Friday 23 September 2016

Doctor Who Roundup on Friday, September 23, 2016

Included in this edition: Bill's at the TARDIS controls in new Doctor Who series 10 image, Doctor Who Magazine 504 - Covers and details, The Power of the Daleks - Pre-production Sketch Artwork, Peter Capaldi confirmed for Class Doctor Who spin-off, plus much more....

Doctor Who Roundup on Friday, September 23, 2016

Peter Capaldi confirmed for Class Doctor Who spin-off



We've long suspected it, but now we have confirmation: the Doctor, AKA Peter Capaldi, will be appearing in Doctor Who spin-off Class when it airs on BBC3.

The Doctor will appear in the first episode of the new sci-fi series, For Tonight We Might Die, when the series begins on Saturday 22 October.

The series air date was confirmed as the cast gathered for a live Facebook video teasing the new series. Two episodes will drop on the first day – the second episode is called The Coach with the Dragon Tattoo.

“The Doctor Who family is growing, and it’s fantastic to be able to welcome the young new cast of Class in to the Whoniverse," said Peter Capaldi.




The new cast includes Coal Hill Academy classmates Charlie (Greg Austin), April (Sophie Hopkins), Ram (Fady Elsayed) and Tanya (Vivian Oparah), along with physics teacher Miss Quill (Katherine Kelly).

According to new series information released by the BBC, the group are "charged with a great responsibility by the mysterious alien known as the Doctor (Peter Capaldi): guard against the creatures of nightmare that want nothing more than to find a way through to Earth and take it for their own."


Capaldi isn't the only actor to have appeared in Doctor Who coming to Class. Nigel Betts, who played Mr Armitage in Into the Dalek and The Caretaker, is listed as part of the regular cast. Paul Marc Davies meanwhile, who has appeared in Who, The Sarah Jane Adventures AND Torchwood, is also in the cast for Class.

Via Radio Times

Class World Premiere on Thursday 20 October


Get your world premiere tickets now!
   
Apply Now

Join the cast of Class on Thursday 20 October and be one of the first people to see the Class series opener. The exclusive event will be hosted by Radio 1Xtra Breakfast DJ A.Dot, and followed by a Q&A with lead cast Greg Austin, Fady Elsayed, Sophie Hopkins and Vivian Oparah, and writer and executive producer Patrick Ness.

The event will be taking place at the Rich Mix Cinema in Coal Hill School’s hometown of Shoreditch, ahead of the BBC Three premiere on Saturday 22 October.

Coal Hill School has been a part of the Doctor Who Universe since the very beginning, but that has come at a price. All the time travelling over the years has caused the very walls of space and time to become thin. There’s something pressing in on the other side, something waiting for its chance to kill everyone and everything, to bring us all into Shadow.

Fear is coming, tragedy is coming, war is coming. Prepare yourselves, Class is coming.
Tickets will be allocated by random draw.

You can register at any time until 4pm on Friday 7 October.

We have a limited number of seats available for this Class World Premiere.

You can apply for a maximum of one pair of tickets. Multiple applications will be deleted.
Good luck!

You can read more about Class at bbc.co.uk/class

Admission to this screening is on a first-come, first-served basis. Please note that as not everyone who asks for tickets uses them, to make sure we have a full house we send out more tickets than there are places. We do our best to get the numbers right, but unfortunately we occasionally have to disappoint people so please arrive early.

All information is correct at time of publication.

Doctor Who Magazine 504 - Covers and details


50 years ago, the Cybermen first marched onto our screens. We ask the costume designer who gave them life about their enduring appeal
 
“People often come up to me and say, ‘I think your Cybermen were the most frightening,’ says costume designer Alexandra Tynan, who gave the original Cybermen their distinctive look for 1966’s The Tenth Planet. “I looked at them yesterday, when I re-watched The Tenth Planet, and I thought, ‘I suppose they are a bit scary.’ At the time, they got a lot of press, some of it very negative. Angry parents said that we were scaring the bejesus out of their kids. Am I personally responsible, with my Cybermen, for a whole generation of disturbed people? The number of adults who have come up to me and said, ‘Your Cybermen terrified me when I was a child,’ and I have apologised a thousand times…”

Despite this, 50 years on in 2016, the Cybermen are still going strong…

“At the time, I had no idea that my Cybermen would prove so iconic – none of us did – but I am overwhelmed by the fact that they became such an icon, and I’m really glad that I didn’t know at the time. I look back now and think how privileged I am to have had the opportunity to do something that has lasted for so long, and I enjoy every minute of talking to people about it. It makes me laugh. I think on my tombstone it will say, ‘She designed the Cybermen,’ and I’m okay with that. Cyber-Mum! Yes, I like it. I do love the Cybermen,” she concludes, “and I thank them for what they did for me.”

