Wednesday 31 August 2016

Peter Capaldi sent a surprise message to some Doctor Who fans on their wedding day

We all know the Doctor is a whizz at weddings – as the sci-fi series has previously mentioned, the TARDIS is something old, new, borrowed and blue all at once – so it’s no surprise to find out that Peter Capaldi recently made a couple of Whovians’ day when he sent a surprise message to their nuptials.


Telling new husband-and-wife team Brian and Lesley that he could vouch for their relationship from the future, it was a masterclass of fan interaction from the Twelfth Doctor, which inspired literal bowing from the bride herself.

Via Radio Times by Huw Fullerton

Jenna Coleman reveals how Doctor Who co-star Peter Capaldi makes fun of her

Jenna Coleman may have moved on from Doctor Who to reign high in ITV’s Victoria, but she hasn’t forgotten her roots – or at least, former co-star Peter Capaldi won’t LET her forget them.

Speaking to Nick Grimshaw on BBC Radio 1 this morning, the actress chatted about her time on the BBC sci-fi series, before recounting a story of how Capaldi still teased her after she changed her acting name from Jenna-Louise Coleman to plain old Jenna Coleman.

“Peter makes fun of me because I’ve dropped Louise,” she told Grimshaw.

“I’ve dropped my middle name – just because I was going to places and people were going Jenna-Louise, Jenna-Louise and I found it so weird because it’s just not my name. Well it is, but it’s not.

“So Peter calls me 'the artist formerly known as JLC' which I quite like.”

When asked if she responded to that name or just ignored fans, she added: “No, I respond, or I just look at Peter with a sigh.”

We’re sure his hearts are in the right place – after all, if you can change your name on a whim and get paid to dress in a crown all day, we’re sure it’s handy to have a friend to help keep your feet on the ground – but in any case, it’s good to know the former Tardis crew are still on good terms.

With that said, it’s not exactly like Coleman is pining for her days as Clara, with the actress responding in the negative when asked whether she missed Doctor Who.

“I don’t yet just because I think I was leaving for so long,” she said, “and I loved Wales but London and Yorkshire (where Victoria is filmed) are nice as well.”

Or could it be because she might still have a little bit of Doctor Who acting to come? Only time (and space) will tell – though for now, it seems like Miss Oswald is quite happy in her palatial new home. Long live the Queen!

Via Radio Times by Huw Fullerton

Tuesday 30 August 2016

Doctor Who new series 10 filming at Bristol wedding venue

Doctor Who is filming at Kings Weston House pics: Doug Jewell

TV crews have taken over parts of Kings Weston House, with the front of the venue being covered in 'fake snow'.

A black 1800s horse-drawn carriage can be seen at the entrance of the Grade I listed house, which sits in Kings Weston Lane in Kingsweston.

Fans around Bristol are speculating the crews might be filming for the Doctor's Christmas Special.

Read more at The Bristol Post by Michael Yong

Lost episodes of Doctor Who to be shown as cartoons half a century after they vanished

Six long-lost episodes of Doctor Who are to be revived as cartoons – 50 years after they were aired.

BBC Worldwide has ­commissioned a company to animate the 1966 classic six-part story The Power of the Daleks, featuring the first ever Doctor Who regeneration.

Patrick Troughton’s first outing as the Time Lord – taking over from William Hartnell – is the holy grail for fans, as it was only shown once in the UK and only sold overseas to Australia and New Zealand.

The film prints of the black-and-white fourth series were junked from the BBC archives during the early 70s.

Only a handful of short clips and cine film footage shot by a fan survive.


In the story Patrick turns up instead of the old Doctor, telling his companions Ben and Polly that the Tardis helped him to renew himselff.

They remain sceptical but stand by him as he faces his most deadly foe – the Daleks – on the planet Vulcan.

The story has now been brought back to life, using state-of-the-art animation based on off-screen photos taken at the time.

One thing’s for certain – it’s a hell of a lot easier for cartoon Daleks to get up the stairs.

BBC Worldwide have yet to confirm that the cartoon revival is in the works.


Via The Mirror by Mark Jefferies and Nicola Methven

Monday 29 August 2016

Scientists on Nasa Mars simulation build TARDIS into their living quarters

A team of six scientists have just completed a year-long Nasa-funded Mars simulation, spending a year in complete isolation in a dome on a barren rock in Hawaii. They had no access to fresh air, or fresh food, and were only able to leave the small area to go outside by donning space suits.

You're bound to get a little bored at times, right? And these are university science geeks we're talking about here. So of course, they turned one of the entrances to their living quarters into a set of TARDIS doors...

Take a look at the image below and you can just see the blue police box on the left.


Yep, it definitely feels like when the historic day comes and a representative of the human race finally reaches the surface of the Red Planet, their list of priorities will probably be: find source of water, work out how to grow food, build Doctor Who-themed room.
Of course, that's if they get time before the Ice Warriors arrive...

