Doctor Who - The Adventure Game - Part Two

Tuesday, 22 June 2010 - Reported by Marcus
Doctor Who: The Adventure GamesThe second instalment of Doctor Who: The Adventure Game, will be called Blood of the Cybermen and will be available to download in the UK from Saturday 26th June via the BBC Site.

The details were announced at a special press launch in Scotland where writer, Phil Ford, one of the Executive Producers, Charles Cecil and voice of the Cybermen and Daleks, Nick Briggs, answered questions from around the country.

Two script extracts are available from the official site.

Extract One

Extract Two

The first part of the Adventure was released earlier in the month and has been downloaded over half a million times.




FILTER: - Games - Animation

The Lodger - Final Ratings

Tuesday, 22 June 2010 - Reported by Marcus
Doctor Who: The LodgerFinal figures for Episode Eleven of Doctor Who, The Lodger, published by BARB show the story was watched by 6.44 million viewers.

On BBC One the programme got 5.98 million watching where it was the sixth most watched programme for the channel for the week. An additional 0.464 million watched on BBC HD and when added together the programme totalled 6.44 million viewers.

Final figures for ITV1 HD are not available, so a full top thirty programmes of the week can't be calculated. Doctor Who stands at 21st for the week without HD figures added. If HD figures are included, it would almost certainly rise to be the 20th most watched programme of the week.

The BBC Three Sunday repeat did not rank high enough to get into the top 30 for the week.

Full ratings for the series so far can be found in Gallifrey Base.




FILTER: - Ratings - UK - Series 5/31

Doctor Who: The Pandorica Opens - Appreciation Index

Monday, 21 June 2010 - Reported by Marcus
Doctor Who: The Pandorica OpensThe Appreciation Index figure for Episode Twelve of Doctor Who, The Pandorica Opens, was 88, highest of the series so far.

The Appreciation Index or AI is a measure of how much the audience enjoyed the programme. Any score over 85 is considered excellent. The score was the joint highest on any of the four main channels for the day.

The Sunday repeat on BBC Three was watched by 0.47 million viewers, with the last part winning its timeslot amongst the multi-channel stations.

With Sunday's overnight figures now available, Doctor Who is currently 16th for the week. This should rise considerably when the final figure is released next week.

Doctor Who Confidential recieved an AI of 85 on Saturday and the Sunday repeat was watched by 0.30 million viewers.




FILTER: - Ratings - UK - Series 5/31

Australian ratings for Vincent and the Doctor

Monday, 21 June 2010 - Reported by Adam Kirk
Vincent and the Doctor has debuted in Australia to strong ratings. TV Tonight reports that the episode averaged 895,000 viewers in the five major capital cities, again despite stiff competition from the commercial networks. It was the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's second-highest rating drama of the day coming a close third behind the series final of Agatha Christie's Poirot and the Sunday 7pm news. The corresponding Confidential Cutdown also rated an excellent 714,000 viewers in the five major capitals.




FILTER: - Ratings - Series 5/31 - Broadcasting - Australia

The Pandorica Opens - Overnight Ratings

Sunday, 20 June 2010 - Reported by Jarrod Cooper
Episode Twelve of Doctor Who, The Pandorica Opens, got an audience of 5.9 million viewers for episode 12, The Pandorica Opens, according to unofficial overnight figures. 5.4 million watched on BBC One with an additional 0.5 million watching on BBC HD.

The episode was the most watched show of the day, with the World Cup on ITV1 only bringing in 5.2 million for the Cameroon v Denmark match.

Overall Doctor Who stands as the 14th most watched programme of the week, with just Sunday's figures to come. The programme is likely to get a boost when the final figures, including details for those who recorded the program for later viewing, are released next week and a top ten place is distinctly possible.

Doctor Who Confidential rated well with 0.62 million watching the programme on BBC Three, making it the 5th most watched programme of the day on multi-channel Television. An additional 0.14 million watched on BBC HD giving a total of 0.78 million viewers.





FILTER: - Ratings - Series 5/31

The Pandorica Opens - Press Reaction

Sunday, 20 June 2010 - Reported by Marcus
Doctor Who: The Pandorica OpensNB: Some links contain spoilers from the episode.

