Thinking Allowed

Wednesday, 5 January 2011 - Reported by Marcus

Wednesdays edition of Radio Four's Thinking Allowed included a discussion on Doctor Who with US academic Marc Edward DiPaolo, who talked about his Journal of Popular Culture article "Political Satire and British-American Relations in Five Decades of Doctor Who."

DiPaolo has analysed the political content of five decades of Doctor Who and concluded the Daleks are obsessed with racial purity and dedicated to a policy of genocide and represent the Nazis and the Jagrafess is a loathsome alien purveying useless information - which he has censored, rewritten and controlled and represents a modern day media mogul. He finds that the Time Lord is a liberal, bohemian, pacifist environmentalist, and definitely anti-American So is Doctor Who a closet radical?

The programme is available worlwide on the BBC iPlayer for the next week. The discussion starts around 13 minutes into the show.

FILTER: - Documentary - Radio

Doctor Who: Casting News

Wednesday, 5 January 2011 - Reported by Chuck Foster

Filming for the Matthew Graham-penned episodes five+six returned to Cardiff Castle today, where three of its guest stars were spotted on-site in the story being directed by Julian Simpson.

As previously reported, Sarah Smart is playing a character named Jennifer Lucas. Her recent on-screen credits include Wallander (Anne-Britt Hoglund), Casualty 1906/1907/1909 (Ada Russell), and Five Days (Sarah Wheeler). [Smart's entry at Conway - Van Gelder - Grant Voices]

Leon Vickers is a new actor, having just graduated from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. His television credits include Garrow's Law (John Davis) and Being Victor (Carl Sutton), and is believed to be playing a character named 'Clone Worker' in Doctor Who. [Vickers's entry at Amanda Howard Associates].

Mark Bonnar's credits include timey-wimey series Paradox (D.S. Ben Holt), and recurring roles in Casualty (Bruno Jenkins) and The Bill (Ray Moore). His role in Doctor Who is currently unknown. [Bonnar's entry at Hatton McEwan]

Filming for this block is drawing to a close, with Matthew Graham tweeting: "My DW 2-parter finishes shooting end of this week. They will be glad to come in out of the perishing cold. Poor dears."

FILTER: - Series 6/32 - Production

Torchwood Comic #6

Wednesday, 5 January 2011 - Reported by Harry Ward

The latest issue of the The Official Torchwood Comic by Titan Magazines is now on sale. Issue Six includes two comic strip adventures - Hell House by Roger Gibson and Overture by Gary Russell, with art by John Ridgway - and the conclusion of the Issue Five short story Photo Finish by Mark Morris.

Art work from Hell House

The series of Comics for the US market was first reported by us back in June 2010.

FILTER: - Torchwood - USA - Comics - Magazines

TARDIS tunes

Wednesday, 5 January 2011 - Reported by Chuck Foster

Audio solutions company Speakal have announced two new products in their speaker systems range at the International Consumer Electronics Show, tying in with two of the BBC's biggest brands. Top Gear sees a Stig helmet with iPhone dock, whilst Doctor Who sees a bluetooth system in the guise of a police box ...

Doctor Who fanatics will rejoice in the T.A.R.D.I.S replica speaker featuring powerful bass and premium speakers with Bluetooth playback. Fans of this classic BBC series can now travel back in time on their playlists and be the envy of any science fiction enthusiast.

"Top Gear and Doctor Who have some of the most die hard fans of any program in the world" said CEO David Solomon. "We’re proud to offer their fan base these unique and lifelike replicas of their favorite BBC icons."

FILTER: - Merchandise

Doctor Who: Casting News

Tuesday, 4 January 2011 - Reported by Chuck Foster

Two more guest stars have been confirmed online for the Neil Gaiman-penned episode three of the next series, directed by Richard Clark.

Spotlight have listed Adrian Schiller as playing the character "Uncle" in the story. Schiller has recently played Noah Zeitler in BBC Series Silk, and has previously appeared in sci-fi/fantasy projects Being Human (Hennessey) and Going Postal (Mr Gryle).

As one might expect, an "Uncle" implies an "Auntie", and that role has been confirmed by United Agents as being played by Elizabeth Berrington. Berrington plays regular character Ruby in Waterloo Road, and sci-fi/fantasy-wise played nurse Nicola in Psychoville; she also appeared over the festive period as Terry in Jo Brand's Christmas Cracker.

The two join Suranne Jones, reported last year as playing the character Idris.

The Evening Times has revealed that Jimmy Vee will be rejoining Doctor Who for the forthcoming series, saying "details of who or what he’s playing are top secret". He is probably most notable for playing The Moxx of Balhoon in The End of the World and Bannakaffalatta in Voyage of the Damned, as well as playing various other characters in The Sarah Jane Adventures.

FILTER: - Series 6/32 - Production

Ratings Competition Winners

Tuesday, 4 January 2011 - Reported by Marcus

BARB have now issued the official ratings for the Week Ending 26 December, confirming A Christmas Carol has a final rating of 12.11 million viewers. Once figures for those watching on HD are factored in, the programme finished fourth for the week, behind EastEnders, Coronation Street and the new Matt Lucas and David Walliams comedy, Come Fly With Me.

Only eight other Doctor Who episodes have ranked fourth or higher in the weekly charts, including Matt Smith's first story, The Eleventh Hour.

Thank you to all those who entered our Christmas Competition.

The standard was high with over 25% of answers within half a million of the correct answer.
The highest guess was an optimistic 15.48 million and the lowest a pessimistic 7.4 million.

Only one person, Peter Hart of Oxford in the United Kingdom, correctly guessed the exact number of 12.11 million.

