Bill Kerr 1922-2014

Friday, 29 August 2014 - Reported by Marcus

Australian actor Bill Kerr, has died at the age of 92.

Bill Kerr played Giles Kent in the 1967 Doctor Who story The Enemy of the World. Five missing episodes were recovered last year bringing a new appreciation to a story, the vast majority of which had not been seen since its initial transmission.

Kerr was born in Cape Town in June 1922, born into an Australian showbiz family while they were on tour in South Africa. His stage role began at just a few weeks old when he played a babe in arms during the tour.

He grew up in Wagga Wagga in New South Wales, Australia, where he became a radio and vaudeville star. His first major role was in one of Australia's first talking films, The Silence of Dean Maitland.

In 1947 he moved to the UK where he appeared in the BBC radio series Variety Bandbox. In the 1950's he won the role which would make him famous across the UK, that of the Australian lodger in the BBC radio comedy series Hancock's Half Hour, staying with the show for six years. In the theatre he played the Devil in the original West End production of Damn Yankees, directed by Bob Fosse. He worked with Spike Milligan appearing in the stage play The Bed-Sitting Room. In 1972 he co-starred with Anthony Newley in the long-running Newley/Bricusse musical, The Good Old Bad Old Days.

His film appearances include The Dam Busters and The Wrong Arm of the Law. Other TV work included Citizen James, Compact, Dixon of Dock Green and Adam Adamant Lives!.

He returned to Australia in the 1979 where he appeared in the Peter Weir films Gallipoli and The Year of Living Dangerously. He had a number of roles in Australian TV shows such as Minty, Snowy, Sons and Daughters and Anzacs as well as appearing on stage in musicals such as My Fair Lady.

In January 2011 Kerr received the 2011 Walk of Honour in his home town of Wagga Wagga. He died at his home in Perth at the age of 92.

(with thanks to Dallas Jones)

FILTER: - Classic Series - Obituary

Planet 55 statement regarding Doctor Who animations

Thursday, 7 August 2014 - Reported by Chuck Foster

Animation studio Planet 55 have issued the following statement regarding their involvement with creating animated episodes of Doctor Who:

Planet 55 Studios (Credit: Planet 55 Studios)

There have been many queries about Planet 55 Studios's work on Doctor Who and whether we are doing any more.

To date, Planet 55 Studios has completed work on three Doctor Who animated reconstructions for BBC Worldwide's DVD range: The Reign of Terror, The Tenth Planet and most recently The Moonbase. We really enjoyed creating those but they are the only Doctor Who stories Planet 55 Studios have worked on and there are no plans to work on any more.

At the moment the company is focused on animation projects completely unconnected to Doctor Who.

The release comes as the status of the last expected classic series DVD, The Underwater Menace, remains uncertain.

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

Morris coy on future missing episode returns

Sunday, 20 July 2014 - Reported by Anthony Weight

Missing episode hunter Philip Morris, who was responsible for last year's discovery of 9 previously missing episodes from The Enemy of the World and The Web of Fear at a Nigerian television station, has today declined to confirm whether or not he has found any further episodes of Doctor Who.

Morris has been taking part in an online question-and-answer session at the Doctor Who Missing Episodes Discussion Group on Facebook. Since 9pm UK time, Morris has been answering questions submitted by members of the group earlier in the day.

Asked to say whether or not he had found any further episodes, Morris told the group:

A tricky one to answer

And fans will just want a yes or no haven't you or have you. But it's complex all I can say is the wind is blowing the right way be patient. I don't wish to jeopardise the ongoing project in any way .And feel the fans of all lost tv will be very happy with the outcome.

Morris told the group of the dangers inherent in searching unstable areas of the world for vintage television programmes, including encounters with bandits and armed militia and narrowly being missed by a mortar shell in Syria. But he said he had also been inspired by countries such as India, and Ethiopia, which are "nations of very innovative people who find the most amazing ways of doing things with little funding".

