now that she's the mother of little Anwen--remains compelling on a number of levels, exploring the lure of Torchwood as it relates to Gwen's identity as mother, wife, and daughter.

Ultimately, there are a few missteps along the way, but Torchwood: Miracle Day is also compelling event television, a heady blend of science fiction tension and philosophical debate that manages to feel momentous and thought-provoking in equal measure. While the ten-episode structure negates some of the driving momentum of Children of Earth (there are, inherently, some lulls), Torchwood: Miracle Day contains the show's trademark blend of action, humor, sex, and violence. But it's the sight of Jack and Gwen, together again on-screen at last, that brings a smile to my face, even as I can't shake the horror that's unfolding around them.

Torchwood: Miracle Day begins tonight at 10 pm ET/PT on Starz.

The Daily Beast: "Torchwood Heads to America"

With Torchwood: Miracle Day, the British cult sci-fi drama travels across the pond to investigate a global conspiracy.

Over at The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "Torchwood Heads to America," in which I visit the Los Angeles set of the BBC/Starz series (a spinoff of the venerable British science fiction drama Doctor Who), which premieres July 8 in the U.S., and sit down for breakfast with creator Russell T. Davies.

Plus, allow Russell T. Davies to bring you up to speed on who’s who in among Torchwood: Miracle Day's cast of characters.

Torchwood: Miracle Day begins Friday, July 8th at 10 pm ET/PT on Starz.

Cowboys and Aliens: An Advance Review of Season Six of Doctor Who

"I wear a Stetson now. Stetsons are cool."

Let's be upfront about one thing, shall we? While Doctor Who is often thought of as children's entertainment, the long-running and formidable science fiction program is anything but child-like. Yes, the show airs in a decidedly pre-watershed hour in the United Kingdom and, yes, the current Doctor, Matt Smith, has his face emblazoned on everything from sheets to trading cards, but under the aegis of head writer/executive producer Steven Moffat, Season Six of Doctor Who feels quite adult in the best possible sense.

If there's a word to describe the first two episodes of Season Six, which kicks off with an astonishing and taut two-parter ("The Impossible Astronaut" and "Day of the Moon"), it's dark. If there was another, it would be trippy. This is Doctor Who at its mind-bending best, a mix of alien invasion intrigue, self-examination, and bizarro twists that unfurl themselves with insidious menace.

Moffat seems to relish the opportunity to push the already malleable boundaries of the venerable franchise, delivering a gripping plot that picks up several dangling plot threads from last season and from the ongoing subplot revolving around the mysterious identity of the even more enigmatic River Song (Alex Kingston), who Moffat introduced in his Season Four two-parter "Silence in the Library" and "Forest of the Dead." The true identity of Doctor Song lurks intriguingly underneath the surface of these two new installments, just out of reach of both the viewer and the Doctor himself.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Season Six picks up a few months after the whirlwind ending of Season Five, in which the Doctor's companions, plucky Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) and vigilant Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill) tied the knot. Here, we see them in post-honeymoon domestic bliss, though each yearns for adventure in their own way. Enter the Doctor, the Time Lord with the unerring sense of wanderlust, just the thing to snap them back out of their quotidian reality... and a summons that brings them all together again.

Smith is once more at his very best, delivering a portrayal of the Doctor that's nuanced and fluid, an embodiment of quicksilver. Kingston, well, sings as the provocative and close-lipped River Song, combining a gleeful exuberance with a tragic dimension: she and the Doctor are on opposite trajectories, meeting once more in the middle. (Whatever their relationship, it's utterly heartbreaking.) Gillan is carefree and down-to-earth yet ethereal at the same time; her Amy Pond is strong, funny, and sexy. And Darvill's Rory remains tantalizingly out of touch with reality: he's landed the girl of his dreams but can't let go of his jealousy over her friendship with the Time Lord. Together, our neat little quartet of time-tossed adventurers make for an engaging set of travelers, each carting their own hefty baggage.

Much of these first two episodes were shot on location in America and the production makes great use out of the splendor and vastness of the Utah desert, as the Doctor and his three companions investigate some mysterious goings on that are tied to the United States space program of 1969. One giant leap for mankind and all that. But the mystery they're exploring involves a terrifying masked astronaut whose arrival on the idyllic picnic scene the TARDIS crew have created turns to chaos, the much-whispered mystery of the Silence, River Song, numbered blue envelopes, creepy Oval Office telephone calls, President Richard Nixon (Jonathan Creek's Stuart Milligan), and more than a few space-time paradoxes. And, oh, did I mention the always great Mark Sheppard(Firefly) guest-stars as ex-FBI agent Canton Delaware? (He'll share the role with William Morgan Sheppard; both have their secrets.)

