The BBC have officially confirmed today that the actor James Corden will be reprising his role as Craig Owens - the Doctor's landlord from last year's episode The Lodger.

Though unconfirmed, this is believed to be for a forthcoming episode to be filmed that has been written by Gareth Roberts, who also penned Craig's previous appearance in the series. Roberts was a guest at last weekend's Gallifrey One convention, and during a live commentary for The Lodger was reported as saying that his new episode would begin filming "in a week" (i.e. from next week).


The news comes after a tweet was posted yesterday unofficially revealing that Corden would be coming back to Doctor Who: "They're filming Doctor Who with James Corden the whole 2nd week of March on my street. Just saying."

Back at the beginning of the month, David Walliams revealed that he would be appearing in an episode of the next series of Doctor Who; more details have now been released regarding his role by the BBC and other media outlets:
Further casting details for episodes have been revealed through agencies over the course of February.

Spotlight lists a number of guest stars under the direction of Peter Hoar. Actress Frances Barber plays a character named Kovarian; recent roles include Elizabeth in the BBC Christmas Tale Nativity, and Janice in ITV's The Fattest Man in Britain. Christina Chong plays Lorna Bucket - she will feature as an Interpreter in the forthcoming film sequel, Johnny English Reborn. Meanwhile, Joshua Hayes takes on his first television role as a character named Lucas.
Actor Geoffrey Burton has been listed as "Nasa Man" - though no director has been listed, this credit would seem to tie in with the American-themed opening two-parter for the series written by Steven Moffat and directed by Toby Haynes. Burton is better known for stage roles, but has appeared in Law and Order and Family Affairs.

Michael Begley has been listed as appearing as Mulligan in the just finished episode three written by Steve Thompson and directed by Jeremy Webb (coverage below); the actor has recently featured as Mark the hospital chaplain in Being Human, and as Orson in the revived Minder.
Mark Jermin Management has also listed two child actors to appear in roles this series.

Edmond Moulton appeared in the two-part story written by Matthew Graham and directed by Julian Simpson, playing a character named Adam.

Oscar Lloyd's character has yet to be revealed; he appeared in the BBC's Lark Rise to Candleford as the original Sidney, and has since been prominent as Will Wylde in ITV's Emmerdale.

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In Production

After the media-intensive, public-friendly filming for Doctor Who in Charlestown at the beginning of the month, February has since seen the production crew retreat from sight back into studio and other private locations to continue work on the Steve Thompson-penned episode three.

Though 'over the horizon', Hugh Bonneville continued to regale us with tweets on the 'high seas' during the course of his filming schedule:

07 19:07 Skulduggery on the high seas was knackering today.
         Talk about poop-decked. Well done crew.
08 12:00 *gallops up hill on charger, grabs fluttering flag, brandishes it aloft*
         BRING BACK #JustWilliam #BBC !
08 12:08 I get about *gallops off towards Tardis, horse gets wedged in Police Box door,
         hat falls off*
08 17:58 Am having a fab time running around the Tardis at the mo. 
         Congrats on the wonderful body of work. Hx 
08 22:47 me gunwales have been awash with them pirates. And none of them rinse.
08 22:53 My buckle has never felt so swashed. Having fabblass time thanks. 
         It's Dr Who - what's not to love?!
09 07:40 I'm here all weak, folks.
09 09:56 Today is a load of old bilge water. In a good way. 
12 13:54 Thanks to Steven Moffat & the brilliant #DrWho crew for a fantastic fortnight
         on the high seas. #BeardGone #ColdFace
12 14:51 Steven Moffat: What, you've shaved ALREADY??  What if we've forgotten a bit??
12 15:01 Hugh Bonneville: Too bad, land-lubber! Mwahahaha *sets sail for horizon*
12 15:03 Hugh Bonneville: Some pirates are extremely fast. I'm one of them.
         I came top in my class at Pirate Academy.
12 15:35 Steven Moffat: That's not the horizon, shipmate.
         That's the CONVENTION CIRCUIT.
12 15:38 Hugh Bonneville: yikes!

Work on the episode continued until Tuesday last week, as reported by Director of Photography Dale McCready:

13 22:46 last two days shooting on this show, it's been a nice short blast. 
15 20:18 Wrapped tonight on a fun show with a lovely crew.
         Start tomorrow planning and scheming for Merlin IV | 

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Next Time ...

Production on the next block is now under way, with a base being set up in Porthcawl this weekend in readiness for filming.

The BBC's Doctor Who website has confirmed that actress and model Lily Cole will appear in the forthcoming series. The site says that Cole will play "a mysterious creature that haunts a pirate ship", indicating that she will appear in the current episode being filmed, opposite Hugh Bonneville as Avery.

Cole became famous as a model, but in recent years has appeared in films including St. Trinian's and The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus.

The story of her casting was first reported by The Sun, which interpreted her "sea creature" role somewhat creatively.

This week saw the cast and crew descend upon Charlestown in Cornwall, where filming was to take place aboard one of the square rigger sailing ships docked at the Georgian harbour. The four day shoot generated a lot of local interest, with the latter days seeing the media and hundreds of fans watching on for glimpses of the series stars in action!

As recently reported, the episode being shot includes guest stars Hugh Bonneville as the "Pirate Captain", and Lee Ross as the "Boatswain", both of which joined Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill for the shoot.

The actor David Walliams has revealed that he will appearing in a forthcoming episode of the next series of Doctor Who.

Speaking on the Chris Evans Breakfast Show this morning, when asked about which franchises he'd like to be in, the actor said:
(he also mentioned his Comic Relief projects including a spoof band Fake That for which he would include Catherine Tate (portraying a man) and David Tennant in the cast if he could!)