Morris defended the statement issued last year, before the return of The Web of Fear and Enemy of the World, which declared the episodes "all gone"

It was a statement of fact. All the original video recordings were wiped, all the known negatives were junked and all out of contract film copies sent to landfill. They are the facts sadly. However moving on from that you have non returned prints audition films. And things which people thankfully thought to take home.

Morris said that the two stories he would most like to see returned are The Tenth Planet, Episode 4 and Power of the Daleks, as these are such key episodes.

However he said fans should not expect any news in the near future.

There are no announcements in the pipeline at present.It can sometimes be the wrong thing with ongoing work and investigation. An example would be during the last announcement I was in a very hostile part of the world and suddenly I was everywhere on tv my anonymity was compromised. Which made the team a target .So we must plan these things carefully for the greater good of the project and the safety of the personnel involved.

BBC Worldwide has previously stated to Doctor Who Magazine earlier this year that "BBC Worldwide does not have any of the 97 missing episodes of Doctor Who, and none of them have been - or are being - restored for release... We're aware of these rumours, and are keen to set the record straight... as we don't want fans' hopes to be falsely raised."

FILTER: - Classic Series - Doctor Who

The Classic Doctor Who DVD Compendium

Monday, 14 July 2014 - Reported by Chuck Foster

Full details of the forthcoming The Classic Doctor Who DVD Compendium are now available, with the book due to be published on the 4th August 2014:

The Classic Doctor Who DVD Compendium (Credit: Wonderful Books)

THE CLASSIC DOCTOR WHO DVD COMPENDIUM
The complete guide to every DVD release of the original 'classic' series of Doctor Who

August 2014 sees the publication in print and ebook of THE CLASSIC DOCTOR WHO DVD COMPENDIUM, a guide to the entire range on DVD of the show's original run from 1963 to 1996.

When the range began in 2000 many Doctor Who adventures were still being issued on fuzzy old VHS. But the DVDs were on a whole new level unmatched in archive television releases before or since. Not only did they offer the superior picture quality and playback flexibility of the then-burgeoning medium; not only were the episodes digitally restored from the best surviving source materials to bring them back to (or even exceed) their original broadcast quality; but they also included an increasingly sophisticated range of additional features that examined the programme's production and legacy.

THE CLASSIC DOCTOR WHO DVD COMPENDIUM chronicles every detail of the range. It's part buying guide for those new to or still collecting the discs, helping them compare releases and select which one they want to get next, and part catalogue for long-time buyers whose collection is complete, enabling them to quickly find any item to watch again. The book provides summaries of the stories, without giving away spoilers for those yet to see the episodes; connections to other adventures to help viewers decide what to buy or watch next; outlines of the restoration techniques used for each release; and more comprehensive descriptions of every extra than can be found elsewhere.

There are also five appendices covering supplementary releases of Classic Who episodes and related programmes; a full list of items hidden on the discs as easter eggs and how to find them; details of the DVDs' releases in other countries; and more. Plus to help collectors find specific contents, there are multiple indexes cataloguing the more frequent extras, key participants in the audio commentaries, recurring features, and a full index of contributors to the special features.

Whether you're only just discovering the long history of Doctor Who's original incarnation or have been a fan and collector for years, THE CLASSIC DOCTOR WHO DVD COMPENDIUM is the ultimate companion to the complete DVD range, celebrating the most comprehensive and detailed release of a television series there has ever been.

Paul Smith is the author and designer of last year's "Time and Space Visualiser: The Story and History of Doctor Who as Data Visualisations", which presents a wealth of information about the show in a unique way using eye-catching graphs and charts. He also produced "The Wonderful Book of Dr Who 1965", a tongue-in-cheek look at the early days of the series in a modern style.

THE CLASSIC DOCTOR WHO DVD COMPENDIUM by Paul Smith is due to be published on 4 August 2014. Available print-on-demand from Amazon (436 pages, 6x9in), or as an ebook.

