11th Doctor - New Photos

River Song back?

His time has come: New Doctor Who Matt Smith begins filming with his gorgeous young redheaded assistant

Six months after Matt Smith was unveiled as the new Time Lord, the actor finally began filming scenes for his Doctor Who debut this week.

The 26-year-old actor and the doctor's assistant Karen Gillan, 21, were spotted on location in Cardiff filming their first scenes together.

A sneak peek of the new show, which won't be broadcast on BBC until 2010, gives fans a chance to see the Doctor's new costume.

New cast: Matt Smith (right) and Karen Gillan go through their lines on the location of Doctor Who in Cardiff, Wales

While departing Doctor David Tennant normally wore a plain brown suit with a long trenchcoat, Matt's uniform is more retro and slightly Science teacher-esque.

The new Doctor's costume is a brown tweed jacket, bow tie, rolled up trousers and black boots.

Karen, who plays Amy Pond, looked more modern in a baggy green jumper, grey tights and Converse baseball boots.

Getting to know you: Karen and Matt chat outside the tardis

Matt and Karen began filming the new series today, which will be broadcast on BBC1 in the Spring.

Arriving on set today, Matt enthused: 'I feel very privileged and proud to be part of this iconic show.

'The scripts are brilliant - I'm excited about the future and all the brilliant adventures I get to go on as the Doctor.'

The show's new writer Stephen Moffatt, who is taking over from Russell T. Davies, is equally enthusiastic.

He said: 'Matt and Karen are going to be incredible, and Doctor Who is going to come alive on Saturday nights in a whole new way.'

Departing David filmed his last scenes of Doctor Who in May, where he was reunited with former assistant Billie Piper, as well as his current helper Catherine Tate.

His final two episodes will be broadcast at Christmas, with viewers seeing David regenerate into Matt.

Matt was announced as the 11th Doctor in January after David announced his decision to depart.

The Northampton-born actor has signed a £600,000 three-year deal, nearly half the amount of David's £1million deal.

Scottish actress Karen was only unveiled as his new companion in May, amid reports ex-EastEnder Michelle Ryan and model Kelly Brook may take the coveted role.

Karen has featured in ITV’s Rebus and hospital drama Harley Street, as well as Channel 4 comedy The Kevin Bishop Show.

The young actress, who is 5ft 11in, has also modelled for designer Allegra Hicks at London Fashion Week.

She briefly appeared in Doctor Who in 2008 appearing as a soothsayer in the episode entitled The Fires of Pompeii.

Science teacher chic: The new doctor wears a tweed jacket, rose-coloured shift and rolled-up trousers

Surreal location: Fans will have to wait until Spring 2010 to see where the doctor travels to first.

ACTOR John Barrowman stars in yet another spin-off.

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This time it involves a real-life terrifying high-speed crash - but luckily he walks away from it with cuts and bruises.

The TV favourite, Captain Jack in BBC's Doctor Who offshoot Torchwood, lost control of his turbo-charged rally car in an 80mph smash.

Barrowman was helpless as the £120,000 Subaru PLUMMETED down a verged, FLIPPED over four times and narrowly missed a LAKE at the bottom of the hill.

Paramedics rushed to the scene to pull the shaken 42-year-old from the wreckage. They removed shattered glass from his EYE before he was taken to hospital.

The drama unfolded as Barrowman filmed a race for Channel Five's Fifth Gear in Powys, Wales. The show's presenter, Tiff Needell, 57, sat in the passenger seat.

The crash, screened on the show tomorrow, comes three years after Top Gear's Richard Hammond cheated death when his dragster crashed at 288mph.

Barrowman said: "I'm lucky to walk away unscathed. I got a ticking off from my mum afterwards."

The incident will feature on the next episode of Fifth Gear, which airs tomorrow at 8pm on Five.

Enjoyable: Tiff and John seemed to be having fun before the crash occurred

The pair were lucky to survive the high-speed crash, which saw the car flip over numerous times

Barrowman said: 'I'm lucky to walk away unscathed. I got a ticking off from my mum afterwards.'

Thankfully for his matinee idol looks, the Torchwood star was only left with cuts and bruises and nothing permanent.

The crash will be screened on tomorrow's Fifth Gear, which is shown on Channel 5.

Both men were wearing safety equipment to minimise any possible injuries sustained

These images were taken just before Barrowman lost control and show him veering round a steep corner

Return Of The Magnificent Fourth

The cover for the 411th issue of Doctor Who Magazine features a picture of Tom Baker as the 4th Doctor on the front cover. The issue will feature exclusive interviews with Tom Baker and Nicola Bryant, take a look at what has made Doctor Who the popular show it is today, include more production notes from Russell T Davies, a summary of all the latest news and much more. It will be released in all good newsagents next Thursday, 23rd July, priced £3.99.

Janet Fielding To Return??

Rumours have begun to circulate that Janet Fielding will reprise her role as Tegan Jovanka in Season 31. We wait on baited breath.

The Waters Of Mars - The Story So Far....

Filming on The Waters of Mars began on 23rd February, 2009 but its title was only confirmed at the close of Planet of the Dead, back in April. The trailer for this next adventure suggested a dark, exciting drama with the Doctor appearing to be on a futuristic base, threatened by some sort of water-based menace. The brief sequence of clips delivered a sense of danger and tension, heightened by the Doctor ominously noting, 'Water always wins'.

The feel of the special was confirmed by Executive Producer Russell T Davies. 'The next one up [The Waters of Mars] is very dark. It's already scarring me and we haven't even seen the proper edit yet!' Julie Gardner confirmed on Doctor Who Confidential that it would be set on Mars, which may sound obvious, but the Fourth Doctor adventure, The Pyramids of Mars, barely even featured the Red Planet!

Recent specials have boasted fantastic casts and on 19th February we learnt that The Waters of Mars would continue the tradition. Acclaimed actress Lindsay Duncan, whose credits include GBH, Rome and Spooks, will be playing Adelaide who we now know is 'head of Mars base'.

Lindsay Duncan said she was 'thrilled' to be involved, adding, 'I've never done anything like this before and I'm really looking forward to working with David Tennant and the Doctor Who team'. She's joined onscreen by Peter O'Brien who plays Adelaide's second in command, Ed.

The team for this special comprises Executive Producers Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner with Nikki Wilson onboard as Producer. Nikki previously worked as script editor on the series four story, The Poison Sky, as well as producing series two of The Sarah Jane Adventures. The Waters of Mars is co-written by Russell T Davies and Phil Ford, with the latter best known for his work on Torchwood and the Sarah Jane Adventures. More recently he's written the forthcoming Doctor Who animation, Dreamland.

Doctor Who veteran Graeme Harper once again returns to direct. Graeme was behind the lens on The Caves of Androzani and The Revelation of the Daleks back in the 1980s and his recent episodes include the cracking season finales Doomsday and Journey's End.

So what can we expect from The Waters of Mars? There's the question of the prophesy the Doctor heard at the close of Planet of the Dead. His song ending? He will knock four times? Will the Doctor learn more on the Red Planet? And when we last left him, he was travelling alone. The Time Lord who once delighted in sharing the wonders of the universe was once again the 'lonely angel'. But judging from what we already know of the story, he won't have long to worry about loneliness. There will be action, danger... and an awful lot of running!

(bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/s4/)

Waters Of Mars Clip 2