Via Radio Times by Paul Jones

Friday 26 August 2016

Doctor Who Roundup on Friday, August 26, 2016

In this edition - Doctor Who series 10: filming will wrap in March 2017, BBC sells music rights to Doctor Who, Eve Myles: I would love to bring back Torchwood to TV, Season 9 is coming to Amazon Prime Video in September, plus even more news, reviews and miscellany...

WHOOGLE: Doctor Who Roundup on Friday, August 26, 2016

Ingrid Oliver says she knows which Osgood is a Zygon

Ingrid Oliver has hinted that there are “some very small tells” which reveal which version of her Doctor Who character Osgood is not human.

Osgood first appeared in 2013’s ‘The Day of the Doctor’, where the UNIT scientist was duplicated by a Zygon, resulting in two Osgoods. One of the Osgoods was killed by Missy in ‘Death in Heaven’, but has been left deliberately unclear in which Osgood had survived.

Discussing last year’s last year’s ‘The Zygon Invasion’ and ‘The Zygon Inversion’ episodes, Oliver told Doctor Who: The Fan Show: “In the script it simply said Osgood 1 and Osgood 2. Steven [Moffat] never said explicitly ‘This is Zygon Osgood and this is not Zygon Osgood – or Hybrid Osgood’, so I sort of made a choice, but I don’t know if it’s right!”

Asked if there were any tells to signify which Osgood is which, she revealed: “Yes, in my head there are some very small tells. But, having said that, it’s sort of open to interpretation – because I guess that’s the point of the episode. In my head, inevitably there are a couple of little things that I did.”

Oliver joked: “I don’t know if people have noticed it – probably not… the Zygon one strokes her chin a lot!”


Via Cultbox by William Martin

Thursday 25 August 2016

Steven Moffat explains why Matt Lucas is returning to ‘Doctor Who’

Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat has discussed the decision to bring back Matt Lucas as Nardole in the new season.

Lucas made his debut as Nardole, who met the Doctor on the human colony of Mendorax Dellora in the year 5343, in last year’s Christmas special, ‘The Husbands of River Song’.

The Little Britain star will be joining the cast of Doctor Who as a recurring character in Season 10, which began filming in June.


Speaking to Doctor Who Magazine in the new issue, Moffat explained: “I decided Nardole should return to Doctor Who when Matt Lucas got in touch saying, ‘I loved being in that show. Can I come back?’ And I sat there thinking, ‘Okay, so this guy who’s out in LA being offered every kind of pilot and every kind of career advancement has basically decided that instead of all that wealth and spectacular success, he’d rather go to Cardiff and make Doctor Who.’ I thought, ‘He is of my kind. He belongs to our world.’”

He added: “And so now that was an opportunity – given that it was in front of me and possible – I decided to import the best comic timing I’ve ever seen into Doctor Who on a regular basis.”

Watch Matt Lucas in a behind-the-scenes video…


Via Cultbox by William Martin

Doctor Who stars pose for selfie as David Suchet joins cast to film in Cardiff

Poirot star David Suchet joined the cast of Doctor Who in Cardiff this week and was more than happy to pose for a selfie.

The veteran actor is playing The Landlord in an episode written by Doctor Foster writer Mike Bartlett, which is due to air in 2017.

It's not yet known whether the character will be a friend or an enemy of the Doctor and his new companion Bill, who was also spotted filming in the Pontcanna area of Cardiff on Wednesday.

The new series will see Peter Capaldi and Pearl Mackie unite for their first series of adventures through space and time with Matt Lucas due to reprise his role as the hapless Nardole.


The actor, best known for his role as Agatha Christie's famous detective, was dressed in a brown suit, with overcoat as filming took place on a sunny afternoon in the leafy suburb.

Pearl Mackie - the Doctor's new companion - was also spotted filming, but there was no sign of Capaldi.

Steven Moffat will pen the series opener followed by an episode from Frank Cottrell Boyce, who wrote series eight's tenth instalment, In The Forest of The Night.






Images courtesy of Matthew Horewood

Mark Gatiss also joins the team of writers, penning at least one episode of the upcoming series.

Via The Mirror by

The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield Volume 03: The Unbound Universe

Synopsis

This title was released in August 2016. It will be exclusively available to buy from the BF website until September 30th 2016, and on general sale after this date.

The wrong Doctor, the wrong universe, a whole heap of trouble – Bernice Summerfield is having a really bad day.

3.1 The Library In The Body by James Goss
In a dying reality knowledge is the only thing left of value – and the Kareem have come to destroy it. Can Bernice, the Doctor save the last library?

3.2 Planet X by Guy Adams
Bernice and the Doctor land on a planet so dull no one ever bothered naming it. Finally something interesting is about to happen here.

3.3 The Very Dark Thing by Una McCormack
Tramatz is an idyllic world – the rivers hum to themselves, unicorns prance through the emerald forests, and, at the very corner of your eye, is a horrible secret.

3.4 The Emporium At The End by Emma Reeves
The Last Song has been sung, and the final days of the universe have begun. Everyone flees to the gateway – to find that The Emporium At The End is having a closing down sale.

