The Thirteenth Doctor on Turkish television

Saturday, 23 May 2020 - Reported by Chuck Foster
The Doctor, as played by Jodie Whittaker (Credit: BBC)BBC Studios have announced the launch of their high definition channel BBC Prime in Turkey via Türk Telekom’s Tivibu platform from 27th May, with Doctor Who featuring prominently on the new service:

BBC First will be the exclusive home of all-new series of Doctor Who in Turkey, launching with the 11th and 12th seasons starring Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor and premiering future series closer to UK TX than ever before. This will be especially appreciated by Turkish Whovians who are among world’s most loyal fans ranking #6 in the world on the Doctor Who Facebook page and #9 for YouTube views on Doctor Who official channel, with 1.7m video views in the last 12 months.

Natasha Hussain, Senior Vice President for MENA at BBC Studios, said:
As the World’s spotlight shines bright on British drama, I’m thrilled to be expanding our offering in Turkey with the truly unmissable BBC First channel. The BBC has a strong reputation for its original storytelling and high production values in this genre, and I can’t wait for audiences in Turkey to be introduced to the raft of unique stories and unforgettable characters on BBC First.
Türk Telekom TV/OTT Content and Product Director, Ziyad Varol, stated:
We are very much happy with our years of cooperation with BBC, a household name for broadcast and media worldwide. Five years ago, Tivibu was the first platform to launch BBC’s documentary channel BBC Earth in Turkey, introducing one of the most important documentary producers of the world to Turkish audiences. And now, with BBC First, we are again excited to provide Tivibu audience with the newest and most popular series content of BBC. We hope to add new firsts into our list with BBC and to provide further value to Tivibu viewers by presenting them premium contents before everyone else in Turkey.

Doctor Who kicks off on the channel with a complete run of Peter Capaldi's last series during the afternoon/evening, leading up to the premiere of The Woman Who Fell To Earth. The channel then continues to show Series 11 alongside the rest of the Doctor's high definition adventures over the following weeks (which includes the upscaled special The Next Doctor). You can catch up on the BBC First schedule via This Week in Doctor Who.

Doctor Who has been available in Turkey in standard definition for a number of years via BBC Entertainment Europe (currently broadcasting Series 10).





FILTER: - Broadcasting - Doctor Who - International Broadcasting - Jodie Whittaker - series 11/37 - Turkey

#DoctorWhoLockdown: The Doctor's Wife

Saturday, 11 April 2020 - Reported by Chuck Foster
DoctorWhoLockdown: Bigger on the Inside (Credit: DoctorWhoLockdown/Emily Cook)The next shared Doctor Who viewing organised by Doctor Who Magazine's Emily Cook takes place this evening (UK):

To join in, simply pop in your DVD or Bluray disc of The Doctor's Wife, or access a streaming service such as BBC iPlayer, Amazon Video, iTunes, Google Play or Netflix, and then hit play at 8:00pm BST / 3:00pm EDT / 5:00am AEST / 7:00am NZST and share your viewing experience!



As with previous discussions, author Neil Gaiman will be giving insights on his episode, this time joined by director Richard Clark and the voice of House, Michael Sheen.

Neil Gaiman also hinted on Twitter:
Also there is an amazing secret Thing we haven't announced yet.




Don't forget that there is another shared viewing of Silver Nemesis with Sophie Aldred at 6:00pm BST as part of online Time Space Visualiser convention taking place this afternoon on YouTube.






FILTER: - Broadcasting - International Broadcasting - Series 6/32 - Special Events

#DoctorWhoLockdown: In The News

Saturday, 4 April 2020 - Reported by Chuck Foster
The recent global DoctorWhoLockdown initiative organised by Doctor Who Magazine's Emily Cook was reported by BBC News in the lead-up to last night's The Eleventh Hour - you can watch the report via the DoctorWhoLockdown YouTube channel.

This is the second time the initiative has been reported on, with entertainment correspondent Lizo Mzimba reporting on the simulcast viewing of Rose back on its anniversary on the 26th March (online version).



The next planned DoctorWhoLockdown is for The Doctor's Wife on Saturday 11th April from 8:00pm BST.




FILTER: - BBC - Broadcasting

Time Space Visualiser: Missing Episodes

Saturday, 4 April 2020 - Reported by Chuck Foster
Time Space Visualiser: Missing Episodes, by Fantom Events (2020) (Credit: Fantom Events)After the success of their first online convention last weekened, Fantom Events will be presenting another this afternoon (Saturday 3rd April), this time focusing on the missing episodes of Doctor Who.