(As for the Silence, I can't say much about them/it, but I will say that the Weeping Angels, who first appear in Moffat's "Blink," have some competition for creepiest Who villains as the plot begins to unfold here. They made the hair on the back of my neck stand straight up. As for the astronaut of the title, you'll have to see it to believe it...)

While "The Impossible Astronaut" sets up the direction for the season and creates an engaging plot, it's the heartbreaking and sensational second episode, "Day of the Moon," which kicks the storyline into first gear, a somber and electrifying installment that is almost dream-like in its intensity, a nightmare borne from the mind of Moffat that infects each of us in turn, uncoiling its snake-like heads to bite us when we least expect it. The companions are pushed past their breaking point and the chase that follows is as gripping as it is jaw-dropping. (You'll see what I mean, but it all comes together, I promise.)

Moffat's Doctor Who has humor, heart, and horror in equal quantity and that's keenly felt here, as the stakes are raised immeasurably within the first few minutes of the season opener. While there's the sense of joy at seeing the Doctor, Amy, Rory, and River unite, there's also an elegiac quality as well; change is afoot for all of them and their companionship is interrupted by deep tension between the travelers. Secrets have a nasty way of driving a wedge between people and dark, dark secrets can threaten to shatter the circle of friendship here. That is, when they're not being pursued by the forces of Earth and beyond, encircled and defeated at their darkest hour yet.

These are terrific episodes of discovery, imprisonment, and flight, as the Doctor and his trusted companions learn several shocking truths about the planet and themselves, and we're left to pick up the pieces, to strive to understand just what is going on here, to unlock the puzzle that Moffat and Co. have created. The result is surreal and haunting, a mind-game of the highest order that remains tantalizingly unresolved at the end of the second episode. We're seeing Moffat launch his season-long arc from the start with this gripping two-parter and the questions that linger are intensely nerve-jangling.

In fact, one can imagine quite a few viewers needing a doctor of their own when all is said and done... Fez definitely not included.



Season Six of Doctor Who begins this Saturday evening on BBC America and BBC One.

New Doctor Who Trailer: "Have You Ever Looked in a Mirror?"

With the return of Doctor Who just a few weeks away now (three, if you're counting!), BBC America has released its first trailer for the new season, which sits comfortably beside the creepy one that Auntie Beeb released the other day.

Below, you can catch the BBC America trailer, which plays up the Utah desert and White House/Oval Office settings of the upcoming season, which finds the Doctor (Matt Smith), Amy (Karen Gillan), and Rory (Arthur Darvill) heading to the United States. (And, yes, elements were shot on location in Utah.)

This trailer plays up the cowboys, River Song ("hello, sweetie"), gunplay (both Western and futuristic), suspicious Secret Service agents, fast-plunging elevators, big explosions, Marc Shepherd, elegant skyscrapers, and, um, skeletons?



Season Six of Doctor Who premieres April 23rd on BBC America and BBC One.

New Doctor Who Trailer: "The Doctor's Darkest Hour"

"This is the day he finds out who I am..." - River Song

Auntie Beeb has released the first full trailer for Season Six of Doctor Who, starring Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, Arthur Darvill, and the incomparable Alex Kingston, who plays River Song, the Doctor's... well, we'll be finding out this season.

Below, you can catch the full trailer, which looks absolutely bloody brilliant and features clowns, astronauts, a kiss from River Song, the Utah desert, explosions, pirate ships, Hugh Bonneville, puppets, peepholes, and who knows what else...



What do you think of the trailer? How excited are you for the return of The Doctor? Head to the comments section to discuss.

Season Six of Doctor Who premieres April 23rd on BBC One and BBC America.

VIDEO: Doctor Who Prequel: "There Are No Monsters in the Oval Office"

Season Six of Doctor Who might not kick off until next month, but Auntie Beeb is offering a sneak peek at the first episode ("The Impossible Astronaut"), written by head writer/executive producer Steven Moffat, with the first of three prequel clips heading your way in the next few weeks.

You can view the first prequel clip below, which depicts U.S. President Richard Nixon receiving a rather eerie phone call while he's seated in the White House's Oval Office, a message that urges him to "look behind" him, even as he claims that "there are no monsters in the Oval Office."

We'll see about that...

Check out the prequel clip below and be sure to catch the start of Doctor Who's sixth season in April.



Season Six of Doctor Who begins Saturday, April 23rd at 9 pm ET/PT on BBC America.

Doctor Who: "Space" and "Time" (Red Nose Day 2011)

"This is how it ends... Pond flirting with herself."

