The Wonderful Book of Doctor Who - 1965

Wednesday, 26 October 2011 - Reported by Marcus
The Wonderful Book - 1965A new book looking at the world of Doctor Who at the conclusion of the first season in 1964, is now available online.

The Wonderful Book of Doctor Who 1965 is a homage to Clayton Hickman's Brilliant Book of Doctor Who 2011 published last year.

The new fan produced book looks back at the very first season of Doctor Who and imagines how such a book would have looked should it have been published for the Christmas 1964 market. It contains episode guides, interviews and fact files.

It has been written and produced by Paul Smith based on the original designs by Paul Lang, with a cover and story illustrations by Joe Cannon from Velvet Jacket

The book can be viewed via the Wonderful Book website.




FILTER: - Fan Productions - William Hartnell - Classic Series

George Baker 1931-2011

Saturday, 8 October 2011 - Reported by Marcus
George BakerThe actor George Baker has died at the age of 80.

George Baker was a well known English actor who appeared is some of British Televisions most fondly remembered dramas. He appeared alongside Fourth Doctor, Tom Baker, in the 1980 story Full Circle, where he played Decider Login,

He is best known for playing Inspector Wexford in The Ruth Rendell Mysteries and the emperor Tiberius in the acclaimed BBC drama I Claudius.

Other parts included roles in the films The Dam Busters, The Ship That Died of Shame with Richard Attenborough and The Moonraker. He was the second actor to portray the role of "Number Two" in the series The Prisoner and appeared in his own TV comedy series Bowler. He was also in the first episode of Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em.




FILTER: - Obituary - Classic Series

DVD release/production roundup

Friday, 7 October 2011 - Reported by Chuck Foster
Though the UNIT boxed set has been placed in the United Kingdom DVD release schedule (for January), other Doctor Who DVDs have yet to be formally scheduled by 2|Entertain for the first quarter of next year. However, Amazon in Canada has added some additional titles for 2012:
It is expected that the UK Region 2 releases of the stories/sets will be on or before those listed for Region 1 above.

The latest edition of Doctor Who Magazine confirmed the commentaries for the forthcoming UNIT Boxed Set. Invasion of the Dinosaurs will feature Richard Franklin (Mike Yates), Peter Miles (Whitaker), Terence Wilton (Mark), Paddy Russell (director), Terrance Dicks (script editor) and Richard Morris (designer). The Android Invasion will feature Philip Hinchcliffe (producer), Milton Johns (Crayford), Martin Friend (Styggron), and Marion McDougal (production assistant). Both commentaries are moderated by Toby Hadoke.


Details of production of future releases have continued to emerge, mainly via the social communication tool Twitter; a breakdown of these details can be found below, but in brief:
  • an audio reconstruction of episodes three and four of Planet of Giants has been recorded
  • a documentary "Remembering Barry Letts" will feature on The Daemons
  • a tribute to Nicholas Courtney is being produced, featuring many interviews with the actor himself
In addition, Commissioning Editor for the Classics range, Dan Hall, was recently interviewed by Talking Who, during which he revealed that The Greatest Show in the Galaxy will be released with a new 5.1 surround soundtrack, produced by Mark Ayres.

The Restoration Team on Twitter:
THE SENSORITES

17 Sep Classic DW Early artwork in for THE SENSORITES. Looking tremendous!

THE DAEMONS

6 Sep Peter Crocker Very distracting vertical jitter successfully banished from 1971 episode
17 Sep Classic DW Signed off wonderful Barry Letts doc from Ed Stradling.
Lovely interview from family, Terrence et al. Look out for it on THE DAEMONS.
23 Sep Ed Stradling I have to finish the Barry Letts obit programme today.
Clock is ticking and some graphics and keying still to do.
23 Sep Ed Stradling Barry was interviewed against a reflecmedia chromatte screen so I use
either their own Mattenee keyer or Keylight in After Effects
23 Sep Ed Stradling Do people think "Letts Remember Barry" is a good title for the
obit programme? Or too corny? Other suggestions welcome, I'm crap at titles.
25 Sep Peter Crocker First phase of restoration on "The Daemons" complete;
now awaits grading at TV Centre.
25 Sep Ed Stradling Talking of VAM, the Daemons extras are currently being graded at TV Centre.
26 Sep Ed Stradling Another DVD feature now delivered. "Remembering Barry Letts" edited
on Media Composer and due for inclusion on "The Daemons" DVD.
26 Sep Restoration Team Grading and compilation complete on Daemons VAM package,
including the test that started it all...
27 Sep Classic DW Daemons VAM all finished and ready to deliver to 2e within the next few weeks!

