Series Six to kick off in Utah…

If you needed any further sign as to the impact that Doctor Who has these days, look no further than the fact that the next series of the show (Matt Smith’s second as the Doctor and overlord Steven Moffat’s second in charge) is heading to the United States for a two-part episode to kick off the run next year.

Scenes will be shot in the Utah desert next month for an as-yet-untitled story set in the late 1960s that sees the Timelord and friends also summoned to the Oval Office.

Yes, we’re pretty certain there’s someone wrapping a 12-foot-long scarf back around their neck and getting ready to comment that they think we’ll find the Doctor has actually been to America before on more than one occasion (hack cough Dalek most recently hack cough), but as Moffat points out, “Not for real, not on location – and not with a story like this one. The Doctor has visited every weird and wonderful planet you can imagine, so he was bound get round to America eventually.”

And to add to the fun, Alex Kingston will be reprising her role as River Song.

Of course, the next series does come with one giant catch: it’ll be split into two parts, with one chunk airing in the spring and the second following in the autumn with what Moffat promises is a tantalising cliff-hanger in the middle. Bet he plans to torture us all, the git.