The Strongest Link

Saturday, 31 March 2007 - Reported by Marcus
According to unofficial overnight figures, the special Doctor Who edition of The Weakest Linkwas the most watched non-soap programme on Friday.

5.7 million viewers saw stars from the series battle it out with Anne Robinson, a 25% share of the total TV audience.

This made the programme the 4th most watched of the day, behind the big three soap shows. It was the highest rating The Weakest Link has achieved this year, beating the previous high by nearly 2 million viewers.

The programme easily beat "A Touch of Frost" on ITV1

Over on BBC3, 430,000 tuned in at the start of the evening to watch Donna and The Doctor battle it out with the Empress, in a repeat of The Runaway bride. This made it the 8th most watched programme on Multi Channel Television for Friday.




FILTER: - Special Events - Ratings

Leicester Open Centre

Saturday, 31 March 2007 - Reported by Marcus
To celebrate the return of Doctor Who to UK television screens, fans in Leicester are invited to meet a Cyberman and Dalek at the BBC's Open Centre.

Enrty to the centre is free. As well as the Doctor Who monsters it has an underground vault with cameras and lights, which takes visitors back two thousand years to the city's Roman origins.

The Doctor Who event runs from Monday 2nd April until Thursday 5th April 2007 and is open from 9.00am -5.00pm each day.




FILTER: - Special Events

Tennant to be at script auction

Monday, 26 March 2007 - Reported by DWNP Archive

David Tennant will be at the auction of his signed script from The Satan Pit at John Nicholson Auctioneers this coming Wednesday.

As earlier reported by Outpost, the script has been signed by Tennant, Billie Piper and Russell T Davies.

It was given by Tennant to Arabella Weir, who played the Doctor in the Big Finish audio Exile, and will be sold by her in aid of a parent-teacher association of a primary school supported by Tennant, who is godfather to her son.

The fine art and collectables auction will take place at the auction rooms in Midhurst Road, Fernhurst, Haslemere, Surrey and will be filmed for the ITV show Dickinson's Real Deal.

There is a reserve price of 1,000 pounds on this item, although the auctioneers expect it to go for between 3,000 and 5,000 pounds.

No ticket is necessary to go along to the event.

The full details of the lot going under the hammer are given below, and are as stated by the auctioneers.
LOT 401A. A DR WHO SCRIPT which was used in the last series with DAVID TENNANT as the Doctor, for DOCTOR WHO II, Episode 9. THE SATAN PIT, 4th Draft by MATT JONES, 4th Feb. 2006. The script was given to her by David Tennant as he is a close friend and godfather to Arabella's son. The script comprises 56 pages.

The script is the only one of its kind in the world. To prevent story leaks to the press each script is printed with name of the cast member at the top of each script. In this instance the script belonged to the leading role David Tennant. It is signed by David Tennant, Billie Piper and Russell T. Davis [sic].

3000-5000 pounds.




FILTER: - Special Events - David Tennant

BBC Wales Exclusive Screening

Friday, 23 March 2007 - Reported by Marcus
Fans in Wales are being offered a chance to see the first episode of the new series before the rest of the UK.

Smith and Jones will be exclusively screened on Saturday, 31 March at 10.30am at a number of venues across the principality.

Tickets are free and available on a first come, first served basis from 9am on Monday, March 26 by calling 08703 667 887 (Calls from a BT line cost up to 8p per minute. Some operators and mobiles vary and calls may be recorded for training). Tickets will not be available before this date.

BBC Radio Wales and BBC Radio Cymru will also be giving listeners the chance to win a ticket when a small number are released as competition prizes

The Venues are

Cardiff Bay Odeon
Swansea Odeon
Wrexham Odeon
Aberystwyth Arts Centre
Pwllheli Neuadd Dwyfor

Details here




FILTER: - Special Events - Series 3/29

Who is The Weakest Link

Friday, 16 March 2007 - Reported by DWNP Archive

The special Doctor Who themed episode of the quiz show The Weakest Link has been scheduled for transmission on BBC One from 8.30pm on Friday 30th March.

