People Roundup
Friday, 29 March 2013 - Reported by Chuck Foster
Talking about fandom in the US, Matt Smith said: "We didn’t realise how big it was until we filmed in New York, but the fans have been so supportive. The British are a lot more reserved, and the North Americans have a lot more enthusiasm. I love it when people dress up as the Doctor. I like all that — that is the spirit of the place and there is a freedom to be enthusiastic there, which is hugely enjoyable. That is what’s great about working in science fiction shows." [New York Daily News, 23 Mar 2013]
And his thoughts on now being immortalised on a new stamp from the Royal Mail? "It’s a great privilege that the nation will be licking the backs of our heads. It’s an amazing thing – I’m really proud to be part of it. It’s cool. it’s something that I can show my grandkids." [SFX, 25 Mar 2013]
He also has an eye on being in the Bond franchise: "I'm not handsome enough to be James Bond. Maybe a villain though. Start campaigning now. I'd edge on the camp dangerous side I think. Javier Bardem was amazing. I thought Skyfall was a sumptuous film." Jenna-Louise Coleman also commented: "I’d love to be a Bond girl — I did have my moment on the back of a motorbike. But then we’ve got the goggles and the hat, so it was Doctor Who’s take on James Bond." [The Sun 19 Mar 2013, 22 Mar 2013]
Outside of Who, Jenna-Louise chats about what she'd like to tackle, drame-wise: "What I would really like to do is an adaptation. I like period drama because everyone is so restrained, but they have all these emotions raging underneath." [Evening Standard, 22 Feb 2013]
David Tennant has said that he isn't a fan of social media: "Twitter! It’s like being stalked by committee! Come and say hello if you want, but not for the sake of twittering about it." [Time Out via Radio Times, 27 Feb 2013]
Jenna-Louise similarly talks about avoiding the online community: "I don't really get online very much, I try to stay away. It's just ... that feeling of accessibility, you know? I like to go about my business and go to work and not have too much of a consciousness of what I'm doing. I just don't think it's for me, really. It's just not my cup of tea." [Mashable, 27 Mar 2013]
On the other hand, Billie Piper has embraced it, having arrived on Twitter as @BilliePiper - including a photo to prove it!
Peter Davison talks about watching Doctor Who with his children: "I do watch the new series, yes, because my children watch it and I love watching it. I've got to that age now. Douglas Adams who was a script editor on Doctor Who once said to me: "the trick about Doctor Who is making it simple enough for the adults to understand and complicated enough to hold the children’s attention". And I think I'm now getting to that point where I think I've moved into the older bracket, obviously I have, but in brain as well because I do find myself turning to my children saying: "what’s going on? What? Can you explain that?" They go: "oh, dad, what’s happened is this..." So, I'm now in that bracket which has to be simple for dad to understand." [Independent, 3 Mar 2013]
Colin Baker is to appear at Sci-fi By The Sea, a convention to be held at Herne Bay Football Club on the 16th June 16. Organiser Gerald McCarthy said: "People are very excited to have a proper Doctor Who coming down. Sometimes these announcements have a knock on effect for other guests, who ask who else is coming down before they attend. We already have two tardis’, seven or eight Daleks and some Cybermen coming along, so Colin tops it off for us on that front." [Kent Online, 14 Mar 2013]
On tour promoting their latest book, The Bone Quill, John and Carole Barrowman discuss their future plans for Hollow Earth: "We worked out some key plot things and some new things we hadn’t originally planned.. When we first planned [the series], we had three major evolutionary things we wanted to happen, [one] in each book, based on Matt’s and Em’s ability. We fleshed out the little details as we went along. One of the things we’ve had a lot of fun in doing, particularly with the first book, is seeding a lot of things that we hope to pull out as we go along. We planted little Easter eggs, or symbols, to discover. The twins live on Raphael Terrace. There are all sorts of allusions to art in ways that kids may not pick up until they get a little older. Matt and Em’s last name is Calder, not only a Scottish last name but also a famous artist’s last name. The idea of duality is in there. We’ve actually had a lot of fun playing the puzzle makers for all of that." [Popmatters, 29 Mar 2013]
