Extended repeat of Norton show

Friday, 30 March 2007 - Reported by DWNP Archive
Anyone who missed David Tennant on last night's Graham Norton Show on BBC Two has a second chance to see him in an extended repeat this coming Sunday on the same channel at 10.45pm.

Quoting from the show, the BBC Press Office refers to a plot element that has caused controversy.

NB: Although the press release says the repeat will go out at 11.30pm, Radio Times and the BBC's What's On says it will actually be broadcast at 10.45pm.




FILTER: - David Tennant - Press - Radio Times

The Doctor's Trips to the Moon

Friday, 30 March 2007 - Reported by R Alan Siler
DigitalSpy is currently running a story that takes readers on a lunar odyssey throughout the Doctor's many incarnations, familiarizing Doctor Who's younger audience with all the Doctor's previous visits to or encounters with the Moon.

Beginning with 1967's "The Moonbase" the article continues on through the decades, concluding with a brief synopsis of "Smith and Jones", which kicks off Series Three on BBC1 at 7:00 pm on Saturday, 31 March.




FILTER: - Classic Series - Press

Doctor Who for mobiles?

Thursday, 29 March 2007 - Reported by DWNP Archive
The BBC today announced the beginning of a test syndication of a range of its TV channels and radio networks via 3G to certain mobile phones.

Although no specific programmes were named, the BBC chose to useDoctor Who to illustrate the announcement via its press office.

Lasting up to 12 months, the test will allow subscribers to Orange, Vodafone and 3's TV packages to watch BBC One, BBC News 24 and BBC Three (with the exception of some sport and acquired programmes) streamed on their mobiles.

Subscribers will also be able to listen to up to eight radio stations, including Radio 1, 1Xtra, Radio 2, Radio 3, Radio 4, 6 Music, BBC 7 and Asian Network.

It will start within the month, said the corporation.




FILTER: - Online - Press

Companion gallery

Thursday, 29 March 2007 - Reported by DWNP Archive
With just two days to go before the first adventure of new companion Martha Jones, played by Freema Agyeman, the BBC News Entertainment site celebrates her arrival by taking a look back at some of the actors and actresses who have travelled in the Tardis with the Doctor.

The gallery of 11 images starts in the Hartnell era and ends with a publicity picture of Martha.




FILTER: - Series 3/29 - Press

BBC Digital Preview

Thursday, 29 March 2007 - Reported by Chuck Foster
There is now a preview of the forthcoming series running on a loop on BBC's Digital service; the loop runs for about a minute and a half and features clips from a number of stories. Beware spoilers!

The preview is available on Sky Digital and Virgin Media but not on Freeview because of scheduling reasons, according to the official Doctor Who website, which says it hopes to have the trailer on the site shortly.

Update - this preview is now available via the BBC channel on YouTube.
A number of clips are shown, including brief snippets from later stories such as Human Nature (including the wedding reported in Heat and on tonight's Graham Norton Show), Utopia and The Sound of Drums, featuring Derek Jacobi, Michelle Collins, John Simm and John Barrowman.




FILTER: - Online - Series 3/29 - Press

60-Second Interview with RTD

Wednesday, 28 March 2007 - Reported by R Alan Siler
Metro, "Britain's first urban national newspaper," is currently featuring an interview with Russell T. Davies in its "60 Seconds" column, in which the Doctor Who Executive Producer gives a few insights into Season Three and his thoughts on fandom and on being a fan himself.

Davies responds to questions such as "What does the 'T' stand for?", "What's your favourite piece of Doctor Who merchandise?", and "Which are better, Cybermen or Daleks?"

Davies' answer: "Daleks any day; that’s why I wrote an episode where the Daleks thrash the Cybermen. The fact they still work now is astonishing. We were tempted to redesign them and drew up all sorts of different Daleks – circular Daleks, flying Daleks, real Star Wars-type Daleks – but they just weren’t Daleks. There’s a reason they’ve lasted 40 years. I’d like to read a university-level essay on why the design of the Daleks has worked so well."

Metro was launched in March 1999 as a free, colour newspaper for morning commuters. At first only available in London, now commuters in 13 of Britain's major cities can pick up a free copy of Metro as they travel to work in the morning. Every weekday morning some 1.12 million copies are distributed across the UK making Metro the world's largest free newspaper and the fourth biggest newspaper in the UK.




FILTER: - People - Press

Freema Reveals Her Inner Fangirl

Tuesday, 27 March 2007 - Reported by R Alan Siler
In an interview in The Sun today, Freema Agyeman comes clean on a very important subject: "I'm a big sci-fi fan - I even went to a couple of Star Trek fan conventions. The Next Generation was my favourite show and I loved Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard."

Agyeman says that she grew up with Doctor Who when Sylvester McCoy was in the title role, but even then she was more of a Trekkie. However, she comments "Now I can't wait to go to a Doctor Who convention as a member of the cast."

This is partly to do with the reception that she's gotten from Doctor Who fans: "The fans have been really, really encouraging. I've had some great letters saying that they'll miss Rose but they're looking forward to meeting Martha. It warms my heart to know that the fans are backing me."

Catch Agyeman's debut as Martha Jones this Saturday, 31 March, at 7 pm in "Smith and Jones", the first episode of Series Three.




FILTER: - People - Press

Tennant Interview in Living Scotsman

Sunday, 25 March 2007 - Reported by R Alan Siler

Living Scotsman is currently featuring an interview with native son David Tennant on the eve of the debut of Series Three of Doctor Who. The interview, entitled "The Doctor Will See You Now", takes a look at David's career thusfar, from announcing to his parents at the age of three that he wanted to be an actor and play the Doctor, to projects that he's working on now during breaks from Who.

He makes mention of his first appearance in Doctor Who, in Big Finish's Colditz: "I got to play a Nazi-ish character and Sylvester McCoy was the Doctor. Sylvester McCoy was a bit after my time, to be honest, but he's still a god among men because he's played the Doctor. I played it quite cool, though. I don't think they knew quite how overexcited I was."

To read the entire article, please visit the Living Scotsman online.




FILTER: - David Tennant - Press

Series Three pictures

Sunday, 25 March 2007 - Reported by DWNP Archive

The CBBC Newsround site has posted 14 new pictures from Series Three.

They feature the Doctor, Martha, Florence Finnigan (Anne Reid), Mr Stoker (Roy Marsden) and "sinister characters in black".

Note: Some of the captions hint at a plot twist.

(Thanks to Ryan.)




FILTER: - Series 3/29 - Press

Taking Doctor Who seriously

Saturday, 24 March 2007 - Reported by DWNP Archive

Today's Daily Telegraph carries an Opinion piece by Sam Leith that delves into the psychology of the revivedDoctor Who.

Leith praises Russell T Davies and the scriptwriters for producing "one of the best and most artful pieces of popular television in years", adding "what has made it so resonant is not the cast of silly monsters, the excellent jokes, the jolly special effects, and so forth - but its underlying deep melancholy".

The article, which is headlined "It's now time to take Doctor Who seriously" and quotes poet Elizabeth BishopT S Eliot and novelist Audrey Niffenegger, calls the programme "an extraordinary study of loss" and says: "Its deep theme is loneliness."

Leith adds: "It's all as sentimental as hell... and quite irresistible."

NB: The piece starts with - and is based on - a spoiler.

(Thanks to Ewan Eaton.)




FILTER: - Press