Matt Smith and Karen Gillan in New York

Wednesday, 31 March 2010 - Reported by Marcus
BBC America has announced that Matt Smith and Karen Gillan, along with show-runner Steven Moffat, will make a promotional trip to New York in the week leading up to the launch of the new series in North America on April 17.

The trip will include a special screening of The Eleventh Hour on Wednesday, April 14, at 7:00 PM at the Village East Cinema in Manhattan, to be followed by a Question and Answer session with Smith, Gillan and Moffat.

The screening, which is free, will be open to the public on a first come, first served basis.

More details on the BBC America Facebook page.




FILTER: - Steven Moffat - USA - Karen Gillan - Matt Smith

The Beast Below - Schedule

Wednesday, 31 March 2010 - Reported by Marcus
Schedules for the 10th April have now been fixed and Episode Two of the new series, The Beast Below, will be broadcast on BBC One and BBC HD at 6.15pm, one of the earliest slots in which the show has been shown since it returned in 2005.

The programme will be preceded on BBC One by All New Total Wipeout, a new series of what is described as TV's biggest, brashest, daftest game show. Doctor Who will be followed by the latest edition of the search for Dorothy in Over the Rainbow.

For the first time, Doctor Who will face opposition from FA Cup football on ITV 1 where they are showing the Semi-Final between Aston Villa and Chelsea. The last FA cup match to be shown in this timeslot was Chelsea V Stoke on 6th March, which got 3.46 million watching.

BBC Two will be showing the 2004 biopic The Aviator, charting the life of eccentric film director Howard Hughes over a 20-year period. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Cate Blanchett. Channel 4 will show reality series Come Dine with Me while Five has the 1994 film I Love Trouble, a romantic comedy about two rival reporters who constantly try to out-scoop each other, starring Julia Roberts and Nick Nolte.

Doctor Who Confidential is on BBC Three at 7.00pm and finds out just what makes the sinister Smilers tick as well as talking to Oscar-nominated actress Sophie Okenedo  about creating her extraordinary character. BBC HD is showing Golf: The Masters on Saturday so the HD broadcast of Confidential will be on Sunday 11th April at 6.10pm.




FILTER: - Series 5/31 - Broadcasting

K9 Official Site Launches

Wednesday, 31 March 2010 - Reported by Marcus
The official site for the new K9 Television series has launched at www.k9official.com.

As reported here the series launches in the UK and Australia this Saturday.

The new website features character guides, exclusive video clips, and episode guide to the series.

The series also has an official page on Facebook.




FILTER: - Online - K9

Meet Tom Baker

Wednesday, 31 March 2010 - Reported by Marcus
The online retailer Play.com is giving its customers as chance to meet the Fourth Doctor, Tom Baker plus an overnight stay in London and £100 pounds towards travel. The competition is only open to those aged 18 or over and residing in the UK.

The meeting with Baker will take place just before he records the DVD commentary for the season 13 story The Seeds of Doom, which will be released in the UK in 2011.




FILTER: - Tom Baker - Competitions - Blu-ray/DVD

Doctor Who Magazine 420

Tuesday, 30 March 2010 - Reported by Marcus
Doctor Who Magazine 420Doctor Who Magazine 420 comes with two different covers featuring new Doctor Matt Smith and new companion Karen Gillan who reveal all about playing the Doctor and Amy Pond.

In the magazine, Smith talks about how the Doctor’s costume may evolve, the nicknames that he and Gillan have for each other and playing football with James Corden for a scene in Episode 11.
This has made my list of Top Five Shooting Days! Pushing Top Three! There were no aliens, no Daleks, nothing. We were just playing football. Then again, I suppose there was a big time loop...

Gillan, meanwhile, tells of Amy’s complicated relationship with the Doctor and Amy’s boyfriend Rory, what she thinks about wearing surprisingly short skirts, and her approach to playing the role of the Doctor’s new best friend:
Amy should never take anything for granted – she doesn’t know she’s the companion and she’s not familiar with the set-up that the Doctor has a female companion. So this is all brand-new to her and I have to keep reminding myself of that. As far as she knows, she’s the first companion… ever!

