Doctor Who Confidential (TV Series) A New Dimension (2005) User Reviews

A nice bit of nostalgia

[matthew-58 · 7/10 · 22 May 2005]

I haven't watched the new series of Doctor Who but I am very much a fan of the old series, and so I therefore very much enjoyed the way this short programme reminded old viewers and informed new viewers of the history of the series as well as promoted the new version.

I particularly liked the way it showed clips from each of the Doctor's previous incarnations and had contributions (albeit short ones) from each of the living Doctors from the original TV series. Russell T Davies also makes interesting comments about how each Doctor reflected the times. To highlight this point about how the series and the individual Doctors changed with the context of the time, these clips are featured with a soundtrack of contemporary pop music.

With regard to the new series, this programme went behind the scenes and featured various contributions from the people responsible for bringing the show back to BBC One.

A New Dimension

[Prismark10 · 6/10 · 14 May 2024]

This was shown just before the transmission of Rose on BBC1. The first episode of a new Doctor Who series in 16 years. They even had a clock counting down in this.

The series was going to be launched with a blaze of publicity. There were even billboards with Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper.

Yet after the transmission of Rose. The first episode of Doctor Who: Confidential would be broadcast as well which would be about bringing the Doctor back to the screen.

So why the two shows sandwiching the main episode of Doctor Who?

This was narrated by David Tennant. It is a brief rundown on the filming of the new show. It went through the previous actors who played the Doctor. There are interviews from past actors.

It is all fluffy stuff, little would be new to fans of the show. You get to see clips from the new episodes.

What it did was allow David Tennant to visit the Cardiff studios and film the regeneration scene in secret. People thought he was there for the narration.

There is no inkling at the time. When Eccleston was being interviewed here, he was leaving the role after one series.

There's Such A Thing As Too Much Publicity

[Theo Robertson · 5/10 · 3 May 2005]

DOCTOR WHO: A NEW DIMENSION was produced and broadcast to tie in with the new series of DOCTOR WHO , a show that is a British television legend . The publicity afforded to this revolutionary reinvention of a TV classic was unprecedented . For several weeks before transmission we saw trailers galore , Billboards all over London advertised the return , Christopher Eccleston was interviewed on programmes as diverse as BLUE PETER , TONIGHT WITH JONATHAN ROSS and the BBC SIX O'CLOCK NEWS . Unfortunately perhaps DOCTOR WHO : A NEW DIMENSION was a programme too far

On the surface it's just another documentary publicising the show and to be honest this is still a good idea for introducing people new to the show . If you were born in the late 1980s you unlike millions of people will have missed on on the Doctor's adventures as a child and executive producer Russell T Davies wants the show to appeal mainly to children . Fair enough and we get the usual interviews from former companions and clips from the old show along with new clips and it's the new clips I had a serious problem with - They reveal far too much . The Doctor gets attacked by an Autons hand in Rose's flat . " So what ? " you say . Well this was broadcast less than two hours before the episode and gives away the shock of seeing the Doctor attacked by an Autons hand . Likewise the Dalek extermination effect is impressive shown out of context but is even more impressive shown in context so once again the surprise is ruined

In many ways watching DOCTOR WHO : A NEW DIMENSION is a precursor to the mistake the BBC would later make in their " Next Episode " trailers and that is that too much information is revealed . Watching the classic series you'll remember the director and writer would construct the episode so that the monster wouldn't be revealed early on thereby keeping the audience in a state of suspense . Unfortunately this documentary spoiled some of the surprises of the new series as does the " Next Episode " trailer which fans are growing to detest