Bedford Who Charity Con

Friday, 3 March 2017 - Reported by Marcus
The third Bedford Who Charity Con takes place on Saturday 8th April – and readers of Doctor Who News can get 10% off their tickets.

Bedford Who Charity Con is supporting Bedford Foodbank; every month, they provide emergency food to some 500 local adults and children in crisis. Doctor Who fans in the area have managed to raise £8000 in the last twelve months. The Foodbank will receive everything made at the convention, once costs have been covered.

Bedford Who Charity Cons have established a strong reputation as fun, relaxed, friendly and informal events, with audiences and guests equally effusive in their praise. This year, Maureen O’Brien will be making a rare convention appearance alongside Peter Purves, Geoffrey Beevers, Neve McIntosh, Anneke Wills and Mike Tucker.

Tickets for Bedford Who Charity Con 3 cost £42.50 for adults, £22.50 for 14-18 year olds and full time students, and £15 for under-14s. Family tickets are also available.

To secure your 10% discount, you need to email Simon Danes on info@bedfordwhocharitycon.co.uk and mention that you saw the event advertised on Doctor Who News. Tickets are also available direct from the venue, The Quarry Theatre in Bedford, but you need to contact Simon to activate the discount.

Further convention details are on the website and Facebook page




FILTER: - Charities - Conventions

US Cinema outing for series premiere

Thursday, 2 March 2017 - Reported by Chuck Foster
Doctor Who in US Cinema (Credit: BBC Worldwide/Fathom Events)Fathom Events are planning to show this year's series premiere of Doctor Who in cinemas across the United States on the 17th and 19th April, including additional features:

Come together with fellow fans to celebrate the return of Doctor Who to the airwaves when the Doctor Who Season 10 Premiere returns to the big screen! Join Peter Capaldi (World War Z, In the Loop) as the Doctor, Matt Lucas (Bridesmaids, Alice in Wonderland) as Nardole, and Pearl Mackey (Svengali) as the new Companion, Bill, for two nights only including exclusive bonus features to be announced soon. The Doctor Who: Season 10 Premiere is written and executive produced by Steven Moffat, executive produced by Brian Minchin, produced by Peter Bennett, and directed by Lawrence Gough. The season was shot in Cardiff at BBC Wales Roath Lock Studios. Doctor Who is produced by BBC Studios Wales in co-production with BBC AMERICA.

Doctor Who Fans - We want you to have fun at these cinema events – but safety is paramount. Please note that attending in costume is fine, however masks, face-concealing make-up, fake weapons as well as any costumes that conceal what you are carrying, your natural body shape or face are strictly prohibited.

More details are expected shortly, with tickets going on sale via the Fathom website from the 10th March.




FILTER: - BBC America - BBC Worldwide - Cinema - Series 10/36

Neil Fingleton 1980-2017

Sunday, 26 February 2017 - Reported by Marcus

The actor Neil Fingleton has died at the age of 36

Neil Fingleton played the Fisher King in the 2015 Doctor Who stories Under the Lake and Before The Flood

In 2007 Fingleton was awarded the Guinness World Record as the tallest British-born man and the tallest man in the European Union, standing at 7 ft 6in or 2.33m.

Neil Fingleton was born in Durham in 1980. An outstanding basketball player, he spent 8 years in education in the United States, winning a sporting scholarship and studying at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and later at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts.

In 2004 he made his professional debut as a basketball player for the now defunct Boston Frenzy. He later played professionally in China, Italy, Greece, England and for the spanish teams Club Baloncesto Ilarcuris and Ciudad Real.

In 2007 injury forced him to abandon his sporting career and he took up acting. He appeared in the film 47 Ronin alongside Keanu Reeves, and played the giant Mag the Mighty in the TV series Game of Thrones. He appeared in the 2015 film Jupiter Ascending, the Fox Studios film X-Men: First Class and in the Marvel Entertainment film Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Neil Fingleton died on Saturday after suffering a heart attack.




FILTER: - Obituary - People

Doctor Who: New Series Teaser

Saturday, 25 February 2017 - Reported by Chuck Foster
The BBC have released a teaser trailer for the forthcoming new series of Doctor Who, which starts on 15th April 2017.





FILTER: - Publicity - Series 10/36

Doctor Who Petition Gets Over 11,000 Signatures

Wednesday, 22 February 2017 - Reported by Marcus
A petition to try to prevent the Doctor Who Experience in Cardiff from closing, has received over 11,000 signatures.

The petition was launched after it was announced that the exhibition on Cardiff Bay is due to close this summer, when the five year lease expires.

