Children in Need 2017Bookmark and Share

Friday, 10 November 2017 - Reported by Chuck Foster
This year's annual fundraising evening Children in Need will take place from 7:30pm on Friday 17th November, and as in previous years will include a preview of the upcoming Doctor Who Christmas Special. The preview is currently scheduled to be shown during the first half hour.

Children in Need 2017 - Peter Capaldi, Pearl Mackie and David Bradley (Credit: BBC/Simon Ridgway)
Children in Need 2017 - Peter Capaldi (Credit: BBC/Simon Ridgway) Children in Need 2017 - Peter Capaldi (Credit: BBC/Simon Ridgway)
Children in Need 2017 - Pearl Mackie (Credit: BBC/Ray Burmiston) Children in Need 2017 - Pearl Mackie (Credit: BBC/Ray Burmiston)


Donate here!





FILTER: - BBC - Charities - Children in Need - Pearl Mackie - Peter Capaldi

Germany: Silver Nemesis Extended, German-language Big Finish audios and moreBookmark and Share

Monday, 6 November 2017 - Reported by Pascal Salzmann
Siebter Doctor Collector's Edition (Credit: Pandastorm Pictures)Many new products have been announced in Germany  recently.

  • German DVD distributer Pandastorm Pictures announced at the Doctor Who convention TimeLash III on the last weekend of October a limited boxed set featuring all of the 7th Doctor stories, including new bonus features and the never-before-on-DVD released and newly remastered Silver Nemesis Extended edition. This longer cut of the Season 25 story has previously only been released on VHS in the UK.
    The set will be called Siebter Doktor - Special Collector's Edition and presented in a valuable hardcover book in coffee table format. The set is limited to 1,000 copies, each with an impressed number. Script editor Andrew Cartmel has written over 52 pages of production notes on each story, which can be found in the English language as well as in a German translation. The 17 region-free DVD's contain all adventures in English and German audio as well as English and German subtitles and over 24 hours of bonus material. Anther new bonus feature will be the BBC America special Doctor Who Revisited – The Seventh Doctor and an exclusive new interview with Andrew Cartmel. Product shipment is scheduled for the second week of December. This boxed set can only be ordered from Pandastorm's own shop.

  • German books and audio publisher Bastei Luebbe also announced a new project at the convention. In cooperation with Big Finish they are going to release German translations of Doctor Who audio plays, with the German dubbing actors known from TV also speaking the parts on audio. The first batch of releases will be the 10th Doctor adventures featuring Donna Noble as the companion. 27th April 2018 will see the release of Die Zeitdiebe by Jenny Colgan, Technophobie by Matt Fitton and Eiskalte Rache by Matt Fitton. All stories will be released on CD and Download. You can pre-order on the publisher's website.

  • Bastei Luebbe will also release four new novels. Scheduled for next year are:
    • Eleventh Doctor story Totenwinter (Dead of Winter) by James Goss (26th January 2018)
    • Eleventh Doctor story Der weinende Engel (Touched by an Angel) by Jonathan Morris (29th March 2018
    • Eleventh Doctor story Dunkle Gezeiten (The Coming of the Terraphiles) by Michael Moorcock (25th May 2018)
    • Third Doctor story Der Neunte Schlüssel (The Last of the Gadarene) by Mark Gatiss (27th July 2018)
    All novels will also be available in audio book format.





FILTER: - Audio - Big Finish - Blu-ray/DVD - Books - Germany - Pandastorm - Sylvester McCoy

Signed Christmas Script Up For AuctionBookmark and Share

Friday, 13 October 2017 - Reported by Marcus

The shooting script for Peter Capaldi's last episode as The Doctor is being sold at a charity auction.

The script for Twice Upon A Time is being auctioned to raise money for Star Trek legend William Shatner's Hollywood Charity Horse Show, a charity set up by the star to raise money to support a number of charities dedicated to helping those in need.

The script is signed by the two Doctor's in the story, Peter Capaldi and David Bradley, as well as other members of the team, and has been donated by Mark Gatiss, who is playing The Captain in the story.

Online bidding in the silent auction begins next Sunday, October 15th

The winner of the auction will not be sent the script until after transmission of the episode this coming Christmas.

A full list of charities supported can be found here.




