It’s been a long wait for the next new adventures of The Doctor and his companions this year on Doctor Who. The last time we saw the trio happened to be on Christmas Day, while Steven Moffat has said he’s felt the new episodes shouldn’t premiere until the fall. While no premiere date has yet been revealed, it seems fans can no rejoice as a report that the first episode of the new slate will be screened in just three short months, with its television debut likely to shortly follow.

Fan blog Doctor Who and the Tardis by Craig Hurle has reported that the season/series opener of Doctor Who will be screened in advance for attendees of The MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival on the weekend of August 23rd-25th. That being said, the screenings usually occur only one week or so before the actual premiere date, which points the new episodes to possibly begin either on Saturday September 1st or Saturday September 8th.

There is yet to be a confirmation from broadcasters BBC or BBC America. Now, it’s unclear if both networks will air them in unison in the same manner they did last year, but it’s fairly certain that the new episodes will indeed premiere on the same day-and-date. The first slate of episodes for the seventh season will run five weeks until the Christmas Special which airs the night of Christmas Day. From there, The Doctor will be joined by a new companion played by Jenna-Louise Coleman, who will begin her run by Matt Smith’s side at an undetermined date in Early 2013 for seven more episodes.

The first half of the season will bid adieu to Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill as Amy and Rory, with the first trailer released a little over a month ago showing us the upcoming Wild West adventure, the return of the Daleks, a frozen planet, Rory’s father, and even The Doctor back in both his bowtie and Stetson hat.