DOCTOR PHEW; Time Lord in steamy smooch with Bionic Woman.

Byline: Paul English

IT'S the kind of makebelieve pairing that springs from the imaginations of kids in the playground.

Doctor Who locking lips with the BionicWoman.

That's what happens tomorrow when the Time Lord returns to BBC1 in an Easter special, which sees Michelle Ryan join David Tennant for a spectacular intergalactic romp.

Ex-EastEnder Michelle, 24, played The Bionic Woman in last-year's US remake of the classic 70s series.

However, the show was mauled by the critics and quickly axed.

Michelle was pilloried for her American accent, so she'll be hoping her latest sci-fi adventure is better received.

She plays Lady Christina de Souza, an adventurous aristocrat who encounters the Doctor on a mysterious planet after a London bus takes an unexpected detour.

Spark

Michelle, best known for her role as Zoe Slater in the Albert Square soap, said: "There is a little bit of a romantic spark between The Doctor and Christina.

"I think Christina feels like she's met her equal and The Doctor feels like he's met his match.

"He manages to show her she can use her skills to help people and actually it's more fun when you're part of a team, rather than being a loner.

"She goes on a journey with him and I think she'd like it to be more. He's quite closed off to that becausehe has been hurt in the past." The stand-alone episode, partly filmed in Dubai, is the 200th Doctor Who story in the show's 46-year history.

Tennant, who will leave the series at the end of the year after three more episodes, said: "We wanted to film in an actual desert and there aren't a lot of them in south Wales.

"I think it'll look like an alien planet in a way that nothing we've ever done before has."

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SANDS OF TIME: Tennant and Ryan in Dubai SCIENCEFRICTION:The Doctorand LadyChristina