The Radio Times have confirmed the first episode of the news series of Doctor Who will be broadcast on Saturday 23rd April at 6:00pm.
The time slot is one of the earliest the series has received since it returned in 2005. Last year only Vampires from Venice was shown so early with most episodes starting around 6.30pm.
The programme will be preceded on BBC One by Don't Scare The Hare a new game show and followed So You Think You Can Dance, in which contestants perform in couples for the first time, hoping to impress judges Nigel Lythgoe, Arlene Phillips, Louise Redknapp and Sisco Gomez. It is the fifth in the series, which last week achieved 3.4 million viewers in its 6.30 timeslot.
ITV1 will be showing March of the Dinosaurs, a Feature-length CGI adventure from the makers of Walking with Dinosaurs, telling the story of an epic migration undertaken by a herd of dinosaurs in the high arctic 70 million years ago.
BBC Two has the 1964 Beatles film, A Hard Day's Night, Channel 4 is showing Come Dine with Me and Channel Five the 1959 film Ben Hur.
Time
Programme
Nearest ITV1 Programme
5:10pm
BBC News
March of the Dinosaurs (5:00-7:00pm)
5:25pm
Don't Scare The Hare
6:00pm
Doctor Who - The Impossible Astronaut
6:45pm
So You Think You Can Dance
Sing if you Can (7:00-8:00pm)
8:00pm
The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins
Britain's Got Talent (8:00-9:00pm)
8:50pm
Casualty
Piers Morgan's Life Stories (9:00-10:00pm)
The early start means that Doctor Who Confidential can not follow directly on from the end of Doctor Who; BBC Three's schedule begins from 7:00pm, meaning some 15 minutes between the two - this may impact on Confidential's ratings, as the last time such a gap occured the behind-the-scenes show lost around 40% of its usual audience.
BBCHD have yet to confirm a time-slot for Doctor Who Confidential, with times after A History of Celtic Britain (6:45-7:45pm) still to be announced.
The new edition of the Radio Times introduces the new series of Doctor Who, which will premiere the following weekend at Easter.
The preview includes an interview with Matt Smith, in which the actor talks about the interest generated by Neil Gaiman's episode The Doctor's Wife, football, and also his feelings on the series culture:
Doctor Who is brilliant. Science Fiction invites conspiratorial thinking, which I also think is brilliant. Why not sit at home on the computer and be conspiratorial? There are worse ways of spending an evening.
Steven Moffatt also provides an introduction and exclusive guide to the thrill-packed episodes coming up over the next several weeks.
BBC America has organised a premiere screening of The Impossible Astronaut / Day of the Moon and a Doctor Who themed party at the The Bell House in Brooklyn, New York on April 19. You can buy tickets for this even from the event page on TicketWeb. Full details below.
Tuesday, Apr 19, 2011 7:00 PM EDT The Bell House, Brooklyn, NY 21 years and over General admission - $5.00
Come be among the first in Brooklyn to see the first two episodes of the new season of Doctor Who!
Put on your best bow tie, grab your sonic screwdriver and head over to The Bell House on Tuesday, April 19th - BBC AMERICA and Secret Formula are bringing you a first look at the new season of Doctor Who. It's the Doctor Who New Season Premiere Party! Why wait until Saturday, April 23rd for the official TV premiere on BBC AMERICA when you can join all of your friends and fellow Doctor Who fans for a party that will be remembered throughout time and space! We're going way beyond just showing you the 2-part premiere episodes - we're turning The Bell House into the inside of the TARDIS and there will be plenty of games, contests, food and fun to be had including...
The Brooklyn premiere of the first and second episodes of the new season
Doctor Who Trivia Competition
Character Impersonation Contest and Villain-Off
Costume Contest
Time Travel Lecturer
Doctor Who-based sketch comedy and stand-up from Upright Citizen's Brigade
members
Spin the time travel wheel for a chance to win prizes and free drinks
Prizes from The Bell House and BBC AMERICA including DVD's, Doctor Who
merch and more!
Themed drinks like the 11th Doctor, Love is a Ginger, The Pandorica, Fish &
Custard and more!
