Will they?

Honestly, it will depend on the ratings of Season 4, as well as who might be in the wings to take over RTD.

The Beeb have a lot of faith in RTD, but right now, they seem to be thinking that he is the ONLY one who could make it work.

If the ratings for S4 are as bad as the Tate-Haters fear, then it's a lot less likely that we'll see Season 5.

Cant wait for Series 4, hopefully Russell is saving his best stuff 'till last.

Your best bet, however, is to hang in for "Smith and Jones." Despite Russell T. Davies fondness for writing the Tenth Doctor like a hypercaffeinated hummingbird, the first episode of Series Three is a solid introduction to new companion Martha Jones. Martha is a more mature and educated character than Rose Tyler and as a result, she complements the Doctor better than Rose (especially Series Two Rose) did. You get a great grasp of Martha's potential as a companion, which unfortunately, ends up mostly wasted as Series Three wears on. The Judoon, meanwhile, could have been silly Rhino creatures but their Judge Dredd depictions work well and actually bring something to the story. Part of me still wishes they turned out to be Sontarans, though...

Just so we don't waste our time writing begging letters to you, pleading for you to see sense.

I'm not even saying that this is a bad thing, but stop pretending there's no intent here.

Some of you homophobes act like they're having boys kissing each other and playing grabass while dancing to Erasure tunes and "It's Raining Men." There are fewer homosexual moments than there are slobbering, touchy-feeling, and awkward hetero moments in this series.

So AGAIN I ask the RTD bashers and homophobes to post an actual list of each and every "gay infraction" that occurs on this show, because I've watched every episode twice and I haven't seen anything to get upset about.

As for the "gay agenda"-- It's the same as the straight agenda, I imagine; Being able to hold hands in public with someone you care about without being hassled for it. The only people making an issue of this sort of thing are the people who do the hassling. The people being hassled are just trying to live their lives like anyone else.

So post the list, guys. There's nothing to complain about, but be my guest--- Educate us as to all these totally queer moments on Doctor Who that are supposedly corrupting children's innocent minds and putting you off your lunch and making Jesus cry. PROVE IT. Give us a list and detail point-by-point how such-and-such moment is gay and how it forwards some "agenda" other than just showing the way some people in our society just happen to be in the real world.

Oh really? So people didn't regard STAR TREK as a kids' show? Because that was the first interracial kiss on television.

And I suppose Sesame Street isn't children's programming either? I mean, back in the early days it was the first kids' show to feature White, Black, Hispanic, Asian, and other people all together in one place, learning the same lessons together. (Incidentally, Sesame Street also had a gay character later on).

Oh, and The Electric Company had a multi-racial cast as well.

Both of those shows were revolutionary in their early days. Before Sesame Street there were no major kids' shows that presented people of all races living together in the same place, in harmony, without racial stereotypes.

I'd say racial equity was maybe not WON through children's programming, but there were a lot of us who were little tykes in those days when segregation wasn't too far in the past (and still existed in some corners of the country) and it was almost scandalous to consider showing white people and black people holding hands or hugging on a KIDS SHOW, and to us, Sesame Street and The Electric Company showed us a world where the bigotry of our parents was ignored in favor of people treating each other decently, and we liked it. We grew up to be non-racist in part because of Sesame Street showing us that people of other colors and cultures are not to be feared or hated--- It showed us they were just like us. They had families, and loved each other, and liked doing fun things, and just wanted to be treated fairly.

You know... Just like gay people.

You Are A Bigot. This isn't about "protecting children" or anything benevolent. This is about you fearing and hating that which is different from your own lifestyle, and wanting to keep it off the public airwaves because it offends YOU and your backwards point of view.

You would have been a racist just fifty years ago, arguing the same things-- "We have to keep our kids from seeing these colored people mixing with whites on TV. It's disgraceful."

Call it whatever makes you feel justified, jerk. The rest of us see through your tidy disguise and recognize you as a bigot.

Do all gay people exist solely to break up stable relationships (Gwen/random lesbian in Torchwood)? Do they have to interject "But of course you know I'm with someone of the SAME SEX" into every second sentence (a la old lady lesbians in Gridlock)? Are they ALL raving exhibitionists (a la Capt Jack in Long Game)? Do they ALL swear, smoke and fuck CONSTANTLY (as in Torchwood) so as to tell the world that they're "adult and edgy, yeah!"