ALSO INSIDE THIS ISSUE
  • CYBER-PLANS  Discover the inside story of the Cybermen’s many campaigns…
  • EVOLUTION OF THE CYBERMEN  We examine the changes in Cyber-evolution, including some variants that were barely glimpsed on screen.
  • JAMI REID-QUARRELL  We chat to Colony Sarff actor Jami Reid-Quarrell about playing a physically demanding role.
  • MOVING IN  The Doctor goes domestic in our brand-new comic strip adventure, Moving In, written by Mark Wright and illustrated by John Ross.
  • STEVEN MOFFAT  Readers ask the Doctor Who showrunner their burning questions.
  • TIME TEAM  There’s a mystery to solve in nineteenth-century France as the Doctor and Amy have a brush with history when they meet Vincent van Gogh in this month’s episode, Vincent and the Doctor.
  • SILVER NEMESIS  The Cybermen return for Doctor Who’s silver anniversary in this issue’s Fact of Fiction.
  • COMING SOON  Previews of all the latest Doctor Who CD and book releases.
  • PLUS!  All the latest official news, reviews, competitions, The DWM Crossword… and FOUR variant Cybermen covers to collect!
Doctor Who Magazine 504 is on sale from Thursday 22 September 2016, price £4.99.


News on New Counter-Measures from Big Finish

As exclusively revealed in this month's Doctor Who Magazine, we've got some updates on our New Counter-Measures series... 

Counter-Measures, Big Finish’s audio spin-off from the Doctor Who story Remembrance of the Daleks, returns in December with a new box set of full-cast adventures. Simon Williams, Pamela Salem and Karen Gledhill are back as Gilmore, Dr Rachel Jensen and Allison Williams, together with Hugh Ross as Sir Toby Kinsella… but this time the action has shifted to the 1970s!

‘The first four box sets took place during the 1960s, and were envisaged as audio adventures in black and white!’ says producer David Richardson. ‘This time we’re doing audio in colour - aiming to capture the tone of those lavish ITC thrillers from the 70s, like The Champions and Department S.’

Fittingly, in The New Counter-Measures, the team has a new base of operations atop the Post Office Tower, as they undertake missions across the globe that threaten world peace.

Their adventures kick off with Nothing to See Here by Guy Adams, in which the team are on the trail of thieves in Switzerland - criminals who are using very dangerous technology…

‘We’ve all wanted to be invisible,’ says Guy, ‘but what if the price of achieving it robbed us of who we are? To HG Wells, invisibility was nightmare food, I wanted to play with that a little. I also relished putting the wonderful, solid, dependable Ian Gilmore through the wringer because writers are absolute sadists when it comes to characters they like. Plus, you know, the idea of having a ski-chase on audio made me laugh.’

Next up is Troubled Waters by Ian Potter, which takes Gilmore, Rachel, Allison and Toby to the Azores - and a journey to the ocean floor as they attempt to find a top secret submarine that has gone missing.
Episode three is The Phoenix Strain by Christopher Hatherall, in which Londoners are subjected to lethal attacks by the bird population. ‘The New Counter Measures was new territory for me and I pitched a creature-feature style story that brought a visceral terror to the streets of London,’ says Christopher. ‘Thankfully the creative team went with it and a story evolved around unethical science, a corrupt self-serving peer, and the poor innocents whose lives are destroyed by both.’

Finally, A Gamble with Time by John Dorney is set in Monte Carlo, where Counter-Measures has arrived in a casino, on the trail of alien hardware - only to discover that it is actually time travel technology…
'I wanted to send the team to Monte Carlo as it was the setting for the first episode of The Persuaders,’ says John. ‘And I wanted to write a strong, bad-ass villainess in the hope that Carolyn Seymour would play it - and happily she agreed!’’ A Gamble With Time also features a guest appearance by Tam Williams - the son of Simon!

