Welsh Screenings Announced

Saturday, 25 October 2014 - Reported by Marcus
BAFTA Cymru, BBC Cymru Wales and Film Hub Wales have announced a series of special Doctor Who events in the nation including a special premiere of the current series finale Death in Heaven.

A series of six screenings will feature episodes from Doctor Who that have been filmed in Wales throughout Doctor Who's 50 year history.

The programme of events, devised and coordinated by Film Hub Wales and BAFTA Cymru, and hosted in partnership with BBC Cymru Wales, will offer fans of the series a chance to see monsters from key episodes of the cult classic on the big screen and hear from the creative team working on the series.

The events will be held between November 2014 and January 2015 and will be part of Sci-Fi: Days of Fear and Wonder, the BFI’s landmark season dedicated to cinema’s most spectacular genre, presented together with 02. Tickets will be available to BAFTA members and the general public.

Hannah Raybould, BAFTA Cymru Director, said:
BAFTA Cymru exists to celebrate excellence in production in the moving art form and this new partnership with BBC Wales and venues around Wales – made possible by the funding received from Film Hub Wales, will allow us to offer new access to the amazing talent working on the Doctor Who series in Wales.

We are particularly pleased to be working with new venue partners – from Scala Cinema and Arts Centre in Prestatyn, Theatr Harlech in Gwynedd, Savoy Theatre in Monmouth and Y Ffwrnes in Llanelli, which expand the breadth of our offer, and add to our existing fruitful partnerships with the Film Hub lead organisation Chapter in Cardiff and Aberystwyth Arts Centre.
The first event in the series, to be held in partnership with Chapter pop up cinema on 4 November at the landmark National Museum of Wales in Cardiff, will be a preview of Death in Heaven, the current season finale, which will be screened ahead of its broadcast on BBC One and will be attended by cast and crew.

The wider programme of events includes The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe at Ffwrnes in Llanelli on 1 December ; The Sontaran Stratagem / The Poison Sky at Scala Cinema and Arts Centre, Prestatyn on 12 December; The Unquiet Dead at the Savoy, in Monmouth on 12 January; ending with The Five Doctors on 27 January at Aberystwyth Arts Centre. An additional double bill screening of The Masque of Mandragora and The Prisoner will be confirmed to take place in January at Theatr Harlech.

The events will each have a specific theme, focusing on one creative department within the Doctor Who production team.

Hana Lewis, Strategic Hub Manager, Film Hub Wales said
“We are delighted to offer this unique opportunity to Film Hub Wales member venues, including our Film Hub Lead organisation Chapter, as part of our exciting BFI Sci-Fi programme. We couldn’t imagine a Wales-wide Sci-Fi season that didn’t explore our cultural connections to Doctor Who and are thrilled to work with BBC Cymru Wales and BAFTA Cymru to bring these events to life.

We have a rich and diverse range of exhibitors developing audiences for film across Wales but many are divided by rural landscapes, limited capacity and lack of funding. Film Hub Wales exists to support a more sustainable independent film sector, bringing more film, to more people, in more places. We anticipate that special screenings of this cult classic can bring audiences together to experience the wondrous world of Doctor Who on the big screen.
Tickets for these special events will cost £12 and £8 (concessions) and are available exclusively from the venue websites.
(with thanks to Iain Gardner)




FILTER: - Series 8/34 - Special Events

BBC announce fan event for DVD Release

Friday, 24 October 2014 - Reported by Marcus
The BBC has announced a special fan event, held in London and hosted by Frank Skinner, will take place on Monday 17th November, to mark the release of the Series 8 DVD and Blu-ray set.

This will be the first chance the cast have had to reflect on the conclusion of Peter Capaldi’s debut series as the Doctor, in front of 140 lucky fans at a central London location.

BBC Worldwide is offering 70 pairs of tickets for this exclusive event. Fans will be treated to a special screening followed by a Q&A with members of the cast. All they need to do is visit doctorwho.tv and correctly answer the multiple choice question, when they will subsequently be entered into a prize draw. The competition is now open and will close at 23.59 on Wednesday 29th October. Winners will be selected at random and will be notified within seven days of the closing date. Unsuccessful applicants will not be contacted. Fans should only enter if they can travel to London for the afternoon of the 17th November. The event venue will be disclosed to winners on their invitation closer to the time.

