A giant straw Dalek is still dominating a section of the Cheshire countryside.



The Dalek was created for Doctor Who's Fiftieth Anniversary, at Snugburys Famous Ice Cream, a farm and dairy based in the West Midlands, known for its annual production of straw figures.

Standing at 35 feet high, the sculpture took over 700 man hours to build. It is made from 6 tons of straw, held up by a frame containing 5 tons of steel. It features moving parts and audio.

The Dalek can be seen from the Nantwich - Chester road and viewed at Park Farm in Hurleston just two miles from Nantwich, Cheshire.

A new Doctor Who pop up shop comes to Sydney later this week, giving Sydney-siders their first taste of some of the new products due to be released over the next few months.

The shop will open its doors on August 7th at 10am at Shop 9.28A World Square Shopping Centre, 644 George St, Sydney, just a few days before the new Doctor Peter Capaldi and his companion Jenna Coleman touch down in Australia as part of a major global tour to launch the new series.

This pop-up shop follows the overwhelming popularity of stores in Sydney and Brisbane last year. The first-ever Sydney Doctor Who pop-up shop saw fans queuing for up to three hours beforehand to get their hands on exclusive Doctor Who merchandise to mark the 50th anniversary of the show.

This year’s pop-up shop features new exclusive Doctor Who products not currently available on Australian shores, including exclusive design “Capaldi” polo shirts and apparel from Her Universe, including leggings, dress and t-shirts.

The Doctor Who pop-up store will also stock all things TARDIS with new products for 2014 such as iPhone 5 covers, jewellery (pictured right), a TARDIS tumbling block (pictured left) as well as aprons and melamine trays for aspiring Doctor Who chefs.

In addition, the store will feature a TARDIS photo booth allowing fans to enter the booth and have their photo taken on a choice of three backgrounds to share with friends via social media. The first 1000 customers will get a printout of their photo to take home.
Other merchandise includes the limited edition Dalek Coin, the Risk: The Dalek Invasion of Earth board game and Doctor Who party goods.

US entertainment website The Wrap is reporting that James Corden, who played one- (or, rather, two-off) companion Craig Owens during the Matt Smith era, is being eyed to replace Craig Ferguson as host of CBS late-night chat show The Late, Late Show after Ferguson departs this December, just shy of his 10th anniversary as host. CBS has yet to officially announce anyone as Ferguson's replacement.

In the US, Corden is best known for his Tony Award-winning Broadway performance in the play One Man, Two Guvnors while UK fans best know him from the sitcom Gavin & Stacey. He appeared on Doctor Who as Craig in 2010's "The Lodger," 2011's "Closing Time" and he also played Craig in the made-for-DVD prequel to "Closing Time" called "Up All Night."

Ferguson, who announced his intention to step down as host of The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson earlier this year, is a well-known Doctor Who fan, who keeps a toy TARDIS on his desk, often brings the show up in conversation with guests, hosted the Doctor Who panel at the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con, and over the past few years has interviewed Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, Alex Kingston, Jenna Coleman and Billie Piper (Smith and Gillan several times). His lyrical version of the "Doctor Who Theme" (in which he praised the show and "the triumph of intellect and romance over brute force and cynicism") went viral.

Ferguson is also a longtime friend of Peter Capaldi, who appeared on Late, Late Show in 2009 to promote the film In the Loop, having performed in a band with Ferguson in the early 1980s. It remains to be seen if Capaldi will be able to make an appearance before Ferguson departs.

CBS has so far refused to confirm or comment on the situation.

The Australian broadcaster ABC have announced on Twitter that they will simulcast the series premiere Deep Breath alongside its UK transmission. The time of the broadcast has yet to be confirmed in either country at present, though cinema presentations in the UK indicate that it is likely to be between 7:45pm and 8:00pm.

After broadcast on ABC, the episode will be available on ABC iview during the day, and will then be broadcast at primetime, 7:40pm on Sunday.

ABC will simulcast the movie-length 1st ep in line with its UK broadcast in the early hours (time TBC) of Sun morn 24 Aug (EST). #DoctorWho — ABC TV Australia (@ABCTV) August 5, 2014

In the lead-up to #DoctorWho Series 8, ABC will air an exclusive interview with Peter Capaldi, hosted by Julia Zemiro, Wed 20 Aug, 8pm. — ABC TV Australia (@ABCTV) August 5, 2014

ABC also reported that there will be an exclusive interview with new Doctor Peter Capaldi scheduled for Wednesday 20th August at 8:00pm:

Can you tell me how to get to Paternoster Row?

Iconic US children's show Sesame Street starts its 45th season on PBS this fall, and it's turning its eyes to the skies by promising spoofs of a number of sci-fi franchises, including Doctor Who.

Sesame Workshop, producers of the series that introduced Bert, Ernie, Grover, Cookie Monster and Elmo to the world recently released a YouTube promo set at "Numeric Con" (a spoof of Comic-Con), where familiar characters don costumes based on Darth Vader, Princess Leia, and other characters. We see one Muppet impersonating Capt. Kirk, another Wolverine, and we catch glimpses of the first-ever Muppet Daleks standing next to a TARDIS-like phone box. Look fast and you'll also spot one of the show's human stars dressed in a very familiar-looking multi-coloured scarf (as a character called Doctor Two).

