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

Win - Chameleon Circuit: Still Got Legs

Tuesday, 12 July 2011 - Reported by Marcus
The Doctor Who News Page is offering readers the chance to win a copy of Still Got Legs by Chameleon Circuit.

Still Got Legs
Music written and performed by Alex Day, Charlie McDonnell, Liam Dryden and "Eddplant".

Track List:
  1. The Subwave Signal
  2. Regenerate Me
  3. Nightmares
  4. Travelling Man
  5. Everything Is Ending
  6. Mr Pond
  7. Kiss the Girl
  8. Knock Four Times
  9. Teenage Rebel
  10. Big Bang Two
  11. Eleven
  12. The Sound of Drums
  13. Silence and the End of All Things
  14. The Doctor Is Dying
  15. Still Not Ginger
Released: 12th July 2011

(available to purchase now from DFTBA Records or via the iTunes store)

We have three copies of the CD up for grabs courtesy of DFTBA Records. To be in for a chance of winning a copy, simply answer this question:

What was the name of the device that allowed the Doctor and his companions to see The Beatles perform Ticket to Ride in 1965's The Chase?

Send your answer with your name to us at stillgotlegs-competition@doctorwhonews.net, with the subject line Still Got Legs Competition. Winners will be notified via email.

Closing Date: 11:59 PM BST, 26 July 2011. Open Worldwide.





FILTER: - Competitions - Doctor Who News

Doctor Who adventures arrive on Facebook

Tuesday, 12 July 2011 - Reported by Chuck Foster
The BBC are to make a number of classic and new Doctor Who stories available to watch via their Facebook page. The stories, which includes (the as-yet unreleased on DVD) The Greatest Show in the Galaxy, will be 'rentable' for 48 hours from the page using Facebook's proprietry credit system.

As well as the Seventh Doctor's clownish encounter above, the initial offering includes a monochrome cyber-adventure for the Second Doctor in Tomb of the Cybermen, Sontaran shenanigans for the Third Doctor in The Time Warrior, a trip to Paris for the Fourth Doctor in City of Death, the Fifth and Sixth Doctors' encounters with the Cybermen in Earthshock and Attack of the Cybermen, and revived series stories such as the Ninth Doctor taking Rose to the future in The End of the World, and the Tenth Docotor's first meeting with River Song in Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead.

BBC Worldwide's Chief Executive John Smith said:
As we have grown internationally, we've seen through our Facebook channel that fans who are loving the new series are asking for a guide into our rich Doctor Who back catalogue. Our approach to Facebook and other leading edge platforms is to be right there alongside them in fostering innovation. We see this service as a perfect way to give our fans what they want, as well as a great way for them to get their fix between now and the autumn when Series Six continues.

Facebook's Director of Platform Partnerships Christian Hernandez said:
Millions of people engage with their favourite TV shows on Facebook every day and we're now seeing broadcasters look at innovative ways to use Facebook tools to connect their fans with exclusive content. Through its Facebook page, BBC Worldwide is giving Doctor Who fans a quick and easy way to access these iconic episodes.


The stories will be accessible via the BBC's application on Facebook, and may be viewed by users from Europe, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.





FILTER: - Doctor Who - Online

The New World: Canadian Ratings

Tuesday, 12 July 2011 - Reported by Marcus
The premiere of Torchwood: Miracle Day drew nearly a million viewers to SPACE on Saturday delivering the channel its highest audience ever.

The New World achieved an average of 432,000 viewers with 929,000 watching some part episode. When compared to the premiere of Torchwood’s third series, Children of Earth, the premiere of Miracle Day increased 55% among total viewers, 49% among A25-54, 53% among A18-49, and 56% among female viewers.

The series continues next Saturday, July 16 at 9 p.m. ET.




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

The New World: Starz ratings

Tuesday, 12 July 2011 - Reported by Chuck Foster
Audience figures have been released for the premiere episode of Torchwood: Miracle Day broadcast on the US cable subscription channel Starz on Friday, and indicate that 1.51m watched The New World on its first two broadcasts (819000 at 10:00pm, 687000 at 11:00pm); a combined figure of 2m viewers was reached after the Sunday evening repeats.

The figures compare favourably with Starz's recent series Camelot, which achieved the highest "original series" premiere for the channel back in April with 1.57m tuning in on its opening night, and then too reached 2m by the end of the weekend.

Torchwood's viewing figures above do not factor in on-demand or online viewers.




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

Force18 T-Shirt Offer

Monday, 11 July 2011 - Reported by Chuck Foster


Force18 have launched two new designs inspired by Doctor Who, Vworp Vworp and Exterminate, and have provided a special discount on ordering t-shirts for readers of Doctor Who News.

The offer provides a £2.00 discount on any order made on their website, valid until the 31st August 2011, and can be claimed by using this code during the checkout process:

DOCTORWHONEWS

Visit the Force18 website to see these and other t-shirt designs from the company.



Please visit our Competitions website for a chance to win one of the designs, courtesy of Force18.





FILTER: - Merchandise

Force18: T-Shirt competition

Monday, 11 July 2011 - Reported by Marcus


Force18 are offering readers of Doctor Who News a chance to win one of their new Doctor Who-inspired t-shirt designs.

In order to enter the competition, simply answer the following question:

Force18's new designs are inspired by two of Doctor Who's memorable icons ... but in which episode did we see a Dalek actually appear inside the TARDIS?

Closing date: Sunday 17 July. Open to residents of the UK, Ireland, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and all EU Member States.

Email your answer to this competition address with the subject line "Force18 Competition" - we will contact the winners with details on how to receive their prize from Force18 after the competition has closed. Please state which t-shirt design you'd prefer to receive if you win.








FILTER: - T-Shirts - Competitions - Doctor Who News

Doctor Who is an average person's favourite show

Monday, 11 July 2011 - Reported by Chuck Foster
An "alternative census" has been carried out in the UK to determine what constitutes the "average" person's life in the United Kingdom, and reports that Doctor Who is the programme they most like to watch!

The survey was undertaken in over 2000 households by energy management service AlertMe, with chief executive officer of the company Mary Turner explaining:
The government census tells us information that is quite run-of-the-mill. We wanted to find out the bare bones of people’s everyday behaviour.

Looking into daily lives, the report uncovered snippets such as favourites foods of the week (with fish and chips being the obvious Friday winner), families eating together three times a week (at 5:54pm!), and generally getting home from work at 5:15pm. Eight out of ten families consider themselves to be "happy" or "very happy", with 70% of adults considering their household as "completely normal". Half of families surveyed also indicated that television is their main form of entertainment, with a typical family tuning in for some nine hours a day and citing Doctor Who as their favoured show.

The survey also found that the average person gets up at 6:57am and goes to bed at 10:50pm - so there's no reason to miss Torchwood this coming Thursday!




FILTER: - Doctor Who - UK - Miscellaneous