Written By: Guy Adams, James Goss, Una McCormack, Emma Reeves
Directed By: Scott Handcock


Cast:
Lisa Bowerman (Professor Bernice Summerfield), David Warner (The Doctor), Zeb Soanes (The Librarian), Guy Adams (The Sage of Sardner), Tom Webster (Acolyte Farnsworth), Rowena Cooper (Mother Superior), Alex Jordan (Mandeville/Kareem Chief/Acolyte), Sophie Wu (Millie), Julie Graham (Prime Minister 470), Damian Lynch (Ego), Kerry Gooderson (Megatz), Deirdre Mullins (Fleet Admiral Effenish), George Blagden (Colonel Neave), Richard Earl (Gallario), Aaron Neil (Aramatz), Laura Doddington (Idratz), Lizzie Hopley (Sister Christie), Shvorne Marls (Ampz), Gus Brown (Forz), Scott Handcock (Elevator) and Sam Kisgart as the Master. Other parts portrayed by the cast.

Producer and Script Editor James Goss

Executive Producers Jason Haigh-Ellery and Nicholas Briggs

Order from Big Finish 
Order from Amazon UK

Colin Baker at Guildford's first ever Comic-Con

Former stars of Doctor Who and Only Fools and Horses are among the guests so far confirmed for Guildford’s first ever Comic-Con

The event, over the August bank holiday weekend (Saturday and Sunday, August 27 and 28), is a convention that brings together comic, superhero, television and film fans from across the country.

It will be held at Guildford Spectrum and features stars from film and television as well as movie props and cars, comic artists, memorabilia and anime stalls, photo shoots, autograph hunting and guest talks.

Organisers have confirmed actor Colin Baker, who played Doctor Who from 1984 to 1986, will be attending.

John Gould, owner of Filmfair UK, said he was delighted with the response to the Guildford event.
“Spectrum wanted the event,” he said. “They were very keen and there has been a lot of interest so far. It is the first of its kind in Guildford and there has been a big response on social media.”

Mr Gould revealed some of the other stars attending include actor John Challis, from Only Fools and Horses ; Ian McNeice, from Doctor Who , Valkyrie and White Noise; and Ian Whyte, who has featured in Game of Thrones , Alien vs Predator and Prometheus . He added further guest announcements were to be made shortly.

Mr Gould said: “I am always excited to put on a new show and I am looking forward to coming to Guildford. We are a small company and we will see what sort of feedback we get afterwards, but I would like to make it a regular event.

“If the clientele of Guildford enjoy it, we will come back.”

The organiser holds events in Watford, Northampton, Reading and Wakefield, and is in the process of rebranding his company to encompass all of his five shows.

He began organising his own conventions four years ago and has been working in the industry for 10 years.

He said: “I found some events were not correctly organised so I decided, instead of complaining about it to do it myself, so I took the plunge.

“Our show is a family event so we are trying to make sure it has a little bit of everything for everyone’s palate.

“We will have around 20 actors over the two days in Guildford.”

Other attractions at the event will include a fully working KITT car from cult television show Knight Rider and comic artist Jon Scrivens.

Tickets can be bought by visiting www.skiddle.com

Jenna Coleman interview: 'I won't be popping up in Doctor Who in the future, but I still have my Tardis key'

Minutes before my scheduled interview with Jenna Coleman, to promote her role as the young Queen Victoria in ITV's new Sunday-night costume drama 'Victoria' – and in the very room in Kensington Palace where the eponymous monarch was born in 1819 - the 30-year-old actress suddenly feels unwell and has to postpone. It's hardly surprising given the closeness of the hot August afternoon and the unexpected airlessness of the high-ceilinged rooms in the royal residence that Princess Diana felt was “more of a prison than a palace”, and that Victoria herself came to hate.

The young queen endured, in her own words, a “rather melancholy”, childhood in the Christopher Wren designed building on the fringes of London's Hyde Park. The ITV drama meets the young queen at the age of 18, as she inherits the crown on the death of her uncle, William IV.

“I've never played anyone real before”, says Coleman when we catch up later. “When taking on someone iconic and who really existed, I think you want to be sure you can do it, but ultimately it was impossible to turn down”.

The offer arrived just as Coleman was preparing to film her final scenes as Clara Oswald, the Doctor Who companion that she had portrayed for the previous four series. “I was I coming up to filming my last couple of episodes and working out what to do next”, says the 30-year-old actress from Blackpool. “It's always kind of strange to be reading other scripts while you're working.”

Several of the actresses playing Doctor Who's female companions have sunk back into obscurity after their time in the Tardis, so such a high profile role as Queen Victoria must have seemed heaven-sent. But that's not how she operates, says Coleman.

“I never quite know what I want to do until I read a script”, she says. “Doctor Who takes up, in terms of filming, ten months a year plus press for four years, so it was more deciding what I actually wanted to do next – what's attracting me after I've been in a contract for so long. When I left Doctor Who the first thing I said was 'I just don't want to do a series for a while'. And then Damien took me out to lunch...”

'Damien' is executive producer Damien Timmer, MD of Mammoth Screen, the independent production company that also makes Poldark (ironically enough, Victoria, after a free run in its opening week, will go directly up against Poldark on Sunday evenings). “There was only Jenna”, says Timmer of his casting shortlist. “She alone has star quality and diminutive power to be queen.”

