<Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> ← Previous Season 26 (season) Doctor Who (special) Next → Series 2 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> List of Doctor Who serials </Td> </Tr> <P> The first series of the 2005 revival of the British science fiction programme Doctor Who began on 26 March 2005 with the episode "Rose". This marked the end of the programme's 16 - year absence from episodic television following its cancellation in 1989, and was the first new televised Doctor Who story since the broadcast of the television movie starring Paul McGann in 1996 . The finale episode, "The Parting of the Ways", was broadcast on 18 June 2005 . The show was revived by longtime Doctor Who fan Russell T Davies, who had been lobbying the BBC since the late 1990s to bring the show back . The first series comprised 13 episodes, eight of which Davies wrote . Davies, Julie Gardner and Mal Young served as executive producers, Phil Collinson as producer . </P> <P> The show depicts the adventures of a mysterious and eccentric Time Lord known as the Doctor, who travels through time and space in his time machine, the TARDIS, which normally appears from the exterior to be a blue 1950s British police box . With his companions, he explores time and space, faces a variety of foes and saves civilizations, helping people and righting wrongs . </P>

When did doctor who come back in 2005