LONDON, June 1 (UPI) -- The BBC dismissed rumors that the popular British show Doctor Who would be axed as "idle speculation."

Filming is scheduled to begin for the fourth season of the BBC Wales-produced program next week and BBC executives said they have a long-term commitment to the award-winning program, the Western Mail reported Friday.

Speculation was high that writer Russell T. Davies, who revived Doctor Who in 2005, was scrapping the show to concentrate on other projects. Davies and other senior staff working on the series were said to be thinking about handing in their resignations, news reports indicated.

"We are a long way away from even thinking about series five when the current series hasn't ended and we have yet to start filming series four. But the BBC has a long-term commitment to Doctor Who," the program's creators said in a statement.

Although we've been resting it for a while (so newcomers wouldn't be tempted to find out how it all ends in between TV episodes), the Human Nature ebook is back.

Our version of Paul Cornell's classic Seventh Doctor tale still contains extensive notes from the author, plus all of Daryl Joyce's original artwork - but we've take the opportunity to pimp it up a bit.

As well as smartening up the presentation, we've also created downloadable versions that you can read on all sorts of PDAs, Pocket PCs and mobile phones.

Best of all, Paul has written a brand new article, revealing how he adapted the novel into the televised version.