The Ice Warriors: original trailer to be included on DVD

Thursday, 23 May 2013 - Reported by Chuck Foster
ClentPenley
The DVD release of The Ice Warriors is to include the original in-character trailer, with brand new animation. Producer Chris Chapman explained on Twitter:
So... the plan is at the moment that the Ice Warriors DVD will include the original 1967 in-character trailer- animated back into existence! We weren't going to do this - didn't think we'd have time, but Chris Chatterton and his team have pulled out all the animated stops! Worth saying though that the Ice Warriors trailer audio is beyond restoration - it's really bad. So we're including subtitles to help!
As mentioned, the audio quality of the trailer utilised for the project is in very bad quality, and Chris has asked if anybody owns a copy that they believe is of a good standard that could be used on the DVD to please contact him asap.

The original trailer was broadcast after the final episode of The Abominable Snowmen on 4th November 1967, and featured Peter Barkworth as Clent and Peter Sallis as Penley introducing the situation facing Brittanicus Base.

BBFC Updates

The BBFC have recently classified various aspects of the DVD release, including the existing four episodes and their commentaries, plus special features (which confirms their running times):
00:10:03:06 BLUE PETER (DOCTOR WHO - THE ICE WARRIORS - 
DVD EXTRAS - BLUE PETER DESIGN-A-MONSTER)
00:03:51:24 THE ICE WARRIORS - PHOTO GALLERY (DVD EXTRA)
00:13:46:08 DOCTOR WHO STORIES - FRAZER HINES (DVD EXTRA)
00:19:17:23 (DOCTOR WHO - THE ICE WARRIORS - DVD EXTRAS - VHS LINKS)
00:24:28:18 COLD FUSION - MAKING THE ICE WARRIORS (DVD EXTRA)

The newly animated version of The Tenth Planet: Episode 4 has also been passed (running time 24m 35s), as has the trailer for Scream of the Shalka.




FILTER: - Second Doctor - First Doctor - Classic Series - Blu-ray/DVD

The Daemons' White Witch To Return On DVD

Thursday, 23 May 2013 - Reported by John Bowman
A drama production featuring Damaris Hayman reprising her role as white witch Olive Hawthorne from Third Doctor story The Daemons is to be released on DVD later this year.

White Witch of Devil's End is a Reeltime Pictures spin-off and, according to producer Keith Barnfather, despite nearing the age of 84 Hayman jumped at the chance of playing the role again.

Hayman herself said:
I shall retire, I think, in my coffin! Miss Hawthorne was my all-time favourite role and I was enchanted by the thought of being her again for a little while. After a lot of working together consulting over the scripts I'd subsequently never enjoyed filming more, and I can't wait now to see the final result.
Barnfather commented:
I was amazed and delighted that, as an octogenarian, Damaris was prepared to take this on. We had recently recorded an interview with her for our Myth Makers series profiling actors who had appeared in Doctor Who and I already knew she still had a hunger to act. But I really didn't expect her to be so keen.
Because of her age, the actress knew she had to pace herself, so director Anastasia Stylianou decided to film the drama in a "talking head" style, adding dramatic cutaway material to bring the words to life. Stylianou said:
I knew it would be a challenge. We needed to film a 50-minute drama at least, so I decided to make an asset out of a limitation.
Primary filming has already taken place at a cottage near Hayman's home, with the crew collecting and returning her each day. Once back home each evening, she was able to recover and study the next day's script.

Barnfather said:
We used autocue to help Damaris. It was an impossible task for any actor to learn so much dialogue. She was a true professional and took to it instantly.
A release date of Thursday 31st October - Halloween - is planned, and Stylianou added:
It's just getting all the dramatic cutaway material "in the can" that is crucial. The drama is really an anthology – a set of connecting stories about Olive's life told, as it were, in her own words.
Barnfather, who contacted pal David J Howe at Telos Publishing when considering who should write the stories, stated:
I thought it would be fantastic to ask individual writers knowledgeable in the occult and magic to write each story and David, through Telos, knew so many of the best young talent in the country.
Howe and his partner Sam Stone contacted several authors they felt would be sympathetic to the material and got them all on board for the project. Stone, who is an award-winning author, said:
I took on the task of outlining the whole story and then asked the writers to come up with ideas which fitted that framework. We needed to tell stories at different points in Olive Hawthorne's life, and the writers rose to the challenge and delivered scripts which exceeded all my expectations. I then worked with them to refine the scripts into the completed screenplay.
As well as Howe and Stone, the writers involved in the project are Raven Dane, Debbie Bennett, Jan Edwards, and Suzanne J Barbieri, with a final script polish being applied by Big Finish writer Matt Fitton.

