Doctor Who (series 3)

The third series of British science fiction programme Doctor Who was preceded by the 2006 Christmas special "The Runaway Bride". Following the special, a regular series of thirteen episodes was broadcast, starting with "Smith and Jones" on 31 March 2007. In addition, a 13-part animated serial (equivalent to one regular episode) was produced and broadcast as part of Totally Doctor Who.

The series stars David Tennant as the tenth incarnation of the Doctor, an alien Time Lord who travels through time and space in his TARDIS, which appears to be a British police box on the outside. In the Christmas special he is joined by Catherine Tate as Donna Noble. The series also introduces Freema Agyeman as the Doctor's new companion Martha Jones, who leaves at the end of the series due to her unrequited love for him. John Barrowman also reprises his role as Captain Jack Harkness in the final three episodes which serve as the finale. The series is connected by a loose story arc consisting of the recurring phrase "Mr Saxon", which ultimately is revealed to be the return of the Doctor's enemy Time Lord the Master, first played by Derek Jacobi before regenerating into John Simm.

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 comedienne 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, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Reggie Yates and Trevor Laird who portrayed Martha Jones' family.

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

List of 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.

"Evolution of the Daleks" was the first Dalek story of the revived series to use the traditional ...of the Daleks title form, first used in The Power of the Daleks from 1966, and used subsequently in eight further serials.

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.

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