Poland And South Africa On Fast Track For New Episodes

Wednesday, 13 February 2013 - Reported by John Bowman

Poland and South Africa will get the second part of Series 7 the day after each of the eight episodes is shown in the UK, it was announced today by BBC Worldwide.

The episodes will air on BBC Entertainment, starting on Sunday 31st March at 6pm in Poland and 7pm in South Africa.

Jon Farrar, the vice-president of programming for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa at BBC Worldwide Channels, said:

It's a very important part of our programming strategy to bring our acquired content to air as close to its UK transmission as possible. Doctor Who is a hugely popular programme and I'm delighted we are able to bring the Doctor's latest adventures to Polish and South African audiences just one day after the UK premiere transmission.

BBC America and SPACE in Canada will be launching the second part of Series 7 on Saturday 30th March in line with the UK.

FILTER: - Africa - International Broadcasting - BBC Worldwide - BBC Entertainment - Europe - Series 7/33

Series 6 Double Bill At Australian Cinemas - UPDATES

Tuesday, 12 February 2013 - Reported by John Bowman

BBC Worldwide Australasia is currently in talks with Event Cinemas to show the Series 6 two-part opener The Impossible Astronaut and Day of the Moon at venues across Australia.

However, despite Event Cinemas' website listing venues showing the episodes and giving dates for the screenings - details that were reproduced here - we have since been informed by the BBC that it has merely been holding talks with Event about the possibility of a screening, with no dates settled as yet.

Having published the details in all good faith, based on publicly available information, we regret any confusion caused and will update readers as and when.

13th Feb, 12.05pm: DWN understands that Event Cinemas is now in the process of taking down the screening details from its website.

FILTER: - Special Events - Series 6/32 - Australia

Ice Warriors To Return In The Spring

Monday, 11 February 2013 - Reported by John Bowman

The Ice Warriors will be returning to Doctor Who this year, it was announced today.

In an online report, the magazine SFX said that the iconic monsters would be back on our TV screens in the third story of the second part of Series 7. Written by Mark Gatiss, the episode is set on a submarine.

Executive producer Caroline Skinner was quoted by SFX as saying:

We wanted to bring them back because they're wonderful! In the mix of stories that we were planning for this year it felt as if doing something very bold with a monster that hadn't been seen for a while would be really cool. Mark is an enormous fan of the Ice Warrior stories and came up with the idea. The sense of a monster of that scale and that size trapped in a really small, contained environment such as a submarine was a really brilliant story to be able to tell.

The Martians have appeared in the show four times so far. They debuted in the Patrick Troughton story The Ice Warriors in 1967 and were last seen in 1974 in the Jon Pertwee story The Monster of Peladon.

Talking about their design, Skinner said:

We've had a huge amount of fun going back to the traditional designs and recreating them, bringing the Ice Warriors back to life again. They were such a beautiful original design, and are genuinely really scary in terms of what they look like as they’re coming towards you in that armour.

As reported last week, The Ice Warriors is to be released on DVD on Monday 26th August, but it is unknown as yet if the missing episodes two and three will be animated for it. It will, however, include the condensed reconstruction of both those episodes, which was on the 1998 VHS release.

FILTER: - Caroline Skinner - Series 7/33

The Dominators on UKTV

Saturday, 9 February 2013 - Reported by Paul Scoones

The 50th Anniversary season of classic Doctor Who stories on UKTV in Australia and New Zealand continues.

Sunday 10th February sees the broadcast of the five-part 1968 Patrick Troughton story The Dominators. It screens in New Zealand at 3:40pm and in Australia at 4:00pm. New Zealand has a additional showing on Monday 4th February at 3:30am.

The Dominators was first broadcast in Australia in 1970. It was not screened in New Zealand until 2000, a full 32 years after the UK broadcast.

UKTV is showing stories every Sunday throughout the year in the lead-up to the anniversary in November. The Dominators is the second of four stories to be aired as part of the channel's celebration of the second Doctor this month. The next two stories are The Mind Robber (17th February), and The Seeds of Death (24th).

Up-and-coming broadcasts from both 20th and 21st Century series of Doctor Who can be found via UKTV's Doctor Who sections for Australia and New Zealand.

