Torchwood: Miracle Day - BBC Press pack

Thursday, 7 July 2011 - Reported by Harry Ward
With the news series of Torchwood due to begin airing next Thursday in the UK, the BBC Press Office has released interviews with the main cast and crew of Torchwood: Miracle Day.


An interview with John Barrowman ahead of the new series of Torchwood, BBC, via BBC Press Office - may not play outside of the United Kingdom

John Barrowman on Jack's relationship with Gwen Cooper:
Jack's relationship with Gwen is – he is very fond of her, but it's more than that. He is very protective of her. Gwen was always the heart of the group, but she has evolved herself. She's still the heart, but now is a bit of the muscle. And Jack, through the process of them being together, has taught her the art of fighting, gun slinging and all that stuff. She has come a very long way. But their relationship is funny, because it's almost like a brother and sister relationship and it's almost like a husband and wife relationship. But there's nothing sexual between them, it's the type of thing where she might finish one of his sentences or vice versa because they know each other so well. And, between Jack and Gwen, if they're in a sticky situation, all it needs is a look from one of them and then they know exactly what they're thinking.

Eve Myles on Gwen's life since Torchwood disbanded:
At the end of Children Of Earth, both Jack and Gwen went their separate ways. Jack went off somewhere and Gwen moved to a very quiet part of the country into hiding because she was being hunted. She's been wanted because she's the last remaining member of Torchwood. She goes away and has a baby and lives there with her husband, and they've got quite a perfect, chocolate box kind of cottage, and it's idyllic.

But she is so bored. She's in limbo land and she never switches off. She's constantly in Torchwood mode and always on alert. So when this particular event happens and Captain Jack turns up, he couldn't have turned up at a better time for her, because she was lost.

Mekhi Phifer (Rex Matheson) describes his character:
I wouldn't describe Rex as arrogant but I think he's certainly set in his ways. There's a certain amount of edge to him. I think he's determined and strong and focused. And I think once he has it set in his mind that he wants to do something, that's what he goes out and does. He just goes out and makes it happen, He's very much a black or white person – he's not a grey area guy.

When Rex first meets Captain Jack, they just flat out don't like each other. John's a great guy in person – really funny – loves life. And he's always singing and dancing around and saying crazy things, so I just love the guy. But our characters, definitely in the beginning, clash, there's no question about that. We definitely have different approaches to things. And I haven't figured him out yet.

Russell T Davies on moving production for the new series to America:
Coming to the US for Torchwood (the organisation) is like another case. They've dealt with galaxies and universes, so another country is not that big of a deal. It is, however, a big deal for Gwen. She's separated from her husband and from her child. She's arrested and taken to America, so it's heartbreaking on that level. But for Jack, he hits the ground running. For many years Torchwood (the series) has had an American actor in the lead role, so in that sense it feels entirely natural. For the show to hit America, I think it's a new start without being a reboot. That's what's exciting about it. This is simply a new horizon. We have different producing partners, and it has added a new influx of imagination, and frankly, a bigger budget as well.

Julie Gardner reassures new viewers:
If you haven't watched Torchwood before, the first important thing to say is – don't be afraid. You don't have to know anything about the show or its history. Everything is explained from the beginning. In that way, it's a completely welcoming new show for a brand new audience. And you should watch because it should be a lot of fun. It's a thriller that is properly answered in 10 episodes. It's not the type of show where you have to hang on for five years and at the end of that you're weeping trying to understand who everyone is and how stories have properly been tied together.
Bill Pullman (Oswald Danes):
Our story really begins in a very precarious moment for the earth and my character in particular. He is getting three lethal injections, because he has been convicted as a murderer/paedophile. And the surprise is that he doesn't die. He survive a very horrendous experience, but his body is still alive.

And then everyone in the hospital realises that other people haven't died in that hospital and in that city, in the country, in the world for 24 hours or so. They realise this is a new paradigm of how and what it is to be human. For Oswald, it begins a journey of beginning to realise that he is going to survive and that he's going to be free because they haven't been able to kill him.

Alexa Havins (Esther Drummond):
Torchwood as we all know changes life drastically, and Esther gets a firsthand knowledge of that. There's intrigue and her curiosity pretty much gets the best of her. We start with Esther's very safe, comfortable 9-5 job. But all of a sudden, once she steps into the world of Torchwood, she's launched into a whole different path. Quickly we find her on the run. She's trying to survive, but her instincts kick in. So it's interesting watching this person that doesn't have the experience and training as Jack or Gwen or Rex would. I love watching her as a character and playing her and reading the scripts. She's trying to get out of life and death situations and she stumbles a little because she's still a newbie

Lauren Ambrose (Jilly Kitzinger):
Jilly Kitzinger works in public relations. She's a sleek, slick, clever PR person who works for the potentially evil corporation PhiCorp, a giant pharmaceutical company. She's always on the move, seems to always be traveling on a different airplane going to a different city.

