The future of animated episodes

Sunday, 29 April 2007 - Reported by Chuck Foster

Daniel Hall, commissioning editor for DVD publisher 2Entertain, has recently made an announcement concerning the future for animated episodes of Doctor Who. Speaking on the Restoration Team's Technical Forum, he stated: "After due consideration and for the foreseeable future, we are withdrawing from co-commissioning and co-producing any "classic" Doctor Who animations. I feel our energies will be better spent working on existing stories. With the New Series such a success, and the forthcoming animations for Totally Doctor Who, the BBC is in a far superior position to develop this idea. After all, the original commission of The Invasion came from them."

Having recently made a request for animators to get in touch with them, 2Entertain have now said that they will pass any details on to the BBC. Says Hall: "Please continue to express your support for this excellent and innovative idea. The quality of creative response from my earlier post was thrilling, and bodes well for the future possibilities of animated stories."





FILTER: - Classic Series - Blu-ray/DVD

Evolution - Overnight Ratings

Sunday, 29 April 2007 - Reported by Marcus
Unofficial overnight figures show that Evolution of the Dalekswas watched by 6.5 million viewers.

The programme was the second most watched for the day, being beaten byCasualty, which benefited from a later time slot. It was however the top rated show by share.

The programme also has the highest quarter-hour peak audience of the evening, with 7.3 million watching between 1915 and 1930. It comfortably beat its direct opposition on ITV1, Vernon Kay's Gameshow Marathon, which managed just over half of theDoctor Who audience.

Doctor Who dominated the children's chart with 1.4 million under 16s watching, a massive 64% share. This compares with BBC One's average children's share for the day of 18%.

On BBC Three Doctor Who Confidential was watched by 0.58 millionviewers and was the second most watched programme on multichannel television.

Final figures will be published by BARB in around 10 days time.






FILTER: - Ratings - UK - Series 3/29

Confidential Update

Sunday, 29 April 2007 - Reported by Jarrod Cooper

Doctor Who Confidential has released more information about the upcoming episodes for series 3.
6. Monsters Inc. - An episode of Doctor Who just wouldn't be the same without a monster to scare the living daylights out of you!

The creation of such a beast is never easy - especially when it's purely computer generated!

Confidential is on set throughout this chilling episode, spends some quality time with guest star Mark Gatiss and takes a look at some of the fantastic prosthetic and computer generated monsters created since the series made its welcomed come-back in 2005.

7. Space Craft - It's back into outer space for Doctor Who and this time it's an adventure set entirely on a spaceship.

Join Confidential as we gain exclusive access to Doctor Who's art department and take you on a tour of the spaceship's sets and locations. Confidential also journeys back in time to show you some of the best off the wall spaceship designs seen in five decades.

Guest star Michelle Collins discusses her role as the ship's captain, and how she felt performing stunts on her very first day on set.

From models on wires to cutting edge CGI, this is a space craft extravaganza.

8.Alter Ego - With aliens in hot pursuit, the Doctor and Martha find themselves in 1913 England.

Confidential is right beside them to delve deeper into the alter ego of the nation's favourite Time Lord.

Amidst all the stiff upper lips, we follow the advancing 'aliens' and their army, with exclusive backstage footage of the mayhem caused as the outer-space enemies close in on their prey.

Filmed almost entirely on location, Confidential was on-set with cast and crew in the winter wind, rain and mud for the nail-biting first episode of this two-part story.

Features interviews with writer Paul Cornell, whose original novel forms the basis of Human Nature, David Tennant and Freema Agyeman.

9. Family Ties - With The Family of Blood breathing down the neck of the Doctor, time is running out.

Confidential follows the action backstage as we glimpse a life more ordinary (for the Doctor) as well as a vision of the dark future ahead.

The complexities of filming this powerful episode are revealed, as well as the logistics behind the explosive ending.

Features interviews with head writer, Russell T Davies and Freema Aygeman on one of her toughest TARDIS assignments yet.

10. Do you remember the first time? - This week, David Tennant directs his very own Doctor Who Confidential. TV's top Time Lord has been given complete control to film his own very personal account of the making of Doctor Who and to take a nostalgic voyage of discovery to find out the secret behind the success of Doctor Who.

In this unique piece of television, David roams around the BBC, talking to cast and crew and fans of the show, uncovering the secret behind the success of Doctor Who.

From BBC bosses through to the Dead Ringers team, David is hunting for what makes Doctor Who so magical. He chats to the Daleks in the Blue Peter Garden, and discusses with Mark Gatiss the joy of playing a Doctor Who monster in the Lazarus Experiment.

