BBC American To Celebrate Doctor Who 50th Anniversary
BBC America is to mark the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who by broadcasting one story per Doctor.
November will mark the 50th anniversary of the long-running sci-fi series and BBC America intends to mark the landmark occasion by showcasing each of the 11 Doctors by broadcasting one story from each era under the banner Doctor Who: The Doctor’s Revisited.
The stories will be broadcast one per month starting with the 1964 historical story The Aztecs which will represent the First Doctor as played by William Hartnell. The story features Carol Ann Ford as the Doctor’s granddaughter Susan, Jacqueline Hill as Barbara Wright and William Russell as Ian Chesterton.
The story, which gave actress Jacqueline Hill a chance to take centre stage, is set in 15th century Mexico. After the TARDIS lands in an Aztec city Barbara is mistaken as a reincarnated goddess and decides to use the opportunity to try and bring an end to human sacrifice and change the Aztec customs to save them from the Spanish.
BBC America broadcasts the current episodes of Doctor Who as the popularity of the sci-fi series in America continues to rise. The recent festive special The Snowmen, featuring Matt Smith and Jeanna Louise Coleman with guest star Richard E Grant, was seen by over 1.4 million viewers.
The Aztecs will be shown on BBC America on Sunday 27th January.
[Written by Dominic Knight, source Doctor Who Newspage]