Rendition: Starz ratings

Tuesday, 19 July 2011 - Reported by Chuck Foster
Initial audience figures have been released for the second episode of Torchwood: Miracle Day shown on Starz, and indicate that an average of 1.4m viewers watched Rendition over its airings across the weekend. The premiere broadcast on Friday at 10:00pm was watched by 609,000 viewers. This compares with 819,000 viewers for The New World on its premier broadcast, and an average of 2m across the opening weekend.


Starz have also reported that the total audience for The New World reached 2.7m viewers once the additional weekday airings and the Live+3 DVR data have been included.





FILTER: - Torchwood - USA - Ratings - Miracle Day (Series 4)

The New World: Appreciation Index

Sunday, 17 July 2011 - Reported by Marcus


The UK premier of Torchwood: The New World had an Appreciation Index score of 85.

The Appreciation Index or AI score measures how much the audience enjoyed the programme. The scores are based on the comments of a panel of around 5,000 people who rate and comment on programmes.

A score of 85 is regarded as excellent.




FILTER: - Torchwood - Ratings - UK - Miracle Day (Series 4)

The Tom Baker Years on Sci Fi in Australia

Sunday, 17 July 2011 - Reported by Harry Ward
The Australian Sci Fi Channel is to air Doctor Who episodes from the Tom Baker era, starting with his first story, Robot  on 17 August.
In 1974 an unknown actor called Tom Baker was cast in the lead role of Doctor Who, and turned an already popular show into a phenomenon. For a generation, the Fourth Doctor is the definite article– warm, witty, clever and sometimes very strange indeed. Clad in his trademark overlong scarf and with a bag of jelly babies to hand, he strode confidently through some of the show’s most memorable adventures. Over seven exciting years this Doctor met old adversaries - like the Daleks, Cybermen and Sontarans –with some help from much-loved friends like Sarah Jane Smith, Leela, Romana and the faithful K-9.

If you’re a fan of the incredible new series of Doctor Who, then this is a great chance to check out where the legend began. If you saw it back in the day then you won’t need reminding what awesome fun it was to go travelling with the Fourth Doctor every weeknight. Get on board the TARDIS and have yourself some all-time classic adventures in time and space with Doctor Who: The Tom Baker Years – only on SCI FI!
Schedule for Robot
Wednesday, August 17
06:30-06:55 - Episode 1
06:55-07:20 - Episode 2

Thursday, August 18
06:30-06:55 - Episode 3
06:55-07:20 - Episode 4
(times are shown in AEST)

A full schedule for the rest of Season 12, including repeats can be found here.
(with thanks to Matthew See)




FILTER: - Tom Baker - Classic Series - Broadcasting - Australia

The Doctor visits Elysium

Saturday, 16 July 2011 - Reported by Chuck Foster
Visitors to the special Doctor Who immersive theatre experience, The Crash of the Elysium, got a surprise yesterday when the Doctor himself popped in to see them!

A fan of the organisers Punchdrunk since seeing one of their shows in New York, Matt Smith wanted to see the current production based around Doctor Who that has been taking place at the Manchester International Festival this month; normally, videos of the Doctor appear during the show, but producers arranged for him to appear in character yesterday instead of the final video, much to the delight of the 6-12 year old audience.

Commenting on the project, he said:
Punchdrunk and Doctor Who! A Marriage made in creative space heaven. It's been a privilege to work with Punchdrunk to put children at the heart of a Doctor Who adventure. I've always watched Punchdrunk shows and marvelled at their inventiveness and individuality. Put that together with Doctor Who and there is a wonderful template to tell unique stories in unique ways. The Doctor would definitely approve.

The final performance of The Crash of Elysium is today.





FILTER: - Doctor Who - Special Events - Theatre

Ricky Gervais is the next Doctor?

Friday, 15 July 2011 - Reported by Harry Ward
Ricky Gervais has filmed a scene for his new comedy, Life's Too Short, that will feature a TARDIS and Daleks.

On the news page of his website, it is revealed that he has filmed a "little something for sci-fi nerds everywhere".

The blog post also contains photos of Gervais posing with a TARDIS and two Daleks. No other information has been revealed as yet. Guest stars in Life's Too Short include Sting, Johnny Depp and Steve Carell. It is not known if Matt Smith will guest star as himself or the Doctor in the scene

Ricky Gervais is no stranger to the world of Doctor Who. In the 2007 Christmas Special and series finale of his sitcom, Extras, he filmed a short Doctor Who parody with David Tennant as the Doctor, and himself as the slug monster called Schlong.




