K9 (TV series)

K9 is a science fiction adventure series focusing on the adventures of the robot dog K9 from the television show Doctor Who, achieved by mixing computer animation and live action. It is aimed at an audience of 11 to 15 year olds. A single series of the programme was made in Brisbane, Australia, with co production funding from Australia and the United Kingdom. However, funding proved elusive, and despite persistent rumours, the series remained in "development hell" for many years. In 2006, Jetix Europe announced that they were "teaming up" with Baker, Tams, and London based distributor Park Entertainment to develop a 26 part series, then titled K9 Adventures and set in space. In 2007, Park Entertainment revealed that the main setting for the series (by then retitled K 9) would be the Platte, "an old Prairie class spacecraft" once used for asteroid colonization. In addition to K9, the characters would include Slocum, a thirty something "space gypsy", and Djinn, "an overactive computer module in the shape of an attractive young woman". This early premise was abandoned before production began in Australia.

Each episode of K 9 is approximately 25 minutes long, made for Disney XD (formerly Jetix) and Network Ten by Stewart & Wall Entertainment, in association with London based distribution company Park Entertainment. The project is being overseen by Baker; Krause and Armstrong are the primary writers for the series; four episodes were written by Queensland writer Jim Noble. The series is produced by Penny Wall and Richard Stewart of Stewart & Wall Entertainment Pty Ltd, and Simon Barnes of Park Entertainment. BBC owned characters like the Doctor will not appear in the series, due to rights considerations. In July 2007, the Australian Film Finance Corporation approved funding for the series, and the programme was pre sold to Network Ten. The series is produced in Brisbane, Australia, shooting on location around the city and on a set built in a South Brisbane warehouse. A logo for the series was released on 27 February bearing some similarities to the original font seen on the casing of K9. A trailer produced to promote the series at MIPTV was released on 2 April 2009. As it was made early in production, the music, titles, and voice of K9 were not the final ones used in the programme. A second trailer was released on 1 October 2009.

K 9 is set in near future London, with 14 year old characters Starkey and Jorjie, alongside a Professor Gryffen, who is experimenting with a Space Time Manipulator, and 15 year old Darius who runs errands for Gryffen. K9 Mark I follows the villainous reptilian warrior Jixen who came through a space time portal created by the professor's experiments and saves the Londoners. While protecting them, K9 is forced to self destruct, but is able to give Starkey instructions to rebuild him in a more advanced form. K9 and the humans then form the front line defence against alien menaces from outer space and other times. The Brisbane Times reports that the series is set in London in the year 2050 and Professor Gryffen is employed by a clandestine government agency, "The Department".

John Leeson reprises his role as the voice of K9. Sixteen year old Brisbane native Philippa Coulthard plays Jorjie Turner, a rebellious 15 year old whose mother works for the mysterious "Department". Recurring cast members include Robyn Moore as Jorjie's mother June Turner, and Connor Van Vuuren as Inspector Drake, later replaced by Jared Robinsen as Inspector Thorne.

Series Release name # of discs Region 4 (Australia) Region 2 (UK) Region 1 (US) Notes 1 The Complete First Series 4 27 September 2010 11 December 2010 (DW Shop Exclusive) Contains the Complete Series 1, Episodes 1 26 and UK Limited Edition is signed. The Bounty Hunter 1 27 September 2010 Contains Series 1, Episodes 1 6 Alien Avatar 1 1 December 2010 Contains Series 1, Episodes 7 12 Series 1; Volume 1 2 31 January 2011 Contains Series 1, Episodes 1–12. Series 1; Volume 2 2 18 April 2011 Contains Series 1, Episodes 13–26. Ultimate Collectors Edition 4 11 June 2012 Contains the Complete Series 1, Episodes 1 26 The Complete Series 4 7 May 2013 Contains the Complete Series 1, Episodes 1 26plus two extras, "The Making of K9" and "Interview with K9"

The Complete Book of K 9, a piece of non fiction that follows the story of K9 through all four models, crossing over from Doctor Who, K 9 & Company, The Sarah Jane Adventures and K 9 itself, has been advertised. A tie in called The K 9 Storybook was also due to be released in 2013, containing behind the scenes extras, short stories, comic strips and other material from the live action series. There are also K 9 Mark 2 figurines ready for sale. In 2019, Obverse Books published the third in their Time's Mosaic series of guidebooks to Doctor Who by Finn Clark, in part covering the K9 Television series and associated spin offs.

In 2009, Shayne Armstrong and SP Krause, writers and developers of the series for television, won the John Hinde Award for Excellence in Science Fiction Writing at the Australian Writers Guild AWGIEs for their script for the episode "The Fall of the House of Gryffen". The episode was also a nominee in the category for Best Children's Television in that year. In 2009, Shayne Armstrong and SP Krause were also nominated as finalists in the Queensland Premier's Literary Awards for Best Television Script for the episode "Regeneration". In 2010, Tony O'Loughlan, director of photography for the show, won two bronze awards at the Queensland and Northern Territory Cinematographer Awards for his work on the episodes Angel of the North and The Eclipse of the Korven. Series VFX Director and Director of four other episodes, David Napier, was nominated for "Best Direction in Children's Television" at the 2010 Australian Directors' Guild Awards (AWGIES) for episode 26, "Eclipse of the Korven".

The show's creators stated that a second series was in development. Bob Baker told an interviewer in 2014, "Paul and I are in process of getting another series going. Hope it doesn’t take another eleven years!". Paul Tams revealed on a Kickstarter page for his proposed Marti series that he and Baker are sitting out a protracted production deal before bringing back the series in a reboot titled K9 Adventures. In April 2016, Bob Baker stated in an interview posted on K9 OFFICIAL PAGE on Facebook that the TV series will not continue and they will for now just focus on the TimeQuake film. On 24 October 2015, Bob Baker and Paul Tams announced the film K9: TimeQuake which was destined for cinemas in 2017 and was to feature the robot dog facing off against classic Doctor Who villain Omega in deep space. Despite the film not materialising, it was announced on 9 September 2018 that "a new multi million dollar series" was in development under partnership with "a major US/UK company" prior to the release of the feature film. On 20 December 2020 'Megabytes', an anthology featuring K9, was released which was teased as being "the road to TimeQuake". When Bob Baker died in November 2021, the official Twitter page released a statement "Bob had recently completed scripts for both a new K9 Film and TV series, which will continue in tribute to Bob and his legacy," but as of 2023 this was the final message posted on the account and there is no other information available to suggest the project is still active.