Actually, Coleman, at five feet two, is three inches taller than Queen Victoria, but Timmer is right about her star quality - this is indeed a luminous performance that dominates a big, colourful production that skilfully weaves historical accuracy and Sunday-night melodrama (the writer is Daisy Goodwin, who has been obsessed with the monarch since her days studying history at Cambridge).

Coleman's own research included biographies by AN Wilson and Kate Williams, and Marina Warner's 1979 tome, Queen Victoria's Sketchbook, in which the author explored the monarch's private life through the medium of her drawings and paintings.

“The best things for me were the sketch books”, says Coleman. “They're the only things that haven't been censored. Her daughter [Princess Beatrice] destroyed some of her journals so we don't have them all – but with her sketches it's her eye direct without any censorship.

“The role has been quite a revelation actually, and I'm quite surprised at how little I knew. A lot of people instinctively say 'you can't play Victoria... she's stern and old and wore black for the rest of her life'. And actually I don't think people are quite aware of how vivid she is and what a lust for life she has.”

Victoria came to the throne as an 18-year-old, and not for the first time in her career, Coleman is playing younger than herself. After her four-year stint as teenage lesbian Jasmine Thomas in Emmerdale – a role that would see her kill an attempted rapist and finally be imprisoned for manslaughter – she was cast, aged 23, as 16-year-old Lindsay James in Waterloo Road.

“The costumes in Victoria really helped”, says Coleman. “I look like a little girl, especially in episode one, and you see her grow up over the series and become a mother in the end. And I fall in love – unrequited love – and that was fun to do.”

The unrequited love is for her first prime minister, Lord Melbourne, played here by Rufus Sewell. Melbourne was a widower - his late wife having been Lady Caroline Lamb, famous for her affair with Lord Byron - and the queen's close relationship with her advisor led to Victoria being nicknamed 'Mrs Melbourne'.

Happily a far more requited relationship was to arrive in the shape of her cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, played here by Tom Hughes (The Game). Asked whether her drama would in any way resemble BBC2's raunchy Versailles, and show us the sex life of the monarch, Daisy Goodwin replies, “All I can say is that Victoria and Albert had nine children together and Albert had installed a device at Osborne House [their summer retreat on the Isle of Wight] so that if they wanted to get it on all they had to do was to push a button by the bed and the door would be locked and the children and servants couldn't interrupt them.”

In any case, the resemblance isn't so much that between Victoria and Versailles, but between it and Downton Abbey. There is a cast of (fictional) servants in the ITV drama that will feel familiar to audiences of Julian Fellowes's world-beating costume drama.

“It's a household”, says Coleman, while playing down the comparison. “It's a piece about Victoria and her inner life and outer life, but also about Victoriana, I suppose. For example we have a chef and you see the invention of hot chocolate, you see photography coming in, you see railways starting to appear, you see all the things that shaped the world as it is now.”

The state of Coleman's own love life remains opaque – although if press reports are to be believed about the actress cosying with Prince Harry, it might not be playing out too far from Kensington Palace. Either way, she certainly seems to have split with her long-term, on-off boyfriend, former Game of Thrones star Richard Madden.

Victoria also had a very long reign, one whose 63-year length was only recently surpassed by our own present queen. Would Coleman happily follow the monarch into middle age and beyond? “I'm not entirely sure”, she says. “The story is there to be told until she dies, effectively; there's no lack of real substance to follow. But ultimately that depends on the audience and their appetite for it.”

She does however preclude any re-appearances Clara Oswald in Doctor Who – for the time being at least. “I've only just left... they're only just filming the next series now”, she says. “I feel very proud and happy with what Steven [Moffat] did with my exit and that's not something I would want to unpick just for sake of popping up.

“Besides, he doesn't even remember who she is any more”, she laughs, referring to her final episode, Hell Bent, in which the Doctor's memories of Clara are wiped. “So it in terms of storytelling... she's pop up and he'd go 'who?'. Or he'd probably just walk past her... Anyway, I've still got my Tardis key!”

Coleman has never met her successor as Peter Capaldi's co-star, Pearl Mackie, but wishes her well. “Genuinely not”, she replies when I ask her whether there isn't a tiny part of her that is jealous of Mackie for taking over this coveted role. “I started Doctor Who knowing it was only going to last a certain amount of time and I couldn't be happier with what I've had and got from it. It was such so wonderful you kind of wish that for the next person.”

Victoria begins on ITV on Sunday 28 August at 9pm

Via Independant by Gerard Gilbert

Wednesday 24 August 2016

Legend of Venusian Karate

He comes from beyond time. From beyond the outer limits of your imagination. He is Dr. Who: Legend of Venusian Karate!


