Say what you will about American TV structure vs. our brethren across the pond, but when it comes to the big time shows you usually know what and when you are getting them. One of the biggest shows on BBC is, of course, Doctor Who and up until now we have only had a vague sense of when it was returning.
It was announced that the seventh season premiere will air on Saturday September 1st. As of now this is only official for the BBC broadcast, but starting last year the show aired day and date with BBC America, and there is no indication that will change now. The seventh season begins with a five episode run before it fractures around Christmas, allowing the second half to play out in 2013.
In addition to the air date, BBC also released the official synopsis for the first three episodes:
Episode 1: Asylum of the Daleks
“Kidnapped by his oldest foe, the Doctor is forced on an impossible mission – to a place even the Daleks are too terrified to enter… the Asylum. A planetary prison confining the most terrifying and insane of their kind, the Doctor and the Ponds must find an escape route. But with Amy and Rory’s relationship in meltdown, and an army of mad Daleks closing in, it is up to the Doctor to save their lives, as well as the Ponds’ marriage.”
You can check out the other two after the jump.
Episode 2: Dinosaurs on a Spaceship
“An unmanned spaceship hurtles towards certain destruction – unless the Doctor can save it, and its impossible cargo… of dinosaurs! By his side a ragtag gang of adventurers; a big game hunter, an Egyptian Queen and a surprised member of the Pond family. But little does the Doctor know there is someone else onboard who will stop at nothing to keep hold of his precious, prehistoric cargo.”
Episode 3: A Town Called Mercy
“The Doctor gets a Stetson (and a gun!), and finds himself the reluctant Sheriff of a Western town under siege by a relentless cyborg, who goes by the name of the Gunslinger. But who is he and what does he want? The answer seems to lie with the mysterious, Kahler-Jex, an alien doctor (yes another one!) whose initial appearance is hiding a dark secret.”
