Doctor Who set for WonderCon sneak peek

Doctor Who fans in the USA who can’t wait for the premiere of the latest season of their favourite show can see it two weeks in advance at a convention in San Francisco.

The new series – starring Matt Smith, the youngest actor to take on the role of the time-travelling Gallifreyan – begins in the UK at Easter, and hits TV screens in the USA a fortnight later, on April 17. But those attending WonderCon, the comics, sci-fi and films convention in San Francisco, will get their sneak peek on April 3. The screening has been set up by BBC America, which will be showing the series on TV there. Doctor Who has a massive fanbase, and enthusiasts swap information on several dedicated online bulletin boards. Even in the TV hiatus between the end of the Sylvester McCoy “era” in the late 1980s and the start of what is sometimes termed “new Who” in 2005, starring Christopher Eccleston as the ninth Doctor, fan activity never ceased, and went into overdrive in the run-up to the Doctor Who movie of 1996, starring Paul McGann as the eighth Doctor. WonderCon has been held in the San Francisco Bay area since 1987. It began as mainly a convention for selling back issues of comic books – and that has remained an important focus – the event now houses several retailers of speciality DVDs. Comic-book artists are also usually on hand, selling artwork. After 200, WonderCon became part of the Comic-Con family of conventions, giving the San Francisco event the opportunity to preview major movies – especially those based on comic-book characters such as Spider-Man, Superman and Batman. The former Doctor Who supremo Russell T. Davies and tenth Doctor David Tennant attended Comic-Con last year in San Diego, and were reported to have been treated like royalty. With them was Torchwood star John Barrowman (Captain Jack), who has also appeared in Doctor Who. Also in the British party were Davies’s fellow executive producer, Julie Gardner, and series director Euros Lyn.