The interview is available to hear on the BBC's iplayer service (from 2:34:35) for the next seven days. BBC Radio 2 have also made the studio webcam recording of the segment available via their YouTube channel:




Walliams is a professed Doctor Who fan, and leant his vocal talents for Big Finish's audio adventure Phantasmagoria. He also appeared in a number of sketches alongside Mark Gatiss for BBC2's Doctor Who Night in 1999, and in December 2008 newspapers reported the odds on him replacing David Tennant as the Doctor dropping to 8-1.

Christmas last year also saw a Dalek checking in at FlyLo Airlines in trails for the Walliams/Lucas mockumentary Come Fly With Me.

Silva Screen have released the cover art and tracklisting for the soundtrack to A Christmas Carol. The album was originally due to be released in the UK on 21 February but has now been delayed until 21 March.


The music is composed by now Doctor Who composer of choice Murray Gold and performed by the excellent BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Crouch End Festival Chorus. The album will be released both physically (SILCD1360) and digitally (SILED1360). The TV episode was broadcast on Christmas Day at 6pm and featured Matt Smith as The Doctor, Karen Gillan as Amy Pond and Arthur Darvill as Rory Williams. They were joined by Michael Gambon as Kazran Sardick and Katherine Jenkins as Abigail Pettigrew.

Agency Gordon & French have listed Danny Sapani as appearing in episode seven of the next series, playing a character named Colonel Manton.

The actor appeared in The Bill as Oscar Danniels in the Witness strand, and more recently played probation officer Tony Morecombe in Misfits and Gustavus Vassa in an episode of Garrow's Law.

Gordon & French have also listed another actor for episode three, Lee Ross, playing the character "Boatswain".

Ross's Who connections include Mick Mahoney in the recent Moses Jones (featuring Matt Smith), and also as Kenny in Steven Moffat's popular Press Gang of the late 1980s. The actor also had prominent roles as DCI Litton in Ashes to Ashes, and was semi-regular character Owen between 2006 and 2009 in Eastenders.

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As reported last week, work has commenced on episode three, directed by Jeremy Webb, and the cast and crew have descended upon the harbour of Charlestown near St. Austell, Cornwall, where they will be filming for a few days.


A title has now been attributed to episode seven, thanks to the Spotlight entry for guest star Simon Fisher-Becker. As with others that have emerged over the last few months, this may only be a working title for the episode (see the series summary for details).

Finally, another director for the series has been identified as Nick Hurran, at least according to details listed under Production Designer Michael Pickwoad; Hurran recently directed the remake of The Prisoner, and also directed the pilot episode for The Last Detective (starring former Doctor, Peter Davison). He joins fellow director Adam Smith in being listed but having not been seen in action thus far - episodes 8,10-13 have yet to be recorded.

The BBC has released some details about the upcoming series of Doctor Who, featuring Matt Smith - seen here from the new series trailer as the Doctor chained and sporting a considerable beard.

The actor commented:
It's also been confirmed that Smith has filmed special scenes, scripted by show runner Steven Moffat for the new interactive exhibition opening at London's Olympia next month, the Doctor Who Experience.

Casting directory Spotlight have listed Annabel Cleare as appearing in episode seven of the currently filming series of Doctor Who. Primarily in theatre, she has also appeared on television, mainly in documentary style programmes such as JFK Revealed for Channel 4 and The Real Atlantis for BBC2, and also a Home Fries Chips commercial!

The actress confirmed the role on Twitter, which also indicated that her young son Henry would also be appearing in the episode, though she described their roles as 'small'! Henry himself has appeared in a number of commercials and short films.


Another tweet from Tuesday this week revealed a further piece of casting news: "My friend says her twins did their filming for Doctor Who today and were held by Matt. Bless. She said they'll feature strongly"
The Sun reported this morning that actor Hugh Bonneville would be appearing in the series, appearing as a "Pirate Captain". The Downton Abbey actor subsequently confirmed this himself later when he tweeted:

09:02 No idea what the weather's like on earth this day in 2011
      because I am elsewhere, IN THE ACTUAL TARDIS ACTUALLY

Though he joked about with Downton Abbey co-star Dan Stevens, he also confirmed the usual policy that guest stars follow when working on Doctor Who!

12:05 *pokes head out of Tardis* What's going on here? 
      Dan you HAVE to do this one not that one. *shuts door*
13:09 *serious face* won't be posting pics from set or revealing 
      story so pls don't ask. Am guesting as pirate Cpt
14:38 Secrecy is so tight on this show that the crew wear 
      black balaclavas and only answer to the name Colin.

The BBC's Doctor Who site included a bit more on the casting, including comments from the actor himself:

Update: Hugh Bonneville's character has been named as 'Avery' on his Gordon and French CV, and this also reports the director for this episode (three) as Jeremy Webb (a regular director on Merlin).

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Meanwhile filming for the series has continued for episodes seven and three, with the cast and crew being spotted at the Millennium Stadium and Laguna Health and Spa in Cardiff centre on Wednesday 20th January, and during the course of this week at the Fillcare Ltd plant (formerly L'Oreal) at Talbot Green, Mid Glamorgan.



Next week, it has been reported that the cast and crew travel out of Wales to Cornwall, descending on the coastal town of St. Austell and filming in the Charlestown area of the town.

ABC in Australia have confirmed they plan to screen the 2011 series of Doctor Who shortly after the series is screened in the UK.

The plan was confirmed by Brendan Dahill, Network Programmer for ABC1, in an interview with TV Tonight.

The Christmas Special was shown in Australia on Boxing Day evening, less than 24 hours after it made its début on BBC One in the UK.

BBC America has also indicated it will screen the 2011 series within hours of its UK broadcast.