Who News: More DWM Details On The Future

Find out what's to come in 2013 and beyond right here...
Up until now, Steven Moffat and the Doctor Who production and marketing teams have remained relatively cagey on what lies ahead for the hit British science-fiction drama beyond this year. We know that five new episodes of Who lie ahead starting in mid-August and continuing until the end of September, and that these adventures will be the final stories we share with the Eleventh Doctor's faithful companions Amy Pond and Rory Williams. After that, a Christmas Special is on its way in December, introducing Jenna-Louise Coleman as the new companion on the show who has a dangerous and exhilirating story of her own to tell! Beyond those six episodes, though? Other than the remaining eight adventures of Series Seven broadcasting in Spring 2013, we haven't heard zilch about the future of the show bar that it will have some stellar 50th Anniversary celebrations for Autumn and Winter 2013. Now, Matt Smith has been chatting with Doctor Who Magazine in its landmark anniversary 450th issue on what's to come, as well as about the current run in Entertainment Weekly. Here's a roundup on just what he had to say on the future of Who...

• ON THE SEASON OPENER: "I got to meet my favourite Daleks, which are actually from Patrick Troughton's era, I think. They're sort of the pale blue and whitey ones. They're a bit smaller, actually. I think they're groovy! I mean, we've got every Dalek that exists in the world."
• ON THE CHRISTMAS SPECIAL: "Steven makes me laugh more than most people in the world. I just read it and there's a bit in it where I'm like, "Where does he get it from? Where? Where does it come from?". Because it's totally left-field as an idea, and it's magic. The imagination through form in this show- I mean, can you imagine having to plot this show?"
• ON JENNA-LOUISE COLEMAN: "She's doing really well. She's thoroughly prepared, has a lovely nature about her, and I think she really gets Steven's writing. The show is about change and it's about regeneration and the only thing you can do is move with it. So we embrace and we welcome Jenna and she's doing really well."
• ON JAMES CORDEN: "We'd love him to [come back], but he's pretty busy being a Tony-award winning actor on Broadway and having a baby. But we'd love to get James back."
• ON THE CRIMSON HORROR: "I think Mark Gatiss has written a wonderfully sprawling episode. Let me read you a line- this is an exclusive! "Well, thanks a million, you three. Have some Ponterfract cakes on me!" So there we go. I'm giving it all away! It's a great episode. The Doctor gets a cool new Victorian costume. I get a hat and a three-piece suit. I'm having a ball!"
• ON THE FIRST ANNIVERSARY EPISODE: "It's as brilliant and mental as you'd expect from Steven Moffat."
• ON SERIES EIGHT IN 2014: "I've just heard Steven Moffat's pitch- are you ready to cry? I know nothing more that I can tell you right now."
• ON HIS FUTURE ON WHO: "We've got the 50th Anniversary stuff next year. I take it year by year. Because it's such a commitment for your life. I don't think you could do seven years like Tom Baker did. It would age you too savagely. The great thing about the Doctor is there's no stop sign. He can keep going and moving and evolving and the moment that he doesn't surprise you is probably the moment that you should hand it over. But he still surprises me, so I'm hanging in there."

To summarise that long overload of great facts and comments from Matt, then. It appears that once Series Seven has concluded airing either in February or June 2013 (depending on whether there's a gap between the Christmas Special and Episode 7) we'll have more special 50th Anniversary episodes to look forward to. I would imagine the production team will start shooting those in early 2013, and thus that we'll either have them close to one another in the year's concluding months or spread out like the 2009 specials. Expect a lot of big Who events in-between to make 2013 a truly momentous year for the show, though!

Beyond that, it seems we will return to a new full series in 2014, or perhaps a consistent Autumn-to-Spring schedule whereby the show returns in the Autumn every year rather than the Spring. As long as everyone keeps in mind that the drama will have been back on our screens for nine whole years when Series Eight arrives, it's far easier to stay optimistic despite what the critics and trolls say. 

Here's the running order for the future of Who, then...

SERIES SEVEN

EPISODE 1- ASYLUM OF THE DALEKS: AUGUST 25TH

EPISODE 2- DINOSAURS ON A SPACESHIP: SEPTEMBER 1ST

EPISODE 3- A TOWN CALLED MERCY: SEPTEMBER 8TH

EPISODE 4- CUBED: SEPTEMBER 15TH

EPISODE 5- PONDS FINALE: SEPTEMBER 22ND

EPISODE 6- JENNA INTRODUCTION: DECEMBER 25TH

SERIES SEVEN PART TWO: EARLY 2013

50TH ANNIVERSARY

SECOND HALF OF 2013

SERIES EIGHT

2014

Doctor Who returns to BBC1 with Asylum Of The Daleks on August 25th.