Press reaction to Doctor Who: Episode Twleve, The Pandorica Opens, has begun appearing with the Daily Telegraph calling the episode "Sensational, propelling the viewer on a gripping adventure with plenty of shocks and surprises, leavened with more emotional and humorous material for a heady mix."

The Express calls the story "classic fairytale, aimed, as always, at a family audience, with Matt Smith and Karen Gillan now complete in their respective roles". They make a plea to the BBC to safeguard the budget for the series saying it is one of the crown jewels and should be protected.

Den of Geek say "How good was that? We’ve been salivating at the thought of what Steven Moffat could do with a finale two-parter since he first got the top job on Doctor Who. The answer? A lot". The Guardian blog says you need to watch this episode at least three times to get a proper handle on every little bit that's going on. Thing is, you'll want to.




FILTER: - Press

Doctor Who: Adventure Game - Episode Two

Saturday, 19 June 2010 - Reported by Marcus
Doctor Who: Adventure GamesDetails of the second instalment of Doctor Who: The Adventure Game will be released at a special event next Tuesday.

Lead writer and Executive Producer Steven Moffat will join Nicholas Briggs, voice of the Daleks and Cybermen, at a special Question and Answer event being held at Gavinburn Primary School in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. The duo will take Questions from pupils at the school at the event which takes place at 10am. Other schools in Scotland can participate via the Glow Scotland site.

A further Question and answer session with the Doctor Who team will take place in the afternoon and will be streamed on the BBC Website.

The second game in the series is set in the Arctic and features an army of Cybermen.




FILTER: - Animation

DVDs lose "Next Time" trailer

Friday, 18 June 2010 - Reported by Chuck Foster
A decision has been made by DVD production company 2Entertain to release the eleventh Doctor's adventures without the "Next Time" trailers, as (not) seen on the recently released Volume One; this impacts both the DVD and Bluray formats.

According to emails sent to Radio Free Skaro, the decision was made "at executive level" in 2009.

Another difference to the original broadcast has been specified as: "a slight change to the sound effects used on the transmitted version. Lightning sound effects were added, particularly as Matt and Karen’s names appear, just prior to TX that only the TX version would have." This change is expected to be corrected for the Boxed Set version due out later in the year.




FILTER: - Merchandise - Blu-ray/DVD - Series 5/31

TARDIS up for auction

Friday, 18 June 2010 - Reported by Marcus
Doctor Who: TARDISThe TARDIS used by ninth Doctor Christopher Eccleston is on of many Doctor Who releated items to be auctioned at Bonhams on June 23rd.

The prop was created in 2005 and has an estimate of £8,000 to £12,000. A smaller model measuring 5ft tall, created for an exhibition has an estimate of £300 to £400.

Also up for grabs are some of the oldest props from the series ever to appear at auction, including one of the earliest surviving Daleks and a Cyberman helmet from the second Doctor stories, The Moonbase and The Tomb Of The Cybermen, which is set to sell for £3,000 to £4,000.

A number of props made specially for exhibitions are also available.

Lot No: 142W
Doctor Who: Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor,
A complete Tardis prop, circa 2005,
of painted rasped wood panel and glass construction, the base having painted parquet effect floor, panels fastening using bracket and bolt, having a pair of hinged doors, on with Yale® lock, with windows to doors and signage to front, top section of Tardis with removable 'Police Box' signs, interior of Tardis roof with a number of miniature lights, and further interior lighting, the roof with removable lamp to top, height approximately 10ft

Estimate: £8,000 - 12,000
Lot No: 126
Part believed to be from Dr. Who And The Daleks, 1964 and The Chase, 1965
A Dalek, with back section removed to reveal interior,
of wood, plastic and metal, the skirt section heavily overpainted in grey, with blue hemispheres, with quilted fabric to removed rear section edges, the shoulder, neck and dome sections created for exhibition purposes, plunger missing, slats of plastic with impressed foam between, height approximately 64 inches.

Thought to have been acquired by the BBC from the film company Aura after completion of 'Dr. Who And The Daleks', the Dalek was then used during the 1965 William Hartnell era story 'The Chase'. Subsequently, the piece was altered for exhibition purposes, including the removal of the back section.

