US Torchwood Comic published

Monday, 9 August 2010 - Reported by Chuck Foster
Titan Publishing have released their first Torchwood Comic in the United States; as reported in June, the comic features Captain Jack and the Selkie,a story penned by John Barrowman himself with his sister Carole, and illustrated by Tommy Lee Edwards.

Issue One features two collectible covers, and also contains a second story, Broken, penned by Gary Russell with artwork by Adrian Salmon. Both stories originally featured in Titan's Torchwood Magazine, published in the UK.

Titan have released an animated trailer to promote the comic:




FILTER: - Torchwood - Magazines

Torchwood: The New World

Saturday, 7 August 2010 - Reported by Josiah Rowe
TorchwoodNews sources at the Television Critics Association (TCA) Press Tour are reporting that the forthcoming fourth series of Torchwood will carry the title Torchwood: The New World. A post from The Hollywood Reporter gives details of the series' new characters and quotes from Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner:
The new story will follow a CIA agent (Rex) and analyst (Ester) who tackle an alien-related global issue. Torchwood, having been destroyed and disbanded, is "like a legend now ... it's like something that's ceased to exist and is now spoken of only in whispers." Soon, Rex and Ester are on the run and are seeking out the help of Captain Jack and Gwen.

"The two teams coming together is a big part of the story -- are they friends or enemies? There's a lot of sparks and excitement."

"We definitely have a really big story to tell," added executive producer Julie Gardner. "It's absolutely rebooted to welcome in a new audience." ....

The ten episodes will be very fast paced, telling a self-contained story with the miniseries "Children of Earth" being used as a template.

Being on Starz, the show could potentially take advantage of looser standards for nudity and violence.

"I've always had loose standards and practices," Davies said. "If the story demands intimacy or savagery, we will go there absolutely ... [but] there's nothing better than a great big global thriller that stops for a sex scene -- it's probably hard to make that happen in a thriller."
The report also contains images of teaser posters which were seen at TCA; the images appear to be previously existing photos of John Barrowman and Eve Myles, with the legend "Torchwood: The New World, Coming Summer 2011."

USA Today also has details on the series' tone, and more quotes from Davies:
The team has left Wales for America, as creator Russell T. Davies has left Britain for Los Angeles. The case will tie the two remaining Torchwood members (Jack and Eve Myles's Gwen) to the CIA, and will expand into a world-wide threat. And yet, says Davies, it "will be faithful" to the BBC original.

Davies says this story, which "had been ticking away in my mind for a long while," had not been planned as a Torchwood story at all. "And suddenly I thought, there's a popular show, there's a great story, let's put them together...It felt like it definitely could move forward and become new again."

Though it will be newer and bigger, the tone won't change, says Davies. Barrowman's Jack will still be TV's only bi-sexual hero, character will still be stressed, and humor will still play a large part in the show's make-up.

"I sit there in the editing room saying 'Don't cut that joke! Cut the plot, cut the murder, cut the story, but don't cut the joke.'...It will always be a cheeky show."




FILTER: - Torchwood - Russell T Davies - Miracle Day (Series 4) - Julie Gardner

Torchwood Writers Announced

Friday, 6 August 2010 - Reported by Marcus
TorchwoodThe Chicago Tribune is reporting that the writing team for series four of Torchwood has been selected by Executive Producer and Lead Writer Russell T Davies.
  • John Shiban
    John Shiban is an Emmy Award nominated American television writer and producer. He has worked on The X-Files and its spin-off The Lone Gunmen, Smallville, Legend of the Seeker and Breaking Bad.
  • Doris Egan
    Doris Egan is an American screenwriter, producer, and writer. She has worked on Smallville, Dark Angel, and House.
  • Jane Espenson
    Jane Espenson is an American television writer and producer who has worked on both situation comedies and serial dramas. She is perhaps best known for her five-year stint as a writer and producer on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, work for which she shared in a Hugo Award, and as showrunner for Caprica.
  • John Fay
    John Fay is a British television writer who wrote two episodes of Torchwood, Children of Earth. His work includes episodes of Clocking Off, Blue Murder and Robin Hood. Fay spent several years on the writing staff of Coronation Street, and created the three-part ITV drama series Mobile.
For Season 4 of Torchwood, John Barrowman will return as Captain Jack Harkness and Eve Myles will be back as Gwen Cooper. Casting is underway for several new characters. Filming on the Starz-BBC co-production will begin in January for transmission later in 2011.




FILTER: - Torchwood - Russell T Davies

Friday People News

Friday, 6 August 2010 - Reported by Marcus
Matt Smith's mother has talked about the pressures of dealing with the Eleventh Doctor's fan mail. Talking to the Northampton Chronicle. Lynne Smith tells how important it is that every letter sent to the actor is read and dealt with. Fan mail comes from all generations and in all shapes and sizes. "Some think of him as a heart-throb" says Smith. "That makes me smile because to me he's just Matthew."

Meanwhile Doctor Who Executive Producer Steven Moffat had been in LA, along with co-creator Mark Gatiss, promoting Sherlock which has been signed up by PBS Masterpiece for broadcast starting on October 24. The UK will see the final episode of Sherlock this Sunday. The first two episodes have achieved critical acclaim, scored high ratings and outstanding Appreciation Index figures.

John Barrowman has added the Royal Albert Hall to the list of venues in his 2010 concert tour. The tour begins on 1st October in Oxford and runs through to 2nd November in Edinburgh taking in many cities, including Brighton, Liverpool, Cardiff, Birmingham and Manchester, on the way.




