A message from the Doctor

Wednesday, 25 March 2020 - Reported by Chuck Foster

Incoming transmission. #MessageFromTheDoctor #DoctorWho pic.twitter.com/WRTROxWRQy
— Doctor Who Official (@bbcdoctorwho) March 25, 2020

FILTER: - Doctor Who - Online

#TripOfALifetime: Rose around the World

Tuesday, 24 March 2020 - Reported by Chuck Foster

#TripOfALifeTime - Rose, 26 Mar 2020 (Credit: BBC)

Following on from the popular global viewing of The Day Of The Doctor last Saturday, a followup event featuring the first episode of 21st Century Doctor Who, Rose is planned for this coming Thursday, 26th March at 7:00pm GMT - the exact time of its fifteenth anniversary! As with #SaveTheDay, viewers around the world are invited to watch the episode and comment along.

To join in, simply pop in your DVD or Bluray disc, or access a streaming service such as BBC iPlayer or Netflix, and then hit play at 7:00pm GMT/3:00pm ET/6:00am AEDT/8:00am NZDT and share your viewing experience!

Tweet #TripOfALifetime

With Steven Moffat getting involved last weekend, original writer and showrunner Russell T Davies has announced he too will be rejoining Twitter to join in the fun on Thursday, revealing something special to mark the occasion via his Instagram account:

ROSE livestream and tweet-a-long, THURSDAY 26 MARCH at 7pm GMT. Come and have fun! Before that, Thursday daytime, time TBC, we'll release ROSE: THE PREQUEL on the BBC's Doctor Who website - it's a lost piece of history from the 50th anniversary year, 2013. Never seen before! ROSE is available in the UK on BBC iPlayer and Netflix; worldwide, check your own resourced (don't ask me, I have no clue!). If you can't find a copy, close your eyes at 7om GMT and feel my psychic link. Yeah. I'll be tweeting along, twitter handle to be named on Thursday! Plus more surprises to come. Oh what a lockdown this is! #TripofaLifetime

FILTER: - Broadcasting - Doctor Who - International Broadcasting - Special Events

Strax introduces #SaveTheDay

Saturday, 21 March 2020 - Reported by Chuck Foster

Yes! Here it is, courtesy of @StevenWMoffat and with the help of @McIntoshNeve, my esteemed colleague Strax entreats you to #SaveTheDay and join us in our viewing of The Day of The Doctor. Today at 7pm GMT, 3pm EST and all around the world! #DoctorWho pic.twitter.com/ljqFWM6QRE
— Dan Starkey (@StanDarkley) March 21, 2020

FILTER: - Broadcasting - Doctor Who - International Broadcasting - Special Events

New Doctor Who scene for #SaveTheDay

Saturday, 21 March 2020 - Reported by Chuck Foster

Steven Moffat supporting #SaveTheDay (Credit: Steven Moffat on Twitter)

A new, specially written scene is to be released online tonight at 6:30pm GMT to introduce the #SaveTheDay initiative for an international viewing of the 50th Anniversary story The Day Of The Doctor.

The scene has been written by the story's writer and former showrunner Steven Moffat; organiser Emily Cook told Radio Times:

Seeing as we’re all stuck in self-isolation with nothing to do, and given so many fans have got engaged with this now-global Day of the Doctor rewatch party, I thought it might be fun to create a new introduction video, inspired by the one which was shown in cinemas before the Anniversary Special was simulcast in 2013! I approached Steven Moffat with the idea and, amazingly, he jumped on board! He’s written a special scene which is utterly brilliant! Brand-new Doctor Who created remotely while we’re all in self-isolation. I really hope fans enjoy this! It's a real treat!

Details of the scene, and who will present it, are being kept under wraps, but the writer has briefly returned to Twitter to celebrate the event, saying:

Hi. Steven Moffat here. Actual Steven Moffat, if there's still anyone bothering to pretend to be me. Only here for the Day Of The Doctor tweet-a-long, 7pm GMT, 21st March. #savetheday Disappearing after that BEFORE THEY GET ME!!!!

The worldwide "watchathon" takes place at 7:00pm GMT/3:00pm ET/6:00am AEDT/8:00am NZDT.
Tweet #SaveTheDay

FILTER: - Broadcasting - Doctor Who - International Broadcasting - Series Specials - Special Events - Steven Moffat

#SaveTheDay with Doctor Who around the world

Saturday, 21 March 2020 - Reported by Chuck Foster

Today at 7:00pm GMT, Doctor Who fans (and anybody else who wants to join in!) all around the world are invited to join in a special global viewing of the 50th Anniversary Doctor Who adventure, The Day Of The Doctor!

Organised by Doctor Who Magazine writer, Emily Cook, the idea is to bring some cheer during the current global pandemic by fans watching episodes simultaneously and sharing their views together as the stories unfold. Back in 2013, The Day Of The Doctor achieved a world record for the number of viewers globally, and this story has been chosen to kick off this new shared experience, using the hashtag that promoted the anniversary, #SaveTheDay.

