Posted By John Bowman

People

John Barrowman will be returning to the National Theatre on Monday, February 11 at 6pm for a 45-minute talk about his career. He will then sign his autobiography Anything Goes. Barrowman played Dumaine in Love's Labour's Lost and Billy Crocker in Anything Goes at the National.

Barrowman also has autobiography signings scheduled across England and Wales in January and February. OnThursday, January 24 he will be at theBirmingham branch of Waterstone's from 11am; on Tuesday, February 12 he will appear at Costco in Watford from 1pm. He will be signing at theBrighton branch of British Bookshops and Stationers on Wednesday, February 13 between 1pm and 2.30pm. On Thursday, February 14 Barrowman will be signing at the Waterstone's in Bluewater, Kent, from 5.30pm (the Kent News has coverage of this appearance). OnFriday, February 15 he will be signing at the Borders in Oxford from 5.30pm (noted in The Oxford Mail). OnSaturday, February 16 Barrowman will appear at the Borders inCardiff at 1pm. More details can be found onBarrowman's website.

Anneke Wills, who played companion Polly in the classic series, will be at the Who Blackpool TV memorabilia and toy store in Victoria Street onSaturday, January 26 from 11am for autographs and photos. A week later, on February 2, actor Eric Potts, who played Oliver Charles in Aliens of London, will be there for a similar session, again from 11am.

DVDs

tvshowsondvd.com reports an announcement by HBO Video that it will be releasing the Extras Christmas Special, which includes David Tennant in a spoof scene from Doctor Who, as an individual Region 1 disc on February 26.

Streaming

Voyage of the Damned was the most frequently streamed programme via the BBC iPlayer between Christmas Day and January 7, says the BBC Press Office. The Extras Christmas Special, with the previously mentioned brief Doctor Who spoof scene, was second favourite. More than 3.5 million programmes were streamed or downloaded by more than one million visitors to the site. Doctor Who's download success was mentioned by many UK news sources, including BBC News, The Guardian, Reuters, Screen Digest and ZDNet. The story was also reported Down Under bynews.com.au.

Merchandise

The new edition of SFX - number 167 - includes a seven-page feature on Torchwood. The magazine went on set during the filming of episode nine of Series Two. The piece includes interview quotes from Chris Chibnall, Richard Stokes,John Barrowman and Eve Myles, plus some exclusive on-set photography taken on the day.

In the feature, Barrowman says: "The writers have found where we lie. The analogy I use is that last year we were walking, finding our feet. This year we're running. The stories still have the content we had last year, but they're just maybe a little more focused, more particular.

"Last year there were individual stories that had their own beginning and end. This year there's a throughline through it all, 'cos at the end there's a huge reveal and a big cliffhanger."

Meanwhile, celebrity magazine Ikonz carries a lengthy interview with Eve Myles in which the Torchwood star reveals that the word "famous" makes her "want to be sick".

She tells Adam Yosef: "I'm completely not into celebrity and not into doing things for the sake of being famous.

"I mean, the word 'famous' makes me want to be sick to be honest with you. I can't wait to go back to theatre, I can't wait to be back in the West End. I can't wait to go back with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

"Those things really excite me. Also, getting some really good parts, that excites me. But the whole razzle dazzle, if it came about well great but it's not a path I'll be going after."

She adds: "I'm due to go out to LA next year to have some meetings. I will enjoy it, if something comes of it, wonderful but if it doesn't I haven't lost anything."

Finally, the Liverpool Daily Post has a report and video on a company making Tardis sheds.

(Thanks to Jerome Morrow, Alex Frazer-Harrison, and forum members "drwho" and "Minister of Sense".)

Big Finish Productions has announced the launch of a new download service launching on February 1st. With this service, listeners will be able to purchase and instantly download the audio of their choice as an mp3 file to their computer.
This includes the Doctor Who, Bernice Summerfield, Sapphire and Steel, and the forthcomingStargate series.

"Listening habits have changed dramatically over the last ten years," says Company Director, Jason Haigh-Ellery. "More and more people are choosing to buy their music and audio online and listen to it either on their computer or on mp3 players like the iPod. We are delighted to be able to make Big Finish's productions available in this new way."

