The new BBC Media Village in Cardiff has been named Roath Lock at a "topping out" ceremony which took place today at the Porth Teigr site at Cardiff Bay; the final section of concrete floor has been laid marking the completion of Phase One of the development.


The event was attended by outgoing BBC Wales director Menna Richards, one of the driving forces behind the new development, who said:Other guests included Welsh heritage minister Alun Ffred Jones, Cardiff Council leader Rodney Berman, and Mark Hallett of site developers Igloo Regeneration.


The first shows at the 170,000 sq ft site (Casualty and Pobol y Cwm) are due to commence production in Autumn once the buildings are fitted out. Doctor Who and The Sarah Jane Adventures will re-locate from the Upper Boat Studios in Tonteg during 2012 - a move meaning that Doctor Who's 50th Anniversary will be marked at the brand new facilities!

(original report from BBC News, and updated report including video)

US specialist merchandise designer Bif Bang Pow! are to release a new line of toys and collectibles in America based on Doctor Who.

The new Doctor Who Collection range is expected to be launched in the summer, and will initially feature retro action figures and playsets, along with bobble heads. Created in partnership with EMCE Toys, the figures will stand 8-inches tall and include episode-specific fabric clothing, in addition to multiple points of articulation.

Jason Lenzi, CEO of the company, said:
The product line will be unveiled at the New York Toy Fair, from 13-16 February.


Later plans include items like licence plate frames, tin boxes, coasters, magnets, glassware, and other popular collectible merchandise.


Bif Bang Pow! was created by Jason Lenzi in 2005 in answer to a market niche to provide merchanside based upon a fan's perspective - to bring stuff to the marketplace that he himself would want to own. The company aim is to "to provide high-quality action figures, toys and collectibles to the massive cult audience (and kids of all ages) that wishes these toys were already in their collection."

(read the press release for full details)

The annual Radio Times Covers Party took place at Claridges in London on Tuesday evening, which as usual saw a multitude of stars gather together to celebrate another year's worth of Radio Times covers.

The event was hosted by former Doctor David Tennant, who was also presented with his cover for Single Father (9-15 October); Karen Gillan was there to receive the Doctor Who cover for The Pandorica Opens (19-25 June).


Other guests at the party included Steven Moffat, Rob Brydon, Terry Wogan, Aidan Grimshaw, Jean Marsh, Keeley Hawes, Hugh Bonneville and David Morrissey.

You can find a range of photos from the evening on the Radio Times website, featuring David Tennant, Karen Gillan and Steven Moffat amongst the other guests; evening developments were also revealed live and can be read via Twitter, including further behind-the-scenes photos.

The Radio Times have also provided a short video of the evening, featuring sound-bites from various celebrities, including host David Tennant and the current series representatives Karen Gillan and Steven Moffat (1m20s in).

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Plus, this week’s Radio Times (22-28 Jan) see actress Sinead Keenan talk about the new series of Being Human and playing an alien in Doctor Who:

Prime TV have now released details on the broadcast of A Christmas Carol in New Zealand; the special, which stars Michael Gambon and Katherine Jenkins alongside the Eleventh Doctor Matt Smith, will be shown on Sunday 30th January at 8:30pm.

(with thanks to the New Zealand Doctor Who Fan Club for reporting the news)

BBC Worldwide has announced a major new deal with Character Options' new Construction division which will see Doctor Who enter the construction toy market for the first time.

The Character Building range will include 3D micro-figures, brought to life with sculpted facial features whilst play sets will be uniquely tailored to Doctor Who. Fans will be able to build their own Doctor Who world with all their favourite characters including the Doctor and Amy Pond with their famous foes the Daleks, Cybermen and Weeping Angels.

Distinctive to the Character Building range will be the use of texture on some of the building blocks, whether it be the sleek and smooth edges of a spaceship, or the rough edges of a rock face. This will be pivotal in recreating each environment, providing a natural look, but still allowing easy construction play. The entire range will be displayed at the Character Options stand at the London Toy Fair with the first products set for release in Spring 2011.

Matt Smith commented on his new figureWith Karen Gillan adding
Richard Hollis, who is Head of UK Licensing at BBC Worldwide said the reason the BBC has chosen to work with Character Options is because of the quality and imagination they put into their toys, with Jon Diver, Character Group's Joint Managing Director, saying the new project represents a major investment and we are delighted to be increasing our Doctor Who portfolio.

Back in December we reported that director Peter Hoar had been listed by the Curtis Brown Literary and Talent Agency as working on an episode of Doctor Who for 2011.

