The 'Doctor Who' World Tour Is Coming To Sydney

After last year's monumental 50th-anniversary celebrations, you could perhaps understand if the team behind beloved British sci-fi series Doctor Who wanted to solely focus on, you know, making a TV show this year - but resting on one's laurels has never particularly been the Whovian way. And, besides, there's a new Doctor in town to welcome for season eight.

So, fittingly, the series' lead writer and showrunner Steven Moffat, on-screen companion Jenna Coleman and the newborn Twelfth Doctor himself, Peter Capaldi, have announced that they will be embarking on a seven-city, five-continent promotional world tour from August 7 to 19 - and Sydney will be one of the stops.

Australia has a deep historical connection with Doctor Who that stretches back to the inception of its original theme, which was composed by Atherton-born, UK-based composer Ron Grainer, while Fourth/Fifth Doctor companion and would-be flight attendant Tegan Jovanka (played by Aussie actress Janet Fielding) left such a mark on the universe's favourite Gallifreyan that she was still being referenced by his eleventh incarnation (Matt Smith) last year: “I once spent a hell of a long time trying to get a gobby Australian to Heathrow airport,” he told Clara (Coleman) in series seven episode The Crimson Horror, referring to Jovanka's first appearance.

The tour - the largest promotional exercise in the show's history, 50th anniversary included, will kick off in the series' production city of Cardiff, and take in iconic global locations such as London, Seoul, New York, Mexico City (where it was originally broadcast as Doctor Misterio) and Rio De Janeiro. Capaldi, Coleman and Moffat (see below) will be attending fan events, media interviews, and otherwise getting the word out about the show's forthcoming eighth series.

Due to production commitments, Moffat will not be joining the entire tour, but information on which cities he will be appearing in, along with further itinerary details, will be available on the Doctor Who site soon.

Season eight of Doctor Who is set to premiere in the UK in August; BBC America will begin airing on the same day.

As for Australia, free-to-air channel ABC1 has snagged broadcast rights for August as well, but perhaps Foxtel's fledgling BBC First (which features shows starring Who alumni such as David Tennant and John Simm, as well as Capaldi) might be a good secondary home, to get us on the same page as our transatlantic friends.

Not in Sydney? No matter - if you're Queensland- or South Australia-based, you can catch up with Neve McIntosh, aka Victorian-era Silurian crime-fighter Madame Vastra, at Supanova in November.