If successful, further shared viewing days could follow, with provisional ideas including the 21st Century Doctor Who premiere Rose on 26th March to celebrate its 15th anniversary, and the eleventh Doctor opener The Eleventh Hour on 3rd April in celebration of its 10th anniversary!

FILTER: - Blu-ray/DVD - Broadcasting - Doctor Who - International Broadcasting - Online

Soundtrack releases for The Sun Makers and The Visitation

Saturday, 14 March 2020 - Reported by Chuck Foster

Silva Screen Records have now released details on the forthcoming CD releases of the soundtracks for the fourth Doctor adventure The Sun Makers by Dudley Simpson, and fifth Doctor tale The Visitation by Paddy Kingsland.

The Sun Makers - soundtrack (Credit: Silva Screen)

The Sun Makers
Music by Dudley Simpson

1. Doctor Who Opening Title Theme
2. Death and Taxes
3. Mahogany
4. One Thousand Metres
5. Six Suns
6. The Others
7. Subway 13
8. Subway 13 (Continued)
9. A Heart as Big as your Mouth
10. A Little Hop
11. Jelly Babies
12. Something in the Air
13. K9, Bite!

14. Humbug
15. The P45 Return Route
16. The P45 Return Route (Reprise)
17. Morton's Fork
18. I’ve Heard That One, Too
19. The Rebellion Begins
20. Static Loop
21. The Steaming
22. The Steaming Continued
23. Gentlemen, Good Luck
24. Nobody Works Today
25. The Gatherer Excised
26. Doctor Who Closing Title Theme (53" Version)

The Visitation - soundtrack (Credit: Silva Screen)

The Visitation
Music by Paddy Kingsland

1. Doctor Who 1980 (Opening Titles)
2. Have you Seen the Sky?
3. Heathrow, 1666
4. Richard Mace & The Miller
5. A Fascinating Wall
6. An Incredible Illusion
7. Death in the Cellar
8. Activation
9. Grim
10. The Poacher and his Friends
11. Looking for the Miller / Not Again!
12. Trouble at the Mill
13. Laying a Trap

14. More Trouble at the Mill
15. Oh for a Proper Key
16. The End for us All
17. A Final Visitation
18. Almost Your Old Self
19. Eureka!
20. The Sonic Booster
21. Almost as if we were Expected
22. The Great Fire
23. Doctor Who Closing Title Theme
24. Activation (Unused Version 1)
25. Not Again! (Unused Version 1)

Paddy Kingsland reminisces about the process for the score:

We decided early on that the music should have a period flavour together with the usual high tech (at the time!) synthesiser sounds. Peter was my favourite Doctor Who director and was always enormously encouraging and positive... he generously gave me the freedom to do my own thing, but always knew if something needed to be adjusted. I had about a week to put together the music for an episode before going to the dub… the score is quite sombre although there are elements of “yea verily” type music to set some scenes, which have a lighter texture. I played all the parts, using the synthesisers of the day, Oberheim, Roland and ARP, adding bass guitar plus drums and cymbals… not to mention my trusty Fender Mustang guitar.

Both CDs are due to be released on 1st May 2020.

FILTER: - Fifth Doctor - Fourth Doctor - Music

Doctor Who Comes to Roblox

Thursday, 12 March 2020 - Reported by Marcus

A set of Doctor Who virtual items are available for free this month for the Roblox community to enjoy.

BBC Studios and Roblox today announced the launch of a series of Doctor Who-themed virtual items on Roblox, a global online platform bringing more than 115 million people together through play.

Players can now personalize their avatar with a variety of Doctor Who-themed items, including a TARDIS backpack, and avatars of The Tenth and Thirteenth Doctor, all obtainable for free, from the Roblox Avatar Shop.

These items are available for a limited time (12th March-26th March) and include:

The Pterrible Pting
This tiny terror from Doctor Who can eat any inorganic material. Thankfully, however, it won’t eat any organic material (meaning you).

Portable TARDIS
Funny thing about this backpack…it’s much, much bigger on the inside.

The Tenth Doctor
Two legs, two arms, two hands, BIG hair…and sideburns! This bundle is based on David Tennant’s character in Doctor Who.

The Thirteenth Doctor
This bundle, made of a bit of adrenaline, a dash of outrage, and a hint of panic, is based on Jodie Whittaker’s character in Doctor Who.

Christina Wootton, Vice President of Brand Partnerships, Roblox, said:

On Roblox your online identity is a powerful tool that helps our community express who they are and who they want to become. We are delighted to partner with Doctor Who, whose diverse set of characters inspire the freedom and creativity that help our community define who they are in the real world as much as the virtual world.