Frank Skinner commented
When they asked me to host this event I was over the moon. Luckily the space-dragon incubation period is such that I was in no real danger. I have so many questions I want to ask and, when we're all talked out, I'm planning to finish off by crowd-surfing for 10 to 15 minutes, dressed as Chief Engineer Perkins.
This event continues BBC Worldwide’s celebration of a new Doctor in the world’s longest running sci-fi series. Earlier this year, Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman traveled the globe visiting Doctor Who fans in Seoul, Sydney, New York City, Mexico City and Rio de Janeiro and today the interactive and immersive attraction in Cardiff Bay – The Doctor Who Experience – will reopen with an updated adventure featuring the Twelfth Doctor.
The DVD and Blu-ray release of The Complete Eighth Series sees the Doctor and Clara encounter previously unimaginable wonders and horrors... The time travellers meet a fleet of Daleks as they attempt to rescue a stranded ship of human survivors, face ranks of Cybermen stalking Earth, go back in time and join Robin Hood in a fight with killer robots in Sherwood Forest, become outlaws when they break into the deadliest bank in the cosmos, face a Mummy on the Orient Express, discover a deadly horror dwelling on the Moon and meet the last man standing at the end of the universe.

The box set contains every explosive episode from Peter Capaldi’s debut series in the role and is also packed full of extras including:
  • DVD Exclusive: Doctor Who - Deep Breath Cinema panel session (1x 30’ feature)
  • DVD Exclusive: Audio Commentaries x 4 (episodes and participants TBC)
  • Doctor Who: The Ultimate Time Lord (1x45’ feature with Fifth Doctor Peter Davison)
  • Doctor Who: The Ultimate Companion (1x45’ feature with Fifth Doctor Peter Davison)
  • Doctor Who: Earth Conquest (1x45’ World Tour Documentary)
  • Doctor Who Exclusive (4x2’ cast interviews)
  • Doctor Who Extra (12x10’ behind the scenes)
  • FOXES – Don’t Stop Me Now (Music video from Mummy on the Orient Express).

Doctor Who: The Complete Eighth Series is available to pre-order now on Amazon.uk and amazon.com. There is also a BBC Shop exclusive edition featuring special artwork and art cards.




FILTER: - Blu-ray/DVD - Competitions - Merchandise - Series 8/34 - Special Events

Who stars’ Paddington Bear statues to appear in London

Friday, 3 October 2014 - Reviewed by Nathan Brown
The Twelfth Doctor, Peter Capaldi, is one of several Doctor Who stars whose designs for Paddington Bear statues are due to feature in a new London trail.

Hugh Bonneville (Avery in The Curse of the Black Spot and A Good Man Goes to War) and Michael Sheen (the voice of House in The Doctor’s Wife) are also involved in the project.

TV presenter Davina McCall, who can be heard in the Big Brother-inspired sequences of 2005 episode Bad Wolf, will be designing a Paddington too.

Statues featuring the creative work of the four Who stars - and a long list of other celebrities, artists and designers - will appear in a trail around the UK capital’s landmarks and attractions between November 4th and December 30th this year.

The trail is tied to upcoming film ‘Paddington’, in which both Capaldi and Bonneville appear.

Michael Sheen’s statue design, Paddington Shakesbear, has already been unveiled.

3DEye, a design company, is helping with the statues’ creation. Once the trail has closed, the pieces are set to be auctioned for the NSPCC and Action Medical Research For Children.

For more information about the trail, VisitLondon.com.




FILTER: - Special Events

Special Event at Hamleys

Friday, 19 September 2014 - Reported by Marcus
Starting this weekend, a special Doctor Who event take place at five Hamleys Toy Shops in locations around the UK, when a series of uniquely numbered exclusive posters will be available for fans to get their hands on.

The posters are the first and only collector’s posters ever created by the producers of the official Doctor Who figures, Character Options. On each poster the entire collection of 3 ¾ inch figures they have released to date are shown. Only 250 of the posters have been produced for the five Hamleys stores (London Regent Street, Glasgow, Cardiff, Dublin and Manchester) and each is uniquely numbered from 1-250 for authenticity.

The poster has been created to celebrate the launch of the latest series of Doctor Who figures, which have been produced to commemorate the new TV series and the brand new Twelfth Doctor played by Peter Capaldi. The new figure of the Twelfth Doctor in his chosen outfit has been shipped to Hamleys especially for this event

To be eligible fans must purchase an item from Hamleys’ Doctor Who collection. The posters will be available as a free gift with that purchase but only while stocks last. There is no minimum spend, but as the gift is unique it is restricted to one per customer.

