Series 5 to receive Japanese DVD release

Tuesday, 9 September 2014 - Reported by Chuck Foster

Doctor Who: New Generation (Credit: BBC Worldwide/ Kadokawa Shoten Co. Ltd.)

Though the modern series of Doctor Who has yet to be established as essential viewing on television in Japan, fans in the country will now be able to enjoy the series in their native language thanks to an initiative announced by production company Kadokawa for this Autumn.

Doctor Who: New Generation will see the Matt Smith era released in the country starting with his debut series on 3rd October 2014, with the sixth and seventh series following over the next few months. The episodes will be fully dubbed into Japanese, with the voice of the eleventh Doctor portrayed by Tokuyoshi Kawashima, Amy by Kana Uetake, Rory by Yoshiki Nakajima, and River Song by Kozue Harashima.

The Series 5 Boxed set will be presented with Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo soundtracks in Japanese and the original English, plus Japanese subtitles; as well as the thirteen episodes of the series, the seven disc set will also include the 2010 Christmas special, A Christmas Carol:

Disc 1: 11番目の時間 (The Eleventh Hour); 眼下の獣 (The Beast Below)
Disc 2: ダーレクの勝利 (Victory of the Daleks); 天使の時間 (The Time of Angels)
Disc 3: 肉体と石 (Flesh and Stone); ヴェネチアの吸血鬼 (The Vampires of Venice)
Disc 4: エイミーの選択 (Amy's Choice); ハングリー･アース (The Hungry Earth)
Disc 5: 冷血 (Cold Blood); ゴッホとドクター (Vincent and the Doctor)
Disc 6: 下宿人 (The Lodger); パンドリカが開く (The Pandorica Opens)
Disc 7: ビッグバン (The Big Bang); クリスマス・キャロル (A Christmas Carol)

The DVD is available to pre-order via Amazon.

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

Listen - Publicity Images

Tuesday, 9 September 2014 - Reported by Marcus

The BBC has released a new set of pictures from the next episode of Doctor Who, Listen, which debuts next Saturday.

When ghosts of past and future crowd into their lives, the Doctor and Clara are thrown into an adventure that takes them to the very end of the universe. What happens when the Doctor is alone? And what scares the grand old man of Time and Space?

Written by Steven Moffat, and directed by Douglas Mackinnon.

Listen: Official Teaser Trailer, via YouTube

FILTER: - Publicity - Series 8/34

More Who on Horror

Monday, 8 September 2014 - Reported by Chuck Foster

The Horror Channel has announced an additional seventeen Doctor Who stories are to be added to its line-up from October:

Following the success of the Who On Horror season, that saw 30 classic Doctor Who stories broadcast on Horror Channel, BBC Worldwide and Horror Channel have agreed to an additional set of 17 re-mastered episodes, starting on Monday 13th October.

For the first time on UK television, Horror Channel viewers will be able to watch re-mastered episodes that were only released on DVD by BBC Worldwide last year. There will be more from the Tom Baker and Jon Pertwee eras with additional stories featuring Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy.

The iconic adventures continue with the Doctor Who and The Silurians serial, starring Jon Pertwee as the Doctor and his roadster, Bessie. The series then leads into weekday double-bills in daytime and evening slots.

Available to watch from October are such stories as Inferno, Carnival of Monsters, The Time Warrior, The Sontaran Experiment, The Sun Makers, and The Greatest Show in the Galaxy.

Alina Florea, Director of Programming for Horror Channel, said:

It's been great to be able to offer our regular fans the classic Doctor Who content, but it’s equally exciting to see Time Lord devotees flock to Horror Channel in greater number and take part in the various on and off air activities that resulted in a surge in viewership and social media interaction. With the newer batch of re-mastered episodes, there will be even more reasons for our viewers to tune in and stick around for more fright, thrill and shock.

Who On Horror has attracted over 3.8 million people since its launch in April. (data from BARB/Techedge)

Horror Channel broadcasts can be found via This Week in Doctor Who.

FILTER: - Broadcasting - Classic Series - UK

Robot of Sherwood - Appreciation Index

Monday, 8 September 2014 - Reported by Marcus

Doctor Who Robot of Sherwood had an Audience Appreciation Index or AI score of 82.

The Appreciation Index or AI is a measure of how much the audience enjoyed the programme. The score, out of a hundred, is compiled by a specially selected panel of around 5,000 people who go online and rate and comment on programmes.

The score is the same as that scored for the series opener, Deep Breath. On the main two channels Casualty scored the highest for Saturday, with 86.

Sundays's launch of Strictly Come Dancing and The X Factor pushed Doctor Who into 20th place for the week. Final figures will be published next week.

The Sunday repeat of Robot of Sherwood on BBC Three had an overnight estimate of 0.36 million viewers, a 1.4% share of the audience.

FILTER: - Ratings - Series 8/34 - UK

Australian overnight ratings for Robot of Sherwood

Monday, 8 September 2014 - Reported by Adam Kirk

Robot of Sherwood averaged 1.085 million national viewers in Australia (these figures include the five

major capital cities and regional and rural viewers). It was the second highest rating drama of the day (after ANZAC Girls) and the ninth highest rating program of the day overall. Excluding regional and rural viewers, this story averaged 681,000 viewers in the five major Australian capital cities and was the ninth highest rating program of the day overall in the big cities (again the second highest rating drama in the cities after ANZAC Girls). These ratings do not include time shifted viewers.

Media Links: Crikey: Glenn Dyer's TV ratings: audiences fade away from reality TV (paywall); TV Tonight

FILTER: - Australia - Broadcasting - Ratings - Series 8/34

Into the Dalek - Final Ratings

Sunday, 7 September 2014 - Reported by Marcus

Final figures for the UK transmission of Into The Dalek give the episode a consolidated rating of 7.29 million viewers.

