New Torchwood Series 4 details

Friday, 31 December 2010 - Reported by Harry Ward
The official Torchwood Facebook page has added new a synopsis for Torchwood: The New World.

It does contain spoilers but if you do want to know just click 'reveal' to view the the new details.




Jane Epenson (Writer for three episodes of The New World) recently confirmed on her Twitter page that a read-through of the first episode is due to take place sometime next week.




FILTER: - Torchwood - Miracle Day (Series 4)

The Next Doctor Ratings

Friday, 31 December 2010 - Reported by Marcus
The repeat of the 2008 Christmas special, The Next Doctor, had an audience of 1.3 million viewers according to unofficial overnight figures.

The programme which stars David Tennant as the tenth Doctor and David Morrissey as Jackson Lake, had a 12.0% share of the audience and won its timeslot.

The repeat series continues today on BBC One with Planet of the Dead showing at 1.10pm.




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

DVD Update

Thursday, 30 December 2010 - Reported by Marcus
Doctor Who: SnakedanceDoctor Who: KindaThe two stories comprising The Mara Tales will be released in North America as separate stories on April 12, 2011. Kinda and Snakedance feature the Fifth Doctor and are released as a boxset in the UK a month earlier.

Meanwhile it has been confirmed that Australia will see the release of the Third Doctor story, The Mutants, on February 3, 2011, just a few days after its UK release.

2|entertain have announced, via their Twitter feed, that they hope to launch a YouTube channel in January on with they will post trailers and additional material made to complement the release of classic Doctor Who DVDs.

For full details of the global DVD release schedule see our product page.




FILTER: - Classic Series - Blu-ray/DVD

Doctor Who 2011 Series Trailer

Sunday, 26 December 2010 - Reported by Harry Ward
BBC America have posted the trailer for the 2011 series of Doctor Who to their Anglophenia blog. The trailer originally aired after the end credits of A Christmas Carol. The next series of Doctor Who is expected to air sometime in Spring. You can read our summary guide for series 6/32 by clicking here.




Update (29/12)
BBC America have also been playing a specially made promo video featuring The Doctor and Amy Pond on their network:





FILTER: - Series 6/32

BBC America to air Series Six alongside UK?

Friday, 24 December 2010 - Reported by Chuck Foster
CNN have reported that plans are afoot to broadcast the sixth series of Doctor to the United States within hours of airing in the United Kingdom.

Addressing the issue of fans downloading episodes via the Internet way ahead of their broadcast in the USA, the vice president of programming at BBC America, Richard de Croce, said:
(It) means fans love the shows so much they can't wait to see them.

And that's the world we live in, in terms of technology, quite honestly. So let's air these shows as quickly as we can post the UK's transmission.

Plans are in the works for season six of "Doctor Who" to be broadcast the same day in the United States as well.
Tomorrow's broadcast of A Christmas Carol will be the first time American fans will be able to watch Doctor Who on the same evening as those in the UK, with Australia and Canada following suit a day later.


However, Doctor Who hasn't always aired first in the UK; the 1996 TV Movie aired in the USA and Canada a couple of weeks before the BBC, and back in 1983 some American fans actually got to see the 20th Anniversary story The Five Doctors on PBS two days before those in the United Kingdom!




FILTER: - USA - BBC America - Series 6/32

Eleventh Hour tops iPlayer requests

Thursday, 23 December 2010 - Reported by Marcus
Eleventh HourMatt Smith's debut as the Eleventh Doctor is the most watched programme on the BBC iPlayer for the year so far according to the BBC.

The BBC iPlayer celebrates its third Birthday this Christmas with over 1.3 billion requests being made throughout 2010. The Eleventh Hour accounted for 2.2 million of these hits with the rest of the series averaging around 1.5 million hits each.

Top Gear was the second most requested programme, with over half a million fewer requests than Doctor Who.