Starring Christel Dee as the Doctor, Rosie Hewett as the Brigadier and Daniel Sherratt as the Master.
Narration by Joel H Joelson
Voices by Billy Treacy
Written by Joel H Joelson
Music by Kevin MacLeod
Edited by Billy Treacy
5WF Ident by Daniel Sherratt
Directed by Christel Dee and Billy Treacy
Produced by Christel Dee
With thanks to Beckie Hough

‘Doctor Who’ Actress Michelle Gomez Is Both Master and Missy

A bolt of lightning hit the Empire State Building while Michelle Gomez was being interviewed. The 49-year-old British actress, best known for as the villainess in cult shows like Doctor Who and Gotham, seemed barely fazed. She’s used to creating a spark.

Case in point: Check out her Instagram Msgomez66. She’s dazzling. Her pale blue eyes have a darker ring of blue around the iris, which the camera adores, and she can’t help but leap off the screen.

A compliment is offered: “I think it’s because you have rather piercing blue eyes and that they’re very—”

“Chilling,” she offers.

“Yes. They jump off the screen in a certain way that is—”

Gomez was born and raised in Glasgow and saw her first play at age 7. “I actually remember the show,” Gomez recalls as she sips water at Russ & Daughters Café. “It was a production of Kiss Me Kate. The little narcissist in me, even back then, thought they were all singing to me. I knew from a very early age that if I could possibly make money out of just falling down, falling over for a living, that might be the job for me.”

Her adult career began with Scotland’s rogue bard, Irvine Welsh. “I did Trainspotting before it was the film, and then there was a trilogy called the Acid House Trilogies. Then there was another thing, Head State, and another play and then Wedding Vows. I wouldn’t say I was his muse or anything, by any stretch of the imagination, just to be clear. I didn’t quite know why that happened, but I’m glad it did, very glad.”

Television roles followed her early success in films and on stage, as her genius for physical comedy was recognized. Gomez starred as Janice, the lonely wife of a polyamorous footballer, in The Book Group, a delightful and hilarious Scottish show that ran from 2002 to 2004. Her co-stars included Rory McCann, better known as the Hound on Game of Thrones. The Book Group’s creator, Annie Griffin, cast Gomez after seeing her perform in an Ibsen play. Gomez was supposed to play the role straight, but Griffin saw her and told her, “It was one of the funniest things she’d ever seen.”

Other shows followed, including the popular Channel 4 show Green Wing. Gomez played the increasingly unhinged HR rep Sue White, who regularly barks like a dog, wears a squirrel head and tail when asking for a promotion and shows up at a wedding wearing the same dress as the bride.

Gomez has just returned from Wales—Swansea to be exact—where she was filming The Collection, a new show for Amazon U.K. The show is set in Paris post-World War II as the city rebuilds; Gomez plays a fashion editor based on style icon Diana Vreeland. The publicity shots from the show make all the characters look angry, but, as Gomez explains, it’s simply hunger. “They all just need a biscuit.”

Gomez spends much of her time in Wales, specifically Cardiff, because that’s where she films Doctor Who. “Wales is really beautiful,” Gomez says. “Ideally, I expected to move to New York and then spend my entire professional career on planes.”

Like other U.K. actors, Gomez and her family (she is married to Jack Davenport, and they have a son, Harry) decided that living in New York would be ideal for their careers. She currently stars as The Lady in Gotham, as a British sounding lady who is the farther thing from proper. “If you’re a British actor and you still have an active career in London or in Britain, it’s a much easier commute to bounce from New York to London and then from New York to L.A. We’re literally in the middle—we’ll be able to bounce East and West. Plus my in-laws, my son’s grandparents, live in Manhattan. We have family here. Logistically and personally, it really works for us.”

Her other role in Wales, of course, is Missy on Doctor Who. Missy is the Gomez incarnation of the Master, a long-running nemesis of the Doctor. Until Gomez took over, the role had always been played by men. Now the character belongs utterly to Gomez, outfitted in Victorian dress as she and the Doctor battle over the return of the Cybermen and team up to fight Daleks and their creator, Davros. This March, Gomez was nominated for a BAFTA Award, the first time a Doctor Who supporting actress had ever been put forward for this honor. Since the Doctor nearly always has a female companion, her nomination is extraordinary and a long time coming.

Missy might be the greatest current role for a woman in television; she is brilliant, mad, outrageously funny and capable of terrible cruelty as well as total insanity. But Gomez’s Missy is the first time that the character is faceted beyond simple enmity with the Doctor. The two characters grew up together, and Gomez sees the relationship as “a friendship that just drifted, it just broke. We all have them. As children we get these very close, intense relationships, then you know you move to a different school, you move to a different city and you come back to find that person 10, 15, 20 years later. The very essence of your friendship is still there, but you’ve changed and can it stand the test of time? What does that look like today? That was all in there for me.”

Missy is crazy but endlessly watchable and arguably the best character in the critically acclaimed Season 9. “If you look at my career, there’s a little bit of all of it in Missy. That’s because possibly she is playing some mad psychotic schizophrenic, so I get to just turn up six senses all day and never quite know where she’s going to go. From silly voices, to falling down, to actually having some very touching moments and dramatic moments as well. For an actor to play Missy is going to be one of the best roles I’ll ever have because I get to do everything.” She then adds dryly, “In a corset.”