The book was launched at St Katherine's School, Ham Green, which was chosen as the venue through librarian Lucy Edwards’ working relationship with Waterstone's. The siblings had an audience of 300 year eight pupils were there for their visit along with students from various reading groups. [Weston Mercury, 13 Mar 2013]
Writer Neil Cross explains what makes a good monster: "There's two kinds of good monsters. The monster to whom your existence means nothing. That's something like the Daleks. It's something so alien that it's inhumane in every sense. Then there's the monsters that look like us, but there's something wrong, like Hannibal Lecter. The attributes that we think are best in ourselves - love, conscience, compassion - are all stripped away. They're the people who kill puppies." [The Wellingtonian, 8 Mar 2013]
Writer Mark Ravenhill explained about potentially writing for Doctor Who: "I did once go and see Russell T Davies and he said he thought I was far too adult for Doctor Who. But he was creating Torchwood and so he said to go away and come up with some ideas. I had very few clues what it was about, so it was like throwing darts at a dartboard in the dark. That was the closest I ever came. Although I love Doctor Who - maybe I'm not the right person to write it." [BBC News, 24 Feb 2013]
When asked whether the perceived imbalance between male and female writers on Doctor Who would be addressed, producer Marcus Wilson said: "Due to schedules and other projects, both male and female writers whom we have wanted to join the team simply haven't been able to. For us it's about who can write good Doctor Who stories, regardless of gender." [Guardian, 27 Mar 2013]
Paul McCartney has revealed how he had asked Delia Derbyshire to remake Yesterday, though it never went any further: "We went round to visit her, we even went into the hut at the bottom of her garden. It was full of tape machines and funny instruments. My plan in meeting her was to do an electronic backing for my song Yesterday. We'd already recorded it with a string quartet, but I wanted to give the arrangement electronic backing. The Radiophonic Workshop, I loved all that, it fascinated me, and still does." [Q Magazine via Guardian, 22 Mar 2013]
Murray Gold recently appeared at the Scoring Drama Masterclass at London’s BFI, where he discussed strategies for composing drama music, including reading the script: "You need to love drama to score drama and show that you love it. First time I get a script, I read it. Which some composers don’t do. But reading the script helps you work out where ‘the kick’ is. This job is also a lot more interesting when you’re writing for a show you actually like." [M Magazine, 21 Mar 2013]
Being a former footballer, Matt Smith continues to take a keen interest, and shared his thoughts on recent developments at Blackburn Rovers: "It's an absolute farce, a joke, it's being run by complete numpties. Great players, great team, great club and those berks have ruined it. They talk about getting rid of Allardyce because of the long ball - what the hell was that against Millwall? It was a woeful performance against Millwall. It's the first time I've been embarrassed at the way the team played." [BBC News, 16 Mar 2013]
Now firmly established on ITV, David Tennant commented on how the Broadchurch story unfolded where the actors didn't know how it would develop: "When you're playing those initial interviews with characters and you genuinely don't know what the truth is, you can't load those scenes with 'actorly' tricks. You have to play it for what it is, which can only make it more real. You can be as exasperated about the mystery of the characters as the audience will be. It's great to be part of something where all the characters have powerful stories to tell. There's the whodunit aspect but there are other stories going on and such wonderful people portraying those parts." [Belfast Telegraph, 22 Feb 2013]
Co-star Arthur Darvill explained how he became involved with Broadchurch: "Chris Chibnall came up to me while I was filming one of his episodes in Cardiff and said, "I've written you a part in a new TV series, will you do it?" I thought, "I can't say no to that, that's amazing!". We chatted about it, we discussed where the character would go, and I just found what he was trying to do really interesting, so I jumped at the chance. That's the first time somebody's ever written anything for me; it was very humbling. It's quite an honour," he added." [Belfast Telegraph, 1 Mar 2013]
Karen Gillan is to join American comedy series NTSF:SD:SUV for its third series, appearing as Daisy, described as the team's "Q" expert. The series is due to be broadcast in from July. [Radio Times, 22 Mar 2013]
David Warner and Lisa Bowerman can be seen in The Wizard, a short film written by Simon Guerrier for Hat Trick and Bad Teeth's Short and Funnies short comedy film competition.
