Children in Need Roundup

Sunday, 9 November 2014 - Reported by Ben Morton
The fundraising telethon Children in Need is to return on Friday (14th November) on BBC One at 7pm. The BBC has confirmed that there will be a segment for Doctor Who. This has been the case since the show's revival back in 2005. Whether it will be in the form of a trailer or a mini-episode is currently unknown.

Children in Need have also launched an online auction on eBay, offering a once-in-a lifetime trip to the Doctor Who set in Cardiff and the chance to experience the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.
An exclusive Doctor Who behind the scenes set visit!

The Doctor Who production team are kindly offering an incredible once-in-a-lifetime experience for two lucky Whovians! The winning bidder plus a friend will go behind the scenes of filming for an episode of the next series, and see Peter Capaldi in action in his latest outing as The Doctor.

The winner of this package will experience:

  • Watching filming for an episode of the new series of Doctor Who
  • A conducted VIP tour of the set
  • Meeting the cast of the show (this is dependent on schedules, specific requests unfortunately cannot be guaranteed)
  • Having a photo taken on the set
  • A nice lunch with the crew

The location for filming will be confirmed at a later date by the Doctor Who production team. You will need to arrange your own transport to and from the experience plus any accommodation. The experience will take place on a date determined by the production team in 2015. The winning bidder will also need to sign a non-disclosure agreement to ensure that the new series remains a secret!

The winning bidder will be contacted by BBC Children in Need within 5 working days of payment reaching our PayPal account to confirm your package. Your details will then be passed on to the Doctor Who production team who will arrange the day with you. The BBC reserves the right to change the package.

Every single penny raised by the auction will go towards making a positive difference to the lives of disadvantaged children and young people right here in the UK.

Thank you for supporting BBC Children in Need


Happy Bidding!

Another Doctor Who experience up for auction is to spend a day with the BBC National Orchestra as they rehearse for Symphonic Spectacular tour.

BBC National Orchestra Of Wales - 19/20 May 2015

Place your bids to experience a day with Radio 3’s Orchestra in Wales, BBC National Orchestra of Wales:

On either 19th or 20th May 2015 in Cardiff you and a guest will sit in on a rehearsal with BBC NOW and Conductor Ben Foster, see how the orchestra rehearses and get a sneak preview all of your favourite Doctor Who themes, first hand, ahead of our Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular Arena Tour.

Then get the chance to ask all of those questions you’ve been storing up over coffee with Ben Foster. After coffee you’ll be whisked off to join the BBC National Chorus of Wales in their seats and experience the rehearsal from within, make sure you’re nicely warmed up as you’ll even get the opportunity to sing along if you wish (subject to date/rehearsing schedule).

You’ll have plenty of time to fit in a visit to the Doctor Who Experience in Cardiff Bay and receive a goody bag of BBC NOW merchandise, including a Doctor Who Soundtrack signed by the composer, Murray Gold.

To top off your BBC NOW experience we’re offering a pair of tickets to one of the Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular arena performances. In addition we’re offering the chance to see the orchestra doing something completely different with a pair of tickets to a BBC NOW concert broadcast live on BBC Radio 3. (Excludes Christmas Celebrations and St David’s Day).

Please note that transport and overnight accommodation are not included in this prize.

The winning bidder will be contacted by BBC Children in Need within 5 working days of payment reaching our PayPal account to confirm your package. Your details will then be passed on to a representative from the BBC National Orchestra of Wales who will arrange the experience with you.

Every single penny raised by the auction will go towards making a positive difference to the lives of disadvantaged children and young people, right here in the UK.

Signed Pudsey bears by numerous Doctor Who cast are up for auction: Catherine Tate (Donna Noble), Simon Callow (Charles Dickens), Bradley Walsh (Elijah Spellman), Professor Brian Cox (Himself, The Power of Three), Matt Baker (Himself, Aliens of London / World War Three) and Greg James (Shopper, Closing Time).

Signed Pudsey t-shirt by Kylie Minogue (Astrid Peth).
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All profits made from the auctions are 100% donated to BBC Children in Need.




FILTER: - Children in Need - Special Events

Death in Heaven - Overnight Viewing Figures

Sunday, 9 November 2014 - Reported by Marcus
Doctor Who: Death in Heaven had an overnight audience of 5.45 million viewers, according to unofficial figures.

The rating, a 23.3% share of the total TV audience, made Doctor Who the third most watched programme of Saturday Night.

Top was Strictly Come Dancing with 9.37 million watching, while The X Factor had 7.9 million viewers. Pointless Celebrities, which edged ahead of Doctor Who last week, had 4.9 million.

Doctor Who is currently the 20th most watched programme of the week.




FILTER: - Ratings - Series 8/34 - UK

Christmas Special 2014 - Teaser

Sunday, 9 November 2014 - Reported by Harry Ward
The BBC has released a teaser trailer for this year's Christmas Special.





FILTER: - Series Specials

Peter Capaldi video message

Friday, 7 November 2014 - Reported by Chuck Foster
A special video message has been sent from Peter Capaldi to a grieving grandson; father Ross Goodall shared the actor's kind words via YouTube, saying:
A lovely message from Peter Capaldi to my 9 year old autistic son. This arrived just before Thomas' nanny's funeral and helped him to deal with his grief in a profound way. Thankyou Peter so much.




