Tate Injured - UPDATED

Wednesday, 16 July 2008 - Reported by DWNP Archive

Posted By John Bowman

The first preview night of Under The Blue Sky had to be scrapped yesterday after cast member Catherine Tatesuffered an ankle injury.

What caused the injury - sustained during the last dress rehearsal - is unknown but BBC News said it was hoped the actress would be well enough to take to the stage tonight.

The results of an X-ray are being awaited.

The play, by David Eldridge, is on at the Duke of York's Theatre in London's West End.

UPDATE - 18 July: Today's Sun carried a report saying that Tate was performing the play aided by a crutch. It said she had twisted her ankle in a fall during rehearsals.

FILTER: - People - Catherine Tate

Catherine Tate Bares All in New Play

Tuesday, 15 July 2008 - Reported by R Alan Siler

Donna Noble actress Catherine Tate is to star in the upcoming West End production of Under the Blue Sky.

David Eldridge's award-winning, funny and touching play portrays three subtly connected love stories that reveal in turn the roller-coaster ride of lust in its prime, the sacrifices of a life in public service and its unrequited passions.

As Michelle, the hilariously promiscuous 38-year-old maths teacher who has just been dumped by the love of her life, Tate strips off for a revenge sex scene with her nerdy teacher colleague. "She doesn’t apologise for having slept with all these people," says Tate. "I think it’s very honest and refreshing to have someone who goes, 'Yeah, I have a lot of sex.' It just strips away the nonsense."

Tate is very thankful to Russell T. Davies and her success on television, including Doctor Who, for bringing her more theatrical roles. "Now theatre people say: 'Would you like to come and do a play?' When I went to drama school that was all I really wanted to do. You don't go there to learn how to act on TV and film."

She credits Davies for taking what she calls a "gamble to take on someone like me who is known, by the vast majority of people, for wearing wigs and comedy teeth."

The play runs for ten weeks beginning 15 July at the Duke of York's Theatre, St. Martin's Lane, London.

For more information about the play, tickets, and video interviews with the cast, please visit the official website athttp://www.underthebluesky.co.uk/

To read the full interview with Tate, go to thisislondon.co.uk.

FILTER: - People - Catherine Tate

Davies Awarded Honorary Fellowship

Tuesday, 15 July 2008 - Reported by R Alan Siler

Doctor Who Executive Producer Russell T. Davies has received an honorary fellowship by Cardiff University for achieving international distinction in his field.

Born in Swansea, Davies became the lead writer and executive producer behind Doctor Who's successful return to the small screen.

In his speech to a packed auditorium, Davies spoke of his pride in his work in Cardiff.

"For those of you who don't know, we make Doctor Who in this city, and over the past four years we have made Cardiff like the surface of Mars and Pluto.

"We’ve made it look like Italy, we’ve made it look like Delhi and we’ve made it look like Belgium.”

He added: "It only just goes to prove you can do anything, anywhere, it doesn’t always mean you have to go London."

FILTER: - People - Russell T Davies - Awards/Nominations

Repeat Ratings

Monday, 14 July 2008 - Reported by Marcus

Sunday saw repeats of the two final episodes of Series Four on BBC1.

The Stolen Earth shown at 1730 got 1.6 millionwatching, and was the 21st most watched programme of the day. The programme won its time slot.Journey's End, shown later at 1815, got 2.6 millionwatching and was the 13th most watched programme of the day.

Journey's End was also repeated on BBC3 on Friday evening, where it got 0.54 million watching and was the 2nd most watched programme of the day on multi channel television.

The entire fourth series gets a repeat showing on BBC3 starting today.

FILTER: - Ratings - UK - Series 4/30

Russell T Davies to receive fellowship at Cardiff University

Friday, 11 July 2008 - Reported by Chuck Foster

Doctor Who's head writer Russell T Davies is to receive an honorary fellowship at Cardiff University next Monday (14th July) during their annual degree ceremonies.

These degrees are conferred upon those who have been seen to achieve international distinction in their fields of expertise. Amongst those included this year are television personality Carol Vorderman and Welsh rugby legend Gerald Davies.

This award follows on from Davies's recent nomination for an OBE in the Queen's honours.

For more information see the University's details on the awards, and reports from The South Wales Echo and This is Swansea.

FILTER: - People - Russell T Davies

DW Specials Transmission Update

Friday, 11 July 2008 - Reported by DWNP Archive

Posted By John Bowman

Doctor Who's co-executive producer Julie Gardner has revealed transmission details for two of next year's specials.

