Norman Taylor, one of the men behind the original iconic Doctor Who title sequence, has died.
Norman Taylor was a BBC Technical Operations Manager on Crew 9 based at Lime Grove in London. He was the man who, while experimenting with a camera looking at a monitor showing its own picture, made the serendipitous discovery of "visual howlaround" - the effect that was subsequently used for Doctor Who's original title sequence.
I got the usual effect of diminishing images of the monitor disappearing into limbo, when suddenly some stray light hit the monitor screen and the whole picture went mobile with swirling patterns of black and white. Later I repeated the experiment but fed a black and white caption mixed with the camera output to the monitor, and very soon got the Dr Who effect.
The original titles for Doctor Who are believed to have been recorded in August 1963 in an empty TC5 at Television Centre. Bernard Lodge, who was credited for the sequence, was in the gallery and Norman Taylor lighting matches to trigger the howl-round. Hugh Sheppard was on the camera at the time.
Taylor was later given a Technical Suggestion award of £25.00 for his howl-round idea which featured in various forms in the title sequence until 1980, when it was replaced by the star-field effect.
You can read more about his contribution to the series on the Tech-Ops History site.
2|entertain have confirmed the classic Doctor Who stories currently being worked on for release in 2011. The stories will follow the previously announced releases of The Mutants, The Ark, Mara Tales and Revisitations 2.
The details came in an interview with the members of the classic Doctor Who DVD team in the new issue of Doctor Who Magazine. In the interview Commissioning Editor Dan Hall revealed an additional title was considered for re-visiting, but was dropped after review. Hall has revealed via the ClassicDW twitter account that this title was the Sixth Doctor story Vengeance on Varos. Hall has indicated he would be willing to reconsider this decision should there be a groundswell of opinion favouring this re-release.
Stories due for release during 2011:
The swansong of the third Doctor, originally shown in 1974. The story written by Robert Sloman and Barry Letts features Jon Pertwee in an epic battle with the Giant Spiders of Metebelis 3. The story also features Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith, Nicholas Courtney as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, Richard Franklin as Captain Mike Yates, John Levene as Sergeant Benton, Gareth Hunt as Arak, Kevin Lindsay as Cho-je, John Dearth as Lupton and John Kane as Tommy.
Extras include:
Commentary
90 minute compilation edition
Jon Pertwee on Wogan
John Kane remembers
The Final Curtain - Documentary
Directing Doctor Who: Barry Letts
Now and Then: Locations
A double release featuring an updated version of Jon Pertwee's first story re-released alongside the debut story of Roger Delgado as The Master and Katy Manning as Jo Grant Spearhead from Space The TARDIS arrives on Earth in the middle of a meteorite shower and the Doctor is found by UNIT troops and taken to a nearby hospital. Originally shown in 1970 the story, written by Robert Holmes, introduces the Autons as well as the third Doctor. Alongside Jon Pertwee it stars Nicholas Courtney as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, Caroline John as Liz Shaw, Hugh Burden as Channing, John Woodnutt as Hibbert and Hamilton Dyce as Major General Scobie
Extras include:
Regenerations: Documentary
UNIT Recruitment film
Down to Earth: Documentary
New Commentary
Terror of the Autons This 1971 story introduces The Master as who arrives on Earth at a circus run by a man named Rossini and steals a dormant Nestene energy unit from a museum. Written by Robert Holmes the story introduces Jo Grant played by Katy Manning as The Doctor's new companion. Also featuring Nicholas Courtney as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, Richard Franklin as Mike Yates, John Levene as Sergeant Benton, Harry Towb as McDermott, Michael Wisher as Rex Farrel and Roger Delgado as The Master.
Extras include:
Extra Footage
Commentary
Plastic Fantastic: Documentary
The Doctor's Moriarty
Life on Earth: Documentary
The Fifth Doctor faces danger when the TARDIS is dragged down to the surface of the planet Frontios and apparently destroyed during a meteorite bombardment. Originally shown in 1984 the story written by Christopher H Bidmead stars Peter Davison as The Doctor, Janet Fielding as Tegan, Mark Strickson as Turlough, Peter Gilmore as Brazen, Lesley Dunlop as Norna, Jeff Rawle as Plantagenet and William Lucas as Range.
Extras include:
Commentary
Isolated Score
Driven to Distraction
A Box-Set containing two stories set on Earth The Awakening
An alien war machine, the Malus, is affecting the inhabitants of the English country village of Little Hodcombe in 1984 so that a re-enactment of a Civil War battle turns into the real thing. Originally shown in 1984 the story written by Eric Pringle stars Peter Davison as The Doctor, Janet Fielding as Tegan, Mark Strickson as Turlough, Frederick Hall as Andrew Verney, Glyn Houston as Colonel Wolsey, Polly James as Jane Hampden, Denis Lill as Sir George and Keith Jayne as Will Chandler.