FILTER: - Books - Classic Series - Blu-ray/DVD - Merchandise

Ray Lonnen 1940-2014

Saturday, 12 July 2014 - Reported by Marcus

The actor Ray Lonnen has died at the age of 74.

Ray Lonnen played Gardiner, an officer aboard the Earth battle cruiser, in the 1973 Doctor Who story Frontier in Space.

Away from Doctor Who he appeared in many British television dramas over the years, including The Bill, Midsomer Murders, Crossroads, Budgie the Little Helicopter, Rich Tea and Sympathy, Harry's Game, Z Cars, Coronation Street and Jackanory.

The actor died on Friday after a three year long fight with Cancer

He was married to the actress Tara Ward, who announced his death on twitter.

FILTER: - Classic Series - Obituary

Zohra Sehgal 1912-2014

Thursday, 10 July 2014 - Reported by Marcus

The acclaimed actress Zohra Sehgal has died at the age of 102.

Zohra Sehgal was the longest lived actress ever to appear in Doctor Who, appearing alongside the first Doctor William Hartnell in two stories. She played Sheyrah in the second episode of the 1965 story The Crusade, as well as having a small role playing an attendant in three episodes of the 1964 story Marco Polo.

Zohra Sehgal was born in 1912, in Saharanpur in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India, the third of seven children. After attending Queen Mary's Girls College in Lahore she decided to pursue a career as a performer.

Her first role for British television was in a BBC adaptation of a Kipling story, The Rescue of Pluffles. She anchored 26 episodes of BBC TV series, Padosi (Neighbours), made in 1976–77. She was signed by Merchant Ivory Productions appeareing in The Courtesans of Bombay directed by James Ivory in 1982. This paved the way for the role of Lady Chatterjee in the television adaptation The Jewel in the Crown in 1984. She went on to appear in Tandoori Nights, My Beautiful Laundrette, Bhaji on the Beach, The Mystic Masseur, Bend It Like Beckham, Cheeni Kum and others.

The actress received the Padma Vibhushan, India's second-highest civilian honour, in 2010.

Speaking on her 102nd Birthday Sehgal spoke of the future.

I am preparing myself for death. When I go to sleep, I try to keep myself smiling. So that when I die, I have a smile on my lips. I want an electric cremation. I don't want any poems or fuss after that. And for heaven's sake, don't bring back my ashes. Flush them down the toilet if the crematorium refuses to keep them. If they tell you that I am dead, I want you to give a big laugh.

Zohra Sehgal died at a hospital in Delhi on Thursday afternoon following a cardiac arrest.

FILTER: - Classic Series - Obituary

Barbara Murray 1929-2014

Thursday, 29 May 2014 - Reported by Marcus

The actress Barbara Murray has died at the age of 84.

Barbara Murray appeared in Doctor Who in 1982, playing Lady Cranleigh in the story Black Orchid, alongside fifth Doctor Peter Davison.

Born in London in 1929, Murray made her stage debut in 1949 working in regional rep at the Newcastle Playhouse. Later that year she appeared in her first film, Badger’s Green before appearing as Shirley Pemberton in the classic Ealing comedy Passport to Pimlico.

Her success in the movies led to a string of roles on the small screen, where she became a familiar face, with a career spanning five decades. Some of her more memorable TV roles include parts in The Pallisers, His and Hers, Never a Cross Word, The Power Game and The Indian Tales of Rudyard Kipling.

West End appearances included the thriller Wait Until Dark , the comedy Flip Side and the play An Ideal Husband. She also appeared with Peter O’Toole in Pygmalion and opposite John Mills in Little White Lies. On Broadway she appeared briefly at the Biltmore Theatre in Leslie Weiner’s comedy about a family-run lingerie business, In the Counting House.

Barbara Murray retired to Spain where, earlier this year, she fell and broke her hip. She died in hospital May 20, aged 84.

She was twice married and divorced, and is survived by three daughters from her first marriage to the actor John Justin.

