French DVD Releases

Friday, 4 March 2011 - Reported by Chuck Foster
France Télévisions Distribution have announced the release of new editions of Series 1, 2, 3 of Doctor Who on DVD, plus the release of Series 4 and the Specials. These will all be released on 15th June exclusively at French retail chain FNAC.

The press release is below (in French and translated into English):

Doctor Who en DVD : rééditions et exclusivité le 15 juinDoctor Who on DVD: exclusive re-issues on 15th June
France Télévisions Distribution s’est associé à la FNAC pour monter une exclusivité sur les coffrets DVD de la série culte britannique « Doctor Who ».France Télévisions Distribution have partnered with FNAC to produce exclusive DVD sets of British cult series "Doctor Who".
Les coffrets 4 DVD des saisons 1, 2, 3 réuniront chacun 13 épisodes de 45 minutes et seront réédités dans un nouveau packaging. Ils seront disponibles en exclusivité dans les magasins FNAC à partir du 15 juin.4 DVD boxed sets of Series 1, 2 and 3 will each contain 13 episodes of 45 minutes, and will be re-issued in new packaging. They will be available exclusively from 15th June
Le coffret 4 DVD de la saison 3 comprendra également le Christmas Special 2006 « Le mariage de Noel » avec Catherine Tate (60 minutes).The 4 DVD boxed set of Series 3 will also include the 2006 Christmas Special The Runaway Bride with Catherine Tate (60 minutes).
La saison 4, quant à elle inédite en DVD, sera également disponible le 15 juin dans un coffret 4 DVD et reprendra le fameux Christmas Special 2007 avec en guest star Kylie Minogue dans « Une croisière autour de la Terre » (72 minutes).The exclusive DVD of Series 4 will also be available on 15th June in a 4 DVD boxed set and includes the famous 2007 Christmas Special with guest star Kylie Minogue in Voyage of the Damned (72 minutes)
Les coffrets des 4 saisons comprendront tous la version française et la version originale sous-titrée.The boxes will contain the French version of all four series, and the original with subtitles.
Enfin, un coffret de 2 DVD réunira 5 épisodes spéciaux. Ces épisodes longs (4 x 60 minutes et 1 x 75 minutes) rendent hommage au comédien principal des saisons 2 à 4, David Tennant, qui a quitté la série et introduisent le nouveau Doctor Who. Dans le casting se trouvent deux guests exceptionnels : Timothy Dalton et Michelle Ryan (Merlin, Bionic Woman).Finally a 2 DVD boxed set contains 5 episodes. These extended episodes (4 x 60 minutes, 1 x 75 minutes) pays tribute to the main actor of series 2-4, David Tennant, who leaves the series and introduces a new Doctor Who. In the cast are two outstanding guests: Timothy Dalton and Michelle Ryan (Merlin, Bionic Woman)
Ces 5 coffrets DVD seront donc en vente exclusivement à la FNAC au prix de 24,99 euros pour les coffrets 4 DVD et 19,99 euros pour le coffret 2 DVD.The five DVD sets will be for sale exclusively at FNAC, priced at 24.99 euros for the 4 DVD sets and 19.99 euros for the 2 DVD set.

You can follow France Télévisions Distribution on Facebook.






FILTER: - France - International Broadcasting - Europe - Blu-ray/DVD

Docteur Who: la prochaine fois sur France 4

Wednesday, 2 March 2011 - Reported by Chuck Foster
France 4 have released a new trailer for this Saturday's episodes, Vincent et le Docteur and Le colocataire; they will be broadcast from 8:35pm (local time).


Doctor who saison 5 tous les samedis à 20h35, via YouTube.

A repeat of Le Prisonnier Zéro will follow the two new episodes at 10:05pm.


You can follow France 4 via their Facebook page and Twitter feed.






