'Doctor Who' star Matt Smith performed a striptease on TV Friday night, but it was all for a good cause. As part of the BBC's annual 'Children in Need' telethon Smith stripped off a signature 'Doctor Who' outfit before putting it up for auction together with a signed script.

Talking on this morning's 'BBC Breakfast' Smith said he hopes the items will fetch as much as possible, and he reiterated his belief that "bow ties are cool." He also talked about the "massive challenge" of taking on a role that's been part of the British cultural landscape for 50 years. Smith joked that at a recent party he was starstruck to meet two of his predecessors in the role, David Tennant and his father-in-law Peter Davison, thinking "Wow, it's Doctor Who!" before realizing "I'm Doctor Who!"

'Children in Need' also showcased a sneak peek at that staple of the festive season, the 'Doctor Who' Christmas special. Catch it and Smith's striptease after the jump.

Another week, another bit of 'Doctor Who' speculation.

The Internet has been buzzing for a few days about remarks that 'Doctor Who' star Matt Smith made recently -- he appeared to indicate in an interview that he may only be doing one more season of 'Doctor Who' and then try his luck in Hollywood.

You'll note that the previous paragraph contained a lot of hedging -- that's because there's no confirmation from the BBC or Smith's handlers that the actor's next 'Doctor Who' season will be his last.

Still, if Smith leaves the role after next season, which is set to go into production in early 2012, I think it'd be a terrible mistake. Here's why.

The season finale of 'Doctor Who' had quite a few fun bells and whistles and enjoyable moments.

But executive producer/head honcho Steven Moffat's inability to stop adding bells and whistles sometimes gets in the way of emotionally resonant moments on this show. By the time the finale rolled around, there was so much business that had be dealt with that much of the running time of 'The Wedding of River Song' consisted of extremely clever but nonetheless exposition-y exposition.

As for the wedding of the title? Well, that was emblematic of what didn't quite work.

Great news for 'Doctor Who' fans! Details of this year's Christmas Special have been unwrapped.

The BBC has announced that production is underway on the annual staple of the festive season, and it's expected to film until mid-October.

Matt Smith's second Christmas special as the Doctor will find him embarking on an adventure in war-torn England with a widow and her two young children.

He will be joined by guest stars Claire Skinner ('Outnumbered'), Bill Bailey ('Black Books'), Arabella Weir ('The Fast Show') and Alexander Armstrong ('Armstrong & Miller').

Who is River Song and what's her connection to other characters on 'Doctor Who'?

Why do stories have to be told in a linear fashion, and what does "linear" even mean?

Do you have to fully understand what's going on in a story -- any story, even one that doesn't involve alien incursions -- in order to enjoy it?

I discussed all those things and more with 'Doctor Who' executive producer and head writer Steven Moffat in anticipation of the show's Saturday return on BBC America.

Truth be told, I was a bit nervous to talk to Moffat. I'd read other interviews in which he seemed -- well, prickly is the wrong word, but (justifiably) unwilling to suffer fools gladly. And when it comes to timey-wimey stories and the kind of puzzle plots that he sometimes creates for 'Doctor Who,' I don't mind admitting that I can be a bit of a head-scratching fool.

'Doctor Who' returns 9PM ET Saturday on BBC America. Finally.

It feels as though we've had to wait an eternity for the show's sixth season to recommence, and there were dozens of unanswered questions floating around by the end of 'A Good Man Goes to War,' the ripping mid-season finale that aired in June. The good news is, the show's executive producer, Steven Moffat, and star, Matt Smith, both said in recent interviews that all those big questions will be answered by the time the seventh season wraps up Oct. 1. My interview with Smith is below, and I'll post the interview with Moffat soon.

Many of the biggest 'Doctor Who' questions revolve around River Song, a.k.a. Melody Pond, who, it emerged in 'A Good Man Goes to War,' is the daughter of the Doctor's companions, Rory and Amy. Be assured that the interview with Matt Smith below doesn't contain any specific intel about what's to come. But after the interview with Smith, you'll get a River Song-style warning about "Spoilers!" which include the very interesting (and River-centric) title of the upcoming season finale.

Matt Smith of 'Doctor Who' experienced his first Comic-Con over the weekend, and at the start of the show's Sunday panel in a packed Hall H, he said it was "completely overwhelming."

And that was before he began answering fan questions from people inside Dalek costumes.

Below are highlights from the 'Doctor Who' panel -- and check out these trailers for the show's fall episodes, which begin airing Aug. 27 on BBC America. (Regarding the trailers and what's below, as River Song might say, "Spoilers!")

* Smith and Karen Gillan, who plays Amy Pond, said that the script for 'A Good Man Goes to War,' the show's mid-season finale, had fake pages -- the ending they read was not the real ending.

'Doctor Who' fans have just about a month to wait before new episodes from the hotly anticipated second half of Season 6 air in the US.

To whet their appetite, the BBC and BBC America have released two new trailers, in which we are told "Something is happening to Time." Uh oh.

Why does the Doctor say his time is running out? Who is Winston Churchill pointing a gun at? Er, did Adolf Hitler just thank the Doctor, Amy and Rory for saving his life? And just why, exactly, is the Doctor trying to make out with Craig Owens (James Corden)?

Watch both trailers after the jump and see what you make of them.

A one-show podcast this time: Ryan McGee and I talk all 'Doctor Who,' all the time (well, not all the time -- we clocked in at just under an hour this week).

We talk about the new season of 'Who' as a whole, we gab about the River Song revelation and 'A Good Man Goes to War' in detail, and we speculate about what may be next for Rory, Amy and the Doctor.

