K-9

K-9 is a British/Australian comedy/adventure series focusing on the adventures of the robot dog K-9 from the television show Doctor Who, achieved by mixing computer animation and live action. The first episode aired in Halloween 2009 on satellite channel Disney XD in the UK and Ireland. As of October 2010, the full series has commenced airing on Network Ten in Australia, Disney XD in the UK and Ireland and other European nations such as Bulgaria and Romania and Disney Channel CEE in European nations such as Italy and The Netherlands. A second series is in development and the first season is due to be syndicated around the globe, with two confirmed networks, Channel 5 in the UK and Cartoon Network in New Zealand. Other networks have yet to be announced but none the less it has pushed back the second season to 2012. In the UK, Channel 5 is broadcasting the first series in December 2010.

Connections to Doctor Who

As this is not a BBC production, direct references to Doctor Who are not possible for rights reasons. However, Baker and Tams have confirmed that this K-9 is the original K-9 Mark I, who appeared in Doctor Who from The Invisible Enemy (1977) to The Invasion of Time (1978). This model was last seen in the possession of Leela on Gallifrey; in the first episode, the robot dog is damaged and undergoes a "regeneration" into a new, more advanced form capable of flight. He then explains that most of his memory was damaged, as he cannot remember the Doctor. In "The Curse of Anubis", when Starkey and Jorjie steal the Anubians book and in the book is a list of drawing of creatures the Anubians have enslaved which include a Sea Devil (as seen in The Sea Devils and Warriors of the Deep), a Mandrel (as seen in Nightmare of Eden) and an Alpha Centauran (as seen in The Curse of Peladon, The Monster of Peladon, The Bride of Peladon and The Prisoner of Peladon).

The decision to launch the show in the UK on 3 April, the launch date for Doctor Who's The Eleventh Hour, which introduced Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor, was interpreted by the Gawker Media blog io9 as a way of taking advantage of the latter show's popularity to boost interest in the new show.