Doctor Who (series 3)

Main characters

Series three was David Tennant's second series in the role of the Doctor, during which he is joined by three companions: Donna Noble, Martha Jones and Jack Harkness.

Actress and comedian Catherine Tate was cast as one-off companion Donna Noble for the Christmas special. At the end of the episode the character turns down the chance to travel in the TARDIS, however Tate later reprised her role and returned for a full series in the 2008 episode "Partners in Crime".

Following the departure of Billie Piper as Rose Tyler at the end of series two, a new full-time companion was needed. On 5 July 2006 the BBC confirmed that Freema Agyeman would join the show as new companion Martha Jones. Agyeman had previously appeared in the 2006 episode "Army of Ghosts". John Barrowman also returned as Jack Harkness for the three-part series finale.

Guest stars

Recurring guest stars for the series included Adjoa Andoh, Trevor Laird, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Reggie Yates who portrayed Martha Jones' family.

Other guest stars included Thelma Barlow, Ryan Carnes, Christina Cole, Michelle Collins, Lenora Crichlow, Anthony Flanagan, Andrew Garfield, Lucy Gaskell, Mark Gatiss, Don Gilet, Jennifer Hennessy, Jessica Hynes, Derek Jacobi, Dean Lennox Kelly, Matt King, Chris Larkin, Harry Lloyd, Stephen Marcus, Roy Marsden, McFly, Carey Mulligan, Michael Obiora, Ardal O'Hanlon, Travis Oliver, Sharon Osbourne, Sarah Parish, Angela Pleasence, Hugh Quarshie, Miranda Raison, Anne Reid, Thomas Sangster, John Simm and Ann Widdecombe.

Episodes

In "Gridlock", the Macra, which originally appeared in The Macra Terror in Season 4, became the fourth monster from the classic series to make an appearance in the revival after the Autons, the Daleks and the Cybermen.

Three episodes from Series 3 were adapted from previously published works; "Human Nature" / "The Family of Blood" was adapted by Paul Cornell from his own New Adventures novel, also entitled Human Nature, while "Blink" originated as a short story in the 2006 Doctor Who Annual by Steven Moffat called "'What I Did on My Christmas Holidays' By Sally Sparrow".

"Human Nature" is also the first instance of the Doctor's previous incarnations prior to his ninth being explicitly referenced through the sketches in The Journal of Impossible Things.

Supplemental episode

A 13-part animated serial, The Infinite Quest, was produced and broadcast as part of the children's programme Totally Doctor Who on CBBC. Each installment was approximately three-and-a-half minutes in length and, when compiled, was equivalent to a regular episode. The serial was broadcast in its entirety on 30 June 2007 and later released on DVD.

Production

Following the success of the first series, the BBC announced that Doctor Who had been recommissioned for a third series on 16 June 2005, only two months after the announcement of the second series. Recording for the Christmas special began on 4 July 2006, with production on the series itself beginning on 8 August 2006 and concluding on 2 April 2007.

First-time writers for the show included Gareth Roberts, who previously wrote the interactive episode "Attack of the Graske" and the TARDISODEs, Helen Raynor, one of the show's script editors, Chris Chibnall, the head writer and co-producer of spin-off series Torchwood, and Stephen Greenhorn. Previous writers Paul Cornell, Steven Moffat and Russell T Davies all contributed to the series, with Davies continuing to act as head writer and executive producer. Phil Collinson and Susie Liggat acted as producers, with Julie Gardner as executive producer. Euros Lyn, Charles Palmer, Richard Clark, James Strong, Graeme Harper, Hettie MacDonald and Colin Teague directed episodes in the series.

The episodes in series three are arranged in a loose story arc: "Mr Saxon", an alias for the Master. The character's name was first mentioned in "The Runaway Bride"; the Ministry of Defence shot down an alien craft at Saxon's request. Several elements from episodes in the series are contributory to the three-part finale: the events of "The Lazarus Experiment" and "42" were directly influenced by the Master; the Face of Boe's prophecy is directly related to Master; and a similar fob-watch that was used by the Doctor to change his Time Lord biology into human was also used by the Master to hide from the Time Lords.

