The third series of the revived British science fiction programme Doctor Who, and the twenty-ninth season of the show overall, was preceded by the 2006 Christmas special "The Runaway Bride". Following the special, a regular series of thirteen episodes was broadcast, starting with "Smith and Jones" on 31 March 2007 and ending with "Last of the Time Lords" on 30 June 2007. In addition, a 13-part animated serial (equivalent to one regular episode) was produced and broadcast as part of Totally Doctor Who.

The series stars David Tennant as the tenth incarnation of the Doctor, an alien Time Lord who travels through time and space in his TARDIS, which appears to be a British police box on the outside. In the Christmas special he is joined by Catherine Tate as Donna Noble. The series also introduces Freema Agyeman as the Doctor's new companion Martha Jones, who leaves at the end of the series because her family need support while recovering from the events of the series finale, which involved her mother, sister, and brother being tortured. John Barrowman also reprises his role as Captain Jack Harkness in the final three episodes which serve as the finale. The series is connected by a loose story arc consisting of the recurring phrase "Vote Saxon", which ultimately is revealed to be the return of the Doctor's enemy Time Lord the Master, first played by Derek Jacobi before regenerating into John Simm.

Three episodes from Series 3 were adapted from previously published works: "Human Nature" / "The Family of Blood" was adapted by Paul Cornell from his own New Adventures novel, also entitled Human Nature, while "Blink" originated as a short story in the 2006 Doctor Who annual by Steven Moffat called "What I Did on My Christmas Holidays by Sally Sparrow". "Human Nature" is also the first instance of the Doctor's previous incarnations prior to his ninth being explicitly referenced in the revived era through the sketches in The Journal of Impossible Things.

The series garnered widespread acclaim and received positive reviews from critics, along with various awards. Viewers and critics alike praised its acting, music, storytelling, suspenseful cliffhangers, meaningful themes, and high production quality.

Episodes

Supplemental episode A 13-part animated serial, The Infinite Quest, was produced and broadcast as part of the children's programme Totally Doctor Who on CBBC, leading up to the finale of series 3. Each instalment was approximately 3.5 minutes in length and, when compiled, was equivalent to a normal episode. The serial was broadcast in its entirety on 30 June 2007 and later released on DVD. The serial was animated by company Firestep. Another animated serial, Dreamland, would later be produced and aired in six parts on BBC Red Button in 2009.

PopMatters's Evan Sawdey criticised the story as having lacklustre animation, as well as having few exciting moments that would warrant the animated setting. Graeme Burke, in the book Who Is the Doctor: The Unofficial Guide to Doctor Who: The New Series, found some artwork in the story decent, but otherwise found the story dull and the voice performances of the cast mediocre. His co-author, Stacey Smith?, concurred that the story was not very exciting.

Casting

Main characters Actress and comedian Catherine Tate was cast as one-off companion Donna Noble for the Christmas special. At the end of the episode the character turns down the chance to travel in the TARDIS, but Tate later reprised her role and returned for a full series starting in the 2008 episode "Partners in Crime".

Following the departure of Billie Piper as Rose Tyler at the end of Series 2, a new full-time companion was needed. On 5 July 2006, the BBC confirmed that Freema Agyeman would join the show as new companion Martha Jones. Agyeman had previously appeared in the 2006 episode "Army of Ghosts" as a different character. John Barrowman also returned as Captain Jack Harkness for the three-part series finale.

Guest stars Recurring guest stars for the series included Adjoa Andoh, Trevor Laird, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, and Reggie Yates, who portrayed Martha's family. Derek Jacobi and John Simm portray The Master, Simm doing so in three episodes.

Other guest stars included Thelma Barlow, Ryan Carnes, Matthew Chambers, Chipo Chung, Christina Cole, Michelle Collins, Lenora Crichlow, Anthony Flanagan, Andrew Garfield, Lucy Gaskell, Mark Gatiss, Don Gilet, Jennifer Hennessy, Anna Hope, Gerard Horan, Jessica Hynes, Dean Lennox Kelly, Matt King, Chris Larkin, Harry Lloyd, Eric Loren, Stephen Marcus, Roy Marsden, McFly, Alexandra Moen, Carey Mulligan, Michael Obiora, Ardal O'Hanlon, Travis Oliver, Sharon Osbourne, Sarah Parish, Angela Pleasence, Hugh Quarshie, Miranda Raison, Anne Reid, Finlay Robertson, Thomas Sangster, Rebekah Staton, and Ann Widdecombe.

Production Development

Following the success of the first series, the BBC announced that Doctor Who had been recommissioned for a third series on 16 June 2005, only two months after the announcement of the second series. Recording for the Christmas special began on 4 July 2006, with production on the series itself beginning on 8 August 2006 and concluding on 2 April 2007.

Murray Gold composed the music, with orchestration by Ben Foster.

Writing First-time writers for the show included Gareth Roberts, who previously wrote the interactive episode "Attack of the Graske" and the Tardisodes, Helen Raynor, one of the show's script editors, Chris Chibnall, the head writer and co-producer of spin-off series Torchwood, and Stephen Greenhorn. Previous writers Paul Cornell, Steven Moffat, and Russell T Davies all contributed to the series, with Davies continuing to act as head writer and executive producer. Phil Collinson and Susie Liggat acted as producers, with Julie Gardner as executive producer. Euros Lyn, Charles Palmer, Richard Clark, James Strong, Graeme Harper, Hettie MacDonald, and Colin Teague directed episodes in the series.