Extras include:
Commentary
Outake
On the Cutting Room Floor
Kamelion deleted scene
Barry Newbury - Designer: Documentary
Location Footage
Now and Then
The Gunfighters The 1966 story has the First Doctor visiting the town of Tombstone where he attempts to locate a dentist and gets caught up in the feud between Doc Holliday and the Clanton family. The story is written by Donald Cotton and alongside William Hartnell features Jackie Lane as Dodo, Peter Purves as Steven Taylor, Anthony Jacobs as Doc Holliday, William Hurndall as Ike Clanton, Laurence Payne as Johnny Ringo and Sheena Marshe as Kate. It features the voice of Lynda Baron
Extras include:
Commentary
End of the Line: Documentary
Tomorrow's Times, The First Doctor
Previously reported in November, the story has the Seventh Doctor battling the inhabitants of Paradise Towers a run-down and dilapidated tower block where gangs of Kangs roam wild, the apartments are inhabited by cannibalistic old ladies, the Rezzies; and the building is managed by a group of dictatorial caretakers, presided over by the Chief Caretaker.
The 1987 story was written by Stephen Wyatt and stars Sylvester McCoy as The Doctor and Bonnie Langford as Mel, alongside Annabel Yuresha as Bin Liner, Catherine Cusack as Blue Kang Leader, Richard Briers as Chief Caretaker, Clive Merrison as Deputy Chief , Julie Brennon as Fire Escape, Judy Cornwell as Maddy, Howard Cooke as Pex, Elizabeth Spriggs as Tabby and Brenda Bruce as Tilda.
Extras include:
Commentary
Girls Girls Girls: 1980's
Horror of the High-Rise: Documentary
Rejected Score
Jigsaw
The third box set in the Revisitation series, comprising stories which were released near the start of the DVD range and now released with additional restoration work and special features. Tomb of the Cybermen
In this 1967 Second Doctor story, once thought to be lost forever, the TARDIS arrives on the planet Telos where an Earth archaeological expedition, led by Professor Parry, is attempting to uncover the lost tombs of the Cybermen. The story by Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis is the earliest surviving complete story with the Second Doctor. Joining Patrick Troughton in the cast are Frazer Hines as Jamie, Deborah Watling as Victoria, George Roubicek as Captain Hopper, George Pastell as Eric Klieg, Clive Merrison as Jim Callum, Cyril Shaps as John Viner, Shirley Cooklin as Kaftan and Roy Stewart as Toberman.
The story has now been through the VidFire process designed to restore the look of the print to its original condition.
Extras include:
New Commentary
Tomb and the magic of VidFIRE: Documentary
Sky Ray promo
Lost Giants Documentary
Curse of the Cybermen: Documentary
Cybermen: Documentary
The Three Doctors
The tenth anniverasary story unites the first three Doctors in a battle against renegade Time-Lord Omega. Written by Bob Baker and Dave Martin the story stars Jon Pertwee, Patrick Troughton and William Hartnell as The Doctor alongside Nicholas Courtney as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, Katy Manning as Jo Grant, John Levene as Sergeant Benton, Rex Robinson as Dr. Tyler and Stephen Thorne as Omega
Extras include:
Making of Documentary
When Doctor Who was Uncool: Documentary
The Robots of Death
The fourth Doctor story sees the TARDIS materialise on board a massive sandminer vehicle combing an alien world for precious minerals. The miner is run by a small human crew with the aid of numerous robots split into three classes: Dums, Vocs and a single controlling Super Voc but the crew are being picked off one by one by an unseen killer. Written by Chris Boucher the story stars Tom Baker as The Doctor, Louise Jameson as Leela, Brian Croucher as Borg, Tariq Yunis as Cass, Rob Edwards as Chub, David Bailie as Dask, David Collings as Poul, Pamela Salem as Toos, Russell Hunter as Uvanov and Tania Rogers as Zilda
Extras include:
Sandmine Murders: Documentary
Robophobia Documentary
Girls Girls Girls 1970's
A box-set comprising two stories set within our own Solar System. Ambassadors of Death
This third Doctor story was recently tipped for release having been restored to full colour using a similar process to that used on the 2009 release of Planet of the Daleks. The Malcolm Hulke story, first shown in 1970, sees the Doctor join a UNIT investigation into a mystery surrounding Mars Probe 7. It stars Jon Pertwee as The Doctor along with Nicholas Courtney as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, Caroline John as Liz Shaw, John Levene as Sgt Benton and Ronald Allen as Ralph Cornish.