Production blocks were arranged as follows:

An animated serial, The Infinite Quest, was also produced alongside the series and was broadcast as part of the CBBC programme Totally Doctor Who.

Reception

Arnold T. Blumberg of IGN gave an overwhelmingly positive review of the third series. He praised the acting of Tennant, Agyeman and John Simm describing his portrayal as "a master stroke". Overall he said, "With an assured air earned by success, Series 3 of Doctor Who is a tour de force excursion across time and space...it doesn't get much better than this". He gave the series 9 out of 10 (Amazing). Nick Lyons of DVD Talk gave a positive review saying, "series three is on par with the last two seasons of the new series." He said that the character of Martha and series three, "will no doubt please fans". He gave the series 4 and a half stars out of 5.

Awards and nominations

At the British Academy Television Awards 2008 Steven Moffat won Best Writer for the episode "Blink", Murray Gold was nominated for Best Original Television Music and the BBC Wales sound team were nominated for Best Sound Fiction/Entertainment. At the 2008 BAFTA Cymru Awards Phil Collinson won for Best Drama Series/Serial for the episode "Voyage of the Damned", Ernest Vincze won for Best Director of Photography – Drama for the same episode. Louise Page was nominated for Best Costume for her work on "The Shakespeare Code" and Neill Gorton and Barbara Southcott won Best Make-Up for the same episode.

At the 2008 Constellation Awards the series won Best Science Fiction Television Series of 2007. David Tennant won Best Male Performance in a 2007 Science Fiction Television Episode for his critically acclaimed performance in the episode "The Family of Blood". Carey Mulligan won Best Female Performance in a 2007 Science Fiction Television Episode for her guest appearance in "Blink". At the Edinburgh International Television Festival in 2007 the series won Best Programme of the Year. David Tennant won a Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Award, in the Screen Award category at the Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Awards. The Monte-Carlo Television Festival nominated Freema Agyeman and David Tennant for Outstanding Actress and Actor in a drama series. At the 2008 Hugo Awards Blink won the award for Best Dramatic Presentation. "Human Nature"/"The Family of Blood" were also nominated for the award. At the 13th National Television Awards the series won Most Popular Drama and Most Popular Actor for David Tennant, Freema Agyeman was nominated for Most Popular Actress.

At the 2007 Nebula Awards Steven Moffat was nominated for Best Script for the episode Blink. At the 34th Saturn Awards Doctor Who won Best International Series. The series was nominated for Best TV Show at the 2007 Scream Awards. At the 2007 TV Quick Awards the show won Best Loved Drama and Best Actor for David Tennant, Freema Agyeman was nominated for Best Actress. Russell T. Davies was nominated by the TRIC Awards for TV Drama Programme. At the 2008 VES Awards David Houghton, Will Cohen, Nicolas Hernandez and Sara Bennett were nominated for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Broadcast Miniseries, Movie or Special for their work on the episode Voyage of the Damned, David Houghton, Will Cohen, Jean-Claude Deguara and Nicolas Hernandez were nominated for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Broadcast Series for their work on the episode "Last of the Time Lords". Nicolas Hernandez, Adam Burnett, Neil Roche and Jean-Claude Deguara were nominated for Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Broadcast Program or Commercial for their work on the 900-year-old Doctor in the same episode. The Writers' Guild of Great Britain honored the writing staff of the third series (Chris Chibnall, Paul Cornell, Russell T Davies, Stephen Greenhorn, Steven Moffat, Helen Raynor and Gareth Roberts) for Best Soap/Series.

Soundtrack

Selected pieces of score from this series (and "Voyage of the Damned"), as composed by Murray Gold, were released on 5 November 2007 by Silva Screen Records.