As previously reported, the episode was recorded on the 21st November and the contestants who took part were David Tennant, Camille Coduri, Noel Clarke, John Barrowman, Nicholas Briggs, Tracy-Ann Oberman, Claire Rushbrook, Andrew Hayden-Smith and K9. So far the winner has remained a closely guarded secret!




FILTER: - Special Events - Broadcasting

Costume auction results

Tuesday, 6 March 2007 - Reported by Jarrod Cooper

The Doctor Who outfits previously worn by Tom Baker and several other TV Time Lords were auctioned off byBonhams to save space and insurance premiums.

The burgundy coat, brown tweed trousers and striped scarf worn by Baker sold for 24,600 pounds (about 46,000 US dollars). This was 12 times the amount that was expected. His double-breasted frock coat went for a further 7,000 pounds.

Other Doctor Who costumes included:

Patrick Troughton's Doctor's outfit, which went for 8,000 pounds.
Jon Pertwee's Doctor's complete outfit and sonic screwdriver went for 8,000 pounds also.
Peter Davison's Doctor's outfit went for 4,200 pounds.
Sylvester McCoy's Doctor's outfit for 1,000 pounds.

Also reported at metro.co.ukBBC News and The Sun.




FILTER: - Special Events - Classic Series

Tennant and Tate together again

Tuesday, 6 March 2007 - Reported by DWNP Archive

David Tennant is reuniting with The Runaway Bride co-star Catherine Tate for Comic Relief but probably not as the Doctor.

The BBC press office says Tate has teamed up with Tennant and Lenny Henry plus other surprise guests for some new sketches.

Red Nose Day 2007 - on Friday, March 16 - will also see Simon Pegg (The Long Game),Davina McCall (Bad Wolf), Trinny Woodall (Bad Wolf), Maureen Lipman (The Idiot's Lantern) and Peter Kay (Love and Monsters) involved in the fund-raising drive to help vulnerable people in the UK and Africa.

It is being screened on BBC1 from 7pm to approximately 3.05am on Saturday, with a 35-minute break for the news at 10pm.




FILTER: - People - Special Events - Catherine Tate - David Tennant

New Runaway Bride photos

Tuesday, 30 January 2007 - Reported by Kenny Davidson
There are only 328 shopping days left until next Christmas, but if you and your bank balance are still recovering from the effects of the last Christmas, the BBC's official site have given you a reason to remember the good things about Christmas 2006, with a bundle of new photographs from The Runaway Bride.




FILTER: - Special Events - Online

Six Doctors' costumes included in high-profile auction

Monday, 29 January 2007 - Reported by Kenny Davidson
More than 400 outfits tailored by Angels, the pre-eminent costumier for films shot in the UK, will be auctioned by Bonhams of London. The collection includes costumes that were worn by some of Hollywood's biggest names, from Errol Flynn to Al Pacino, as well as outfits from classic British television shows, including Doctor Who.

Six Doctors are represented in the Doctor Who collection, including Jon Pertwee's jacket, which comes complete with a sonic screwdriver, which the auctioneers found in one of its pockets. The tool, which the Doctor used to open locks, is simply a pen glued to a toothpaste tube cap and sprayed silver.

Costumes worn by Pertwee, Patrick Troughton and Tom Baker are expected to fetch £20,000 each and Christopher Eccleston's leather jacket is estimated at £4,000.

Amongst the other costumes is Sir Alec Guinness's brown hooded cloak from Star Wars, which went missing for 30 years and was only discovered in 2005 when Angels made an inventory of its 1.5 million outfits which hang on six miles of rails in a warehouse in north London.

The auction, which takes place on 6th March, is expected to raise more than £1 million. Below are full details from Bonhams of the Doctor Who items included.
Costumes representing six of the Dr Who actors from the period of 1963 – present day will be sold.

A complete Patrick Troughton outfit (the second Dr. Who) comprising full-length fur coat, tailcoat, checked trousers, shirt, tie, handkerchief and bandana is estimated at £15,000-20,000. Known for his scruffy appearance, Troughton played a much quirkier Doctor. The producers and writers behind the programme wanted the Doctor's second incarnation to be a contrast to first Doctor, William Hartnell's 'Victorian Headmaster' mode of attire. Therefore Troughton was unveiled as, in his words, the "Cosmic Hobo," an eccentric exemplified by his unusual combination of garments, and in particular his long hair coat.

