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Friday, 16 December 2005 - Reported by Shaun Lyon

Broadcasting

Easter weekend for Doctor Who? It's looking possible. Besides the report in The Sun (see below), we've heard from several sources that Easter is a definite possibility. Of course, as happened last year, it's very likely that the final date of transmission won't be determined until next year, probably in February or even March. At any rate, that would put transmission on or around April 15, but as always, this is subject to official BBC confirmation.

The BFBS channel, which broadcasts television to overseas-serving members of the British Armed Forces, will screen "The Christmas Invasion" at 8.10pm Central European Time on Christmas Day, just 10 minutes after its premiere on BBC1. It will then repeat the broadcast on 26 December at 8PM CET. Our correspondent says that BFBS Navy will probably air the episode, but they do not have listings for that week up yet.

Back In Time, the BBC Radio Wales documentary from last season, apparently will be continuing this year! Back on the air with an episode subtitled "New Doctor, New Danger," it's aired on Friday 23 December at 6.30pm-7pm, repeated the next day from 1.05pm-1.35pm. We'll be checking the content of this as soon as possible.

While it's been rumored for some time, today's The Sun says that "Stephen Fry's Doctor Who script has been postponed. It was scheduled for the second series, due at Easter. But our Tardis insider reveals: 'Stephen's script is in its third draft and it's so ambitious that Russell T Davies decided it fitted in better with the next run. It will give the team more time to sort out all the special effects and prosthetics.' Blimey." Additional reports on this atContact Music,Yahoo News.

Tonight's edition of Newsnight Review selected Doctor Who as one of its television highlights of the year. The presenters praised the series overall, mostly stating that it got better as it went along.

The Christmas Invasion

Aint It Cool News, which last year had some of the very first reviews of "Rose" from early leaked copies of the episode, this year has a much more positive review of "The Christmas Invasion" from a viewer who saw it at a recent press screening. "In the end, it's the characters and not the action set pieces that make 'The Christmas Invasion' work," says the reviewer. "Billie Piper turns in a wonderful performance as Rose, who not only feels she's lost the Doctor, but is also powerless to stop the alien menace. [Camille] Coduri is annoyingly daffy as Rose's mom, who informed about the Doctor's two hearts, wonders if the time lord has two of anything else under his pajamas. And Noel Clarke finally begins to take Mickey out of the buffoon category, giving him a much more proactive role... There are also a few nice guest performances, particularly from Penelope Wilton ... Make no mistake about it, when Tennant's Doctor takes center stage, there's no doubt whatsoever who's in charge (no pun intended). ... For me, Tennant's biggest talent is the way he can deliver a speech, with the perfect combination of deadpan seriousness and twinkle-in-his-eye humor. ... As a holiday special that also introduces the new Doctor, 'The Christmas Invasion' is a thoroughly entertaining hour of television that will definitely whet viewer appetites for the upcoming season." The review also notes that there is a brief collection of clips from forthcoming episodes at the end of the special, which presumably will be aired along with this on BBC1 next week.

The people behind the offficial Doctor Who website have launched a brand new "spinoff site" for the forthcoming Christmas special, "The Christmas Invasion". The British Rocket Group and their space launch vehicle, Guinevere One, can now be accessed directly, or through a link from the front page of the official Doctor Who site. (This is indeed an actual spinoff site; other recent sites receiving widespread attention have been fan-created.) The official site also now has a photo of Broadcasting House in Llandaff, which is "currently sporting the TARDIS on its roof. There is also a giant screen with a countdown to the Christmas Invasion and a special promotional video highlighting the fact that over 70 per cent of the people working on the show are Welsh."

What's with the Doctor's new accent? Says today's The Sun, "THE Doctor's new Cockney accent comes from sidekick Rose. Show writer Russell T Davies said: 'It is meant to be from all the time he has spent with Rose, to show just how close they are. We were due to explain this in the Christmas special - but then we cut the line out!'"

