Mystery Doctor Who character to die

One of four main 'Doctor Who' characters will die in the opening episode of the new series.

Show bosses are promising a "heart-wrenching" shock for viewers when either the titular Time Lord - played by Matt Smith - his sidekick Amy Pond (Karen Gillan), her husband Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill) or River Song (Alex Kingston) is killed off in 'The Impossible Astronaut'.

Show executive producer Steven Moffat told Doctor Who magazine: "We're not lying, we're not cheating. One of those four people is going to die.

"The Doctor's darkest hour is coming. Shows like 'Doctor Who' should have big, colourful, memorable moments that make you go, 'What the hell?' Well, this is one of them.

"It's hard to create a shock in 'Doctor Who' when we've already blown up the universe a couple of times. What do you do next?

"When I came up with this incredible, heart-wrenching twist, I thought, 'We kill off one of the leads in the season opener. Who's going to stop watching at that point?' It lures you in."

'The Impossible Astronaut' sees the quartet in 1960s America, where they are asked to fight a new alien threat called The Silents - described as the "scariest" creatures in the show's history - by President Nixon.

Rory was 'killed' in the last season of the BBC sci-fi show in the episode 'Cold Blood' when he was shot by a Silurian warrior and sucked into a crack in the universe, erasing him from history.

However, he returned in the series' two-part finale and was reunited with Amy and The Doctor.