Gomez credits Steven Moffat, outgoing Doctor Who showrunner, with creating such a dynamic creature. “I don’t really have to do that much actually other than say it and also because it’s such a strong visual. That costume is doing a lot of the work for me, and I really feel like it’s probably one of the easiest jobs I’ve had, in that there’s no preparation. Steven has observed this part beautifully, and I really do just get to sit and go.”

Missy exploded into the science-fiction scene; go to any Comic Con from Long Island to London, and you will see dozens of female cosplayers wearing homemade versions of Missy’s Victorian dress and hat. Gomez is thrilled to hear it: “That makes me so happy because you know she’s had quite an impact, old Missy, because out of two series that have run with Missy in it, I have done just four episodes. I get to run and shake my booty and run back home again and have this amazing impact. It just blows my mind. I’m very, very grateful.”

Missy is also now a collectible, sold alongside Daleks that metallically intone “Exterminate!” What’s it like to become a doll?

‘I never thought I’d be a 49-year-old action figure,’ says Gomez. ‘It’s just like literally breaking the mold. I could do anything that the 29-year-old version of me can do. I could just do it with a bit more wisdom. It’s just wonderful. I think it sends a good message out that anything can happen if you’re still in the game.’

“Why, it’s just ****ing brilliant!” Gomez exclaims. “That caught me directly because I never thought I’d be a 49-year-old action figure. It’s just like literally breaking the mold. I could do anything that the 29-year-old version of me can do. I could just do it with a bit more wisdom. It’s just wonderful. I think it sends a good message out that anything can happen if you’re still in the game.”

Then Gomez shows a flash of her bawdier side: “Not the game of prostitution obviously. Then again, we are all basically, if you think about, it a hired gun. That does at times make us into the high-class whores at time because there are things we should not be doing, but if you pay us, we’ll do them.”

Just before the inevitable photo shoot, Gomez imagines her dream TARDIS journey. The TARDIS is the blue police box in Doctor Who that whisks travelers through space and time. Where would Missy go? “I’m always asked where would I go with my TARDIS: Missy sandwiched between Daniel Craig and Peter Capaldi. Make it happen! Only in America could that happen, because America still has that ‘Why not?’ attitude. If the Master had the TARDIS, that’s where I would go.”

Via The Observer by

Steven Moffat names The Bells Of Saint John his "most reliably average episode"

Steven Moffat has called The Bells Of Saint John "resolutely sort of middle", the median average of his Doctor Who tenure...

Since announcing that Doctor Who series 10 would be his last as showrunner, Steven Moffat has fielded lots of looking-back-themed questions from fans. Resultantly, over the last few months, The Moff has called Doctor Who season 7 "miserable" and claimed that he "fumbled" series 9's opener.

The latest question to be put to Moffat, in the new issue of Doctor Who Magazine, is this: if he had to line up all his Who instalments in order of quality, which would he say is "the most reliably average episode"? What's the median of the Moffat tenure?

Here's what he wrote in response...

“Well, I’ll have to choose one that I wrote, otherwise I’m going to upset somebody … I went back and watched it again, and I thought ‘no, actually, it is quite good,’ but it is resolutely sort of middle, I think, and that’s [the Matt Smith-starring series 7 part 2 opener] The Bells Of Saint John.”

“It’s got a fairly inventive monster. It’s got some great action scenes, like the bit on the plane. There’s the pretty good scene where the Doctor is underneath Clara’s window. Some good gags. Lovely music. But I don’t think that episode will change anybody’s life.”

“It’s a very well-carpentered bit of telly, and it’s – that underrated thing – a very good first episode. Sort of. First episodes are rarely winners, but they are very difficult to do.”
'Doctor Who' Showrunner Steven Moffat to Exit

Personally, this writer rather enjoyed The Bells Of Saint John. It was something of a romp, resulting in that huge action sequence on the side of The Shard. A fun 45-minutes of telly. "Most reliably average" seems a bit harsh, to me at least.

What do you make of Moffat's claim? Which of his episodes would you deign the most average? Let us know your thoughts in the comments...

Doctor Who Magazine issue 502 is on shelves now.

Via Den of Geek by Rob Leane

Joivan Wade says he'd "love to" return to Doctor Who - but will Rigsy guest on spin-off show Class?

He fought the Boneless and faced the raven - but will Rigsy (Joivan Wade) be back on Doctor Who any time soon?

Joivan told Digital Spy that he's not been approached about returning to the show (though he would say that - spoilers!) - but he'd "love to" come back.

"I have no idea if Rigsy will return - I didn't know I'd come back when I did the first one in series eight," the actor said. "But I'd be up for it. I love Doctor Who, it's wicked.

"Even just the culture, the fans. It's crazy - they're so dedicated and you don't get that with a lot of shows. I still receive crazy fan-mail now, loads. On EastEnders, you get quite a bit, but this is more than I have for any other show."

So perhaps we'll see Rigsy in Doctor Who again someday? Or maybe he'd be a perfect fit for the new teen-oriented spin-off Class?

"You never know," grinned Wade. "I might have to text my agent now!"