Manchester Evening News calls the special its "Pick of the Day". "Not sure what's funnier - that Who's now so valued a property it gets an Xmas special or that ITV have bottled it completely and avoided scheduling any competition. David Tennant makes his full debut in The Christmas Invasion, as the Sycorax invade London. Fantastic. Really, nothing else matters today."

People

The Telegraph on Saturday morning features an interview with Penelope Wilton, the returning guest star who's now Prime Minister Harriet Jones (instead of "Harriet Jones, MP, Flydale North" like last year!) "If the acting profession needed such a thing as a head girl, it would look no further than Penelope Wilton. It's not just that she brings the kitemark of integrity to anything she's in, or an air of quintessential Englishness. More than these, it's the gameness with which she troops between screen and stage, bit part and lead, the lightest entertainment and the blackest tragedy. She does a good line in slightly batty mothers, for example: on screen last year in Edgar Wright's zombie spoof, Shaun of the Dead, but more recently as the battiest mother of all in The House of Bernarda Alba at the National Theatre. Early next year she gets up to the foulest pimping imaginable in a new RSC production of Thomas Middleton's Women Beware Women. But before that she is more prime ministerial than the PM in the Doctor Who Christmas special. Wilton at Number 10 is fantasy casting to rival Martin Sheen in The Oval Office: the leader a nation knows it will never have or deserve. In the first series, Wilton was a backbench MP who spent her screen time running away from a race of large worm-like creatures called the Slitheen. It was somehow very Wiltonesque that she never let go of her handbag. 'It's what I thought she would do,' Wilton says. She got the job thanks to another of her batty mothers in Bob and Rose, written (like Doctor Who) by Russell T Davies. 'He has the most wonderful sense of humour. So when he asked me to play 'Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North', I said 'Certainly. Unfortunately power goes to my head a bit in this. I keep saying 'Harriet Jones, Prime Minister' to which a lot of people say, 'Yes, we know who you are.'' How many people know who Wilton is? She puts herself in the category of actors who 'if the reality be known, get two scripts and choose the better one of the two'. In films - Calendar Girls, Iris, Clockwise (as John Cleese's wife), and Woody Allen's forthcoming tennis thriller Match Point - the fireworks go off elsewhere." Read the whole story at the website.

The List magazine, a listings publication for Edinburgh and Glasgow, has named David Tennant number 1 in its list of "Scotland's hottest creative talent of 2005". Some relevant quotes from inside: "No other Scottish personality could come witihin a royal mile of matching the current ubiquity of David Tennant. The Paisley-born actor's 2005 career trajectory could be compared to a quickly growing snowball that can supersede everything in sight....As we teeter on the verge of a new year, a quick scan of any newsagent's shelf reveals a plethora of magazine covers featuring tennant as the tenth incarnation of Doctor Who, battling Cybermen in the ressurected TV sci-fi series 'Christmas Invasion'.... Followers of Tennant (not to mention legions of loyal Who-vians) will be watching his first proper outing as the Doctor this Christmas Day with great interest. Judging by the teaser trailer in November's Children In Need extravaganza, the actor is leading the character further away from his authoritarian origins, creating a more hip, laid back incarnation. It will be interesting to see what playing such an iconic character will do for Tennant's wider career. Christopher Eccleston quit the role to avoid typecasting, while previous Doctors have struggled to wriggle out of the outrageously long scarf. That said, watching the Timelord as a child is the reason Tennant went into acting. "From that point on, I absolutely didn't want to do anything else," he has said. It seems the star-struck Paisley boy has come full circle."

