Moths Eat Toby Hadoke's Doctor Who Scarf on BBC7

Monday, 21 May 2007 - Reported by R Alan Siler

Toby Hadoke's 2006 one-man Edinburgh show Moths Ate My Doctor Who Scarf has been adapted into a full-cast radio show for BBC7.

The autobiographical piece about Hadoke's life-long obsession with the programme features former Doctor Who stars Louise Jameson (as Hadoke's mother) and Colin Baker in the cast. Early Doors star James Quinn plays The Voice Of The BBC, and comic Alfie Joey also plays a number of supporting roles.

Hadoke said: "I can't believe that we got not one, but two Doctor Who actors to throw themselves into the project with much gusto. Louise was always top of the list to play Mum, but we never thought we'd get her. And then when Colin offered his services I turned into a giddy child."

The show has already been recorded at BBC Manchester and will air across two episodes on July 20 and 27.

BBC Audiobooks also plans to release the show on CD at around the same time.

You can still see the show live, though, as Hadoke continues to tour the original one-man version, concluding with a brief run at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe.




FILTER: - Special Events - Radio

Game Design Competition

Monday, 21 May 2007 - Reported by Jarrod Cooper

The Doctor Who Homepage has teamed up with BBC Blast to launch a competition that will give the winner the chance to design and create a Doctor Who game that will be placed on the Doctor Who and Blast websites.

The winner will have their Doctor Who game brought to life, with runners up receiving Blast and Doctor Who goodie bags.

You can find out more information about the contest here. Below is a brief synopsis of what they are looking for.
What we're looking for:
We're looking for a game offering about 5-10 minutes of game play. The winning game will be made using Flash.

The more addictive, magical and fantastic the game the better.

Try not to base the game on a specific episode - we're looking for something new, even though it should use existing monsters from the current (not Classic) series.

Remember that the Doctor uses his wits and his genius, rather than violence, to solve problems. So please don't give him a machine gun and send him on a killing spree!

Be prepared to be flexible - we can use most of the characters, monsters and situations from the new series of Doctor Who, but we may need to discuss using another monster.




FILTER: - Online - Competitions

42 - Overnight Ratings

Sunday, 20 May 2007 - Reported by Marcus
Doctor Who was once again top of Saturday's ratings chart with episode 7, 42 being watched by 7.0 million viewers according to unofficial overnight figures. The programme had a share of36.0% of the audience.

The show was tied with Match of the day Live as the most watched programme of the day, although the raw figures show Doctor Who leading by a tiny margin. It beat other shows on Saturday evening by almost a million viewers. The football claimed the highest peak of the day, with 11.5 million tuning in for the final fifteen minutes.

With just Sunday to go, the programme is currently 14th in the top programmes for the week.

Doctor Who was once more top of the children's chart with an audience of1.4 million 4-15's, a 57.7% share of this age group.

On BBC3, Doctor Who Confidential got an audience of 480,000 which was a 3.0% share and which made it 4th in the Multi Channel tables.




FILTER: - Ratings - UK - Series 3/29

Utopia Preview Clip

Saturday, 19 May 2007 - Reported by DWNP Archive

Anyone who missed John Barrowman on yesterday's edition of Friday Night With Jonathan Ross - in which a preview clip from Utopia was to be shown, according to the official programme website - can catch it again early tomorrow (Sunday).

On the chat show, Barrowman talks about the return of Captain Jack Harkness to Doctor Who in Utopia, which is episode 11.

The repeat of Ross's show is due to be broadcast on BBC1 at 1.35am.




FILTER: - Series 3/29 - Press

Friday Ratings

Saturday, 19 May 2007 - Reported by Marcus
In the absence of a new episode to repeat, BBC3 filled the schedules on Friday night with a showing of the first episode of Season Three,Smith and Jones. The programme was watched by 346,000 viewers, a2.0% share of the multi channel audience.




FILTER: - Ratings - UK - Series 3/29

Michelle Collins on YouTube

Saturday, 19 May 2007 - Reported by Marcus
The BBC YouTube channel has been updated with the BBC Breakfast interview withMichelle Collins, guest star in this week's episode 42.

The interview includes a couple of clips from the episode.

Content may not be available outside the United Kingdom.




FILTER: - Series 3/29 - Press

Week Eight Schedule - 7.10pm start

Saturday, 19 May 2007 - Reported by Marcus
Next week sees another change of time for Doctor Who with the transmission of Episode Eight, Human Natureallocated a 7.10pm start. The programme is placed between The People's Quiz and The National Lottery Draws, which is followed by Any Dream Will Do at 8.05pm.

On ITV1 Vernon Kay's Gameshow Marathon recreates Play Your Cards Right for the competition's grand final.

BBC2 offers an alternative with The Culture Show featuring Mark Kermode who flies south to the Cannes Film Festival and meets the Cohen brothers.

