Puffin Books: The Beast of Babylon by Charlie Higson

Tuesday, 3 September 2013 - Reported by Chuck Foster

The Beast of Babylon, by Charlie Higson (Credit: Puffin Books)

Puffin Books have announced that the author of the ninth in their series of Doctor Who e-books will be writer, actor, and comedian Charlie Higson.

The Beast of Babylon
Written by Charlie Higson
Published 23rd September 2013

When a girl called Ali pockets a silver orb that falls from the sky, little does she realise it’s her ticket to seeing the universe! Desperate to retrieve the mysterious object, the Ninth Doctor agrees to let her join him on a dangerous trip to ancient Babylon. Together they must join forces to stop a giant Starman from destroying Earth before it’s too late!

Though primarily associated with writing comedy series in the United Kingdom for both radio (Down The Line) and television (The Fast Show), Higson's writing credentials encompass a variety of other genres, including a series of Young Bond novels and the creation of his own cult thriller series, The Enemy. Now taking up the Doctor's cause, he said:

I grew up with Doctor Who and have always been a massive fan so it's a great honour to be involved in this anniversary celebration. Russell T Davies did a great job of rebooting the series with Christopher Eccleston so to be able to write the Ninth Doctor story was a great opportunity to say thanks to the Doctor and thanks to Russell.

The e-book is due to be released on 23rd September 2013, with BBC Worldwide to upload a brief interview with the writer the the Doctor Who YouTube channel later this month.

FILTER: - Ninth Doctor - Merchandise - Books - WHO50

The Ninth Doctor on UKTV

Friday, 30 August 2013 - Reported by Paul Scoones

September sees the broadcast of ten episodes featuring Christopher Eccleston’s Ninth Doctor on Australian and New Zealand television. These screenings are part of the 50th Anniversary season of Doctor Who on the UKTV Australia and UKTV New Zealand channels.

Each Sunday afternoon during September will see a block of two episodes screened from the 2005 series.

The schedule for the month in both countries is as follows:

1 September
Rose - AU: 4:30pm; NZ: 4:50pm (NZ repeat 2 Sep, 4:30am)
The End of the World - AU: 5:30pm; NZ: 5:40pm

8 September
Aliens of London - AU: 4:30pm; NZ: 3:00pm
World War Three - AU: 5:30pm; NZ: 4:00pm (NZ repeat 9 Sep, 4:35am)

15 September
Dalek - AU: 4:30pm; NZ: 4:45pm
The Long Game - AU: 5:30pm; NZ: 5:40pm (NZ repeat 16 Sep, 4:30am)

22 September
The Empty Child - AU: 4:30pm; NZ: 4:50pm
The Doctor Dances - AU: 5:30pm; NZ: 5:40pm (NZ repeat 23 Sep, 4:35am)

29 September
Bad Wolf - AU: 4:30pm; NZ: 3:50pm
The Parting of the Ways - AU: 5:30pm; NZ: 4:45pm (NZ repeat 30 Sep, 4:45am)

The line-up includes all but three of the entire run of Ninth Doctor episodes. The omissions are The Unquiet Dead, Father’s Day and Boom Town.

FILTER: - Ninth Doctor - Series 1/27 - Christopher Eccleston - WHO50 - New Zealand - Australia

The Doctors Revisited Specials 5-8 on UKTV

Friday, 23 August 2013 - Reported by Paul Scoones

Sunday 25th August sees the broadcast of four more instalments in the Doctor Who: The Doctors Revisited series of specials on Australian and New Zealand television - and one of these episodes will be a world premiere. These specials are part of the 50th Anniversary season of Doctor Who on the UKTV Australia and UKTV New Zealand channels.

The Doctors Revisited specials will screen in a two hour block of four episodes, covering the first four Doctors. They screen in Australia at 4:25pm and in New Zealand at 4:40pm, with a New Zealand repeat screening at 3:45am on Monday 26th August.

The Doctors Revisited - Fifth Doctor (Credit: UKTV)

New Zealand has the honour of being the first in the world to screen Episode 8 in this series, covering Paul McGann's eighth Doctor. Doctor Who Revisited is usually first screened on BBC America, but this particular episode is due to be broadcast in the United States on 31st August.