FILTER: - Peter Capaldi

Doctor Who Extra: Death in Heaven on the Red Button

Friday, 7 November 2014 - Reported by Chuck Foster
Missy and the Doctor (Credit: BBC/Adrian Rogers)The next edition of online behind-the-scenes show Doctor Who Extra, covering the finale of the current series Death in Heaven, is also available via digital television's Red Button service on BBC channels at the following times:

Saturday8:55pm-10:30pm
Sunday6:00pm-8:00pm
Monday3:30pm-5:00pm
ThursdayMidday-5:00pm
Friday4:00pm-9:00pm






FILTER: - Doctor Who Extra - Online - Series 8/34

Death in Heaven - Preview

Friday, 7 November 2014 - Reported by Harry Ward
The BBC have released a preview clip of the second part the Series 8 finale, Death in Heaven, which premieres tomorrow night at 8:00pm on BBC One. Full global broadcast details here. They have also released a behind the scenes clip from the Doctor Who Extra episode which accompanies Death in Heaven.


Meanwhile the latest Radio Times free downloadable retro poster, created by designer Stuart Manning is now available.

Manning told Radio Times:
It's the finale! I wanted to do something really simple and stark for this, which was absolutely in no way dictated by stringent embargoes and a lack of advance plot info.

I love Rorschach-style inkblots, not least because they look like 1960s Doctor Who title sequences, and they dovetail nicely with the symmetrical shapes of the Cybermen.

It only occurred to me afterwards that the whole image is loosely influenced by Daniel Kleinman's amazing title sequence for Skyfall – if you're going to steal, steal from the best. I expect it's how the opening titles to the new exciting spin-off series Missy Master will look…

Death in Heaven - Radio Times Poster  (Credit: Radio Times/Stuart Manning)




FILTER: - Radio Times - Series 8/34

DWA Moves To Four-Weekly Publication

Thursday, 6 November 2014 - Reported by Harry Ward
Doctor Who Adventures Doctor Who Adventures magazine is moving to a four-weekly publication as of this month. The move comes after poor circulation figures for the magazine were published earlier this year. From January to June 2014 their average net circulation was just 19,966 per issue - down by 8,477 and 29.8 per cent on the previous six months.

The publisher, Immediate Media Co, told Doctor Who News today:
We regularly look at the most appropriate frequency for our magazine titles and, following research, we have decided to move Doctor Who Adventures to a four-weekly frequency, in line with the rest of the market. We’ll be focusing on an improved gift offering while continuing to deliver our young Doctor Who fans the Doctor Who content they love.
Doctor Who Adventures launched in April 2006 as a biweekly magazine, moved to a weekly in January 2008, and reverted back to a biweekly in June 2013.




FILTER: - DWA

In The Forest Of The Night - Chart Position

Thursday, 6 November 2014 - Reported by Marcus

Doctor Who: In The Forest Of The Night finished as the 20th most watched programme on British Television, according to figures from Barb.

The episode had an official 26.3% share of the total TV audience.

Top for the week was Strictly Come Dancing which had 10.65 million watching, just above ITV's Downton Abbey, with 10.21 million viewers.

Doctor Who was the 6th highest rated programme on BBC Television.




FILTER: - Ratings - Series 8/34 - UK

Canada Ratings

Wednesday, 5 November 2014 - Reported by Chuck Foster
Bellmedia PR have released a statement over how the new series of Doctor Who has been received in Canada.
SPACE Logo (Credit: SPACE)
Season 8 of DOCTOR WHO is the Most-Watched Series in Space History and Saturday Night’s Most-Watched Series

Just days shy of the Season 8 finale of DOCTOR WHO, Space confirms its #1 series of all time has hit epic proportions this season. Now averaging 773,000 viewers for Peter Capaldi’s debut season as the Twelfth Time Lord, Season 8 of DOCTOR WHO is the most-watched season of the program to date, up nearly 25% compared to Season 7 and ranking as the #1 TV series on Canadian specialty television. In fact, DOCTOR WHO is the most-watched television program on Saturday nights in Canada during its 9 p.m. ET timeslot among total viewers and all key demos.




FILTER: - Canada - Press - Ratings

November Audio Releases

Wednesday, 5 November 2014 - Reported by Harry Ward
193. Masters Of Earth (Credit: Big Finish)Masters Of Earth available to pre-order (UK), (US), (DE)
Starring Colin Baker as The Doctor, with Nicola Bryant as Peri

The year is 2163. Ten years since the Daleks invaded the Earth. One year until the Doctor, in his first incarnation, will help bring the occupation to an end. But for now, their reign of terror goes on.

The TARDIS brings the Doctor and Peri to Scotland – enslaved, like everywhere else on the planet. But there are rumours of Dalek-free islands off its coast. Places where resistors and refuseniks are coming together, gathering arms and armour, preparing to strike back against the enemy.