The episode should finish around 9th for the week. A full chart should be available Monday.

FILTER: - Ratings - Series 8/34 - UK

Robot of Sherwood - Overnight Viewing Figures

Sunday, 7 September 2014 - Reported by Marcus

5.2 million viewers watched Doctor Who: Robot of Sherwood, a share of 25.4% of the total TV audience, according to unofficial overnight figures.

The rating, the same overnight figure as last week, once more puts Doctor Who as the second rated programme of the day. ITV was top with The X Factor, which had 8.7 million watching, a drop of half a million from the previous week. The Chase: Celebrity Special was third with 4.4 million viewers. Casualty was the second highest programme on BBC One with 3.9 million watching.

With one day to go Doctor Who is the 17th highest programme for the week.

Final figures will be available next Sunday, which could see a top ten final place.

FILTER: - Ratings - Series 8/34 - UK

Germany: Complete Season 24 DVD boxed set in November

Saturday, 6 September 2014 - Written by Pascal Salzmann

German DVD distributor Pandastorm have announced the release of the DVD boxed set Siebter Doctor Volume 1 (Seventh Doctor Volume 1).

The set contains the complete Season 24, featuring Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor, and includes all special features that were present on the single story DVD releases in the UK. According to the website of Pandastorm's distribution partner wvg the discs will run for approximately 350 minutes plus 328 minutes of bonus features. Audio and subtitles will be in English and German.

The description for the DVDs reads as follows:

Die erfolgreiche Sci-Fi-Kultserie öffnet die Tore zu ihrer Vergangenheit. Die Abenteuer des siebten Doctors erstmalig in Deutschland auf DVD. Mit über 5 Std. Bonusmaterial und Booklet. Sylvester McCoy's (Radagast aus „Der Hobbit“ Trilogie) erste Staffel in der Rolle des siebten Doctors ist ein schriller, bunter und witziger Trip durchs All. Dabei begegnet er einer gefährlichen Widersacherin: Die Rani. Diese hat sich mit einem Volk menschengroßer Fledermauswesen verbündet, um die Macht über das Universum zu übernehmen. Auf einem Eisplaneten muss er zudem gegen den skrupellosen Schatzjäger Sabalom Glitz und den Sklavenhalter Kane kämpfen, der mit einer einzigen Berührung seine Gegner zu Eis gefrieren lassen kann. Und trifft schließlich auf die junge Ausreißerin Ace, die den Doctor fortan auf seinen Reisen begleitet und sich als einer der beliebtesten Companions der Seriengeschichte entpuppen soll.

The most successful Sci-Fi cult series opens the doors to its past. The adventures if the seventh Doctor on DVD for the first time. Featuring over 5 hours of bonus material and a booklet. Sylvester McCoy's (Radagast from "The Hobbit" trilogy) first season in the role of the seventh Doctor is a jarring, colourful and funny trip through the galaxy. On it he meets a dangerous enemy: the Rani. The Rani has an alliance with a race of huge bat-like creatures in her plan to rule the universe. On an Iceplanet he fights against the ruthless treasure hunter Sabalom Glitz and the slave trader Kane, who is able to freeze someone to ice with a single touch. And finally he meets the young runaway Ace, who is going to travel with the Doctor and who is seen as one of the most popular companions in the history of the show.

The DVD boxed set will be released on 28th November 2014 and can be pre-ordered from Amazon Germany.

FILTER: - Blu-ray/DVD - Classic Series - Germany - Seventh Doctor - Sylvester McCoy

Doctor Who: The Eleventh Doctor #2

Saturday, 6 September 2014 - Reported by Marcus

Doctor Who: The Eleventh Doctor #2 is out next Wednesday, September 10 and Titan have released a sneak preview.

When the Doctor last visited Rokhandi, it was a planet of such stunning natural beauty that an entire solar system had sworn to preserve it. What better place to take new companion Alice Obiefune on her first off-world adventure?

And it would have been a magical vacation… if the TARDIS hadn’t overshot by fifty years. Now the austerity-hit pleasure planet has become a ‘theme safari’ corporate hell, overrun by eerie, giant-headed mascots and a trillion tramping tourist feet!

But there’s something more sinister at play than rampant commercialism and ecological devastation… and the Doctor and Alice need to uncover all of Rokhandi’s long-buried secrets if they’re to escape with their lives!

Writer Al Ewing (Loki: Agent of Asgard) and artist Simon Fraser (Grindhouse) request that you have a nice day, whichever system you’re from. We hope to SERVE YOU again in the future!

Next week also sees the release of second printings of both sell-out debut issues of Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor #1 and Doctor Who: The Eleventh Doctor #1. These feature two bold second printing covers by Alice X Zhang.

FILTER: - Comics - Eleventh Doctor

Robot of Sherwood poster available for free download

Saturday, 6 September 2014 - Reported by John Bowman

A free downloadable retro poster for tonight's episode Robot of Sherwood has been made available by Radio Times.

It follows the posters produced by the listings magazine for the preceding two episodes of Series 8 and, as with those, has been designed by Stuart Manning, who commented:

Gotta love a robot!

This one has definite shades of Metropolis, particularly on the logo itself and the symmetrical robot image. It's a great, lurid episode title, so I took the lead from that.

The end result is probably somewhere between a pulp novel and the packaging for a '50s tin-plate toy. I'd happily buy a wind-up Doctor Who robot knight, now you mention it.

Radio Times has said there will be a poster for every episode this series.

Robot of Sherwood is scheduled to be broadcast at 7.30pm on BBC One.

This week's iPad and iPhone edition of Radio Times has a preview gallery for the episode plus an interview from 2005 with Mark Gatiss, who has written tonight's episode. In the interview, he talks about celebrity historicals in Doctor Who.