Also in the magazine:
  • What have you got for me this time?
  • The first five episodes of the new series – The Eleventh Hour, The Beast Below, Victory of the Daleks, The Time of Angels and Flesh and Stone – with never-before-seen photos and revelations from head writer Steven Moffat!
  • I’m a celebrity, get me out of here!
  • Steven Moffat talks candidly about the perils of being recognised in public as Doctor Who’s head writer – and finds time to answer your questions about the new series – in Production Notes.
  • And it’s goodnight from me
  • Neil Harris looks back fondly at 47 years of farewells in Doctor Who – and discovers how the series has always had its softer side – in You Are Not Alone.
  • McNeice to see you, to see you, McNeice!
  • Churchill himself, actor IAN McNEICE, talks to DWM about his role in the forthcoming story Victory of the Daleks – and reveals what it’s like to encounter the metal meanies in real life.
  • Give her a big hand!
  • It’s the final end! The Doctor and Majenta engage in the ultimate battle with the Crimson Hand in the very last comic strip to feature the Time Lord’s Tenth incarnation. Will anyone survive the apocalypse? Don’t miss the conclusion to The Crimson Hand, written by Dan McDaid, with art by Martin Geraghty
  • Is it cos I’s blue?
  • It’s the most remarkable machine in the universe – and yet it looks like a blue twentieth-century police box! The Watcher uncovers the many and varied secrets of the Doctor’s time and space machine, the TARDIS!
  • You’re hired!
  • On the planet Vulcan, the colonists decide to employ the services of creatures that they have discovered buried in a mercury swap – the Daleks! Can a newly-regenerated Doctor, armed only with his recorder and a rather natty bow tie, save the day? Find out, as The Fact of Fiction digs up some details about the classic Second Doctor story from 1966 The Power of the Daleks!
Plus! All the latest official news, reviews, previews and competitions – including the chance to win an 32” HD-ready widescreen TV. The magazine is out in the UK on 1st April.




FILTER: - Matt Smith - Magazines - DWM - Series 5/31

Moffat on Radio 4

Tuesday, 30 March 2010 - Reported by Marcus
Radio 4Executive Producer Steven Moffat will be a guest on BBC Radio 4's Front Row on Tuesday evening to talk about taking over from Russell T Davies as show-runner of Doctor Who.

The programme is broadcast at 7.15pm BST and will be available worldwide via the BBC iPlayer.




FILTER: - Steven Moffat

Myths and Legends for North America

Tuesday, 30 March 2010 - Reported by Marcus
Time MonsterThe three stories comprising the Myths and Legends Box set will be released in North America on July 6, 2010.

Unlike the UK release the stories will be issued as individual titles. The three releases are the Third Doctor story The Time Monster, and the two Fourth Doctor stories Underworld and  Horns of Nimon.

The First Doctor Box set comprising The Space Museum and The Chase will also be released on 6th July.

A full release schedule can be found in our Releases section.




FILTER: - Canada - USA - Classic Series - Blu-ray/DVD

Radio Times Cover

Tuesday, 30 March 2010 - Reported by Marcus
Radio TimesThe new issue of the Radio Times is released in the UK today, and gives an exclusive glimpse into the new TARDIS with a special pull-out gatefold cover.

The magazine talks to new Doctor Matt Smith. Smith is a graduate of the University of East Anglia, where he studied drama and creative writing, and has his own way of accessing the enigmatic Doctor.

I was thinking, ‘Who in the world has a brain and a silliness which is close to the Doctor?’ and then I saw that photograph of Albert Einstein poking his tongue out and it just clicked. I found this book of quotes by Einstein – which I recommend as a life choice, he was such an insightful man – and I started writing short stories about Einstein and the Doctor, where the Doctor was getting irritated with the great man’s buffoonery. He’d be saying, ‘Come on, Albert, keep up!’ and I think that, more than anything, was my way in to the part.


Also Karen Gillan is the girl who grabbed the role every actress would die for: the companion to the eleventh Doctor. Fans camped outside the Doctor Who set are a reminder of the show’s unique place in British culture.
I was never really into science fiction when I was growing up, though my mum was a big Doctor Who fan. Now I’ve turned into a real sci-fi geek. Once you get sucked into that world, it has its own logic and laws, which is why I think people are so passionate about it.




FILTER: - Matt Smith - Magazines - Series 5/31 - Radio Times

Episode Seven Title

Monday, 29 March 2010 - Reported by Marcus
The title of Episode Seven of the new series has been revealed as Amy's Choice.

The title is revealed in next week's edition of Radio Times, which is released tomorrow. The story is written by Simon Nye and directed by Catherine Morshead.

The magazine confirms the titles of the first seven episodes of the series, the first six of which were previously known. There is, however, some confusion over the title of Episode Six; although Doctor Who Magazine and Matt Smith have referred to it as Vampires in Venice, the script's author, Toby Whithouse, and the BBC preview discs have confirmed the title is Vampires of Venice.

A selection of photos from the new TARDIS interior are available on the Radio Times Website.

The Radio Times cover will be available on the Doctor Who News Page from 12.01am BST tomorrow.




FILTER: - Production - Magazines - Series 5/31 - Radio Times

Planète Morte Evaluations

Monday, 29 March 2010 - Reported by Marcus
Last year's Easter special, Planet of the Dead, made its debut in France earlier this week where it was watched by 423,000 viewers.

The episode, called Planète Morte, was dubbed into French and shown on France 4 at 8.35pm. David Manet provided the voice of Le Docteur with Maia Barar playing Christina, Monique Clemont playing Capitaine Magambo, Oliver Cuvellier playing Malcolm and Yeves Degen playing Chauffeur de bus.

You can read more about the process of translating the show into French here, and you can discuss the translation here.




FILTER: - France - Ratings - International Broadcasting - Europe