New Books from Hirst
Sunday, 31 January 2010 - Reported by Marcus
Two new Doctor Who-related publications are available from Hirst Books.
Look Who's Talking by Colin Baker
To many, Colin Baker is the sixth Doctor Who; to some, he is the villainous Paul Merroney in the classic BBC drama The Brothers. But to the residents of South Buckinghamshire he is a weekly voice of sanity in a world that seems intent on confounding him. Marking the 15th anniversary of his regular feature in the Bucks Free Press, this compilation includes over 100 of his most entertaining columns, from 1995 to 2009, complete with new linking material. With fierce intelligence and a wicked sense of humour, Colin tackles everything from the absurdities of political correctness to the joys of being an actor, slipping in vivid childhood memories, international adventures and current affairs in a relentless rollercoaster of reflections, gripes and anecdotes. Pulling no punches, taking no prisoners and sparing no detail, the ups and downs of Colin life are shared with panache, honesty and clarity, and they are every bit as entertaining and surreal as his trips in that famous police box... for a world that is bewildering, surprising and wondrous, one need look no further than modern Britain, and Colin Baker is here to help you make sense of it all, and to give you a good laugh along the way
Shooty Dog Thing by Paul Castle
Since the 1970s, Doctor Who fans have written and produced fanzines. Some of the most quirky, passionate and subversive writing is still to be found in the pages of lovingly crafted, home-spun, desktop-published fanzines, and Shooty Dog Thing is no exception.Cool and accessible, Shooty Dog Thing is inspiring a new wave of fandom. This book will make you remember why you fell in love with Doctor Who in the first place; challenging established views, covering The Doctor's travels on TV, in books, comic strips and on audio; and finding reasons to love this very special show just that little bit more than the casual viewer. Shooty Dog Thing is louder, braver, and more loving. The best of the first 10 issues is compiled here for your enjoyment, along with some lovely, juicy new stuff, including contributions from Doctor Who writer Paul Cornell, Doctor Who historian David J. Howe and the original Doctor Who glamour girl, Anneke Wills.
Both books can be ordered, signed, from hirstbooks.com
FILTER: - Books - Colin Baker
Tennant and Tate back on Radio 2
Friday, 29 January 2010 - Reported by Marcus
The BBC has confirmed our story from yesterday that David Tennant and Catherine Tate will return to Radio 2 on Saturday morning when they once more stand in for Jonathan Ross.
It will be the third time the duo have stood in for the presenter, hosting the three hour radio show. This weeks guests include Anthony Head, who appeared in the Series 2 story School Reunion playing Mr Finch, Ricky Gervais and the rock band La Roux.
We understand the programme was recorded on Friday and will not be live. Radio 2 can be heard around the world via the BBC Website. The programme begins at 1000 GMT.
Update. The programme has now aired and can be heard for the next seven days on the BBC iPlayer.
FILTER: - Catherine Tate - David Tennant
Doctor Who and the Silver Spiral
Friday, 29 January 2010 - Reported by Chuck Foster
Astronomer Dr Megan Argo has published a report on a major cosmic discovery in the form of a Doctor Who story!
The discovery relates to a powerful jet of energy seen from an exploding star in a distant galaxy observed when Dr Argo was working with an international team at Jodrell Bank. As well as the more scientific technical report on the event (to be published in Nature), the doctor, a keen science fiction and Doctor Who fan, decided to also write the discovery up in story form in order to introduce the discovery to the general public.
Megan, from Macclesfield, Cheshire, told Skymania News:
I've been a Doctor Who fan since I was a child. It was partially to blame for me becoming a scientist. I first came across an concept called entropy in a Doctor Who story called Logopolis and remember being fascinated, even though it was some ten years before it was ever mentioned in a physics lesson.
You can read the story of the discovery through the eyes of the Doctor and Martha in Doctor Who and the Silver Spiral from Megan's own blog; the official title of the paper in Nature will be: "A mildly relativistic radio jet from the normal Type Ic Supernova 2007gr".
Reported by Scientific American.
FILTER: - Press
Radio Times Covers Party
Thursday, 28 January 2010 - Reported by Marcus
David Tennant has attended the Radio Times Covers Party in London. The annual event is open to all those who have appeared on the cover of the UK listings magazine over the year. In 2009 Tennant appeared on three covers as the Doctor. A full report on the party is available on the Radio Times website, along with a short video shot at the occasion.
A tweet from drummer William Bowerman implies David Tennant and Catherine Tate will once more host Jonathan Ross's Radio show this weekend. This has not been confirmed by the BBC who still have Ross listed as presenter on their website.
FILTER: - Magazines - David Tennant - Radio Times
Thursday Location Report
Filming for Matt Smith's first series as the Doctor continues with the team returning to a location they have used already for scenes earlier in the series.
Details and photos below.
The production team has returned to the Old Vicarage in Rhymney in South Wales. Filming took place at this location in October for what is believed to be episode one of the new series. The TARDIS prop is present, under a tarpaulin, in the vicarage garden. Although all the filming has taken place inside the Vicarage so far, lights have been rigged in the garden ready for a future scene. The windows of the vicarage have been blacked out. Matt Smith has been seen on location today.
We understand Location filming will take place at Stonehenge sometime next week.
Photos courtesy of ahremsee of Gallifrey Base. Information from The Silver Cloak
FILTER: - Filming Reports - Series 5/31
Dreamland for North America
The animated story Dreamland will be be released in North America on 4th May. The 45 minute story was originally made for the BBC's interactive service.
The story features the vocal talents of David Tennant, Georgia Moffett, David Warner, Stuart Milligan and Clark Peters and is set in the infamous alien hotspot Roswell. It is described by writer Phil Ford as 'Doctor Who meets a Fifties monster B-movie'.
