Filming starts this week on the third series of Doctor Who for BBC ONE, in which David Tennant returns to his role as the tenth Time Lord and Freema Agyeman steps into Billie Piper’s shoes as the Doctor’s new companion, medical student Martha Jones. 

Agyeman, who will appear alongside Tennant in all 13 episodes, says: "I am still pinching myself and can’t wait to get started!  It’s been nerve wracking but David has been brilliant in helping me to adjust on my first days on set. I am really looking forward to travelling through time and space with him over the next eight months."

Russell T Davies, writer and Executive Producer, adds: "We were delighted … by the second series’ success, and we can promise new thrills, new laughs and some terrifying new aliens.

He went on to reveal some plot details for the forthcoming series, in which the Doctor and his companion will meet William Shakespeare, blood sucking alien Plasmavores, The Judoon – a clan of galactic stormtroopers and a sinister intelligence at work in 1930′s New York.

Filming of the Christmas episode which guest stars Catherine Tate as a the eponymous Runaway Bride, who finds her wedding day interrupted by an alien plot to destroy the Earth, has already been completed.  The storyline features the return of the Robot Santas and also guest stars Sarah Parish as the evil, alien mastermind.

Returning cast members in series three include John Barrowman, who will be making an appearance in the series finale, and guest stars include Anne Reid, Roy Marsden and Don Gilet.