Meanwhile, the Mirror says today that "New Doctor Who David Tennant is battling a fresh enemy - a concrete factory planned near his North London home. He's joined residents in opposing the proposal at an inquiry." And The Sun says that "Stunning Sophia Myles is definitely seeing Doctor Who hunk David Tennant. Sophia, 25 -Lady Penelope in the new Thunderbirds movie -was dating Bleak House star Charles Dance, 59, earlier this year. But she found love with Scots heart-throb David, 34, when she filmed a role in the BBC1 sci-fi hit -and the actor gave the game away at a TV party. Sophia plays Madame Du Pompadour in the fourth episode of the new series, called The Girl In The Fireplace. Speaking at the launch of the Christmas Day special, she told TV Biz: 'Our relationship is too private to talk about.' But unluckily for her, David chose that moment to stroll up and nuzzle her neck, saying: 'Are you OK, sweetheart? We'll be going soon.' Bet he wishes he could jump in his Tardis and go back in time... "

Tennant also reveals that he has not had any contact from his predecessor Christopher Eccleston, according toNewsquest. "The Casanova star said former timelords Tom Baker -his childhood hero -and Peter Davison had both sent him good-luck notes on his first day of filming. But he has not heard from Christopher -who left the BBC under a dark cloud after quitting the hit show after just one series. BBC bosses were furious after Chris left them in the lurch. And they made sure they signed David up for TWO series. However, BBC drama boss Jane Trantor praised Christopher for helping to revive Doctor Who. She said: 'He completely launched the show into the 21st Century.'"

Bruno Langley (Adam from last year's "Dalek" and "The Long Game") will be appearing in "A Taste of Honey", a new staging of the play (originally written in the 1960's) by Shelagh Delaney at the Oldham Coliseum Theatre running 20 April to 13 May, 2006. The Coliseum has a website and the play is mentioned in a column at What's On Stage.

Eve Myles (Gwyneth from "The Unquiet Dead") can see her in a short film, "Say It With Flowers" on Thursday 5 January at 21.45, along with an episode of "Belonging" at 21.00 the same evening. It'll be on BBC2 Wales.

Miscellaneous

Inside Housing has a feature report called "Estate Invasion" by Daniel Martin on local residents of the Brandon Estate, which is used for filming during Doctor Who as Rose's flat and neighborhood. (Note: this is a PDF file.) Among the highlights: "Many council tenants complain about noisy neighbours and anti-social behaviour. But they've had it easy. One south London estate has been invaded by the army and was nearly crashed into by an alien spaceship. On Christmas Day it'll be menaced by a troupe of evil Santas. Not to mention the mysterious blue box that keeps appearing and disappearing. The tenants, however, have nothing to fear. The estate - the Brandon in Walworth - is a key location for the new BBC series of Doctor Who. It's the setting for the Powell estate where the Doctor's companion Rose Tyler grew up. The crew filmed three episodes on the estate last year and for series two they're filming even more. It's a huge logistical problem: how do you film on an estate populated by hundreds of people and not cause chaos for the tenants? Some disruption is inevitable but it can be mitigated with a little bit of help from the residents' association. That's where Dot and Gwen Smith (no relation) come in. These two formidable 66-year-olds have both lived on the estate for years and are known by all. They work closely with the BBC to ensure that filming goes on with as little disruption as possible. 'Our job is to liaise with the film crew to make sure there are no problems for the tenants,' says Gwen Smith as a day's shooting gets under way. 'We go round asking if they wouldn't mind closing their windows and once when they did a night shoot we asked tenants if they wanted black outs. They were great about it.' ... It's early morning and the estate has been transformed into a mini film set, with a little tent full of monitors propped up against a wall, enabling the director to see if he's got the shot he wants. On this occasion there are few residents around. ... 'We'd been told they were filming some scenes with the army,' recalls Gwen, 'but one evening these massive big tanks came onto the estate. We looked at each other and said "we're going to get complaints". But we never had one. The tenants love the excitement.' 'Unfortunately,' adds Dot Smith, 'one of the tanks went down a manhole and the BBC had to pay for it being fixed.'" You can read the full article by downloading it.

There's more coverage of this week's TARDIS auction (see earlier press clips columns) at The Scotsman, the Daily Record. Another mention of Christopher Eccleston's trip abroad for relief efforts at AlertNet.

(Thanks to Paul Engelberg, Steve Tribe, Ian Golden, Peter Weaver, Joanna Pinkney, David Baker, Leighton Calvert, Benjamin Elliott, Matthew Kilburn, Paul Hayes, Daniel Martin)




FILTER: - Russell T Davies - Press