And his thoughts on now being immortalised on a new stamp from the Royal Mail? "It’s a great privilege that the nation will be licking the backs of our heads. It’s an amazing thing – I’m really proud to be part of it. It’s cool. it’s something that I can show my grandkids." [SFX, 25 Mar 2013]
He also has an eye on being in the Bond franchise: "I'm not handsome enough to be James Bond. Maybe a villain though. Start campaigning now. I'd edge on the camp dangerous side I think. Javier Bardem was amazing. I thought Skyfall was a sumptuous film." Jenna-Louise Coleman also commented: "I’d love to be a Bond girl — I did have my moment on the back of a motorbike. But then we’ve got the goggles and the hat, so it was Doctor Who’s take on James Bond." [The Sun 19 Mar 2013, 22 Mar 2013]
Outside of Who, Jenna-Louise chats about what she'd like to tackle, drame-wise: "What I would really like to do is an adaptation. I like period drama because everyone is so restrained, but they have all these emotions raging underneath." [Evening Standard, 22 Feb 2013]
David Tennant has said that he isn't a fan of social media: "Twitter! It’s like being stalked by committee! Come and say hello if you want, but not for the sake of twittering about it." [Time Out via Radio Times, 27 Feb 2013]
Jenna-Louise similarly talks about avoiding the online community: "I don't really get online very much, I try to stay away. It's just ... that feeling of accessibility, you know? I like to go about my business and go to work and not have too much of a consciousness of what I'm doing. I just don't think it's for me, really. It's just not my cup of tea." [Mashable, 27 Mar 2013]
On the other hand, Billie Piper has embraced it, having arrived on Twitter as @BilliePiper - including a photo to prove it!
Peter Davison talks about watching Doctor Who with his children: "I do watch the new series, yes, because my children watch it and I love watching it. I've got to that age now. Douglas Adams who was a script editor on Doctor Who once said to me: "the trick about Doctor Who is making it simple enough for the adults to understand and complicated enough to hold the children’s attention". And I think I'm now getting to that point where I think I've moved into the older bracket, obviously I have, but in brain as well because I do find myself turning to my children saying: "what’s going on? What? Can you explain that?" They go: "oh, dad, what’s happened is this..." So, I'm now in that bracket which has to be simple for dad to understand." [Independent, 3 Mar 2013]
Colin Baker is to appear at Sci-fi By The Sea, a convention to be held at Herne Bay Football Club on the 16th June 16. Organiser Gerald McCarthy said: "People are very excited to have a proper Doctor Who coming down. Sometimes these announcements have a knock on effect for other guests, who ask who else is coming down before they attend. We already have two tardis’, seven or eight Daleks and some Cybermen coming along, so Colin tops it off for us on that front." [Kent Online, 14 Mar 2013]
On tour promoting their latest book, The Bone Quill, John and Carole Barrowman discuss their future plans for Hollow Earth: "We worked out some key plot things and some new things we hadn’t originally planned.. When we first planned [the series], we had three major evolutionary things we wanted to happen, [one] in each book, based on Matt’s and Em’s ability. We fleshed out the little details as we went along. One of the things we’ve had a lot of fun in doing, particularly with the first book, is seeding a lot of things that we hope to pull out as we go along. We planted little Easter eggs, or symbols, to discover. The twins live on Raphael Terrace. There are all sorts of allusions to art in ways that kids may not pick up until they get a little older. Matt and Em’s last name is Calder, not only a Scottish last name but also a famous artist’s last name. The idea of duality is in there. We’ve actually had a lot of fun playing the puzzle makers for all of that." [Popmatters, 29 Mar 2013]
The book was launched at St Katherine's School, Ham Green, which was chosen as the venue through librarian Lucy Edwards’ working relationship with Waterstone's. The siblings had an audience of 300 year eight pupils were there for their visit along with students from various reading groups. [Weston Mercury, 13 Mar 2013]