A delicious selection of English foods served by Brooklyn's ChipShop
TARDIS & Dalek cookies and the Doctor's Fez cupcakes provided by Geek Treats
As part of publicity for the new series of Doctor Who in the United States, BBC America have released an interview with the three stars, Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill, which was conducted by their Anglophenia blog at the Doctor Who signing at Barnes & Noble in New York City:
Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill, BBC America, via YouTube
The broadcaster has also released the second of their Insider series of videos; for this edition, "Get an inside look at The Doctor, featuring exclusive interviews with stars Matt Smith and Karen Gillan plus Executive Producer/Lead Writer Steven Moffat."
Doctor Who Insider #2, BBC America, via YouTube (the first edition may be found in a previous article earlier this week)
A preview screening of The Impossible Astronaut and Day of the Moon will be held in Chicago, Illinois on April 20.
BBC America and RedEye, a daily newspaper publication in Chicago will be hosting a preview screening of the first two episodes of Series 6 at 9:30pm on April 20 at the Landmark Century Centre Cinema.
UPDATE 10:30 a.m. CDT FRIDAY: Sorry folks, we are booked. That didn't take long at all. Chicago fans love the Doctor, obviously. I wish we could take a larger group, but thank you for reading and watching and getting in touch.
RedEye will take the names of the first 200 people to RSVP. That will get you on the guest list but an RSVP does not guarantee admission. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. They advise people on the guest list to show up early. More details are on their website.
How to RSVP:
Send your RSVP to showpatroltv@gmail.com with DOCTOR WHO in the subject line. Provide your name and neighborhood or city.
Each RSVP email is good for only one admission, meaning you cannot RSVP and tell me it’s for you and a friend. The friend should RSVP as well. If you are a parent and want to take your two kids, I should receive three separate RSVPs with three different names.
And please, if you RSVP show up. I’ll have some surprises for you.
2|Entertain have announced release dates for DVDs coming up in the next few months. As well as other recently listed stories, the schedule indicates Earthstory - the boxed set featuring The Awakening and The Gunfighters - for 20th June, followed by Paradise Towers on 18th July, The Sun Makers on 1st August, and Day of the Daleks on 12th September.
The company has also released details on the DVD features for Earthstory (detailed below). The box itself has an air of finality about it: The Awakening brings an end the adventures of the Fifth Doctor, being the final story of this era to be released on DVD; The Gunfighters is the last complete story before William Hartnell departed the role (The Tenth Planet has yet to appear on DVD, but is missing its final episode).
Starring William Hartnell as Doctor Who, with Jackie Lane as Dodo and Peter Purves as Stephen. Written by Donald Cotton Directed by Rex Tucker
Broadcast: 30th April - 21st May 1966
Take a trip to the Wild West in The Gunfighters, when the TARDIS arrives in Tombstone, Arizona in 1881. The Doctor, suffering from toothache, seeks out the local dentist - the notorious Doc Holliday. Tensions are running high between the feuding Clanton family and Doc Holliday, whilst the local lawman, Wyatt Earp, struggles to keep the peace. When legendary gunman Johnny Ringo comes to town, events start to escalate. Can the Doctor, Steven and Dodo do anything to stop the situation getting any worse? Or will there be a gunfight at the OK Corral?
Special Features
Commentary - with actors Peter Purves, Shane Rimmer, David Graham and Richard Beale, production assistant Tristan de Vere Cole and moderator Toby Hadoke.
The End of the Line – after two years on the screen, Doctor Who had become a television phenomenon, regularly reaching an audience of ten million viewers. But with a change of producer and script editor and the looming prospect of losing the lead actor, the programme’s third year was the one that would make or break it… With actors Maureen O’Brien, Anneke Wills and Peter Purves, script editor Donald Tosh, new series writer Gareth Roberts and long time Doctor Who viewer Ian Levine.
Tomorrow’s Times – The First Doctor – looking at the newspaper coverage of Doctor Who during the programme’s opening years. Presented by Mary Tamm.
Photo Gallery - production, design and publicity photos from the story, set to the entirety of The Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon.
Coming Soon - a trailer for a forthcoming DVD release.
Radio Times Listings in Adobe PDF format.
Programme subtitles.
Subtitle Production Notes.
