'Doctor Who' series 7 to return in March

It's been almost a month since we last saw the Doctor, in the fantastic Christmas special episode "The Snowmen." Fans of the series should be satisfied to learn that they won't have to wait much longer for more Doctor Who -- it was announced on Wednesday that the series would be returning on March 30. 

The Easter weekend premiere date is slightly earlier than we might have predicted, but you won't find any complaints here. The series will pick up with the second half of its seventh series. The first five episodes of series 7, which aired in September, saw the Doctor's final adventures with regular companions Rory (Arthur Darvill) and Amy (Karen Gillan), who left the series at the end of the midseries finale, "The Angels Take Manhattan." Last month's Christmas special saw the Doctor meeting up with a mysterious new companion: Clara Oswin (Jenna-Louise Coleman), who has died twice in the past (in "Asylum of the Daleks" and then again in "The Snowmen") but is somehow alive in the present. The seventh series will likely address this mystery, though knowing showrunner Steven Moffat, it's going to be a slow burn. 

The March 30 episode is rumored to be titled "The Bells of St. John," and will be penned by Moffat. Eight episodes total will air in the spring, with a 50th Anniversary special episode slated to air sometime in the fall. 

Doctor Who will air on BBC One in the UK and BBC America in the US.