FILTER: - Auctions - Peter Capaldi

Twice Upon A Time - SynopsisBookmark and Share

Saturday, 16 September 2017 - Reported by Marcus
Twice Upon a Time: Mark Gatiss, Peter Capaldi, David Bradley (Credit: BBC)BBC Worldwide has issued the press synopsis for the Doctor Who Christmas Episode Twice Upon A Time.

The episode will be the last story to star Peter Capaldi as The Doctor and will feature David Bradley in the role of the First Doctor.

Pearl Mackie returns as Bill Potts, alongside Lily Travers and Jared Garfield who recreate the first Doctor's companions Polly and Ben. Mark Gatiss also joins the cast as The Captain

Two Doctors stranded in a forbidding snowscape, refusing to face regeneration. And a British army captain seemingly destined to die in the First World War, but taken from the trenches to play his part in the Doctor’s story. This is the magical last chapter in the Twelfth Doctor’s epic adventure. He must face his past to decide his future. And the Doctor will realise the resilience of humanity, discovering hope in his darkest frozen moment. It’s the end of an era. But the Doctor’s journey is only just beginning.
The information was released by the BBC Shop in the United States who have posted details of the DVD release of the story.




FILTER: - Peter Capaldi - Series Specials

Peter Capaldi signed script up for auctionBookmark and Share

Saturday, 26 August 2017 - Reported by Chuck Foster
The Doctor Who Appreciation Society have launched an auction on behalf of Syrian Refugees in North London, a charity run from Muswell Hill Methodist Church and supported by the current Doctor, Peter Capaldi and his wife Elaine. A number of items are up for auction, including the original readthrough script for the episode Listen, signed and illustrated by the actor.


DWAS: Peter Capaldi charity auction (Credit: DWAS)


The auction ends just after 5pm on the 4th September - visit the DWAS website for full details.





FILTER: - Auctions - DWAS - Peter Capaldi

Christmas Details Announced at SDCCBookmark and Share

Sunday, 23 July 2017 - Reported by Marcus
This news item contains official information released by the BBC at the Doctor Who panel at San Diego Comic Con. some readers may consider the information spoilers.

Twice Upon a Time: Mark Gatiss, Peter Capaldi, David Bradley (Credit: BBC)


The BBC has announced that Peter Capaldi’s final episode of Doctor Who, to be broadcast this Christmas will be called

Twice Upon a Time


Twice Upon a Time: Pearl Mackie (Credit: BBC)The episode will also feature Pearl Mackie returning as Bill Potts. Viewers will have to wait until Christmas to discover exactly how Bill, who will appear throughout the episode, makes her return.

It was also revealed that Mark Gatiss will co-star in the episode in a guest role, playing a World War One soldier - known so far only as ‘The Captain'

As previously revealed in the closing moments of the 2017 series finale, the special will feature Peter Capaldi’s current Doctor team up with the First Doctor, played by David Bradley.





FILTER: - Pearl Mackie - Peter Capaldi - Series Specials

Peter Capaldi's Salary RevealedBookmark and Share

Wednesday, 19 July 2017 - Reported by Marcus
Peter Capaldi was paid between £200,000 and £250,000 for his work on Doctor Who in the previous financial year, according to figures published by the BBC today.

The BBC has been instructed by government to publish the salaries of all on screen staff members who earn more than £150,000 each year, as part of the 2016 charter renewal.

The BBC has 96 staff members who fit into this category with Radio 2 and Top Gear presenter Chris Evans topping the chart with a salary of over 2 million pounds.

The highest paid actor is Derek Thompson from Casualty who earned between £350,000 and £400,000 in the year. The list only includes those working directly for the BBC and not those working on independent productions comissioned by the corporation, such as Sherlock.

The figure just reflects the amount of licence fee money paid to the actor and does not include any money paid by the commercial company BBC Worldwide for any other work undertaken.




FILTER: - Peter Capaldi - Production

Doctor Who in Germany - A TimelineBookmark and Share

Thursday, 6 July 2017 - Reported by Pascal Salzmann
Doctor Who in Germany (Credit: Pascal Salzmann)
Last weekend over 50,000 people attended the Comic Con Germany in Stuttgart. One of the stars invited was Torchwood’s John Barrowman, so a surprising number of attendees cosplayed characters from Doctor Who or Torchwood. But Germany’s obsession with the Doctor is fairly new and for a long time the show has been struggling to get any recognition even among Science Fiction fans.