The Awakening
Starring Peter Davison as The Doctor, with Janet Fielding as Tegan Jovanka and Mark Strickson as Turlough Written by Eric Pringle Directed by Michael Owen Morris
Broadcast: 19th-20th January 1984
The TARDIS has brought the Doctor, Tegan and Turlough to the picture postcard English village of Little Hodcome. Tegan has come to visit her grandfather - well known local historian Andrew Verny - but he seems to be missing. The residents of Little Hodcombe, led by the obsessive Sir George Hutchinson, are playing a vicious war game - an exact recreation of a battle of the English Civil War fought there in 1643.
As each of the TARDIS crew witnesses a terrifying apparition from the past, the Doctor realises that he faces a far greater menace than the unstable Hutchinson. An ancient and alien force for evil is at work - one which will glory in the slaughter of them all...
Special Features
Commentary - with actor Michael Owen Morris and script editor Eric Saward, moderated by Toby Hadoke.
Return to Little Hodcombe – director Michael Owen, actors Janet Fielding and Keith Jayne and script editor Eric Saward return to the three villages that played host to the locations for The Awakening, and along with locals they reminisce about a memorable shoot…
Making the Malus – visual effects designer Tony Harding and modelmaker Richard Gregory are reunited with the Malus prop they built for the story. Current owner Paul Burrows is on hand to describe the reality of living with a giant stone monster on the lounge wall…
Now & Then – the latest in the ongoing series visits the villages of Martin, Shapwick and Tarrant Monkton to compare the locations used in the story with how they appear today.
From the Cutting Room Floor – extended and deleted scenes from a timecoded VHS of the original edit and unedited film sequences, plus location action from the film rushes.
The Golden Egg Awards – the inadvertent destruction of a prop lychgate by a horse was the winner of The Late Late Breakfast Show’s Golden Egg Award. Peter Davison is on hand to collect the trophy from host Noel Edmonds.
Photo Gallery - production, design and publicity photos from the story.
Isolated Music – option to view the story with the isolated music score.
Coming Soon - a trailer for a forthcoming DVD release.
The BBC Press Office have released details for Week 17 (23-29 April) which, though it confirms Doctor Who will be on that week, still doesn't give an actual time or date for broadcast!
Doctor Who Magazine reported in its new edition that the series will commence from 23rd April; Saturday programmes mentioned in the BBC press item include So You Think You Can Dance, on between 6:30-7:30pm, and Casualty at a time yet to be confirmed. This implies that The Impossible Astronaut could be broadcast either before or after the talent show.
In previous years, Doctor Who has premiered at: Rose (7:00pm, 45m); New Earth (7:05pm, 45m); Smith and Jones (7:00pm, 45m); Partners in Crime (6:45pm, 50m); The Eleventh Hour (6:25pm, 65m). If the time for So You Think You Can Dance doesn't alter, indications are that this premiere might be broadcast at either the earliest or latest time so far since the series returned!
The online version of the Radio Times publishes a fortnight ahead, so the BBC1 and other channel schedules for the 23rd April should appear this Sunday. However schedules for the week of 23rd April will not be fixed until shortly before they are sent to listing magazines around 14th April and any times published before that should be regarded as provisional.
The Press Office synopsis for the episode:
Doctor Who – The Impossible Astronaut Ep 1/7 New this week Day and time to be confirmed BBC ONE
Four envelopes, numbered two, three and four – each containing a date, time and map reference, unsigned, but TARDIS blue – begin the latest series of the time-travelling adventures. Who sent them? And who received the missing number one?
This strange summons reunites The Doctor, Amy, Rory and River Song in the middle of the Utah desert and unveils a terrible secret that The Doctor's friends must never reveal to him.
Placing his life entirely in their hands, The Doctor agrees to search for the recipient of the fourth envelope. Just who is Canton Everett Delaware the Third? And what is the relevance of their only other clue: "Space 1969"? Their quest lands them in the Oval Office, where they are enlisted by President Nixon himself to assist enigmatic former FBI agent Canton in saving a terrified little girl from a mysterious spaceman.
Wednesday, 6 April 2011 - Reported by Chuck Foster
2|Entertain have issued a statement via their Twitter account regarding the availability of the Revisitations 2 boxed set in the United Kingdom, which was released last week:
2|Entertain is sorry to hear that fans have encountered problems purchasing the latest classic Doctor Who release Revisitations 2. Although available through online retailers and HMV the release was not stocked by any supermarkets.
2|Entertain continues to seek the broadest distribution possible for releases and will be ensuring that sufficient stock is available instore and online to meet demand in the future.
