In March 2005, Christopher Eccleston's Ninth Doctor told Billie Piper's Rose Tyler to "Run!" and the UK was instantly hooked. Gallifrey's most famous export subsequently became a fixture in UK TV schedules for the first time in 16 years.
But Russell T Davies' acclaimed reboot wasn't the first effort to return the legendary Time Lord to primetime. Nine years earlier, in May 1996, an unlikely alliance of broadcasters and TV executives from both sides of the Atlantic — including, for a moment, Steven Spielberg — briefly brought "Doctor Who" back to earth.