He wins an Eleventh Doctor Christmas Adventure Set and as a bonus for guessing the exact number we will be sending a DVD of A Christmas Carol.

We have five runners up who also win an Eleventh Doctor Christmas Adventure Set.

Chris Chalmers of London (12.10 million)
Russell Reinke of Lake Wales, Florida (12.12 million)
Kevin James Kirby of Camarillo, California (12.12 million)
Lyndsey Robinson of Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire (12.08 million)
Sharon Vincent of Carterton, Oxfordshire (12.14 million)

FILTER: - Ratings - Competitions

More Moths ...

Tuesday, 4 January 2011 - Reported by Chuck Foster

Back in June actor/comedian/Doctor Who DVD moderator Toby Hadoke reported that his acclaimed show Moths Ate My Doctor Who Scarf would be drawing to an end.

However ...

Never say never, as Moths Ate My Doctor Who Scarf seems hell bent on never ending. The show's chronic hysterisis leads it to the following venues, with more to come:

28th Jan - Alleyn's School, Dulwich
4th & 5th Feb - Hull Truck Theatre, Hull
18th Feb - Little Theatre, Chorley
19th Feb - Pound Arts Centre, Corsham

There'll also be another performance in Sevenoaks on the 27th June.

Toby's other tour, Now I Know My BBC will also be touring during 2011.

You can find out more details on the shows from Toby's website, www.tobyhadoke.com

FILTER: - Special Events

The Ambassadors of Death DVD developments

Tuesday, 4 January 2011 - Reported by Chuck Foster

Wired Magazine have reported that Third Doctor Jon Pertwee's adventure from Season Seven, The Ambassadors of Death is in the process of being completed for DVD.

The story is one of a number that do not exist in the BBC Archives in full colour; though an off-air camera copy exists, this does not provide a good signal for recreating a colour version as seen in the DVD release Doctor Who And The Silurians (details of that process may be read from the Restoration Team's Beneath the Surface article). A new colour decoding strategy was deployed for episode three of the Planet of the Daleks DVD release (see article), and has now reached maturity to tackle the third Doctor's third adventure:

Their method is a refined version of that trialled on the 2009 Planet of the Daleks re-release; it is now being deployed on a seven-part 1970 Jon Pertwee adventure, The Ambassadors of Death. "It seemed on most recordings, they didn't filter off the colour carrier [encoded as a 'chroma dot' pattern in each frame], which for the last few decades has been nothing more than an annoyance." Team member Richard Russell used the signal to reverse-engineer raw colour pictures that could be retouched frame by frame. "It's very, very labour intensive -- several hundred man hours' work every episode," says Steve Roberts. Luckily, a new "quadrant editor" is helping them to produce better source material upfront, so they hope to deliver the Ambassadors episodes to the BBC within weeks.

No other details on the future DVD release is known at present, though a commentary for the story was recorded back in late 2009, featuring members of the cast and crew including Nicholas Courtney (The Brigadier), Terrance Dicks (script editor), Peter Halliday (alien voices) and Derek Ware (stunts/fight arranger).

Follow classic Doctor Who DVD developments on Twitter: @classicdw.

FILTER: - Jon Pertwee - Classic Series - Blu-ray/DVD

Classic Doctor Who channel launched on YouTube

Tuesday, 4 January 2011 - Reported by Harry Ward

BBC Worldwide have launched a channel for Classic Doctor Who on YouTube this evening with two exclusive clips from Meglos.

You can subscribe to the channel so you can catch all the exclusive content from the latest 2|entertain DVD releases. Just head to youtube.com/BBCclassicDoctorWho.

We reported last week that 2|entertain had announced plans to launch the channel in January. Today a press release was put out by the BBC Worldwide press office announcing the launch of the channel:

BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC, will be launching a Classic Doctor Who channel on YouTube on 4th January.

The new channel, featuring a mixture of classic clips and exclusive previews from forthcoming Doctor Who DVD releases, will appeal to existing fans and give new viewers an opportunity to sample some classic Doctor Who. The channel will complement the Classic Doctor Who Twitter account @classicdw run by 2entertain.

Jo Warren, Head of UK & Ireland Sales says, "We're really looking forward to giving Classic Doctor Who its own home on YouTube. It will be a great space for fans to discuss Classic Who - we're launching with some fantastic clips and we'll be regularly adding to the collection!"

Classic Doctor Who Brand Manager Dan Hall comments, "I'm delighted to join forces with our digital team and YouTube. This is an exciting, new way to deliver content for our net-hungry market."

Classic Doctor Who will launch on YouTube with over 45 clips dating from the first episode, along with new Meglos clips and an exclusive clip previewing the new Doctor Who Meglos DVD boxset which will be released by 2entertain on 10th January. Meglos stars Tom Baker and was originally broadcast in 1980.

FILTER: - Doctor Who - Online - Classic Series

David Tennant engaged

Tuesday, 4 January 2011 - Reported by Marcus

The British Tabloid, The Sun, has reported that Tenth Doctor, David Tennant, has got engaged to his long term girlfriend Georgia Moffett.

According to the paper the couple plan to marry early next year.

Georgia Moffett played Jenny in the 2008 story, The Doctor's Daughter as well as providing the voice for Cassie Rice in the 2009 animated story Dreamland.

The actress is the daughter of Fifth Doctor, Peter Davison.

FILTER: - David Tennant

Previous 10 Stories

Thinking Allowed

Doctor Who: Casting News

Torchwood Comic #6

TARDIS tunes

Doctor Who: Casting News

Ratings Competition Winners

More Moths ...

The Ambassadors of Death DVD developments

Classic Doctor Who channel launched on YouTube

David Tennant engaged

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