<i>Queer as Folk</I> creator Russell Davies to revive <I>Doctor Who</i> (10016)

The BBC is set to make a new series from the worldwide cult science fiction show Doctor Who. BBC1 controller Lorraine Heggessey said Friday that a rights issue over the title had been resolved and that she has green-lighted scripts from Russell T. Davies, the out writer whose credits include Queer as Folk, Bob and Rose, and The Second Coming.

"It is far too early in the day to discuss possible story lines, characters, villains, or who might play the Time Lord--it is unlikely anything will be on the screen for at least two years," Heggessey said in a statement. No decisions have been made regarding budget or the number of episodes, she said, but it will be a family show. The title role has not yet been cast.

Doctor Who, featuring a time-traveling alien, has been reincarnated several times since it first appeared on BBC television in 1963. Vince (played by Craig Kelly), one of the principal characters of Davies's Queer as Folk, was a Doctor Who fanatic.