Australian overnight ratings for The Woman Who Lived & final ratings for Before

Monday, 26 October 2015 - Reported by Adam Kirk

The Woman Who Lived has debuted in Australia, averaging 493,000 viewers in the five major capital cities. It was the highest rating ABC drama of the day and the thirteenth highest rating program of the day overall. These ratings do not include iview, regional or time-shifted viewers.

Meanwhile, including time-shifted viewers, Before the Flood averaged 660,000 consolidated viewers in the five major capital cities. With 152,000 extra viewers, it was the highest time-shifted program of the day (the second highest time-shifted program had an extra 134,000 viewers) and the fifteenth highest rating program of the day overall. These ratings do not include iview or regional viewers.

Media Links: TV Tonight (The Woman Who Lived ratings); TV Tonight (Before the Flood ratings)

FILTER: - Australia - Broadcasting - Ratings - Series 9/35

The Woman Who Lived - Press Reaction

Sunday, 25 October 2015 - Reported by Marcus

This item Contains Plot Spoilers

Press reaction to The Woman Who Lived is in with many reviewers picking up on the episodes theme of the curse of imortality. The Telegraph thought it was a stand out episode. "In the world of Doctor Who, immortality is an everyday topic. But this episode showed how, in reality, it would be a nightmare. To watch your lovers, your friends, your family and your children die, to witness every human disaster – the loss would be almost too tough to bear, at least while retaining one’s sense of humanity."

The Metro also picked up on the immortality theme. "Ashildr has become Me, an immortal, linear traveller through time, experiencing horrors on both a broad and a personal scale, such as losing her children to the Black Death. She is what the Doctor might have become had he not had human companions to ground him and remind him, as he tells her, ‘how beautiful and precious life is because it’s fleeting".

The Guardian enjoyed the lighter moments of the story. "Capaldi once again proves that he’s a lot better as “Funny Doctor” than he was as “Dark Doctor” last year; overcoming his aversion to punning in order to buy valuable time. And as his verbal sparring partner Sam Swift the Quick, Rufus Hound brings the same infectious glow of an actor clearly having the time of his life that Frank Skinner did last year. And since he may or not now be Me’s immortal companion, there’s plenty of scope for a return."

Radio Times while finding the episode a "dark and beautiful study of immortality and short lives", is not so sure about the character. "Sam Swift the Quick, who flounders around, delaying his hanging with mucky innuendo. He’s likeable as a one-off but now could be another immortal. Who knows what’s being set up there – I wouldn’t mourn if we never see him again."

The Independent found the episode very character driven, mainly at the expense of the plot. "The extraterrestrial lion king didn’t really make much of an impression, either from a design standpoint or as a particularly interesting villain. His plot was so by-the-numbers it barely warranted a couple of lines of dialogue and the inevitable ‘I’m invading you after all’ turnaround was so predictable it veered on the schlocky."

Digital Spy also felt the episode didn't quite hold together. "Where the episode fumbles is in its attempts to meld all of this with a broad, comic adventure, replete with bumbling guards, bungled robberies and a fire-breathing humanoid lion.The mix of moody introspection and historical romp doesn't quite gel, though Tregenna's script settles down in time to deliver a mostly satisfying final act, hinging on the fate of rival highwayman Sam Swift (a terrific, if underused, Rufus Hound)."

Author Catherine Tregenna wins plaudits from Den of Geek. "Catherine Tregenna is an ideal author of this week's script. She's already written for the near-immortal (in, surely, every sense) Captain Jack Harkness in Torchwood several times. Here, she's given the time and space to put at the heart of her episode a dissection of what that immortality means".

IGN felt the episode balanced the lightweight and humorous with some more heavy moments. "The Doctor reads Me’s journals, only to find ripped out pages -- and tear stains -- which reflects the horror that he has inflicted upon her in his attempt to do a good thing. Me’s recollection of her past lives is heartbreaking.". Mashable also picks up on the journals "Catherine Tregenna, takes us into the ineffable sadness of Me's journals, dotted with tears and ripped pages. And she takes us into the even worse sadness, that Me can't remember everything that happened to her, or the names she used."

TV.Com remarked on the absence of the Doctor's companion for much of the episode. "Over the years, Doctor Who has featured Doctor- and companion-lite episodes as a means of completing production on time and budget. It was often successful, especially in terms of say, "Midnight" or "The Lodger." Whether this episode was mostly Clara-less for production reasons, I have no idea, but it was a necessary episode story-wise."

Meanwhile TV Fanatic relished the mention of a former stalwart of the series. "I loved hearing Capaldi mention Captain Jack Harkness. If there's one character I'd love to see back, it's Captain Jack. "

You can read the Doctor Who News review in our reviews section.