While Doctor Who doesn't officially return until next month, BBC One has given us a little glimpse of the Doctor (Matt Smith), Amy Pond (Karen Gillan), and Rory (Arthur Darville) in Steven Moffat's Red Nose Day mini-episodes, "Space" and "Time," which can be viewed below.

Hoping to sneak a peek at Amy Pond flirting with herself, the TARDIS materializing inside itself, and a gag about a skirt, a driver's test, and a glass floor? You've come to the right place. Allon-y!

"Space"



"Time



Season Six of Doctor Who begins with "The Impossible Astronaut" on April 23rd on BBC One and BBC America.

The Daily Beast: "15 Reasons to Watch TV This Spring"

Yes, spring is finally here (or thereabouts, anyway), and that brings warmer weather and, very fortunately, a slew of new and returning television series.

Over at The Daily Beast, you can check out my latest feature, "15 Reasons to Watch TV This Spring," which includes a look at such series as Mildred Pierce, Game of Thrones, The Borgias, The Kennedys, Camelot, The Killing, Body of Proof, Upstairs Downstairs, and returning series such as Nurse Jackie, The United States of Tara, Treme, Doctor Who, Top Chef: Masters, Secret Diary of a Call Girl and the NBC premiere of the final season of Friday Night Lights.

What are you most excited about that arrives on the airwaves between now and May? Head to the comments section to discuss.

VIDEO: Doctor Who Opening Credits, Buffy Style

Buffy the Vampire Slayer might be long gone (sadly) and Doctor Who doesn't return for a few more weeks (darn!), but that doesn't mean that you can't smush the two together into something as fun as a jaunty bow-tie.

In this case, this means mashing the familiar opening credit sequence of Buffy with the visuals of the Matt Smith-era Doctor and his companion Amy Pond (Karen Gillan), with a special appearance by Alex Kingston as River Song, of course.

You can watch this lovingly crafted homage to both Buffy and Doctor Who below.



Season Six of Doctor Who kicks off on April 23rd on BBC America.

Top 10 Nontraditional Holiday TV Episodes

Happy Festivus, everyone!

To celebrate today (in addition to the feats of strength and airing of grievances), I rounded up the top 10 nontraditional Holiday television episodes over at The Daily Beast, from Community and Seinfeld to Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Doctor Who. (And, yes, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's direct-to-DVD special--which just aired on FX for the first time this month--made the list, naturally.)

An aside, I could have filled the entire list with just British television shows, from The Vicar of Dibley and Doctor Who (which both made the list) to Gavin & Stacey, Blackadder, Catherine Tate, Absolutely Fabulous, and about a zillion others.

But I am curious to know: what is your favorite nontraditional holiday episode/special? Putting aside the traditional Rudolph and Charlie Brown Christmas, what are some of the more out there holiday episodes or specials that add that extra spike to the eggnog?

Or make that Festivus aluminum pole shine a little more, anyway?

Deck the TARDIS: Doctor Who Christmas Special Comes to BBC America on Christmas Day

It seems as though Doctor Who fans in the States are definitely on the nice list.

BBC America has today announced that the latest Doctor Who Christmas Special--entitled "A Christmas Carol"--will air on Saturday, December 25th at 9 pm ET/PT. In other words, on Christmas Day itself, a first for the British sci-fi series.

The Dickens-inspired installment, written by head writer/executive producer Steven Moffat, is described by BBC America thusly: "Newlyweds Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) and Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill) are joined by Harry Potter’s Michael Gambon and Opera diva Katherine Jenkins, for what may be the Doctor’s most Christmassy adventure yet."

“Oh, we're going for broke with this one," said Moffat in an official statement. "It's all your favorite Christmas movies at once, in an hour, with monsters. And the Doctor. And a honeymoon. And ... oh, you'll see. I've honestly never been so excited about writing anything. I was laughing madly as I typed along to Christmas songs in April. My neighbors loved it so much they all moved away and set up a website demanding my execution. But I'm fairly sure they did it ironically.”

The next season of Who meanwhile, will make its way to the airwaves in Spring 2011 as Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, Arthur Darvill, Alex Kingston (reprising her role as River Song), and Mark Sheppard shoot the two-part premiere in Utah.

Meanwhile, the channel will air a Doctor Who marathon beginning December 24th at midnight, featuring a slew of favorite episodes, Christmas specials, and the US premiere of Doctor Who at the Proms, all leading up to the launch of Doctor Who: A Christmas Carol.

The full press release from BBC America can be found below.

