A Brief History of Doctor Who
From Wikipedia: Doctor Who first appeared on BBC television at 5:15 pm (GMT) on 23 November 1963, following discussions and plans that had been in progress for a year. The Head of Drama, Sydney Newman, was mainly responsible for developing it, with the first format document for the series being written by Newman along with the Head of the Script Department (later Head of Serials) Donald Wilson and staff writer C. E. Webber. Writer Anthony Coburn, story editor David Whitaker and initial producer Verity Lambert also heavily contributed to the development of the series. The series' title theme was composed by Ron Grainer and realised by Delia Derbyshire of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. The programme was originally intended to appeal to a family audience. The BBC drama department's Serials division produced the programme for 26 series, broadcast on BBC One. Viewing numbers that had fallen (though comparably increased at some points), a decline in the public perception of the show and a less prominent transmission slot saw production suspended in 1989 by Jonathan Powell, Controller of BBC One. Although it was effectively cancelled (as series co-star Sophie Aldred reported in the documentary Doctor Who: More Than 30 Years in the TARDIS), the BBC said the series would return.
While in-house production had ceased, the BBC was hopeful of finding an independent production company to relaunch the show. Philip Segal, a British expatriate who worked for Columbia Pictures' television arm in the United States, approached the BBC about such a venture. Segal's negotiations eventually led to a television movie. The Doctor Who television movie was broadcast on the Fox Network in 1996 as a co-production between Fox, Universal Pictures, the BBC, and BBC Worldwide. Although the film was successful in the UK (with 9.1 million viewers), it was less so in the United States
Licensed media such as novels and audio plays provided new stories, but as a television programme Doctor Who remained dormant until 2003. In September of that year, BBC Television announced the in-house production of a new series after several years of unsuccessful attempts by BBC Worldwide to find backing for a feature film version. The executive producers of the new incarnation of the series are writer Russell T Davies and BBC Wales Head of Drama/BBC Television Controller of Drama Commissioning Julie Gardner. It has been sold to many other countries worldwide (see Viewership).
The new series debuted with the episode "Rose" on BBC One on 26 March 2005. There have been three further series in 2006, 2007, and 2008 and Christmas Day specials in 2005, 2006 and 2007. The fourth series began on BBC One on 5 April 2008. There will be a rest year in 2009, with no new series, although David Tennant will star in 4 specials in that year. After the 2008 Christmas special and four special episodes in 2009, a fifth full-length series is planned for Spring 2010, with Steven Moffat replacing Davies as head writer and executive producer.