The petition was the idea of Bex Ferriday, who lives in Cardiff. She told Wales Online
I set it up just expecting friends and family to sign it. I was pretty shocked and terrified by the popularity it garnered pretty quickly. I know the land was only leased for five years but surely anyone can see that... to knock this on the head, when we have got Doctor Who being filmed here and the studios here, seems like a really stupid thing to do.
The Doctor Experience opened in London in 2011, before moving to a purpose-built building in the Welsh capital. It is currently situated at Porth Teigr, Cardiff Bay, near the BBC studios where Doctor Who is made.

The site is owned by Cardiff City Council, who issues a five-year lease to BBC Worldwide to host the Experience.

A spokesman for Cardiff council said:
The land currently occupied by the Doctor Who Experience is owned by the Welsh Government and their development partner, Igloo Regeneration. It was leased to the city council for five years to enable the relocation of the Doctor Who Experience from Olympia to Cardiff on a temporary basis. It has always been the intention for the site to be developed as part of the ongoing Porth Teigr regeneration project. The agreement was always intended to be for five years only, reflecting the nature of the attraction. The decision to close the Experience at the end of the lease next summer has been mutually agreed by all parties involved, including the operators BBC Worldwide.
The petition will be presented to the Doctor Who Experience next Saturday.




FILTER: - BBC Worldwide - Doctor Who Experience

The Doctors: The Jon Pertwee Years

Wednesday, 22 February 2017 - Reported by Chuck Foster
Koch Media are to release a collection of interviews with stars from Jon Pertwee's era of Doctor Who from Reeltime Pictures on 6th March 2017:

The Doctors: The Jon Pertwee Years (Credit: Koch Media)The Doctors: The Jon Pertwee Years
Produced by Keith Barnfather (pre-order from Amazon)


This is the definitive set of interviews with the team of actors who brought the Jon Pertwee era of Doctor Who to life.

These six hour-long documentaries feature in-depth interviews with Jon Pertwee (the Third Doctor), Katy Manning (Jo Grant), Caroline John (Liz Shaw), Nicholas Courtney (The Brigadier), Richard Franklin (Captain Yates) and John Levene (Sergeant Benton). Presented by voice of the Daleks Nicholas Briggs.


SPECIAL FEATURE: Introduction by Nicholas Briggs & Producer Keith Barnfather


Competition

To be in with a chance to win a copy of both The Doctors: The Jon Pertwee Years and the previously announced Wartime Chronicles on DVD courtesy of Koch Media, simply answer the following question:
Name the first televised story where Benton chats to the third Doctor.
Please send your answers along with your name, address and where you heard about the competition (news site, news app, other website, etc.) to comp-pertwee@doctorwhonews.net with the subject "Jehoshaphat!". The competition is open to UK readers only, closing date 5th March 2017. Only one entry per household will be accepted.





FILTER: - Blu-ray/DVD - Competitions - Jon Pertwee

New Titan Comics

Tuesday, 21 February 2017 - Reported by Marcus
Out 22 February 2017

DOCTOR WHO: THIRD DOCTOR #5 (Final Issue)

Writer: Paul Cornell
Artist: Christopher Jones
COVER A: Andy Walker COVER B: Will Brooks COVER C: Brian Miller & Hi-Fi COVER D: Carolyn Edwards COVER E: Marc Ellerby

The Third Doctor’s Earth-bound exile has been lifted. But before he can set out on new adventures, an alien invasion appears to threaten Earth! It’s the devious work of an old enemy, Salamander, a former dictator with a startling resemblance to the Second Doctor! Now, forming an uneasy alliance with the Master, the Doctor and UNIT set out to stop him – but are they too late to stop his plans as he takes them all back into the past.
The_Third_Doctor_05_Cover_A (Credit: Titan) The_Third_Doctor_05_Cover_B (Credit: Titan) The_Third_Doctor_05_Cover_C (Credit: Titan) The_Third_Doctor_05_Cover_D (Credit: Titan) The_Third_Doctor_05_Cover_E (Credit: Titan) The_Third_Doctor_05_Preview_1 (Credit: Titan) The_Third_Doctor_05_Preview_2 (Credit: Titan) The_Third_Doctor_05_Preview_3 (Credit: Titan)


Out 1 March 2017

DOCTOR WHO: NINTH DOCTOR #10

Writer: Cavan Scott
Artist: Adriana Melo
COVER A: Cris Bolson & Marco Lesko COVER B: Will Brooks COVER C: Marc Ellerby

