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BBC's 'Doctor Who' Expands Fan Base, Gets Designated 'Cult Classic'

The newest iteration of hit British science fiction series, Doctor Who, starring current "Doctor" Matt Smith (a role previously filled by David Tennant), Karen Gillan and Billie Piper, is already embarking on its seventh season, and is finally being touted as one of the greatest shows in the past 25 years to carry the distinction of "cult classic."

Fans of Doctor Who, who call themselves "Whovians," have multiplied since the new BBC show, which reprised the old 1963 series after its most recent hiatus of 16 years, has become more mainstream in the U.S. "It's not an obscure show anymore," said Doctor Who executive producer Steven Moffat, reports Entertainment Weekly. "It's not even a 'British import.' It's just Doctor Who."

Grey's Anatomy and Scandal series creator Shonda Rhimes is another admitted "psychotic" follower of Smith's most recent portrayal of the "Time Lord." Smith, who replaced Tennant in 2010, became the first "Doctor" to be nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. So a series that boasts longevity (it holds a Guinness World Record for being the longest-running sci-fi show in the world) can now lay claim to legitimacy, at least within the esteemed designation of the "cult classic."

Doctor Who, according to EW, takes on the label alongside old cult favorites like Joss Whedon's (the king of cult) Firefly and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as well as Supernatural, Arrested Development, The X-Files, Archer, The Wire, Battlestar Galacticia and Twin Peaks.