Since then, two cast members have now been confirmed for this episode, forming what seems like another duo in the series.

The episode itself is currently unknown in the running order for the series.

According to Vic Murray Talent, Dan Johnston will feature as a character named Thin Man; the actor has previously appeared as regular Jonty in Sold, a journalist in Hotel Babylon, and featured in two pilots for Thames Television, Team UK and Navelgazing: 4Tissimo.

Debi Allen Associates lists stand-up comedian Charlie Baker as Fat Man. Baker's television credits include being a panellist on Channel 4's Beer and Pizza Club and BBC2's Never Mind the Buzzcocks, and appearing in The IT Crowd; he also featured as a band singer in the film The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.

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Two artists have been credited for another unknown story; Spotlight lists child actresses Fern Duncan and Frances Encell as providing voice overs for Doctor Who (filmed in 2010).

Fern has had roles on television in Poirot and in the film Gulliver's Travels, and has appeared on stage in The King and I and Annie Get Your Gun. Meanwhile, Frances has appeared on television in Emmerdale and The Royal, and on stage in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and The Sound of Music.

Both actresses are enrolled at the Sylvia Young Agency and Theatre School.

Regular watchers of live webcam updates from the film set of the BBC's soap Eastenders were surprised to see the TARDIS "materialise" in Walford this morning!

Messages on the show's webcam discussion board included:

The police box prop was actually pressed into service in relation to a link being prepared by presenter Dermot O'Leary for the National Television Awards, taking place next week. Eastenders is vying against Coronation Street, Emmerdale and Hollyoaks for the award for Serial Drama, so the TARDIS might well pop up in other well-known locations!

Figures released by the BBC Press Office show that the Doctor Who Christmas Special: A Christmas Carol, was accessed over 700,000 times on the BBC iPlayer in the week after transmission.

The episode was the 8th most accessed programme in December, dispite only being available for the last week of the month. Overall December was a record month for the iPlayer with 89.7 million requests for TV Programmes.

Jana Bennett, BBC Director of Vision, said
Matt Smith's first full story as The Doctor, The Eleventh Hour, still holds the record for the most accessed programme ever on iPlayer, with 2.24 million requests, way ahead of the second placed Top Gear. Every single episode of Smith's first series was in the top thirty accessed programmes of the year, with Doctor Who taking seven of the top ten places. David Tennant's Swan-song, The End of Time: Part Two came in at number 33, with just over a million requests. A Christmas Carol was the 73rd most requested programme in 2010, but was also available for the first week of 2011.

In terms of overall programme totals, Doctor Who Series Five had 19.5 million requests. The most requested programme was EastEnders, with over 100 million requests, although spread over a much larger number of episodes.

Other series of Doctor Who faired well with repeats of Series 4 being requested over 2 million times. The most requested Doctor Who item on BBC Radio was the Radio Seven transmission of the reading of Doctor Who and The Giant Robot, which was requested over 200,000 times. In total there were over 32 million requests for Doctor Who connected programmes.

It has been confirmed that the upcoming DVD re-release of the Third Doctor's first story, Spearhead from Space, will include the previously missing Fleetwood Mac track, Oh Well Part One.

Steve Roberts of the Doctor Who Restoration Team posted on Gallifrey Base that the track will be included on the soundtrack of the story due for release around the world later this year.

The music was present on the original transmission, during scenes of dolls being manufactured at Auto Plastics. Because of rights issues the track was removed from the 1988 BBC Video release and the 2001 DVD Release. The track is now covered by the PPL agreement, the same agreement which allowed the missing Beatles music to be included on the UK release of The Chase.

However, unlike the release of The Chase, the Fleetwood Mac track is covered internationally and so will be included on all versions of the story.

2011 has seen filming continue on Doctor Who, with work being completed on Matthew Graham's two-parter during the first week of January. Filming took place at Atlantic College in Welsh St. Donats, picking up from filming that needed to be completed from an earlier visit during December. This was followed in the middle of the week by pick-ups back at Cardiff Castle, and then finally at the end of the week at the Senedd at Cardiff Bay.

Graham commented on the 4th about the impending completion of his episodes, via Twitter:



Last week saw production begin on Block 4, concentrating on the spring series climax episode seven and the new episode three from Steve Thompson. Steven Moffat commented on the 13th:

Filming took place at Lafarge Aberthaw Cement Works on the 11th January, during which an old adversary of the Doctor's was spotted! With Moffat's comments above, it isn't clear whether this filming is for the new Block 4, or the final batch of filming for Block 3. However, the 13th certainly did see episode seven filming taking place at a (currently unknown) power station.