UKTV describes the specials as follows:

Episode 5:
The Fifth Doctor introduced viewers to a character who was fresh faced, youthful and more vulnerable than we had seen before. Doctor Who Revisited takes a close look at a TARDIS that was bursting at the seams with a range of different companions, and examines one of the most dramatic departures from the series to date. We also look at the return of two popular foes, the emotionless Cybermen and the ever-deceitful Master.

Episode 6:
As Doctor number six colourfully generated onto our screens in a patchwork blast of colour he brought with him his own sense of style and character. Featuring Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant join The Doctors Revisited as we unveil the compassionate side of the Doctor, his attempts at Tardis maintainence and introduce Sil the galaxies most slippery business man!

Episode 7:
The seventh doctor crashed onto our screens, clowned around in a question-marked tank top and juggled his way around foes. Join The Doctors Revisited as we examine the darker side of this Doctor and take a look at some of his surreal adventures. Featuring interviews with Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred, we look at the Doctor's modern day companion Ace and his most scientific foe The Rani.

Episode 8:
Celebrate the uniqueness of the Eighth Doctor, Paul McGann, who appeared in the Doctor Who TV movie in 1996 to fight a new incarnation of his oldest nemesis, the Master. Featuring Steven Moffat and Daphne Ashbrook.

The specials were originally made for BBC America, where they are presented in conjunction with screenings of stories including Earthshock, Vengeance on Varos, Remembrance of the Daleks, Doctor Who (The Movie). All four stories have previously screened on UKTV as part of the 50th Anniversary season.

The specials replace earlier scheduled Doctor Who programmes on UKTV. Australia was due to screen Doctor Who America Specials: The Destinations of Doctor Who and The Women of Doctor Who, while New Zealand was to have seen Pyramids of Mars.

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

The Light at the End: limited collector's Vinyl edition

Thursday, 22 August 2013 - Reported by Chuck Foster

The 50th Anniversary audio adventure Light at the End from Big Finish is to be released in a limited edition Vinyl edition.

The Light at the End (cover) (Credit: Big Finish)

The Light at the End
Starring Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann
With Louise Jameson, Sarah Sutton, Nicola Bryant, Sophie Aldred and India Fisher
Featuring Geoffrey Beevers as The Master

November 23rd 1963 proves to be a significant day in the lives of all eight Doctors…

It's the day that Bob Dovie's life is ripped apart…

It's also a day that sets in motion a catastrophic chain of events which forces the first eight incarnations of the Doctor to fight for their very existence. As a mysterious, insidious chaos unfolds within the TARDIS, the barriers of time break apart…

From suburban England through war-torn alien landscapes and into a deadly, artificial dimension, all these Doctors and their companions must struggle against the power of an unfathomable, alien technology.

From the very beginning, it is clear that the Master is somehow involved. By the end, for the Doctors, there may only be darkness.

This Special Edition will feature deluxe premium packaging, and includes:

Discs 1, 2 and 3 – The Light at the End
Disc 4 – The Making of The Light at the End (approx 40-minute documentary exclusive to this release)
All discs on heavy 180g vinyl
Limited and numbered to 500
Four-way gatefold sleeve
Rigid slipcase
an array of professional photos of the cast.
includes an exclusive 30cm x 30cm lenticular image.

The Light at the End (lenticular image) (Credit: Big Finish)

Big Finish trailer, via You-Tube

The Light at the End will also be available as a limited edition five-disc CD, which features:

Discs 1 and 2 – The Light at the End
Disc 3 – The Making of The Light at the End (70 minute documentary)
Disc 4 – This is Doctor Who at Big Finish (70 minute documentary)
Disc 5 – Doctor Who – The Companion Chronicles: The Revenants performed by William Russell as Ian

The Light at the End is scheduled to be released on 23rd November 2013; the standard version is currently available to pre-order via our shop.

FILTER: - Sixth Doctor - Audio - Eighth Doctor - Seventh Doctor - WHO50 - Fourth Doctor - Fifth Doctor

Puffin Books: Spore by Alex Scarrow

Monday, 19 August 2013 - Reported by Chuck Foster

Spore, by Alex Scarrow (Credit: Puffin Books)

The writer of the eighth Puffin Books e-book to celebrate the 50th Anniversary is the author of the TimeRiders series of books, Alex Scarrow.