Daniel Danker, General Manager, Programmes and On Demand, said:
BBC iPlayer has had a remarkable year – with well over 100 million requests for programmes each month of 2010 and over 1.3 billion programmes played through the year. In 2011 we will bring BBC iPlayer to even more licence fee payers, dramatically increasing our investment in BBC iPlayer on mobile and TV, and laying the foundation for an incredibly interactive London 2012 experience.

As part of the BBC's commitment to increase the reach of BBC iPlayer, the service is now available on around 40 different devices. For those who enjoy watching on-demand from the comfort of the living room, BBC iPlayer can be found on a range of TVs including Samsung, LG, and Sony Bravia, Blu-Ray disc players, Nintendo Wii and PS3 games consoles, and Virgin Media and Freesat set-top boxes. For those on the go, the BBC iPlayer mobile site can be accessed from phones and tablets including Apple iPads, iPhones and selected models of BlackBerry, Android, Nokia, Samsung, HTC and Sony Ericsson phones.

TV Top 20: best-performing episode per title/series, 1 January 2010 to 17 December 2010

1 Doctor Who, Series 5, The Eleventh Hour, Episode 1, BBC One, 2,241,000
2 Top Gear, Series 15, Episode 1, BBC Two, 1,680,000
3 Sherlock A Study in Pink, Episode 1, BBC One, 1,403,000
4 Top Gear, Series 14, Episode 7, BBC Two, 1,255,000
5 Outnumbered, Series 3, Programme 1, Episode 1, BBC One 1,157,000
6 EastEnders Live 19/02/201,0 BBC One 1,130,000
7 Live at the Apollo, Series 5, Episode 6, BBC One, 1,076,000
8 The Apprentice, Series 6, Bakery Episode 3, BBC One, 1,050,000
9 Doctor Who, The End of Time Part 2, Episode 2, BBC One, 1,015,000
10 Russell Howard's Good News, Series 2, Episode 3, BBC Three, 982,000
11 Mock The Week, Series 9, Episode 3, BBC Two, 944,000
12 Mock The Week, Series 8, Episode 5, BBC Two, 940,000
13 The Incredibles 2010, BBC One, 904,000
14 Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest 2010, BBC One, 870,000
15 Gavin And Stacey, Series 3, Episode 6, BBC One, 839,000
16 Legally Blonde 2010, BBC Three, 807,000
17 Junior Apprentice, Episode 1, BBC One, 795,000
18 Tracy Beaker Returns, Full Circle Episode 1, CBBC, 776,000
19 World Cup's Most Shocking Moments 01-Jun-10, BBC Three, 730,000
20 Madness In The Fast Lane 10-Aug-10, BBC One, 720,000




FILTER: - Ratings - Series 5/31

Twisted Media to work on Torchwood Series 4

Thursday, 23 December 2010 - Reported by Harry Ward
Twisted Media, "a creative collective producing audio, visual and interactive media" have been hired to work on Torchwood: The New World.

The company first announced via their Twitter page that they have been hired to create graphics for the upcoming series of Torchwood. The Chicago Tribune reported yesterday about Twisted Media's work on another TV show called Leverage and mentioned the work on Torchwood.

Derek Frederickson has landed another TV series. He was just hired to work on 10 episodes of "Torchwood," the spinoff of the long-running "Dr. Who" series. Frederickson described the show as "sort of a 'X-Files'-ish division that investigates alien and supernatural activity." Previous seasons of the show have already aired on BBC America; the new season (which will include Bill Pullman and Mekhi Phifer as series regulars) changes the setting from Wales to the U.S. and will air on Starz.

"It's actually a perfect show for Twisted Media because it's aliens and sci-fi and all sorts of computers and technical, science stuff," Frederickson said. "The first script was a total page-turner Â-- I was going nuts reading it. Being a fan of the show, too, and reading this, I'm like, 'Oh my God, I can't wait to see this on-screen.'"

Which means the next few months will be busy for both Frederickson and [Tom] Slattery. "Torchwood" begins shooting in January.




FILTER: - Torchwood - Production - Miracle Day (Series 4)

Seven Years of Torchwood?

Wednesday, 22 December 2010 - Reported by Marcus
TorchwoodJohn Barrowman has told The Scottish Sun that the BBC and the Starz Network are planning to make seven years of Torchwood.

