Doctor Who Revival and Other Developments
The original version of Doctor Who lasted until 1989. Apart from a television movie in 1996, Doctor Who did not re-emerge in a bigger budget version until 2005. Affected by rights issues for some years, many of those behind the new series were fans of the show when they were younger. Doctor Who returned to television screens on 26 March 2005, gaining a profile reminiscent of the earlier series at its peak.
Perhaps the most high-profile of those behind the movement to return Doctor Who to the screens is writer Russell T Davies, who initially worked in the BBC children's department earlier in his career, and contributed to British TV science fiction there. Davies' first sci-fi serial was the six-part Dark Season (1991), which co-starred a young Kate Winslet as well as former Blake's 7 star Jacqueline Pearce. Two years later Davies wrote a second, much more complex serial called Century Falls (1993). ITV contributed a new version of The Tomorrow People (1992–94) made as an international co-production with US and Australia companies, and there were various other child-oriented sci-fi type series such as ITV's Mike & Angelo (1989–99)and the BBC's Watt on Earth (1991), although these lacked the crossover adult appeal that Davies' shows had possessed.
The interest in making British TV science fiction seemed to return to broadcasters towards the middle of the 1990s in that companies began to see the possibility of lucrative overseas sales and tie-in products that other genres could not match. In the mid-1990s the BBC screened four seasons of the glossy sci-fi action adventure series Bugs (1995–98) made by independent company Carnival. They co-produced the six-part serial Invasion: Earth (1998) with the US Sci Fi Channel, and ITV began attempting to market British sci-fi again with serials such as The Uninvited (1997) and The Last Train (1999).
The BBC also produced several children's science fiction shows in the late 1990s to mid 2000s. The most known examples of which being Aquila (TV series) (1997–1998) based on the novel by Andrew Norriss and Jeopardy (BBC TV series) (2002–2004) which won the 2002 BAFTA for Best Children's Drama.
A 'live' remake of The Quatermass Experiment was broadcast on BBC Four on 2 April 2005. Various series have followed the new success of Doctor Who, including two spin-offs entitled Torchwood (2006–present) and The Sarah Jane Adventures (2007–2011), a new time travel drama Life on Mars (BBC 2006–2007), Eleventh Hour (ITV 2008–2009), Primeval (ITV 2007–present) and in 2009 new story for Red Dwarf, now shown exclusive on Dave (TV Channel) rather than the BBC.
Read more about this topic: British Television Science Fiction
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