BBC

The BBC has released the first trailer for the rabidly highly anticipated Doctor Who 50th anniversary special – or at least the first trailer that actually features footage from the episode rather than stock imagery and a voiceover – and, get ready to get excited, because it looks amazing. The Day of the Doctor combines Eleventh Doctor Matt Smith with Tenth Doctor David Tennant, brings back Billie Piper alongside current companion Jenna Coleman, and finally solves the mystery of whoever John Hurt’s apparent “Doctor” happens to be.

Interestingly enough, this is still not the anniversary trailer that was shown during the Doctor Who panel at San Diego Comic Con last July. It’d be a shame if that never saw the light of day, so here’s hoping another trailer is in our future before November 23.

Anyway, sit back, relax and enjoy. The Day of the Doctor looks pretty amazing. ETA: Would you believe that while writing this post, a second, extended 50th anniversary trailer was released, which includes almost another minute of new footage. Click through and enjoy.

Now that we're inching ever closer to the highly anticipated third season of Sherlock, it's finally time for some Series 3 goodies to start being released. Which, for fans who've spent the better part of two years in the desert, is basically better than Christmas (I myself fall firmly in this category).

So, rejoice Sherlockians! While there's still no official UK airdate to go with the show's January 19 US premiere date, the BBC has released the first official photo from Series 3, along with a press release to prove this whole thing isn't some kind of shared fever dream we're all having.

Get your first look at stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman in action (sort of) below and start preparing yourself and your feelings for the utter devastation and emotional angst that’s basically lying in wait for us all. If this picture is anything to go by, tonally. Just guessing.

Ripper Street, the period drama focusing on a group of police officers fighting crime in London’s notorious Whitechapel district during the late nineteenth century, will be returning to BBC One at the end of October, with a US airing not too far behind.

Created by Richard Warlow, Ripper Street is set in the East End of London in 1889, during the aftermath of the “Ripper” murders. The series follows H Division, the police precinct from hell which is charged with keeping order in the chaotic streets of Whitechapel. H Division was responsible for policing a relatively small area of just 1¼ square miles, yet into that space were packed some 67,000 people; a seething, bustling mass of the poor and dispossessed.

And, even though the shadow of the Ripper murders may be receding, it doesn’t mean that east London has found any peace.

Matthew Macfadyen, Jerome Flynn and Adam Rothberg are all back as crime solving trio Detective Edmund Reid, Detective Bennett Drake and Captain Homer Jackson in the second installment of the popular series. This time, they’ll also be joined by Being Human star Damien Molony as a new detective who’s clearly (as you’ll see in the trailer below) carrying around his own secrets with him.

We’re all counting down the seconds, basically, until November 23, 2013, the official 50th anniversary of beloved sci-fi series Doctor Who and the highly anticipated broadcast of special episode The Day of the Doctor which stars Matt Smith, brings back Tenth Doctor David Tennant and former companion Billie Piper, and introduces John Hurt as….whoever John Hurt is playing.

The BBC has released a specially made tribute video in celebration of their iconic series’ special milestone and it’s (to steal a word from my Doctor), fantastic. It would appear that they’re calling it a “tribute” trailer because it doesn’t actually contain any new footage, merely a very clever montage featuring various classic Doctors frozen in time with a dramatic voiceover from Smith. Watch for yourselves below. You won't be sorry.

Former Doctor Who star David Tennant is seemingly everywhere at the moment – still riding high off the critical and popular success of mystery series Broadchurch, the actor is set to reprise his Time Lord role for the Who 50th anniversary special, and is gearing up to star in the American Broadchurch remake we’re all not quite sure how to feel about. Now he’s got yet another drama headed our way, starring in the new BBC miniseries The Escape Artist.

Created and written by David Wolstencroft, the three-part drama stars former Tenth Doctor Tennant alongside Tony Kebbell, Sophie Okonedo, and Ashley Jensen. It follows the story of talented barrister (that’s British for lawyer) Will Burton, who is known for never losing a case and for his ability to get criminals out of tight legal corners. (That’s why he’s called “the Escape Artist”.) But when Burton agrees to defend a notorious murder suspect and manages to get him off on a technicality, the decision comes back to haunt him.

