"Knock-knock." "Who's there?" "Doctor." "Doctor Who?"

Time travelling, aliens, and a blue police box fill this British TV programme called Doctor Who. The show centres around a two-hearted timelord they call the Doctor. He travels throughout space and time in his TARDIS, saving the universe as he goes. The premier of the brand-new season was on 1 September. 

Darvill, Smith, Gillan, with daleks

The premiere began with the Doctor on a planet that even the evilest of the daleks fear -- the Asylum. The Doctor was taken hostage by his oldest rival and brought there against his will. The Asylum is a prison designed to keep the most dangerous of the daleks confined. The Doctor and his sidekicks, a married couple who seem to be having problems, must find a way to escape. The Ponds, what with their marital conflict, are hardly any help. There is also an army of "mad" daleks closing in on our heroes as well and it is up to the Doctor to get them out of the Asylum, save their lives, and also save the Ponds' marriage. This episode features nearly every dalek known to man and it is full of sci-fi action-packed fun.

Daleks and the TARDIS

 The episode was written by Steven Moffat (Press Gary) and directed by Nick Hurran (It's A Boy Girl Thing). Nearly every episode of Doctor Who has a different head-writer and director. This show has been on television for a very long time (since 1963!) and consists of 26 seasons, one TV movie, and 7 series. There are, in total, 788 episodes. That's a lot of the Doctor. Or, Doctors. There have been eleven Doctors total, for this long-running series. The Doctor regenerates every couple seasons, but the action and adventure never changes. Doctor Who has always depicted the adventure of  time-travelling humanoid alien that we call the Doctor. He has also always travelled through space and time in his TARDIS, which looks like a blue police box (but bigger on the inside). 

Critics call this show one of the finest British TV programmes. Doctor Who has won many awards, which makes the Whovians -- a nickname for the Doctor Who fans -- very happy. The show won the 2006 British Academy Television Award for best drama series. It also won the National Television Award five years in a row, from 2005 until 2010. A lot of guest stars have been on the show all these years, and already this season, but three are very important. Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, and Arthur Darvill make up the cast of Doctor Who. 

(from left to right) Gillan, Darvill, Smith

Matt Smith plays the eleventh Doctor. The actor has been on TV before; he played Jim Taylor in "The Ruby in the Smoke" and Danny in "Party Animals". 

Amy and Rory are played by Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill. Gillan (Amy) also played as Terry Cotter in "Rebus" and Darvill (Rory) played in "Robin Hood" as Groom. 

Amy and Rory left the Doctor to his own devices, but he soon finds another companion. This season of Doctor Who will run until late Spring of 2013 and this is the last season with Matt Smith. Are we ready to say goodbye to him? And will the twelfth Doctor be as dear to us as our previous Doctors have been? We will have to stay tuned to find out.