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2021-12-24T19:40:54Z

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{{article
| publication = The Wichita Eagle
| file = 1982-12-08 Wichita Eagle Beacon.jpg
| px = 650
| height =
| width =
| date = 1982-12-08
| author = Bob Curtright
| pages = 23B
| language = English
| type =
| description =
| categories =
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| text =
"Doctor Who," that eccentric sci-fi show that has been running more than 15 years in England, has been renewed on [[broadwcast:KPTS|KPTS, Ch. 8]]. The reason, quite simply, is that the daily half-hour cult treat is the most popular show Channel 8 carries, according to a station spokesman.

The current syndicated package that began last year is now in reruns (6-6:30 p.m. Monday-Friday) because the new episodes won't be available until March. That's the earliest the BBC will release them, according to Jim Lewis, vice president and program director. What's more, Lewis says Channel 8 is the first station in this country to acquire rights for the 78 new episodes.

It took four months of negotiation, the program director says, but Channel 8 also acquired rights to a number of "Doctor Who" specials, including 62 movies (to be scheduled after next April) and a retrospective special featuring all the actors who have played the good doctor over the years. The actual number wasn't available, but an educated guess is that there have been five or six. For long-term planners, that special will air in February of 1984.

Tom Baker, incidentally, is the Doctor Who we've been watching. He will be succeeded in the new episodes by Peter Davidson, familiar as the younger brother, Tristan, in the series, "All Creatures Great and Small."

Actually, faithful viewers already saw the actor switch this fall before the reruns began — and it is a bit unnerving if you aren't used to the gimmick the series producers use. In the final episode, Tom Baker as Doctor Who dies, but he is immediately transformed into Peter Davidson as

Doctor Who — sort of a sideways reincarnation.

And the bizarre scientist time traveler, whose vehicle — the Tardis — looks like a blue phone booth, goes on his merry way to new adventures.

Spelling correction: Peter Davison
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Doctor Who Renewed - Revision history

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