Doctor Who: What Lies Ahead in Season Three?

The third season of Doctor Who recently began airing in the U.K. on BBC 1, and will air here in the United States later this year on SCI-FI. Season Two featured the return of several old friends and enemies, and was very exciting. So what lies ahead in Season Three?

David Tennant, who succeeded the departing Christopher Eccleston a year ago, returns for his second season as the Doctor. Joining Tennant is actress Freema Agyeman, who plays the Doctor's new traveling companion Martha Jones, a medical student living in present day London. Agyeman's character replaces Rose Tyler (played by actress/singer Billie Piper) who left at the end of last season after two full seasons with the program. Martha's family will also make appearances intermittently during the season, with Trevor Laird and Adjoa Andoh as Martha's parents Clive and Francine Jones. Randy Yates plays Martha's brother Leo and Guju Mbatha-Raw as sister Tish.

The new season begins with the Doctor alone once again after losing Rose when she became trapped in a parallel universe at the end of last season's finale. The Doctor once again has a hole in his sole. He meets Martha Jones in the opening episode "Smith and Jones" (an interesting play on the Doctor's occasional alias, Dr. John Smith). Martha develops a crush on the time traveler. The Doctor agrees to take her on as a traveling companion, but he is not ready to become emotionally attached to someone again.

The first two episodes, "Smith and Jones" and "The Shakespeare Code," have already aired in the U.K., drawing strong ratings as the program had done during its two previous seasons. Like the previous seasons, Season Three consists of thirteen 45-minute episodes-seven stand-alone stories and three 2-part stories--airing through June 23.

Season Three promises the introduction of several new enemies, including the Judoon, a new alien species introduced in "Smith and Jones." And one or two old enemies will be returning as well. The Doctor's oldest enemies, the Daleks, return in the two-part "Daleks in Manhattan"/"Evolution of the Daleks." The Doctor and Martha travel back to Shakespearean London and meet the Bard himself in "The Shakespeare Code." And John Simm (star of another BBC science fiction series, Life on Mars) will appear in the two-part season finale "The Sound of Drums"/"Last of the Time Lords." For months, internet rumors have held that Simm will play the Doctor's old archenemy the Master, last played by Eric Roberts in the 1996 Doctor Who TV movie. Actor/writer Mark Gatiss, of the BBC's League of Gentleman, has written episodes for the new DW series, and this year he gets write and act in the program. Gatiss scripted "The Lazarus Experiment," in which he also plays Dr. Lazarus. And the episode "42" could very well be a tribute of sorts to the late Douglas Adams, author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Here is the list of episode titles for Season Three:

"Smith and Jones"

"The Shakespeare Code"

"Gridlock"

"Daleks in Manhattan" (Part One)

"Evolution of the Daleks" (Part Two)

"The Lazarus Experiment"

"42"

"Human Nature"

"The Family of Blood"

"Blink"

"Utopia"

"The Sound of Drums"

"Last of the Time Lords"

It seems that this season of Doctor Who (the newer version) could be its most exciting season to date. We'll know for certain later this year when Season Three airs here in the U.S. on SCI-FI later this year. BBC America has been showing re-runs of Season One with Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor and will show re-runs of Season Two with David Tennant later this year.