Like I said. Gay relationships are portrayed more realistically in Eastenders and Hollyoaks than in Doctor Who and Torchwood. Smashing - RTD is telling all of we uneducated straights that gay people are incapable of keeping a stable, respectful relationship(Torchwood), they are all either major exhibitionists (Captain Jack) or obsessed with sex 24/7 (everyone in Torchwood) and that the way to show homosexual relationships as progressive is for everyone to act as if they are 14 years old and trying to piss off Mum and Dad (everyone in Torchwood).

RTD is shit at writing homosexual relationships in sci-fi. Which confuses me as he does it brilliantly in post-watershed drama (Queer As Folk). Am I the only one wondering why this is?

Hairy Nutsack - Fucking genius! "There's no gay agenda in Who - but thanks to the gay stuff in Who EVERY BIGOT IN THE UK WILL ACCEPT US FOR WHAT WE ARE! But this isn't an agenda. Not even a little bit."

It's not even hard to see through.

As I say - watch Hollyoaks for a respectful homosexual relationships that is being developed in an understanding and respectful way, with intelligence and care. Totally NOT the RTD way of writing.

Tegujai Batir - Well done! That was your first well-reasoned, intelligent, even funny post!

There may be hope for you yet. But I doubt it.

so NOBODY on these talkbacks has complained about how fed up they are hearing the Doctor mooning on about how much he misses Rose? No-one has said Martha hasn't had a fair crack at being a great companion because RTD keeps making the season arc "Doctor Ignores Martha As He's Not Over Rose"? Nobody's fed up of stupidly awkward dialogue like "I remade Torchwood, in your honour!" (some honour - he's dedicated a swingers' secret agent club to a 900-year old Time Lord...). NOBODY has said that they think ANY sexual agenda - gay, straight or bi - should be kept out of the relationship between the Doctor and his Companions?

You should go back and read the OTHER comment people are making about sex in this show - not just those of we "bigots".

Again - the guy is 900 years ols. Everything he wanted to fuck, he would have fucked like now. Gay or straight, this is a kids' show about monsters and aliens - why the fuck is the sex angle even in this show?

Let the kids watch Hollyoaks. There's a decent gay subplot going on in it RIGHT NOW.

Watch Cruising sometime.

I'm waiting for the movie plot of Gays turning straight. Every gay plot revolves some straight suddenly turning Gay. Time to reverse that shit.

Why does it matter just how Gays are written on Dr Who? It isn't defining the style or direction of Homosexuality.

Lou Fucking Read sums it up best.

But you know people get emotional

And sometimes they just don't act rational

They think they're just on TV -

sha la la la, man

I've been re-watching as much as I can find on the net.

Sadly it seems that much of the Hartnell/Troughton episodes are incomplete and pieced together with stills.

One of the BEST tv shows in modern history.

Glick, I second your call for Classic Who to be rerun. I've also been trying to catch up on the net but stopped watching when halfway through the first Dalek encounter the Hartnell episodes' sound tracks were off by 2 seconds. I just can't watch a show like that.

Dear BBC from an American viewer: You know, maybe you didn't get the memo, but there's this little thing in TV casting called "likeability" and "sexiness" -- NEITHER of which Catherine Tate has. If I were you, I'd SERIOUSLY rethink ANY idea of having her be a companion beyond a one episode guest visit. And even THAT would be painful to watch.

Wow! Seriously, after suffering through BRIDE, I can't believe THIS is who they decided should be the next companion, even for a bit. She's horrible!

And you're all saying "no sex or romance in the show at all, then" kind of like "Then I'll take my ball and go home!" -- If you can't have purely hetero romance, then you don't want ANY romance at all!

Look, if it were Rose that were bisexual, and raising her eyebrows and flirting with girls, you'd all be jerking off waiting for her to kiss a girl. Your whole problem is that you just don't seem to be able to deal with the very THOUGHT that Captain Jack wants to fuck everybody who looks halfway decent. Your problem seems to be male-male relationships, and that, my friends, is just your homophobia rearing its ugly little head.

Really. . . If Martha met Rose and the two of them fell for each other, you'd all be foaming at the mouth waiting for them to get touch each other, family show or not.