Barrowman, who is currently appearing in Aladdin at Glasgow's Clyde Auditorium told the paper:
I have turned down a load of other shows to make Torchwood. We'll be filming it in LA as it's now a collaboration between the BBC and the Starz Network in America. They're planning to make it for the next seven years. So I'll be spending six months a year in Hollywood and six back in the UK.

Torchwood: The New World is currently in production for transmission in the summer of 2011.




FILTER: - Torchwood - Miracle Day (Series 4)

Torchwood Magazine Issue 25

Tuesday, 21 December 2010 - Reported by Harry Ward
The latest and final issue of Torchwood Magazine has been released. The official Torchwood Magazine Facebook page posted earlier today: "The final issue of Torchwood Magazine is now on sale. Make sure you get your copy as this is going to be a collector's item!".

In the editorial notes of issue 24 the magazine posted:
"Finally, in less happy news, the next issue of Torchwood magazine will be the last for a while, Everything changes, and with the TV show on its way back as a BBC/Starz co-production, there's a whole new world of merchandising to be worked out, and plenty of new projects in the pipeline. Hopefully, by this time next year, interest in the series will be at an all-time high, and Torchwood magazine will rise again - whether with the same old team or in a whole new guise......"


Issue contents:
  • Interview: John Barrowman reveals his thoughts about being Captain Jack and returning in Torchwood: The New World.
  • We talk to Eve Myles about playing Torchwood's action mum, Gwen Cooper.
  • For our final issue, we take a look back at some of the most memorable things the stars said about Children of Earth.
  • Archivist Andrew Pixley charts the development and day-by-day production of the episode that saw Owen face up to life, death and Tintin.
  • In the last ever Beyond the Hub, Kate Lloyd takes a flying trip through the remaining worlds of weirdness we never quite got round to...
  • A brand new Toshiko Sato adventure by James Moran, with art by Adrian Salmon.
  • Owen Harper waves a ghostly tale in a new adventure by Trevor Baxendale, with art by Ben Willsher.
  • A time travel adventure in the midst of the Cardiff Blitz, by Gary Russell and John Ridgway.
  • Gwen is forced to go it alone in an epic adventure by Steve Tribe and James Goss, with art by Mike Dowling.
The first issue of the magazine was released on 24 January 2008 and was originally printed every four weeks until Issue 14 when they moved to being a bi-monthly production with a larger page count. [Wikipedia]


Some page samples for the issue can be viewed from the BBC's official Torchwood Facebook page




FILTER: - Torchwood - Magazines - Miracle Day (Series 4)

Torchwood Casting: Bill Pullman

Wednesday, 15 December 2010 - Reported by Chuck Foster
Hot on the heels of news about Mekhi Phifer being cast yesterday, today Deadline reports long-time Hollywood actor Bill Pullman will be joining the cast of Torchwood: The New World. He will be playing one of the lead roles in the series, that of the psychotic Oswald Jones.

Like Phifer, Pullman was born in New York (1953). Starting out in the theatre, he made the move to the big screen in the 1986 film Ruthless People (with Bette Midler and Danny De Vito); he quickly rose to lead role status the following year in the Mel Brooks sci-fi spoof Spaceballs, and he has since been involved in a number of successful films, including Sleepless in Seattle, While You Were Sleeping, and Casper. However, his sci-fi credentials are probably best represented in what is possibly his highest profile role, portraying President of the United States Thomas Whitmore in the Will Smith/Jeff Goldblum blockbuster, Independence Day.

On television, he is best known for playing Harvard scientist and astrophysicist Bill Massey in the supernatural thriller series Revelations.

OSWALD JONES
Oswald Jones is dangerously clever, a psychotic, convicted murderer and paedophile. He escapes his lifelong prison sentence on a technicality and quickly becomes a media sensation.

Genuinely repentant yet boiling with lust and rage, Oswald gets caught up in a terrifying worldwide crisis.




FILTER: - Torchwood - Miracle Day (Series 4)