The New Counter-Measures Volume 1 is out in December, and can be pre-ordered today at special prices on Download or a CD purchase which instantly unlocks a digital version. A special bundle collects this release with last July's feature-length special The New Counter-Measures: Who Killed Toby Kinsella? at a bargain price, while the previous four releases can be found here.

Via Big Finish

Wednesday 21 September 2016

Wednesdays Whovian Extras (21st September)

THE POWER OF THE DALEKS by Herbarianband

Todays Doctor Who miscellany, for your delight...

The Power of the Daleks - Pre-production Sketch Artwork Doctor Who Fashion Tips From Black Milk Clothing - Doctor Who Holloway charity to host Doctor Who convention outside its hand-built Tardis Russell T Davies VS Steven Moffat - with Ronan Goron Avast and exterminate! Doctor Who's most piratey adventures DOCTOR WHO Rubbertoe Confession Dial (Open & Closed) Replica Reviews | Votesaxon07 Review: DOCTOR WHO: SUPREMACY OF THE CYBERMEN #3 Gallifrey to Trenzalore #28: A Big Hand for the Doctor by Eoin Colfer Win the Doctor Who TV Movie on Blu-ray

Bill's at the TARDIS controls in new Doctor Who series 10 image


It looks as if Bill is making herself at home...

The new Doctor Who companion, played by Pearl Mackie, can be seen at the controls of the TARDIS, apparently fiddling with some of the knobs and buttons, in this new image from series ten...



This looks to be a shot associated with episode two of the new series, as Mackie is seen in the same top she was wearing when she and Peter Capaldi snapped themselves filming that very adventure on location in Valencia.



Mr Capaldi is smiling, but as Bill gets very hands-on in the TARDIS, we suspect the look on the Doctor's face could be slightly different...

Via Radio Times by Paul Jones

Tuesday 20 September 2016

Tuesdays Whovian Extras (20th September)

Return Of Richelieu by Densar

Today's selection from the Whoniverse...

Power of The Daleks at the BFI Don't Shoot- He's British Part 4 Doctor Who: Series Four - Review Doctor Who Reviews - Illegal Alien (AudioBook) Adventures of Dr Who #1: The Sons of the Crab Lethbridge-Stewart: 2 for 1 Super Sale!

Conventions: Regenerations and Beyond! from Big Finish

Big Finish are pleased to be a presence at three conventions in the near future... 

This weekend's Regenerations convention in Swansea is two days of guests and events including a large number of people familiar from Big Finish productions as well as Doctor Who, including Colin Baker, Peter Davison, Anneke Wills, Deborah Watling, Wendy Padbury, Frazer Hines, Jacqueline Pearce and Geoffrey Beevers. We'll have a presence there for those looking for new releases and bargains, so do come and say hello to the team!

Between 7th and 9th October, Dimensions is being held in Newcastle, with a chance to meet or see in conversation: Sylvester McCoy, Peter Purves, Matthew Waterhouse, Elliot Chapman, Richard Franklin, Sarah Sutton and Rob Shearman, amongst many others. Again, we'll have a busy stall there if you're looking for Big Finish releases or want to say "Hi". For both Dimensions and Regenerations, if there's something in our back catalogue you'd particularly want to buy, such as the Doctor Who - The Chimes of Midnight Limited Vinyl set, drop us a line at enquiries@bigfinish.com and let us know.

Finally, on the 15th and 16th October, there's a follow up to last year's popular German convention, Timelash II, again with some very familiar faces from Big Finish releases, such as Gareth David-Lloyd, Colin Baker, Ingrid Oliver, Lisa Bowerman as well as our managing director Jason Haigh-Ellery. Thanks to our friends as Bastei Lubbe, there will be a presence for numerous Big Finish titles.

Monday 19 September 2016

Mondays Whovian Extras (19th September)

you will be upgraded by jyru
The best bits from the Whoniverse for today...

EXCLUSIVE SNEAK PEAK: A History of Humankind - The Doctor's Official Guide A History of Humankind: The Doctor's Official Guide Hardcover Gallifrey to Trenzalore #27: Frayed by Tara Samms (Stephen Cole) 'Doctor Who' star Tom Baker is a Force in 'Star Wars Rebels' BBC Wales rejigs team, plans cuts Doctor Who boss Steven Moffat wins Emmy for Sherlock

Doctor Who: The Movie Blu-Ray - Out Now

The Doctor, nearing the end of his seventh life, is charged with transporting the remains of his fellow Time Lord, the Master, back to their home planet. 

