Velile Tshabalala interview

Monday, 6 October 2008 - Reported by Anthony Weight

Actress Velile Tshabalala, who plays the character of Rosita in the forthcoming Doctor Who Christmas special The Next Doctor, has given an exclusive interview to the West Sussex Gazette, a local newspaper based in the south of England.

Tshabalala was appearing last weekend at a living history event in Amberley, West Sussex. To publicise it, she spoke to the Gazette's entertainments reporter, Phil Hewitt, and also talked about her role in "The Next Doctor", saying: "I am just so excited about it. We filmed it in April in Cardiff and Gloucester and Monmouth and so it has died down a bit, but now it is getting closer and I just can't wait.

"It is just a one-off Christmas special but out of all the episodes I could have been asked to do it is far better that it is this one."

On the subject of whether she might reappear in future episodes, Tshabalala added: "I would love to do more. At the moment I am just being positive about it, that I did it and that I had a great time. But I would love to be in it again if I can."

She also spoke briefly about her character's role in the episode, information regarding which is included in the spoiler box below.

I have to be very careful what I can say and can't say about it all. You have to bear with me! But she is an East Londoner, very Cockney.

The Doctor is faced with another Doctor. Rosita is the assistant to the other Doctor but as the episode goes on she starts helping the Doctor we know.

FILTER: - People - Specials - Series 4/30 Specials

Canada: Series Four on CBC Tonight

Friday, 19 September 2008 - Reported by Mike Doran

Series Four of Doctor Who will debut tonight Friday September 19th on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation at 9:00pm EDT across Canada (9:30pm in Newfoundland). In some markets this will put Doctor Who in direct competition with Series Two ofTorchwood which is currently running on " style="color: rgb(44, 111, 154); text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; ">SPACE.

The CBC is launching Series Four with Partners in Crime. At this time there is no word on if or when the 2007 Christmas special Voyage of the Damnedwill air on CBC.

The CBC have updated their Doctor Who Websitefor Series Four.

FILTER: - Canada - Series 4/30

Series Four Soundtrack On Its Way

Friday, 19 September 2008 - Reported by DWNP Archive

Posted By John Bowman

Silva Screen Records is to release music from Series Four of Doctor Who in mid-November.

A news item on its website says the tracks, composed by Murray Gold, will include Song Of Freedom - the choral piece that marked the Daleks' defeat in Journey's End. The Doctor's Theme is another of the tracks, but no other titles are known yet.

The exact date of the CD's release has still to be announced.

FILTER: - Murray Gold - Audio - Series 4/30

2009 Specials Casting Rumours - UPDATED

Thursday, 11 September 2008 - Reported by R Alan Siler

The Sun is reporting inside information on some major cast news for the 2009 specials starring David Tennant. Details are found in the Spoiler box below.

Remember, consider all such information as strictly rumour until confirmed publicly by the BBC.

UPDATE - SEP 12: The BBC today rejected one of the claims. The details are in the Spoiler box.

The Sun is reporting that casting for the 2009 specials includes Catherine Tate, John Simm, Bernard Cribbins and Paul McGann.

On September 8 it wrote that insiders had revealed that Tate, Simm and Cribbins would make returns. "Fans will be delighted to see Catherine back. She was one of the wackiest companions of all time and she brought heaps of humour.

"And it’s great to have John back - he and David Tennant have a real nemesis chemistry."

Donna's return would be in light of the events that occurred at the end of Series Four, in which the Doctor wiped her mind of all knowledge of him and of her adventures in order to save her life. The Sun's source commented: "Anything can happen in Doctor Who. His assistants are always recurring and Donna is no exception. When you’re a Time Lord you can go back to any point in history and meet whoever you want."

And The Sun reported today that one of the specials would be a "flashback" tale that would feature the return ofPaul McGann to the role of the Doctor, which he played on screen only once, in 1996. "Fans loved Paul’s Doctor and feel he was never given the proper chance to shine. Reference is often made to the Time War which wiped out the Time Lords and this will give them a taste of that," The Sun's source revealed.

According to the story, flashback scenes will see him battered from the Time War and shorn of the long hair he had in the 1996 TV film.

UPDATE: According to Digital Spy on September 12, the BBC has quashed the story of the McGann casting. A spokeswoman is quoted as saying: "There is no truth to the story at all."

FILTER: - Specials - Production - Series 4/30 Specials - Press

News from DWM

Friday, 25 July 2008 - Reported by Anthony Weight

Issue 398 of Panini's Doctor Who Magazine was published in the United Kingdom yesterday, and contains several pieces of information of interest concerning the forthcoming special episodes of Doctor Who.

It is confirmed that the title of this year's Christmas episode - which will be 60 minutes long - is not "The Return of the Cybermen", as some have surmised from the teaser trailer at the conclusion of "Journey's End". This was merely a teaser description of the episode. It is also confirmed that actors David Morrissey, Dervla Kirwan and Velile Tshabalalawill be guest- starring in the episode, with Kirwan playing a character named Miss Hartigan. Andy Goddard directs, withSusie Liggat producing.

