Space has bought four Doctor Who specials and a new installment of its spin-off Torchwood.

The cable channel has picked up from BBC Worldwide Canada four 60-minute specials featuring the time-traveling Doctor, currently played by David Tennant, and plans to air the first, Planet of the Dead, sometime in July. The Water of Mars and the remaining, still untitled specials will air in either late 2009 or early ’10.

The CTVgm-owned channel also picked up seasons one through four of the Doctor Who series and another two specials — Doctor Who: Runaway Bride and Doctor Who: Christmas Invasion Special — all of which will arrive at the channel in March 2010.

The five-episode special Torchwood: Children of Earth will also premiere in July, featuring Brits Paul Coopey (Coronation Street) and Liz May Brice (Bad Girls).

Both series previously aired on CBC. Doctor Who held the net’s Friday 9 p.m. slot at the start of the 2008/09 season.

‘We are thrilled to enter this partnership with the BBC to deliver Torchwood and Doctor Who to audiences across Canada,’ said Fraser Robinson, director of content for Space, in a statement.