Here is a timeline of Doctor Who in Germany:

The 60’s – Missed opportunities

It was in 1965 that the BBC offered a German channel a selection of William Hartnell stories. An offer which was never taken up. In 1968 the German public channel ZDF received an audition print of The Ice Warriors. A jury should decide if the serial was worth airing on German television. The protocol reads (translated to English):

Dr. Who and the Ice Warriors, Utopian series
Result: rejected.
A new ice age has gripped Earth. A motley crew of scientists fights a losing battle to overcome the problems. The now moving glaciers release beings from other planets stranded with their spaceship on Earth hundreds of thousands of years ago.
Scenery and costumes of the films are as naive as the scripts are obscure.
The rejection was unanimous.

If ZDF had picked up this serial and even more stories from the 60’s, many lost episodes would likely still exist, since German TV back then was already archiving most of their shows for repeat purposes.

The 70’s – Doctor Who wasteland


During the 70’s Doctor Who was nowhere to be seen on German television. Although there was one curious sidestep in print. The German erotic magazine Plaisir published the famous “nude Katy Manning and the Dalek” photo on its cover, with a feature inside. This magazine is a rarity now and it is not known if the TV show was explained to the readers of the magazine, who most likely had never heard of Doctor Who.

The 80’s – Doctor Who makes its debut in print and on German TV

In 1980 the German young adult books publisher Schneider released two Target novelisations, “Der Planet der Daleks” (Planet of the Daleks) and “Kampf um die Erde” (translates to “Fight for Earth”, better known as The Dalek Invasion of Earth). Both novels were heavily edited.


It was not a German TV channel that debuted Doctor Who in (West-)Germany. Instead the English language European Super Channel showed a few Tom Baker stories in the mid-80’s. Not many Germans would have watched them, though.

The Seventh Doctor, as played by Sylvester McCoy
Finally in 1989 the commercial TV channel RTL Plus made a deal with BBC Enterprises to broadcast the Sylvester McCoy episodes of Doctor Who. The show was dubbed into German, with the actor Michael Schwarzmaier providing the voice for the Doctor and Carin Tietze the voice for Ace.

The series started on Wednesday, 22nd November 1989 at 1.05pm with the first episode of “Terror auf Lakertia” (Time and the Rani). Before that there was a short introduction to the program with producer John Nathan-Turner and Sylvester McCoy summarising the history of the show for German audiences. Episode 2 aired on Sunday afternoon, with each subsequent episode airing on the same day.

Interestingly RTL Plus broadcasted the serials in production order, not in the same order as it had been transmitted in the UK. The last serial therefore was “Das Hause der Tausend Schrecken” (translates to “The house of a thousand horrors”, better known as Ghost Light), instead of “Der Tod auf leisen Sohlen” (“Death on silent feet” or Survival).

Doctor Who Magazine reported in September 1990 that the Sylvester McCoy run attracted around 2 million viewers and that RTL Plus was looking into buying Jon Pertwee serials in colour, although this never seemed to have gone any further than negotiations.

With no new episodes after Series 26 it appeared Doctor Who’s broadcast in Germany ended just a little while after it began.

The 90’s – Certainly no years of wilderness in Germany

Shortly after the RTL Plus broadcast, German books publisher Goldmann released six Target novels translated to German.

1 Die Invasion the Daleks (Doctor Who and the Daleks)
2 Das Komplott der Daleks (The Dalek Invasion of Earth)
3 Der Planet der Daleks (Planet of the Daleks)
4 Tod den Daleks (Death to the Daleks)
5 Der Schöpfer der Daleks (Destiny of the Daleks)
6 Das Kind von den Sternen (An Unearthly Child)

The first book included a chapter on the history of Doctor Who on TV and print. Bizarrely the book cover of The Daleks featured Tom Baker and the cover of Destiny of the Daleks featured William Hartnell. The novelizations of Daleks Invasion of Earth and Planet of the Daleks featured a different translation than the one in the Schneider books from the 80’s and were also unedited this time.


In 1991 comics publisher Condor released the popular DWM comic strips featuring the sixth Doctor and Frobisher in three parts.

RTL Plus repeated Seasons 24 to 26 in 1993, on Fridays and Saturdays shortly after midnight. This time the serials were edited together as long omnibus editions.