Stack Magazine:

The latest issue of the New Zealand edition of DVD retailer JB Hi-Fi's free in-store magazine Stack (issue 37, February 2013), features Doctor Who on the cover as well as a two-page article (also online) about the lasting appeal of the series.

To mark the anniversary screenings on UKTV, JB Hi-Fi in association with DVD distributor Roadshow is running a promotion of Doctor Who on DVD throughout 2013, showcasing a different Doctor's era each month.

FILTER: - Classic Series - WHO50 - Blu-ray/DVD - New Zealand - Australia

UK DVD schedule confirmed to September

Thursday, 7 February 2013 - Reported by Chuck Foster

BBC Worldwide have announced the Doctor Who stories that will be released on DVD in the United Kingdom up to September this year. As well as the titles known previously, the list confirms the inclusion of the colourised Third Doctor adventure The Mind of Evil, the incomplete Second Doctor tale The Ice Warriors, and also the animated 2003 story Scream of the Shalka - which starred Richard E Grant as the (very) short-lived online 'Ninth' Doctor.

The complete list of dates are as follows:

25th February:	The Ark in Space: Special Edition
11th March:	The Aztecs: Special Edition (plus Galaxy 4 reconstruction)
6th May:	The Visitation: Special Edition
27th May:	Inferno: Special Edition
3rd June:	The Mind of Evil
24th June:	Terror of the Zygons
15th July:	Spearhead from Space Blu-Ray
5th August:	The Green Death: Special Edition
26th August:	The Ice Warriors
16th September:	Scream of the Shalka

Unlike last month's release of The Reign of Terror, there has been no word on whether August's The Ice Warriors will also feature animated episodes, with only the condensed reconstruction of episodes two and three that accompanied its original VHS release in 1998 confirmed so far. No new information on features to accompany other releases in the list have been revealed since our previous updates.

As yet there has been no indication of how the final four existing episodes - The Tenth Planet(1-3) and The Underwater Menace(2) - are to be presented.

The Visitation:

In addition to above, the BBFC have now classified the features that will be presented on the second disc of The Visitation Special Edition, due in May:

00:45:08:13 GRIM TALES   -  REVISITING THE VISITATION
00:27:29:06 DR. FOREVER! -  THE APOCALYPSE ELEMENT
00:32:11:20 DOCTOR WHO   -  THE TELEVISION CENTRE OF THE UNIVERSE

The main disc will contain the original features from the 2004 release, though has revised production notes compiled by Nicholas Pegg, and (of course) newly remastered episodes.

FILTER: - Third Doctor - Second Doctor - First Doctor - Classic Series - Fourth Doctor - Fifth Doctor

The Tomb of the Cybermen on UKTV

Saturday, 2 February 2013 - Reported by Paul Scoones

The 50th Anniversary season of classic Doctor Who stories on UKTV in Australia and New Zealand continues.

February is dedicated to a celebration of Patrick Troughton's Doctor, commencing with his earliest complete story, The Tomb of the Cybermen.

The four-part story is broadcast on Sunday 3rd February at 4:15pm (New Zealand) and 4:30pm (Australia). New Zealand has a second screening for The Tomb of the Cybermen on Monday 4th February at 4:00am.

The 1967 story was first broadcast in Australia in 1968. New Zealand viewers saw it in 1970.

UKTV is showing stories every Sunday throughout the year in the lead-up to the anniversary in November.

The Tomb of the Cybermen is the first of four stories to be aired as part of the channel's celebration of the second Doctor this month, and is followed by The Dominators (10th February), The Mind Robber (17th), and The Seeds of Death (24th).

Up-and-coming broadcasts from both 20th and 21st Century series of Doctor Who can be found via UKTV's Doctor Who sections for Australia and New Zealand.

FILTER: - Classic Series - WHO50 - New Zealand - Australia

The Aztecs Special Edition: Full DVD Details

Thursday, 31 January 2013 - Reported by Chuck Foster

The cover and contents of the forthcoming two-disc special edition DVD release of The Aztecs in the UK have been finalised.