Despite his precautions, his old enemy is not only not dead, but is out for revenge.

Creating a timing malfunction in the TARDIS, and bringing the Doctor to San Francisco in 1999, the Master escapes and puts his plans into motion.

The Doctor must find a beryllium atomic clock and stop the Master, but after being shot down by members of a street gang, how will he succeed?



DISC 1 EXTRAS
  • Commentary #1
    From director Geoffrey Sax (recorded 2001)
  • Commentary #2
    By Paul McGann and Sylvester McCoy, moderated by Nicolas Briggs (recorded 2009)
  • The Seven Year Hitch
    Documenting the return Doctor Who to the screen. Narrated by Amanda Drew.
  • The Doctor’s Strange Love
    Writers Joe Lidster and Simon Guerrier discuss The TV Movie with comedian Josie Long.
  • The Night of the Doctor
    The Night of the Doctor was a mini-episode released in 2013 in the run-up to the show’s 50th anniversary special. This marks Paul McGann’s second on-screen appearance as the Eighth Doctor.
  • Photo Gallery
  • Isolated Score
  • The option to view The TV Movie with the isolated music soundtrack.
  • Music Tracks
    Four tracks from the production presented in full: In a Dream, All Dressed Up, Ride into the Moonlight and Auld Lang Syne.
  • Production Subtitles

DISC 2 EXTRAS
  • Paul McGann Audition
  • Electric Press Kit
    Used by Fox in 1996, this includes a short documentary and interview segments to allow other broadcasters to put together their own packages about the TV Movie.
  • Behind the Scenes
    On set and on location in Vancouver, Canada during the filming of The TV Movie.
  • Philip Segal’s Tour of the TARDIS
  • Alternate Takes
  • BBC Trails
  • Who Peter 1989-2009
    The second part of this documentary, exploring the special relationship between Doctor Who and Blue Peter. Presented by Gethin Jones.
  • The Wilderness Years
    In the years between the end of the classic series and the broadcast of The TV Movie, Doctor Who survived in print, video and audio, kept alive by fans who were determined not to let it die.
  • Stripped for Action – The Eighth Doctor
    Looking at the Doctor’s adventures in comic-strip form.
  • Tomorrow’s Times – The Eight Doctor
    A look back at the contemporary coverage of The TV Movie in newspapers and other publications. Presented by Nicholas Courtney.
  • VFX Tests June 1994
    Early video effects tests by Amblin Imaging in 1994, featuring the ‘Spider Dalek’ design.
  • VFX March 1996
    Video effects presented as mute time-coded ‘work in progress’ shots from the CGI department.
Order from Amazon UK
Order from Forbidden Planet UK

Friday 16 September 2016

Doctor Who Roundup on Friday, September 16, 2016

Included in this edition: Christopher Eccleston Expresses Regret For His Quick Doctor Who Departure, The Doctor Who Christmas special is "absolutely beautiful" and made Mark Gatiss cry, Exclusive: 'Doctor Who' star Colin Baker reflects on his era and 'that awful outfit', plus even more news and reviews.....

Doctor Who Roundup on Friday, September 16, 2016

Thursday 15 September 2016

Doctor Who - The Chimes of Midnight Ltd Edition fom Big Finish

The long-awaited vinyl limited edition release of a Doctor Who Christmas favourite is out now...
For a long time Big Finish listeners asked if we were considering any special releases on vinyl. Eventually we bowed to interest and started work on two such projects with the first - Paul McGann and India Fisher's classic Christmas murder-mystery Doctor Who - The Chimes of Midnight Limited Vinyl Edition out from today:


'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house not a creature was stirring...
But something must be stirring. Something hidden in the shadows. Something which kills the servants of an old Edwardian mansion in the most brutal and macabre manner possible. Exactly on the chiming of the hour, every hour, as the grandfather clock ticks on towards midnight.
Trapped and afraid, the Doctor and Charley are forced to play detective to murders with no motive, where even the victims don't stay dead.
Time is running out. And time itself might well be the killer...



This epic four-disc set comes in new packaging which shows off the new Tom Webster artwork to its awesome best, the discs also containing a brand new documentary which talks to some of the people involved in the making of this gorgeous release. An excerpt can be heard below:

Check out our Facebook pages for Kris Griffin's unboxing video, showing the set off to its full potential and answering some of your questions along the way.