Extras include:
Battle for Mars Probe 7: Documentary
Tomorrow's Times, The Third Doctor
The Sun Makers
The Fourth Doctor story by Robert Holmes sees the TARDIS arrives in the future on the planet Pluto where there are now six suns, a breathable atmosphere and a large industrial community. The Company controls the planet and exploits the workers, pays them a pittance and then taxes them on everything imaginable. The Doctor and Leela join forces with an underground band of rebels led by a man named Mandrel.
The 1977 story stars Tom Baker as The Doctor with Louise Jameson as Leela, John Leeson as Voice of K9, David Rowlands as Bisham, Henry Woolf as Collector and Michael Keating as Goudry.
Tuesday, 11 January 2011 - Reported by Chuck Foster
2|Entertain have reported via their Classic Series twitter feed that two commentaries are due to be recorded in London this coming Sunday. The two remaining original TARDIS travellers William Russell (Ian Chesterton) and Carole Ann Ford (Susan) will be reunited to record the commentary for First Doctor adventure The Sensorites, whilst Third Doctor tale Colony in Space will feature Katy Manning(Jo Grant) alongside (then) assistant floor manager Graeme Harper. Both recording sessions will see additional reflections from other, as yet unnamed, guests.
As usual, this announcement should not be taken as an indication of the stories coming out on DVD imminently, as commentaries are often recorded way in advance of release to take advantage of the commentators' availability!
Tuesday, 4 January 2011 - Reported by Chuck Foster
Wired Magazine have reported that Third Doctor Jon Pertwee's adventure from Season Seven, The Ambassadors of Death is in the process of being completed for DVD.
The story is one of a number that do not exist in the BBC Archives in full colour; though an off-air camera copy exists, this does not provide a good signal for recreating a colour version as seen in the DVD release Doctor Who And The Silurians (details of that process may be read from the Restoration Team's Beneath the Surface article). A new colour decoding strategy was deployed for episode three of the Planet of the Daleks DVD release (see article), and has now reached maturity to tackle the third Doctor's third adventure:
Their method is a refined version of that trialled on the 2009 Planet of the Daleks re-release; it is now being deployed on a seven-part 1970 Jon Pertwee adventure, The Ambassadors of Death. "It seemed on most recordings, they didn't filter off the colour carrier [encoded as a 'chroma dot' pattern in each frame], which for the last few decades has been nothing more than an annoyance." Team member Richard Russell used the signal to reverse-engineer raw colour pictures that could be retouched frame by frame. "It's very, very labour intensive -- several hundred man hours' work every episode," says Steve Roberts. Luckily, a new "quadrant editor" is helping them to produce better source material upfront, so they hope to deliver the Ambassadors episodes to the BBC within weeks.
No other details on the future DVD release is known at present, though a commentary for the story was recorded back in late 2009, featuring members of the cast and crew including Nicholas Courtney (The Brigadier), Terrance Dicks (script editor), Peter Halliday (alien voices) and Derek Ware (stunts/fight arranger).
Follow classic Doctor Who DVD developments on Twitter: @classicdw.
BBC Worldwide have launched a channel for Classic Doctor Who on YouTube this evening with two exclusive clips from Meglos.
You can subscribe to the channel so you can catch all the exclusive content from the latest 2|entertain DVD releases. Just head to youtube.com/BBCclassicDoctorWho.
We reported last week that 2|entertain had announced plans to launch the channel in January. Today a press release was put out by the BBC Worldwide press office announcing the launch of the channel:
BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC, will be launching a Classic Doctor Who channel on YouTube on 4th January.
The new channel, featuring a mixture of classic clips and exclusive previews from forthcoming Doctor Who DVD releases, will appeal to existing fans and give new viewers an opportunity to sample some classic Doctor Who. The channel will complement the Classic Doctor Who Twitter account @classicdw run by 2entertain.
Jo Warren, Head of UK & Ireland Sales says, "We're really looking forward to giving Classic Doctor Who its own home on YouTube. It will be a great space for fans to discuss Classic Who - we're launching with some fantastic clips and we'll be regularly adding to the collection!"
Classic Doctor Who Brand Manager Dan Hall comments, "I'm delighted to join forces with our digital team and YouTube. This is an exciting, new way to deliver content for our net-hungry market."
Classic Doctor Who will launch on YouTube with over 45 clips dating from the first episode, along with new Meglos clips and an exclusive clip previewing the new Doctor Who Meglos DVD boxset which will be released by 2entertain on 10th January. Meglos stars Tom Baker and was originally broadcast in 1980.
