Doctor Who Magazine 399

There is an exclusive interview with the unforgettable Donna Noble, when Catherine Tate talks exclusively to this months Doctor Who Magazine, released this week in the United Kingdom.

"What's weird is, I was going into an established, loved, successful show, so part of me was thinking, oh God, there's a responsibility there to that," Catherine tells the magazine. "But you can't go on set every day and think, I really hope I don't ruin this for everyone else involved! You just have to realise, yeah, I've taken this job, and the people around me wanted me to do it. Once you get down to the nuts and bolts of making the show, it was absolutely, and I can say this for certain, one of the best experiences of my professional life. Absolutely brilliant. There was just no down point."

Also in the Magazine.

• She was the the original feisty redhead! Bonnie Langford, aka companion Melainie Bush, talks candidly about her turbulant time on Doctor Who in the 1980's
• Manga Doctor Who? Miss Saigon? And the Doctor and Donna at extra-fast speed? Find out what it all means as Executive Producer Julie Gardner tells us what happened when she went to the USA with new showrunner Steven Moffat, in Production Notes.
• There's a multitude of adventures for the Doctor and Donna in a very special 10-page comic strip, The Time of My Life, written by Jonathan Morris with art by Rob Davis.
• It's a close shave for Peri, as The Time Team get their minds warped by The Trial of a Time Lord!
• Pomp and circumstance, and Cybermen! DWM takes an exclusive look at August's Doctor Who Prom and talks to composer Murray Gold and the people who made it happen.
• Some of the Doctor's most fondly remembered companions are back in an all-new series of audio adventures! DWM investigates the range and chats to the Doctor’s very first companion Susan, Carole Ann Ford.
• An alien killer on a space bus? The Doctor on a less-than-relaxing holiday? And bees that are far more intelligent than they appear? It can only be Delta and the Bannermen! Fact of Fiction examines one of the Seventh Docto'’s most extraordinary adventures.
• Neil Harris discovers the possible future of Doctor Who in You Are Not Alone
• Plus all the very latest news, reviews, previews and competitions!

Doctor Who Adventures 78

This week’s Doctor Who Adventures comes complete with an inflatable Sontaran. Guarding the Sontaran on the cover is an angry Judoon. Inside you can find out more about them and the outer-space police, the Shadow Proclamation.

Also in the issue

• Monster music! Read about the team’s trip to the recent Doctor Who prom.
• Posters of the Doctor, The Sarah Jane Adventures gang, Judoon, and a Sontaran.
• Ultimate Ood: Part two of the guide to the Ood!
• Adventure Guide: Trouble for Sarah Jane in Eye of the Gorgon.
• Tales from the TARDIS: The Doctor and Donna are captured in Planet of the Ood.
• Secrets: How the face of Davros was created!
• Who’s where? Take a trip to Camp Caan and find the Time Beetles.<li>
  
• Comic strip: Part one of a new adventure for the Doctor and Donna – Attack of the Mange Mites.
• Doctor’s Data: Facts about the Seventh Doctor.
• Time Teasers: Puzzles to strain your brain.
• Woven wordsearch: Win some books!
• Win: DVDs and a radio-controlled car up for grabs.

Doctor Who's first director Waris Hussein will be guest of honour at the National Media Museum's Bite The Mango film festival, taking place in Bradford from September 19-25, 2008.

As well as receiving a lifetime achievement award and being interviewed about his 40 years as a director, Hussein will be taking part in an interview specifically about directing the very first Doctor Who serial An Unearthly Child and the lost epic story Marco Polo.

The interview will take place on Sunday, September 21 at the museum in Bradford. It will be accompanied by photographs from the museum's Daily Herald archive and a screening of the 'take one' version of the episode "An Unearthly Child". Further details and tickets will be available from the museum's website.

Doctor Who's excellent ratings in Australia continue despite tough competition from the Beijing Olympics. It has now passed the one million mark for an unprecedented eight weeks in a row. The Doctor's Daughter rated 1,008,000 viewers in the five major capital cities, while The Unicorn and the Wasp rated even significantly more with 1,074,000. TV blogger David Dale also notes that the Australian Broadcasting Corporation 'has reaped the benefits of offering an alternative to [Olympic generated] nationalism. Its most popular shows barely suffered a dent in audience - ABC Sunday news andSpicks and Specks drew 1.1 million, Dr Who drew 1 million and a repeat of Agatha Christie's Poirotdrew 994,000 on Friday before the great writer herself met The Doctor himself on Sunday night.'

The Confidential Cutdown versions of 'Sins of the Fathers' and 'Nemesis' also had solid ratings gaining 721,000 and 692,000 viewers respectively in the five major capital cities. By way of comparison, Perfect Day: The Millennium only garnered 500,000 viewers for the ABC at 8.35pm after 'Nemesis'.