Channel 4 offers the News followed by the 1979 feature film Porridge in which Norman Stanley Fletcher and his cellmate Lennie Godber stumble on an escape plan during a celebrities-against-prisoners football match.

On Five Sport fans can enjoy Cricket on Five with highlights of the second day's play of the second npower Test match in the best of four series between England and the West Indies at Headingley

Doctor Who Confidential is on BBC3 at 7.55pm.




FILTER: - UK - Series 3/29 - Broadcasting

A Garden In Time

Friday, 18 May 2007 - Reported by R Alan Siler

The TARDIS will be materialising at the Royal Horticultural SocietyChelsea Flower Show honoring the legacy of Doctor Who. The new exhibition, called A Garden In Time, features as its centrepiece a full-scale TARDIS with sound and light effects. The garden depicts the changes in the world since the birth of the series in 1963. It includes items such as a 1960s Cardiff rugby shirt and a Doctor Who annual featuring on its cover the first Doctor, William Hartnell

Created by Cardiff Council Landscape Officer Mo Dorken and her team, one half of the site shows a 1960s urban garden, while the other half is based around modern gardening ideas and styles with emphasis on sustainability, recycling and climate change.

"The Chelsea Flower Show is iconic and attracts great attention and thousands of visitors from around the world," said Coun Nigel Howells, Cardiff Council's Executive Member for Sport, Leisure and Culture. "We are proud that Cardiff will be represented there, and I’m sure A Garden In Time will do justice to the city and to Wales."

Please click here to see a larger version (in .pdf format) of the conceptual drawing of A Garden In Time.

The Chelsea Flower Show runs 22 - 26 May, 2007.




FILTER: - Special Events

New Doctor Who Novels

Friday, 18 May 2007 - Reported by Shaun Lyon

A trio of new Doctor Who novels are due out from BBC Books on 6 September: Mark Michalowski's Wetworld, Mark Morris' Forever Autumnand Paul Magrs' Sick Building. The cover illustrations and cover blurbs are below
Doctor Who: Wetworld by Mark Michalowski

When the TARDIS makes a disastrous landing in the swamps of the planet Sunday, the Doctor has no choice but to abandon Martha and try to find help. But the tranquillity of Sunday's swamps is deceptive, and even the TARDIS can't protect Martha forever.

The human pioneers of Sunday have their own dangers to face: homeless and alone, they're only just starting to realise that Sunday's wildlife isn't as harmless as it first seems. Why are the native otters behaving so strangely, and what is the creature in the swamps that is so interested in the humans, and the new arrivals?

The Doctor and Martha must fight to ensure that human intelligence doesn't become the greatest danger of all.


Doctor Who: Forever Autumn by Mark Morris

It is almost Halloween in the sleepy New England town of Blackwood Falls. Autumn leaves litter lawns and sidewalks, paper skeletons hang in windows, and carved pumpkins leer from stoops and front porches.

The Doctor and Martha soon discover that something long-dormant has awoken in the town, and this will be no ordinary Halloween. What is the secret of the ancient tree and the mysterious book discovered tangled in its roots? What rises from the local churchyard in the dead of night, sealing up the lips of the only witness? And why are the harmless trappings of Halloween suddenly taking on a creepy new life of their own?

As nightmarish creatures prowl the streets, the Doctor and Martha must battle to prevent both the townspeople and themselves from suffering a grisly fate…


Doctor Who: Sick Building by Paul Magrs

Tiermann's World: a planet covered in wintry woods and roamed by sabre-toothed tigers and other savage beasts. The Doctor is here to warn Professor Tiermann, his wife and their son that a terrible danger is on its way.

The Tiermanns live in luxury, in a fantastic, futuristic, fully-automated Dreamhome, under an impenetrable force shield. But that won't protect them from the Voracious Craw. A gigantic and extremely hungry alien creature is heading remorselessly towards their home. When it gets there everything will be devoured.

Can they get away in time? With the force shield cracking up, and the Dreamhome itself deciding who should or should not leave, things are looking desperate...

Doctor Who Storybook 2008
May 18, 2007 • Posted By Shaun Lyon
Below is the cover illustration for Panini's Doctor Who Storybook 2008. Says the press release, "Join the Doctor and Martha in a collection of brand-new stories, featuring writers of the multi-award-winning BBC One adventure series. These eight original adventures in Time and Space are beautifully illustrated in full colour by some of the UK's top artists. This sumptuous hardback storybook, with painted dustjacket, is the perfect gift for Doctor Who fans of all ages." The book is published in August.




FILTER: - Books

Series 3 Volume 2 DVD

Thursday, 17 May 2007 - Reported by Shaun Lyon

Outpost Gallifrey has received the cover illustration for the Series Three, Volume Two UK DVD release, which includes the episodes "Daleks in Manhattan," "Evolution of the Daleks," "The Lazarus Experiment," and "42". Click on the thumbnail for a larger version of the cover. The disc will be released later this summer.




FILTER: - Series 3/29 - Blu-ray/DVD