FILTER: - Obituary - Classic Series

Classic Doctor Who comes to Retro TV

Wednesday, 28 May 2014 - Reported by Marcus

Retro TV, the American network that airs classic television shows, has signed a deal with BBC Worldwide to show classic episodes of Doctor Who across the United States.

The deal will see episodes from the first thirty years of the series screened on the channel, which currently airs such classics as The Lucy Show, Petticoat Junction, The Beverly Hillbillies, Highway to Heaven, Naked City and I Spy.

The channel has a licence to show all the classic episodes that are currently available from BBC Worldwide, just under 500 in all, covering the adventures of the first seven Doctors. 695 episodes were originally made, with 97 still missing from the BBC archives after being destroyed in the 1970's.

The deal was welcomed by Matthew Golden Vice President of Production at Luken Communications.

We couldn't be more excited to make legendary classic episodes of Doctor Who available nationwide. The series is an institution, and we're proud to give fans new and old the opportunity to experience this groundbreaking series from the very beginning.

Classic Doctor Who episodes have been seen in the states on Public Television since the 1970's, and selected stories were shown on BBC America to celebrate the series 50th Anniversary.

Doctor Who will makes its debut on Retro TV this summer.

FILTER: - USA - Classic Series

Germany DVD/Blu-ray update

Tuesday, 13 May 2014 - Written by Pascal Salzmann

Written by Pascal Salzmann

Pandastorm Pictures, a German media distributor, is planning to release "classic" Doctor Who on DVD. The distributor posted an appeal to fans on several German online forums, asking if there are people out there who had recorded the original German-dubbed broadcasts of Seasons 22-26, which aired on RTL Plus (1989/1993) and VOX (1995).

As the German-dubbed language tracks of some of the episodes are missing in the archives, Pandastorm is especially searching for the following episodes:

Angriff der Kybermänner, Teil 1-4 (Attack Of The Cybermen, Part 1-4)
Revolte auf Varos, Teil 1-4 (Vengeance On Varos, Part 1-4)
Die Rache des Meisters, Teil 1, 3 (The Mark Of The Rani, Part 1, 3)
Androiden in Sevilla, Teil 1, 3-6 (The Two Doctors, Part 1, 3-6)
Das Amulett, Teil 1-4 (Timelash, Part 1-4)
Planet der Toten, Teil 1-4 (Revelation Of The Daleks, Part 1-4)
Das Urteil, Teil 1, 5, 10 (The Trial Of A Timelord, Part 1, 5, 10)
Excaliburs Vermächtnis, Teil 2, 3 (Battlefield, Part 2, 3)
Das Haus der tausend Schrecken, Teil 2 (Ghost Light, Part 2)
Der Tod auf leisen Sohlen, Teil 2 (Survival, Part 2)

Since its appeal, Pandastorm sent out an email to anyone who has contacted it so far:

Liebe Doctor Who Fans,
für das überwältigende Feedback möchten wir uns sehr herzlich bedanken, damit haben wir nicht gerechnet. Wir haben als erstes den Luxemburg-Hinweis aus dem Forum aufgenommen und lassen gerade prüfen, ob sich die fehlenden Folgen dort im alten RTLplus-Archiv befinden. Einige von euch haben uns auch den Kontakt zum damaligen Verantwortlichen der Synchronisation geschickt, den wir danach angehen werden. Je nachdem was sich aus dieser Suche ergibt, werden wir uns dann bei einigen von euch melden, was die noch fehlenden Tonspuren angeht.

Dear Doctor Who fans,
Thank you very much for your overwhelming feedback, we did not expect this at all. We will first follow your advice on the forums to have a look at the RTLplus Archives in Luxemburg. Some of you sent us the contact details of the dubbing director back then. Whatever comes out of these options, we will then contact some of you for the still missing language tracks.

Pandastorm also posted on its Facebook page that it is still at the beginning stages and will have further news on the releases in 3 to 4 months. It cannot say yet if it is going to release season boxed sets or single story releases but it is trying to get the rights to every bonus feature available.