You can see a few snippets of footage in the BBC’s Fall “Original Briitish Drama” trailer, but this is our first proper look at the mini-series. Watch the trailer for The Escape Artist below.

A new trailer has been released touting even more of the great “Original British Drama” we will be treated to thanks to the BBC in the coming months. This clip is the second in what appears to be a series – the network released a trailer a few weeks ago touting several of its most popular new and upcoming series’, including Sherlock, Ripper Street, The Musketeers and The Escape Artist, which, of course, all looked wonderful.

This second promotional effort focuses on an entirely different set of shows set to premiere in the coming months – which means we get our actual (albeit very brief) footage from the new series of both Call the Midwife and Last Tango in Halifax, as well as first looks at several new dramas, including Death Comes to Pemberley, The 7:39, Common and Truckers.

Watch for yourselves below – and get ready to get excited!

The first preview has been released for the highly anticipated new BBC fantasy series Atlantis, which is set to premiere on both sides of the pond later this year.

The drama is meant to be a replacement of sorts for popular sci-fi/fantasy drama Merlin which wrapped up last year and is headed by the same creative duo of Johnny Capps and Julian Murphy. While the streets of a mysterious lost city seem a far cry from the forests of Camelot, the trailer does have a similar feel – complete with mysterious prophecies, proclamations of destiny, fantastical monsters and a main character duo comprised of a strapping young hero and his occasionally goofy sidekick.

Basically this kind of looks like Merlin, but with Greek myths instead of Arthurian legend. Not that that’s a bad thing.

Watch the first trailer for Atlantis below and judge for yourself.

Sherlock co-creator Mark Gatiss is set to spruce up your holidays with a little horror this year – he’ll be bringing an adaptation of M.R. James’ The Tractate Middoth to BBC Two for Christmas. The drama will be accompanied by a new documentary on James – also presented by Gatiss – called Ghost Writer.

Gatiss, who also writes for Doctor Who fairly frequently, and is also the man behind upcoming 50th anniversary biopic An Adventure in Space and Time, will be making his directorial debut this holiday season with this bit of “festive horror”.

Plus, he’ll even be reunited with fellow Sherlock star. Una Stubbs, who plays everyone’s favorite landlady (not housekeeper) Mrs. Hudson on the mystery drama, has snagged a lead role in this gothic ghost story, alongside former Who companion Louise Jameson, The History Boys star Sacha Dhawan and I, Claudius’ John Castle. Other notable names in the cast include David Ryall, Eleanor Bron, Nick Burns and Roy Barraclough. Want more details? Read on.

The BBC released a new trailer yesterday highlighting its forthcoming slate of “Original British Drama” – a montage of both new and returning series that’s meant to get us all excited for the great programs – both new and old – headed our way from Auntie Beeb in the not too distant future.

Spoiler: This clip does its job really well.

The trailer – which is extremely well put together and very theatrical – shows off several of the BBC’s most highly anticipated properties, including the returns of Sherlock and Ripper Street and several new premieres, including period drama The Musketeers with Peter Capaldi, The Escape Artist with David Tennant, The Great Train Robbery, Quirke, By Any Means and What Remains.

Granted, none of these series get to highlight more than a handful of super quick glimpses of new footage – but we don’t think you’ll mind so much. Watch for yourselves below.

Exciting news for fans of quality crime dramas – or really just great British television in general – Luther is returning for a third series later this year!

In this suspenseful (okay, often downright dark) drama, Idris Elba plays Detective Chief Inspector John Luther, a brilliant but haunted homicide detective who works for the Serous and Serial Crime Unit, tracking down the worst sorts of offenders. Elba won a Golden Globe in 2011 for his performance as the obsessive Luther, who can’t quite shake the darkness of the crimes with which he deals.

The four new episodes will see Luther faced with two conflicting crimes to investigate and a ruthless cop determined to bring him down. Warren Brown is back as the loyal DS Ripley and Ruth Wilson will reprise her role as serial killer Alice Morgan, who has a rather complicated relationship with Luther. Resident Evil’s Sienna Guillory will be introduced as a new love interest for the detective, so it seems Luther might be finding a bit of personal happiness for once, as strange as that sounds.

Take a look at the BBC trailer below.