Meanwhile, in the local media Conrad Walters of The Sydney Morning Herald describes 'Unicorn' as 'quite spiffing.'CitySearch also praises 'Unicorn' noting the 'amazingly flexible format Doctor Who has. One week, it's an action thriller with aliens invading Earth, the next it's pure science fiction and DNA replicators, and then it's a murder mystery set in 1920's England! And it all works!...It's not often Doctor Who goes as blatantly comedic as it does here - look out for Agatha Christie titles littered throughout the dialogue - but it's a refreshing mid-season breather, especially given the rest of the season looks to be heading into much darker territory.' Meanwhile, Chris Hook of The Daily Telegraphgives 'The Doctor's Daughter' the 'pick of the day' and describes 'Unicorn' as 'another instalment in what is shaping up to be a cracking season.' Fergus Shiel of The Age also calls 'Unicorn' a 'spiffing mix of the English sci-fi and mystery traditions...And as [Russell T.] Davies prepares to blast off from the show that he reinvented so spectacularly, we ought to thank you for the memories and for making the Time Lord timely again and funnier than ever before.'

Meanwhile, the TV Tonight blog reports that Channel Ten will start broadcasting series two of Torchwood on its high definition channel on Monday 1 September 2008 at 10.30pm.

Thanks to contributors to the Australian forums

Just a couple of weeks following the release of complete seasons of new series Doctor Who on iTunes in the USA, a selection of classic Doctor Who adventures are now available on the download service as well.

While most of the titles released so far have already been made available on DVD, such as "Carnival of Monsters", "Mark of the Rani" and "The Ark in Space", a number of stories have been released that are avaiable nowhere else (with the VHS releases now long out-of-print), like "The Krotons", "The Sun Makers" and "Planet of the Spiders".

The stories are avaiable episodically, and cost $1.99 per episode.

Posted By John Bowman

The title of the five-part story that will comprise Series Three of Torchwood is Children of Earth.

Issue 8 of the programme's official magazine, out today, revealed the name.

The episodes, to be directed by Euros Lyn, will be shown over one week next spring. Principal photography starts on August 18.

Doctor Who Adventures issue 77 is out today across the United Kingdom.

Press Release

Fearsome females in Doctor Who

In this week's Doctor Who Adventures there's a look at some of the most frightening females in Doctor Who. There have been loads throughout the series, and the DWA team have chosen five of their favourites.

We've also got a fact file, or should that be fat file, about one of the scariest ladies from the last series – Matron Cofelia. Was she really bad or did she just love the Adipose babies too much?

The issue comes with a fantastic free Adipose stationery set – which includes a notepad, pencil, ruler, erasers, clip and stickers.

PLUS:

Posters! Jabe from The End of the World, the Doctor and deadly Davros!
Ultimate Ood: Find out more about these creatures in the first of our four-part ultimate guide!
Adventure Guides: Back in time to The Fires of Pompeii and a Slitheen story with Sarah Jane Smith!
Tales from the TARDIS: The Doctor says goodbye to Donna and Rose in Journey's End.
Win a Cyber Controller head part 3 – worth almost £700!
Comic strip: A brand-new adventure called Shark Bait.
Who knows? The answers to your Doctor Who questions.
Time Teasers: Mates in a muddle and find the stowaway!
Woven word search: Find the missing word and win a toy TARDIS.
Win: Doctor Who DVDs and Lego Star Wars up for grabs!
Subscription offer: Subscribe and you'll get a FREE Doctor Who TARDIS and Doctor Files.
ALL THIS AND LOTS MORE!

Posted By John Bowman

The name of Torchwood Series Three's five-part story will be revealed tomorrow when issue eight of the official magazine is published.

Also in the magazine will be other news, an interview with executive producer Julie Gardner, a Torchwood location guide, "a dynamite FX feature" and new exclusive fiction.

Principal photography on Series Three begins on August 18, according to the press release for the magazine.

Posted By John Bowman

Tomorrow sees the publication of Doctor Who Magazine's in-depth special looking back over the latest season of adventures.

At 148 pages, The Doctor Who Companion - Series Four is the biggest DWM special so far, and gives readers a step-by-step guide to the making of all 13 episodes as well as the 2007 Christmas special Voyage of the Damned and the Children In Need scene featuring the Fifth Doctor, Time Crash.

Tom Spilsbury, the editor of Doctor Who Magazine, said: "DWM has been given exclusive access to all the scripts and shooting schedules to tell you what was shot when and where, what was left on the cutting-room floor and why, and even the truth behind a few of those rumours that hit the tabloids!

"Packed with anecdotes and comments from the men and women who make the programme, script extracts, deleted scenes, and a full list of cast, crew, transmission times and ratings, with hundreds of beautiful and previously unseen photographs, this is the ultimate guide to Doctor Who 2008."