DOCTOR WHO: THE NEXT DOCTOR
It’s Christmas Eve in 1851 and Cybermen stalk the snow of Victorian London. When the Doctor (David Tennant, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) arrives to investigate a spate of mysterious deaths, he’s surprised to meet another Doctor (David Morrissey, State of Play, Viva Blackpool), with his own sonic screw driver. How could this be possible? Could this Doctor be a future regeneration? But if so where are his memories? The two must combine forces to defeat the ruthless Miss Hartigan (Dervla Kirwan, Law & Order UK, Ballykissangel), who is the Cybermen’s human ally. But are two Doctors enough to stop the rise of the CyberKing?
Doctor Who: The Next Doctor premieres Saturday, June 27, 9:00 p.m. ET/PT
TORCHWOOD: CHILDREN OF EARTH
The highly anticipated return of Torchwood: Children of Earth will kick off the first of BBC AMERICA’s HD offerings. Told over five consecutive nights, the series re-joins Captain Jack (John Barrowman), Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles) and Ianto Jones (Gareth David-Lloyd) as they are still coming to terms with the death of two of their closest friends. Yet despite their pain, they know they have a job to do. This time they are faced with their fiercest threat to date – one which throws the future of Torchwood and the entire human race spiralling into danger. Battling against the odds, do they stand a chance of saving mankind?
Torchwood: Children of Earth premieres Monday, July 20, 9:00 p.m. ET/PT with the finale on Friday, July 24, 9:00 p.m. ET/PT
DOCTOR WHO: PLANET OF THE DEAD
In the first of four specials shot in HD, Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead, finds the Doctor trapped on a desert alien planet with a red double-decker bus but no Tardis. He soon discovers the mysterious planet holds terrifying secrets hidden in the sand and is forced to team up with a mysterious, aristocratic thief Lady Christina (Michelle Ryan, Bionic Woman, Merlin) to get back to Earth. But time is running out, as the deadly Swarm gets closer.
Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead premieres Sunday, July 26, 8:00 p.m. ET/PT
Don’t forget, Torchwood: Children of Earth and Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead can be seen in full HD on the new BBC America HD simulcast channel beginning July 20, 2009.
Also, check out this new series for your weekly vampire / werewolf / ghost fix:
BEING HUMAN
Mixing the mythic with the commonplace, the farcical with the horrific and the domestic with the epic, Being Human, a BBC AMERICA co-production, is a witty and extraordinary look into the lives of three twenty-somethings and their secret double-lives – as a werewolf, a vampire and a ghost. Russell Tovey (Doctor Who, The History Boys), Lenora Crichlow (Sugar Rush, Doctor Who) and Aidan Turner (The Clinic) star as housemates trying to live normal lives, despite their strange and dark secrets.
George (Russell Tovey) and Mitchell (Aidan Turner) work in anonymous drudgery as hospital porters. They lead lives of quiet desperation under the burden of a terrible secret—Mitchell’s a vampire and George a werewolf. Deciding to start life afresh and leave behind the dark side, they move into a house, only to find that Annie, the ghost of a woman killed in mysterious circumstances, haunts it. As the monster threesome deals with the challenges of their new life together, they’re united in their desire to blend in with their human neighbors.
By all appearances, George is a mild-mannered and geeky guy – except for one night a month when he’s a flesh-hungry, predatory werewolf. Mitchell is good-looking, laid-back and, unlike George, has an easy confidence with the ladies. But he’s also suffering withdrawal from the blood he craves. Annie (Lenora Crichlow) is chatty, insecure and desperate for company and now that death has separated them, she longs for her fiancé, who owns the house she haunts.
But with unwelcome intruders into their world, a threatened revolution from the vampire underworld and constant threats of exposure – on top of the day-to-day issues faced by young people – the only thing they may be able to rely on in their heightened world, is each other.
Being Human premieres Saturday, July 25, at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT.