Viewers then had to wait until 1995 for new material. Commercial TV channel VOX bought all Colin Baker stories and dubbed them into German. The Doctor was again voiced by Michael Schwarzmaier. VOX also bought the anniversary special “Die Fünf Doktoren” (The Five Doctors) which was the first story to be transmitted. The 90 minute feature was edited into a three-parter with many scenes missing. Again Michael Schwarzmaier dubbed every incarnation of the Doctor, giving each one a unique voice.

After “Die Fünf Doktoren” aired, VOX transmitted every available Colin Baker episode Monday to Friday in the early morning. Strangely, they started with the last serial “Das Urteil” (Trial of a Time Lord) and worked their way backwards until “Zweimal Einstein” (The Twin Dilemma). VOX repeated the run immediately after (again backwards), but after that it would take more than a decade until Doctor Who returned to TV screens in Germany.

More and more genre magazines started to appear in the mid 90’s, so it was only a matter of time until they would run articles on that “curious british cult TV show”. Space View, a magazine comparable to the UK's SFX, ran a two part article about Doctor Who. Other magazines started to feature more and more news on the show, especially in the wake of the new TV movie featuring Paul McGann.

The TV Movie arrived in Germany in 1997 as a VHS, at first to rent, later on the shelves to buy. It was dubbed to German but hasn’t been transmitted on TV to this day.

The 90’s also saw the first kind of “fandom” appear in Germany. In 1995 the fan club Worshippers of Xoanon was formed which later published a quarterly fanzine called Time Scoop. The club started out with only a handful of people, meeting up regularly to watch the latest imported VHS or sharing their New Adventures novels collection and talking about convention appearances in the UK they were lucky to attend. For the first few years the club had around 10 to 20 members, but since then grew immensely.

2000 – today: Doctor Who takes a while but finally arrives

Some members of the fan club started the first podcast called Whocast in 2006, discussing Big Finish releases, reviewing stories and bringing news about the new TV show. The Whocast became pretty popular after a while and still runs to this day. It was the second podcast about Doctor Who worldwide.

When Doctor Who returned to British TV screens in 2005 the few German fans existing had to wait a while longer for its return. Commercial channel Pro7 finally bought Series 1 and 2 in 2008, dubbed them and aired the episodes every Saturday afternoon. The ratings were disappointing though, so they cancelled the show after the transmission of “Der Dritte Weltkrieg” (World War Three), only to continue with Dalek a few weeks later at a different timeslot. After the Series 2 finale, Pro7 announced they were not interested in purchasing further episodes of Doctor Who. Would German viewers now never get to know who the mysterious bride in the TARDIS would be?

One year later, in 2009, another channel picked up a show belonging to the Doctor Who universe. RTL 2 aired the first episode of Torchwood on 11th March 2009. Although most viewers will have never heard of Doctor Who, its spin-off quickly developed into a success for the channel, leading them later into buying Series 3 and 4. Doctor Who fans were hopeful that RTL 2 might give Doctor Who another chance but that scenario never happened.

Fans still had to wait until 2012 to see new episodes of Doctor Who. FOX Germany, a subscription channel, bought the license for Doctor Who and started to broadcast from Series 5 onwards. Although fans were a bit disappointed Series 3 and 4, as well as the Specials, were never shown, the Series 5 broadcast was a huge success for FOX. Quickly they started to transmit Series 6 and after that dubbed the “missing stories” of the David Tennant era. Fans finally got to know about the mysterious bride.

German Mediabook DVD cover to "Caves of Androzani" (Credit: Pandastorm Pictures)
In 2013, around the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who, the show seemed to be everywhere in the media. The German press didn’t ignore it anymore, the cinema showings of the anniversary special sold out in many cities and the internet, facebook, tumblR and co helped to build the fandom.

Around 2013 Panini Comics started to release the Titan comic books in Germany and books publisher Cross Cult began releasing Doctor Who novels. The relatively young DVD production company Pandastorm Pictures released boxed sets with Classic Who stories that were already dubbed to German. To this day they released all Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy stories, The Five Doctors and the TV Movie. As these DVD’s sold extremely well, they are now starting to dub stories that were never seen before on German television. The first release will be “Die Höhlen von Androzani” (The Caves of Androzani) and they just announced a second release, “Die Auferstehung der Daleks” (Resurrection of the Daleks). The fifth Doctor played by Peter Davison will once again be voiced by Michael Schwarzmaier.

