Hulke Stories On Audio

Tuesday, 7 August 2007 - Reported by DWNP Archive

Unabridged readings of classic era Third Doctor novels Doctor Who And The Cave Monsters and Doctor Who And The Doomsday Weaponare to be released by BBC Audiobooks, says the official programme website.

Both penned by Malcolm Hulke, the original TV versions of the Jon Pertwee stories were called Doctor Who And The Silurians and Colony In Space respectively.

Caroline John, who played assistant Liz Shaw in Doctor Who And The Silurians, reads Doctor Who And The Cave Monsters, while Geoffrey Beevers, who portrayed the disfigured Master in The Keeper of Traken, readsDoctor Who And The Doomsday Weapon.

The stories will be available from September 3 as CD sets and downloads.

FILTER: - Audio - Classic Series

December Who Novels

Monday, 6 August 2007 - Reported by Josiah Rowe

The covers and blurbs for the December Doctor Who novels from BBC Books are now available. All the books feature the Tenth Doctor and Martha, and will be available from 27 December 2007.

For full-size images of the covers, click on the thumbnails below.

Thanks to Paul Taylor of Tenth Planet

The Pirate Loop by Simon Guerrier

The Doctor's been everywhere and everywhen in the whole of the universe and seems to know all the answers. But ask him what happened to the Starship Brilliant and he hasn't the first idea. Did it fall into a sun or black hole? Was it shot down in the first moments of the galactic war? And what's this about a secret experimental drive?

The Doctor is skittish. But if Martha is so keen to find out he'll land the TARDIS on the Brilliant, a few days before it vanishes. Then they can see for themselves...

Soon the Doctor learns the awful truth. And Martha learns that you need to be careful what you wish for. She certainly wasn't hoping for mayhem, death, and badger-faced space pirates.

Wishing Well by Trevor Baxendale

The old village well is just a curiosity -- something to attract tourists intrigued by stories of lost treasure, or visitors just making a wish. Unless something alien and terrifying could be lurking inside the well. Something utterly monstrous that causes nothing but death and destruction.

But who knows the real truth about the well? Who wishes to unleash the hideous force it contains? What terrible consequences will follow the search for a legendary treasure hidden at the bottom?

No one wants to believe the Doctor's warnings about the deadly horror lying in wait -- but soon they'll wish they had...

Peacemaker by James Swallow

The peace and quiet of a remote homestead in the 1880s American West is shattered by the arrival of two shadowy outriders searching for 'the healer'. When the farmer refuses to help them, they raze the house to the ground using guns that shoot bolts of energy instead of bullets...

In the town of Redwater, the Doctor and Martha learn of a snake-oil salesman whose patent medicines actually cure his patient. But when the Doctor and Martha investigate they discover the truth is stranger, and far more dangerous.

Caught between the law of the gun and the deadly plans of intergalactic mercenaries, the Doctor and Martha are about to discover just how wild the West can become...

FILTER: - Books

Greatest Show in the Galaxy

Monday, 6 August 2007 - Reported by Josiah Rowe

The Greatest Show in the Galaxy: The Discerning Fan's Guide to Doctor Who, a new academic survey of Doctor Who and its themes, is now available fromMcFarland and Company Publishing. The book can also be purchased through Amazon.com; following the Amazon links below directly benefits the operation of the Outpost Gallifrey website.

Mark Schuster, coauthor of the book, describes it as follows: "The basic argument of the book is that Doctor Who, like all good science-fiction, takes us to exotic worlds in order to show us what it means to be human. Exploring the weird and wonderful realm of Doctor Who in relation to such contemporary phenomena as cosmetic surgery, consumerism, reality television, political punditry and road rage, my co-author, Tom Powers, and I demonstrate that the exploits of our favorite time traveler provide us with everything we need to know about life, the universe and everything (to borrow a phrase from another legendary sci-fi series)."

The publisher's official blurb is below.

