Doctor Who - The New Adventures

Doctor Who - The New Adventures is a soft reboot and direct continuation of the BBC Television series Doctor Who that aired between 1963-1989, 1996 and 2005-2017. The series follows the adventures of the alien time traveller known as "the Doctor".

The Doctor travels the universe in her stolen time machine, the TARDIS, a ship disguised as a blue police telephone box, that is far bigger on the inside. Joined by a plethora of companions along the way and defeating a variety of deadly foes, the Doctor strives to always help people in need.

Regeneration is the key to the Doctor's near eternal life. The concept, introduced in 1966, alows the Doctor to change his/her entire body and personality near or at the point of death. Fourteen actors have headlined the series as the Doctor. Gugu Mbatha-Raw is the incumbent incarnation who succeeded Hayley Atwell in the role in the 2023 Christmas Special "The End".

Premise
Doctor Who - The New Adventures follows the adventures of the rouge Time Lord known only as "the Doctor". She travels the universe in her TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimension in Space), a time-travelling spaceship stolen from her home planet Gallifrey, that is bigger on this inside than it appears on the outside.

Season One of The New Adventures introduces Hayley Atwell as the 13th incarnation of the Doctor. Following a turbulent regeneration, the Doctor is suffering from an extreme case of amnesia thus forgetting about many of her past encounters and adventures. The revial takes place in the same canon of the series that came before it, but this added plot device allows for the writers to start as close to as afresh as possible, without spoiling what has come before. The New Adventures is considered a soft reboot of the series.

As a result of this, enemies from the original show like the Daleks, Cybermen and The Master (another rogue Time Lord) weren't used in the series' early seasons, providing more room for new adversaries and more obscure villains from the show's original run.

Production
After the exit of 12th Doctor Peter Capaldi and then showrunner Steven Moffat in 2017, the BBC haulted production of the series following a decline in viewership, but fan uproar indicated there was still an audience invested in the show. In Janurary of 2018, the BBC announced they were looking for other production companies to produce the series as they no longer saw it finacially viable to produce the series in house.

After months of negotiations, the BBC announced in June 2018 that streaming giant Netflix had purchased the rights to the series and would produce it (alongside the BBC) and air it exclusively on the streaming service. Later that month the new showrunner was announced alongside two executive producers.

Netflix ordered 20 episodes to air over two seasons with production starting in May of 2019.

Casting
On August 12, 2018, Hayley Atwell was announced as the 13th Doctor, the first female incarnation of the character. The next weekend, Matthew Lewis and Sophie Cookson were announced as Harry Bowers and Abbie Johns, the two companions joining the new Doctor. Alfred Enoch joined the show as Bennie Knight for Season 3. Asa Butterfield took the spot as the Doctor's companion, Norman Fox, for the fourth season and continued into Season 5 and was joined by Olivia Cooke as Ellie.

On June 4, 2023, Gugu Mbatha-Raw was announced as the 14th Doctor, the first person of colour to play the part. She succeeded Hayley Atwell in the role in the 2023 Christmas Special "The End".

Release
Following an extensive marketing campaign, all 10 episodes of Season One were released on April 10, 2020. Season Two followed on April 9, 2012. Season Three was released on May 20, 2022.

Season Four was released in multiple parts across 2023. Episodes 1-7 were released weekly from May 5th to June 16th. The three remaining episodes formed one long story that was released over three days from the 23rd-25th of November to celebrate the 60th Anniversary of Doctor Who.

Season Four was the first to be followed by a Christmas special, which saw the introduction of Gugu Mbatha-Raw as the Doctor.

Season Five was released in one on May 10, 2024 and was followed by a Christmas special on December 25th. The show's Sixth season is set to be released in May 2025.