No Beatles outside Europe

Thursday, 11 March 2010 - Reported by Marcus
It has been revealed that the short clip of The Beatles, featured in episode one of The Chase, will only be included on the Region 2 DVD's and will be removed from the masters of the discs produced for regions outside Europe.

The short clip of the group playing Ticket to Ride, was taken from the BBC's Top of the Pops programme, and features as part of the sequence where the TARDIS crew look at various events from history on the Time-Space Visualiser.

The music is covered by a blanket agreement for use in the UK but this does not apply to the rest of the world. It may have been possible for the same masters to have been used for the international copies, as there is nothing in the BBC paperwork to indicate that the clip of the Beatles exists in the story. However the distributors have received so many queries about the inclusion of the clip that it became impossible to ignore its presence, so it has been removed from the edit.

In other DVD news, online retailers in the States are reporting the Region 1 DVD release of the animated story Dreamland has been pushed back to October.




FILTER: - Canada - USA - Classic Series - Blu-ray/DVD - New Zealand - Australia

2|entertain's future secured

Friday, 5 March 2010 - Reported by Chuck Foster
BBC Worldwide have announced that they now fully own DVD distributor 2|entertain, the company closely associated with the release of Doctor Who DVDs over the last six years. The fate of the company has been uncertain since BBC Worldwide's partner Woolworth went into administration back in 2008.

John Smith, CEO, BBC Worldwide, said:
I am pleased that we have finally concluded these negotiations, and have secured the future of 2|entertain. This comes as good news for a variety of stakeholders. 2|entertain's retail partners know it is now backed by a stable owner. Consumers can continue to enjoy BBC content on DVD in their own homes. The independent production sector already works closely with 2|entertain. And licence fee payers will continue to benefit from 2|entertain's contribution to BBC Worldwide, which helped us return a total of £153m to the BBC in the last financial year.
Paul Dempsey, CEO of 2|entertain and Managing Director, BBC Worldwide Home Entertainment, added:
The 2|entertain business has not been distracted by the events of the past 18 months, continuing to deliver impressive results. Under full BBC Worldwide ownership, it now looks forward to a more settled period and playing an important role in BBC Worldwide’s future plans.




FILTER: - Press - Blu-ray/DVD

RTS award for Who Peter Documentary

Wednesday, 3 March 2010 - Reported by Marcus
The DVD documentary Who Peter has helped earn its director and writer, Chris Chapman, a Royal Television Award, the Andrea Wonfor trophy, for Best Newcomer. The 30 minute feature will form part of the Myths and Legends Box Set due to be released in the UK at the end of March. The judges described Chapman's potfilio of work for Dene Films, which included Who Peter, as breathtaking for the quality of skills on show.

In other DVD news a couple of the additional extras for the re-issue of The Caves of Androzani as part of the Re-visitations box set have been announced. The disc will include 8 minutes of Peter Davison and Colin Baker's appearance on a chat show as well as a documentary looking at Graeme Harper's work on Doctor Who.




FILTER: - Awards/Nominations - Blu-ray/DVD

Matt Smith - First DVD release date

Tuesday, 2 March 2010 - Reported by Marcus
Amazon have listed the first DVD release for the Eleventh Doctor Matt Smith. The disc, available in DVD and Blu-Ray format, is due for release in the UK on June 7th will contain the first three stories of the new Doctor, "The Eleventh Hour", "The Beast Below" and "Victory of the Daleks". Amazon currently have the title listed as Series Five - Volume One, at odds with the previous statement that the series would be promoted as Series One.

The disc will contain a special feature, The Monster Diaries. Produced by the same team who make Doctor Who Confidential, the documentary will contain previously unseen footage and comments from cast and crew.




FILTER: - Blu-ray/DVD - Series 5/31

Creature from the Pit confirmed

Tuesday, 23 February 2010 - Reported by Chuck Foster
Creature from the PitDoctor Who DVD producer 2Entertain have officially confirmed that the Fourth Doctor story The Creature from the Pit is to be released on DVD.