Of the four further specials which will follow in 2009, it is announced that Russell T Davies will write two of them solo, with the other two to be co-written with Gareth Roberts and Phil Ford respectively. Roberts penned "The Shakespeare Code" and "The Unicorn and the Wasp" for Doctor Who, while Ford wrote "Eye of the Gorgon" and "The Lost Boy" for The Sarah Jane Adventures - the series for which he is now chief writer - and "Something Borrowed" for Torchwood. His work on the special will make him the only writer after Davies to have written for all three shows.

Elsewhere in the magazine, information is given on release dates for the remaining classic series DVD releases of 2008. "The Trial of a Time Lord" comes out on August 18, "Four To Doomsday" on September 15, "The War Machines" on September 29 and finally "Battlefield" on December 29.

FILTER: - Specials - Production - DWM - Series 4/30 Specials

Doctor Who No. 2 on Virgin iPlayer

Monday, 21 July 2008 - Reported by Anthony Weight

Doctor Who was the second most-watched show in the month of June on the new version of the BBC iPlayer catch-up service available to subscribers of the Virgin Media cable television platform. According to a report in The Guardian, the Virgin Media version of the iPlayer - which is also available to UK broadband internet users via the BBC website - attracted 10 million users to its programming during its first full month in operation.

The top ten most-viewed programmes were, according to The Guardian:

1. EastEnders
2. Doctor Who
3. Holby City
4. Casualty
5. Top Gear
6. Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps
7. The Apprentice
8. Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
9. In the Night Garden
10. The Apprentice: You're Fired

FILTER: - UK - Online - Series 4/30

Journey's End - Officially Number One

Wednesday, 16 July 2008 - Reported by Marcus

Official figures released today by the Broadcasters' Audience Research Board confirm that Journey's End, the final episode of Series Four, was the UK's most watched television programme of the week with an official rating of 10.57 million viewers.

It is the first time in Doctor Who's 45 year history that the programme has achieved this position. Not only did the programme top the chart but it did so in style, getting over 1.5 million more viewers than the second placed programme, Monday's Wimbledon coverage. Journey's End got over 2 million more viewers than any episode of Coronation Street and 3 million more than any episode of EastEnders.

This previous highest chart position was achieved by the 2007 Christmas special,Voyage of the Damned, and last week's The Stolen Earth, both of which came second. The highest chart position the classic series achieved was 5th for the second episode of the 1975 Tom Baker story The Ark in Space.

Only 31 episodes of Doctor Who have ever made the top ten, eight starring William Hartnell, one starring Jon Pertwee, one starring Tom Baker, one starring Christopher Eccleston and twenty starring David Tennant.

The high chart position, combined with the outstanding Appreciation Index scores, make the two final episodes of Series 4 undoubtedly the most successful episodes of Doctor Who ever made. With the repeats on BBC3 and the IPlayer downloads included, the final episode has been seen by nearly 13 million viewers within a week of broadcast.

Doctor Who also topped the Multi Channel Chart, with Saturday's Confidential making number one with 1.46 millionwatching. The Sunday repeat of Journey's End was 2nd with 1.21 million and the Friday repeat of The Stolen Earthgot 0.74 million and was the 11th most watched programme.

FILTER: - Ratings - UK - Series 4/30

Repeat Ratings

Monday, 14 July 2008 - Reported by Marcus

Sunday saw repeats of the two final episodes of Series Four on BBC1.

The Stolen Earth shown at 1730 got 1.6 millionwatching, and was the 21st most watched programme of the day. The programme won its time slot.Journey's End, shown later at 1815, got 2.6 millionwatching and was the 13th most watched programme of the day.

Journey's End was also repeated on BBC3 on Friday evening, where it got 0.54 million watching and was the 2nd most watched programme of the day on multi channel television.

The entire fourth series gets a repeat showing on BBC3 starting today.

FILTER: - Ratings - UK - Series 4/30

Stolen Earth - Final Ratings

Wednesday, 9 July 2008 - Reported by Marcus

Final figures released by BARB give episode twelve of series four, The Stolen Earth, an official rating of8.78 million viewers.

The episode was the second highest rated programme of the week, only the second time in the series' 45 year history that it has achieved such a position. The other episode to score so high was last Christmas's Voyage of the Damned.

The programme beat all the soaps for the week and was only outrated by the the European Championship Final edition of Match of the Day, which got just 60,000 more viewers.

The Sunday repeat on BBC Three was watched by 1.01 million viewers, and was the 3rd most watched programme on multi-channel for the week. The highest rated programme on multi-channel was the Saturday showing of Doctor Who Confidential which got 1.27 million viewers.

Full ratings data, including data for iPlayer downloads, can be found in the Doctor Who Forum.

