People love Doctor Who. That may seem obvious to anyone who’s ever been to Comic-Con or some other event in which it’s appropriate to dress up as any of the various Doctors, but it was made even more evident this weekend when the 50th Anniversary Special aired on both sides of the pond, raking in high ratings and box office dollars in the process. While fans continue to celebrate the greatness of the special, they’re left to wonder what’s next for Doctor Who. The vague answer is obviously the anticipated Christmas special, but BBC has offered additional details on that, as well as a vague update on when UK viewers will get to see the new season of Sherlock!
According to Deadline, BBC has officially titled the Doctor Who Christmas episode The Time of the Doctor. If the title sounds familiar, well, you may have seen The Day of the Doctor just this past weekend, or the Season 7 finale “The Name of the Doctor.” The Christmas special is always a big episode for the series. Last year, it served as the introduction to the Doctor’s new companion Clara, played by Jenna-Louise Coleman. This year, the episode will mark the exit of Matt Smith as the eleventh Doctor, and the arrival of Peter Capaldi as the series’ twelfth Doctor.
News of the Christmas special’s title follows a number of positive updates about the performance of the 50th Anniversary Special, The Day of the Doctor, which according to BBC America, is the channel’s #1 highest rated telecast ever. It also set a record for Fathom Events on the big screen, as it’s their most successful one-night event to date, with record breaking pre-sales of 175,000+ tickets and the highest web traffic in FathomEvents.com history. BBC America says theaters are sold out across the country, which I don’t think is an exaggeration by any stretch. My husband went to see it last night and said the theater (in a mid-size city) was packed. Meanwhile, Variety reports that the 3D screening of the special is close to breaking $3 million at the U.K. Box Office.
Moving on to another U.K. series people love, it sounds like BBC is close to setting a date for the return of Sherlock. We already know that the series is set to debut in January in the U.S., and that it’s expected to launch sooner in the U.K.. Deadline says to expect a holiday debut for Season 3 of Sherlock in the U.K., but BBC won’t be announcing the exact schedule for the three episodes until December 4. The first episode of Season 3 of Sherlock is titled “The Empty Hearse” and will begin two years after the second season finale. Deadline says Holmes will “return from the dead” when London finds itself under the threat of a huge terrorist attack. Sounds like a good reason to re-emerge, if ever there was one.
