Doctor Who Arrives In The Gulf

The BBC has confirmed that part of the forthcoming BBC One Doctor Who Easter special will be filmed in Dubai.

Planet Of The Dead, which stars David Tennant as the Doctor alongside Michelle Ryan and Lee Evans, began filming in January in Cardiff and the team descended on the Gulf to film further scenes for the episode.

Bionic Woman and Merlin star Michelle Ryan plays the mysterious Lady Christina de Souza who joins the Doctor on a bus-trip which takes a very unexpected detour into danger.

British comedy star Lee Evans joins the cast playing a character called Malcolm, whose life becomes connected to the Doctor's under extraordinary circumstances.

And Noma Dumezweni returns as Captain Erisa Magambo — last seen helping Rose and Donna save the world in Turn Left.

Producer Tracie Simpson says: "We rarely take Doctor Who abroad although we did visit Rome for series four's The Fires Of Pompeii which gave us some spectacular footage.

"The locations in Dubai are a perfect match for writer Russell T Davies's vision of the episode and we expect to film some incredible scenes while we are here."

Planet Of The Dead is the first of four Doctor Who Specials which will air in 2009.

Written by Russell T Davies and Gareth Roberts, the episode will be screened on BBC One in Spring 2009.

The Producer is Tracie Simpson; Executive Producers are Julie Gardner and Russell T Davies.

Doctor Who is produced by BBC Wales and is filmed in Cardiff.