The official Doctor Who
website today has mentioned the
Doctor Who: Regeneration documentary on BBC Radio 2, which Outpost Gallifrey reported on October 28 (see our news archives). As a reminder from our report: "The new documentary from the radio channel, which earlier this year presented the two-part documentary 'Project: WHO', examines how this year's adventures of the Time Lord became the most talked about television event of 2005. Just how significant was the departure of Christopher Eccleston to the programme and its production team? Has the success of 'Doctor Who' changed the battleground of Saturday night television? And is the TARDIS safe in David Tennant's hands?" It airs on BBC Radio 2 on Tuesday 20 December at 8:33pm.
The
Daily Star reported Saturday that Doctor Who fans in England "want to exterminate show bosses over the Timelord's new Scottish twang. English websites have been bombarded with complaints over claims the new Doctor, Scots-born David Tennant, 34, speaks in his native accent in the next episodes. Tennant sounded English during his only appearance in the show so far at the end of the last series. Insiders have let slip he will have a Scottish accent when the show returns at Christmas. One fan wrote: 'Doctor Who can't keep changing his accent.'"
Christopher Eccleston is the narrator for BBC Two's "Dubai Dreams", as listed at the
BBC2 website. The program is on Monday nights.
Peter Davison Peter Davison is recording a third series of his Radio 4 comedy "Rigor Mortis". His co-star from season one of this series, Tracey Anne-Oberman, is guest starring in the forthcoming series of Doctor Who.
On Monday,
Terry Wogan contributed to the forthcoming "Children in Need" charity by offering a prize of " a once in lifetime experience for two lucky whovians to visit the set of the new series in March 2006 to meet the cast, David Tennant in particular and watch the filming," according to our correspondent. The prize was won on Monday morning for over five thousand pounds. Also taking place this weekend during the "Children in Need" appeal:
Terry Molloy will join the Hyde Fundraisers to present a cheque which includes the contribution from the recent
Trial of Davrosshow held last July. (Hyde Fundraisers tells us that this may be purely a regional opt-out or may even be part of the national opt-in for Manchester.)
The latest issue of
Ultimate DVD magazine contains a feature on the Doctor Who Series One Boxed Set commentary, profiling the taping of the commentary for "The Long Game". "I have a tendency to finish watghing a good film and go straight on to the Director's Commentary," says Christine Adams (Cathica), "which I'm actually starting to realize is not always the best idea." Bruno Langley, who says he gets four letters a day about Doctor Who, discusses the increased security getting into the building and says his character is "a bit of a wimp". Director Brian Grant says that "Shooting's easy. Storytelling, it's always about how good or bad the script is, and then you're dealing with logistics... how much money you've got, how much time you've got. Never enough time." Also interviewed is Paul Vanezis, one of the team who put the release together, about the extras including the 'Confidential' documentaries. "I don't think it has to be definitive; what it has to be is really, really informative and it's got to be entertaining. So you've got the entertainment element from the Confidential material, and the gritty behind the scenes footage and then you've got slightly more considered features like behind-the-scenes of the destruction of Big Ben..." The article also notes that there are writing features and video diaries, including an 'on set with Billie Piper' diary. John Barrowman is also interviewed in a feature that mentions that he's excited about the forthcoming "Torchwood": "I've said to Russell tha there's so many things we can play with - Jack has lost part of his memory, and we haven't found out why he lost it. It's a big part of his character."
