Christmas Special to be shown in US Cinemas

Wednesday, 11 November 2015 - Reported by Chuck Foster

BBC Worldwide have announced that the - as yet unnamed - Doctor Who Christmas Special is to be shown in cinemas across the United States in late December.

CELEBRATE THE HOLIDAYS WITH THE DOCTOR ON THE BIG SCREEN
2015 DOCTOR WHO CHRISTMAS SPECIAL IN THEATERS
DECEMBER 28 & 29 NATIONWIDE FOR THE FIRST TIME

BBC Worldwide North America and Fathom Events announce the return of the longest running sci-fi television series, Doctor Who, to the big screen with a special theatrical event of the 2015 Doctor Who Christmas Special starring Peter Capaldi and featuring the return of Alex Kingston as River Song. The event will be in theaters on December 28 & 29, 2015 at 7:30 p.m. local time and feature an exclusive interview with Alex Kingston, as well as a 15-minute behind-the-scenes “making of” featurette starring Peter Capaldi, Steven Moffat and more.

Tickets for the 2015 Doctor Who Christmas Special can be purchased online beginning Friday, November 13 by visiting www.FathomEvents.com or participating theater box offices. The event is expected to show in nearly 300 movie theaters through Fathom’s Digital Broadcast Network. For a complete list of theater locations visit the Fathom Events website (theaters and participants are subject to change).

It’s Christmas Day in the future and the TARDIS is parked on a snowy village street, covered in icicles, awaiting its next adventure. Time traveler River Song meets her husband’s new incarnation, in the form of Peter Capaldi, for the first time this Christmas. River Song made her first Doctor Who appearances in 2008 in Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead and has appeared in 15 episodes to date.

Soumya Sriraman, EVP Film, Home Entertainment and Licensing for BBC Worldwide North America, said:

The return of River Song will be an incredible treat for Whovians heading to the theaters this December to celebrate the holiday season with their Doctor Who community.

Fathom Events CEO John Rubey said:

The Doctor Who fans always come out to movie theaters in full force and we expect nothing less for the first-ever big screen showing of the Christmas special. Experiencing this anniversary event as part of a community is the best kind of viewing party!

The Doctor Who Christmas Special premieres on Friday, December 25, 2015 on BBC AMERICA.

FILTER: - Cinema - Special Events - Specials - USA

New Eighth and Eleventh Doctor Comics

Thursday, 5 November 2015 - Reported by Marcus

Two new comics are released this week, featuring the Eighth and the Eleventh Doctor's.

DOCTOR WHO: THE EIGHTH DOCTOR #1

I'M THE DOCTOR, AND I'D VERY MUCH LIKE TO KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING IN MY HOUSE..."

Get ready for an all-new season of comics adventures featuring the Eighth Doctor, as played by Paul McGann in the Doctor Who movie, fan-favorite minisode Night of the Doctor... and over fourteen years (and counting!) of astounding Big Finish audio spectaculars!

Five amazing, interconnected new stories take the Doctor on a rollercoaster of threat and misadventure, as he investigates the mysteries surrounding his new companion Josie. Victorian magic shows, murderous trees, lost books, crystalline life-forms, barges in space crammed with the undead... and the grand journey all begins in a sleepy Welsh town... besieged by living paintings!

Buckle up for a wild ride that embraces all the Gothic Romance and interstellar terror of the Doctor's eighth incarnation!

Eighth Doctor Mini-Series #1 (Credit: Titan)

DOCTOR WHO: THE ELEVENTH DOCTOR #2.2

DISCOVER THE TRUTH -- ON THE RUN!

The breathless chase through time and space continues, with the Doctor and Alice on the run over a crime committed by one of his previous incarnations! This issue - things get complicated, quick, as a chainsword-wielding freelancer boards the TARDIS. Is he friend, foe, or something even worse?! With only minutes left before the implant in Alice's head gives their location away to the transtemporal bounty hunters on their tail, the Doctor won't have time to weigh his options - and the consequences will be heavy!

FILTER: - Comics - Eighth Doctor - Eleventh Doctor

Doctor Who Festival update

Tuesday, 3 November 2015 - Reported by Chuck Foster

BBC Worldwide have provided an update on guests who will be attending the forthcoming Doctor Who Festival, that takes place over the weekend of 13th-15th November:

Doctor Who Festival (Credit: BBC Worldwide)

BBC Worldwide are thrilled to announce that Jenna Coleman is now confirmed as attending both Saturday and Sunday of this year’s official Doctor Who Festival. This will be the last chance fans will see Jenna in the official Doctor Who universe before her exit as the much loved Clara Oswald.