THE REIGN OF TERROR

30 Sep Chris Chapman Have popped into the office to back up today's rushes -
looking and sounding lovely! Particularly happy about Reign of Terror...
4 Oct Chris Chapman On train to Newcastle to spend the rest of the week editing -
should be on the content cut of Reign of Terror by Thursday...
4 Oct Chris Chapman In a piece of news that few will find interesting, I intend to call
The Reign of Terror doco 'Don't Lose Your Head'. Carry on!;-)

PLANET OF GIANTS

5 Oct Ed Stradling Off to studio shortly for the re-recording of dialogue for
Planet of Giants part 3 - and 4.
5 Oct Toby Hadoke is off to act in a Dr Who story which has never been seen in its
original, complete form ... until now! The surviving cast are on board too.
5 Oct Toby Hadoke Forester.
5 Oct Ed Stradling Tom Spilsbury, Donald Wilson thought it was dull.
He also thought The Web Planet wasn't.
5 Oct Ed Stradling Planet of Giants going very well. Will use Gary Gillatt's urge to live gag
in the VAM or else he'll put it in the DWM review :)
5 Oct Ed Stradling Willam Russell and Carole Ann Ford in the studio with Katherine Mount
and John Guilor for Planet of Giants http://t.co/b4CIEfE7

MISCELLANEOUS

26 Aug Chris Chapman Doctor Who shoot for next Wednesday pretty much all good to go!
8 interviews confirmed, with 2 floaters which should be sorted by Monday...
26 Aug Chris Chapman
The 8 interviewees are: 3 companions, 1 script editor,
1 visual effects assistant, 1 production assistant, 1 historian and 1 spaceman!
1 Sep Chris Chapman Capturing in yesterday's footage. Interviewees included
Ian Reddington, Sophie Aldred, Tim Combe and William Russell!
3 Sep Chris Chapman BTW, when I interviewed William Russell last week, I told him about
'Ian and Babs married and immortal' and he seemed genuinely touched.:-)
7 Sep Ed Stradling last chance for any fans to tweet me any questions for former
BBC Head of Series Ronnie Marsh, we're interviewing him tomorrow!
13 Sep Chris Chapman Filming on Thursday features two actors, two production assistants,
one assistant designer, one friend, a singer and a lovely backdrop!
15 Sep Chris Chapman The end of a very successful day's filming.
Beautiful weather and lovely guests. Assume you'll see the doco next year.:-)
19 Sep Ed Stradling Back in London after interviewing four companion actors for upcoming DVD
at the Regenerations event in Swansea this weekend
20 Sep Chris Chapman Today, I interviewed Tom Baker for an upcoming DVD - and he was fabulous!
30 Sep Chris Chapman Today's interviewees were... a director, three designers, two companions,
two monsters, a vision mixer and a son of somebody!
30 Sep Chris Chapman To tease you further, we were filming content for FOUR
different Who stories today. My brain is a jumble of jumbles!
1 Oct Chris Chapman So a rundown of yesterday's classic Who guests:
Interviewee 1 - a designer - told me about burning shreds of big top
flying through the air!
1 Oct Chris Chapman Who Interviewee 2 - a monster - was the single biggest man
I have ever met, and he shed a tear on camera!
1 Oct Chris Chapman Who interviewee 3 - a director - claimed at the outset that
he remembered nothing, yet he remembered EVERYTHING!
1 Oct Chris Chapman Who interviewee 4 - a 60s companion - told me that nothing ever happened
between her and another 60s companion, despite the rumours!
1 Oct Chris Chapman Who interviewee 5 - a designer - came all the way from North Wales and
giggled about sneaking photos of glamour girls onto Doctor Who sets!
1 Oct Chris Chapman Who interviewee 6 - another 60s Who companion - was the best I've
ever heard her and did lots of mad impressions!
1 Oct Chris Chapman Who interviewee 7 - the son of someone famous - wore a posh suit and
told us what it was like to be 6 years old and terrified by his father!
1 Oct Chris Chapman Who interviewee 8 - another monster - told us an AMAZING story
about William Hartnell tap-dancing!
1 Oct Chris Chapman Who interviewee 9 - a vision mixer - explained how a button she pressed
changed the whole history of Doctor Who!
1 Oct Chris Chapman Who interviewee 10 - yet another designer - thought so-and-so was a bit
over-the-top and that the director was a proper moaner!
3 Oct Thomas Guerrier Extreme editing some classic Doctor Who this morning.
3 Oct Ed Stradling I'm now editing the Nick Courtney tribute feature, consisting largely
of interviews with the great man himself.