The 23-year-old Wade explained that he's become a big science fiction fan since working with Peter Capaldi on Who - even going back and watching older episodes.

"I watched a few episodes of Matt Smith, a few episodes from David Tennant, and then the stuff with Peter - just looking at the differences, really, and how it's evolved.

"I liked them all for different reasons. My favourite is going to be Peter because I know him, I've worked with him, so as a person you connect, and I feel like Peter brings something very different to the Doctor... his experience. The way he carries himself is very different."

Via Digital Spy by Morgan Jeffery

‘Doctor Who’ spin-off ‘Class’ set to start in October

BBC Three’s new Doctor Who spin-off will apparently begin in October.

Set in contemporary London at Coal Hill Academy, Class began filming in Cardiff in April and “will shine a light on a whole new corner of the Whoniverse.”

The cast of the eight-part YA series is led Greg Austin, Fady Elsayed, Sophie Hopkins and Vivian Oparah as four Sixth Formers, with Katherine Kelly (Coronation Street) playing the role of a teacher and “powerful new presence” the school.

A preview in the new issue of Empire reveals that Class is set to debut on BBC Three in October, although the exact date is TBC.

The magazine describes the show as “a sort of time travelled-tinged Buffy the Vampire Slayer with more aliens and fewer hellbeasts.”

Via CultBox by William Martin

Tuesday 23 August 2016

David Suchet to guest star in Doctor Who series 10

Here he is – David Suchet in his new guise as a guest star in the tenth series of Doctor Who, due to air in 2017.

The Poirot star will play the character of The Landlord in an episode written by Doctor Foster scribe Mike Bartlett. And, judging by the full-length picture below, he may well be unlocking multiple secrets in the smash-hit show.

The new series will see Peter Capaldi and Pearl Mackie unite for their first series of adventures through space and time with Matt Lucas due to reprise his role as the hapless Nardole.

Steven Moffat will pen the series opener followed by an episode from Frank Cottrell Boyce, who wrote series eight's tenth instalment, In The Forest of The Night. Mark Gatiss also joins the team of writers, penning at least one episode of the upcoming series.

Via Radio Times by Ben Dowell

Eve Myles: I would love to bring back Torchwood to TV

Torchwood fans, rejoice! Well, maybe. A month after John Barrowman announced he was on a mission to bring the Doctor Who spin-off back to screens, Eve Myles has also spoken of how much she has loved returning to her character Gwen Cooper.

When asked by RadioTimes.com if we’d get more Torchwood on TV, the actor said, “If I did I couldn’t possibly say... because of the consequences.” Well, a true Torchwood agent wouldn’t give up the secret that easily, would they?

However, Myles did divulge how much she has loved taking part in the recently completed audio plays: “They’ve been amazing…We’ve had an astonishing response to them. But then again the fans of Torchwood have been loyal since day one – they’ve been amazing!

“[The audio plays] keeps the fans alive with brilliant storylines and keeps bringing the characters back – even those that have passed away in the series. It’s Torchwood; you can do anything with it! It can be audio, it can be film, it can be TV, that's kind of what they're doing. To still be playing Gwen Cooper after all this time is a treat!”

So, would Myles reprise Gwen in a new Torchwood TV series? “Of course I would!” she said. “I mean, when do you get the chance to play Gwen Cooper as an actor? It’s a gift from Russell T Davies to me, which I’m very honoured about.”

And will she return as Broadchurch’s baddie in series three? “I cannot say anything, sorry!” Myles told us with another big grin.

Until we wait for confirmation, you can catch Myles in new ITV period drama Victoria, where she’ll be starring alongside former Doctor Who assistant Jenna Coleman.



Speaking to us at the show’s rep carpet premiere, Myles, who will play Queen Victoria’s senior dresser, said her favourite moment on the show wasn’t acting alongside Coleman, but seeing the gigantic set for the first time: “We walked in and there it was – they’d built Buckingham Palace! It was incredible!”

Via Radio Times by

Doctor Who Season 9 is coming to Amazon Prime Video in September

Doctor Who Season 9 starring Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman will be released on Amazon Prime Video in September 2016!

Attention, Doctor Who fans! We have some great news! Doctor Who Season 9 is coming to Amazon Prime Video in September 2016!

Amazon announced Doctor Who Season 9 will be released on Monday, Sept. 5.

Right now, the first eight seasons of Doctor Who are available to stream on Amazon Prime Video. You have a lot of watching to do if you are going to catch up before the ninth season is released on the streaming service.

At the time of publishing, Doctor Who Season 9 is available for purchase on Amazon Video, but you must pay for the full season or per episode. The full season is available for $30.99 and each episode is available for $2.99. You do not need to be an Amazon Prime member to buy the episodes. However, you do need to be an Amazon Prime member or have an Amazon Prime Video subscription to watch the season on Prime Video.

Doctor Who used to be streaming on Netflix, but after Netflix lost the streaming rights to the series, Amazon swooped in and picked them up. We don’t know how long Doctor Who will remain on Amazon Prime Video. It looks to be a couple of years at least.