The Doctor Who Festival is the only official event this year to include appearances from Peter Capaldi, Michelle Gomez and Ingrid Oliver as well as Executive Producer Steven Moffat. An event for fans of all ages, the Festival offers a fantastic opportunity to get the inside track from the cast and crew of Doctor Who in this extravaganza of immersive and interactive opportunities.

We are also pleased to announce that Mark Gatiss will be joining the Festival for all three days, as well as joining the team from Millennium FX each day in its theatre show, revealing to guests how they create and build many of the monsters on Doctor Who. Mark and the team will take an in depth look at the new monsters that appeared on the screens for Series 9.

As well as Mark Gatiss and MFX, theatre shows will also include Meet The Cast and Meet The Writers panels, featuring all seven Series 9 writers over the three days.

The daily Meet The Cast panel will see Peter Capaldi, Jenna Coleman, Michelle Gomez and Ingrid Oliver discuss their experiences behind the scenes on the set of Doctor Who.
The minds behind Doctor Who will be quizzed in the Writer’s Panel; Steven Moffat, Mark Gatiss, Sarah Dollard, Toby Whithouse, Catherine Tregenna, Peter Harness and Jamie Mathieson will talk through the development and design of some of the show’s favourite characters and compelling storylines over the three days.
Special Effects supervisor Danny Hargreaves and his team at Real SFX reveal what happens on a typical day’s filming and wow fans with their impressive live show.
Fans of the show can also enter the Doctor Who Festival Cosplay Showcase and be put to the test in the Fan Challenge.
Photo opportunities with Jenna Coleman are now on sale. There are also photos with Ingrid Oliver, Michelle Gomez, Mark Gatiss, Danny Hargreaves and Nick Briggs still available for purchase via the website. Photos opportunities with Peter Capaldi are now sold out.
Visitors will experience what it’s really like to be on the Doctor Who set in front of and behind the camera in the Drama School and Production Village featuring Big Finish, Nick Briggs and Douglas MacKinnon, giving ticket holders the opportunity to learn voice acting from the voice of the Dalek himself and discover how to act with CGI.
Two of the iconic sets from Series 9 will be on open display to all ticket holders, and the set of Clara’s Living Room will be available to ticket holders for photo opportunities.

The ticket price includes day entry to the Festival, access to three theatre shows, lanyard, show planner and access to all the activity in the Festival Hall. TARDIS tickets also include the brochure, lounge access, front block theatre show seats and a Limited Edition Doctor Who Festival 2015 T-shirt.

Tickets are still available to purchase from the Doctor Who Festival website.

The Festival will also be travelling to Australia a week later (21st-22nd November 2015), which will also be attended by Peter Capaldi and Steven Moffat.

FILTER: - Special Events

Dr Whoot up for Auction

Monday, 12 October 2015 - Reported by Marcus

Dr Whoot and 89 other giant owls came together for one last time at a special Farewell Weekend at Birmingham's Millennium Point on Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 October before being auctioned to raise funds for Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity.

Artist Stephen Mckay is a long time Doctor Who fan, his Police Box/Owl design was inspired by the conventions he attended in Birmingham in the early 1980s. Mckay has fond memories of meeting passed Doctors Jon Pertwee and Patrick Troughton in the city.

The Police Box owl with its working lamp, hand made by Mckay, has attracted a lot of interest in the UK and America and with a starting price of £5000 is hoped will raise substantially more for the Children's Hospital. The top price previously paid for a work by Stephen Mckay was £25,000 in aid of Bristol Children s' Hospital in 2013.

The Big Hoot Auction takes place on Thursday the 15th of October. If you are interested in bidding for Dr Whoot or any other of the Big Hoot owls or owlets , details are available on the Big Hoot website

Who Fan and Artist Stephen Mckay (Credit: Stephen Mckay)

Bonnie Langford Patrick Troughton outside Birmingham Central Library 1985 (Credit: Stephen Mckay)

Farewell to Owls (Credit: Stephen Mckay)

Dr Whoot in Birmingham (Credit: Stephen Mckay)

FILTER: - Auctions - Special Events

Special Screening of The Magician's Apprentice at Lucca Comic and Games Festival

Thursday, 8 October 2015 - Reported by Chuck Foster

Lucca Comics and Games (Credit: Lucca Comics and Games)

The premiere of Series Nine, The Magician's Apprentice, is to receive a special screening in Italy on Friday 30th October as part of the Lucca Comic and Games Festival. The episode, which will be dubbed into Italian, will be shown at 6:30pm at Cinema Astraat, and will be introduced by its writer, Steven Moffat.