Running from 2pm to 5pm, Time Space Visualiser will include a mixture of new interviews archive material and some specially recorded features for the afternoon, with each hour following a theme:
  • The first hour looks back at the making of The Savages, with a 2013 stage interview with Andrew Lodge (First Assistant) and Peter Thomas (Captain Edal) together with an interview recorded this week with Kay Patrick (Flower).
  • The second hour looks at family connections with a specially recorded interview with David Troughton, and an archive interview with Carole Ann Ford and Jessica Carney looking at the parallels of being and playing the Doctor’s Granddaughter.
  • The final hour sees Andy Futter talking to Peter Purves in a brand new interview shot for this event, followed by an archive stage panel with William Russell and Anneke Wills from 2013.
You can watch the event live from the Fantoms Events YouTube channel, where you can also find the complete event from last weekend, plus individual interviews including its own "missing" recording with Nicola Bryant!

Credit: BBC WorldwideTime Space Visualiser will be followed in the evening by what's becoming a regular pasttime for Doctor Who fans, a planned worldwide simulcast viewing of a story to tweet along to; tonight's will be the most recently recovered complete story, The Enemy of the World, which will also includes tweets from Philip Morris, the discoverer of the long-lost Patrick Troughton adventure in Nigeria.

To join in, simply pop in your DVD of The Enemy of the World, or access a streaming service such as iTunes or Britbox, and then hit play at 6:00pm BST / 1:00pm EDT / 3:00am AEST / 5:00am NZST and share your viewing experience!



To tie in with the 'watchathon', Fantom have also made the first episode of their alternative commentary for the story available for free to listen to this weekend via YouTube.





FILTER: - Broadcasting - Conventions - Fantom - International Broadcasting - Patrick Troughton - Special Events - William Hartnell

#RTWatch: Q&A with John Barrowman and Naoko Mori

Friday, 3 April 2020 - Reported by Chuck Foster
Yesterday evening saw the Radio Times present its own "tweetalong", this time for the Torchwood episode Captain Jack Harkness; this was followed by a live Q&A with its stars John Barrowman and Naoko Mori, and is available to watch via their YouTube channel:





FILTER: - Broadcasting - International Broadcasting - John Barrowman - Special Events - Torchwood

#DoctorWhoLockdown: The Eleventh Hour

Thursday, 2 April 2020 - Reported by Chuck Foster
#FishCustard The Eleventh Hour watchathon 3 Apr 2020 (Credit: DoctorWhoLockdown/Emily Cook)The next in the Doctor Who Lockdown global 'watchathon' events will be in celebration of the tenth anniversary of the Eleventh Doctor to our screens this coming Friday 3rd April!

To join in, simply pop in your DVD or Bluray disc of The Eleventh Hour, or access a streaming service such as BBC iPlayer, Amazon Video, iTunes, Google Play or Netflix, and then hit play at 7:00pm BST / 2:00pm EDT / 5:00am AEDT / 7:00am NZDT and share your viewing experience!



Once again the episode's writer Steven Moffat will be contributing to the Twitter discussion during this episode; speaking on his Instagram account, he also hinted:
There was a scene I cut I really liked. I’m trying to find it. Cliffhanger.
Update: Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, Arthur Darvill and director Adam Smith will also be participating to the Twitter discussion.

Beforehand, at 5pm BST there will also be a Q&A session, with organiser Emily Cook tweeting:
At 5pm on Friday #DoctorWho costume designer Ray Holman will be revealing the secrets and processes behind the Eleventh Doctor's outfit! Join him on Twitter for a live Q&A and celebration of the Doctor's tweed! (Did you know? 3 April is also National Tweed Day!)





You can also support the creative industry behind our entertainment at this time through JustGiving as detailed below:





FILTER: - Broadcasting - Doctor Who - International Broadcasting - Karen Gillan - Matt Smith - Series 5/31 - Special Events

#DoctorWhoLockdown: Vincent and the Doctor

Sunday, 29 March 2020 - Reported by Chuck Foster
#TheUltimateGinger Vincent and The Doctor watchathon 30 Mar 2020 (Credit: Emily Cook/Stuart Crouch)The third in the global 'watchathon' events organised by Doctor Who Magazine's Emily Cook - now entitled The Doctor Who Lockdown - will be eleventh Doctor tale Vincent and the Doctor, taking place on the titular Vincent Van Gogh's birthday, 30th March.

