2009 saw Doctor Who taking a short break, but not a complete one. The original production team led by Russell T. Davies, that had been working flat out since 2004 (and on more than one television show, given the spin-offs) needed a break and a new team (to be led by Steven Moffat) that was going to come in needed time to get up to speed for their first season. The result was the broadcast of just 3 60-minute episodes in 2009, although a 4th made in 2009 was broadcast on New Year’s Day 2010. That New Year’s Day episode would be the final episode for David Tennant’s Doctor in his regular run, and the final for Russell T. Davies (still the case to this date). For the only time in history, Doctor Who‘s spin-off series would actually have more episodes and more screen time than their “parent” series within a calendar year. The Sarah Jane Adventures third season consisted once more of 12 30-minute episodes (including one story that featured David Tennant playing the Doctor in it, the first time ever that the Doctor had appeared canonically in another television series). Torchwood had what most consider to be its finest season, a 5 60-minute episode run on consecutive nights for a season and story dubbed Children of Earth. If that wasn’t enough, another spin-off series debuted in 2009 in the UK - this one was called and starred K9, though it wasn’t made by the BBC and thus direct references to the series were not allowed, somewhat separating the series from the franchise. The pilot episode was shown in 2009, but rest of the series would air in the UK and internationally in 2010. For long time fans however, it seemed somewhat surreal that 28 years after Doctor Who’s first spin-off, K9 and Company was broadcast, both K9 and Sarah Jane would each be the starring characters in their own separate television series!

In 2010 Doctor Who would be back in full flight, with a new Doctor and full set of episodes once more. But that, as they say, is another entry…..