Head writer, Russell T Davies and producer, Phil Collinson chat with David about how they've always had such fondness for the show and how it inspired their creative drive. Executive producer Julie Gardner and drama commissioner Jane Tranter reveal how and why the series was brought back and the unprecedented response it's had.

Stephen Moffat joins David on a hunt around Television Centre, looking for the studios where the classic series was filmed. They end up on the set of Newsnight.

Confidential also features exclusive backstage footage of Blink; one of the scariest episodes to date and candid chats with two of the week's most prominent stars, Carey Mulligan and Finlay Robertson who talk to David about their experience working on the show and on becoming part of the Doctor Who legacy.




FILTER: - Series 3/29 - Broadcasting

Week Six Schedule

Saturday, 28 April 2007 - Reported by Marcus
For the transmission of episode six, The Lazarus ExperimentDoctor Who moves back to a 7pm start. It is once more placed between The People's Quiz and Any Dream Will Do.

ITV1 counters with Vernon Kay's Gameshow Marathon, this week recreating Name that Tune.

Over on BBC2 there is more Snooker with the second semi-final of the World Championships while on Channel 4 there is a documentary series,Unreported World, a look at land reform to help Bolivia's indigenous peoples.

Five has the 1993 film Grumpy Old Men, starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau




FILTER: - Series 3/29 - Broadcasting

Friday Overnight Ratings

Saturday, 28 April 2007 - Reported by Marcus
The third showing of Daleks in Manhattan was watched by 388,000viewers on BBC Three, making it the 8th most watched programme on multichannel television for the day.

Doctor Who Confidential had 308,000 viewers.

On BBC1, Totally Doctor Who suffered from an earlier start time and achieved an overnight rating of 0.5 million viewers, a 7.6% share of the audience.






FILTER: - Ratings - UK - Series 3/29

Doctor Who sweeps Welsh BAFTAs

Saturday, 28 April 2007 - Reported by Anthony Weight

Doctor Who has dominated the BAFTA Cymru Awards for the second year in succession, winning eight of the thirteen categories in which it was nominated. As reported earlier this month on Outpost Gallifrey, both Doctor Who and its spin-off series Torchwood were nominated for a slew of the awards, given by the Welsh branch of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, which celebrates achievements by Welsh productions for the big and small screens.

The winners were announced at a ceremony held in the Cardiff International Arena this evening. Doctor Who won the categories for Best Actor (David Tennant), Best Screenwriter (Russell T Davies), best lighting director - not camera (Mark Hutchings); best editor (Crispin Green); best original music soundtrack (Murray Gold); best make-up (Sheelagh WellsNeill Gorton); best costume (Louise Page), and best director: drama (Graeme Harper).

However, the series lost out to Torchwood for Best Drama, with the spin-off also picking up the Best Actress award (Eve Myles), best director of photography: drama (Mark Waters), and best design (Edward Thomas).

In the BBC News report, Controller of BBC Wales Menna Richards is quoted as saying: "I'm very proud indeed of the success of all those who've made such wonderful programmes for BBC Wales. It's great to see BAFTA Cymru recognising the talents of all those who make programmes of the highest possible standards."

(Thanks to Graham Brown.)





FILTER: - Murray Gold - Awards/Nominations - Series 2/28

Series Three Air Date In US

Friday, 27 April 2007 - Reported by DWNP Archive

The Sci Fi Channel has announced it will start airing Series Three ofDoctor Who in the USA fromJuly 6 at 9pm.Outpost Gallifrey reported four days ago that the channel had acquired the series. The press release said Sci Fi would be showing the programme in July but a precise date was not given by the company then.

(Thanks to Scot Ferre.)





FILTER: - USA - Series 3/29 - Broadcasting

Pig Farming Helped Carnes Prepare for Role as Laszlo

Thursday, 26 April 2007 - Reported by R Alan Siler

The Daily Record is currently featuring an interview with American actorRyan Carnes, best known for his role as Justin in Desperate Housewives, about his experience under heavy pig makeup as Laszlo inDaleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks.

Ryan had many years of research for the role under his belt even before being approached for it - he grew up on a pig farm: "It's ironic as my father and grandfather raised pigs until around the time I was 10. I used to help feed and call the pigs daily. And to make this part even more spooky, I grew up in Pike County, Illinois, which at one time was the 'pork capital of the world'. So playing a pig after working on a pig farm in the world capital of pigs is all very strange."

Ryan was not a fan of Doctor Who or of science fiction, but he says he "didn't have to really think too hard about taking the role" as he was familiar with the show's global appeal: "I wasn't a fan, but I'd known about it because a friend of mine had a Doctor Who pinball machine in his basement when I was a teenager, so that was my first introduction as an American."

Ryan also talks about the isolation of being under that much makeup, his desire to become an action figure, and his newfound respect for the Daleks.