The DVD, which will be region-free, is available to pre-order here. Extras are yet to be finalised but will include a "Making Of . . . " feature as well as interviews with the authors.




FILTER: - Merchandise - Blu-ray/DVD

The Caves of Androzani on UKTV

Thursday, 23 May 2013 - Reported by Paul Scoones

UKTV

Sunday 26th May sees the broadcast of the last Peter Davison story, The Caves of Androzani on Australian and New Zealand television. The story is presented as part of the 50th Anniversary season of Doctor Who on the UKTV channel.

In New Zealand the story screens at 4:10pm and in Australia at 4:20pm. New Zealand has an additional screening on Monday 27th May at 4:20am.

The Caves of Androzani
The UKTV billing describes The Caves of Androzani as follows:
Landing on the planet Androzani Minor, the Doctor & Peri develop lethal spectrox toxaemia poisoning. They search for a cure & become enmeshed in a decades-old feud.
The story was first broadcast in Australia in 1984. New Zealand did not get to see it until 1989. When it was first broadcast in both Australia and New Zealand the story had extensive censor cuts intended to reduce scenes of violence.

UKTV is showing stories each week throughout the year in the lead-up to the anniversary in November. Next month shifts focus to Colin Baker's sixth Doctor. The schedule for June includes: Attack of the Cybermen (2 June), Vengeance on Varos (9 June), The Mark of the Rani (16 June), The Two Doctors (23 June), and Revelation of the Daleks (30 June).

Up-and-coming broadcasts from both 20th and 21st Century series of Doctor Who can be found via UKTV's Doctor Who sections for Australia and New Zealand.





FILTER: - Classic Series - WHO50 - New Zealand - Australia

Time and Relative Dimensions in Faith

Wednesday, 22 May 2013 - Reported by Chuck Foster
Time and Relative Dimensions in Faith (Credit: Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd)Last year we reported on a book to be compiled focusing on the portrayals of religion in Doctor Who. The book has now been completed and due to be published by Darton, Longman and Todd.

Editorial director David Moloney told us:
The book will be published on 29th October 2013, and its new title is Time and Relative Dimensions in Faith (and yes, there is a reason for the plural dimensions – as the editors Andrew Crome and James McGrath explain inside the book). The book is currently estimated to be a 304 page 198x126mm paperback, with 19 chapters written by contributors from the UK, US and Australia covering a wonderfully diverse range of subjects – all related to the exploration of religious themes in Doctor Who (in its many forms – TV old and new, books, audios, comics, etc).

As a Doctor Who fan myself I am absolutely delighted to be publishing this book in the show’s 50th anniversary year.





FILTER: - Merchandise - Books

Doctor Who: Canada Ratings

Wednesday, 22 May 2013 - Reported by Marcus
The Name of the Doctor was watched by 584,000 viewers on Canadian station SPACE last Saturday, becoming the most watched season finale in the series history in the country.

The episode made SPACE the number 1 network for the 9pm timeslot for total viewers, as well as for the key demographics of 25-54 and 18-49.

Total reach for the finale was nearly 1 million total viewers. The programme was also the most-watched entertainment specialty program of the day on Saturday, capping off a strong Season 7 for the Doctor and Clara with a season average audience of 608,000.




FILTER: - Canada - Ratings - Series 7/33

Doctor Who wins Peabody Award

Tuesday, 21 May 2013 - Reported by Marcus
Doctor Who has been presented with a Peabody Award, one of the highest honours in American media.

The George Foster Peabody Awards recognize distinguished achievement and meritorious service by broadcasters, cable and webcasters, producing organizations, and individuals. Selection is made by the Peabody Board, a 16-member panel of distinguished academics, television critics, industry practitioners and experts in culture and the arts.

