New Zealand Locale?

Tuesday, 25 November 2003 - Reported by Shaun Lyon

Interesting rumor, take with a grain of salt: a radio update on New Zealand's Newstalk 1ZB on Tuesday morning stated that the first new Doctor Who episode would be filmed in that country, at Mount Ruapehu. The mountain (seen most recently in the "Lord of the Rings" films) is one of New Zealand's more popular ski resort areas. Of course, Outpost Gallifrey doubts that this is any more than simple wishful thinking, as location scouting for any new series is likely not to have yet begun. Update: Mount Ruapehu also features in the first episode of "The Scream of the Shalka" so it's likely this is where the confusion lies, mistaking "Shalka" for the new series. (Thanks to Campbell Pentney, and Jeff Murray for the addendum)

FILTER: - Production - Series 1/27 - New Zealand

No Daleks? No Way!

Monday, 24 November 2003 - Reported by Shaun Lyon

According to a news article that appeared today in the UK's "The Sun" paper, the Daleks may not appear in the new Doctor Who TV series because of an ongoing rights issue between the BBC and the estate of the late Dalek creator Terry Nation. While the BBC jointly owns rights to the Daleks with Nation's estate, the executors are apparently saying no to a deal. The Sun quotes an 'insider' as follows: "No one knows exactly why, but Terry fell out with the BBC at some point. He told the executors never to let the BBC use the Daleks again. Fans want to see the Daleks return, but they may be disappointed.ö A BBC spokesman confirmed to the Sun that there were on-going discussions between the BBC and the executors. The story has also been picked up word for word by Ananova. (Thanks to Nathan Baron, Steve Tribe)

FILTER: - Production - Series 1/27

Anthony Stewart Head Tops Poll

Wednesday, 19 November 2003 - Reported by Shaun Lyon

Anthony Stewart Head, best known as Giles on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and known to Doctor Who fans for his turn as Grayvorn in the "Excelis" series from Big Finish, was voted the audience's favorite to play the next Doctor in a Radio Times poll, beating runners-up Alan Rickman, Stephen Fry, Alan Davies and Ian Richardson. "I'm in very good company - good God, I beat Alan Rickman," said Head. "I suppose I would be a logical choice to play the Doctor just because Giles, my character in Buffy, has the same light and dark sides and quirkiness as Doctor Who." He said his favorite Doctor was Patrick Troughton "because you never knew what was going on inside his Doctor." The article on the BBC's website noting the Radio Times poll results also features comments from writer Russell T. Davies; you can read it by clicking here(or here to read a similar story on Yahoo!). (Thanks to everyone who wrote in with comments)

FILTER: - People - Production - Series 1/27 - Radio Times

Five Years? 13 Episodes Each?

Wednesday, 19 November 2003 - Reported by Shaun Lyon

Journalist Matthew Sweet penned an article on the 40th anniversary of Doctor Who for the Independent on November 16, which has only now been made available to readers online. Click here to read the article. Very importantly, the article mentions the return of the series with some interesting information: "There'll be at least one important difference, though, between the programme's 20th and 21st-century incarnations," Sweet writes. "The new Doctor Who will be one of the BBC's flagship programmes. [Producer Russell T.] Davies and his co-conspirator, Mal Young, Controller of Continuing Drama Series, have secured a commitment to five series of 13, 45-minute episodes. They'll be able to afford an expensive actor for the lead role. They'll get billboard ads, Radio Times covers and publicity spots across the media. The original programme rarely enjoyed such security." The article then goes on to mention that "Russell T Davies has his first production meeting on 8 December." While we have no idea how definite any of this information is, it certainly breeds speculation that the BBC is fully committing itself to the production, and that good times may indeed be ahead.

FILTER: - Production - Series 1/27 - Press - Radio Times

Twelve Episodes?

Wednesday, 5 November 2003 - Reported by Shaun Lyon

New rumors abound over the past few days but Outpost Gallifrey has learned that the current plan is to feature twelve 45-minute episodes for the new series, specifically six two-parters. Russell T. Davies will produce and contribute several stories but will likely not write all six tales. Meanwhile, other sources have confirmed what we've suspected for some time: there were no plans to announce the show until at least the anniversary later in November, or even early in 2004, but the announcement was brought forward when BBC-1 controller Lorraine Heggessey (we love 'er!) made it public in the interview she conducted with the British press.

