Studio:
Unknown.
Production Company:
BBC Films.
Project Phase: Movies Rumored.
Who's In It:
No one confirmed as yet.
Who's Making It:
Based on the television series created by the BBC based on an idea by Sydney Newman and Donald Wilson.
Premise: Two teachers resolve to find out a bit more about one of their eccentric students, only to bite off more than they can chew. The young woman stays with her grandfather, who just so happens to be a renegade Time Lord who lives in a space-and-time traversing police box.
Release Date: Unknown.
Comments: Spanning 26 seasons and one TV movie with eight actors playing the same lead role, the mysterious unnamed 'Doctor' seems a natural for a feature film, having achieved major cult status both in his native country and abroad. He even was the focus of a revamped Gary Glitter song, how many sci-fi heroes can make that claim? But all seriousness aside, it's probably only a matter of time before the right deal is struck and The Doctor visits your local cinema.
Rumors: Unknown.
Scoop Feedback: [Page draft submitted by 'Widgett'.]
June 27, 1998... Okay, fasten your seat belts and keep all hands, feet and pseudopodia inside the TARDIS at all times.
Pokings around about this project linger back to the dawn of time, it seems, because after all, this is Doctor Who we're talking about here. In 1987, a group gained the rights from the BBC to make a feature film version of the good Doctor. This group was called Daltenreys, and in addition to two members of the musical act, Dire Straits, was made up of George Dugdale, John Humphreys and Peter Litten. This could not get off the ground until they hooked up in 1993 with Lumiere Pictures. They had a script by Denny Martin Flynn and Leonard Nimoy in the director's chair, both of Star Trek fame. They even had Alan Rickman in discussions to take the title role. In 1994, however, the BBC yanked the rights out from under them, saying their option had expired. Daltenreys retorted that the BBC had done nothing but hamper them in their attempts to get things rolling, and the option was taken back in favor of Phil Segal, the man behind 1996's Fox TV movie. A lawsuit has been filed and is pending at this time.
Back in February of this year, Segal stated he would be speaking with the BBC about the possibilities of a full-blown feature film treatment of the character. Then in May, David Thompson, main man at BBC Films, was at the Cannes Film Festival. He let slip that a feature film for the good Doctor was in the works. It was even mentioned by Thompson that they could cast either a man or a woman in the role.
Then, to throw even more kindling on the fire, Variety has reported that Segal is not the person that Thompson might have been referencing when he said that the project was moving. They report that talks are on with HAL Films, who are apparently financed by Miramax.
Then, to throw some water on the fire, several sources from within the BBC reacted to what was being reported and stated that there were positively no plans for a film at this time. Still, when Thompson himself admitted that his words were taken out of context, he said that although talks were underway, there were no plans to go into production. The BBC has a forum up now where votes are tallied for who would make a good Doctor for said potential film. Singer k.d. lang has been mentioned.
Then -- to throw some kerosene into the mix, there were two films starring Peter Cushing as a different version of the Doctor back in the mid 1960's. A third film, which would have two Doctors going up against monsters, was planned for but never came to fruition. Chaos Films appears to be trying to gain rights to this unproduced third film/script, with Michael Sheard apparently attached to play the Doctor if it can be made. Still, the BBC has not been approached with this yet, so it is mere speculation at this point as well.
It appears to be open to the four winds right now what will happen with this project. Universal had a lock on the rights to make a film, but apparently this expired at the close of 1997, so now the rights are back in the hands of the BBC. Not only has a feature film been mentioned, but also the rumblings have been heard for another TV movie, another TV series, and even an animated Doctor Who cartoon. At this point, no one can seem to decide if any discussions are even taking place for this project or not, even those within the BBC are uncertain as to what's going on. Still, it seems that with all this activity, one would think that something Whovian will appear sometime in the near future. [Special thanks to primary sources The Doctor Who News Page, Variety, Cinescape; reported by 'Widgett'.]
August 10, 1998... Just when you thought it couldn't get any stranger. It all began when someone (perhaps Deadpool, but that's just a hunch) jokingly wrote a letter to the BBC Radio Times suggesting that at least if they were going to cast a woman as the Doctor, they might try cross-dressing Eddie Izzard and thus gain the best of both worlds. Ahem. So to speak. Then The News of the World attributed the same letter to a 'BBC insider' and treated it as the gospel according to Eddie. Um. Or something like that. And then the fans grabbed it and ran with it, causing heated discussions in Whovian lands around the world. [Special thanks to Cinescape Online for clearing the whole mess up. 'Widgett' reported it and feels much better now. He means it.]
November 22, 1998... A scooper has heard rumors that the BBC will make some kind of official announcemnt on the future of the Dr. Who franchise during the program's 35th anniversary special on November 23rd. ['Rogue'.]