Flesh and Stone - Press Reaction

Sunday, 2 May 2010 - Reported by Marcus
Flesh and StonePress reviews for Flesh and Stone are appearing with The Telegraph praising it as a rollercoaster ride of thrills and spills. The reviewer is less sure about the final scene but feels quite a few viewers might have been rather jealous of the position Matt Smith was put in.

The Guardian says it was a classic episode, perhaps even the greatest episode of Doctor Who there has ever been, with an iconic sequence every couple of seconds.

Shadowlocked feels that Flesh and Stone wasn't able to repeat the creepiness of last week's encounter. although it praises some elements of the story it feels the story exited on a desperate note, and in a positive flurry of lucky chances.

Den of Geek calls it a blockbuster episode, a thrilling and really entertaining Saturday night adventure although the reviewer feels River Song was rather under used.

Anglotopia calls the episode hot, a perfect balance of fear, excitement, sadness and triumph.




FILTER: - Press - Series 5/31

Repeat Ratings

Saturday, 1 May 2010 - Reported by Marcus
Friday's BBC Three repeat of The Time of Angels was watched by 0.32 million viewers according to overnight figures. Doctor Who Confidential got 0.22 million watching.




FILTER: - Ratings - UK - Series 5/31

Media Roundup

Saturday, 1 May 2010 - Reported by Marcus
Amy's ChoiceThe Daily Telegraph reports a renewed surge in popularity of bow ties thanks to Doctor Who. A spokesman for Topman says sales have shot up by 94% since The Eleventh Hour was aired. The Guild of Tiemakers chairman, John Miln, said he was pleased the unusual trend had been kicked off by the show.

Critic Charlie Brooker has continued his criticism of 'Nortongate', with a rant against the schedulers for the intrusion of the cartoon Graham Norton over last week's cliffhanger. He talked about the incident on his Channel 4 programme You Have Been Watching, calling it a travesty. The programme can be seen on 4oD.

Journalist Penny Andrews has written a long blog on the launch of Doctor Who - The Adventure Games in Sheffield last week, while TalkTalk spends five minutes in the company of Alex Kingston and TV.com asks what makes Doctor Who special.




FILTER: - Press

Doctor Who - less interesting than politics?

Thursday, 29 April 2010 - Reported by Anthony Weight
A report released by the polling organisation YouGov on their website claims that their survey group has found the recent leaders' television debates in the UK general election campaign to have been the most interesting things broadcast on television over the past two weeks - and specifically highlights that they are regarded as having been "more interesting" than Doctor Who!

The debates, between the leaders of the UK's three main political parties, have been shown on ITV1 and Sky News, with a final debate to be shown on BBC One later this evening. They are the first of their kind ever to have been held during a UK general election campaign. 29% of those asked by YouGov declared that they found the confrontations between Nick Clegg, Gordon Brown and David Cameron (pictured left to right) to have been the most interesting programmes of the past fortnight. That compares to 17% saying Doctor Who was the most interesting, but this still places the Time Lord comfortably ahead of ITV1's ratings heavyweight Britain's Got Talent, which only 10% regarded as the most interesting programme.




FILTER: - Ratings

Green Party Uses Daleks in Election Ad (UPDATED)

Thursday, 29 April 2010 - Reported by Josiah Rowe
A few weeks ago, the Radio Times published a new version of its 2005 "Vote Dalek" cover, this time using the new coloured Daleks to riff on the three main parties in the upcoming UK general election (red for Labour, blue for the Conservatives, and yellow for the Liberal Democrats). Now the Green Party has presented their own Dalek-themed comment on their official YouTube page.

It is unknown whether the Greens have the permission of Terry Nation's estate for this use of the Daleks; however, given the estate's past objections to humorous uses of the Daleks, it is unlikely. The BBC, who share the copyright for the Dalek image, do not allow the use of their copyrights for party political purposes.

UPDATE: The video has been removed from YouTube. For the benefit of those who did not see it while it was up, it depicted a screen divided into four quadrants; three quadrants contained a coloured Dalek (red, blue, or yellow), and the fourth contained a green rabbit. The tune of the Sesame Street song "One of These Things Is Not Like The Others" played in the background. After the tune had finished, the rabbit shot and destroyed the Daleks with red laser beams from its eyes.

It is likely that the video was removed due to copyright complaints.




FILTER: -

Amy's Choice - Press Details

Thursday, 29 April 2010 - Reported by Marcus
Amy's ChoiceThe BBC Press Office has released details for the seventh episode of the new series, Amy's Choice.

The Simon Nye story is scheduled for Saturday 15th May. It stars Audrey Ardington as Mrs Poggit, Toby Jones as the Dream Lord and Joan Linder as Mrs Hammill.
It's been five years since Amy Pond last travelled with the Doctor, and when he lands in her garden again, on the eve of the birth of her first child, she finds herself facing a heartbreaking choice – one that will change her life for ever.