The long-running BBC science fiction program Doctor Who has garnered an intense and extremely loyal fan base since its 1963 debut. This work examines the influences of psychology, literature, pop culture, and the social sciences on Doctor Who storylines and characters. Topics explored include how such issues as class, gender, and sexual attraction factor into the relationships between the Doctor and his companions; whether the Doctor suffers from multiple personality disorder or other psychological afflictions; and the role of the Doctor's native culture in shaping his sense of identity.

FILTER: - Books

Filming Photos Needed

Monday, 6 August 2007 - Reported by Jarrod Cooper

Telos Publishing is on the hunt for any photographs taken of the recording for Series 3. 'We're publishing our guide to the series shortly,' explained Telos' David J Howe, 'and as usual we'd like to try and include a colour photographic section in the book. So we're on the look out for any photographs taken of the recording sessions - maybe at the Globe Theatre, around Cardiff, or anywhere else that the show visited in 2007.'

If you have any images which you would be willing to let Telos use - although there is no payment for any use, free copies of the paperback and hardback editions will as usual be sent to all contributors - then please drop David an email at david@telos.co.uk to let him know what you have.

FILTER: - Series 3/29

Latest Sun Casting Rumours

Monday, 6 August 2007 - Reported by R Alan Siler

The Sun has issued its latest rumour of casting in Doctor Who Series Four ... and if true, it's certainly a surprise.

It is important to remember that this information is being treated only as an unfounded rumour until official confirmation is made by the BBC and/or the show bosses.

The body of the Sun article is copies below in the spoiler box:

Doctor Who bosses are set to sign up Gandhi star Sir Ben Kingsley to play the Daleks' creator Davros.

Sir Ben, 63 - who won an Oscar for his movie role as India's peace-loving spiritual leader - is in final negotiations to play one of the most dangerous baddies in the galaxy.

A source said: "Ben's agent has been in talks for a while now and he's very keen to play the part of Davros. A deal will be signed any day now."

Fans will be delighted that insane half-man, half-machine Davros is returning for the fourth series of the hit BBC1 show, which stars David Tennant as the Timelord.

The alien scientist - who first battled the Doctor in 1975 - is hell-bent on destruction with his army of exterminating Daleks.

FILTER: - Production - Press

Australian media coverage

Monday, 6 August 2007 - Reported by Adam Kirk

Channel Ten's decision to move Torchwood to a midnight timeslot has attracted some local media comment. Michael Idato of the Sydney Morning Herald says 'Ten has no one to blame but itself' for the 'critically acclaimed' programme's failure to develop an Australian audience. He writes that 'rather than let Torchwood go where it belongs - to the ABC as a companion piece to Doctor Who ... Ten bought it with the most disingenuous intention: to deny its science fiction roots and pitch it as a cop show.' Meanwhile, Andrew Mercado in the Sydney Sunday Telegraphcomments that the show has 'been dumped to midnights on Tuesdays ... confirming every sci-fi fan's worst fears that the 'Doctor Who' spin-off would eventually end up in late-night hell, along with The 4400 andBattlestar Galactica. Couldn't Ten have given it one last try in prime time on a Saturday night instead of those unimaginative Law & Orderand NCISrepeats?' Ian Cuthbertson of the Weekend Australian also writes that 'viewers enjoying Torchwood ... will find they have been stiffed. Not doing as well as Ten would have liked, the program has been uprooted and transferred to midnight [Tuesday]. How very sci fi.' Glenn Dyer of Crikeysays Ten is a 'loser . . . for sticking the underwhelming Torchwood at Midnight. Just 98,000 viewers. It's better than that, but it's not Dr Who-like. Why not a Friday night at 9.30pm and try and make it a cult show?'

Meanwhile Keith Austin, also of the Sydney Morning Herald, writes of 'The Lazarus Experiment', that the title character is 'played by great relish by the League of Gentlemen’s Mark Gatiss, a long term 'Doctor Who' fan who has written some of the best episodes of the series' latest incarnation.'