Doctor Who - The Chimes of Midnight Limited Vinyl Edition is available from today. In April 2017, classic Cyberman story Doctor Who - Spare Parts is our second limited vinyl edition. Please note that both titles are shipped using a door-to-door courier and are strictly limited to just 500 copies.

Paul McGann will next be heard as the Eighth Doctor in Doctor Who - Doom Coalition - Series 3 , while in November India Fisher returns to the role of Charley Pollard for Doctor Who - Short Trips: The Man Who Wasn't There.

Thursdays Whovian Extras (15th September)

Stardust by AjchaTu

Todays miscellany from the Whonivese...

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH JOHN LEVENE EXCLUSIVE: Sontaran Monster Month Wallpaper It's Still A Police Box, Why Hasn't It Changed? Part Six: Foam, If You Want To, All Around The World REVIEW - THE EARLY ADVENTURES 3.1 THE AGE OF ENDURANCE - Planet Mondas Alex Kingston Autographing - Thursday, 11:00 AM - Conferences - New York Comic Con - October 6 - 9, 2016 - Javits Center Review - Doctor Who: The 3rd Doctor # 1 (of 5) Doctor Who Reviews - Maker of Demons (Big Finish)

Doctor Who Adventures Number 19 - Cover and Details

The latest issue of Doctor Who Adventures, the magazine for younger Whovians, is on sale now.

Check out all the details on Issue #19 below....

FEAR BUDS
Andrew Cartmel’s run on the DWA comic strip continues as the Doctor and Jata the alien horse find themselves besieged by zombies at one of the top schools in the country.

MATRIX CRAFT STUDIO
Enter the Matrix and build your own Time Lord Presidential Staff! You too can have the swag of a President of Gallifrey!

UNIT ALIEN ARCHIVE
Find out all there is to know about the horrendous Sandmen!

RACE FOR SURVIVAL!
Who can escape the Daleks first? Missy, the Doctor or Osgood?

STRAX AND THE TIME SHARK!
Strax and the Doctor have a bizarre game of bowls!

THE PATERNOSTER GANG INVESTIGATES
The Paternoster Gang investigate the Insidious Ideas of the Danger Thinkers, in a terrifying tale from Rik Hoskin!

Doctor Who Adventures #19 comes with a FREE pair of wall-crawling Cybermen plus a set of Story Dice!

Via the BBC

Wednesday 14 September 2016

Wednesdays Whovian Extras (14th September)

Dalek Supreme by MightyOtaking

Todays latest from the Whoniverse...

Who Are The Sontarans? - TARDIS Index File - Doctor Who Do the different Doctors' personalities in Doctor Who hide a secret message? DOCTOR WHO Cyberman Attack Electronic Toy Review | Votesaxon07 New picture from Doctor Who spin-off Class teases war and advanced mathematics 8 things we never found out about Clara in 'Doctor Who' REVIEW - 216: MAKER OF DEMONS - Planet Mondas Gallifrey to Trenzalore #25: The Keys of Marinus by Terry Nation

Doctor Who spin off series Class launches social channels



The brand-new Doctor Who spin off series Class, set in the legendary Coal Hill School, has launched its social media channels, so you’ll never be late for class again!

Class is a YA series that will premiere on BBC Three this Autumn and will feature more mature themes than Doctor Who - please note it is not suitable viewing for younger audiences.

Starring exciting young new talents Greg Austin, Fady Elsayed, Sophie Hopkins and Vivian Oparah, as well as the brilliant Katherine Kelly, Class centres on four Coal Hill School students as they face their own fears and navigate a life of friends, parents, school work, sex, sorrow – and possibly the end of existence.
You can catch all the latest Class news and photos on:
And don’t forget to follow BBCClass on Snapchat for exclusive behind the scenes videos with the cast!

Scan this snapcode in Snapchat to follow BBCClass, or search 'BBCClass' in Snapchat!


Fear is coming, tragedy is coming, war is coming. Prepare yourselves, Class is coming.



Head this way for more info on the brand new series set in the universe of Doctor Who, and click here to Meet the Cast of Class in 360°.

Via the BBC

Doctor Who - The Age of Endurance from Big Finish

The first of the new series of Doctor Who - The Early Adventures is out now! 