PBS, of course, has a long association with Doctor Who, as many of its affiliates began airing the Classic Era in the 1970s and '80s, and many also picked up the Modern Era. Sesame Street, meanwhile, seems to be getting a serious attack of the cools in its old age, as the show is planning spoofs of The Avengers and even (though this just sounds wrong, somehow) Game of Thrones.

Check out the minute-long preview in the player below. Sesame Street Season 45 is scheduled to debut on September 15, 2014 on American PBS stations. The Numeric Con episode will air on September 18, 2014, and was previewed at the recent San Diego Comic-Con. Read about that (and why Nerdist host Chris Hardwick thinks Oscar the Grouch deserves a role in Doctor Who) here.

Cineworld West India Quay are offering readers of Doctor Who News two tickets to the screening of Peter Capaldi's debut in Doctor Who, Deep Breath.

The screening takes place on the evening of 23rd August at the cinema in Canary Wharf in London. Winners would need to make their own way to the location. To enter just tell us the name of the previous character played by Peter Capaldi in Doctor Who. Send entries to comp-cineworld@doctorwhonews.net. Competition closes on 15 August 2014.

Fans in New Zealand will get the chance to watch the new series premiere Deep Breath only a few hours after its broadcast in the United Kingdom as some cinemas will present the episode on Sunday 24th August at 10:00am - taking into account time zone differences between the two countries, New Zealand cinema-goers might well be the first to see the debut of the new Doctor outside of Europe!

Hoyts Cinemas will present the same premiere package as with other countries outside of the UK (i.e. the 'prequel' and behind-the-scenes footage but no Q&A), showing at various times during the course of the Sunday; for example Te Awa (Hamilton) has showings at 10:00am, 4:10pm and 6:30pm, whilst Sylvia Park (Auckland) has showings at 10:00am, 4:30pm and 6:40pm; others such have Northlands only has one showing at 2:00pm - see the cinema website for overall availability.


Update: Event Cinemas will also be showing the episode at various times during the day and following week in local theatres - see their website for times and booking.


Broadcaster PRIME have yet to confirm a transmission date and time for the episode, though if scheduled in a similar fashion to the four debuts of the last couple of series Doctor Who would likely be at 8:30pm on a Thursday evening, starting on the 28th August or 4th September.

The Doctor Who Appreciation Society have sent details about an auction they are running, proceeds of which will be used for the recent commemoration of Doctor Who's first producer Verity Lambert and to the Breast Cancer Campaign.


A link to the auction can be found via the DWAS website.

Fantom Films have announced a number of guests that will appear at their forthcoming Pandorica convention, taking place in Bristol over the weekend of 27th-28th September.

Current headliners include series regulars Katy Manning (Jo Grant), Louise Jameson (Leela), Sarah Sutton (Nyssa), Anneke Wills (Polly) and John Levene (Benton). Other names include Pik Sen Lim (Captain Chin Lee from The Mind of Evil), Bernard Holley (best known as the face of the Axons in The Claws of Axos), and Alun Raglan (Mo in The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood). Plus, story reunions will take place, such as for Revelation of The Daleks with Trevor Cooper (Takis), Bridget Lynch-Blosse (Natasha) and John Ogwen (Bostock). Also appearing is Alexandra Tynan aka Sandra Reid, the designer of the original Cyberman costumes.

As well as interview panels, the event includes autographs sessions, photo opportunities, workshops, commentaries and a full evening of entertainment and a disco!

Further details on the convention, venue, and how to book can be found via the Fantom Films website.

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Fantom Films are also presenting an autograph event in Chiswick, London on the 16th August; guests at the Summer Signing Spectacular hail from throughout the 51 years of Doctor Who, and include: Catrin Stewart (Jenny), Dan Starkey (Strax), Richard Franklin (Mike Yates), Keith Barron (Striker, Enlightenment), Cynthia Grenville (Maren, The Brain of Morbius), Simon Rouse (Hindle, Kinda), Chipo Chung (Chantho, Utopia), Michael Melia (Terileptil, The Visitation), Kelly Hunter (Shadow Architect, The Stolen Earth), Robert Whitelock (Mahler, The Bells of Saint John), David Quilter (Greeves, The Unicoern and the Wasp), Chris Webb (inc Monoid in The Ark), Malcolm Rogers (Dracula, The Chase), and Elizabeth Croft (Vampire Girl, The Vampires of Venice).

Details on registration, venue and price of autographs can be found via their website.

With broadcaster ABC yet to confirm when series premiere Deep Breath will air in Australia, it seems likely that cinema-goers will get to see the debut adventure of Peter Capaldi first, as national theatres such as Event Cinemas and Palace Cinemas, and local theatres such as Melbourne's Cinema Nova launch a number of presentations of the episode on the big screen, many from 10:00am on the 24th August!

Shown in participating cinemas across the country, the episode be enjoyed at a number of different times during the course of the week: as well as 10:00am, Event Cinemas continue showings at 4:00pm, 6:30pm, and then for 6:30pm on the following Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings; Palace Cinemas theatre showings occur at various times during the Sunday depending upon location; Cinema Nova has presentations at 10:00am, 11:55am, 1:50pm, 3:45pm, 5:40pm, 7:35pm and 9:30pm all on Sunday.

The programme duration also suggests that the Australian audience will indeed get to see the 'prequel' and behind-the-scenes features that will be enjoyed in UK, USA and Canadian cinemas.

A list of participating cinemas can be found via Sharmill Films.