And in the interview in today's Daily Telegraph about the show's future, the head of drama for BBC Wales says the cutback in 2009 is a good thing for the programme.

She says: "Aside from Series Five, which will have a full 13 episodes and transmit in 2010, we are making four one-hour specials. The first, which we've already filmed, will go out this Christmas. The next will go out the following Easter. The other specials have yet to be scheduled, although one will definitely be on at Christmas 2009."

In the interview, Gardner says: "The reduced schedule for 2009 acknowledges the fact that the show should continue not just for another one or two years, but for another five or 10. It needs to be nurtured, loved and looked after."

The article states that Russell T Davies is writing two of the specials and co-writing the other two. It is not revealed who the other co-writer is.

FILTER: - Production

Doctor Who Storybook - 2009

Thursday, 10 July 2008 - Reported by Marcus

The third of Panini's fully illustrated Doctor Who Storybooks is due out in August.

The Doctor and Donna travel to previously unseen times and places in this new collection of adventures, full of monsters, thrills and scares, and all illustrated in full colour. The time travellers face mythical beasts on a desert island in the company of Jason and his Argonauts, square up to a terrifying Ice Warrior in the wastes of the Arctic Circle, battle the cute-but-deadly denizens of a theme park gone mad, get tangled up in the mystery of the Bayeux Tapestry, and try to prevent an entire planet from being kidnapped.

The book contains seven brand new short stories, featuring writers from the TV series itself.

Hello Children, Everywhere, written by Paul Magrs, illustrated by Brian Williamson.
Grand Theft Planet! written by James Moran (The Fires of Pompeii), illustrated by Daryl Joyce.
Cold written by Mark Gatiss (The Unquiet Dead, The Idiot's Lantern), illustrated by Ben Willsher.
Bing Bong written by Gareth Roberts (The Shakespeare Code, The Unicorn and the Wasp) & Clayton Hickman, illustrated by Dan McDaid.
Island of the Sirens written by Keith Temple (Planet of the Ood), illustrated by Adrian Salmon.
The Puplet written by Gary Russell, illustrated by Andy Walker.
Hold Your Horses written by Nicholas Pegg, illustrated by Jon Haward & Nigel Dobbyn.

Plus there's a comic strip, The Immortal Emperor written by Jonathan Morris with art by Rob Davis, and A Letter from the Doctor as told to new showrunner Steven Moffat (The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances, The Girl in the Fireplace, Blink, Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead).

The 80-page hardback also features a new painted cover by Alister Pearson and a frontispiece by David A Roach. It's published by Panini Books and edited by Clayton Hickman.

FILTER: - Books

Stolen Earth - Final Ratings

Wednesday, 9 July 2008 - Reported by Marcus

Final figures released by BARB give episode twelve of series four, The Stolen Earth, an official rating of8.78 million viewers.

The episode was the second highest rated programme of the week, only the second time in the series' 45 year history that it has achieved such a position. The other episode to score so high was last Christmas's Voyage of the Damned.

The programme beat all the soaps for the week and was only outrated by the the European Championship Final edition of Match of the Day, which got just 60,000 more viewers.

The Sunday repeat on BBC Three was watched by 1.01 million viewers, and was the 3rd most watched programme on multi-channel for the week. The highest rated programme on multi-channel was the Saturday showing of Doctor Who Confidential which got 1.27 million viewers.

Full ratings data, including data for iPlayer downloads, can be found in the Doctor Who Forum.

Top Programmes w/e 29 June 2008

1 EURO 2008: MATCH OF THE DAY LIVE (SUN 1856) - 8.84 - BBC1
2 DOCTOR WHO (SAT 1911) - 8.78 - BBC1
3 EASTENDERS (MON 1959) - 8.61 - BBC1
4 CORONATION STREET (MON 1933) - 8.56 - ITV1
5 CORONATION STREET (FRI 2031) - 8.53 - ITV1
6 CORONATION STREET (MON 2030) - 8.46 - ITV1
7 CORONATION STREET (FRI 1934) - 8.44 - ITV1
8 EASTENDERS (FRI 2002) - 8.24 - BBC1
9 CORONATION STREET (WED 1930) - 7.66 - ITV1
10 EASTENDERS (THU 1929) - 7.42 - BBC1
11 EURO 2008: MATCH OF THE DAY LIVE (WED 1929) - 6.95 - BBC1
12 EURO 2008 LIVE (THU 1929) - 6.77 - ITV1
13 TEN O'CLOCK NEWS (WED 2200) - 6.45 - BBC1
14 EMMERDALE (MON 1902) - 6.37 - ITV1
15 EASTENDERS (TUE 1928) - 6.24 - BBC1
16 EMMERDALE (FRI 1902) - 6.13 - ITV1
17 EMMERDALE (WED 1900) - 5.98 - ITV1
18 CASUALTY (SAT 2050) - 5.88 - BBC1
19 EMMERDALE (THU 1859) - 5.85 - ITV1
20 BBC NEWS (SUN 2215) - 5.32 - BBC1