As well as representing a huge technical improvement on the original DVD release from 11 years ago, it also features a selection of new extras and the premiere of the recently recovered third episode of Galaxy 4. Missing for many years, the episode is presented in its entirety, within a shortened reconstruction of the rest of the adventure.

The Aztecs - Special Edition
Release date: 11th March 2013 (available for pre-order)

Starring William Hartnell as Doctor Who, with Carole Ann Ford as Susan, William Russell as Ian, and Jacqueline Hill as Barbara
Written by John Lucarotti
Directed by John Crockett

Broadcast: 23rd May - 13 June 1964

The TARDIS arrives in fifteenth century Mexico inside the tomb of Aztec High Priest Yetaxa. The travellers become cut off from the ship after the tomb door closes behind them and Barbara is proclaimed as Yetaxa's divine reincarnation. However, she incurs the enmity of the High Priest of Sacrifice, when - against the Doctor's advice - she attempts to use her new-found authority to put an end to the Aztec practice of human sacrifice.

Special Features - Disc One

Commentary - with actors William Russell and Carole Ann Ford, producer Verity Lambert OBE.
Arabic Soundtrack - optional soundtrack for episode four only.
Remembering The Aztecs - actors John Ringham, Ian Cullen and Walter Randall recall the production of the story and of television production in the sixties in general.
Designing The Aztecs - designer Barry Newbery talks about his work on the story, illustrated with many never-before-seen production drawings and photographs from his personal collection.
Cortez and Montezuma - an extract from a 1970 Blue Peter, introduced by Valerie Singleton on location in Mexico, giving historical background to the Aztec belief in human sacrifice.
Restoring The Aztecs - a short featurette demonstrating the restoration and videoisation effects used for the release. With subtitles.
Making Cocoa - an animated guide to making cocoa the Aztec way, voiced in character by John Ringham as Tlotoxl and Walter Randall as Tonila, with both characters animated and presented in South Park style.
TARDIS-Cam no.3 - the third of BBCi’s TARDIS-Cam shots.
Photo Gallery - production, design and publicity photos from the story
Easter Egg - an animated BBC Enterprises logo recovered from the end of one of the prints sold overseas.
Intro Sequences - the umbrella story title The Aztecs does not appear on any of the episodes, so for (outdated now) BBFC compliance a caption card with the title has been provided. To add interest, six versions have been provided, each with a different voiceover, in character, from three of the actors involved in the production. The intention is that the disc will randomly select one of these six sequences and play it out at the appropriate point.
PDF Material – Radio Times listings in Adobe PDF format for viewing on PC or Mac
Programme subtitles

Special Features - Disc Two

Galaxy 4 (dur. 64’ 43”) – a shortened reconstruction of the missing story Galaxy 4, using off-screen stills, audio recordings and animation plus the recently recovered complete episode three to tell the story.
Chronicle – The Realms of Gold – John Julius Norwich’s superlative 1969 retelling of the story of the Spanish conquest of Mexico and the Aztecs, which also features music by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.
Dr. Forever! – Celestial Toyroom – the first of a new five-part series introduced by Ayesha Antoine looks at Doctor Who toys. With original series producer Verity Lambert, new series creator Russell T Davies, writers Mark Gatiss, Rob Shearman, Paul Cornell and Joseph Lidster, BBC Worldwide product licensing executive Richard Hollis, product approval executive Dave Turbitt and ex- range editor Steve Cole, AudioGO commissioning editor Michael Stevens, Character Options’ Alasdair Dewar, DWM’s toy reviewer Jim Sangster and last, but by no means least, Doctor Who’s very own Winston Churchill, actor Ian McNiece.
It’s a Square World – the very first Doctor Who skit (as far as we can ascertain), with Clive Dunn in full First Doctor costume as a scientist demonstrating his new space rocket to Michael Bentine, resulting in Television Centre being launched into space! Features cameo appearances by Patrick Moore and Albert Steptoe.
A Whole Scene Going – an excerpt from a recently recovered edition of the sixties music and arts programme, featuring an interview with director Gordon Flemyng and a behind the scenes look at filming of his movie Daleks’ Invasion Earth: 2150 AD.
Coming Soon - a trailer for a forthcoming DVD release.
Radio Times Listings - in Adobe PDF format.
Programme subtitles

