Saturday's edition of
The Herald featured a profile of John Barrowman (Captain Jack), including an interview and his comments about his life and career, his partner and ideas on marriage and adoption. "Growing up in Illinois, I used to get bullied a lot for being Scottish. Other kids would shout things like, 'You wear a dress,' and they thought we lived in mud huts. Most of all, though, they made fun of the accent. And no-one likes to get picked on or bullied for being different, especially not at eight years old. So I thought, 'Screw you. I'm going to beat you at your own game.' I just wanted to blend in, and that's why I taught myself how to speak with an American accent." He says "I will be coming back... But no date has been set. That's the official answer." You can read the full article at the website.
Newsquest Media reports that
Christopher Eccleston "has found something to keep him busy after leaving Dr Who - trying to save Manchester's historic Victoria Baths. The television star from Little Hulton visited the baths to pledge his support for the campaign to restore them. The Edwardian building was voted as the country's favourite on BBC2's Restoration programme in 2003, and was awarded ú3.5 million to do the necessary repair work. But campaigners Friends of Victoria Baths say an extra ú16.5 million is needed." The Manchester Evening News quotes him as saying, "I've dealt with bouts of unemployment for 20 years. My ambition now is simply to swim in Victoria Baths. Coming in here today, I can smell the chlorine and hear the voices. The worst thing that could happen would be for the baths to be converted for private use. I learned to swim at Walkden Baths, where my mum was the aerotone and sauna attendant for around 20 years. This reminds me, to some extent, of those years. My hope is that working class kids from the area will soon be able to swim here again." He added: "All my success has been down to my upbringing in Salford and Manchester. My background, the values I was taught and the formative experiences I had at places like this."
Reviews of Billie Piper's film
Spirit Trap (mostly negative, unfortunately), appear at
The Telegraph,
The Mirror,
Sky Movies,
Barking and Dagenham Recorder, and in print in the Sun, Leicester Mercury, and the Express ("Amateurish and slow-moving, this is highly unlikely to give anyone sleepless nights") among other papers.
The official Doctor Who
website appeals to school children: "Can your reading group review the new books? Does your school have a reading group? If so, we're looking for three groups across the country to give us their comments on the new Doctor Who books that are coming out early next month. Each group chosen will receive five advance copies of one of the three new adventures of the Doctor and Rose. The books are released on September 8, so we'd need comments from each school in by September 10 - we appreciate this is fairly near the start of term, so bear this in mind before applying. Please bear in mind that the stories are suitable for readers over eight."
Other press items: A review of the final episode, "The Parting of the Ways, in the
Sydney Morning Herald; and an
article about an Aussie radio parody of Doctor Who which was popular in the late 70s-early 80s.
(Thanks to Paul Engelberg, Steve Tribe, Paul Hayes, Elaine Shanks, Peter Weaver)