Within the world of Dr Who, a british science friction series, there have been and continue to be several spin offs. This is material made outside of the filming for Doctor Who but is ever relevant to the story line or includes characters who have had staring roles in the show. Spin offs were shown both during the main series of the programme during 1963-1989 and during 1989-2005, when the main show had a break, and still continue today. These include T.V and film, comic book and novel form. During the no Who period spin offs were a way of keeping the show alive in the minds of its fans.
What makes Doctor who spin off so different to that of other science fiction spin offs is that many of the television writers and stars are directly involved in the making of spin offs.
T.V spin offs
The first attempt at a T.V spin off came in 1981, when a 50 minute pilot episode, taking the form of a robot dog, K-9, and a past companion of the Doctors, Sarah Jane Smith, in a show called K-9 and company. This spin off focused on the friendship between the robot dog and the dog in the pilot subtitled 'A Girls Best Friend'. Despite being very popular and receiving 8.4 million viewers it only lasted for one show. However K-9 and Sarah Jane Smith have starred in their show together since. There adventures were continued on in a Big Finish Production in the 2000s. Following the Dr Who re-launch in 2005 the show was shown along side a documentary series Dr Who confidential which gave viewers an insight into the behind the scenes of the show. This followed every episode from the first episode in serious 1 (2005) until the last episode in 2011 when it was cut to free up space for new talent.
In October 2006 the first episode of a brand new programme 'Torchwood' was aired which received a record viewers for BBC three of 2.4 million. The show is set in Cardiff and revolves around a team investigating alien mishaps. It stars John Barrowman as a formed Doctor companion 'Captain Jack Harkness'. Torchwood was the first Dr Who spin off to be shown as a full television series.
The Dr who series of 2006 and 2007 were companioned by a CBBC programme given the name Totally Doctor Who. The 2006 series of the show was presented by Barney Harwood known from CBBC and Smile and Liz Baker from Blue Peter. As for the 2007 series Baker was replaced by SMart presenter Kirsten O'Brien. During this series, an animated serial, The Infinite Quest was featured.
In April 2006, it was confirmed that the return of K-9 would be in the form of a 26 part computer-animated children's series given the name K-9. It was written by Bob Baker and started in October 2009 and ended (after the 26 episodes) in September 2010.
The Sarah Jane Adventures aired as a 60-minute spin off starring Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith, a former companion of the Doctor's. There was a spin off of this called Sarah Jane's Alien Files which aired in 2010 alongside the fourth series of the show. There was a second animated show with the name of Dreamland, which aired on CBBC in the Autumn of 2009.
Film spin offs
However, Dr Who spin offs did see success with short films which focus on the doctor's biggest enemy, the daleks. These were called Dr Who and the Daleks and the Dalek Invasion of Earth, both produced in the 1960's seeing Peter Cushings as The Doctor. From the years of 1987-1994 there was an attempt by the Daltenreys Group to made a whole length feature film but the license was rejected by the BBC. As for films going directly to video, the BBC never give license for any video production to be made and as such production companies are only able to include individual characters and alien races if they are BBC.
Books
There was also a success in books being launched following the first ever series of Dr Who. The first on the list first published in the mid1960s was called Dr. Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks. This was a novel with a loose link with the second series of the show, The Daleks, In the early 70's Dr Who novels were becoming very popular as Target Books began publishing them on a regular basis. these books follows on being loose adaptation of various Dr Who series. The first three sets of novels did not only appear in the U.K but also in Netherlands, Canada and the U.S. From the 70s this stretched to editions being trranslated and sent out to people in Brazil, Turkey, Turkey and the U.S and also Japan, West Germany, Portugal, France and Finland.
When the final Target book was published, in 1994, all but six of the serials had been made into a novel.
Conclusion
The Doctor Who programme has given off to many spin off. The reason for this is because it is a very popular programme that is watched by a whole family and is unlike a lot of other programmes. It includes much loved characters that people want to get more involved with and follow in a spin off. There are popular actors and actress who have made a name for themselves in Doctor Who and then in some cases crossed over into the spin offs die hard fans will enjoy. In fact Doctor Who is one of the most popular series ever in my opinion to have created spin offs.
