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Thursday, 10 March 2005 - Reported by Shaun Lyon
The Times ran a front page story on Thursday morning on Doctor Who, mostly the same information as in our previous report quoting Christopher Eccleston about his Doctor's accent. Eccleston said of the original series that he "found the character of the Doctor 'too authoritarian' and tried to avoid watching it." On the cover of the Times is an image marked in our spoilers tag below.

BBC Breakfast featured a very lengthy series of installments on the show, including some footage from the press launch (in which DWM editor Clayton Hickman was quoted as saying, "If the kids don't like that, then the kids don't deserve to have any television ever shown to them again!") and extended interviews with Eccleston and Billie Piper. BBC News' Newsnight program this evening (Wednesday 9 March) featured a report on the return of the series. Host Stephen Smith arrived in a TARDIS, sat behind the sofa and introduced a montage of clips, including scenes from the show, interview clips with news media people and children who haven't a clue what "Doctor Who" actually is. The new series also appeared on an edition of Newsround with several clips from the first episode of the new series and brief interview clips with Eccleston and Piper.

SFX Magazine now has a review of the first episode to go along with the spoilers we mentioned to you that were on their site in the last press clips report. Check out the review, and read that article about their coverage of the press launch. Meanwhile, you can find those spoilers under our spoilers tag below.

Today's The Sun has an article with huge SPOILERS from what we believe is the second episode (called "The End of the World") about several new aliens. We've listed them in the spoilers tag below; note that this is pretty extensive and the article features photos (which we haven't reproduced but you can see them on the Sun site.)

BellaOnline today ran an article "Doctor Who 101ùA Newbie Viewing Guide to the Classic Series" which takes a lighthearted look at the original series in preparation for the new. A very amusing line in its Trivia section: "The special effects were bad even in their own day, thanks to a virtually non-existent budget. Imagine, if you will, creating a green lumpy monster by wrapping someone with green-painted bubble wrap. They did that. Yes, this show was famous for its cheesy effects."

The Guardian features a story, "Why can't Daleks go up stairs?" which discusses the peril of the classic monsters and how they've been updated for the new series. "As terrifying as Dr Who's arch enemies might have seemed, the fact that they could be outwitted by a simple staircase made them a shade less menacing. It's a design fault that has been rectified in the new BBC television series, due to begin at Easter."

The leak of the first episode was mentioned on American public radio network NPR's show Talk of the Nation hosted by Neal Conan, during a story called "Movies, Technology and the Future of Viewing". Conan mentioned the first episode and that downloaders "must feel that it's pretty cool to see the new Doctor Who three weeks before the BBC airs it," although the story itself was about the transformation of media and the new digital age. Also, a Reuters story on the Rose leak was on the front page of Yahoo (USA Yahoo, not UK Yahoo) for a while today... obviously, though America doesn't yet have a broadcast deal, it's still in the American consciousness.

The CBC Television network in Canada now has its own website for its broadcast of the new series. Meanwhile, on Thursday March 10th at 9:15am (EST) CBC Newsworld will be airing a feature on the leaking of the first episode of the new Doctor Who series. CBC's Allison Smith will be interviewing Canadian fan and DWIN member Rod Mammitzsch about the new series of Doctor Who, and the recent leak of the first episode onto the internet.

Today's Daily Record features an interview with Jimmy Vee, the 3'8" actor who plays a role in the new series. We've fully protected this information with our spoilers tag; read it below.

AND FINALLY... Over the past several days it's been a whirlwind keeping up with all the press clips, so I'd like to thank and credit the following people who have been providing updates, news and information: the incomparable Paul Engelberg and Steve Tribe, without whom this couldn't possibly happen; plus Paul Hayes, Malcolm Prince, John Ryan, John Molyneux, Steve Roberts, Paul Vanezis, Chuck Foster, Graeme Burk, Mike Doran, Rowan Bridge, Matt Chayt, David Baker, Darin Patea, Andrew Harvey, Richard Dinnick, Matthew Godley, Nick Johnson, Shannon Patrick Sullivan, Assad Khaishgi, Ian Beard, Richard Carletta, Michael S. Lucart, Kevin Elhart, James Crout, Simon Howe, Kenny Davidson, Ryan Piekenbrock, and Benjamin Elliott.
The Times: At right is an image of a "Tree Person," one of the many aliens in the series; based on our information (as the cover of the paper, only seen on "Newsnight" and on the BBC site so far as a thumbnail), this is actress Yasmin Bannerman who plays the character Jabe in the second episode, "The End of the World."

Daily Record: The interview with Jimmy Vee discusses his role as the Moxx of Balhoon, who is an alien ambassador in the second episode, "The End of the World". (Vee is the blue alien on this month's cover of Doctor Who Magazine, and was first seen as an image posted to Outpost Gallifrey's photo section, taken last summer as Vee took a filming break.) Vee "admitted it was tough filming in the cumbersome costume, which took three hours to put on and featured a 2ft head weighing more than half a stone. Once the outfit was on, Jimmy couldn't go to the toilet for 10 hours and its weight meant the pounds were falling off him. He said: 'I must have lost a stone in a week, even though I was drinking to rehydrate constantly. As soon as I got out, I had to eat everything I could get my hands on.'"

The Sun: Says an article on March 10, the new series not only features the Autons, but also "The Face of Boe, a giant head kept in a pickle jar. Then there's The Moxx of Balhoon, a strange blue creature which looks like a distorted, angry Buddha ù and monk-like alien ambassadors from the year 5 billion. Others include Jabe the Tree and the Autons, which bring plastic dummies to life in a bid to take over the planet." The article (see link above) features several images of these creatures.

SFX Magazine: Their spoiler section included with their recent article about the press launch last Tuesday noted the following information. Some of the clips were from episode six, the Dalek episode. Yes, people cheered when the Dalek appeared. And they cheered again when Bruno LangleyÆs character taunted it for not being able to climb up stairs... before getting a nasty surprise when it barked "EL-E-VATE!" and flew up in the air! Another scene showed the Doctor, bare-chested, strapped down (in a standing position) and tortured with rays. There was a scene from Paul CornellÆs episode eight, set in the yard outside a church: dragon-like stone gargoyles swooped down from the skies, picking people off; a sequence from Steven MoffatÆs two-parter (episodes nine and ten), featuring Richard Wilson who portrays a Doctor in a hospital ward full of "patients" in gas masks. Wilson says, "theyÆre not dead... they canÆt die", and the gas masked creeps get up from their beds and march towards The Doctor! Also there was a moment from "Aliens Of London" where the Doctor testily declares, "Can you not fart when IÆm trying to save the world?", RoseÆs mum (Camille Coduri) being chased by baby-faced aliens with long, spidery arms; a very creepy albino Simon Pegg recognising the Doctor (or, at least, the Doctor's race...); and two very touching scenes between Rose and the Doctor. In one, he tells her how glad he is that he met her. In the second he tells her, "I have to choose between saving everyone in the world... and you. I donÆt want to lose you."




FILTER: - DWM - Series 1/27 - Press - Radio Times