The third Doctor Who, John Pertwee, is represented through his black cape coat, burgundy velvet jacket, black cravat, and his sonic screwdriver (estimate of £15,000-20,000). Pertwee took the character of the doctor in a different direction from the ‘Cosmic Hobo' of before, Pertwee opting for being a dandy with a twist: he was a master of Venusian Karate and became a Doctor to rival James Bond with his ingenious gadgets and quick wit, Victorian tailcoats, deep purple velvet jackets, capes and scalloped shirtfronts.

Tom Baker, the fourth incarnation of the Doctor, exploded onto our television screens in 1974, unmistakable with his mass of teeth and curls. Baker came to resemble a comic hitchhiker, with his long overcoat, Victorian jackets and overlong woolly scarf.

The complete outfit for Tom Baker includes a maroon wool top coat, three pairs of trousers (tweed, grey wool and dark grey cotton), striped waistcoat, three felt hats and a striped scarf, and is estimated at £15,000-20,000. A wine coloured 3/4 length coat, complete with two large added pockets for the Doctor's jelly beans and sonic screwdriver used by Baker in various episodes of Dr Who (including some Dalek Episodes), is estimated at £8,000-10,000. The fifth Doctor, Peter Davison, is represented with a beige and orange-edged single breasted top coat, stripe trousers, cricket jumper, white shirt and straw hat, estimated at £8,000-10,000.

An outfit worn by Sylvester McCoy – the seventh Doctor Who – including a cream linen jacket, grey pinstripe trousers, shirt, tie, pullover, scarf, shoes, cravat and hat, is estimated at £5,000-7,000.

After a 16-year absence of the series, Christopher Eccleston returned as The Doctor. In the sale is his black leatherette jacket estimated at £3,000-4,000.




FILTER: - Special Events - Christopher Eccleston

"Moths Ate My Doctor Who Scarf" - on tour

Sunday, 28 January 2007 - Reported by Anthony Weight
Outpost Gallifrey has received the following press release concerning the one-man show Moths Ate My Doctor Who Scarf, which after its success at the 2006 Edinburgh Fringe Festival is going out on the road in 2007. The release runs:
MOTHS ON THE RAMPAGE
Being the surprise critical and commercial success of last year's Edinburgh Fringe wasn't enough for Toby Hadoke and his one man show Moths Ate My Dr Who Scarf. He's now embarking on a nationwide tour (preliminary dates below, more to follow). The show has recently been bought by BBC 7 and is being turned into a two part comedy drama for broadcast later in the year (although this will be very different from the one-man show). The tour kicked off at The Windsor Arts Centre in January and came perilously close to selling out.

Award winning comedian Toby Hadoke takes you on a personal odyssey through one man’s obsession with a TV show. Sharp, satirical, poignant and ultimately uplifting, this show appeals across the board, even to people without intimate knowledge of Time Lords and Tetraps. Not suitable for football hooligans, Daily Mail readers, Hollyoaks actors or The BNP.

“Recommended – a confident performer in a well structured and surprisingly effective one-man show with an emotional kick” – The Times

“Eloquent, forthright, passionate – one of the most entertaining hours this side of Gallifrey” – Chortle

“A must see – well conceived and worryingly accurate”
– Edinburgh Evening News.

The tour will be intermittent – these are confirmed dates, with a further thirty or so awaiting confirmation throughout the year. Visit TobyHadoke.com for updates.

14th February – Leicester Comedy Festival (please note, the addition of an apostrophe to the word Moths was made by the team behind the festival brochure and a move Toby would like to wash his hands of)
16th & 17th March – Theatre Royal, Bath (16th is an extra date due to demand)
23rd March – Glasgow Comedy Festival
11th May – Hemel Hempstead
25th May – St Albans
8th June – The Lowry, Salford
14th June – Ammanford Mines Theatre
23rd Sept – Sheffield Comedy Festival, The Lescar




FILTER: - Special Events