Grant Yuill, Marketing Manager of Hamleys commented
Our free limited edition Doctor Who poster day is a very exciting event for our shops. Doctor Who has so many fans that like to collect the figures and other memorabilia but now with the chance of owning one of these very exclusive posters we expect there to be a huge demand. What’s more we have an added bonus of 25 goodie bags for fans that come dressed in Doctor Who costume. These will be distributed free of charge on a first come first served basis.
The posters will be available from the following stores on the selected dates;
  • London Regent Street – 20th September 2014 from 9:30am
  • Manchester – 20th September 2014 from 9:30am
  • Glasgow – 20th September 2014 from 9am
  • Cardiff – 27th September 2014 from 9:30am
  • Dublin – 28th September from 10am




FILTER: - Character Options - Special Events - UK

Fan Events

Saturday, 16 August 2014 - Reported by Marcus
There is a Doctor Who event at this years Burning Man festival in Nevada, which takes place between 25 August and 1st September.

The Burning Man festival is a bizarre event which happens in the middle of a desert salt bed in Nevada. It is different from other festivals in that there are no paid bands or DJs. The participants create their own entertainment. It is famously a place where makers and artists build amazing sculptures and art cars, with an emphasis on things that burn!

Quixotes Cabaret Club and Bar is a British camp at the festival. They create a venue and a bar and invite anyone at the festival with any entertaining act to come up and perform. Each year they have a different décor theme. This year it is Doctor Who.

The entrance to the camp will be through a TARDIS against a brick wall and the organisers will have an art car in the shape of K-9.

The camp is located at 7:30 and Ephesus, the cabaret nights are Tuesday, Thursday and Friday around 9pm, with a Doctor Who extravaganza evening on the Friday. The club will be glad to see any Re-incarnations of the Doctor, Time Lords, assistants and monsters but warn that Daleks may well be turned around and pushed out. If anyone wishes to get in touch with the camp, please e-mail Paul Pickup at bigfoot.com
An "unofficial" Doctor Who Disneyland theme day is taking place in September.

In Galliday 1.5 hundreds of fans in Cosplay and fanshirts are expected at the California theme park, taking over rides, playing games and contests.

A page has been set up on Facebook as well as twitter and Tumblr.

Organiser Amy McCain told Doctor Who News
We had a trial run in January and the response was nothing short of amazing! 400+ people showed up. Afterward, our fanbase exploded! They all demanded we do 2 events a year instead of one. Now here it is.
For full details see the event website




FILTER: - Fan Productions - Special Events

World Tour arrives in Sydney

Tuesday, 12 August 2014 - Reported by Adam Kirk
The Doctor Who World Tour has arrived in Sydney, with Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman appearing at a special press screening of Deep Breath, with a Q&A hosted by former ABC radio presenter Adam Spencer, before participating in a quick photo appearance near the Sydney Opera House on Sydney Harbour. Peter and Jenna will also both appear tonight at a public screening of Deep Breath at the State Theatre.







FILTER: - Australia - Events - Series 8/34 - World Tour 2014

BBC America: premiere time change

Monday, 11 August 2014 - Reported by Chuck Foster
Peter Capaldi as the Doctor (Credit: BBC/Adrian Rogers)The online schedule from BBC America indicates that the channel will now broadcast series premiere Deep Breath at 8:15pm rather than the previously announced 8:00pm - the preceeding Doctor Who: Live Pre-Show is now scheduled for then, in a shortened fifteen minute timeslot.

The alterations may have occured to facilitate the channel's "Takeover Week", which sees the tenth and eleventh Doctors' eras broadcast from The Christmas Invasion on Monday 18th August (with the strange exception of The Idiot's Lantern), leading up to the eleventh's swan-song The Time of the Doctor immediately before the live event. Other programmes during the course of the week include the 50th Anniversary drama An Adventure in Space and Time, all eleven The Doctors Revisited shows, plus the previously reported brand new Doctor Who: The Ultimate Companion and Doctor Who: The Ultimate Time Lord documentaries. In addition, a new programme focussing on the current tour, Doctor Who: Global Tour, will be shown on Friday 22nd August at 9:00pm.