Spore
Written by Alex Scarrow
Published 23rd August 2013

In a small town in the Nevada desert, an alien pathogen has reduced the entire population to a seething mass of black slime. When the Eighth Doctor arrives, he realises this latest threat to humanity is horrifyingly familiar – it is a virus which almost annihilated his entire race, the Time Lords...

With careers as a rock guitarist, graphic artist and game designer Scarrow became a successful author, writing adult thrillers and screenplays, but it is the world of Young Adult fiction that has enabled him to further develop concepts he originally delved into when designing games. Commenting on his latest commission, he said:

I am squeeing like an over-sugared toddler at the thought of being part of this project. Doctor Who is an export this country can be proud of. We OWN time travel. My small part in this project was to breathe life back into the least known, Eighth Doctor, played by Paul McGann. I chose him because I felt I had the most room to manoeuvre, to explore a lesser known Doctor and add flesh to his character. In my story entitled Spore, we're getting a particularly grisly tale of an intelligent virus that liquifies and absorbs any creature it infects. All in all... quite gross - liquified people an' all.

The author can be reached on Twitter via @AlexScarrow, and more details about the TimeRiders series can be found via this website.

A promotional video featuring Scarrow has been made available via the BBC's YouTube channel, and the Guardian has also published an extract from the e-book.

Alex Scarrow talks about Spore, via YouTube

FILTER: - Merchandise - Eighth Doctor - Books - WHO50

Doctor Who Anniversary Party To Be Held In London

Monday, 19 August 2013 - Reported by John Bowman

A party celebrating the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who is to be held in London in November.

Organised by Jeremy and Paula Bentham together with Tony Clark, The Doc Lands @ 50 Party will be free to attend and will take place at a venue in Docklands on Saturday 23rd November, starting around 7pm after the BBC's Doctor Who 50th Celebration at ExCeL has ended that day. The party is open to all people aged 18 and over, whether or not they are going to the ExCeL event.

Jeremy told Doctor Who News:

The ultimate form of celebration is getting together to share an enthusiasm. Doctor Who fans have been sharing their passion for the programme since the '70s, but doing it on 23rd November 2013 is definitely the light on top of the police box, and will be a great occasion to don your party hats – fez, stetson, astrakhan, fedora, Paris Beau, or panama . . .

If the broadcast of the anniversary episode and any other Doctor Who programming by the BBC coincides with when the party is taking place, it will be shown on the venue's large-screen TV.

Food and drink will be available to buy at the party – although fish fingers and custard will not necessarily be on the menu!

Entry to The Doc Lands @ 50 Party will be by allocated ticket only, and capacity is strictly limited to 1,500 places. To apply for tickets, e-mail Jeremy at jjbentham@aol.com by Monday 9th September, using the subject line Doc Lands ticket applications and stating your name as well as how many people will be in your group. Before applying, though, people are urged to consider their transport options for getting home afterwards, as the party will finish late.

Successful applicants will be contacted in early November, when they will be told the exact location of the party and will be sent their group or individual tickets too.

Since the show's return to TV in 2005, the organisers have held a series of highly popular event parties in London.

FILTER: - Doctor Who - Special Events - WHO50

Doctor Who Revisited Specials 1-4 on UKTV

Friday, 16 August 2013 - Reported by Paul Scoones

Sunday 18th August sees the broadcast of the first four instalments in the Doctor Who Revisited series on Australian and New Zealand television. The screening of this specials are part of the 50th Anniversary season of Doctor Who on the UKTV channel.

This is a late change to the programming schedules in both countries, and consequently has yet to appear on UKTV's websites and electronic programme guides.

The Doctor Who Revisited specials will screen in a two hour block of four episodes, covering the first four Doctors. They are expected to screen in Australia at 4:30pm and in New Zealand at 4:40pm or 4:50pm.

UKTV describes the specials as follows:

These programmes provide an introduction to each of the previous incarnations of the Doctor, and are designed to work alongside a specially curated selection of stories. Featuring interviews with key cast and crew along with classic clips and a montage of the Doctors’ key moments, iconic lines, and monsters, these programmes are the perfect companion pieces to some of the classic and newer Doctor Who. Featuring contributions from Steven Moffat, John Barrowman, David Tennant, Caroline Skinner and Neil Gaiman, among others.