The story has been expected since our report in January covered features for the story as having been cleared by the British Board of Film Classification. However, the release date for the story has yet to be revealed.




FILTER: - Classic Series - Blu-ray/DVD

Caves of Androzani Revisited

Thursday, 18 February 2010 - Reported by Marcus
The Caves of AndrozaniThe final story to be included in the forthcoming DVD Revisitations Box Set will be Peter Davison's swan song as the fifth Doctor, The Caves of Androzani.

The story, first shown in 1984, is one of the highest regarded in Doctor Who's history and was recently voted as best story by the readers of Doctor Who Magazine. The story features Nicola Bryant as Peri, John Normington as Morgus, Robert Glenister as Slateen, Christopher Gable as Sharaz Jek and Maurice Roeve as Stotz.

The story was one of the first released on DVD in June 2001. The updated version will contain new behind the scenes features. The set will also contain the 1977 Tom Baker story The Talons of Weng Chiang and the 1996 Paul McGann  TV Movie,

The set will be released in the UK later this year.




FILTER: - Classic Series - Blu-ray/DVD - Peter Davison

Dreamland for North America

Thursday, 28 January 2010 - Reported by Marcus
DreamlandThe animated story Dreamland will be be released in North America on 4th May. The 45 minute story was originally made for the BBC's interactive service.

The story features the vocal talents of David Tennant, Georgia Moffett, David Warner, Stuart Milligan and Clark Peters and is set in the infamous alien hotspot Roswell. It is described by writer Phil Ford as 'Doctor Who meets a Fifties monster B-movie'.

Like the UK release, the DVD will be part of a two disc set and will feature the three documentaries looking back at the last five years of Doctor Who, Doctor Who's Greatest Moments, which were shown in the UK last summer.

More details and the cover can be seen at TVShowsonDVD

The DVD is released in the UK on 1st February.




FILTER: - USA - Animation - Blu-ray/DVD

Weng Chiang Revisited

Wednesday, 27 January 2010 - Reported by Marcus
Talons of Weng Chiang2 entertain have revealed, via their twitter page, that the second story to be included in the DVD Revisitations Box Set will be the 1977 Tom Baker story The Talons of Weng Chiang.

The story, which is one of the most highly-regarded of the Fourth Doctor's era, was originally released on DVD in April 2003. The updated version will contain new behind the scenes features. The other story so far confirmed for the set is The TV Movie, staring Paul McGann. The set will be released in the UK later this year.




FILTER: - Tom Baker - Classic Series - Blu-ray/DVD

Underworld Extras

Monday, 25 January 2010 - Reported by Marcus
UnderworldDVD extras for the third story in the Myths and Legends boxset, Underworld, have been cleared by the British Board of Film Classification.

54 minutes of extras have been cleared to accompany the four part story originally shown in 1978.
  • Underworld - In studio footage 17'27"
  • Into The Unknown - The making of Underworld 30'41"
  • Photo Gallery 5'52"

The Box set is released in the UK at the end of March.

A 23" deleted shot from the Creature from the Pit has also been cleared in preperation for that story's release and the Doctor Who Restoration Team have published details of their work on the early March release of The Space Museum/The Chase.




FILTER: - Classic Series - Blu-ray/DVD

Australia Update

Thursday, 21 January 2010 - Reported by Marcus
The Peladon Boxset comes to Australia on March 4th when the two stories, The Curse of Peladon and The Monster of Peladon are released on DVD.

On the same day the 2 disc set featuring David Tennant's last appearance as the Doctor, the two parts of The End of Time, is released both on DVD and Blu-ray.

Maeanwhile Series Three of The Sarah Jane Adventures comes to the country when the series makes its debut on the Nickelodeon channel on February 23rd at 7pm.





FILTER: - Specials - Classic Series - Sarah Jane - Blu-ray/DVD - Australia