FILTER: - Production - Series 1/27

Deconstructing Doctor Who

Wednesday, 22 October 2003 - Reported by Shaun Lyon

In a message today to the Outpost Gallifrey Forum, author Peter Anghelides attempted to deconstruct some of the disinformation surrounding the forthcoming new Doctor Who series with details freely available on the web about some of the people behind it. We felt it was too important not to share with readers of our news page.

In response to who Julie Gardner and Mal Young are: Julie Gardner is head of Drama at BBC Wales (see picturehere). And Mal Young is BBC Controller of Continuing Drama Series.

Here's how Drama Commissioning responsibilities are described on BBCi.

You may also find it interesting to peruse some of the public domain documents on BBCi. There's a lot of rather idle speculation on this forum about what may or may not happen, but you can get some excellent clues in document such as this BBC Producer Briefing Day document (it's a PDF) about what the BBC are looking for in their drama series.

It is a transcript of the Genre Session they ran on April 1 this year (yes, I know, April 1). From it, you'll see information about the ratio of spend between returning drama series and serials/events; the longevity they expect of newly-commissioned series; the difference between commissions on BBC1, BBC2, and BBC3; etc. No need for wild guesswork or speculation, even at this early sage: this is published opinion of Jane Tranter herself (BBC Controller of Drama Commissioning).

Or check out the Commissioning site on BBCi, including the section about Drama.

My point is that there's a wealth of available information in public domain. We're happy enough to graze a myriad DW sites on the web, so perhaps we should spend some time looking at what the BBC actually tell us!

Now you can try and work out why I have called this thread "Five is the magic number".

We guess, as do our readers, that the BBC "is looking for a drama series that'll run for five years - provide some innovative and character-driven drama (either period or futuristic will do) and come off with a bang for a large viewing audience. My, but doesn't that sound like a made-to-order job for Doctor Who." Of course, all this is speculative, but it's a good primer on what we might expect from a future serise. (With thanks to the brilliant Mr. Anghelides for his insight, and Forum user "No Heroics" for the 'five year' summation)

FILTER: - Production - Series 1/27

How Many Episodes?

Monday, 20 October 2003 - Reported by Shaun Lyon

The newest issue of Doctor Who Magazine suggests that, contrary to earlier reports, the show will have either 8 or 12 episodes of 45-minute length (even at 8, it's more footage than the last four seasons of the original show!)

FILTER: - Production - Series 1/27

Telegraph Says Nighy

Friday, 10 October 2003 - Reported by Shaun Lyon

Bill Nighy appears to be the front-runner for the role of the Doctor, being writer/producer Russell Davies' first choice. Now, another article in the Telegraph quotes television presenter Richard Bacon, who says the veteran actor is a "shoo-in" for the job. "I'm very good mates with the League of Gentlemen writer Mark Gatiss, who's going to be writing the show with Russell T. Davies. Mark says it's Nighy for the lead, and he's in the know on this." Of course, this is all second hand. (And the quest continues... Thanks to Matthew Sweet)

FILTER: - Production - Series 1/27 - Press

Updated Hill Bookmakers

Sunday, 28 September 2003 - Reported by Shaun Lyon

William Hill, the UK-based bookmakers which we preivously announced had made Alan Davies their 8-to-1 favourite to play the Doctor, have now got their full book open on who will take the role; you can visit the site by going here. Alan Davies still has the 8-1 odds, with Richard E. Grant at 14-1, Sean Pertwee (son of the late actor) at 16-1, and even Ian McKellen, Michael Caine and Don Cheadle at the extremes. Says William Hill spokesperson Jennie Prest, "Amazingly it is 14 years since the last series, but everyone remembers who was Doctor Who when they were a kid! Every time the actor was replaced there was intense excitement about who would be the next one, and this time it is just the same!!

FILTER: - Production - Series 1/27 - Betting/Odds