Did we mention that Rory is awesome? We also love the Victorian lizard lady and her plucky companion, who should get their own spinoff now (which someone on Twitter dubbed 'Cagney and Scaly'). In any event, it was a great end to an uneven season, all of which we discuss in the 'Who'-cast.

An odd bit of 'Doctor Who' trivia surfaced this weekend, that comic legend Billy Connolly was nearly tapped to play the Eighth Doctor in the 1996 one-off TV movie. Paul McGann wound up with the role instead. Scottish paper the Daily Record reported that a 'Doctor Who' historian named Alex Westthorp learned that the BBC had him on a "short list" after seeing him opposite Dame Judi Dench in 'Mrs. Brown.'

Apparently, no one at the BBC told Connolly. When TV Squad spoke with The Big Yin Tuesday, he said he had only heard that morning about the possibility he'd be tapped for the role. "That never reached as far as me," he said. "As a matter of fact, my manager told me that this morning. He read it in the newspaper and was amazed. It didn't get as far as him. These were just discussions at BBC I think."

(S05E01) You've read the interview, and now we have the review of the new 'Who.'

Eleventh Hour. Eleventh Doctor. Ha ha. We get it.

Matt Smith comes out of the gate running. Literally. In his new regeneration, the Doctor doesn't even get time to catch his breath since he's dealing with his new companion Amy Pond as well as yet another alien that wants to destroy the Earth.

This was one of the best introductions to the Doctor ever and a strong start for the newest version of the program. I liked how Steven Moffat didn't use the old trope of post-regenerative trauma (which was used in the last regeneration to David Tennant) and simply presented Matt Smith's Doctor as a bit of a scatterbrain.

Here's tonight's TV lineup (all times Eastern). All shows are new, unless otherwise noted.

It's Saturday, so don't expect too much from the schedule. Except for the one show that all us science fiction geeks will be tuning into at nine o'clock.

8:00 to 9:00
FOX: 'Cops'
Animal Planet: 'It's Me or the Dog'
BBC America: 'Doctor Who: The Ultimate Guide'
G4: 'Ninja Warrior' -- Two 30-minute episodes
HGTV: 'Divine Design' and 'Sarah's House'
Nickelodeon: 'iCarly' and 'True Jackson, VP'
The Weather Channel: 'Storm Stories' -- Two 30-minute episodes

9:00 to 10:00
CBS: 'Strikeforce Saturday Night Fights' --Yes, it is on CBS! Two hours
FOX: 'America's Most Wanted'
BBC America: 'Doctor Who' -- Premiere of the newest doctor: Matt Smith
DIY: 'Renovation Realities'
HBO: '24/7 Mayweather/Mosley'
Spike: 'UFC 110: Nogueira vs. Velasquez' -- Two and a half hours
The Weather Channel: 'SeaTek' -- Starts at 9:30

10:00 to 11:00
BBC America: 'The Graham Norton Show' -- Christina Ricci; Ricky Gervais; Stephen Merchant; Pixie Lott
DIY: 'Massive Moves'
HGTV: 'Battle on the Block'
MSNBC: 'Lockup: Raw' -- These things always sound like porn movies to me
Style: 'The Dish'
Travel: 'America's Worst Driver'

11:00 and Beyond
FOX: 'The Wanda Sykes Show' -- Tom Bergeron; actor Columbus Short; boxer Laila Ali
NBC: 'Saturday Night Live' -- Host Ryan Phillippe; performance by Ke$ha. Starts at 11:29
Cartoon Network (Adult Swim): 'Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood' -- Airs at midnight

'Doctor Who' (Sat., 9PM, BBCA) season 5 premiere
It's the debut of the new 'Who,' as in Matt Smith, the previously mostly-unknown actor who replaces David Tennant as the newest driver of the TARDIS. Smith, who actually made his first appearance in the franchise in January's 'The End of Time,' Tennant's last 'Who' hoorah, is the 11th actor to take the lead role, and, at 27, is also the youngest Who ever. But that doesn't mean he gets time to ease into his new gig ... in fact, in the season premiere, he's thrown into a situation where he has just 20 minutes to save the world, and he has to do so without the TARDIS (which was wrecked during the regeneration of Tennant's Who into Smith's Who) and the sonic screwdriver, which has gone "wibbly-wobbly." Good thing he meets his new companion, Amy Pond (Karen Gillan), just in time to help him through his pressure-packed journey.

Tomorrow's new episode of 'Doctor Who' is more than a season premiere (BBC America, 9PM EST). It's the beginning of a new era. Matt Smith steps into the Doctor's shoes, Karen Gillan is the new companion, Amy Pond, and Steven Moffat ('Coupling,' 'Jekyll') takes over as lead writer and executive producer. David Tenant will be a particularly hard Doctor to replace, but Smith hits the ground running, almost literally, arriving on Earth with a malfunctioning Tardis with only 20 minutes to save the planet from obliteration.

Smith, 27, is the youngest actor to take on the Doctor so far, although he points out no actor could ever really get close to the character's age (he's roughly 900 years old). He has been attending screenings in New York and Los Angeles this week, meeting and greeting fans, and trying to swim through an ocean of interviews and press coverage. I caught up with him by phone Thursday shortly after he touched down in L.A.

The Doctor is back, and he's a lot younger than his predecessors.

26-year-old British actor Matt Smith is the eleventh person to take on the intergalactic Time Lord role on 'Doctor Who'; he joins a long line of acclaimed thespians, including David Tennant (who just hung up his Doctor trenchcoat last year), Chris Eccleston, and the legendary Tom Baker, who played Doctor from 1974 to 1981. While Smith looks strangely like a hybrid of Eccleston and Tennant, he brings a youthful energy all his own to the sci-fi show.