FILTER: - Classic Series - Blu-ray/DVD

Dinosaurs invade Riverside!

Wednesday, 28 September 2011 - Reported by Chuck Foster
This January sees the release of Invasion of the Dinosaurs on DVD, a story which has the dubious fame of including the final casualty of the old BBC process of destroying prints, with episode one only existing as a black and white print in the BBC Archive.

The episode, like other 'monochrome' Pertwee episodes, has been a focus as to whether a colour version could be recreated; speaking in the latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine, DVD executive producer Dan Hall said:
This colour recovery has been a miracle, pulling out colour information from black and white film prints. Unfortunately, in the case of Invasion (of the Dinosaurs) Part One, the process has not produced a perfect colour print, but enough information has been salvaged to offer a tantalising glimpse of what the original broadcast may have been like.

As a result, the episode will be presented in the story in its 'clean' black and white version, with the partial colour restoration available as an alternative.


The colour episode will be shown in the form of a special preview for attendees at the forthcoming DWAS convention, Time 5, taking place at Riverside Studios on Saturday 29th October 2011:
To publicise the forthcoming DVD release we are pleased that the colour version of episode 1 will be previewed on the big screen in the cinema.

The trailer for the forthcoming The Reign of Terror - recently seen in Australia - will also be screened during the convention.
(with thanks to Paul Winter)





FILTER: - Conventions - Classic Series - Blu-ray/DVD

Day of the Daleks - feature clips

Friday, 9 September 2011 - Reported by Chuck Foster
This Monday sees Day of the Daleks released on DVD in the United Kingdom, and 2|Entertain have made a few clips available to illustrate some of the special features included on the the two-disc set:


Day of the Daleks: The Doctor and Violence, BBC Classic Doctor Who, via YouTube (may not play outside the United Kingdom)

Day of the Daleks: Trikes!, BBC Classic Doctor Who, via YouTube (may not play outside the United Kingdom)

Day of the Daleks: Doctor Who and Memories, BBC Classic Doctor Who, via YouTube (may not play outside the United Kingdom)

Day of the Daleks: The Third Doctor and Wine, BBC Classic Doctor Who, via YouTube (may not play outside the United Kingdom)


Day of the DaleksA full list of the extras for Day of the Daleks DVD can be found in our previous news item, and a more technical discussion of the production of the DVD will appear on the Restoration Team website in the future.

Regular updates on the classic Doctor Who range can be found on Twitter via ClassicDW, and on the BBC's official Facebook page.



The DVD is available to order from our Amazon store.





FILTER: - Jon Pertwee - Classic Series - Blu-ray/DVD

Double Invasion due in January - Updated

Saturday, 3 September 2011 - Reported by Marcus
BBC Worldwide have revealed that the classic Doctor Who stories, Invasion of the Dinosaurs and The Android Invasion will both be released in North America on January 10th 2012.

No UK release date has yet been announced, but it is likely the UK release will be early January.

Invasion of the Dinosaurs
Release Date: 10th January 2012

Starring Jon Pertwee as Doctor Who, with Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith and Nicholas Courtney as The Brigadier
Written by Malcolm Hulke
Directed by Paddy Russell

Broadcast: 12th January - 16th February 1974

Episode One of the story only exists in the BBC Archives as a black and white film print. 2|Entertain have reported: "The fully restored DINO Ep 1 is in black-and-white. Alternative vers also on release featuring best-endeavours colour recovery..."
 

