Doctor Who Adventures Issue 95Bookmark and Share

Thursday, 18 December 2008 - Reported by Marcus
DWA Issue 122
This issue of Doctor Who Adventures celebrates the arrival of the Christmas Special with an exclusive preview of The Next Doctor featuring photos of the characters and a two-page photo-story of the first couple of minutes of the story. The bumper issue also contains a mega competition to win loads of Who goodies, a Cyberman mask, a massive Christmas quiz, and a special festive comic. The magazine also comes with a Christmas bumper gift pack containing a monster popper folder, a set of colouring pencils, an eraser and a sketch pad.

The Christmas bumper special of Doctor Who Adventures is on sale 18th Dec 2008 – 1st Jan 2009.




FILTER: - Magazines - DWA

Doctor Who most-viewed iplayer showBookmark and Share

Wednesday, 17 December 2008 - Reported by Marcus
Statistics released this week by the BBC, and reported in various sources such as The Guardian, have revealed that Doctor Who's fourth series was the most-watched programme on the BBC's iPlayer catch-up service during 2008. The iPlayer allows UK broadband internet users, as well as users of certain cable television and mobile phone devices, to stream or download episodes of various BBC television programmes for a limited time following their original television transmission.




FILTER: - Ratings

Sarah Jane Adventures RatingsBookmark and Share

Tuesday, 16 December 2008 - Reported by Marcus
The season finale of The Sarah Jane Adventures was watched by 0.7 million viewers according to unofficial overnight figures.

Final figures are available for the first part of the series which give an average rating of around 0.75 million viewers for each episode. This is considerably higher than the average rating for this time slot, around 0.45 million.

Every episode, apart from episode One, has been first shown on the CBBC channel, where they have been getting an additional half a million viewers.

The series has also been achieving high Audience Index figures, with most episodes scoring higher than 80. The highest rating was 86 for Part2 of The Last Sontaran, and the lowest 76 for Part 1 of The Mark of The Berserker.

In addition the Sunday Repeats of Series One on BBC One have been getting ratings of around 1 million viewers.

Highslide JS




FILTER: - Ratings - Sarah Jane

Russell T Davies interviewBookmark and Share

Monday, 15 December 2008 - Reported by Marcus
Out - RTD Interview
The Christmas edition of outnorthwest, the free monthly magazine of the Lesbian and Gay Foundation, features an interview with Doctor Who Executive producer Russell T Davies.

The Magazine is available online.

PRESS RELEASE
To see big, noisy, public people being gay, and being happy, is a really important thing." - Russell T Davies.

Russell made his name as the creator and writer of the groundbreaking gay drama Queer as Folk; aired on late night Channel 4, it was the first UK TV drama to be centred around gay, bisexual and lesbian characters. Now, ten years later, he's prime time BBC 1, celebrated for reinventing Doctor Who, and is widely regarded as the most powerful writer in UK television.

In the interview, Russell talks openly about the responsibility he feels as a gay public figure to be as visible as possible, to highlight LGB people leading happy, positive and successful lives:

"Every interview I do I mention the fact that I'm gay, but I think that if your 15, to see big, noisy, public people being gay and being happy is a really important thing."

He also slams the critics who accuse him of bringing a gay agenda to Doctor Who: "If people genuinely see it as a problem, then the problem is theirs. Their life is small, inhibited, and stunted. They're not living fully, their heart isn' t open, their mind isn't open."

outnorthwest also gets the low down on Russell's career, from Queer As Folk to Doctor Who, his favourite TV shows and his celebrity crushes.

Russell has close contacts with Manchester; he still lives in the city, and many of his early shows were set there, he is also a patron of the Manchester based Lesbian and Gay Foundation. He stressed that talking to outnorthwest gave him the opportunity, "to pay something back."

Grahame Robertson, Editor of outnorthwest said:

"We first spoke to Russell nearly ten years ago, at the height of Queer As Folk-mania. Since then he's gone on to become the most influential person working in television today. I'm over the moon he's taken the time to speak to us again."

So, to find out if Russell spills the beans on any Doctor Who storylines, download or grab yourself a copy of outnorthwest!




FILTER: - People - Merchandise - Russell T Davies

The Next Doctor - trailer onlineBookmark and Share

Monday, 15 December 2008 - Reported by Marcus
The official BBC website has published a trailer for the forthcoming Doctor Who Christmas special, "The Next Doctor", as the gift behind the window on Day 15 of their "adventure calendar". The trailer runs to approximately 50 seconds.