Sarah Bold, BBC Studios Global Franchise Head of Marketing for Drama, said:

The Doctor Who fan community is renowned for creativity making it a joy to take the TARDIS to Roblox where millions of fans will be able to play and create with these new items.

FILTER: - Games - Tenth Doctor - Thirteenth Doctor

Doctor Who The Faceless Ones Animation

Friday, 7 February 2020 - Reported by Marcus

The BBC has released more details about the March release of the Doctor Who missing serial The Faceless Ones.

The story will be released on DVD, Blu-Ray and SteelBook on 16th March 2020 and is now available to pre-order now from Amazon.

The Faceless Ones is the mostly missing eighth serial of the fourth season of Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from April to May 1967. Starring Patrick Troughton as the Doctor, the story concerns a sinister race of identity-stealing aliens known as the Chameleons.

Only two of the six episodes are held in the BBC film archives with snippets of footage and still images existing from the other four. Fortunately, off-air recordings of the soundtrack also still exist, making the animation of a complete serial possible once again.

The six new animated episodes are being made in full colour and high definition and will include the following exclusive special features:

Photographic reconstruction of the story, including surviving footage of episodes 1 & 3
Audio commentary on episodes 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6
‘Making of the animated series’
Camera script PDF’s
Surviving film fragments from the story
x5 ‘Easter Egg’ surprises
Coming Soon Fury from the Deep trailer

FILTER: - Blu-ray/DVD - Season 4 - Second Doctor

Fugitive of the Judoon - New Pictures

Thursday, 23 January 2020 - Reported by Marcus

The BBC has released new pictures from the upcoming episode of Doctor Who - Fugitive of the Judoon.

Written by Vinay Patel
Directed by Nida Manzoor
Starring Jodie Whittaker, Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole and Mandip Gill.

Guest starring Jo Martin, Neil Stuke and Ritu Aryać.

Ko Sho Blo! Trigger-happy space police the Judoon are targeting 21st-century Gloucester. The Doctor, Yaz, Ryan and Graham race back to Earth in order to prevent them doing too much damage to the cathedral city. But who are they looking for, and what did they do to incur the wrath of the Judoon?

The episode can be seen on BBC One at 7.10pm next Sunday. North American viewers can see it at 8pm ET, while in Australia the episode debut's is on Thursday at 8pm. In New Zealand, it can be seen at 9am, Monday morning, just a couple of hours after the UK showing.

Full broadcast details can be found here, and ongoing adventures of the Doctor can be found via This Week in Doctor Who.

COMING SOON | Doctor Who: Series 12

FILTER: - Production - Series 12/38 - Thirteenth Doctor

Doctor Who: Dark Universe

Tuesday, 21 January 2020 - Reported by Marcus

The latest audio release from Big Finish, the Seventh Doctor crossover story Doctor Who: Dark Universe is released today.

Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred and Mark Bonnar star in a brand new story that picks up the threads of the relationship between the Doctor and an older Ace, in her now grown-up role as CEO of A Charitable Earth,.

Doctor Who: Dark Universe is available now as a collector’s edition CD or on download at the Big Finish website from £12.99.

The Eleven has a plan. A grand plan. An appalling plan. A plan that endangers all life in the cosmos.

With Ace working against him, the Doctor must rely on scheming Time Lord Cardinal Ollistra for help. The stage is set for an epic confrontation.

Because the Doctor has a plan to stop the Eleven. A grand plan. An appalling plan. A plan that endangers all life in the cosmos.

Whichever one of them wins, the Dark Universe won’t want to lose

Mark Bonnar returns as the Eleven, a Time Lord psychopath in his eleventh incarnation who retains the personalities of all his previous incarnations, in his first chronological meeting with the Seventh Doctor.

Producer, David Richardson, said

I’d long planned that if ever I was in a position to make it happen, we’d do a story with the Seventh Doctor and the Eleven, and tell the lead-in to the first scenes in the Eighth Doctor series, Doom Coalition. So when Emma Haigh and I took over as joint producers on the Seventh Doctor stories this year, I leapt at the opportunity and asked script editor Matt Fitton to commission a script.

There’s a lot in Dark Universe – not only does it return to the Eleven’s story, it also shows what happens to Ace in her later life. And it features Ollistra and Rasmus, two characters who are important to our ongoing Time War series, plus it sets up other things too... It’s actually a pivotal release, for so many reasons.

Actor Mark Bonnar said

I was really pleased with the script as it gave a bit of the Eleven’s backstory. When I first played the Eleven, Sylvester was the Doctor who caught him. I’d met him previously because Sophie Aldred is a pal of mine, but it was really good to work with him as we hit it off pretty much straight away.

I really enjoyed being the Eleven with another Doctor this time – I hope there are plans to have him meet some of the other ones!

Doctor Who: Dark Universe is available now as a collector’s edition CD or on download at the Big Finish website from £12.99.

FILTER: - Big Finish - Seventh Doctor

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