Special Features
  • Audio Commentary
  • People, Power and Puppetry
  • Deleted Scenes
  • Now and Then
  • John Levene's Commentary
  • Doctor Who Stories: Elizabeth Sladen Part 1
  • Billy Smart's Circus
  • Photo Gallery
  • PDF materials: Radio Times Listings
  • Production Note Subtitles
  • Digitally remastered picture and sound quality
The Android Invasion
Release Date: 10th January 2012

Starring Tom Baker as Doctor Who, with Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith and Ian Marter as Harry Sullivan
Written by Terry Nation
Directed by Barry Letts

Broadcast: 22nd November - 13th December 1975
 

Special Features
  • Audio Commentary
  • The Village That Came to Life
  • Life After - Philip Hinchcliffe
  • Tie-in Weetabix commercial
  • Photo Gallery
  • PDF materials: Radio Times Listings, Weetabix packet promotions
  • Production Note Subtitles
  • Digitally remastered picture and sound quality
(additional details thanks to TVShowsOnDVD, ClassicDW)


Meanwhile in Australia BBC Worldwide are offering fans the chance to win tickets to a special screening of The Day of the Daleks, to be held in Melbourne on Sunday 18th and Sydney on Monday 19th September. Winners will have the chance to meet and chat to Dan Hall, the person in charge of Classic Doctor Who on DVD.

Visit the competition page for details.




FILTER: - Classic Series - Blu-ray/DVD

Day of the Daleks preview: Alister Pearson print

Tuesday, 30 August 2011 - Reported by Chuck Foster
This Sunday (4th) sees a special preview taking place to celebrate the release of Day of the Daleks on DVD, presented by the Doctor Who Appreciation Society with permission from 2|Entertain.

Artist Alister Pearson has produced a new A4 print for the event based on the original artwork designs for the Target novelisation's three covers, by Chris Achilleos, Andrew Skilleter and himself. He'll be at the event to sign prints, proceeds of which are in aid of Help for Heroes; it can also be pre-ordered directly from the DWAS website via their Day of the Daleks event section, and these too will be signed by the artist.

Though the event itself is fully booked, there is an open autograph session at the end of the event at 5:00pm for those who wish to come along to pre-order the DVD on the day and have the cover signed by the guests, Katy Manning (Jo Grant) and Richard Franklin (Mike Yates) - it is also hoped that Scott Fredericks (Boaz) will be able to attend on the day as well. As with the print, a signed DVD can also be pre-ordered from DWAS online before the event takes place.


Full details on the event and associated merchandise/activities can be found via the DWAS website.




BBC ClassicDW have also released a clip from one of the special features on the discs.


Day of the Daleks preview clip, BBC Classic Doctor Who (via YouTube)




FILTER: - Special Events - Charities - Classic Series - Blu-ray/DVD

Anne Ridler

Wednesday, 24 August 2011 - Reported by Marcus
Anne RidlerThe actress Anne Ridler has died.

Anne Ridler played Gemma Corwyn the second-in-command of Space Station W3 in the 1968 Doctor Who story The Wheel in Space. After appearing in five episodes of the story she sacrificed her life to help the Second Doctor defeat the Cybermen.

Anne Ridler had a long and distinguished career first appearing on television in 1955 and going on to work on over 5 movies and 29 TV serials. Her first screen role was on TV with a regular spot alongside Francis Matthews in the Francis Durbridge series My Friend Charles. Her breakthrough came as a regular in Dixon of Dock Green, appearing as WP Sgt. Chris Freeman from 1962 to 1964. She had guest roles in Moonbase 3 in 1973 and The Tomorrow People in 1975 abd in the 1980' s she played voice of Kate Kestrel, Cy-Star and It-Star in Gerry Anderson's puppet-animated Terrahawks series.

She had small roles in the Hammer film Camp on Yangtse Incident (1957), the Michael Anderson-directed Blood Island (1958) and 633 Squadron (1963).

She played Jacqueline Shaffer in the Big Finish story Master.




FILTER: - People - Obituary - Classic Series

Noel Collins 1937-2011

Wednesday, 24 August 2011 - Reported by Marcus
Noel CollinsThe actor Noel Collins has died at the age of 74.

Noel Collins appeared in 3 episodes of the 1989 Doctor Who story Battlefield where he played Pat Rowlinson, the landlord of the hotel in which the Seventh Doctor and Ace stayed while investigating an inter-dimensional distress call.

Collins was best known for his role in the long running BBC police series Juliet Bravo, where he played Sergeant George Parrish throughout the six year run of the show. He also appeared in Play for Today, When the Boat Comes in and the comedy series Bread.