FILTER: - France - International Broadcasting - Europe - Series 5/31

Docteur Who: ratings update

Sunday, 27 February 2011 - Reported by Chuck Foster
Series Five of Doctor Who continued on France 4 on Saturday, featuring Le Seigneur des Rêves and La révolte des intra-terrestres (1+2). The shows achieved 295,000 viewers, a drop of 80,000 since the previous week. This was also reflected in the audience share, down to 1.3% of the total audience.

This week's audience figures for Saturday can be viewed at Premiere, which showed Doctor Who second-from-bottom in the ratings for the thirteen listed channels - Danse avec les stars on TF1 continued to dominate the evening, with some 5.385 million viewers (25.6%) of the audience.
 
Next week will see just two episodes broadcast:
Vincent et le Docteur
Le TARDIS remonte le temps. En Provence, seul un peintre solitaire semble se rendre compte du danger qui se cache dans les champs de blé et de tournesols. Doctor Who et Amy unissent leurs forces à celles de Van Gogh pour combattre un puissant extra-terrestre, mais parviendront-ils à le vaincre?

Le colocataire
Dans une maison sur Aickman Road, les visiteurs qui montent l’escalier pour se rendre à l’étage ne redescendent jamais… Afin de résoudre le mystère, Doctor Who doit se faire passer pour un être humain comme un autre et partager l’appartement de Craig Owens.







FILTER: - France - International Broadcasting - Europe - Series 5/31

Docteur Who: la prochaine fois sur France 4

Friday, 25 February 2011 - Reported by Chuck Foster
France 4 have released a new trailer for this Saturday's episodes, Le Seigneur des Rêves and La révolte des intra-terrestres (1+2); they will be broadcast from 8:35pm (local time).


Doctor who saison 5 tous les samedis à 20h35, via YouTube.

You can follow France 4 via their Facebook page and Twitter feed.






FILTER: - France - International Broadcasting - Europe - Series 5/31

Docteur Who: ratings update

Sunday, 20 February 2011 - Reported by Chuck Foster
Series Five of Doctor Who continued on France 4 on Saturday, featuring Le labyrinthe des Anges (1+2) and Les Vampires de Venise. The shows achieved 375,000 viewers, 2% of the total viewing audience at that time (8:35pm onwards). Whilst this is a drop in the total viewers from last week (453,000), the audience share has remained the same.

The evening also saw a repeat of Torchwood: Les Enfants de la Terre on NRJ 12 in the same time slot - the five episodes achieved a rating of 219,000 viewers (1%).

Audience figures for Saturday can be viewed at Premiere, which shows that Danse avec les stars on TF1 was once again the highest show on French television that day.


The first three episodes of Series Five - Le Prisonnier Zéro, La bêtes des bas-fonds and La victoire des Daleks - are repeated on Tuesday evening, from 10:00pm (local time).






FILTER: - France - International Broadcasting - Europe - Series 5/31

Docteur Who: la prochaine fois sur France 4

Wednesday, 16 February 2011 - Reported by Chuck Foster
France 4 have released a new trailer for this Saturday's episodes, Le labyrinthe des Anges (1+2) and Les Vampires de Venise; they will be broadcast from 8:35pm (local time).


Doctor who saison 5 tous les samedis à 20h35, via YouTube.


You can also follow France 4 via their Facebook page and Twitter feed.






FILTER: - France - International Broadcasting - Europe - Series 5/31

Docteur Who: première saison cinq sur France 4

Sunday, 13 February 2011 - Reported by Chuck Foster
Matt Smith debuted as the Doctor in France last night, with the first three episodes of Series Five broadcast on France 4

Le Prisonnier Zéro, La bêtes des bas-fonds and La victoire des Daleks were shown together during the evening and achieved a rating of 453,000 viewers, representing 2% of the audience watching television in France (viewing figures for the evening as a whole may be seen via Ozap).

Series Five has started off well, gaining more viewers than David Tennant's swansong, La Prophétie de Noël, which achieved 416,000 viewers over Christmas Day (but was pipped to the post by La Conquête de Mars with 504,000 viewers in October).