The citation reads:
Seemingly immortal, 50-years-old and still running, this engaging, imaginative sci-fi/fantasy series is awarded an Institutional Peabody for evolving with technology and the times like nothing else in the known television universe.

The award was accepted by Steven Moffat, Jenna-Louise Coleman, and Matt Smith at a ceremony in New York last night.





FILTER: - Steven Moffat - Doctor Who - Matt Smith - Awards/Nominations - Jenna-Louise Coleman

TV Choice Awards 2013 Longlist Announced

Tuesday, 21 May 2013 - Reported by John Bowman
The longlist for this year's TV Choice Awards has been announced, with Doctor Who nominated for Best Drama Series.

It is up against 22 other shows in the category, which this year has been changed from Best Family Drama, in which the show has previously featured and won.

In addition, Matt Smith and Jenna-Louise Coleman are up for, respectively, Best Actor and Best Actress, with Smith facing challenges from - among others - David Tennant (for Broadchurch), John Simm (for The Village), Derek Jacobi (for Last Tango In Halifax), and Daniel Mays (for Mrs Biggs), while Coleman must fend off the likes of Eve Myles (Frankie), Jessica Raine (Call The Midwife), Anne Reid (Last Tango In Halifax), Lesley Sharp (Scott & Bailey), Ruth Jones (Stella), Anna Maxwell Martin (The Bletchley Circle), Olivia Colman (Broadchurch), and Suranne Jones (Scott & Bailey) as the 25 contenders in her category are whittled down.

Voting in this qualifying round of the 17th awards is open online until midnight on Friday 14th June. A shortlist - again open to public vote - will then be revealed on Tuesday 2nd July with voting open for about a week, said a spokeswoman for TV Choice, and the winners will be named at a ceremony hosted by Ben Miller at The Dorchester in London on Monday 9th September.

The show or its actors have won a TV Choice award every year since 2005 except in 2009, including Christopher Eccleston (2005) and David Tennant (2006-2008) for Best Actor and Billie Piper (2006) for Best Actress.





FILTER: - UK - Matt Smith - Awards/Nominations - Jenna-Louise Coleman

Australian final ratings for Nightmare in Silver

Tuesday, 21 May 2013 - Reported by Adam Kirk


Nightmare in Silver has picked up an additional 171,000 time-shifted Australian viewers, giving it a final, or consolidated, ratings average of 869,000 viewers in the five major capital cities.  This was the fourth largest number of time-shifted viewers for a program broadcast on Sunday 12 May. The final or consolidated ratings includes all 'time-shifted' viewers who record the program and watch it within a week.

Based on these final figures, Nightmare in Silver was the second highest rating ABC program of the day and the twelfth highest rating program of the day overall (it was the fourteenth highest rating program based on its overnight figures of 698,000 viewers). These ratings do not include regional viewers.
Media Links: TV Tonight




FILTER: - Ratings - Broadcasting - Series 7/33 - Australia

Australian overnight ratings for The Name of the Doctor

Monday, 20 May 2013 - Reported by Adam Kirk

The Name of the Doctor has debuted in Australia, averaging 812,000 viewers in the five major capital cities. It was the ABC's highest rating drama of the day and the ninth highest rating program of the day overall. These ratings do not include regional or time-shifted viewers.
Media Links: TV Tonight




FILTER: - Ratings - Broadcasting - Series 7/33 - Australia

Name of the Doctor AI:88

Monday, 20 May 2013 - Reported by Marcus

The Name of the Doctor had an Appreciation Index, or AI score, of 88.

The Appreciation Index or AI is a measure of how much the audience enjoyed the programme. The score, out of a hundred, is compiled by a specially selected panel of around 5,000 people who go online and rate and comment on programmes.

Doctor Who scored higher than most of Saturday's output with only Dad's Army on BBC 2 scoring higher with 89. Britain's Got Talent scored 84, with the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest scoring 69.

The score of 88 is the highest score since the season opener, Asylum of the Daleks, which scored 89.




FILTER: - Doctor Who - Ratings - UK - Series 7/33