MSN News asks, "Have we seen the last of Rachel Stevens' pop career? The former S Club star lost out to Billie Piper when she went for the role of Rose Tyler, the Time Lord's sidekick in the recent series of Doctor Who, but she may yet do a spot of time traveling. Rachel has auditioned for Torchwood, the spin-off of the hit BBC sci-fi series and she's keen to leave music behind." Interestingly, the article quotes Stevens as saying, "I've been called back for a meeting about a permanent role in 'Torchwood' [a 'Doctor Who' spin-off]," according to an interview with the singer in New! magazine. "I so hope I get it as I'm sick of being attacked for my music."
icWales reports that the TARDIS has been spotted in South Wales filming for the new show. "David Tennant - who takes over from Christopher Eccleston - and Billie Piper, who plays the Doctor's sidekick Rose Tyler, spent Tuesday filming scenes near The Riverfront arts centre, in Newport, on the banks of the River Usk. A BBC spokeswoman said: 'We wanted a location that looked like a stretch of the Thames in London. It's the first of a two-part storyline. The new series will be shown next spring.'"
The
Northern Echo on 14 November covered the Dimensions 2005 convention last weekend in Stockton. "About 400 people attended the two-day convention at the Swallow Hotel from as far afield as the US and, while some chose to keep their adoration of the show low key, others went all out to express their devotion. Wearing copies of their favourite Dr Who costumes, fans paraded in long coats, stripy scarves, floppy hats and even a PVC suit. But Thelma Loane, from Newcastle, stole the show with her home-made replica of Peter Davison's Dr Who outfit, comprising red stripe trousers, cricket jumper, long cream coat and hat. Some of the famous faces making an appearance at the weekend included Davison, Annette Badland, John Schwab and Bonnie Langford. Lindsay Johnson, 21, a student at University of York, and her boyfriend Gil Williams, 20, from Wales, met a year ago after making contact on a Dr Who website. At the weekend, they wore costumes she had made. She wore a black and cerise pink PVC short skirt and jacket to recreate the 1960s character Zoe, and he wore a black velvet cape and dinner jacket in honour of his favourite doctor, John Pertwee. Mr Williams, said: "This is my first time at a convention, but Lindsay has travelled to quite a few of them. We both love Dr Who and it is so nice to come here and be around other people who feel the same." Miss Johnson said she believed Dr Who still had such a huge following because it was a lighthearted show that provided escapism and had not become dated. "I'm a huge fan, but Dr Who fans are not necessarily strange or anything, " she said. "In everyday life, no one would guess I was a Dr Who fan. There is no aura around me and I'm not geeky. I did just get some strange looks, however, when I nipped out to get some money from the cash machine." The
Evening Gazette also mentioned the event, including briefly speaking to David Gooderson, who played one of the incarnations of Davros. "It's amazing. Some of these people know more about what work we did nearly 40 years ago than we do."
Newsquest Media Group interviews two fans who have exterminated their "humble garden shed - and replaced by something more out of this world. Dr Who fans Jennifer and Miles Wilkinson have had a garden shed made to look like the Tardis from the long-running science fiction show. As any Doctor Who fan knows, it is impossible to specify the internal dimensions of the time machine - which is in the shape of a blue British police box. But the couple, from Redcar, are confident there should be enough room for their patio furniture. 'We wanted a little shed to put bits and pieces in, and we thought about this when the last series of Dr Who was on,' said Mrs Wilkinson. 'We are old enough to have watched the first series when it was out in black and white, and have been fans ever since. Our seven-year-old granddaughter lives away, so she hasn't seen the shed yet. We are not telling her so it will be a surprise when she visits. She is a fan of the series as well, except the frightening parts of course.'"
The same paper on 14 November noted that "Doctor Who's most dangerous foe, a Dalek, has made a big entrance in Swindon this week. But, rather than exterminating, it was here to educate, as part of a talk about computer-generated special effects at the British Computer Society headquarters in the town. The visit was part of the society's continuing work to demonstrate the benefits of computing and information technology. Gone are the days when visual effects relied on unrealistic Styrofoam explosions, clumsy animation or old egg boxes.Today, computer animation is widely used. The continuing advancements in technology are evident in the latest Doctor Who series, especially when viewed alongside the dated episodes of the 1970s and '80s. Dave Throssell, of Mill TV, which does special effects work include those seen in the new series of Doctor Who, said: 'Effects that were ground-breaking when Doctor Who first aired won't cut it with today's audience and that is where we came in. By providing state-of-the-art effects Doctor Who was given a new lease of life for a modern audience.'"