Meanwhile, the previously reported German (and right now the only European) Blu-ray release of An Adventure in Space and Time is now up for pre-order on Amazon DE. It contains all the bonus features of the British DVD release and the original English language track. A DVD version is also available.

An Adventure In Space and Time (German cover)

Ein Abenteuer in Raum und Zeit (available for pre-order)

„Ein Abenteuer in Raum und Zeit“ reist zurück in das Jahr 1963, zurück zur Geburtsstunde eines Phänomens, zur Entstehung der bis heute laut dem Guinessbuch der Rekorde erfolgreichsten und am längsten laufenden Science-Fiction-Serie der Welt: DOCTOR WHO. Der BBC-Klassiker feierte am 23.11.2013 sein 50. Jubiläum. Großbritannien, 1963: Der neu berufene BBC-Drama-Chef Sydney Newman (Brian Cox) ist auf der Suche nach einem halbstündigen Samstag-Abend-Format, das sich an Kinder richtet, aber auch Erwachsene unterhält. Es wurde die Idee für eine Science-Fiction-Serie rund um einen mysteriösen Außerirdischen namens Doctor Who geboren. Kurzerhand befördert er seine ehemalige Assistentin Verity (Jessica Raine) zur Produzentin und betraut die junge, noch unerfahrene Frau mit dem ebenfalls noch jungen Regisseur Waris Hussein (Sacha Dhawan) mit der Produktion. Innerhalb der BBC glaubt anfangs niemand an die Idee des neuen Drama-Chefs. Die Einschaltquoten sind enttäuschend, aber Verity hat noch ein As im Ärmel ...

FILTER: - WHO50 - Classic Series - Germany - Blu-ray/DVD

Classic DVDs compendium to be published

Friday, 18 April 2014 - Reported by John Bowman

A guide to the DVD releases of the original run of Doctor Who is to be published by Wonderful Books.

The Classic Doctor Who DVD Compendium, by Paul Smith, is due out this summer.

The publisher said in a press statement:

The original series of Doctor Who ran on television for 26 years, telling thrilling stories of monsters and marvels that enthralled children and adults alike. It has taken half that time to issue all those adventures on DVD, but finally you can now watch every archived episode* in pristine quality. If the prospect of setting out on such a venture daunts you, however, then fear not because The Classic Doctor Who DVD Compendium will guide you every step of the way.

Every disc, every episode, every extra is collated, chronicled and cross-referenced in this complete guide to classic Doctor Who on DVD, with spoiler-free story outlines so no surprises are ruined for those still discovering the original series, suggestions for similar tales to those you already know you like, information on the extensive restoration work that has made the episodes look better than they ever have, and details of the wealth of special features on every disc that expand your knowledge of the worlds of Doctor Who - all fully indexed for easy reference.

If you're only just learning about the long story of Doctor Who then The Classic Doctor Who DVD Compendium will guide you through the adventure ahead. If you're still building your collection it will help you discover further stories you're sure to enjoy, and if you already have every release, this book will be your ultimate companion to the complete range.

*Okay, there's still one to go.

Previous publications by Wonderful Books have included The Wonderful Book of Doctor Who 1965 and the Doctor Who 8th Anniversary Special, as well as Time & Space Visualiser.

FILTER: - Books - Classic Series

Previous 10 Stories

Bill Kerr 1922-2014

Planet 55 statement regarding Doctor Who animations

Morris coy on future missing episode returns

The Classic Doctor Who DVD Compendium

Ray Lonnen 1940-2014

Zohra Sehgal 1912-2014

Barbara Murray 1929-2014

Classic Doctor Who comes to Retro TV

Germany DVD/Blu-ray update

Classic DVDs compendium to be published

Amazon Associate paid Link. Doctor Who News is supported by qualifying purchases.

This Week in Doctor Who

ARCHIVE

FILTER