In 2015 three fans founded the company TimeLash Event. They started a crowdfunding that ultimately made nearly twice as much money as they needed in order to do a Doctor Who convention, the first one ever in Germany. The con was held in October 2015 in Kassel and featured guests such as Paul McGann, Nicola Bryant, Nicholas Briggs, Terry Molloy, Terrance Dicks, Catrin Stewart, Andrew Cartmel and many more. Since then TimeLash has become a well-established annual Doctor Who convention, which usually sells out months before the date.

Not long after TimeLash the BBC sent Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman for a visit to Berlin, finally acknowledging the fandom in Germany.
 
Now

After the success on the subscription-only channel FOX, Doctor Who could also be streamed at iTunes, Netflix, Amazon Prime, among others.

Recently the public channel ONE, belonging to the ARD-group, picked up the show and repeated all available episodes, most of them for the first time ever on a free-to-air channel. Reports recently came in that the viewing figures for the target audiences are better than anything else that channels broadcasts.

German fans still don’t know yet when they are going to see last year’s Christmas special and Series 10. It seems like both FOX and ONE try to get the license for airing the episodes first and these negotiations are still ongoing.

Nevertheless,
Doctor Who has truly arrived in Germany and made its impression. German pop culture is filled with references to the show and more and more actors appear on German conventions. Here's to a bright future.

Sources: http://gallifreybase.com/w/index.php/Germany
 http://www.serienjunkies.de/news/doctor-who-deutschland-kein-ort-31751-4.html




FILTER: - Cross Cult - FOX - Germany - Pandastorm

The Doctors Will Return at ChristmasBookmark and Share

Sunday, 2 July 2017 - Reported by Marcus
he Doctor (Peter Capaldi), The First Doctor (David Bradley) (Credit: BBC/BBC Worldwide (Ray Burmiston))
The closing moments of the Doctor Who series ten finale confirmed press speculation that this year’s Doctor Who Christmas special will be a multi-Doctor adventure featuring the current Doctor played by Peter Capaldi and the First Doctor played by David Bradley.

The BBC has issued a picture showing the two actors together.

David Bradley played William Hartnell in the 2013 drama based on the creation of Doctor Who, An Adventure In Space And Time, were he played Hartnell creating the character of the original Doctor

Further casting and details for the Doctor Who Christmas special will be revealed in due course. The special will serve as Peter Capaldi's farewell to the series and will feature the debut of the next Doctor.




FILTER: - Peter Capaldi - Series Specials

The Doctors: The Pat Troughton YearsBookmark and Share

Wednesday, 14 June 2017 - Reported by Chuck Foster
Koch Media have released the second in their collection of interviews from Reeltime Pictures with stars from Doctor Who, this time focussing on the second Doctor, Patrick Troughton's era.

The Doctors: The Pat Troughton Years (Credit: Koch Media)The Doctors: The Pat Troughton Years
Produced by Keith Barnfather (order from Amazon)

A new double-DVD release in the highly regarded series exploring the world of TV’s Doctor Who in what will build into a complete work on The Doctors.

This is the definitive set of interviews with the team of actors who brought the Patrick Troughton era of Doctor Who to life, offering a whole new insight into the making of the classic science fiction series.

  • Includes a special tribute to PATRICK TROUGHTON containing messages from a host of stars and production staff from DOCTOR WHO.
  • Presented by voice of the Daleks Nicholas Briggs.
  • Quality in-depth interviews with, Anneke Wills (Polly), Michael Craze (Ben), Frazer Hines (Jamie), Deborah Watling (Victoria) and Wendy Padbury (Zoe).
  • This 2 DISC special collectors edition is 5 hours of pure nostalgia, which will give you a whole new insight into the making of Doctor Who.
  • Includes special feature: Introduction by Nicholas Briggs & Producer Keith Barnfather.


Competition

To be in with a chance to win a copy of The Doctors: The Pat Troughton Years courtesy of Koch Media, simply answer the following question:
Which of the second Doctor's companions travelled with him for the longest time?
Please send your answers along with your name, address and where you heard about the competition (news site, news app, other website, etc.) to comp-kochmedia@doctorwhonews.net with the subject "Oh my word!". The competition is open to UK readers only, closing date 30th June 2017. Only one entry per household will be accepted.





FILTER: - Blu-ray/DVD - Competitions - Patrick Troughton