Collins retired at the age of 60 after being diagnosed with lung cancer and undergoing an operation which involved removing a lung. In the 1990's he joined 52 other claimants in a £17million lawsuit against cigarette giants Gallaher and Imperial Tobacco arguing that the companies had been negligent in not reducing the tar content in their cigarettes between 1957 and 1971 once it became obvious that smoking caused lung cancer.

Although the case was dropped in March 1999 Collins retained his anti smoking stance until his death. His widow Helen Collins paid tribute to her husband's bravery in the face of his illness. "He was content in his life but also stoic during the bad times. He became very anti-smoking but he lived through his illness as best he could. Even in his last week he was still getting Juliet Bravo fan mail which he found amusing. He loved the theatre and really enjoyed his career, but without being pretentious or boastful."

Noel Collins died on 15 August after losing his long battle with cancer.




FILTER: - People - Obituary - Classic Series

DVD development update

Tuesday, 23 August 2011 - Reported by Chuck Foster
Some news on possible future DVD releases emerged at the Fantom Films conventions held over the weekend:

Back in 1964, the story Planet of Giants had originally been filmed as a four-part story, but had the latter two episodes combined into one in order to tighten the plot for a better paced series opener. Though the original recording no longer exists, actress Carole Ann Ford, who played the Doctor's grand-daughter Susan, mentioned at the Dalek Invasion Earth convention that she had recently recorded an audio version of the original script for that fourth episode, The Urge to Live, which she believed is to be for a DVD release of the story.

Further 'lost' material also seems likely to see the light of day. Back in 1979 the final story of Season 17, Shada, had to be abandoned due to BBC strikes with only parts of the studio sessions completed; appearing at the Timelord Tales convention, both Victoria Burgoyne (Clare) and Daniel Hill (Chris) reported that they'd been involved in a new audio recording of the script for the unfilmed material, in which other original cast members participated including Lalla Ward (Romana). They also discussed the missing scenes being recreated in animation, and believed this could form part of a DVD release of the story in the future. (Producer Ian Levine has confirmed that the actors were talking about his production, but that the cast hope for an 'official' release.)


A recent fire at the Sony warehouse facilities in Enfield led to loss of much of the DVD and CD stock held there, including Doctor Who DVDs due to be distributed by 2|Entertain. However, the company has reported that this will not affect the release of Day of the Daleks, due out on the 12th September (available to pre-order).


The Restoration Team have recently revived their website that delves into the technical issues involved in restoring the classic Doctor Who stories for DVD release - the site had been in mothballs since The Space Museum/The Chase back in January 2010. The site is in the process of being brought up to date, and new articles have now been added for the first Revisitations boxed set and for Mannequin Mania.


Further snippets for DVD production have been tweeted by the Restoration Team; this includes an appeal by Chris Chapman for anybody who could provide contact details for Peter Walker (the young boy in The Reign of Terror) - if you can help please let him know.

10 Aug ClassicDW:  Something on COLONY DVD betrays original release date.

On release, see whether you can spot it!!!
10 Aug ClassicDW: Some hiccups solved - REVISITATIONS 3 takes one step closer to its 2012 release!
12 Aug Ed Stradling: Hoping to have the extra material for the Happiness/Dragonfire DVD set
finished by the end of today.
12 Aug RTnewsfeed: Busy times continue for Mark Ayres with a third new 5.1 surround mix
just commissioned.
13 Aug RTnewsdfeed: Can't move for Martians in Grading Suite 2 at TV Centre this afternoon!
14 Aug Ed Stradling: now off to TV Centre to deliver #doctorwho DVD feature i've done
with Nicholas Pegg
14 Aug Ed Stradling: have just finished grading the last complete Doctor Who episodes for DVD
14 Aug Ed Stradling: (although there may be some additional work in some cases)
15 Aug ClassicDW: Lovely piece about our talented team working on REIGN OF TERROR: http://t.co/NNlCGFc
17 Aug Peter Crocker: 6 part Hartnell story finally delivered. Deleting 2.5TB data highly satisfying.
18 Aug Peter Crocker: I'd forgotten how much fun out-of-phase polygon telecine inserts of
scratched, dirty film can be.
19 Aug Ed Stradling: Soon interviewing Ronnie Marsh, ex BBC drama exec and de facto exec producer
of DW and many other shows. Tweet me your questions for him!





FILTER: - Classic Series - Blu-ray/DVD