Finally, in the ratings, 'Doctor Who' is on the rise: 'Evolution of the Daleks' scored 874,000 viewers in the 5 major capitals while 'The Lazarus Experiment' scored an even better 895,000 viewers, coming a close second to the Dame Edna Treatment on Channel Nine and the show’s best Aussie ratings since 'Smith and Jones'. For more ratings details see theSydney Morning Herald’s Tribal Mind.

Thanks to Theta Sega MP for the Sunday Telegraph piece.

FILTER: - Torchwood - Press - Australia

Briers for Torchwood

Sunday, 5 August 2007 - Reported by Marcus

Veteran actor Richard Briers revealed on BBC News24 that he will be appearing in an episode of Series Two of Torchwood.

The actor, who was being interviewed about remastered Charlie Chaplin films, said he read the script last night and it scared him.

Talking to Michael Parkinson on BBC Radio 2 he added that he will play a 90-year-old man rehearsing for the end.

Briers is best known for his role of Tom Good in the classic BBC Comedy series, The Good Life. In Doctor Who, he appeared with the Seventh Doctor, Sylvester McCoy, in the 1987 story Paradise Towers, where he played The Chief Caretaker.

Thanks to Nick Headley

FILTER: - Torchwood - Production

Short Trips: Snapshots

Friday, 3 August 2007 - Reported by Jarrod Cooper

Big Finish has released details on its upcoming release in the Short Trips series, Snapshots.

The list of stories and authors are as follows:
Pupeteer by Benjamin Adams
Plight of the Monkrah by John Davies
Tuesday by Brian Dooley
She Knew by Nigel Fairs
In Case of Emergencies by Ian Farrington
The Misadventure of Mark Thorne by Andy Frankham-Allen
Indian Summer by James Goss
There's Something About Mary by Simon Guerrier
The Definite Article by Scott Handcock
The Eyes Have It by Colin Harvey
The Golem by Lizzie Hopley
Salva Mea by Joseph Lidster
Fanboys by Paul Magrs
My Hero by Stuart Manning
Osskah by Gary Owen
You Had Me at Verify Username and Password by Stel Pavlou
All of Beyond by Helen Raynor
Remain in Light by Eddie Robson
Gray by Gary Russell
The Sorrows of Vienna by Steven Savile
Piecemeal by James Swallow

A mysterious ghost haunts a hotel in India. The terrifying alien C'rizz attacks commuters in King's Cross station. Beneath a London council estate, a creature is waiting to be born. And on a distant world, an old man trades stories with a strange time traveller.

Throughout his adventures in time and space, the Doctor meets so many people and each one is affected in some way. The waiter who keeps a special table for the Time Lord's granddaughter, Susan. The American student who befriends lost Lucie Miller. The teenage girl who discovers that she may be something more than human.

What is it like when that strange blue box appears in your life? What is it like when your eyes are opened to so much more?

What is it like when everything changes?

FILTER: - Audio

Dalek World Record Attempt

Friday, 3 August 2007 - Reported by Jarrod Cooper

The Manchester-based Museum of Science and Industry, which hosts the Doctor Who Up Close exhibition, is attempting to attract a record number of Daleks on 26 August.

In order to fulfil Guinness World Records criteria, MoSI must attract 50 or more Daleks - people dressed in costumes which 'closely resemble a Dalek'.

For more information on the museum, please visit its website here.

FILTER: - Special Events

Moffat quashes tabloid rumour

Friday, 3 August 2007 - Reported by Anthony Weight

Doctor Who writer Steven Moffat, writing on Outpost Gallifrey's own discussion forum, has dismissed the rumours circulating in recent days concerning the casting of Northern Irish actor James Nesbitt as the 11th Doctor. Moffat's comments are reproduced below for our readers' information.

The James Nesbitt story is a total fabrication. Made up. A fantasy. Just a guy sitting at a desk and just inventing stuff.

I wasn't going to say anything, but I'm getting embarrassed for the deeply wonderful Jimmy Nesbitt. So tell everyone please, cos it's getting very silly.

Steven Moffat

FILTER: - Steven Moffat - Production - Press

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