Bill Pullman plays a death row prisoner who's about to be executed and he doesn't die, so he becomes a media star and I want him for my company. We want him – we want to use him. I find him and I convince him that he needs me. He of course doesn't need me, but I have other plans for him.

Arlene Tur (Dr. Vera Juarez):
My character, Dr. Juarez, starts off having a pretty normal day, and all of a sudden, everybody starts coming in to the hospital and staying there – they're not dying. Rex comes in, after he's impaled in his accident, and because of the miracle, I am able to work on him and save his life. I'm Rex's liaison to keep him pain free.

So the miracle saved his life, and as the show goes on, you see all the troubles that come with over-population and everything that we have to deal with – from the government to lack of medication and how we're going to deal with that.

See the press pack for the full interviews.




FILTER: - Torchwood - Press - Miracle Day (Series 4)

Beth Willis leaves Doctor Who

Thursday, 7 July 2011 - Reported by Marcus
Doctor Who executive producer Beth Willis, is to leave the series to return to her former employers Kudos Film and Television.

Willis will leave the BBC at the end of this month, a couple of months before fellow executive producer Piers Wenger leaves the BBC to join Film 4.

The news means a new executive team will join showrunner Steven Moffat as the programme gears up for production on the 2012/2013 series of the show leading into the 50th anniversary year.

Willis has been an Executive Producer on the series for the past two years. She joined the series with Wenger at the same time as showrunner Steven Moffat, taking over for the arrival of Eleventh Doctor at the conclusion of The End of Time. Both have been responsible for 27 episodes of the Show.

Wills will leave the series at the end of this month with Wenger departing the BBC at the end of September. The BBC hopes to find a replacement for Willis in time for the filming of the Doctor Who Christmas special. It will then recruit a second executive producer before filming for the 33rd series begins.

Beth commented:
Working with Steven Moffat, Piers Wenger and Matt Smith on the last two series of Doctor Who has been the most fantastic experience and I will miss them hugely... The plans taking shape for the next series of Doctor Who and for the 50th Anniversary are beyond exciting - and with Steven Moffat at the helm, this incredibly special time for the show is in very safe hands.

The BBC's Drama controller Ben Stephenson praised Willis for her work on Doctor Who.
Much of its current success is down to her vision and ambition for the show. She has been an inspiring and instrumental force and I know will be much missed by all of us, and especially Matt Smith and Steven Moffat.
Steven Moffat added:
We couldn’t keep her forever, though God knows I tried. She is off to be brave and brilliant in brand new ways, and the sad news for Doctor Who is that it will be somewhere else.

Willis returns to Kudos where she produced the first two series of Ashes To Ashes. Chief executive of Kudos, Jane Featherstone, said
I’m chuffed to bits to be welcoming her back to Kudos, where her creative instincts and no-nonsense work ethic will make her a force to be reckoned with in the drama world.





FILTER: - Doctor Who - Production - BBC

Matt Smith and Karen Gillan in Hollywood

Wednesday, 6 July 2011 - Reported by Harry Ward
Matt Smith and Karen Gillan will be in Hollywood on 26 July to sign copies of Doctor Who: Series 6, Part 1. They will be appearing at the Los Angeles based Amoeba Music store.
Matt Smith (The Doctor) and Karen Gillan (Amy Pond) will be at Amoeba Music to celebrate the release of Doctor Who: Series Six, Part 1 (on DVD and Blu-Ray). Limited to 200 purchasers of Doctor Who: Series Six, Part 1 (available for purchase starting July 19th at Amoeba). Fans can get ONE item of their choice signed as long as they have purchased Series Six, Part 1 on DVD or Blu-Ray.

Doctor Who DVD Signing
Tuesday July 26th 7pm - Hollywood

6400 Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90028


Matt Smith and Karen Gillan make their triumphant return as the Doctor and his companion in an all-new series of Doctor Who! In Part 1, the Doctor, Amy and Rory find themselves in Sixties America, battling the invasion the world forgot, then journey on the high seas of 1696 aboard a pirate ship, to solve the mystery of the Siren. In a bubble universe at the very edge of reality, the Doctor meets an old friend with a new face, and in a monastery on a remote island in the near future, an industrial accident takes on a terrible human shape. And waiting for them, at the end of all this, is the battle of Demon's Run, and the Doctor's darkest hour. Can even the truth about River Song save the Time Lord's soul? Only two things are certain. Silence will fall. And a good man is going to die...