Anyway, if all this sex on the telly is bothering you, then GET OFF.

Couldn't agree with you more. Still not understanding why the representatives for the gay community on this TB are actually happy to be portrayed the way they are on new Who by RTD. He's making them all look like sex-obssessed adolescent morons, and still he's defended. I just don't get it.

You know, one of those Katoeys that you see and THINK is an insanely hot woman, who gives you an immediate erection and you WANT to get home and into bed...only once you get there and she lifts her skirt, you're in for a big surprise.

There, that should settle the whole straight versus gay debate. Now its a win-win all around and in terms of "what" you want to see onscreen, each side got what they wanted!

Now let's cut the sex crap and get back to discussing how they're going to make this a better show -- and having Catherine Tate around for any length of time is NOT an acceptable answer. For crying out loud, if they needed to fill time till Martha returns, why the hell couldn't they just bring back Sarah Jane? Her guest episode with K9 was great and actually warm and touching -- in short, that episode was everything that BRIDE and Tate were not.

I'll stand by what I said later about healthy heterosexual relationships being superior to all others though, and I will teach my children just that.

See, that's one thing I disagree with. On the one hand, I can understand how some actors would just love to bounce from one job to another, or have the opportunity to do all sorts of roles to appease their inner muse -- not to mention really, really hoping that they can make a career out of acting fulltime. But then again, let's be honest: odds are that's a truly slim chance. There's always that infamous statistic that the Screen Actors Guild tosses out that they actually only have something like, what, a bare 6% or so of union memmbers -- some REALLY low number like that -- who can actually say that they make a living fulltime as an actor (versus having to supplement their income by working in real estate or as the classic waiter or some such thing, where THAT'S really their fulltime job when you come down to it).

Personally, its the people who DON'T want to go to a conventions 20 years later and sign autographs that turn me off. What are they so miserable about? Get the stick out of your ass and just be grateful. Hell, compared to people who work seriously hard, classic blue collar type jobs their entire life, what are actors being so snobby about?

Two nice examples I can think of: First, I recently met Alan Young, who starred as Wilbur Post in the classic MR ED TV show while old school sci fi geeks will also remember him for his bit role in the George Pal version of THE TIME MACHINE. I tell you, the guy was just all-out nice and true class, and he seemed genuinely happy to just be out and talking to fans. He was more than happy to just sit and talk about the MR ED show, his career, and it was obvious he recognized that it was a One in a Million thing that he actually DID star in a show that (1) lasted several years and paid his bills at the time, setting him up for life and (2) he was doublely blessed by being in a show that's still on the air 40 years later and is STILL making people laugh. So I really appreciated that he had the class to have a wider appreciation of things.

Which makes me think of the other person whose attitude I've always like, which is Jonathan Frakes, who geeks of course know as Commander Riker from TREK: NEXT GEN. When I met him in person he was a total blast, just came off as a really great guy, and in an interview he gave someone asked him flat out if he was afraid of being typecast in the role, of being stuck forever in Star Trek, and if he was afraid of becoming like William Shatner.

To which Frakes replied "God, I should be so LUCKY as to have William Shatner's career. What are you kidding me? I'd jump on that in a heartbeat."

So maybe it's just me, but I really prefer those actors who don't run from what they did, who don't run from a show or a role that actually GAVE them their fan base. Sure, I can appreciate how they might feel if some fans get TOO geeky or slobbery or dweeby over things, but for the most part I just think alot of these actors should be thanking God that they won the lottery (so to speak) to even BE in something that stood the test of time -- or was hot for a bit, so they at least GOT a moment's time in the sun -- and that it put some coin in their pocket as well.

Hey, maybe its me getting older and more philosophical, but I do look at it as a "growing old and graceful" kind of thing. Sure, it's easy to be the snobby hot looking young stud or starlette and think you're the shit and will be the shit forever...but when you're 60 and older and grayer and wrinkled and certainly far less trim, my guess is -- given the inherent artistic ego -- most actors will wind up WISHING that someone would still want their autograph 20 years down the road...

I'll thank you not to speak for other people and define what characters do and don't offend their sensibilities.

Brilliant. Simply Brilliant. Especially as the season goes on and in the last three of this particular season he is amazing.

This show is utterly fantastic and I can't wait for seasons four and five with the astounding David Tennant.