The Ninth Doctor, Rose, and Jack head to Brazil on the next stop of their transtemporal mystery tour. The Iara have long been thought a Brazilian myth, but when these unearthly mercreatures prove to be aquatic aliens making an unscheduled stop on planet Earth, the TARDIS team must establish their intentions and broker peace across the water barrier...!
Doctor_Who_The_Ninth_Doctor_10_Cover_A (Credit: Titan) Doctor_Who_The_Ninth_Doctor_10_Cover_B (Credit: Titan) Doctor_Who_The_Ninth_Doctor_10_Cover_C (Credit: Titan) Doctor_Who_The_Ninth_Doctor_10_Preview_1 (Credit: Titan) Doctor_Who_The_Ninth_Doctor_10_Preview_2 (Credit: Titan) Doctor_Who_The_Ninth_Doctor_10_Preview_3 (Credit: Titan)


DOCTOR WHO: ELEVENTH DOCTOR #3.3

Writer: Alex Paknadel
Artist: Simon Fraser
Colourist: Gary Caldwell
COVER A: Claudia Iannciello COVER B: Will Brooks - PHOTO COVER C: Marc Ellerby

More adventures with the Eleventh Doctor in Part 1 of "THE TRAGICAL HISTORY TOUR!"
Doctor_Who_The_Eleventh_Doctor_3_3_Cover_A (Credit: Titan) Doctor_Who_The_Eleventh_Doctor_3_3_Cover_B (Credit: Titan) Doctor_Who_The_Eleventh_Doctor_3_3_Cover_C (Credit: Titan) Doctor_Who_The_Eleventh_Doctor_3_3_Preview_1 (Credit: Titan) Doctor_Who_The_Eleventh_Doctor_3_3_Preview_2 (Credit: Titan) Doctor_Who_The_Eleventh_Doctor_3_3_Preview_3 (Credit: Titan) Doctor_Who_The_Eleventh_Doctor_3_3_Preview_4 (Credit: Titan)





FILTER: - Comics - Eleventh Doctor - Ninth Doctor - Third Doctor

Books Released this Month

Monday, 20 February 2017 - Reported by Marcus
Three new non-fiction books are being released by Obverse Books this month.
BLACK ARCHIVE: SCREAM OF THE SHALKA (Credit: Obverse Books)BLACK ARCHIVE: SCREAM OF THE SHALKA

By JON ARNOLD

Intended as the first in a series of online animated dramas, ‘Scream of the Shalka’ (2003) was the first attempt to redefine Doctor Who for the 21st century. Produced by BBCi and written by Doctor Who novelist (and later scriptwriter on the revived series) Paul Cornell, it maintains a traditional feel while rethinking the roles of Doctor, companion and villain.

Richard E Grant’s Doctor is characterised as aristocratic and aloof, drawing on models from the past such as Jon Pertwee’s third Doctor, Sherlock Holmes and even Dracula. The story, in which the Doctor must accept military assistance to foil an alien invasion beginning in an isolated English village, adheres to a venerable formula. Nevertheless, ‘Scream of the Shalka’ anticipates its successor in perceptive ways – featuring a Doctor who is ‘an emotional island’ numbed by recent trauma, a companion who must choose between a predictable life with her boyfriend and the joys and dangers of travel with the Doctor, and a Master humiliated by the Doctor’s duty of care.

A victim of timing as much as of its own flaws, ‘Scream of the Shalka’ remains a fascinating glimpse into an alternative vision for Doctor Who. This Black Archive volume publishes for the first time the detailed episode breakdown for Simon Clark’s ‘Blood of the Robots’, originally commissioned to follow Scream of the Shalka as the second in BBCi’s Doctor Who webcast series. Jon Arnold has edited fanzines including Shooty Dog Thing: 2th and Claw, and is a major contributor to Hating to Love: Re-evaluating the 52 Worst Doctor Who Stories of All Time. He wrote The Black Archive #1: Rose.

SCREAM OF THE SHALKA will be published on 1 March 2017.
DOWNTIME - THE LOST YEARS OF DOCTOR WHO (Credit: Obverse Books)DOWNTIME – THE LOST YEARS OF DOCTOR WHO

By DYLAN REES

Obverse Books is proud to announce the publication of the first in depth study of the so called Wilderness Years – the period between 1989 and 2005 when Doctor Who was in hiatus.

With no new official Doctor Who, it fell to the fans to safeguard the legacy of the show – fans who, in many cases, would go onto work on the new iteration after its relaunch by Russell T Davies. By licensing individual characters and monsters and hiring actors – including all the surviving Doctors and many of his companions – who had appeared on the show, the likes of Bill Baggs, Alan Stevens, Nick Briggs, Mark Gatiss and Keith Barnfather created something more than ersatz Doctor Who – they created a whole industry which kept the Who flame alive when it might otherwise have died completely.