The series' lead writer is at the event for the weekend, and will feature in a Q&A alongside fellow writer Jamie Mathieson in the San Romano auditorium at 9:00pm on Saturday, which will be hosted by comic writer Gabriella Cordone Lisiero. Fans will have the opportunity to ask questions about the writing process and how a Doctor Who script is turned from words on a page to the series seen on screen.

Tickets for both events are available on the festival website website (English version of the site here).

The series itself, also dubbed into Italian, is expected to be shown in the country within the next few months on RAI4; full details will be available via the This Week in Doctor Who website and on Facebook once known.

FILTER: - Italy - Series 9/35 - Special Events - Steven Moffat

A Colin Baker Experience

Wednesday, 30 September 2015 - Reported by Chuck Foster

The Sixth Doctor's Costume (Credit: Chuck Foster)

Colin Baker is to visit the Doctor Who Experience in Cardiff on Saturday 10th October, and will also take part in a Q&A session:

Colin played the Sixth Doctor from 1984 – 1986 and was an explosion of colours, words and emotions. Passionate, sometimes quick to anger, this was a Doctor you did not want to make enemies with. Baker recently returned to the role and has featured in the Big Finish Productions Audio Drama, The Last Adventure. Colin returns to the Doctor Who Experience after he filmed the Five (ish) Doctors Reboot in 2013 with Peter Davison and Sylvester McCoy for the 50th Anniversary, and will be available for photos and signings during the day. And, if you are keen to cosplay as the Sixth Doctor there couldn’t be a better day to visit! There is no charge for this event and is included in the price of a standard ticket.

DALEK WEEK

The Experience will also be holding a Dalek Day later in the month:

Following the explosive two part opener of Doctor Who Series 9, and the return of the terrifying Daleks along with their creator Davros, The Doctor Who Experience is celebrating one of the Doctor’s greatest foes with a Dalek Day event on Saturday 24th October followed by a week of Dalek half term activities for fans and families. Visitors to the Doctor Who Experience will be able to

Go on an interactive adventure and visit Skaro - the home of the Daleks
Get up close to the fearsome Daleks who will be roaming throughout the Experience
See the Daleks that featured in the opening two-parter of Doctor Who Series Nine
Learn how to operate a Dalek and take part in a Q&A session with a Dalek operator
See the revealing of the restored original Davros by Mike Tucker, part of Doctor Who Experience refurbishment programme

More details about the Dalek Day/Week will be available shortly.

FILTER: - Colin Baker - Doctor Who Experience - Special Events

Russell T Davies defends the BBC

Friday, 25 September 2015 - Reported by Marcus

Russell T Davis with Alison Graham at the Radio Times Festival (Credit: Maggie Gibbons)

Russell T Davies has made a strong defence of the BBC and the licence fee and the values it stands for, but warned the battle may already be lost.

Speaking at the Radio Times Festival, he urged people to consider the alternatives to the compulsory licence fee, such as a subscription model and to look at the schedules of current subscriber services such as the American premium cable network HBO and see what subscribers get for their money. He said: "couple of high class dramas. No news. No soaps.no weather, no radio stations. Google their schedules and see if that is what you want?"

Davies was being interviewed by Alison Graham for the first ever Radio Times Festival, which is being held at Hampton Court in West London. He said his favourite memory of working on Doctor Who was the laughter he had. "It was hard work but we did have fun". He revealed he most enjoyed writing dialogue for Daleks. "They are so clever. I love them".

He also spoke of how proud he was of Doctor Who. "It's indestructible. Imagine if they tried to cancel it now. There would be riots in the streets".

Speaking on writing for the Doctor: "you get the secret of writing for the Doctor when you realise he is much cleverer than you are. Then it falls into place".

He talked about how he started in the industry and advised aspiring writers to just write. "get all the experience you can, not necessarily on your pet project but say for your local youth theatre".

He talked about his current project, a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream for the BBC. "It's something I've always wanted to do, he told the audience. It has a fantastic cast, and the whole play finishes with a joyous dance choreographed by Arlene Phillips. It's going to be on Saturday night in prime time. Only the BBC would do that".