Today sees the release of Doctor Who - The Early Adventures: The Age of Endurance, starring William Russell and Carole Ann Ford as The Doctor, Ian and Susan and Jemma Powell (who played Jacqueline Hill in 2013's An Adventure in Space and Time) as Barbara:

The TARDIS materialises on board a still and eerie spaceship. When a squad of soldiers land, they realise they've found themselves in the middle of a war zone. With one of their crew trapped by the enemy, the Doctor and his friends find themselves locked in a desperate race for survival. Vast warships manoeuvre around each other as both sides try to out-think their opponents, flying into ever more dangerous areas of space.

The stakes could not be higher. But as ever in war, the lines between good and evil are hard to define. Will anyone survive to claim the moral high ground?




Doctor Who - The Early Adventures: The Age of Endurance is available now on Download and CD (which instantly unlocks a download version so that you can be listening even as our dispatch department puts your CD into the post!). If you're using any of the free Big Finish apps, you can even listen on the go!

This third series of four Doctor Who - The Early Adventures can be subscribed to for a saving - the first two series are both available as value-for-money bundles. The range continues next month with Doctor Who - The Early Adventures: The Fifth Traveller.

Check out our entire selection of First Doctor stories here.

Via Big Finish

Third Doctor - Number One - Comic

Paul Cornell returns to Doctor Who comics with ‘The Heralds of Destruction!’

When something enormous crashes into Bedfordshire, the Doctor, Jo Grant, and the forces of UNIT under Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart mobilize immediately, only to find themselves in the middle of a pitched battle against a terrifying invader.

But the shocking face that awaits their return to base may tip the whole world off its axis! It’s classic third Doctor action as you’ve never seen it before!

Doctor Who: 3rd Doctor #1 (Boo Cook Forbidden Planet/Jetpack Comics Variant) Doctor Who: 3rd #1 (Cover A Burns) Doctor Who: 3rd #1 (Cover B Photo) Doctor Who: 3rd #1 (Cover C Myers) Doctor Who: 3rd #1 (Cover D McCaffrey) Doctor Who: 3rd #1 (Blank Sketch Variant)

Tuesday 13 September 2016

Tuesdays Whovian Extras (13th September)

The Foretold Stare by petrasrenata

A selection of todays goodies from the Whoniverse...

The Enemy Within New Doctor Who spin-off Class now has a logo How quickly can you recognise the Doctor Who characters from the back of their heads? Your CHICAGO TARDIS Charity Auction Motivational Post

Steven Moffat Declares He Is Not Blocking Torchwood

Doctor Who‘s outgoing head writer Steven Moffat has clarified his position on continuing Torchwood.

“I really liked the show (especially the third series) and would be very happy to see more – monsters and mayhem, why not?” he told Doctor Who News after receiving a new wave of hate mail in the wake of Torchwood star John Barrowman‘s recent comments indicating a new season would require “approval from certain people involved with Doctor Who” and that the situation would be more favorable “when somebody leaves.”

Moffat made it clear that he has not blocked a new season and is not even in a position to do so. “As John perfectly well knows, it’s not my show and I could no more prevent it happening that he could cancel Sherlock,” he said. “I am bewildered, and a little cross, even to be included in this conversation.”

Though Moffat first wrote Barrowman’s character, Captain Jack Harkness, in the first season two-parter “The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances,” Torchwood — and indeed a lot of the character’s development — is the creation of Russell T. Davies. Following the completion of Torchwood‘s fourth season, Davies announced the series would go on an indefinite hiatus due to personal reasons.

And while it seems Barrowman believes he will find a warmer reception with incoming Doctor Who head writer Chris Chibnall, who shared head writing duties with Davies on Torchwood‘s first season, he can be heard as Captain Jack in a series of audio dramas from Big Finish; which recently announced a new series of adventures with the character set for release next year.

Via Bleeding Cool by Erik Amaya

The Doctor Who Christmas special is “absolutely beautiful” and made Mark Gatiss cry

The lack of Doctor Who in the autumn schedules this year is starting to make us feel seriously depressed, with the sci-fi series taking a break until the Christmas special this December before returning for a full series next April.

However, frequent Doctor Who writer Mark Gatiss (who is writing an episode for the upcoming series) says that the new material might be worth the wait – because this year’s festive special is some of head writer Steven Moffat’s best work yet.

“I think the Christmas special… which is the only one this year…I think is one of Steve’s best ever scripts, absolutely beautiful,” Gatiss told the audience at a Victoria & Albert Museum members’ talk last night.

“It made me cry.”