FILTER: - Press - Series 9/35

The Woman Who Lived: Overnight Viewing Figures

Sunday, 25 October 2015 - Reported by Marcus

4.34 million viewers watched Doctor Who: The Woman Who Lived, according to unofficial overnight viewing figures.

Doctor Who has an average share of 20% of the total TV audience as was third for the day. Top for the day was Strictly Come Dancing which had an average of 9.32 million watching. ITV had 6.55 million watching The X Factor, which was scheduled directly opposite Doctor Who.

Casualty was pushed below 4 million with 3.95 million watching.

Final ratings will be issued next week, which will be based on the exact transmission time for the episode and will include those who record it and watch it later.

FILTER: - Ratings - Series 9/35 - UK

K9: TimeQuake

Saturday, 24 October 2015 - Reported by Chuck Foster

K9Official have announced plans to take K9 to the big screen:

"Move over R2D2 and C3PO"......

K9, the World's most famous robot dog traverses the dimensions of space and time to become the latest robot star of the big screen!

Having made his TV debut nearly forty years ago in the 1977 Doctor Who TV serial "The Invisible Enemy" K9 went on to become one of the most iconic characters from the BBC series.

A new look high tech K9 for today's cinema is being prepared for film stardom.

The film "K9-TIMEQUAKE" has been written by one of K9's original creators; Bob Baker, a renowned writer of classic Doctor Who serials. Bob went on to co-write with Nick Park the Oscar and Bafta winning Wallace & Gromit series of film shorts as well as the feature film Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

The new K9 will be appearing in a Multi-Million Dollar movie which promises to be a great action adventure set in deep Space. The film will be full of dashing heroes and heroines, Androids, monstrous Aliens and an ultimate foe who will also be familiar to Doctor Who fans everywhere; the megalomaniac OMEGA.

The film is to be a UK co-production with exteriors filmed overseas and studio work planned for the UK.

K9 is the perfect character to star in a movie with a whole new bunch of action heroes making this a home grown Star Wars come Guardians of the Galaxy style cinema must see film.

The film is currently slated for release in 2017 which will be K9's fortieth birthday!

The producers told Doctor Who News:

Bob and Paul are very excited about the project and having Omega in the Movie will bring a great new dimension to both characters as K9 faces his greatest challenge. The names of the Director and principle cast will be released in the new year. Regular updates will be posted over the next few months.

Competition

To be in with a chance to win a copy of the book The Essential Book of K9, courtesy of the authors, simply answer the following question:

In the television series, who was the original creator of K9?

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-k9essential@doctorwhonews.net with the subject "Affirmative!". The competition is open world-wide, closing date: 8th November 2015. Only one entry per household will be accepted.

FILTER: - Competitions - K9 - Movies

The Woman Who Lived: Behind the Scenes

Saturday, 24 October 2015 - Reported by Chuck Foster

The BBC have released a number of videos going behind the scenes on the latest episode of Doctor Who, The Woman Who Lived:

Stand and deliver or stand up
#RufusCam: Caught on camera
#RufusCam: Village people
#RufusCam: Take 2
#RufusCam: Quickfire quiz for Maisie
#RufusCam: Maisie's work experience
Life as Me
Me and Ashildr

The Woman Who Lived: Official TV Trailer
Introduction to The Woman Who Lived
Steven's teaser to The Woman Who Lived

FILTER: - Series 9/35

Nothing At The End Of The Lane - Issue 4

Friday, 23 October 2015 - Reported by Chuck Foster

The fourth issue of the magazine of Doctor Who research and restoration, Nothing At The End Of The Lane, will be published on Sunday 25th October.

In this edition:

Are We The Daleks? In a Nothing at the End of the Lane exclusive, we present a set of production design sketches unseen for over 50 years from the production of the first Dalek story in 1963. Drawn by Ray Cusick’s design assistant, Jeremy Davies, they reveal some of the early abandoned concepts for the famous creatures as well as how the end design gradually developed.
An Unearthly Studio: With the aid of existing archival material, Philip Newman examines in detail Peter Brachacki’s production design for the very first episode, An Unearthly Child and how things were subtly changed between the original pilot and the final recording several weeks later. The article is illustrated with CG recreations of the original studio layout by Rob Semenoff.
A Narrative of the Life of Peter Brachacki: To accompany the article on An Unearthly Child Philip Newman, with the aid of the Brachacki family, looks at the life of Doctor Who’s first production designer and how a man who had found himself imprisoned in Dachau concentration camp during the Second World War came to work at the BBC
Going on the Record – The History of Doctor Who Drama on Vinyl: In the 14 years between 1965 and 1979, several attempts were made to convert Doctor Who into a commercially available audio format. These ranged from the adaptation of existing television soundtracks to the creation of brand new adventures and whilst some ideas made it to the record shelves, others faded into obscurity. What was Dr. Who’s Diary and the Kinster project? What changes were made to The Pescatons prior to recording? How did the BBC scupper Argo’s plans to release a second Doctor Who LP in March 1977? We reveal all...
Regeneration? What Regeneration?: In August 2013, an early draft of Episode 4 of The Tenth Planet was discovered in Kit Pedler’s personal archive – one that was written before the concept of regeneration was introduced to the programme. What were the differences? We find out?
My Dad...Mervyn Pinfield: For many years, little was known about the programme’s first-ever associate producer. We talk to Mervyn’s son, Mike, about his father’s life and work.
Bob’s Fantasy Factory: Richard Molesworth looks at The Fantasy Factory, the script that Robert Holmes originally wrote for Episode 13 of The Trial of a Time Lord, completed shortly before his death and featuring a matrix inhabited by Jack the Ripper, the Duke of Clarence and the Doctor plunging to his death in the Thames... Illustrated by Lee Sullivan.
Are You My Mummy? Creature supervisor Dave Bonneywell takes us through his photographic record of the work done creating The Foretold from Mummy on the Orient Express.
The Repository of Incredible Things: Our ten-page feature provides a pictorial showcase of some of the many props, models and storyboards from the series that have made their way into private collections – from The Keys of Marinus through to Evolution of the Daleks.
Trouble in Store: For the first time, we present the full outline to the unused Second Doctor story, The Big Store, as Andrew Pixley looks at how the idea ultimately metamorphosed into The Faceless Ones. Illustrated by Lee Sullivan.

Plus:

We look at what is known about a First Doctor story that would have featured a new alien race, the Daggits.
What survives from the original abandoned recording of The Dead Planet?
We speak to Barry Letts’ secretary, Sarah Newman who tells us how Spike Milligan came to submit a script entitled Captain Scarlet’s Left Sock...
We talk to the programme’s first costume designer, Maureen Heneghan-Tripp as to what her inspirations where when working on the pilot episode.
How the lost TARDIS scene from Terror of the Zygons came to be recovered – twice!
Fantastic Facts and Memory Lane return!
And lots of other interesting stuff!

The full colour, 118 page magazine will be available to buy from the Nothing at the End of the Lane website from Sunday.

(with thanks to Richard Bignell)

FILTER: - Magazines - Production

Before the Flood - Chart Placing

Thursday, 22 October 2015 - Reported by Marcus

Doctor Who: Before the Flood, which finished with an official rating of 6.05 million viewers, has been confirmed as the 21st most watched programme of the week.

Consolidated figures give the episode a share of 26.7% of the total TV audience.

The rating issued by the Broadcasters' Audience Research Board, or BARB, includes all those who watched the programme within one week of transmission. It does not include those watching online via iPlayer

This year Barb is reporting, for the first time, a 28 day figure, which gives an indication of how many watch the programme within four weeks of the original transmission. Data for the first episode of the series, The Magician's Apprentice, gave the episode a 28 day rating of 6.84 million viewers, 300,000 more than the initial 7 day figure.

FILTER: - Ratings - Series 9/35 - UK

Dispute over Downtime DVD Release

Wednesday, 21 October 2015 - Reported by Dan Collins and Marcus

Reeltime Pictures have announced the DVD release of the spin-off adventure Downtime, a direct to video production originally released in 1995 and featuring the character of Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart, as played by the late Nicholas Courtney.

The story was devised as a sequel to the second Doctor serials involving the Great Intelligence, The Abominable Snowmen and The Web of Fear, and included the return of Victoria Waterfield and Professor Edward Travers, as played by Deborah Watling and her father Jack Watling; it also saw the return of investigative journalist Sarah Jane Smith, reprised by Elisabeth Sladen. The video was also notable in introducing the character of the Brigadier's daughther, Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, now a firm favourite in the ongoing series of Doctor Who on television.

The character of the Brigadier was created in 1968 for the story The Web of Fear, written jointly by Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln, who authorised the original video production. However plans for Reeltime to release the drama on DVD have been contested by the Executor of the Haisman Literary Estate, Haisman's granddaughter Hannah Haisman-Hatt. She posted on Facebook:

It has been brought to my attention that Reeltime Pictures and One Media are releasing Downtime, the Doctor Who spin-off film made in 1995, on DVD. This is being done so without my consent or permission. As Executor of the Haisman Literary Estate, and thus copyright holder of Lethbridge-Stewart, Professor Travers, the Great Intelligence and the Yeti I should have been approached over this.

Attempts to negotiate have fallen on deaf ears, and my rightful claim has been refuted the producers. I have now been forced to take legal action to protect the copyright of my grandfather, Mervyn Haisman, after their refusal to renegotiate an agreement made twenty years ago for a film made for straight-to-video release only.