Original programming due to be shown on BBC America:
Sat 16 Aug9:00pmDoctor Who: The Ultimate Companion
Sat 16 Aug10:00pmThe Real History of Science Fiction: Time
Mon 18 Aug10:00pmDoctor Who: The Ultimate Time Lord
Fri 22 Aug9:00pmDoctor Who: Global Tour
Sat 23 Aug8:00pmDoctor Who: Live Pre-Show
Sat 23 Aug8:15pmDeep Breath
Sat 23 Aug11:00pmDoctor Who: After Who Live

Please note that any advance broadcast schedules may again be subject to change.





FILTER: - BBC America - Broadcasting - Events - Series 8/34 - USA

World Tour: Sydney live stream cancelled

Monday, 11 August 2014 - Reported by Chuck Foster
BBC Worldwide have announced that the live stream has been cancelled for the Sydney Q&A session tomorrow:

World TourWe will no longer be live streaming the fan Q&A event from the Doctor Who World Tour in Sydney. We’ve listened to your feedback and agree that it’s much more exciting for fans (both at the events and online) if the Q&A session takes place AFTER screenings of Deep Breath. That way, the panel will be able to chat about the Twelfth Doctor and the episode in much more detail. The World Tour is the first time that a current Doctor and companion have officially visited Australia, so we want to make sure that we make the most out of their time with fans.

We will still publish a (spoiler-free) highlights video from event within 24 hours of it happening, and a longer version will then be made available after Deep Breath has started to air around the world on 23 August.

We appreciate that this may be disappointing news to some of our loyal fans who are not able to attend event in person or were looking forward to the live stream, but we’re confident that this now means you’ll be getting much better, more exciting video content to enjoy.

There is no detail as to whether the other proposed live streaming events will continue at present.





FILTER: - Australia - Premiere Events - Series 8/34 - World Tour 2014

World Tour: next stop Sydney

Monday, 11 August 2014 - Reported by Chuck Foster
World Tour 2014 - Seoul and SydneyThe Doctor Who World Tour heads down-under for its next stop, with Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman participating in a number of press and public events in Sydney tomorrow, leading to another live Q&A event streamed live around the world via the the official Doctor Who YouTube channel (update: the live stream has been cancelled).


Meanwhile, BBC Worldwide have released a number of photos of the new series stars' adventure in Seoul on Saturday, plus a brief video summary of the day. A longer Q&A item is expected in the future.


Arriving at the Airport on the Doctor Who World Tour in Seoul. Photo: BBC WorldwideArriving at the Airport on the Doctor Who World Tour in Seoul Photo: BBC WorldwideArriving at the Airport on the Doctor Who World Tour in Seoul Photo: BBC Worldwide

Peter Capaldi, Jenna Coleman and the TARDIS at the historic Bosingak Bell at the National Museum of Korea. Photo: BBC WorldwidePeter Capaldi, Jenna Coleman and the TARDIS at the historic Bosingak Bell at the National Museum of Korea. Photo: BBC Worldwide

Amy Pond cosplay. Photo: BBC WorldwideClara meets the Eleventh and Tenth Doctors. Photo: BBC WorldwideSome fantastic art from one fan welcoming Peter and Jenna! Photo: BBC WorldwideThe Eleventh Doctor in the Tenth Doctor's costume. Geronimo! Photo: BBC WorldwideThe Eleventh Doctor. Bow ties are cool! Photo: BBC WorldwideThe impossible girl... Clara cosplay. Photo: BBC WorldwideVworp vworp! It's TARDIS cosplay. Photo: BBC WorldwideWould you like a jelly baby... Fourth Doctor cosplay. Photo: BBC WorldwideFan messages welcoming Peter and Jenna to Seoul! Photo: BBC Worldwide






FILTER: - Asia Pacific - Australia - Premiere Events - Series 8/34 - World Tour 2014

Deep Breath: Latin America time confirmed

Monday, 11 August 2014 - Reported by Chuck Foster
BBC Latin America have confirmed that they will broadcast the series premiere Deep Breath on Saturday 23rd August, from 10:00pm Mexican time (Midnight Argentinian time).


The BBC Worldwide regional Entertainment and HD channels are available in the following countries within the region: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, and Venezuela.


Fans who were able to get tickets will also be able to watch the episode in advance when the Doctor Who World Tour touches down in Mexico City on the 17th August, followed by Rio de Janeiro the day after.





FILTER: - Latin America - Premiere Events - Series 8/34