The two stories comprising The Mara Tales will be released in North America as separate stories on April 12, 2011. Kinda and Snakedance feature the Fifth Doctor and are released as a boxset in the UK a month earlier.
Meanwhile it has been confirmed that Australia will see the release of the Third Doctor story, The Mutants, on February 3, 2011, just a few days after its UK release.
2|entertain have announced, via their Twitter feed, that they hope to launch a YouTube channel in January on with they will post trailers and additional material made to complement the release of classic Doctor Who DVDs.
For full details of the global DVD release schedule see our product page.
The Mara Tales Boxset, comprising the two fifth Doctor Stories, Kinda and Snakedance, will be released in the UK on 7 March 2011.
The remastered discs will feature new CGI for the Mara's manifestation as a snake, as well as documentaries on the making of the series, an interview with Christopher Bailey, the author of the two stories, and deleted scenes.
Also confirmed is the release of the second boxset comprising stories which were released near the start of the DVD run, now remastered and with added extras. Revisitations 2 will be released in the UK on 28 March 2011 and will contain three stories, the Second Doctor Story The Seeds of Death, the Third Doctor story Carnival of Monsters and the fifth Doctor story Resurrection of the Daleks.
For full details of the global DVD release schedule see our product page.
The short film about Verity Lambert and her struggle to get Doctor Who made is now available to watch online.
As we reported last month the film was written by Thomas Cowell and Joey Guy who are film students from the University of Central Lancashire.
London, 1963. Verity Lambert, the woman in charge of the BBC's new children's show, is facing somewhat of a struggle. Not only has she got to make a TV show with the entire scope of time and space (on a small budget), but she also has to face bitchy co-workers and arrogant male peers.
"Verity" shows how she fought for the Daleks right to exist on TV, battled against jealous co-workers and ended up triumphant with a national success on her hands.
Wednesday, 24 November 2010 - Reported by Harry Ward
A short film about Verity Lambert and her struggle to get Doctor Who made will broadcast online in early December.
The film is written by two film students from the University of Central Lancaster. Thomas Cowell and Joey Guy have produced the ten minute biopic which will focus on the key stage of production for the very first episodes of Doctor Who between August and December 1963. More details about the production of this film can be found here.
London, 1963. Verity Lambert, the woman in charge of the BBC's new children's show, is facing somewhat of a struggle. Not only has she got to make a TV show with the entire scope of time and space (on a small budget), but she also has to face bitchy co-workers and arrogant male peers.
"Verity" shows how she fought for the Daleks right to exist on TV, battled against jealous co-workers and ended up triumphant with a national success on her hands. It will be broadcast on YouTube in early December.
The actress Ingrid Pitt has died at the age of 73.
Ingrid Pitt had two roles in Doctor Who. She played the role of Galleia in the 1972 third Doctor story The Time Monster. Galleia was Queen of Atlantis and the wife of King Dalios. In 1984 she returned to the series to play Solow in the fifth Doctor story Warriors of the Deep. During the eighties she also co-wrote a Doctor Who story The Macros with her husband Tony Rudlin which, though it never progressed into a televised production at the time, was later produced by Big Finish as part of their Lost Stories series.
Pitt was best known for her work in horror films of the 1960s and 1970s. She was born in Poland on 21 November 1937 as Ingoushka Petrov. She had a German father and a Jewish mother and as a result she and her family were imprisoned in a concentration camp during the second World War. In 1965 she made her film debut in Doctor Zhivago, playing a minor role. In 1968 she co-starred in the low budget science fiction film The Omegans and in the same year played in Where Eagles Dare opposite Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood.
Her work with Hammer Film Productions elevated her to cult figure status. She starred in The Vampire Lovers, and Countess Dracula, as well as having a small part in the cult film The Wicker Man. She founded her own theatrical touring company and starred in successful productions of Dial M for Murder, Duty Free, and Woman of Straw.
Pitt made her return to the big screen in the 2000 production The Asylum. The film starred Colin Baker and Patrick Mower. In 2003, Pitt voiced the role of 'Lady Violator' in Renga Media's production Dominator. The film was the UK's first CGI animated film.
She died earlier today at a hospital in south London after collapsing a few days ago.
Norman Taylor, one of the men behind the original iconic Doctor Who title sequence, has died.
BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC, will be launching a Classic Doctor Who channel on YouTube on 4th January.
The two stories comprising The Mara Tales will be released in North America as separate stories on April 12, 2011. 
The actress 
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