Due to rights issues, the video is only available to internet users in the UK.




FILTER: - Specials - UK - Online - Series 4/30 Specials

Canada: edited Finale on CBC, unedited OnlineBookmark and Share

Friday, 12 December 2008 - Reported by Marcus
According to the Doctor Who Blog the version of Series Four season finale Journey's End that will air tonight on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation tonight at 9pm will be edited down to 44 minutes. The unedited 63 version of the episode will be available for viewing on the CBC website tomorrow morning, Saturday December 13th.

Visit www.cbc.ca/doctorwho to watch streaming episodes of Series Four of Doctor Who online (available from Canada only).

UPDATE - DECEMBER 13: The Doctor Who Information Network has posted a list on their website of what was edited out of Journey's End on the CBC.




FILTER: - Canada - Broadcasting

DWM Issue 403Bookmark and Share

Thursday, 11 December 2008 - Reported by Marcus
The latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine, out this week, features an interview with the Next Doctor himself, actor David Morrissey, who talks about his role in the forthcoming Christmas Special.

Was David surprised at the reaction to his casting? "I wasn't expecting that level of interest, really, but it's come thick and fast. I don't think you can be aware of the world of Doctor Who until you're in it, really, and I hadn't been aware of what a huge show it is, not in the sense of people's interest, how deep that goes. And I was quite surprised by the amounts of texts and emails I got from people asking me if I was the next Doctor."

The issue takes an exclusive look at Christmas Special, with cast and crew interviews, and Russell T Davies looks forward to next year's specials. And DWM look back fondly on what happened during 2008.




FILTER: - Magazines - DWM

News RoundupBookmark and Share

Thursday, 11 December 2008 - Reported by Marcus
Margot Van der Burgh has died at the age of 73. She had two roles in classic Doctor Who. Appearing with William Hartnell in the 1964 story The Aztecs she played Cameca, who provided a rare love interest for the Doctor. She later appeared with Tom Baker in the 1981 story The Keeper of Traken, in which she played Katura. Margot Van der Burgh had a long and distinguished career in British television appearing in many classic serials such as Anna Karenina, Edward the Seventh and Great Expectations.

The Doctor Who Sound team of Julian Howarth, Tim Ricketts, Paul McFadden and Paul Jefferies won the Royal Television Society award for Best Sound on a Drama for the episode Midnight. The judges said "The winning entry delivered its dramatic impact through an impressive and sophisticated soundbed of interwoven sounds. The jury felt this was both innovative and masterly in its execution."

Student Times has an interview with Noel Clarke, while The Rutherglen Reformer has a rare interview with Andrew Smith who wrote the 1980 story Full Circle.

Series 4 Boxset Poster
Advertising in the UK for the release of the Season Four DVD boxset featured large images of Dalek smashing through the wall on a variety of buildings in Cardiff and London. One building featured was Battersea Power station which featured in the second Dalek story The Dalek Invasion of Earth as well as the 10th Doctor story The Rise of the Cybermen/Age of Steel.


Thanks to Zoidberg, Tom Lingwood, ksmith




FILTER: - Press

Tennant injury latestBookmark and Share

Wednesday, 10 December 2008 - Reported by Anthony Weight
BBC News, The Telegraph and many other media sources are reporting the Royal Shakespeare Company's press release that David Tennant will not be able to return to the role of Hamlet for the play's run at the Novello Theatre in London before Christmas. The Tenth Doctor actor will undergo surgery on Thursday for a back condition.

There is no news yet as to whether Tennant's injury will affect his participation in filming for Doctor Who from January. In Hamlet, his understudy Edward Bennett has won favourable reviews.




FILTER: - People

Tennant injuryBookmark and Share

Tuesday, 9 December 2008 - Reported by Marcus
BBC News reports that David Tennant was unable to take part in last night's performance of the current Royal Shakespeare Company production of Hamlet at the Novello Theatre in London, due to what is described as "a long-standing back injury".

The play transferred to London last week following a successful run at Stratford-Upon-Avon. Tennant's understudy Edward Bennett took the role for last night's performance.

UPDATE: The Guardian and many other sources are reporting an official RSC press release that Tennant has not been well enough to resume the role for this evening's press night. The performance will once again see Bennett as Hamlet.




FILTER: - People