Like the UK release, the DVD will be part of a two disc set and will feature the three documentaries looking back at the last five years of Doctor Who, Doctor Who's Greatest Moments, which were shown in the UK last summer.
More details and the cover can be seen at TVShowsonDVD
The DVD is released in the UK on 1st February.
FILTER: - USA - Animation - Blu-ray/DVD
Weng Chiang Revisited
Wednesday, 27 January 2010 - Reported by Marcus
2 entertain have revealed, via their twitter page, that the second story to be included in the DVD Revisitations Box Set will be the 1977 Tom Baker story The Talons of Weng Chiang.
The story, which is one of the most highly-regarded of the Fourth Doctor's era, was originally released on DVD in April 2003. The updated version will contain new behind the scenes features. The other story so far confirmed for the set is The TV Movie, staring Paul McGann. The set will be released in the UK later this year.
FILTER: - Tom Baker - Classic Series - Blu-ray/DVD
The Northampton Chronicle reports that the five-inch model of new Doctor, Matt Smith, has completely sold out. Shops across the actor's home county have reported queues of people trying to obtain the figure. The paper quotes Smith's mother, Lynne Smith, as saying how amazed she was at the likeness of the model to her son. "It was fabulous to see his first model, it was really exciting for us all."
Comedian and Big Finish actor Charlie Ross has launched a Facebook campaign to try to get Bernard Cribbins 1960s hit song "Right Said Fred" back into the UK charts. Ross said "After the campaign to get Rage Against the Machine to the Christmas number one here in the UK, I thought this was firstly a fitting tribute to Bernard following his wonderful performance in The End Of Time and also it would be a lot of fun!"
FILTER: - Merchandise - Matt Smith - Press
Underworld Extras
Monday, 25 January 2010 - Reported by Marcus
DVD extras for the third story in the Myths and Legends boxset, Underworld, have been cleared by the British Board of Film Classification.
54 minutes of extras have been cleared to accompany the four part story originally shown in 1978.
Underworld - In studio footage 17'27"
Into The Unknown - The making of Underworld 30'41"
Photo Gallery 5'52"
The Box set is released in the UK at the end of March.
A 23" deleted shot from the Creature from the Pit has also been cleared in preperation for that story's release and the Doctor Who Restoration Team have published details of their work on the early March release of The Space Museum/The Chase.
FILTER: - Classic Series - Blu-ray/DVD
Rex on hold for present
Entertainment Weekly is reporting that NBC have put David Tennant's US pilot Rex is Not Your Lawyer on hold. There were reports that it was under consideration to fill a 10pm slot this spring, to help fill the space on the network caused by moving the Jay Leno show out of primetime.
However it now appears the network has passed, for now, on the show, with the sets being dismantled this week. There is a possibility that the show will be commissioned in the fall and sets are being stored in case that happens.
NBC have not commented on the story.
FILTER: - David Tennant
Record Australian ratings for Children of Earth
Monday, 25 January 2010 - Reported by Adam Kirk
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Day One of Torchwood: Children of Earth delivered a record audience for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's digital channel ABC2. The first episode had 190,000 viewers, including time-shifted viewers.
FILTER: - Torchwood - Ratings - Children of Earth (Series 3) - Broadcasting - Australia
Swansea Filming
Sunday, 24 January 2010 - Reported by Chuck Foster
This last week has seen production for the 2010 series of Doctor Who continue with scenes filmed at Brangwyn Hall in Swansea, a location previously seen in "Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead", and Torchwood's "Children of Earth". See the spoiler section for some more details and cast members seen at the Hall!
Filming is taking place for the series finale, episodes 12/13. It is believed that the Hall is being utilised as a museum in the story, with Egyptian props, a polar bear, and a dinosaur seen being taken in!
Though filming took place inside the Hall, notable cast members were seen arriving/leaving, including principals Matt Smith and Karen Gillan, and Alex Kingston (River Song, who was also involved in the first block of filming last year), plus Nick Briggs (voice of the Daleks) and Barnaby Edwards (Dalek operator) - however, it should be pointed out that no Daleks were actually seen at the Hall so there is no confirmation they will feature in the finale!
Information and photos courtesy of Asti of Gallifrey Base.
FILTER: - Production - Filming Reports - Series 5/31
CD Delayed
The audio documentary Doctor Who at the BBC: A Legend Reborn has been delayed due to problems clearing some of the material on the disc.
The CD was due to be released by BBC Audiobooks on Thursday. However, when compiling the master tape a small amount of material was included for which BBC Audiobooks were unable to obtain clearance. As a result the disc has been recalled and a new master is being produced.
A small number of discs were distributed before the problem was realised, giving the recipients a rare unedited version of the documentary.
The new version will hopefully be released on 11th February.
FILTER: - Documentary - Audio
Doctor Who Games in Development
BBC Worldwide is in talks to develop its key products into digital games in a move which could see Doctor Who appearing on many platforms such as DS, Wii, iPhone and Facebook.
The move, reported by MCV, is a turnaround for BBC Worldwide which had retreated from the games business after poor sales caused the closure of its multimedia division in 2005.
The broadcaster is now engaging with software developers to produce high profile versions of its top series such as Doctor Who, Top Gear and The Night Garden, for the games market. Neil Ross Russell, head of Children's and Licensing said the BBC owns the rights to the most well known line up of Children characters around the world outside of Disney. "We are open to conversations with anybody in games about all kinds of business models to see how we can extract more value."
To help develop the brands BBC Worldwide has recruited former EA and Yahoo executive Robert Nashak as Executive Vice President of digital entertainment.
FILTER: - Merchandise