Reeltime Pictures have disputed her claim, with a spokesman informing Doctor Who News:

Reeltime Pictures has been approached by Hannah Hatt regarding the agreement we signed with her grandfather, Mervyn, in 1995. As we explained to her, the agreement is still in force and covers any exploitation that we might choose to undertake. Certainly no other party involved in the project has raised an issue with their agreements and we have assured her that no renegotiation is necessary.

There is little else we can do at this time other than to wait upon any legal representation she might make.

This is not the first time a dispute has arisen over characters and objects created for Doctor Who. In 2013 the son of Anthony Coburn, the writer of the very first story, claimed ownership of the TARDIS.

Downtime
Starring Nicholas Courtney, Elisabeth Sladen, Deborah Watling and Jack Watling
Released by Reeltime Pictures, 16th November 2015 (pre-order)

We follow The Brigadier and Sarah Jane Smith of UNIT who investigate New World University; a sinister school run by old enemies Victoria Waterfield and Professor Travers. The technology obsessed University holds a gateway to Earth made by classic foe the Great Intelligence.

Fighting alone this time – without their famous time-travelling scientific advisor – The Brigadier and Sarah Jane are hard pressed to decide who is friend or foe as they search for a missing Locus, which binds the Intelligence’s power. The battle is broadened when the Brigadier’s own family is threatened and UNIT faces a powerful new breed of Yeti!

In addition to the film there is a second DVD containing extras which will include Behind the Lens (a behind the scenes look at the production with never before seen footage), and Post Production (a glimpse into the editing, sound and visual effects work).

FILTER: - Blu-ray/DVD

The Woman Who Lived: Publicity

Tuesday, 20 October 2015 - Reported by Chuck Foster

A roundup of publicity for the next episode in the current series of Doctor Who, The Woman Who Lived.

England, 1651. The deadly Highwayman 'The Nightmare' and his sidekick stalk the dark streets of London. But when they find loot that's not of this world, they come face to face with The Doctor.

Who is the Nightmare in league with? And can the Doctor avoid the hangman's noose and protect Earth from a devilish betrayal?

Writer / Catherine Tregenna
Director / Ed Bazalgette
Producer / Derek Ritchie
Cast / Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman

Profile images of Ashildr (Maisie Williams), Sam Swift (Rufus Hound) and Leandro (Ariyon Bakare):

The Woman Who Lived: Known Broadcast Details
United Kingdom	BBC One	Sat 24 Oct 2015	8:20pm
United States of America	BBC America	Sat 24 Oct 2015	9:00pm EDT	(1:00am GMT)
Canada	SPACE	Sat 24 Oct 2015	9:00pm EDT	(1:00am GMT)
Asia Pacific	BBC Entertainment	Sun 25 Oct 2015	10:00am SGT	(2:00am GMT)
New Zealand	PRIME	Sun 25 Oct 2015	7:30pm NZDT	(6:30am GMT)
Australia	ABC	Sun 25 Oct 2015	7:40pm AEDT	(8:40am GMT)
Europe (Benelux)	BBC First	Tue 27 Oct 2015	9:00pm CEST
United Kingdom	BBC Two	Fri 30 Oct 2015	1:45am	(British Signed Language)
Finland	YLE2	Mon 26 Oct 2015	6:05pm EEST
India	FX	Sun 1 Nov 2015	11:00pm IST
South Africa	BBC First	Sat 31 Oct 2015	7:30pm SAST
Germany	FOX	Thu 17 Dec 2015	~10:00pm CET	(dubbed into German)

BBC Trailer on YouTube
Episode Six Introduction on BBC iPlayer

FILTER: - Publicity - Series 9/35

Neville Jason 1934-2015

Monday, 19 October 2015 - Reported by Marcus

The actor Neville Jason has died at the age of 81

Neville Jason appeared in the 1978 story The Androids of Tara where he played Prince Reynart in the Key to Time story, based upon The Prisoner Of Zenda and directed by Michael Hayes.

Recalling the story he said

Michael cast me as Prince Reynart because The Prisoner Of Zenda starred Ronald Colman and Michael thought if I put on a pencil moustache I’d look like Ronald Coleman

He appeared in many UK TV Dramas, including regular roles in Emergency-Ward 10, Maigret, Barlow, The Little Ship. Armchair Thriller, Goodbye Darling and Skorpion.

His theatre credits included Publius in Titus Andronicus various roles in The Knight of the Burning Pestle and playing John Fryer in the musical Mutiny!.

In later years he recorded many audio books, including the whole of War And Peace. His recoding of Proust's Remembrance Of Things Past, which he partly translated, comes on 120 CD's.

He is survived by his wife Gillian

Neville Jason RIP - Toby Hadoke

FILTER: - Classic Series - Obituary

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