The return of Doctor Who to British screens Saturday was such an incredible success that the BBC have decided to commission a second new series of the show (the 28th season of Doctor Who overall) after just one episode, it was publicly announced today in Britain by The Stage newspaper.  And that’s not all.  In addition to another 13 45minute episodes for 2006, there will be, prior to that, a “Christmas special” for December 2005, which apparently will be 60 minutes long.

This is of course fantastic news, but entirely expected (even before the ratings were in). The only surprise is how quickly they announced it during the broadcast of the first new season. BBC Head of Drama Jane Tranter indicated that she hoped the new series got 6.5 million on its debut, so she was obviously blown away by the 10million viewers it got on Saturday night. She will also not confirm that Eccleston and Piper will be back (though I personally expect them to be), hinting that she didn’t want to spoil the next 12 episodes (which are still to be aired in the UK). We will have to wait and see what happens, but in the meantime…......celebrate and rejoice!