Jason also addressed the impact that this change will have on foreign fans. "We have always done our best to keep the prices as low as possible for foreign customers," continues Haigh-Ellery. "Unfortunately though, the poor exchange rate with America, Australia and other countries has made this difficult. Now though, by offering downloadable versions of our plays, we can dramatically reduce the price as there is no extra expenditure on postage, packing and materials. We're sure that this will be good news for our foreign customers."

With the launch of the new website at BigFinish.com on February 1st, fans will be able to sample individual episodes for a small cost. The remainder of the play will be available for simply paying the remainder of the balance. Although not available at launch, a subscription service will be introduced where customers can purchase several plays in advance of their release at a discounted rate. In addition to the plays themselves, music suites, behind-the-scenes features and copies of the scripts will also be made available for download.

Fans who prefer to continue buying their Big Finish plays on CD need not worry that online downloads will herald the end of the CD versions. All new Big Finish plays will continue to be released on CD simultaneously with the download version. The download versions will be cheaper than the CDs in all territories but CD purchasers will also be entitled to acquire the download version at no extra charge.

"The new download service is a major step forward for Big Finish," says Jason Haigh-Ellery.

Unofficial overnight figures gave Episode One of Torchwood, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, an audience of 3.7 million viewers, a 14.8% share of the total audience.

The programme was the highest rated on BBC2 for the day and the 18th most watched on all television.

These are the highest ratings that Torchwood has achieved on BBC2, although the previous series was shown on BBC3 first.

The programme was repeated on BBC3 at 2330 where it got 247,000viewers.

Chris Ryall, publisher with the comics company IDW (the company behind the new original and reprint Doctor Whotitles), is featured in an in-depth interview on the Comic Book Resources website.

While the Doctor Who titles are not the focus of the interview, Ryall does mention them along with all the other titles the company is publishing. Its a great way to get to know the home of Doctor Who in American comics.

Big Finish Productions has released information on their upcoming Short Trips Anthology, The Qualities of Leadership, which is due out in May.Keith R.A. DeCandido, editor of the volume, made the choice to have each of the stories be a little longer than past stories.

The Stories will include:

Introduction by Keith R.A. DeCandido
"From Little Acorns..." by John S. Drew
"One Fateful Knight" by Peter David
"The Slave War" by Una McCormack
"Goths and Robbers" by Diane Duane
"Good Queen, Bad Queen, I Queen, You Queen" by Terri Osborne
"The Price of Conviction" by Richard C. White
"God Send Me Well to Keep" by Linnea Dodson
"Peaceable Kingdom" by Steve Savile
"Rock Star" by Robert T. Jeschonek
"On a Pedestal" by Kathleen O. David
"Cleanup on Aisle Two" by James Swallow
"The Spindle of Necessity" by Allyn Gibson
"Epilogue" by John S. Drew

As previously reported, Titan Magazines has launched the official Torchwood Magazine, the first issue of which is due out on January 24. Below is the official press release; the final cover is also available (click on the thumbnail for a larger version.)

The Doctor Who Up-Close display at Earls Court will open on March 20, according to the revamped Doctor Who Exhibitions and Museumwebsite.

As reported last month by Outpost Gallifrey, the display will be in the Museum Hall, beneath Earls Court Exhibition Centre. It will include items fromVoyage of the Damned as well as from Series Four after their appearance on the show, says the exhibitions site.

Tickets for the Earls Court exhibition - billed as being the largest Doctor Who display in the UK - go on sale fromFebruary 18.

Meanwhile, the Land's End exhibition will be closed from January 22 to 25 inclusive for essential maintenance. TheBlackpool Doctor Who Museumis shut for the winter and will reopen on February 16.

The Up-Close exhibition in Cardiff remains open seven days a week.

Two interviews with Russell T. Davies will air this week on BBC radio and television. First, on Tuesday January 15, Davies will speak to Nemone on the digital radio station BBC 6 Music. This interview can be heard from 1:00 p.m. GMT via the internet and the BBC's iPlayer Radio service (formerly Listen Again).

Then, on Wednesday January 16th, BBC Four will broadcast Mark Lawson Talks to Russell T. Davies. The Radio Times describes this interview as follows:

Series Two of Torchwood is poised to start showing on the United States' high-definition cable channel HDNet fromMonday, February 11.

According to the channel's website, it will air at 7pm Eastern Time, although the site also carries the disclaimer that schedules are subject to change.

HDNet is available on several cable systems as well as satellite and began showing the first series last September.

(Thanks to Tony Mason and Nick Fitzpatrick.)