FILTER: - Series 5/31 - Broadcasting

Doctor Who Adventures - 164

Thursday, 29 April 2010 - Reported by Marcus
Doctor Who AdventuresThis week's Doctor Who Adventures looks back at The Time of Angels and the chilling return of the Weeping Angels to Doctor Who.

There’s a chance to test your knowledge of the Doctor’s oldest and deadliest enemies in this week’s Dalek quiz and the magazine also goes behind the scenes to find out how the Who team made River Song fall through space.

All this, plus:
• Weeping Angel mask!
• Win the chance to be editor of Doctor Who Adventures for a day
• A sneak peak at episode five, Flesh and Stone
• Subscription offer




FILTER: - Magazines - DWA

Doctor Who Magazine - 421

Thursday, 29 April 2010 - Reported by Marcus
Doctor Who Magazine 419There are Vampires, Silurians and life-changing choices to be made, in this month's Doctor Who Magazine.

Four forthcoming episodes are previewed, The Vampires of Venice, Amy’s Choice, The Hungry Earth and Cold Blood and there are interviews with writers Toby Whithouse, Simon Nye, Chris Chibnall and Steven Moffat, and never-before-seen photos!

Talking about the new-look reptile people of The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood, Chris Chibnall reveals,
These new creatures don’t negate the original Silurians, they’re a different exploration of the same idea. They’re close cousins. And once you see Neve McIntosh (who plays Silurians Alaya and Restac) and Matt Smith acting their socks off together, I’m hoping you’ll feel the idea paid off.

Also in the magazine
  • Head writer Steven Moffat gets his head flushed down the loo and tells what else happened when Matt Smith and Karen Gillan went back to school with the Doctor Who team, in Production Notes!
  • It’s the most incredible ship in the entire universe – the Doctor’s trusty TARDIS! Join the Watcher as he leads you through his indispensible in-depth guide to the Time Lord’s astonishing time and space machine.
  • They’re bigger than before. And they’ve had a paint job! Writer Mark Gatiss, actors Nick Briggs and Barnaby Edwards and designer Ed Thomas explain just how and why the brand new Daleks have come about.
  • The Eleventh Doctor and Amy visit a jungle planet that’s full of scary surprises, as they make their DWM comic strip debut in Supernature, written by Jonathan Morris with art by Mike Collins.
  • Just who is the smart, sexy and teasingly enigmatic River Song? DWM catches up with the actress who plays her, Alex Kingston, and finds out exactly what she knows about the secrets of her elusive character.
  • DWM meets the Terrence Hardiman, who chats candidly about his sinister role in The Beast Below – and what it’s like to be best known for terrifying children!
  • Just how is a Doctor Who script translated from script to screen? DWM finds out just how it done as it talks to Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, Caitlin Blackwood and Steven Moffat about bringing The Eleventh Hour to life.
Out now.




FILTER: - DWM

David Myerscough-Jones 1934-2010

Wednesday, 28 April 2010 - Reported by Marcus
David Myerscough-JonesSet designer David Myerscough-Jones has died at the age of 75.

David Myerscough-Jones was Designer for three stories in the classic series. He first worked on the 1968 second Doctor story The Web of Fear. Set in a London tube station, the BBC refused to pay the high fee demanded to film in the actual location so Myerscough-Jones was given the task of replicating the London Underground system in a television studio. He achieved this so admirably, with a replica so lifelike, that the BBC recieved a letter of complaint from London Underground alleging that filming had taken place on their property without permission.

In 1970 he returned to the series working on the third Doctor story The Ambassadors of Death and two years later he worked on Day of the Daleks were he was responsible for designing rooms in a stately home as wall a a futuristic control centre.

Outside of Doctor Who, Myerscough-Jones has a long successful career. His most notable achievement was designing the sets for a television version of Britten’s opera Peter Grimes.

He died of cancer on April 21, 2010, and is survived by his wife, Pelo, to whom he was married in 1963, and their four children.

Times Obituary




FILTER: - Obituary - Classic Series

Week 6 Schedule Update

Wednesday, 28 April 2010 - Reported by Marcus
Vampires of VeniceDoctor Who moves to its earliest slot since the series returned, for The Vampires Of Venice with the programme, on 8th May, now confirmed for a start time of 6pm.

The earlier spot appears to be to accommodate a longer edition of Over The Rainbow. It is understood that the production team of the talent show were reluctant to be scheduled against Britain's Got Talent and wanted Doctor Who to be moved to an earlier slot.

Doctor Who will be up against You've Been Framed on ITV1, Dad's Army on BBC Two and Come Dine with Me on Channel 4.




FILTER: - UK - Series 5/31 - Broadcasting