FILTER: - People - Series 3/29 - Press

Gridlock - Final Ratings

Wednesday, 25 April 2007 - Reported by Marcus
Figures released by BARB show that episode three, Gridlock, achieved a final official rating of 8.41 Million viewers, making it the7th most watched programme on British television for the week.

The programme was the BBC's second highest rated programme, beating all but Monday's edition of EastEnders. The only other programme to beat it was ITV1's soap Coronation Street.

On multichannel television, the Sunday BBC Three repeat gained0.83 million viewers and was the 4th most watched programme.

Saturday's Confidential was 19th with 0.58 Million in the multichannel charts, and Sunday's Confidential repeat got 0.47 million making it 34th in the list.

Finally the Friday repeat of The Shakespeare Code was watched by 0.53 Million, making it the 26th most watched programme.

Final figures are accepted as the industry standard, being much more accurate than the initial overnights. They include viewers who record the programme and watch it within seven days.

Top Twenty Programmes (w/e 15th April 2007)

1 CORONATION STREET (MON 1934) - 10.96 - ITV1
2 CORONATION STREET (MON 2030) - 10.83 - ITV1
3 CORONATION STREET (FRI 1935) - 9.91 - ITV1
4 CORONATION STREET (SUN 1930) - 9.63 - ITV
5 CORONATION STREET (WED 1930) - 9.33 - ITV1
6 EASTENDERS (MON 2000) - 9.11 - BBC1
7 DOCTOR WHO (SAT 1940) - 8.41 - BBC1
8 EMMERDALE (MON 1903) - 8.33 - ITV1
9 EASTENDERS (FRI 2001) - 8.30 - BBC1
10 THE ROYAL (SUN 2001) - 8.05 - ITV1
11 FOYLE'S WAR (SUN 2105) - 7.89 - ITV1
12 EMMERDALE (TUE 1900) - 7.77 - ITV1
13 EASTENDERS (THU 1930) - 7.64 - BBC1
14 NEW TRICKS (MON 2100) - 7.58 - BBC1
15 EASTENDERS (TUE 1930) - 7.56 - BBC1
16 LIFE ON MARS (TUE 2059) - 7.44 - BBC1
17 EMMERDALE (FRI 1903) - 7.39 - ITV1
18 EMMERDALE (THU 1900) - 7.39 - ITV1
19 EMMERDALE (SUN 1903) - 7.24 - ITV1
20 EMMERDALE (WED 1858) - 7.05 - ITV1

Top Twenty MultiChannel TV

1 LIVE FA CUP FOOTBALL (Sun 1530) 1,503,000 - Sky Sports
2 LOST (Sun 2200) 1,094,000 - Sky 1
3 UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE LIVE (Tue 1929) 1,088,000 - ITV4
4 DOCTOR WHO (Sun 2001) 826,000 - BBC3 
5 EASTENDERS (Tue 2159) 772,000 - BBC3
6 UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE LIVE (Wed 1900) 755,000 - Sky Sports
7 DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES (Wed 2300) 707,000 - E4
8 FILM: INDEPENDENCE DAY (1996) (Fri 2100) 693,000 - Film4
9 LIVE FOOTBALL LEAGUE (Mon 1710) 687,000 - Sky Sports
10 EASTENDERS (Thu 2200) 685,000 - BBC3
11 BONES (Thu 2100) 677,000 - Sky 1
12 34 STONE TEENAGER: SIX MONTHS ON (Sun 2101) 627,000 - BBC3
13 SUPERNATURAL (Sun 2105) 617,000 - ITV2
14 AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL (Mon 2100) 608,000 - Living TV
15 AMERICAN IDOL (Fri 2134) 600,000 - ITV2
16 UGLY BETTY (Wed 2101) 596,000 - E4
17 FILM: JAWS (Fri 2154) 593,000 - ITV3
18 AMERICAN IDOL (Fri 2031) 585,000 - ITV2
19 DOCTOR WHO CONFIDENTIAL (Sat 2026) 581,000 - BBC3
20 FORD MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL (Mon 1930) 562,000 - Sky Sports

Source BARB




FILTER: - Ratings - UK - Series 3/29

Season Three Releases Update

Tuesday, 24 April 2007 - Reported by Jarrod Cooper

Doctor Who Magazine has announced another vanilla release for season three. As previously reported, Volume One will be released on May 21st and will include Smith and JonesThe Shakespeare Code, and Gridlock. The second volume will be released on June 18th and will include Daleks in ManhattanEvolution of the Daleks and The Lazarus Experiment. The remaining volumes will be released later in the year, with a box set for the whole series being released in the autumn.




FILTER: - Series 3/29 - Blu-ray/DVD