‘Doctor Who’ Starts on BBC America Oct. 7

Doctor Who debuts on BBC America Sunday, Oct. 7, featuring Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor. The British show’s U.S. premiere is the same as its U.K. debut. The first episode is called “The Woman Who Fell to Earth.”

With a new Doctor (Whittaker) and new friends Ryan (Tosin Cole), Yasmin (Mandip Gill) and Graham (Bradley Walsh), Doctor Who also has a new showrunner in Chris Chibnall.

Doctor Who is a BBC America co-production with BBC Studios. The sci-fi series debuted in 1963, ran until 1989, and returned in 2005. It shows the Doctor exploring the universe in a time-traveling vessel that looks like a phone booth called the TARDIS, short for Time And Relative Dimension In Space.

Whittaker is the thirteenth actor to play the Doctor, and the first female. She succeeds Peter Capaldi in the role.

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.