Part 1 of the new season delivered record ratings on BBC AMERICA, earned rave reviews including an “A” and a spot “The Must List” from Entertainment Weekly, and was featured on NBC’s Today show and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.
Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, Beth Willis, Piers Wenger and Toby Whithouse, will be in the US to attend San Diego Comic Con on Sunday 24 July where they'll be showing attendees new footage from the second half of Series 6.




FILTER: - Doctor Who - Special Events - USA - Series 6/32

Torchwood: Miracle Day - UK DVD and Blu-ray releases

Wednesday, 6 July 2011 - Reported by Harry Ward
Torchwood: Miracle Day is now available to pre-order from online shops. Amazon UK has given a UK release date for Series 4 as 14 November 2011.
DVD Description
One day, nobody dies. All across the world, nobody dies. And then the next day, and the next, and the next, people keep ageing - they get hurt and sick - but they never die. The result: a population boom, overnight.

With all the extra people, resources are finite. It’s said that in four month's time, the human race will cease to be viable. But this can’t be a natural event – someone’s got to be behind it. It’s a race against time as C.I.A. agent Rex Matheson investigates a global conspiracy. The answers lie within an old, secret British institute. As Rex keeps asking “What is Torchwood?" he’s drawn into a world of adventure, and a threat to change what it means to be human, forever.

Special Features
Magical FX on Miracle Day Special
Behind the Scenes
Motion Comic
Art Dept Tour
Audio Nav & Description

Torchwood: Miracle Day is available to pre-order now in both DVD (Region 2) and Blu-ray formats.





FILTER: - Torchwood - UK - Miracle Day (Series 4) - Blu-ray/DVD

Let's Kill Hitler - Press Details

Wednesday, 6 July 2011 - Reported by Marcus
Press details for the first episode of Doctor Who following the summer break, Let's Kill Hitler, have been released courtesy of the Media Guardian Edinburgh International Festival.

The episode will be screened at the annual gathering of senior figures from within the Television industry on Friday 26th August.



Story synopsis follow - can be considered spoilers



In the desperate search for Melody Pond, the TARDIS crash lands in 1930s Berlin, bringing the Doctor face to face with the greatest war criminal in the Universe. And Hitler. The Doctor must teach his adversaries that time travel has responsibilities - and in so doing, learns a harsh lesson in the cruellest warfare of all.




FILTER: - Doctor Who - Series 6/32

June iPlayer figures

Wednesday, 6 July 2011 - Reported by Marcus
Doctor Who: iPlayerIn June Doctor Who once more topped the list of the most requested programmes the BBC iPlayer.

The final story before the mid season break, A Good Man Goes to War, had total of 1.26 million requests in the 8 days it was available, 100,000 ahead of the second placed programme, The Apprentice which had 1.14 million accessing episode 7, in which the contestants designed a pet food. Other high ranking programmes were Top Gear and Waterloo Road.

The current series of Doctor Who came off the iPlayer on 11th June. The series totalled 9.63 million requests across the seven episodes in the two months they were available. The series opener, The Impossible Astronaut is the joint most accessed programme of the year so far, alongside the second in the comedy series Come Fly With Me, both programmes were accessed 1.86 million times.

The top twenty list for the year so far consists of just four programmes; Doctor Who, The Apprentice, Come Fly with Me and Top Gear. Episode Two of Doctor Who, Day of the Moon, is currently 5th for the year, being accessed 1.62 million times. The Doctor's Wife is 12th with 1.30 million, A Good Man Goes to War is 15th with 1.26 million, The Curse of the Black Spot is 16th with 1.26 million and The Rebel Flesh is 19th with 1.13 million. The Almost People just slips outside the top twenty with 1.13 million accessing.

Matt Smith début episode, The Eleventh Hour, is still the most requested programme on the iPlayer ever with over 2.5 million requests.




FILTER: - Ratings - UK - Series 6/32

Official Doctor Who website twitter changes to @bbcdoctorwho

Tuesday, 5 July 2011 - Reported by Chuck Foster
The official Twitter feed name for the BBC's Doctor Who website has recently been changed. People who wish to be notified of website updates etc. should follow:


People already following the feed are not affected as the identity hasn't changed, only the name.


