When you're bombarded with one panel after the other, it's sometimes hard to figure out how to group them together. One writer I was sitting with at the BBC America panel, for instance, was blogging each individual panel, and was such a frantic blur of writing and Photoshopping that she developed what can best be described as SCTS (Sudden Carpal Tunnel Syndrome).

You gotta do what you gotta do, I guess. Me, I figured that there were three panels that could be put in what I call the "Comic-Con group": Spartacus on Starz, and Doctor Who and Being Human on BBC America. These shows got extensive showcases in San Diego over the weekend, and there wasn't many details revealed in any of these panels that you wouldn't have heard over the din at SDCC. So I'm going to go over the three of them in brief after the jump.

Let me give you a good teaser: If you were on the fence about seeing Spartacus, the prospect of a naked Lucy Lawless may convince you.

Spartacus: Blood and Sand

During the Spartacus panel, Lawless was asked if she's going to be naked during the first season, as the show involves a lot of sex scenes. "I'm afraid so," she said. She plays Lucretia, a "proprietor of a camp for gladiators." She takes up with a gladiator in the hope of having a baby. It's tough for her to do those scenes because, while she tries to keep in fantastic shape, "when you get on set, you get the 'freshman 15'," she told the scrum afterwords.

Near the end of the scrum, I asked her if she thought a certain fanboy segment (coughXenacough) will be happy to see her nude. Her response included her experience seeing Caligula when she was a teenager. Say one thing for Lucy; she's not the demure type.

Lucy Lawless on being nude (1:58)



In the "more than we need to know" department, apparently the show utilizes a prosthetic for when the various gladiators appear nude. Yes, that kind of prosthetic. "We had to create the 'Kirk Douglas', as it's aptly named, so people had a prosthetic they could wear," said EP Rob Tappert. Lawless said they hang it up in the prop truck "next to all the merkins." Must be a fun set.

Oh, Sam Raimi is also one of the EPs; he had the concept of the show, and was involved at the start, but the latest Spider-Man film will call him away from the rest of the season.

Being Human

BBCA's Being Human, a show about a young werewolf, vampire, and ghost try to just live as humans in everyday society, was already popular when it was presented at Comic-Con. We all know why: something about British episodes and illegal downloading. But, judging by the cast and producers' happiness with the reception they got, they didn't seem to mind.

Interestingly, creator Toby Whithouse said the show started merely as a show about three college students sharing a house. During the develpment phase, "in kamikaze fashion, I said, "We can always turn george into a werewolf.' That's the condensed version of a process that took two years."

Doctor Who

Normally, I'd give the classic remake of the sci-fi classic its own post, but John Lewinski did a good job of covering the bases when he spoke to David Tennant at SDCC. Tennant's in his last series as the Doctor, as we all know; his final episode will be 75 minutes (probably expanded to 90 minutes or 2 hours here to account for commercials) and air around Christmas. According to BBCA chief Garth Ancier, they've gotten better at airing shows soon after they bow in the UK, and the last Tennant show will be no exception.

As far as the overjoyed reception the show got at SDCC, Tennant had a great line: "I wanted to crowd dive but they were all sitting down. It was disappointing."

Russel T. Davies, who Ancier called the "David E. Kelley of Britian," has now written for two Doctors played by two very different actors. But he's not conscious of that when he writes. He writes more towards the story and what the actor can do than try to exploit an actor's tics. "They have an essential Doctorness. i tend to surf and see wherever he's going."

More fun stuff to come, as I seem to have about three hours of typing and audio editing ahead of me. Coming up: Matt Damon. Yes, that Matt Damon.