Bring on the Legends (Picture: The CW Television Network)

Doctor Who fans haven’t got it good this year.

The BBC have announced that fans can expect just ONE episode of the long-running children’s series in 2016 – the Christmas Special.

So just what the HELL are Whovians going to do for the next 50 weeks or so?

How will they get their time-traveling adventures kick?


Well, they could just hibernate and watch old episodes (there’s quite a few out there) but if you, or someone you know, is a Doctor Who fan, then you may just want to turn your attention to the new television series, DC’s Legends Of Tomorrow.



It may not be Doctor Who, but it might as well be.

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The first episode has just aired in North America (with a UK transmission coming courtesy of Sky 1 later this year) having being set up by the comic book shows Arrow and The Flash.

Set in the DC Comics universe, Legends of Tomorrow sees Rip Hunter, a Time Master from the year 2166, travel back to 2016 to recruit a team – consisting of characters such as Atom, Firestorm, White Canary, Hawkman and Hawkgirl, Heat Wave and Captain Cold (don’t worry, we hadn’t heard of any of them either) – to stop bad boy Vandal Savage from conquering the world in the future, by traveling back to 1975.

Yup, timey wimey right there. So let’s look at the facts, your honour:

• Time-traveling Rip Hunter is a Time Master who stole a Time Ship and ran away from his own people.

• Doctor Who fans may remember The Doctor, a Time Lord who stole a TARDIS (a ship that travels in time) and ran away from his own people.

Oh, did we mention that Rip is played by Arthur Darvill, you know – that guy from Doctor Who?

• Rip is from London’s East End

• Doctor Who’s very first episode is set in the East End.

And doesn’t that coat seem familiar…?

• The Time Masters have a Council

• The Time Lords have the High Council

• Rip’s ship, the Waverider, changes its outer form to become invisible.

• The Doctor’s ship, the TARDIS, can change its outer form to suit its surroundings.

But before you go contacting your local lawyer on behalf of the BBC, you should also know that Rip Hunter predates Doctor Who. By over two years.

The Time Master first appeared in April 1961 whilst Doctor Who first aired in November 1963.

And the phrase Time Lord was not coined until during the Second Doctor’s final story in 1969!

So, in a typically timey-wimey, wibbly-wobbly way, Legends Of Tomorrow got there first.

Regardless, if you’re missing Doctor Who, it may be the remedy to fill that void in your life, for a year anyway.

DC’s Legend Of Tomorrow will air on Sky 1 later this year while Doctor Who is back on Christmas Day.



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