Please note that the old name, doctorwho_bbc, is no longer in use by the BBC but has been taken up by an individual who is not officially connected with the show or website in any way.





FILTER: - Online - BBC

Radio Times Cover: Forget Hollywood, here's Torchwood

Tuesday, 5 July 2011 - Reported by Chuck Foster
The latest edition of the Radio Times (9th-15th July 2011) features a front cover dedicated to Torchwood: Miracle Day, which premieres on BBC1(HD) on 14th July 2011.

The issue features a three page article on the show, which features comments from executive producers Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner and Jane Tranter on Torchwood's arrival in Hollywood, plus writer Jane Espenson, Captain Jack himself John Barrowman and Eve Myles aka Gwen Cooper.

Russell: The audience will see that Captain Jack is darker, but he’s still got his wit. The journey he goes on is extremely different from the journey he’s been on before. It’s absolutely, jaw-droppingly exciting.

Julie: We wanted to do more episodes, we wanted to find a way to tell a bigger length of story, and all of that thinking coincided with us being in America.

The premiere also features prominently as one of Thursday's choices, as well as the usual synopsis and cast details on the channel listing for BBC1 at 9:00pm.


There is also a behind-the-scenes video on the Radio Times website featuring John Barrowman and Eve Myles as they step back into costume for the Radio Times cover shoot and talk about the new series.




FILTER: - Torchwood - Miracle Day (Series 4) - Radio Times

The New World - Publicity Clips (UK)

Tuesday, 5 July 2011 - Reported by Chuck Foster
The BBC have released three clips introducing the characters Captain Jack, Esther Drummond and Oswald Danes from the new series of Torchwood; as with Doctor Who earlier this year, the clips are likely to feature in a number of promotional pieces in the lead-up to broadcast of the series premiere The New World in the UK next week.

These clips may not play outside the United Kingdom.
Captain Jack Harkness introduces himself to Esther Drummond in his own imitable style.


BBC, via BBC Website - may not play outside of the United Kingdom


Captain Jack Harkness explains the origins of the Torchwood Institute to Esther Drummond.


BBC, via BBC Website - may not play outside of the United Kingdom


Having survived his own execution, convicted murderer Oswald Danes expects more than condolences from the Governor’s Office


BBC, via BBC Website - may not play outside of the United Kingdom

The BBC will be running videos via the Red Button from next week (see times below). These videos include an introduction to Torchwood's new recruits and what the cast thought about taking the show over to the US and filming in Los Angeles.
Sky / Freesat / Virgin Media:
Mon 11 Jul, 06:00 - 06:00
Tue 12 Jul, 06:00 - 06:00
Wed 13 Jul, 06:00 - 06:00
Thu 14 Jul, 06:00 - 04:00

Freeview:
Mon 11 Jul, 19:00 - 22:50
Tue 12 Jul, 20:00 - 22:50
Wed 13 Jul, 21:55 - 00:00




FILTER: - Torchwood - UK - Online

Win - Torchwood: First Born

Monday, 4 July 2011 - Reported by Marcus
The Doctor Who News Page is offering readers the chance to win a copy of Torchwood: Frist Born by James Goss.

First Born
Written by James Goss

Gwen and Rhys are on the run. Rhys was hoping this meant a windswept cottage on a cliff top, but he’s had to settle for a miserable caravan in the isolated village of Rawbone. With the locals taking an unhealthy interest in their daughter, Gwen and Rhys start to realise that something is very wrong.

As they uncover the village’s terrible past, Gwen discovers that Torchwood will never leave her behind, and now she and Rhys stand alone in defence of the Earth. And the children of Rawbone can only bring her closer to the secret forces that want her out of the way.

Based on the hit series created by Russell T Davies, First Born is a prequel to Torchwood: Miracle Day, starring John Barrowman and Eve Myles as Jack Harkness and Gwen Cooper, with Kai Owen as Rhys Williams.

Released: 21st July 2011

(available to pre-order now from our Amazon Shop)

We have five copies of the book up for grabs courtesy of Ebury Publishing. To be in for a chance of winning a copy, simply answer this question:

In which episode of Torchwood did Gwen first find out that she was pregnant with Rhys' baby?

Send your answer with your name, address and email to us at firstborn-competition@doctorwhonews.net, with the subject line First Born Competition.

Closing Date: 11:59 PM BST, 18 July 2011


Please note that this competition is open to UK residents only.





FILTER: - Competitions - Doctor Who News - BBC