FILTER: - Miscellaneous

The New World: UK overnight viewing figures

Friday, 15 July 2011 - Reported by Marcus
Torchwood: The New World had an average audience of 4.8 million viewers on BBC One and BBC One HD, according to unofficial overnight figures.

The UK premiere of the new series had an 21% share of the audience and was the 5th most watched programme of the day, behind the four main soaps. It won the 9pm timeslot, with Single Handed on ITV1 getting 3.7 million viewers.

Episode One of the last Torchwood series, Children of Earth, had an overnight ratings of 5.9 million and a final figure of 6.47 million viewers.

The final ratings for The New World will be released next week and will include those who record the programme and watch it within seven days.




FILTER: - Torchwood - Ratings - UK - Miracle Day (Series 4)

Experience the Screamer

Thursday, 14 July 2011 - Reported by Chuck Foster
A 10" model of a monster created for a Doctor Who Adventures competition has been added to the Doctor Who Experience.

Twelve year old Jessica Rickarby won the design-a-monster competition which featured in the magazine with her design, Screamer, picked from over 1,000 entries. The monster was then incorporated into a comic strip character for the Doctor to encounter in last week's issue, and a model maker has created a physical version which has been put on display to visitors to the Doctor Who Experience for the next three months; Jessica will then receive it to keep.



Natalie Barnes, editor of Doctor Who Adventures said:
The popularity of our Design A Monster competition highlighted the amazing imagination of children in the UK – but as soon as we saw the Screamer we knew that Jessica’s creation was the winner. With the ability to render its victim unconscious by screaming in its face, the Screamer was so original and so scary, we had to ask the model-maker to make sure it wasn't too terrifying for adults!

The prize-winning design featured on today's edition of the news programme for children on BBC1, Newsround - this is currently available to watch in the UK via their website.




FILTER: - UK - Exhibitions - Miscellaneous - DWA

TARDIS materialises at Caernarfon Castle

Thursday, 14 July 2011 - Reported by Chuck Foster

TARDIS at Caernarfon Castle, photo via visitwales/Yfrog
In what seems to be turning into a regular trip to the historic castles of Wales, this week sees the TARDIS materialise at the gate of Caernarfon Castle in North Wales. The police box prop stands prominently in the Queen's Gate and will be there until 27th July.

Previously, the police box appeared at Raglan Castle back in February, and also turned up on the battlements of Caerphilly Castle during December 2009 as part of promotional activities by the Welsh historic environment service CADW.


Doctor Who's relationship with castles and castle-like structures has flourished in recent years; May's adventure The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People saw several such locations used for filming, including Cardiff Castle, Caerphilly Castle, St Donat's Castle (aka Atlantic College), and the ruins of Neath Abbey.






FILTER: - UK - Miscellaneous

Blink - Qwertee T-Shirt Offer

Wednesday, 13 July 2011 - Reported by Chuck Foster

"You'll Miss Me If You Blink Twice ..."


Qwertee have launched their latest Doctor Who inspired design, created by artist zerobriant.

This is a limited edition print which will only be available to purchase for two days (i.e. until 11:00pm Friday 15th July).


Readers of Doctor Who News will be able to take advantage of a special 40p/50¢ discount off the usual £8/€10/$13.50 price of this t-shirt - simply enter this promotional code when ordering:
ilovedoctorwhonews
The t-shirt can be ordered from the Qwertee website.

 

We'll be launching a new competition in association with Qwertee on Saturday - keep an eye on our Competitions page for full details.




FILTER: - Merchandise

Doctor Who best seller for BBC Worldwide

Tuesday, 12 July 2011 - Reported by Chuck Foster
BBC Worldwide's Annual Review for 2011 has been released, and figures show that Doctor Who has led the way for the BBC's commercial arm's success in the last year.

The series was the biggest show sold internationally last year, and is now available in over fifty territories. It saw significant growth within the United States, including becoming the third-biggest seller in the US iTunes charts (behind Mad Men and Glee). Overall, the Doctor Who franchise saw its revenue increase by 49%.

Series Five was one of the top five selling series for BBC Worldwide, with the others being the first series of Sherlock, series 15 and 16 of Top Gear, and Human Planet. In terms of revenue, the top three series were Top Gear, Doctor Who, and Waking the Dead.

Doctor Who is one of the five "power brands", along with Top Gear, Lonely Planet, BBC Earth and Dancing with the Stars; together their revenue reached £308.1m, accounting for 27% of BBC Worldwide's total of £1.16 billion.

The full report can be found via the BBC website.




FILTER: - Doctor Who - BBC