With forty new interviews with key members of the teams behind such companies as BBV, Magic Bullet and Reeltime, author Dylan Rees investigates and analyses every Who-linked unofficial release from War Time all the way to The Minister of Chance, and speaks to all of the major creative talent involved in each project. Asked what drew him to this all but forgotten era, Rees said, “The book is really the story of fan ingenuity and creativity, and the careers that were forged or failed through these productions.”

Dylan Rees has a background in film and television production, and has written for a variety of music publications as well as articles for various Doctor Who magazines. Downtime is his first book. DOWNTIME was published on 7 February 2017.
TIME'S MOSAIC 5: DAVISON, SARAH-JANE AND ERIMEM (Credit: Obverse Books)TIME'S MOSAIC 5: DAVISON, SARAH-JANE AND ERIMEM

By FINN CLARK

Imagine a Story fifty years in the telling.

That’s a long time to maintain consistency. Storylines clash, continuity dies and contradictions flourish as one decade bleeds into the next, and one editor replaces another, each with their own idea of how the Story should be told. Add to that a veritable flood of formats – big screen, television, novels, audios, comics, short stories, cartoons – and what seemed at first to be merely difficult rapidly becomes all but unmanageable.

Now imagine if one man were to attempt to consider it all. One man reading the short stories and the novels, watching the movies and the box sets, listening to radio plays and compact discs…taking it all in so that you don’t have to…

Join Finn Clark on an epic journey through the Whoniverse, as he reviews every single Doctor Who story in every single format. From ‘An Unearthly Child’ and TV Comic throwaways to Capaldi and IDW, with sidesteps into influences and spin-offs, he’ll tell you, the reader, what he thinks of it all, good and bad… In this volume Clark examines the Peter Davison era, plus the Sarah Jane Adventures – with a quick check on the Egyptian Pharaoh Erimem – truly the ultimate review guide to Doctor Who!

TIME'S MOSAIC 5 was published on 12 February 2017.




FILTER: - Books

Wartime Chronicles

Thursday, 16 February 2017 - Reported by Chuck Foster
Koch Media are to re-release the Reeltime Pictures spin-off feature Wartime on DVD on 6th March 2016:

Wartime Chronicles (Credit: Koch Media)Wartime Chronicles
Starring John Levene and Michael Wisher
Written by Andy Lane and Helen Stirling
Produced and directed by Keith Barnfather (pre-order from Amazon)


During all his years working for the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce (UNIT), steadfast Benton failed in his duty only once. Long ago, while on a seemingly routine delivery run for The Brigadier, he finds himself close to his childhood home where ghosts from his past have never rested easily... Trapped in a nightmare world, where past and present seem as one, will he be lost forever or can he fight his way back to reality? A reality where he is desperately needed!


Wartime has the unique distinction of being the very first independent spin-off from Doctor Who, with John Levene reprising his role from the series as Sergeant John Benton.

This 2 disc special collector’s edition also includes:
  • behind-the-scenes material
  • a brand new introduction by Katy Manning (Jo Grant) and Producer Keith Barnfather
  • ReUNITed - a history of UNIT)
  • Jon Pertwee & UNIT Live on Stage - a convention panel featuring Jon Pertwee and the UNIT team





FILTER: - Blu-ray/DVD

Class- Final Ratings

Tuesday, 14 February 2017 - Reported by Marcus
Consolidated ratings are now available for episodes 7 and 8 of Class, shown on BBC One two weeks ago, which include details of those who recorded the programme and watched it within a week.

Episode 7, The Metaphysical Engine, or What Quill Did, which was broadcast at 10.47pm, had a confirmed audience of 0.68 million viewers, a 6.4% share of the total TV audience. The channel average for the timeslot is of 1.85 million. The figure is slightly lower than the initial overnight figure. The programme was beaten in the timeslot by BBC Two's Newsnight getting 0.81 million, however it outrated Through the Keyhole on ITV which had 0.53 million. An additional 0.20 million have accessed the episode on iPlayer since its release on BBC Three last October. The episode scored an AI of 82.

Episode 8, The Lost, followed immediately afterward, starting at 11.33pm, and had a consolidated audience of 0.32 million watching, a share 5.5% of the audience. The channel average for the timeslot is 0.82 million. The programme was outrated by Hospital on BBC Two, with 0.38 million. Around 195,000 have accessed the episode on iPlayer. The episode scored an AI of 82.

Full ratings for the BBC One screening are shown below. No information has been released by the BBC concerning the future of Class and the possibility of a second series. An online petition asking for a second series has so far received 1700 signatures.





FILTER: - Class - Ratings