The
Guardian on 14 November said that "the trouble with television is that it can't stop shoving liberal values down our throats." As noted in the article, "This teaching of moral values is spreading across the TV drama spectrum. The wards of Holby City now live by the same principles, as do the cops at Sun Hill. Even Billie and the Doctor had to learn this time around, in a way that Tom Baker would never have done, that 'Daleks have feelings too', and 'you can travel in time but you mustn't forget your family'. It seems there's nowhere in time or space, or the TV schedule, that can fully escape what they call in American sitcom script meetings 'hugs and learning'."
The
New Statesman on Monday discussed Billie Piper's Shakespeare foray in BBC1's "Much Ado About Nothing". "I have been thinking about Billie Piper, and not in that way either. Five years ago, she was an ex-teenybopper, most famous for being the one attractive symptom of Chris Evans's post-adolescence crisis. But against expectations, credibility began to consolidate around her. When the BBC began its series of Canterbury Tales updates, it led off with The Miller's Tale, in which Piper brilliantly played the Miller's wife. When it regenerated Dr Who, its star turned out to be not the here-today-and-regenerated-tomorrow Christopher Ecclestone, but his earthly, earthy sidekick, Rose. Now Piper has become the star turn in the first instalment of the BBC's new Shakespeare project... This is not to say that she is the only good thing in the agreeable Much Ado About Nothing. Piper plays Hero, daughter of Leonard (Martin Jarvis), the show's producer, who has nepotistically appointed her as weather girl. Hero may not be the brightest isobar on the chart, but she has a heart quite big enough to be trampled on. Piper plays her with fetching non-virginal innocence and then, having been given a rather stronger fifth act than the one Shakespeare gave his boy-actresses, turns on her two suitors. This Hero is a truly modern heroine, whose happy ending is to refuse to go up the aisle with anyone."
The Alien Online interviews Telos publisher David Howe about the new "Back to the Vortex" book: "We knew we wanted to publish a guide to the new series of Doctor Who almost as soon as the new series was announced. Telos has a long history of doing several unofficial guide books to various series in the past including Doctor Who itself. So as soon as we heard the new series was coming along we thought we'd do a guide." The full interview is available at the website (and, in full disclosure, the book is written by this site's editor.)
In Australia, Sunday's grand finale of ABC-TV's "Einstein Factor" quiz was won by a contestant, David Campbell, with his specialty topic, "The television series Doctor Who 1963 to 1989". As well as answering 15 questions on his topic (15 out of 15), he out-answered his opponents on the general knowledge questions, according to
ABC.net. Doctor Who has also been getting a bit of attention on other ABC programs: last week's episode of Collectors spoke to Mark Damon about his collection of Doctor Who memorabilia and visited a meeting of his local Doctor Who fan club, and earlier in the year "How the Quest Was Won" visited a meeting of a different local club and included a police box prop and Daleks.
Some various news bits in the media: there's more coverage of Tom Baker's BBC1 narration on Thursday night at
Digital Spy,
Manchester Online; while the
Independent covers the BBC7 radio broadcast of the Big Finish/BBCi audio "Shada" (see our November 11 news item); Bruno Langley has a new role according to his agent's site, as Jason Parker in BBC's Dalziel and Pascoe (the site is located
here); Wednesday's
Guardian mentions that a Dalek from the 1970s will be auctioned off at Bonhams in Kensington.
(Thanks to Paul Engelberg, Steve Tribe, John Bowman, Aadil Bashir, Paul Kennedy, Ben Rawson-Jones, Peter Weaver, Paul Hayes, Kat Williams, Kevin Taylor, and Faiz Rehman)
Meanwhile, at right is the cover of the Mirror this morning, with the story about Billie Piper prominently figuring on the lower half of the front page.
Subscribe to News
Follow us on Twitter
Like us on Facebook
Contact Us
