MUMBAI: Harry Potter director David Yates is developing The BBC television series Who one of the longest-running in British history.

The development of the film that would have no connection to the show is in the very early stages. This allows Yates to work on other projects.

Who centers on an eccentric man known as the Doctor, an alien time lord who travels space and time with the help of a machine called the TARDIS, whose exterior appears to be a small police box but is actually gigantic inside. He regularly teams up with humans to save worlds.

Various actors have played the Doctor over the show‘s run, with the explanation being that when the character is dying, he can regenerate his body into a new form. The conceit could work wonderfully in a long-running movie franchise a la James Bond or Batman.

After it ran successfully between 1963 and 1989, the show was re launched into a global franchise in 2005.

Since the movie series ended, his name has surfaced in connection with several projects. Nothing has stuck so far, as Yates is taking his time choosing his follow-up.