The episodes in series three are arranged in a loose story arc: "Mr Saxon", an alias for the Master. The character's name was first mentioned in "The Runaway Bride" when the Ministry of Defence shot down an alien craft at Saxon's request. Several elements from episodes in the series contribute to the three-part finale: the events of "The Lazarus Experiment" and "42" were directly influenced by the Master; the Face of Boe's prophecy is directly related to Master; and a similar fob watch that was used by the Doctor to change his Time Lord biology into human was also used by the Master to hide from the Time Lords.

Several stories were scrapped during production. An episode proposed for the show's second series, written by Stephen Fry,"Doctor Who Magazine Special 57: Writing Doctor Who, Panini, 2021" would have focused on the Arthurian legend of the Green Knight, but was pushed back to the third series. This was ultimately scrapped due to Fry's commitments on Kingdom. Another episode, "The Suicide Exhibition", written by Mark Gatiss, would have had a Nazi task force assault London's Natural History Museum, which had been overrun by monsters; a secret chamber would have been discovered beneath the museum. This was pushed back to the show's fourth series before being ultimately scrapped.

Filming Production blocks were arranged as follows:

Block Episode(s) Director Writer(s) Producer Code 1 Christmas special: "The Runaway Bride" Euros Lyn Russell T Davies Phil Collinson 3X 2 Episode 1: "Smith and Jones" Charles Palmer 3.1 Episode 2: "The Shakespeare Code" Gareth Roberts 3.2 3 Episode 3: "Gridlock" Richard Clark Russell T Davies 3.3 Episode 6: "The Lazarus Experiment" Stephen Greenhorn 3.6 4 Episode 4: "Daleks in Manhattan" James Strong Helen Raynor 3.4 Episode 5: "Evolution of the Daleks" 3.5 5 Episode 10: "Blink" Hettie MacDonald Steven Moffat 3.10 6 Episode 8: "Human Nature" Charles Palmer Paul Cornell Susie Liggat 3.8 Episode 9: "The Family of Blood" 3.9 7 Episode 7: "42" Graeme Harper Chris Chibnall Phil Collinson 3.7 Episode 11: "Utopia" Russell T Davies 3.11 8 Episode 12: "The Sound of Drums" Colin Teague 3.12 Episode 13: "Last of the Time Lords" 3.13

An animated serial, The Infinite Quest, was also produced alongside the series and was broadcast as part of the CBBC programme Totally Doctor Who.

Release Broadcast The third series premiered on 31 March 2007 with "Smith and Jones", and concluded after 13 episodes on 30 June 2007 with "Last of the Time Lords". The series was initially planned to conclude a week earlier, but on 2 May 2007, episodes 7–13 were pushed back a week due to the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, rather than air "42" in an earlier timeslot. Doctor Who Confidential also aired alongside each episode of the series, continuing on from the previous series.

Home media

Reception Critical reception Doctor Whos third series received acclaim and positive reviews from critics. Arnold T. Blumberg of IGN gave an overwhelmingly positive review of the third series. He praised the acting of Tennant, Agyeman, and John Simm, describing Simm's portrayal as "a master stroke". Overall he said, "With an assured air earned by success, Series 3 of Doctor Who is a tour de force excursion across time and space...it doesn't get much better than this". He gave the series 9 out of 10 (Amazing). Nick Lyons of DVD Talk gave a positive review saying, "series three is on par with the last two seasons of the new series". He said that the character of Martha and series three, "will no doubt please fans". He gave the series 4 and a half stars out of 5.

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Nominee(s) Result 2007 Edinburgh International Television Festival Best Programme of the Year Doctor Who Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Awards Screen Award David Tennant Monte-Carlo Television Festival Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series David Tennant Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series Freema Agyeman National Television Awards Most Popular Drama Doctor Who Most Popular Actor David Tennant Most Popular Actress Freema Agyeman Nebula Awards Best Script Steven Moffat for "Blink" Saturn Awards Best International Series Doctor Who Scream Awards Best TV Show Doctor Who TV Quick Awards Best Loved Drama Doctor Who Best Actor David Tennant Best Actress Freema Agyeman Writers' Guild of Great Britain Best Soap/Series Chris Chibnall, Paul Cornell, Russell T Davies, Stephen Greenhorn, Steven Moffat, Helen Raynor and Gareth Roberts 2008 BAFTA Cymru Awards Best Drama Series Doctor Who Best Director of Photography: Drama Doctor Who Best Costume Louise Page for "The Shakespeare Code" Best Make-Up Doctor Who Best Sound Doctor Who Best Director: Drama Doctor Who Best Screenwriter Steven Moffat British Academy Television Awards Best Writer Steven Moffat for "Blink" Best Original Television Music Murray Gold Best Sound Fiction/Entertainment BBC Wales Sound Team Constellation Awards Best Science Fiction Television Series of 2007 Doctor Who Best Male Performance in a 2007 Science Fiction Television Episode David Tennant for "Human Nature" / "The Family of Blood" Best Female Performance in a 2007 Science Fiction Television Episode Carey Mulligan for "Blink" Hugo Awards Best Dramatic Presentation "Blink" "Human Nature" / "The Family of Blood" TRIC Awards TV Drama Programme Doctor Who VES Awards Outstanding Visual Effects in a Broadcast Miniseries, Movie or Special David Houghton, Will Cohen, Nicolas Hernandez and Sara Bennett for "Voyage of the Damned" Outstanding Visual Effects in a Broadcast Series David Houghton, Will Cohen, Jean-Claude Deguara and Nicolas Hernandez for "Last of the Time Lords" Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Broadcast Program or Commercial Nicolas Hernandez, Adam Burnett, Neil Roche and Jean-Claude Deguara for "Last of the Time Lords"

Soundtrack