Top Programmes w/e 29 June 2008

1 EURO 2008: MATCH OF THE DAY LIVE (SUN 1856) - 8.84 - BBC1
2 DOCTOR WHO (SAT 1911) - 8.78 - BBC1
3 EASTENDERS (MON 1959) - 8.61 - BBC1
4 CORONATION STREET (MON 1933) - 8.56 - ITV1
5 CORONATION STREET (FRI 2031) - 8.53 - ITV1
6 CORONATION STREET (MON 2030) - 8.46 - ITV1
7 CORONATION STREET (FRI 1934) - 8.44 - ITV1
8 EASTENDERS (FRI 2002) - 8.24 - BBC1
9 CORONATION STREET (WED 1930) - 7.66 - ITV1
10 EASTENDERS (THU 1929) - 7.42 - BBC1
11 EURO 2008: MATCH OF THE DAY LIVE (WED 1929) - 6.95 - BBC1
12 EURO 2008 LIVE (THU 1929) - 6.77 - ITV1
13 TEN O'CLOCK NEWS (WED 2200) - 6.45 - BBC1
14 EMMERDALE (MON 1902) - 6.37 - ITV1
15 EASTENDERS (TUE 1928) - 6.24 - BBC1
16 EMMERDALE (FRI 1902) - 6.13 - ITV1
17 EMMERDALE (WED 1900) - 5.98 - ITV1
18 CASUALTY (SAT 2050) - 5.88 - BBC1
19 EMMERDALE (THU 1859) - 5.85 - ITV1
20 BBC NEWS (SUN 2215) - 5.32 - BBC1

Top Programmes (Multi Channel) w/e 29 June 2008

1 DOCTOR WHO CONFIDENTIAL (Sat 1959) 1,272,000 - BBC3
2 EASTENDERS (Tue 2159) 1,201,000 - BBC3
3 DOCTOR WHO (Sun 2002) 1,009,000 - BBC3
4 60 SECONDS (Sat 1958) 876,000 - BBC3
5 HOME AND AWAY (Thu 1829) 855,000 - Fiver
6 HOME AND AWAY (Mon 1829) 767,000 - Fiver
7 EASTENDERS (Mon 2202) 758,000 - BBC3
8 HOLLYOAKS (Fri 1859) 743,000 - E4 In
9 HOME AND AWAY (Fri 1828) 727,000 - Fiver
10 SUPERNATURAL (Sun 2104) 709,000 - ITV2
11 HOME AND AWAY (Wed 1829) 694,000 - Fiver
12 HOLLYOAKS (Thu 1859) 690,000 - E4
13 HOME AND AWAY (Tue 1829) 688,000 - Five
14 AMERICA'S GOT TALENT (Fri 2102) 674,000 - ITV2
15 GLADIATORS (Sun 1800) 656,000 - Sky One
16 60 SECONDS (Sun 2001) 650,000 - BBC3
17 HOLLYOAKS (Tue 1859) 640,000 - E4
18 KATIE AND PETER: THE NEXT CHAPTER (Thu 2100) 615,000 - ITV2
19 HOLLYOAKS (Mon 1859) 599,000 - E4
20 HOLLYOAKS (Wed 1859) 596,000 - E4
Source: BARB

FILTER: - Ratings - UK - Series 4/30

Journey's End - AI and Digital Ratings - Updated

Monday, 7 July 2008 - Reported by Marcus

The final episode of Series Four, Journey's End, was the most-watched programme of the past week, according to unofficial overnights.

Although the men's final at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships peaked with an audience of 12.7 million, the average for the whole programme was only 7.4 million.

If this is confirmed when final figures are published byBARB in nine days' time then Journey's End will have achieved the highest chart position in Doctor Who's history.

The Appreciation Index for the programme was once more an incredible 91. For a minority programme on a digital channel, a score of over 90 is very unusual. For the most watched programme of the week to score this high is is virtually unprecedented and a massive achievement for the programme.

Sunday's BBC3 repeat got an overnight audience of 0.99 million viewers. It was a 4.4% share of the multichannel audience and the most-watched programme on all multichannel TV for Sunday, with nearly twice the audience of the second-placed Family Guy. Another 400,000 viewed or downloaded the episode using the BBC iPlayer over the past two days.

Saturday's edition of Doctor Who Confidential was watched by a record 1.32 million viewers, the highest ever achieved for this programme. It had a share of 7.6 % and was the most-watched on multichannel television on Saturday. The Sunday repeat had 0.42 million watching.

Doctor Who was also number one on Friday's multichannel list, with the repeat of The Stolen Earth getting 0.59 million watching. The earlier repeat ofTurn Left got 0.35 million viewers and was 12th for the day.

Both The Stolen Earth and Journey's End will be repeated next Sunday afternoon on BBC1.

FILTER: - Ratings - UK - Series 4/30

Previous 10 Stories

Velile Tshabalala interview

Canada: Series Four on CBC Tonight

Series Four Soundtrack On Its Way

2009 Specials Casting Rumours - UPDATED

News from DWM

Doctor Who No. 2 on Virgin iPlayer

Journey's End - Officially Number One

Repeat Ratings

Stolen Earth - Final Ratings

Journey's End - AI and Digital Ratings - Updated

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