French viewing for the rest of the month consists of Le labyrinthe des Anges (pts 1+2) and Les Vampires de Venise next weekend, and Le Seigneur des Rêves and La révolte des intra-terrestres (pts 1+2) on the 26th.


France 4 trailer for Matt Smith's first series (via YouTube)




(we leave our readers to enjoy translating the French titles!)




FILTER: - France - International Broadcasting - Europe - Series 5/31

Interview with Le Doctor Version Française

Saturday, 12 February 2011 - Reported by Chuck Foster
The French Doctor Who fansite Beans on Toast have published an exclusive audio interview with David Manet, the former French voice of the Doctor.

Entitled "The End of an Era", the Belgian voice artist - who portrayed the Doctor's voice throughout his Ninth and Tenth incarnations - talks candidly about his interpretation of the role, and also of his career in dubbing.

In a translated extract below, Manet talks of his best memory of dubbing Doctor Who:
What I remember is the pleasure of working on Doctor Who, the surprises that came in the scripts and the quality of this show. I enjoyed working on the series with David [Macaluso, artistic director]. At times, it was exhausting - really - and sometimes it was frustrating because we couldn't quite match the original performance. Because Doctor Who is very British, in the way it is made, its spirit, language and energy. So, as a voice actor, you do get frustrated when you think "this is not quite as good as it could be". In a dub, there's bound to be a big part of betrayal of the original. But what I'll remember the most is what a pleasure it has been. I regret that I could not continue to dub Doctor Who, even if I think Marc [Weiss, voice of the Eleventh Doctor] is doing an excellent job, but I'd have continued - very gladly - for one more year of Doctor Who!

The full interview was recorded in Belgium on the 1st February, and is available to listen to in French from the Beans on Toast website, alongside photos of Manet receiving some special gifts to thank him for his work at the end of the interview.

You can also read an interview with the actor from 2009 on site here.





FILTER: - France - International Broadcasting - Europe

Doctor Who in France

Monday, 31 January 2011 - Reported by Marcus
Matt Smith's first full series as The Doctor comes to France 4 next month when the channel begins showing the 31st series of the show, starting with Le Prisonnier Zéro (The Eleventh Hour) on February 12, at 8:35 PM.

Viewers in France got to see the end of the Tenth Doctor last Christmas day when France 4 showed La Prophétie de Noël.

The series will continue with Épisode 2 — La Bête des bas-fonds and Épisode 3 — La Victoire des Daleks.


In addition French-speaking Doctor Who fansite Beans On Toast has revealed that series 4 of Doctor Who will be released on DVD in French.

The news has been confirmed by France Television Distristribution, the DVD editor in charge of the DVD releases of the first three series in France. French-speaking fans have been campaigning for a DVD release of the series with Beans on Toast launching an online petition in August 2010.

Series 1, 2 and 3 are also to be re-released on DVD, and this time, the series 3 boxset will include the original English version with French subtitles. The current DVD edition only offers the French dub.

For discussion on this news see the Beans On Toast Forum.




FILTER: - France - David Tennant - Series 4/30 - International Broadcasting - Europe - Series 5/31

Docteur Who: La Prophétie de Noël

Thursday, 16 December 2010 - Reported by Marcus
Doctor Who: End of TimeWhile many viewers in the English speaking world will be enjoying Matt Smith's first Christmas special as The Doctor this year, viewers in France will be bidding farewell to the Tenth Doctor when France 4 broadcasts both parts of The End of Time this Christmas Day.

Docteur Who : La Prophétie de Noël will be broadcast at 8.35. The title translates as The Christmas Prophecy.

The story was dubbed into French last March with David Manet making his swan song as the voice of the Tenth Doctor. A full cast list can be found here.

Update 19th December: readers in France may watch previews for parts one and two from the France4 website.




FILTER: - Specials - France - David Tennant - Broadcasting - Europe