Ever since Christopher Ecclestone stepped into Doctor Who’s shoes a few years ago, there’s been talk of a big screen version of the classic sci-fi show, but plans don’t seem to have moved very far. Now though, Variety reports that none other than Harry Potter director David Yates is planning on making a Doctor Who movie!

The film is being produced by the BBC, who hope to turn this intergalactic alien Time Lord into a worldwide theatrical franchise – although presumably if they’re hoping for a top flight movie, they’ll be looking for a studio to partner with on the project and splash some cash of grade A special effects.

David Yates commented, “We’re looking at writers now. We’re going to spend two to three years to get it right. It needs quite a radical transformation to take it into the bigger arena. The notion of the time-traveling Time Lord is such a strong one, because you can express story and drama in any dimension or time.”

The original series aired from 1963 to 1989, and was then rebooted in 2005. It is one of the BBC’s most lucrative properties.

It’ll be interesting to discover whether there’s a masterplan involved here, as to how this will fit with Doctor Who on the small screen. Is the idea Matt Smith will be big screen Who? Will they find a way to go back to David Tennant? Will there be a new Doctor? Is the film’s timeline going to run completely separately from what we’ve seen on the small screen? We’ll have to wait and see.

General movie news courtesy of Movie Muser