Estimate: £2,000 - 3,000
Lot No: 127
Doctor Who: The original cover artwork for 'The Dalek Book', 1964,
watercolour and gouache on paper, unsigned, mounted, framed and glazed, together with an original copy of the annual, artwork 31.5 x 42.5cm (12½ x 16¾in)

Estimate: £500 - 700
Lot No: 128
Part believed to be from The Evil of the Daleks, 1967
A Dalek (heavily altered for Exhibition purposes),
of wood, plastic and metal construction, distressed overall, with black body and blue hemispheres overpainted grey (all now flaking), with narrow single panel set of hemispheres to rear skirt, the neck and dome sections created for exhibition purposes (plunger and eye missing), slats of metal, much of dome section missing, height approximately 61 inches

Estimate: £2,000 - 3,000

t is believed that the skirt and shoulder sections of this Dalek were used on 'Evil of the Daleks' in 1967.

The rear of the skirt section reveals a single panel of hemispheres, however Daleks skirt sections ordinarily feature two rows of hemispheres. The single panel section were used during this particular episode, it has been suggested, so that the Daleks could travel through doors whilst on set.
Lot No: 129
Moonbase and The Tomb of the Cybermen, 1967
A Cyberman helmet,
of silver painted fibreglass, having removable panel to back with hook and catch fastening, tape applied round eyes and mouth, eight drilled holes in circular shape to either side of helmet and two drill holes to neck, eyes internally covered with wire mesh, clear plastic poles to either side of head covered in silver paint (now flaking), some cracking and loss to fibreglass, interior with one foam ear protector and elasticated loop to top, height 16 inches (40.5cm)

Estimate: £3,000 - 4,000
Lot No: 130
The Seeds of Doom, January - March 1976
A Krynoid pod,
of moulded and painted resin, together with a copy of 'The Doctor Who Monster Book', signed by all of the cast and many members of the crew from the episode including Tom Baker inscribed 'Who is this Tom Baker?', Elisabeth Sladen, John Challis, Tony Beckley, Keith Gilbert, Mark Jones, Douglas Camfield and Philip Hinchcliffe a copy of the VHS of the episode and the 'Doctor Who And The Seeds of Doom' paperback by Philip Hinchcliffe, height 4 inches, width 4½ inches

Estimate: £350 - 400
Lot No: 131
Resurrection Of The Daleks, February 1984
A Dalek Guard costume, worn by Rula Lenska as 'Styles',
comprising; fibreglass helmet and chest and backplates, heavy cotton boiler suit with black and yellow vinyl patches, neck inscribed in ballpoint Rula Lenska 88=34'', black rubber gloves and moulded weapon

Estimate: £800 - 1,200
Lot No: 132
Dr. Who: a Cyberman costume,
the heavy cotton boiler suit with stud fasteners, sprayed with silver paint and with applied tubing and net panels, label to inside neck faintly inscribed Ken Baker (sic), with certificate

Estimate: £1,500 - 2,000
Lot No: 133
Doctor Who - The Ultimate Adventure (Stage Play), 1989
A Zog costume,
the headpiece, hands and feet of moulded foam latex, with plastic eyes, the body heavily applied with faux fur fabric, on mannequin and base, height 62 inches




FILTER: - Auctions

People News

Friday, 18 June 2010 - Reported by Marcus
Ninth Doctor, Christopher Eccleston will star in an episode of a new BBC One six-part drama Accused, by Jimmy McGovern. Eccleston plays lapsed Catholic Willy in the series which also stars Mackenzie Crook, Juliet Stevenson, Peter Capaldi and Andy Serkis. Meanwhile Eccleston's portrayal of John Lennon in Lennon Naked, will be shown as part of the BBC Four Fatherhood season on Wednesday 23rd July.

Tenth Doctor David Tennant has been cast in a remake of the 1985 film Fright Night. Tennant will play a character originally portrayed by Roddy McDowall in a Dreamworks production, which will also star Toni Collette and Colin Farrell.

Fourth Doctor Tom Baker has written the foreword to the new AA book of Haunted Britain due to be published in September 2010.

John Barrowman is to return in his entertainment series Tonight's the Night. The show will be recording at BBC Scotland's headquarters, at Pacific Quay in Glasgow, over the summer for an autumn transmission.

Sophie Okonedo been awarded an OBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours list. Okonedo, who played Liz 10 in The Beast Below, described the award as 'the cherry on the cake'. It's not known if the award will be presented to the actress by Liz 2.




FILTER: - People - Christopher Eccleston