As with previous events, the writer for the story, Richard Curtis will be commenting live on Twitter, but this time Emily and her fellow co-organiser for this viewing, the story's script editor Emma Freud, have also announced the Doctor himself, Matt Smith, will be joining Twitter to participate in the discussion, along with his trusty companion's real-life counterpart Karen Gillan, and the actor who brought Vincent to life in this episode, Tony Curran. Not only that, but the uncredited curator of the Musée d'Orsay, Bill Nighy, will also be joining in!

To join in, simply pop in your DVD or Bluray disc, or access a streaming service such as BBC iPlayer, Amazon Video, iTunes, Google Play or Netflix, and then hit play at 7:00pm BST/2:00pm EDT/5:00am AEDT/7:00am NZDT and share your viewing experience!




There is a new YouTube channel for these event, Doctor Who Lockdown, which features videos relating to all the events so far, and more to come!





FILTER: - Broadcasting - Doctor Who - International Broadcasting - Karen Gillan - Matt Smith - Series 5/31 - Special Events

#TripOfALifetime: Rose around the World

Tuesday, 24 March 2020 - Reported by Chuck Foster
#TripOfALifeTime - Rose, 26 Mar 2020 (Credit: BBC)Following on from the popular global viewing of The Day Of The Doctor last Saturday, a followup event featuring the first episode of 21st Century Doctor Who, Rose is planned for this coming Thursday, 26th March at 7:00pm GMT - the exact time of its fifteenth anniversary! As with #SaveTheDay, viewers around the world are invited to watch the episode and comment along.
To join in, simply pop in your DVD or Bluray disc, or access a streaming service such as BBC iPlayer or Netflix, and then hit play at 7:00pm GMT/3:00pm ET/6:00am AEDT/8:00am NZDT and share your viewing experience!



With Steven Moffat getting involved last weekend, original writer and showrunner Russell T Davies has announced he too will be rejoining Twitter to join in the fun on Thursday, revealing something special to mark the occasion via his Instagram account:
ROSE livestream and tweet-a-long, THURSDAY 26 MARCH at 7pm GMT. Come and have fun! Before that, Thursday daytime, time TBC, we'll release ROSE: THE PREQUEL on the BBC's Doctor Who website - it's a lost piece of history from the 50th anniversary year, 2013. Never seen before! ROSE is available in the UK on BBC iPlayer and Netflix; worldwide, check your own resourced (don't ask me, I have no clue!). If you can't find a copy, close your eyes at 7om GMT and feel my psychic link. Yeah. I'll be tweeting along, twitter handle to be named on Thursday! Plus more surprises to come. Oh what a lockdown this is! #TripofaLifetime





FILTER: - Broadcasting - Doctor Who - International Broadcasting - Special Events

Strax introduces #SaveTheDay

Saturday, 21 March 2020 - Reported by Chuck Foster







FILTER: - Broadcasting - Doctor Who - International Broadcasting - Special Events

New Doctor Who scene for #SaveTheDay

Saturday, 21 March 2020 - Reported by Chuck Foster
Steven Moffat supporting #SaveTheDay (Credit: Steven Moffat on Twitter)A new, specially written scene is to be released online tonight at 6:30pm GMT to introduce the #SaveTheDay initiative for an international viewing of the 50th Anniversary story The Day Of The Doctor.

The scene has been written by the story's writer and former showrunner Steven Moffat; organiser Emily Cook told Radio Times:
Seeing as we’re all stuck in self-isolation with nothing to do, and given so many fans have got engaged with this now-global Day of the Doctor rewatch party, I thought it might be fun to create a new introduction video, inspired by the one which was shown in cinemas before the Anniversary Special was simulcast in 2013! I approached Steven Moffat with the idea and, amazingly, he jumped on board! He’s written a special scene which is utterly brilliant! Brand-new Doctor Who created remotely while we’re all in self-isolation. I really hope fans enjoy this! It's a real treat!
Details of the scene, and who will present it, are being kept under wraps, but the writer has briefly returned to Twitter to celebrate the event, saying:
Hi. Steven Moffat here. Actual Steven Moffat, if there's still anyone bothering to pretend to be me. Only here for the Day Of The Doctor tweet-a-long, 7pm GMT, 21st March. #savetheday Disappearing after that BEFORE THEY GET ME!!!!

The worldwide "watchathon" takes place at 7:00pm GMT/3:00pm ET/6:00am AEDT/8:00am NZDT.






FILTER: - Broadcasting - Doctor Who - International Broadcasting - Series Specials - Special Events - Steven Moffat