Davies finished the session by talking to fans and signing autographs.

(Maggie Gibbons for the photo)

FILTER: - BBC - Radio Times - Russell T Davies - Special Events

More guests added to the Sydney Doctor Who Festival

Thursday, 24 September 2015 - Reported by Harry Ward

Doctor Who Festival - Australia, 21-22 November 2015 (Credit: BBC Worldwide)

BBC Worldwide has announced further guests to the Australian Doctor Who Festival. Sylvester Mccoy, Billie Piper and Dan Starkey will join Peter Capaldi, Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss in Sydney on the 21st and 22nd November 2015. Piper and McCoy will appear on stage at the festival in a series of fan Q&As hosted by Adam Spencer. Billie Piper’s attendance at the Doctor Who Festival is subject to her filming commitments.

Sylvester Mccoy said:

I’m over the moon, quite literally, as I’ll be coming by TARDIS!

Dan Starkey said:

I made a flying visit to Australia a few years ago and I'm really looking forward to coming back and spending a little longer this time. In his long and illustrious military career I'm sure that Strax has conquered jet-lag and I'm certain I will too!

Doctor Who Festival 2015 - Ticketek Australia

New! Millennium FX Monster Show - see the work that goes into creating some of the iconic monsters from Doctor Who with a live monster make-up demonstration and, as a special treat for fans, a brand new never-before-seen series nine monster will also feature on stage.
New! Drama School With The Monsters – alongside Dan Starkey (Strax) and Jon Davey (monster actor), learn what it takes to be a monster on the set of Doctor Who in this hands-on drama school session.
New! Production Village – get a glimpse of life on set in the ‘Production Village’ with Gary Russell (Script Editor). Learn about the different roles in television production and what it’s really like to work on set. How early are the call times? Who arrives first and who leaves last? Who has the most difficult role, and most importantly, who looks after the key to the TARDIS? In the Production Village these questions and more will be answered, as fans are offered an exclusive insight into the many parts involved in bringing them the world’s longest running sci-fi program.
New! Science Of Doctor Who - on this amazing journey through space and time, comedian Rob Lloyd explores the scientific mysteries of Doctor Who. Featuring original scenes from the iconic BBC television series, this interactive session investigates the science of time travel, asks if regeneration is possible, and explains how the TARDIS can be bigger on the inside.
New! Iconic Set - direct from Cardiff a unique setting from this season’s Doctor Who will be coming to Australia for the first time ever.
Q&As - see the writers and cast from the series as they talk about how to make an idea become reality on a series as big and bold as Doctor Who.
Photo And Autograph Opportunities - a limited number of opportunities for photos and autographs with selected talent.
Writers’ Masterclass – ask Mark Gatiss how a Doctor Who script is crafted and discover the techniques behind the art of dramatic scriptwriting and how to get work published.
SFX Display – witness first-hand some of the spectacular effects seen in the series such as explosions and fireballs, elemental and atmospheric effects, mechanical rigs and pyrotechnics.
Wardrobe Department – a fantastic exhibition of costumes and props.
Cosplayers’ Showcase - fans can showcase their impressive Doctor Who-themed outfits with a special prize awarded to the best dressed.
Doctor Who Quiz – this is the ultimate Doctor Who quiz, where fans can show off their in-depth knowledge of the Doctor, his adversaries and the many adventures he’s had through space and time.
The Fan Challenge - fans young and old can battle it out and test their Doctor Who knowledge.

(BBC Worldwide Australia & New Zealand)

FILTER: - Australia - Doctor Who - Special Events

The Dalek Invasion of Liverpool Street

Saturday, 19 September 2015 - Reported by Chuck Foster

Fresh from their invasion of Westminster on Thursday, the Daleks selected Liverpool Street Underground Station as their next target on Friday, taking over announcements and noticeboards as part of publicity for the return of Doctor Who this weekend.

Dalek advises to use the handrail

Dalek advises to use the lift if you have luggage

Dalek advises on CCTV usage in the station

(with thanks to BBC Worldwide and TfL)

FILTER: - Publicity - Series 9/35 - Special Events

The Dalek Invasion of Westminster

Thursday, 17 September 2015 - Reported by Chuck Foster

Commuters in London would have been in for a surprise this morning as the Daleks took over London's transport network! The "Masters of Earth" could be seen today in and around Westminster Underground Station, in celebration of their (and the Doctor's!) return to television this weekend.