Details of new Doctor Who revealed as Matt Smith and Karen Gillan step out at premiere

By Liz Thomas

Chemistry: Matt Smith and Karen Gillan dressed up for a screening of the new Doctor Who series in Cardiff


Doctor Who will return to screens with a Hollywood blockbuster style inaugural episode for new Time Lord Matt Smith.

Billed as Independence Day on the village green it sees the new Doctor crash the Tardis to earth.

Details of the hotly-anticipated new episode came as Smith and his co-star Karen Gillan attended the launch party for the new series in Cardiff.

The episode, entitled The Eleventh Hour, follows him and new companion Amy Pond played by Gillan, fight a new gruesome shapeshifting monster dubbed Prisoner Zero with just 20 minutes to save the world.

It also introduces the Atraxi, the intergalactic police, who monitor the skies with an enormous spiralling eye.

Executives have sexed up the show as Miss Pond appears in a racy policewoman's outfit complete with mini skirt. She reveals herself to be a kissogram.

Miss Gillan, 22, already hinted at romance between the two characters, confessing they kiss later in the series.

Speaking at the launch in Cardiff tonight, Smith said Gillan was the Doctor's 'sexiest companion yet'.

He said: 'We have grown very fond of one another. Its something we work hard at. I hope the tone of our relationship comes across as playful.'



Ready for an adventure: Smith described his co-star Gillan as Doctor Who's 'sexiest companion yet'


At just 27, Smith is the youngest Time Lord yet.

Both stars are relative newcomers which means the BBC is relying on unknown talent for one of its biggest shows.

It also gives the programme a more youthful feel than in previous years.

Viewers will see a new Tardis unveiled - billed as the biggest in the show's history.
Executive producer Steven Moffat said the machine regenerated after an explosion in David Tennant's last episode on New Year's Day.

The latest incarnation has rooms extending out of the main control centre and includes a variety of bizarre gadgets such as hot and cold bath taps, a typewriter and a morse code machine.

Smith's previous credits include BBC2 political drama Party Animals. He is the eleventh Time Lord taking over from David Tennant who spent four years in the role.


Who left that there? A Tardis 'crash-lands' in Cardiff city centre ahead of Thursday's premiere


More than 12million tuned in to watch the regeneration scenes on New Year's Day.

Miss Gillan, a jobbing actress, model and barmaid, has been plucked from relative obscurity to play the Doctor's companion.

The 22 year-old follows in the footsteps of stars such as Elisabeth Sladen, Wendy. Padbury, Billie Piper and Catherine Tate.

Across the series viewers will see familiar adversaries as both the Daleks and the Cybermen are tipped to return.


Anticipation: Gillan and Smith filming with the Tardis in Cardiff last year


There is also a return of 1970s baddie The Silurian, which have been given a new look for 2010.

There are new monsters for the Doctor to battle such as the sinister Smilers, whose expressions give a hint of their evil intentions, that are sure to send children rushing to hide behind the sofa again.

Guest stars for this series include Bill Nighy and James Corden.

This is the fifth series since the show relaunched with Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper.

It has become one of the BBC's biggest hits and is exported to more than 50 countries worldwide.

• The new series begins on April 3 on BBC1


source: dailymail