Via Fansided

The BBC sells music rights to Doctor Who

The BBC has sold the rights to theme tunes and music from hit shows including Idris Elba’s Luther, Doctor Who and Wolf Hall.

BMG, the music company with artists including David Bowie, Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters, Keith Richards and Mick Jagger and Iron Maiden, has snapped up the potentially highly lucrative rights to more than 1,000 copyrights to theme tunes, background music and music cues in BBC shows.

BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC, only looks to sell the music rights to shows once every five or so years when it has built a decent archive of music from more recent shows.

Under the terms of the deal, BMG has acquired the rights to theme tunes from hit BBC programmes including Luther, Mrs Brown’s Boys and Frozen Planet as well as background, or incidental, music from Doctor Who and Wolf Hall. The catalogue includes works by Bafta-nominated composers including Murray Gold, for Doctor Who, Paul Englishby for Luther and Debbie Wiseman for Wolf Hall.

Alexi Cory-Smith, the executive vice-president of BMG UK, said: “It is a real honour to be entrusted with these great BBC works. Shows like Luther, Doctor Who and Mrs Brown’s Boys and many others in this catalogue are household names. We are committed to providing them with similarly unrivalled service and transparency.”

While BMG will now have the right to exploit the music for commercial use by companies including advertisers, studios and ad agencies, the BBC will retain a tight rein on ensuring its assets are not exploited negatively. BBC Worldwide has a similar brand protection in place in its deal with Immediate Media, which publishes its portfolio of magazines including Radio Times and Top Gear, with the corporation continuing to have brand oversight of its key assets.

“We’re looking forward to working with BMG to ensure the value of these compositions continues to be properly and appropriately recognised,” said Dominic Walker, the director of radio and music at BBC Worldwide.

BMG owns a range of music catalogues including Chrysalis, which includes artists such as Blondie, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Gossip and David Gray, and Virgin Music, which includes publishing rights for Tears for Fears, Take That, Robbie Williams, Nirvana, Duffy and Iggy Pop.

Via The Guardian

Doctor Who series 10: filming will wrap in March 2017

Doctor Who series 10 will wrap on Friday the 31st of March 2017, not long before the show returns to TV...

Just a tiny titbit of news, here. Film and TV industry website The Knowledge claims to have the inside scoop on when Doctor Who series 10 is scheduled to wrap filming. Apparently, the cameras will stop rolling on the Doctor's next set of timey wimey adventures on Friday the 31st of March 2017.

This is a little later than you might have expected, given that the BBC previously announced that the show will return to our screens in 'spring 2017'. Perhaps the editors will have to work at double speed, or maybe the episodes filming in March will arrive on screen towards the end of the series.

Via Den of Geek

Doctor Who Adventures Number 18

The Doctor goes wild in the Wild West!
The Paternoster Gang investigate the Fear Factory!
Make Your own Confession Dial!

Issue Number: 18
Price: £3.99
Covermounted Gift: Doctor Who Writing Set!
On sale: Thursday 18th August 2016

Saturday 20 August 2016

Doctor Who to unveil series 10 and Christmas special secrets at New York Comic Con

We may not have exciting new details of Doctor Who series 10 for you today, but we now know when we will – because the BBC sci-fi series is set to unveil its secrets for fans in mid-October at New York Comic Con.

Alongside a separate panel on Young Adult spin-off Class (which is expected to air on BBC3 online and BBC1 this autumn), the Doctor Who event will see Peter Capaldi joined onstage by new companion Pearl Mackie, departing showrunner Steven Moffat and executive producer Brian Minchin, with fans promised a “sneak peek” of upcoming stories including this year’s Christmas special.

Convention-goers can also apparently expect some hints about what’s in store for the currently-filming series ten, which will be Moffat’s last season before departing as head writer.

The Class panel will include stars Greg Austin, Fady Elsayed, Sophie Hopkins and Vivian Oprah, joined by writer and creator Patrick Ness and executive producer Brian Minchin (again).
New York Comic Con will take place from 6th to 9th October


Via Radio Times by Huw Fullerton

Friday 19 August 2016

Doctor Who roundup on Friday, August 19, 2016

In this edition: David Suchet to guest star, series 10 and Christmas special secrets to be unveiled at New York Comic Con, Doctor Who' is most watched TV show on Amazon Prime Video as fans await new season, plus more news, reviews and more.

WHOOGLE: Doctor Who roundup on Friday, August 19, 2016

Monday 1 August 2016

BBC bosses to cast disabled actor in Dr Who major role for next series

Casting director Andy Pryor wants a disabled actor to appear in the new series, starring Peter Capaldi as The Doctor, which airs next year.

He tells Doctor Who Magazine: “The area where I haven’t pushed hard enough is disability.

“That’s something I want to address in the 2017 series.”

Andy says the show’s head writer Steven Moffat and executive producer Brian Minchin “are very much on board with that”.

He also backs the decision to only audition black actresses for the part of The Doctor’s new sidekick Bill, which eventually went to Pearl Mackie.

He adds: “I wholeheartedly approved of the decision to only audition non-white actresses.

Via The Daily Star by Peter Dyke & Ed Gleave