When the Doctor falls in with an unlikely group of freedom fighters making that dangerous journey to Orkney, he finds himself trapped – but not only by the Daleks, their robotised henchmen and their human collaborators.

By history.

Because history shows that for another year, resistance is useless...

The rebellion must fail – and as a Time Lord, the Doctor can do nothing to help

Writer Mark Wright says:
The setting came out of discussions between myself, Cav and Alan Barnes to see what would be suitable as a setting for a desolate road movie on Dalek occupied Earth. There was a notion at one point that we might go for an Australian setting, but I argued that we were more likely to find an ensemble of Scottish actors closer to home than we were Australian.
Co-Writer Cavan Scot says:
Writing for the Daleks, well, it’s the dream of every Doctor Who writer isn’t it? And set during one of my favourite Who stories too. The Daleks of Invasion are basic, and I’m not being derogatory there. Perhaps a better way of saying it is that they’re ‘pure’ Daleks. They exist to conquer and kill. When writing Masters of Earth we kept pulling out lines and concepts that were too 21st century Who, to try and make sure we kept the Daleks close to their roots.
The Early Adventures 1.3. The Bounty of Ceres (Credit: Big Finish)The Bounty of Ceres available to pre-order (UK), (US), (DE)
Starring Maureen O’Brien as Vicki/Narrator, Peter Purves as Steven/Narrator with Richard Hope as Moreland.

Ceres. A tiny, unforgiving ball of ice and rock hanging between Mars and Jupiter. It’s no place to live, and it takes a special kind of person to work there.

The crew of the Cobalt Corporation mining base know exactly how deadly the world outside their complex is, but the danger isn’t just outside anymore. The systems they rely on to keep them safe are failing and the planet is breaking in.

When the TARDIS strands Steven, Vicki and the Doctor on the base, they have to fight a foe they can barely comprehend to survive.

Writer Ian Potter says:
I’d enjoyed the way Simon Guerrier had explored Steven’s astronaut background in his Companion Chronicle and fancied doing something a little similar. That lead me to coming up with quite a ‘nuts and bolts’ near future SF story, in a sort of Arthur C Clarke-style (funnily enough that still makes it a historical adventure for Steven and Vicki) and it built from there.
Dark Eyes 3 (Credit: Big Finish)Dark Eyes 3 available to pre-order (UK), (US), (DE)
Starring Paul McGann as The Doctor with Ruth Bradley as Molly O'Sullivan, Nicola Walker as Liv Chenka, Natalie Burt as Dr Sally Armstrong and Alex Macqueen as The Master.

"Molly O'Sullivan? Hello you."

In his quest for universal domination, the Master plans to exploit the terrifying Infinite Warriors of the mysterious Eminence. The Doctor's friend, Molly, is key to that plan's execution, and now, aided by corrupted genius Sally Armstrong, the Master is close to success.

Paranoid and perplexed after his recent experience, the Doctor skirts the fringes of the fifty-year conflict between humanity and the Infinite Armies. Wary of changing the course of history, he fears that to fight the Eminence would be to do the Daleks' bidding. But when Time Lord CIA agent Narvin provides the impetus for the Doctor to act, Liv Chenka joins him in a desperate race to save their friend and stop the Master.

As the Doctor goes head to head with his oldest and deadliest rival, this war is about to get very personal indeed...

Writer Ian Potter says:
After the release of Dark Eyes, I had a meeting with Nick and Alan Barnes, ahead of Dark Eyes 2, and had some ideas about where we would end up in Dark Eyes 4, so there was a plan to work towards with regards to the Doctor and the Dalek Time Controller – and the Master and the Eminence. When Nick passed Dark Eyes 3 on to Ken Bentley to direct, and to David on the production side, I’d already decided to do a series that was Dalek-free for a change, and David came with a a brief saying, ‘Let’s make it the Doctor versus the Master,’ and I loved that, so ran with it.
Doctor Who: The Blood Cell (Credit: BBC Worldwide)The Blood Cell available to pre-order (UK), (DE)
Read by Colin McFarlane

An asteroid in the furthest reaches of space – the most secure prison for the most dangerous of criminals. The Governor is responsible for the cruellest murderers so he’s not impressed by the arrival of the man they’re calling the most dangerous criminal in the quadrant. Or, as he prefers to be known, the Doctor.

But when the new prisoner immediately sets about trying to escape, and keeps trying, the Governor sets out to find out why.

Who is the Doctor and what’s he really doing here? And who is the young woman who comes every day to visit him, only to be turned away by the guards?

When the killing finally starts, the Governor begins to get his answers...

Doctor Who and the Carnival of Monsters (Credit: BBC)Doctor Who and the Carnival of Monsters available to pre-order (UK), (DE)
Read by Katy Manning

The Doctor and Jo land on a cargo ship crossing the Indian Ocean in the year 1926. Or so they think. Far away on a planet called Inter Minor, a travelling showman is setting up his live peepshow, watched by an eager audience of space officials. On board ship, a giant hand suddenly appears, grasps the TARDIS and withdraws. Without warning, a prehistoric monster rises from the sea to attack...

What is happening? Where are they? Only the Doctor realises, with horror, that they might be trapped...





FILTER: - Audio - Big Finish