The title for story three of the new series of Doctor Who has been revealed as The Curse of the Black Spot. The title is revealed in the new edition of Doctor Who Magazine. The story by Steve Thompson and directed by Jeremy Webb, stars Hugh Bonneville as a Pirate Captain.
The title joins the six previously revealed for the first half of the series due to launch on BBC One on 23rd April.
With the Managers in Partnership Television Media Market (MIPTV) continuing in Cannes this week, both John Barrowman and Bill Pullman have been in demand for their thoughts on the development and filming of Torchwood: Miracle Day.
In an interview with the two stars, Barrowman described the effect of 'globalisation' of Torchwood has had upon him:
This is a huge thing for us, this is huge thing for me, and it's huge for the BBC, huge for Starz, so it's - if I use the word on a global sense - it's just incredible. I arrived here in Cannes and at Nice airport people were waiting for my autograph, that's not happened to me before. To do all the paparazzi, photographs, to do all that kind of stuff, it's a big change for us. I'm used to being a - I use the word 'celebrity' - in the UK and some parts of the US, but this is becoming global now - and I'm loving every minute of it!
Talking of his co-star, Pullman, he said:
I get to do some wonderful scenes with Bill; we're bit of a pair of jokers off camera and we're having a really great time, spending time with each other. But on camera, the characters of Jack and Oswald, they don't like each other, but they really do - because they see something in each other that is recognisable. Our scenes are all very heavy, with a little bit of twist in them each time. It should be exciting to watch, but I'm working with the President of the United States, for goodness sake - come on, how more exciting could that be!
Pullman himself commented on the quality of science fiction presented by Torchwood:
This is the kind of story that I think is why I enjoy science fiction the most, when I like it the best is when it's an allegory for what it is to be human and not just learn more about how much the aliens look like insects!
Speaking about his own character, Oswald Danes:
There is something kind of wonderful about this role in that I climb from a relatively dark little nasty corner into a global spotlight and look to morph myself to accomodate that stage. So it is as much about someone who is recognising a need for a leader and becoming the person he has to become, more out of opportunity and then waiting to see what happens internally. It's not just a villain who is just stamping everything with black.
Finally, he also had nice some things to say about his British co-stars:
I've been impressed by the casting, you Brits have a very nice pool of actors with a consistency all the way down the bench, shall we say, so the smallest parts provide a certain kind - to me - of good quality. I've been glad to see the actors that they've been casting have been from a great range of things and they have a lot of texture and soul.
You can watch the full interview with the two stars below:
John Barrowman and Bill Pullman talk at Cannes. Video: MIP Marketing (via YouTube)
Executive producer Julie Gardner also commented on the programme maintaining its Welsh roots:
We're taking the Welsh global - retaining the best of British drama while learning all about US production values. Previously, America was represented in our stories by two people in US military uniform. Now we can tell a truly global story with actors of the calibre of Bill Pullman.
In the media, Deadline talked to John Barrowman, who said:
There is so much more we can do with Torchwood now having made the leap to America. It’s going to be even bigger and better. And, for me on a personal level, the move to America has been amazing.
... the audience is going to need a forklift truck to pick their jaws off the ground. The stunt work is unbelievable. I used to do quite a lot of stunts except if it was jumping off of buildings but now I’m not allowed to because of the insurance policy. I’m much more valuable in America!
The article also mentioned the new coat that Jack wears:
Among the tweaks on the show, Captain Jack’s iconic RAF coat has been “re-booted” with a lighter weight material and a “slimmer cut.” According to Barrowman, the former was to account for LA’s hotter weather, while the latter was the decision of the designer (Shawna Trpcic), not him.
Worldscreen spoke to Julie Gardner about how working with Starz has improved the scope of the series:
It helps us reach some scale. We've had for the first time the opportunity to shoot both in the U.K. and also in America. We are doing bigger stunts. We are able to create more action. We have more background artists. So there is an onscreen value. The single most important thing to say is, at heart, the show remains the same. We haven't been asked to change it. We haven't been asked to be 'American', whatever that means. Both Starz and BBC One have asked us to make the best quality, most bold offering of Miracle Day that we possibly could.
The Radio Times have confirmed the first episode of the news series of Doctor Who will be broadcast on Saturday 23rd April at 6:00pm. 
2|Entertain have 
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