When originally seen on BBC America earlier this year, the four specials were presented in conjunction with screenings of stories including The Aztecs, The Tomb of the Cybermen, Spearhead from Space and Pyramids of Mars. All four stories have previously screened on UKTV as part of the 50th Anniversary season.

The specials replace other planned Doctor Who screenings on UKTV. Australia was due to screen Doctor Who America Specials: The Science of Doctor Who and The Timey Wimey Stuff of Doctor Who, whereas New Zealand either had The Three Doctors or Spearhead from Space (the website currently lists the first, whereas the electronic programme guide has the latter).

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

Guests Announced For BFI's Ninth Doctor Screenings

Tuesday, 13 August 2013 - Reported by John Bowman

Producer Phil Collinson and director Joe Ahearne will be joining actor Bruno Langley and visual effects designer Dave Houghton as the special guests for the BFI's screenings marking the Ninth Doctor's era, it was revealed today.

The episodes Bad Wolf and The Parting of the Ways - which comprised the Series 1 finale and saw Christopher Eccleston bowing out as the Doctor - will be shown on the big screen on Saturday 24th August.

The Ninth Doctor event is the latest in BFI Southbank's Doctor Who At 50 celebratory season and will start at 2pm. Tickets are currently sold out but returns and stand-bys are a possibility.

FILTER: - Ninth Doctor - Special Events - UK - BFI - WHO50

"First Doctor" Console Installed At Doctor Who Experience

Monday, 12 August 2013 - Reported by John Bowman

The TARDIS console made for the forthcoming drama An Adventure In Space And Time has been installed at the Doctor Who Experience in Cardiff.

The replica of the first console - which was originally designed by Peter Brachacki - is on show in the mezzanine section of the attraction throughout the summer. As previously reported, the replica console was first seen earlier this year by Paris Comic-Con attendees.

A time-lapse video of its installation at the Experience has been made available to view.

The console is installed at the Doctor Who Experience (via the BBC's Doctor Who YouTube channel)

The 90-minute drama, which has been written by Mark Gatiss, will air on BBC Two later this year after a première at the BFI in London. The dates have yet to be confirmed.

FILTER: - WHO50 - Exhibitions

Big Finish reduce price of their first 50 adventures

Sunday, 4 August 2013 - Reported by Chuck Foster

As part of the 50th Anniversary year celebrations, Big Finish have announced that they have made the first 50 of the Doctor's adventures on CD available at a new permanent low price whilst stocks last.

"The number 50 seemed like a special number this year," says executive producer Nick Briggs, "so we thought it would be fun to do something a bit celebratory and game-changing for the coming anniversary of Doctor Who."

From this month, the first fifty main range Doctor Who releases will have their prices reduced to £5/£2.99 each. There will be corresponding cuts in the price of subscriptions within the first fifty main range releases too.

A subscription for 12 main range releases within the first 1-50 will now cost a mere £50 for CDs and £32 for download-only. A subscription for 6 main range releases within the first 1-50 will now cost £25 for CDs and £16 for download-only.

But hurry to get them while stocks of the CDs last, because we won’t be repressing the first fifty CDs of the main range. When they’re gone, they’re gone.

"Of course," explains Nick, "those releases will always be available as downloads. But we’ve decided that after having them constantly available on CD, since 1999 in some cases, it’s time to free up some space in our warehouse and stop repressing them.

"Most other CD publishers we’re aware of delete titles from their catalogues within months,’ continues Nick. ‘We’ve had a policy of constantly repressing and keeping everything available on CD. But with the option of being able to keep everything available as downloads, we felt it was time to give these titles a last hurrah as shiny discs."

This doesn’t mean that Big Finish is moving over to a download-only policy.

"Our loyal listeners are mostly very traditional," says Nick. ‘Most of our sales are still on CD, but for these much older releases the CD sales have trickled down to almost nothing, so it makes sense not to keep large amounts of stock of items that sell at a very low rate.

"This will be a chance for those who’ve still yet to come aboard with Big Finish to find out what all the fuss about, and for others to catch up with gaps in their collections."

There are no plans for this to happen with other ranges, and Big Finish remains committed to CD production and sales for the foreseeable future.