FILTER: - First Doctor - Classic Series - Blu-ray/DVD

DVD Update: The Ice Warriors / The Mind of Evil

Wednesday, 30 January 2013 - Reported by Chuck Foster

Back in December the BBFC classified a trailer for Second Doctor story The Ice Warriors - this trailer has now been confirmed for the forthcoming The Aztecs - Special Edition DVD, though it should be noted that, as the name implies, the trailer illustrates a release that is "Coming Soon". Restoration Team member Steve Roberts clarified:

I think you'll find The Ice Warriors has moved further back in the schedule. These things happen. It's one of the reasons we no longer put "Coming Soon" on the trailers, now it's simply "Doctor Who on DVD".

Though the trailer indicates that the story is to be released, there is no indication as yet if the new DVD presentation will also feature animated recreations of the missing episodes two and three in the same way as this week's release of The Reign of Terror. Steve Roberts has reported previously, however, that the DVD would include the reconstruction of those episodes that appeared on the original VHS release back in 1998.

The official confirmation of story releases beyond The Aztecs will be announced later in the year.

Meanwhile, the colour restoration work undertaken on The Mind of Evil is almost complete, with the Restoration Team reporting on Monday: "At TV Centre, grading episode one of The Mind of Evil - back in colour and looking stunning!". Unlike episodes two to six, which contained the chromadot information enabling Richard Russell to restore their original colour, the first had no such detail and needed to be painstakingly coloured from scratch by Stuart Humphryes and Peter Crocker.

The fruits of everybody's efforts will be premiered at the BFI on 10th March. The DVD release of the story has yet to be announced.

FILTER: - Third Doctor - Second Doctor - Classic Series - Blu-ray/DVD

Bernard Horsfall 1930 - 2013

Tuesday, 29 January 2013 - Reported by Marcus

The actor Bernard Horsfall has died at the age of 82.

He appeared in 14 episodes of Doctor Who, alongside the second, third and fourth Doctors.

Born on 20th November 1930 in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, Horsfall had a long career in film and television in the UK, including roles in the feature films On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Gandhi and Braveheart.

He appeared in many classic television dramas including Casualty, Agatha Christie: Poirot, The Bill, The Jewel in the Crown, Juliet Bravo, Minder, When the Boat Comes In, Within These Walls, Jackanory, Elizabeth R, Doomwatch, Out of the Unknown, Softly Softly, Dr. Finlay's Casebook and Z Cars. He also played the respected doctor Philip Martel in the Channel Islands wartime drama Enemy at the Door, which ran for 26 episodes between 1978 and 1980.

Horsfall's first appearance in Doctor Who came in the 1968 story The Mind Robber, where he played Lemuel Gulliver, encountered by the second Doctor in the Land of Fiction.

After a small role as the First Time Lord in the final Troughton story The War Games, Horsfall returned to the series in 1973, playing the Thal Taron in the six-part story Planet of the Daleks, working with the third Doctor to defeat the Daleks on the planet Spiridon.

His final role in Doctor Who is arguably the one he is most famous for, playing Chancellor Goth in the 1976 story The Deadly Assassin. His most famous scene involved a battle with the fourth Doctor inside the Matrix with the climax of episode three showing the Doctor being held underwater by Goth. The sequence prompted complaints from the TV campaigner Mary Whitehouse and was edited from repeat showings.

Horsfall returned to the world of Doctor Who in 2003 when he played Arnold Baynes in the Big Finish audio play Davros.

The actor, who was due to attend the 2013 Gallifrey One convention next month, collapsed and died this morning.

FILTER: - Obituary - Classic Series

New Series 7 Publicity Picture Released

Thursday, 24 January 2013 - Reported by John Bowman

A new publicity picture has been released following yesterday's announcement that Doctor Who will be returning on Saturday 30th March for the first episode of eight in the next part of Series 7.

The image, as seen below, shows Matt Smith and Jenna-Louise Coleman. Although newly released, it appears to hail from a photo shoot last March when Coleman was announced as the new companion.