BBC AMERICA TO PREMIERE DOCTOR WHO SPECIAL ON CHRISTMAS DAY
Harry Potter’s Michael Gambon Guest Stars in the Holiday-Themed Adventure
Following Matt Smith’s appearance on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on Tuesday November 16, BBC AMERICA announces that the new Doctor Who Christmas Special will premiere in the U.S. for the first time on Christmas Day. The festive Dickens-inspired adventure, A Christmas Carol, is penned by award-winning lead writer and executive producer Steven Moffat (Sherlock, Coupling) and premieres Saturday, December 25, 9:00 pm ET.

Newlyweds Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) and Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill) are joined by Harry Potter’s Michael Gambon and Opera diva Katherine Jenkins, for what may be the Doctor’s most Christmassy adventure yet.

Lead Writer and Executive Producer, Steven Moffat, commented on the upcoming special: “Oh, we're going for broke with this one. It's all your favorite Christmas movies at once, in an hour, with monsters. And the Doctor. And a honeymoon. And ... oh, you'll see. I've honestly never been so excited about writing anything. I was laughing madly as I typed along to Christmas songs in April. My neighbors loved it so much they all moved away and set up a website demanding my execution. But I'm fairly sure they did it ironically.”

Perry Simon, General Manager, Channels, added: “Doctor Who has become a key part of the BBC AMERICA schedule, and having the opportunity to air A Christmas Carol on Christmas Day is like receiving our very own holiday gift. The Timelord may travel through time and space, but he’s certainly found a home at BBC AMERICA.”

Doctor Who is currently filming in Utah for next season’s two-part premiere set in the U.S. during the late ‘60s. Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, Arthur Darvill, Alex Kingston and guest star Mark Sheppard are all in production stateside. The next season premieres spring 2011 on BBC AMERICA.

In the run up to A Christmas Carol on Christmas Day, BBC AMERICA will be running a marathon of the series, beginning at midnight on December 24 and leading up to this year’s special. The marathon includes previous Christmas specials and a selection of favorite Doctor Who episodes from recent seasons.

Christmas Day will also see the premiere the Doctor Who Prom, a live concert featuring stars Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill as hosts. The Doctor Who Prom was filmed earlier this year at the world renowned Royal Albert Hall and features appearances from the Weeping Angels, Daleks and the TARDIS. The BBC National Orchestra of Wales, who record the soundtrack for the series, present a selection of intergalactic music – including Murray Gold’s music from the TV show, plus a selection of classical favorites.

Fans can catch up on the new Doctor’s first season with Doctor Who: The Complete Fifth Series Blu-ray and DVD, both are now available in stores.

Test Pattern: What's Your Indispensable TV Network?

We all have the networks--whether broadcast or cable, legacy or newbie--that we gravitate to, but I was wondering this morning about so-called indispensable networks.

Given that I write about television, nearly all networks could be said to be indispensable in one way or another, but what I was pondering was that one specific television channel that you can't turn away from, that you automatically switch to when you turn on the television, or which you have on as background while you're doing other things in our multi-tasking obsessed society.

Many years ago, that channel was--perhaps not surprisingly for those of you who know me--Food Network, but it was replaced by BBC America around 2000 and for many years that was my go-to network, the one spot on the metaphorical dial that I could always depend on for diverting fare, soothing background noise, or a sense of the familiar and comforting.

For whatever the reason, sadly, that's not the case anymore and--shock, horror--I've actually gone so far as to remove BBC America from my list of TiVo favorite channels as it's become a 24-hour network showcasing little other than Star Trek: The Next Generation, Top Gear, and repeats of three ubiquitous Gordon Ramsay reality series. (Three standouts this year: crime drama Luther, reality series The Choir, and culinary competition series Come Dine with Me all had short runs, unfortunately, and Doctor Who can't run all year long.)

But that's a rant for another post (and, believe me, it's coming).

What I am curious about is whether you have a specific network that fulfills those needs and just what network that might be. Are you addicted to USA? Hooked on HBO? Famished for Food Network? Drawn to Cartoon Network? Ingratiated towards IFC? Perpetually amazed by AMC?

Head to the comments section to discuss and debate.

The Daily Beast: "Sherlock Comes to the U.S."

Sherlock Holmes has an iPhone, Watson blogs: The 21st-century version of Sherlock, a BBC phenomenon, begins Sunday on Masterpiece Mystery.

Over at The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "Sherlock Comes to the U.S.," in which I talk to Sherlock creators Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss and stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman about Sherlock and Watson, the similarities and differences between Holmes and Doctor Who's The Doctor, The Hobbit, and more.

Meanwhile, you can read my glowing advance review of the three Sherlock installments here.

Sherlock begins tonight at 9 pm ET/PT on PBS' Masterpiece Mystery. Check your local listings for details.