Top Programmes (Multi Channel) w/e 29 June 2008

1 DOCTOR WHO CONFIDENTIAL (Sat 1959) 1,272,000 - BBC3
2 EASTENDERS (Tue 2159) 1,201,000 - BBC3
3 DOCTOR WHO (Sun 2002) 1,009,000 - BBC3
4 60 SECONDS (Sat 1958) 876,000 - BBC3
5 HOME AND AWAY (Thu 1829) 855,000 - Fiver
6 HOME AND AWAY (Mon 1829) 767,000 - Fiver
7 EASTENDERS (Mon 2202) 758,000 - BBC3
8 HOLLYOAKS (Fri 1859) 743,000 - E4 In
9 HOME AND AWAY (Fri 1828) 727,000 - Fiver
10 SUPERNATURAL (Sun 2104) 709,000 - ITV2
11 HOME AND AWAY (Wed 1829) 694,000 - Fiver
12 HOLLYOAKS (Thu 1859) 690,000 - E4
13 HOME AND AWAY (Tue 1829) 688,000 - Five
14 AMERICA'S GOT TALENT (Fri 2102) 674,000 - ITV2
15 GLADIATORS (Sun 1800) 656,000 - Sky One
16 60 SECONDS (Sun 2001) 650,000 - BBC3
17 HOLLYOAKS (Tue 1859) 640,000 - E4
18 KATIE AND PETER: THE NEXT CHAPTER (Thu 2100) 615,000 - ITV2
19 HOLLYOAKS (Mon 1859) 599,000 - E4
20 HOLLYOAKS (Wed 1859) 596,000 - E4
Source: BARB

FILTER: - Ratings - UK - Series 4/30

Major classic series character returns in SJA

Wednesday, 9 July 2008 - Reported by Anthony Weight

The Doctor Who News Page is delighted to be able to confirm the return of a popular and much-loved character from the classic series of Doctor Who. The character appeared in many classic series stories, and will be seen in a two-part story in the next series of spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures, starring Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith.

The returning character is Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, played by Nicholas Courtney. The character - who for much of the classic series was the commanding officer of the UK branch of UNIT, and one of the Doctor's closest allies - first appeared in 1968 opposite the Second Doctor, and went on to appear in stories with the Third, Fourth, Fifth and Seventh.

Courtney has also played the Brigadier opposite the Sixth and Eighth Doctors in officially-licensed audio dramas from Big Finish Productions.

The same Sarah Jane Adventures story will also apparently see the return of the Sontarans, seen in several classic series stories and more recently in series four of Doctor Who. Samantha Bond is also believed to be returning as Mrs Wormwood, the character she played in the pilot episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures.

FILTER: - Sarah Jane

No Who in Primeval

Wednesday, 9 July 2008 - Reported by DWNP Archive

Posted By Brigadier Bill

The creators of Primeval, the British time-travel series coming to BBC America, told SCI-FI WIRE that they are trying to shake off any comparisons to the wildly popular Doctor Who.

"It's the one question I've been getting asked about the most: people comparing the show to that Doctor," Douglas Henshall, who stars as an evolutionary zoologist who deals with creatures from the past and the future, said in an interview at the Television Critics Association's press tour in Beverly Hills, Calif., this week.

Of course, comparisons with that other British SF series are inevitable: Primeval counts among its writing staff Paul Cornell, who wrote for the newDoctor Who TV series and authored more than a dozen novels about the Doctor and his companion, Bernice Summerfield.

But don't expect any crossovers with Doctor Who. "No, absolutely not will we have a Doctor Who character pop in on Primeval," producer/writer Tim Haines insisted. "They have very different worlds and realities. Anything can happen on Doctor Who."

The world of Primeval is more reality based, said co-creator Adrian Hodges. But he admitted that he was tempted to sneak in a few Doctor references or inside jokes. "Every time I was tempted to even put in a vague Who reference, I stopped myself," Hodges said. "The worlds are very different. ... At one point, we considered a sly Doctor reference when someone got angry at another character and threw a box set of Doctor Who at them, but we thought not."