Writer Neil Cross explains what makes a good monster: "There's two kinds of good monsters. The monster to whom your existence means nothing. That's something like the Daleks. It's something so alien that it's inhumane in every sense. Then there's the monsters that look like us, but there's something wrong, like Hannibal Lecter. The attributes that we think are best in ourselves - love, conscience, compassion - are all stripped away. They're the people who kill puppies." [The Wellingtonian, 8 Mar 2013]
Writer Mark Ravenhill explained about potentially writing for Doctor Who: "I did once go and see Russell T Davies and he said he thought I was far too adult for Doctor Who. But he was creating Torchwood and so he said to go away and come up with some ideas. I had very few clues what it was about, so it was like throwing darts at a dartboard in the dark. That was the closest I ever came. Although I love Doctor Who - maybe I'm not the right person to write it." [BBC News, 24 Feb 2013]
When asked whether the perceived imbalance between male and female writers on Doctor Who would be addressed, producer Marcus Wilson said: "Due to schedules and other projects, both male and female writers whom we have wanted to join the team simply haven't been able to. For us it's about who can write good Doctor Who stories, regardless of gender." [Guardian, 27 Mar 2013]
Paul McCartney has revealed how he had asked Delia Derbyshire to remake Yesterday, though it never went any further: "We went round to visit her, we even went into the hut at the bottom of her garden. It was full of tape machines and funny instruments. My plan in meeting her was to do an electronic backing for my song Yesterday. We'd already recorded it with a string quartet, but I wanted to give the arrangement electronic backing. The Radiophonic Workshop, I loved all that, it fascinated me, and still does." [Q Magazine via Guardian, 22 Mar 2013]
Murray Gold recently appeared at the Scoring Drama Masterclass at London’s BFI, where he discussed strategies for composing drama music, including reading the script: "You need to love drama to score drama and show that you love it. First time I get a script, I read it. Which some composers don’t do. But reading the script helps you work out where ‘the kick’ is. This job is also a lot more interesting when you’re writing for a show you actually like." [M Magazine, 21 Mar 2013]
Being a former footballer, Matt Smith continues to take a keen interest, and shared his thoughts on recent developments at Blackburn Rovers: "It's an absolute farce, a joke, it's being run by complete numpties. Great players, great team, great club and those berks have ruined it. They talk about getting rid of Allardyce because of the long ball - what the hell was that against Millwall? It was a woeful performance against Millwall. It's the first time I've been embarrassed at the way the team played." [BBC News, 16 Mar 2013]
Now firmly established on ITV, David Tennant commented on how the Broadchurch story unfolded where the actors didn't know how it would develop: "When you're playing those initial interviews with characters and you genuinely don't know what the truth is, you can't load those scenes with 'actorly' tricks. You have to play it for what it is, which can only make it more real. You can be as exasperated about the mystery of the characters as the audience will be. It's great to be part of something where all the characters have powerful stories to tell. There's the whodunit aspect but there are other stories going on and such wonderful people portraying those parts." [Belfast Telegraph, 22 Feb 2013]
Co-star Arthur Darvill explained how he became involved with Broadchurch: "Chris Chibnall came up to me while I was filming one of his episodes in Cardiff and said, "I've written you a part in a new TV series, will you do it?" I thought, "I can't say no to that, that's amazing!". We chatted about it, we discussed where the character would go, and I just found what he was trying to do really interesting, so I jumped at the chance. That's the first time somebody's ever written anything for me; it was very humbling. It's quite an honour," he added." [Belfast Telegraph, 1 Mar 2013]
Karen Gillan is to join American comedy series NTSF:SD:SUV for its third series, appearing as Daisy, described as the team's "Q" expert. The series is due to be broadcast in from July. [Radio Times, 22 Mar 2013]
David Warner and Lisa Bowerman can be seen in The Wizard, a short film written by Simon Guerrier for Hat Trick and Bad Teeth's Short and Funnies short comedy film competition.
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