FILTER: - Steven Moffat - Matt Smith - Press

Dead Air nominated for Best Audiobook

Wednesday, 4 August 2010 - Reported by Marcus
Doctor Who: Dead AirThe Doctor Who Audiobook Dead Air has been shortlisted for the 2010 Audiobook of the Year award.

Written by James Goss and read by David Tennant, the Audiobook was released in March this year.

Other books nominated include Adrian Mole, The Prostrate Years, Othello, Animal Farm, Shakespeare in Love and War Horse.

The full list and a voting form can be found at The Audiobook store.




FILTER: - Audio - Books - Awards/Nominations

Doctor Who - The Specials CD

Wednesday, 4 August 2010 - Reported by Chuck Foster
Doctor Who - The SpecialsDoctor Who - The Specials - the latest in the line of music from the television series - has now been reported as being released on the 20th September 2010. No track listings have been made available as yet, but it will be a 2-CD boxed set of Murray Gold's music for the final four adventures of the Tenth Doctor.

Click on the image for the large version of the cover.




FILTER: - Music - Murray Gold - Merchandise

Doctor Who Magazine Award

Wednesday, 4 August 2010 - Reported by Marcus
Doctor Who Magazine AwardThe certificate awarded by Guinness World Records confirming Doctor Who Magazine as the Longest Running Magazine Based on a Television Series has been presented to the magazine's editorial team.

The award was accepted by the original editor Dez Skinn and the current editor Tom Spilsbury at the magazine's headquarters in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.

The citation on the award reads:
Guinness World Records Certificate: The longest-running TV tie-in is Doctor Who Magazine (UK), which has run for 31 years. It launched as Doctor Who Weekly on 11 October 1979, and went monthly at issue 44.

The award was first announced in April.




FILTER: - Magazines - DWM - Awards/Nominations

Seeds of Doom Confirmed for October

Tuesday, 3 August 2010 - Reported by Marcus
Doctor Who: The Seeds of Doom2|Entertain have confirmed the fourth Doctor story The Seeds of Doom, will be released in the UK on 25th October 2010.

This story was originally due for release in 2011. The Revisitations boxset was due in October but has not clear if this has been postponed or if The Seeds of Doom is an additional release.

Originally shown in the first part of 1976, The Seeds of Doom was the final story of Series 13. As well as starring Tom Baker as the Doctor, it features Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith, Sylvia Coleridge as Amelia Ducat, Mark Jones as Arnold Keeler, John Gleeson as Charles Winlett, John Challis as Scorby and Tony Beckley as Harrison Chase.

Made in six parts, the story was written by Robert Banks Stewart and directed by Douglas Camfield, and is one of the most fondly remembered stories from the fourth Doctor's era.

As we previously reported Tom Baker has recorded the commentary track for the release along with John Challis and Philip Hinchcliffe, who was producer at the time.




FILTER: - Doctor Who - Classic Series - Blu-ray/DVD

Bernice Summerfield: Animated Adventure

Tuesday, 3 August 2010 - Reported by Marcus
Big Finish have announced that an online adventure featuring Bernice Summerfield will be available from September.

Bernice Summerfield or Benny, is a character originally created by author Paul Cornell as a new companion of the Seventh Doctor in Virgin Publishing's range of original full-length Doctor Who novels. Since 1998 Big Finish Productions have been producing officially licensed audio dramas starring the character.

The latest adventure, Dead and Buried, is a 10-minute CGI animated adventure that will be available to view absolutely free of charge. Lisa Bowerman is back playing Benny, who is returning to her roots as an archaeologist – although it isn’t long before she’s being pursued through the ruins of an alien world by a deadly adversary.

Dead and Buried is animated by Alex Mallinson, who has been working on the project for months and says
I’ve created animated trailers for Cyberman and Dalek Empire in the past but this is a much more complicated prospect. John Ainsworth and Eddie Robson have written a cracking yarn which is proving a joy and a challenge to animate. It’s taken weeks of patient construction, animation, rendering and compositing but it doesn’t truly spring to life until Matthew Cochrane’s evocative sound design is added. However it’s still proven more work than any of us imagined, which is why Benny Series 11 has been delayed a month. I hope this will make up for it!

There’s a glimpse of what’s to come in the teaser trailer, available at the Big Finish website.



The final animation will be available in September, completely free and will lead into the events of Bernice Summerfield 11.1 Resurrecting the Past.





FILTER: - Online - Animation - Big Finish

Doctor Who Dominates Portal Awards

Monday, 2 August 2010 - Reported by Marcus
Doctor Who: Portal AwardDoctor Who has dominated the 2010 Portal Awards, held by Airlock Alpha part of the BlipNetwork.

Doctor Who was named Best Series/Television with 65% of the vote beating Torchwood into second place.

David Tennant was overwhelmingly voted Best Actor/television with a massive 68% of the vote, beating John Barrowman who was in second place with 10% of the vote.

Bernard Cribbins won Best Supporting Actor/Television for his portrayal of Wilfred Mott in The End of Time with 59 percent of the vote. The End of Time was itself voted Best Episode/Television.

Alex Kingston was voted Best Special Guest for her portrayal of River Song in Time of Angels.

The award for Best Actress/Television went to Eve Myles for Torchwood - Children of Earth, beating Karen Gillan into second place

The Gene Roddenberry Award for lifetime achievement was given to Russell T Davies for his work on Doctor Who and Torchwood.

This was the 11th year for the Portal Awards, which started in 1999 as the SyFy Genre Awards. An international nominating committee generated a list of five nominees for each category and readers then had 30 days to vote.

Doctor Who has won seven awards over the years, and is third to Star Trek: Voyager (18 wins) and Farscape (eight wins).

Full list of winners.




FILTER: - Torchwood - Specials - Russell T Davies - David Tennant - Awards/Nominations - Children In Need