What makes Doctor who spin off so different to that of other science fiction spin offs is that many of the television writers and stars are directly involved in the making of spin offs.
T.V spin offs
The first attempt at a T.V spin off came in 1981, when a 50 minute pilot episode, taking the form of a robot dog, K-9, and a past companion of the Doctors, Sarah Jane Smith, in a show called K-9 and company. This spin off focused on the friendship between the robot dog and the dog in the pilot subtitled 'A Girls Best Friend'. Despite being very popular and receiving 8.4 million viewers it only lasted for one show. However K-9 and Sarah Jane Smith have starred in their show together since. There adventures were continued on in a Big Finish Production in the 2000s. Following the Dr Who re-launch in 2005 the show was shown along side a documentary series Dr Who confidential which gave viewers an insight into the behind the scenes of the show. This followed every episode from the first episode in serious 1 (2005) until the last episode in 2011 when it was cut to free up space for new talent.
In October 2006 the first episode of a brand new programme 'Torchwood' was aired which received a record viewers for BBC three of 2.4 million. The show is set in Cardiff and revolves around a team investigating alien mishaps. It stars John Barrowman as a formed Doctor companion 'Captain Jack Harkness'. Torchwood was the first Dr Who spin off to be shown as a full television series.
The Dr who series of 2006 and 2007 were companioned by a CBBC programme given the name Totally Doctor Who. The 2006 series of the show was presented by Barney Harwood known from CBBC and Smile and Liz Baker from Blue Peter. As for the 2007 series Baker was replaced by SMart presenter Kirsten O'Brien. During this series, an animated serial, The Infinite Quest was featured.
In April 2006, it was confirmed that the return of K-9 would be in the form of a 26 part computer-animated children's series given the name K-9. It was written by Bob Baker and started in October 2009 and ended (after the 26 episodes) in September 2010.
The Sarah Jane Adventures aired as a 60-minute spin off starring Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith, a former companion of the Doctor's. There was a spin off of this called Sarah Jane's Alien Files which aired in 2010 alongside the fourth series of the show. There was a second animated show with the name of Dreamland, which aired on CBBC in the Autumn of 2009.
Film spin offs
However, Dr Who spin offs did see success with short films which focus on the doctor's biggest enemy, the daleks. These were called Dr Who and the Daleks and the Dalek Invasion of Earth, both produced in the 1960's seeing Peter Cushings as The Doctor. From the years of 1987-1994 there was an attempt by the Daltenreys Group to made a whole length feature film but the license was rejected by the BBC. As for films going directly to video, the BBC never give license for any video production to be made and as such production companies are only able to include individual characters and alien races if they are BBC.
Books
There was also a success in books being launched following the first ever series of Dr Who. The first on the list first published in the mid1960s was called Dr. Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks. This was a novel with a loose link with the second series of the show, The Daleks, In the early 70's Dr Who novels were becoming very popular as Target Books began publishing them on a regular basis. these books follows on being loose adaptation of various Dr Who series. The first three sets of novels did not only appear in the U.K but also in Netherlands, Canada and the U.S. From the 70s this stretched to editions being trranslated and sent out to people in Brazil, Turkey, Turkey and the U.S and also Japan, West Germany, Portugal, France and Finland.
When the final Target book was published, in 1994, all but six of the serials had been made into a novel.
Conclusion
The Doctor Who programme has given off to many spin off. The reason for this is because it is a very popular programme that is watched by a whole family and is unlike a lot of other programmes. It includes much loved characters that people want to get more involved with and follow in a spin off. There are popular actors and actress who have made a name for themselves in Doctor Who and then in some cases crossed over into the spin offs die hard fans will enjoy. In fact Doctor Who is one of the most popular series ever in my opinion to have created spin offs.
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