Unfortunately Gatiss didn’t mention whether they were tears of joy or tears of inestimable sadness (either standard Doctor Who reactions, really), and generally preferred to keep the lid on anything we could expect for the Doctor’s future adventures next April.

“What can you expect?” he mused. “The Doctor is in it. It’s great!”

But in fairness, some of Gatiss’ caginess came from his own desire not to spoil the new series for himself, as he went on to explain.

“I’ve read three scripts. I’ve seen a little bit. Just because of the new companion and things,” he said.

“But I don’t want to see it, because it spoils it! I am such a fan, I just want to watch it.

“Peter Capaldi’s first season, the second half of that I knew nothing about. And it was such a joy to watch the next time trailer and just be totally surprised."

“So I mean, I have to, to some extent, but I try and see as little as possible, because I don’t wanna spoil it.”

Via Radio Times by Huw Fullerton

Doctor Who - Maker of Demons from Big Finish

The Doctor's past comes back to haunt him in Doctor Who - Maker Of Demons, out now...
The September release in our Doctor Who - Main Range brings together Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred and Bonnie Langford in Matthew J Elliott's Doctor Who - Maker of Demons:

Decades ago, the mysterious time-travelling Doctor and his cheerful companion Mel became the toast of the planet Prosper, when they brokered a peace between the native Mogera and humans from the colony ship The Duke of Milan.

But when the TARDIS at last returns to Prosper, the Doctor, Mel and their associate Ace find only a warzone. The burrowing Mogera have become brutal monsters, dominated by their terrifying leader Caliban – and it's all the Doctor's fault!



Doctor Who - Maker of Demons is now available on either Download or CD (which instantly unlocks a download version so you can be listening even as your CD is heading into the post). Use one of the free Big Finish apps to listen while on the move!

For any subscribers to our main Doctor Who range, the latest Doctor Who - Subscriber Short Trip is now available as a download in your accounts: Doctor Who - The Shrine of Sorrows by Julian Richards. All subscribers get one of these for free every three months as part of a subscription package which also includes the PDF download of each script, and an extended version of the CD extras.

Via Big Finish

Monday 12 September 2016

Mondays Whovian Extras (12th September)


The latest from the Whoniverse...

Class: BBC Three Teaser Trailer Exclusive: 'Doctor Who' star Colin Baker reflects on his era and 'that awful outfit' John Barrowman has a special deal to help him return to Doctor Who Doctor Who Reviews - The Tenth Doctor: Volume 4 - 'The Endless Song' (Titan Comics) Doctor Who Reviews - The Macra Terror (AudioBook)

Christopher Eccleston Expresses Regret For His Quick Doctor Who Departure

Like Tom Baker before him, actor Christopher Eccleston has a difficult time with Doctor Who and the odd afterlife which comes with it. He declined to appear in the fiftieth anniversary special, The Day of the Doctor, necessitating the creation of John Hurt‘s War Doctor. But in a new interview, Eccelston reveals he regrets leaving the series after one year.

Eccleston offered his comments on 774 ABC Melbourne’s Drive program. In regard to his regrets for leaving, he said, “It was kind of tragic for me, that I didn’t play him for longer. He’s a beautiful character and I have a great deal of professional pride and had I done a second season, there would have been a marked improvement in my performance.” He added that the show offered him a chance to learn light comedy, a skill he is not particularly known for.

The actor also further clarified his reasons for leaving so quickly. When asked previously, he talked about a clash of cultures and the terrible behavior of “upper management” toward members of the crew. In the Drive interview, he zeroed in on someone specific: the director of the first episode.”It’s very important on a first series that you make a very informed and intelligent choice, even if it means breaking the budget,” he explained. “About getting the first director who is going to set the tone for the season, for the way the actors relate and that did not happen. Disaster.”

Though Eccleston does not name names, Keith Boak directed the first production block back in 2003. He is credited as the director of the first episode, Rose, and the new series first two-parter, Aliens of London/World War III.

Even at the time, rumours emerged indicating that Eccleston was ready to walk way during that first recording block, with Boak as a principle reason for the actor’s displeasure. Consequently, Boak was never asked to return to the show.

And it seems with the passage of time, Eccleston is more and more willing to talk about what was undoubtedly a difficult start for the series. Perhaps some day, he will be more willing to engage with the show — and perhaps appear in subsequent anniversary special — without that bitterness getting in the way.
 


Via Bleeding Cool by Erik Amaya