And so we get the next spin-off (“eat my dust L&O”). A 13-part animated Doctor Who series will be voiced by Tennant, Agyeman with Anthony Head (in a new role), reports The Mirror, remarking (quite wittily, for them) that the 2D cartoon sees the Doctor going “into a different dimension”.

The webcasts and the radio series (not to mention Big Finish turning out the equivalent of a half hour episode every week for the last 7 years) show that animated/audio series are quick and cheap to do, requiring minimal commitment from the actors. The current BBC7 series demonstrates the BBC’s interest, and since they’ve prevented Big Finish using the 9th or 10th incarnations, it’s no surprise they’ve got their own plans.

I’d have predicted a webcast, but this will be shown during Totally Doctor Who (the children’s “behind the scenes” show). Actually, I’m still betting it’ll go on the web, too.

Update: The BBC’s Doctor Who website has gone all animated, with some more detail about Infinite Quest. It’s to be written by Alan Barnes (Storm Warning, Neverland, Zagreus, The Next Life) and directed by Gary Russell (lately of Big Finish now a script editor on the TV Series). Intriguingly, it also states “animation will be crafted by Firestep, the creative team behind previous Doctor Who animated adventures for the BBC”. The original animation BBCi The Scream of Shalka and the recently reconstructed episodes of The Invasion were animated by Cosgrove Hall. Other previous animation projects, the Big Finish webcasts Shada and Real Time, and Death Comes to Time, were drawn by Lee Sullivan.

Who are “Firestep”?