Lambert honoured

Saturday, 8 December 2007 - Reported by Anthony Weight

Verity Lambert, the original producer of Doctor Who who died last month at the age of seventy-one, has been posthumously awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the organisation Women in Film and Television (WFTV), at their annual awards ceremony in London yesterday. The recognition of Lambert had been announced several weeks ago, and she had originally been due to collect the accolade herself.

BBC News reports that Sophie Balhetchet, a television producer and chair of WFTV, praised Lambert's contribution to the industry, describing her as "a passionate professional, a mentor, an inspiration". She added: "Our sadness is that Verity Lambert, whom we honour with our lifetime achievement award, died a few days ago... [she was] a truly exemplary woman in the work she produced and the life she lived."

FILTER: - People - Awards/Nominations

Voyage of the Damned teaser

Saturday, 8 December 2007 - Reported by Anthony Weight

BBC One tonight screened a short, 10-second teaser trailer for the forthcoming Christmas special Voyage of the Damned (except for viewers in Scotland, who had their own trailers). The short series of three clips showed first the Doctor, then Astrid and then a special effects shot of the Titanic itself.

The clip is available to view on the official BBC website (behind door 8 of the advent calendar). If you are in the United Kingdom you can also see the trailer on the official BBC YouTube channel.

A two minute trailer for Voyage of the Damned is also being shown in UK cinemas.

FILTER: - Specials - Broadcasting

Doctor Who US Comic Interview

Saturday, 8 December 2007 - Reported by Jeremy Bement

The Doctor and Martha will soon be making their IDW comic book debut in a six-issue series. The fine folks at newsarama.com have an interview with comic writer Gary Russell and artist Nick Roche which hits the highlights of what to expect from the new series. Click here to read the interview and find out more.

FILTER: - Merchandise

Doctor Who Adventures: 44

Friday, 7 December 2007 - Reported by Marcus

In this week's Doctor Who Adventures the countdown to the Doctor Who Christmas episode has well and truly begun, with 15 essential things you need to know about Doctor Who this Christmas. There is a look back at the mysterious Roboforms from the last couple of Who Christmas specials - who exactly were they and what did they want?

In Tales from the TARDIS, Donna chooses to stay on Earth at the end of The Runaway Bride. The Comic strip is part one of A Klytode Christmas, featuring the return of the Doctor's old enemy, the fearful Klytode. Doctor's Data gives facts about Chantho, the ill-fated Malmooth girl.

There are four exclusive posters of Dalek Sec, Jack and the Face of Boe, the Doctor and the Roboforms and The Infinite Quest plus a tricky Toclafane maze game, holographic stickers and two badges.
Doctor Who Adventures issue 44 is out on Thursday 6 December.

PLEASE NOTE: This issue will only be on sale for one week as a bumper Christmas edition of Doctor Who Adventures, packed with 48 pages and masses of Doctor Who gifts, will be in the shops on Thursday 13 December.

FILTER: - Magazines - DWA

Author Pullman would write for Who

Friday, 7 December 2007 - Reported by DWNP Archive

In a recent interview with BBC NEWSROUND Philip Pullman, author of the Golden Compass, said he would consider writing an episode of Doctor Who and that writing for the Doctor "sounds like enormous fun."

Pullman also talked about the end of series two of Doctor Who - when Rose Tyler was left in a parallel world - and how similar some people say it is to his own Dark Materials series. "I was flattered by it," Pullman said.

"That's how stories work. Stories are made out of other stories. I borrowed things for His Dark Materials. He [Russell T Davies] took my ending and twisted it to fit his story. That's fine."

FILTER: - Production

First Torchwood Series Two Teaser

Thursday, 6 December 2007 - Reported by Chuck Foster

Last night saw the first teaser for the new series of Torchwood, broadcast just before the finale of Heroes on BBC2. The trailer featured a brief phone "conversation", with Peter Petrelli from Heroes calling Captain Jack to give him a message.

The series was announced as coming to BBC2 on Wednesday evenings, early in the new year. Though no actual date has been stated so far, Digital Spyreported on the preview screening that took place this week (warning, spoilerspresent in the article), and have suggested that it will broadcast from the 16th January.

The trailer is available to view, for UK users only, on the official Torchwood website, here.

FILTER: - Torchwood

Voyage of the Damned: 71 Minutes

Thursday, 6 December 2007 - Reported by Anthony Weight

The official BBC Doctor Who website has announced that the forthcoming Christmas special, Voyage of the Damned, will be 71 minutes long - longer than either of the two previous festive episodes, and the longest single episode of the programme since its return in 2005.

The site confirms the start time for the episode - 6.50pm on BBC 1 on Christmas Day, Tuesday the 25th of December. The episode will also be repeated on New Year's Day at 2.15pm, and with in-vision signing for the deaf at 1.15am on December 27th.

The BBC have also revealed that a brand-new one-hour Doctor Who Confidential, listed as a Kylie Special, will be shown on BBC 3 on Christmas Day. The programme starts at 8.30pm and is to be repeated at 2:25am.

FILTER: - Specials - Broadcasting

Doctor Who nominated for South Bank Show Awards

Thursday, 6 December 2007 - Reported by Josiah Rowe

Doctor Who has been nominated for the prestigious South Bank Show Awards. The South Bank Show, broadcast on ITV, is a magazine programme covering both popular and "high" art, and it gives awards for different areas of British arts. Doctor Who was previously nominated for the award in 2005 (given in January 2006), but lost to a Channel 4 drama about Elizabeth I. This year, Doctor Who is up against two Channel 4 dramas, Iraq War drama The Mark of Cainand the adaptation of the novel Boy A. The awards will be presented on January 29, 2008, and the ceremony will be broadcast on ITV on February 3, 2008.

FILTER: - Awards/Nominations

Changes to North America DVD Lineup

Wednesday, 5 December 2007 - Reported by Shaun Lyon

BBC Worldwide Americas have announced changes to their previously released plans for the first classic series releases of 2008. "The Complete Davros Boxed Set" and the stand-alone "Remembrance of the Daleks Special Edition" have been indefinitely pulled for now. In their place, March 4 will see the release of Planet of Evil and Destiny of the Daleks, both starring Tom Baker. In April, two more titles will be released: The Time Warrior starring Jon Pertwee, and a new addition to the schedule, Timelash with Colin Baker. The general release rate for the year is increasing but there may be some irregularities to the schedule thereafter. (Thanks to Steve Manfred for the news)

FILTER: - USA - Classic Series - Blu-ray/DVD

Sarah Jane hits new record

Wednesday, 5 December 2007 - Reported by Marcus

Final figures released by BARB show the last episode of the Sarah Jane Adventures set a new ratings record for the digital channel CBBC.

The second part of The Lost Boy got an official rating of 659,000 viewers and is now the highest rated programme ever shown on the channel. The Sarah Jane Adventures holds the top eight places in the ratings for the channel, for this year, and the top two places since the channel's launch in 2002.

Top Programmes on CBBC in 2007

1 - Sarah Jane - The Lost Boy 2 - 659,000
2 - Sarah Jane - Whatever happened to Sarah Jane 2 - 633,000
3 - Sarah Jane - The Lost Boy 1- 465,000
4 - Sarah Jane - Revenge of The Slitheen 2 - 446,000
5 - Sarah Jane - Warriors of Kudlak 1 - 425,000
6 - Sarah Jane - Eye of the Gorgon 2 - 411,000
7 - Sarah Jane - Whatever happened to Sarah Jane 1 - 406,000
8 - Sarah Jane - Warriors of Kudlak 2 - 397,000
9 - MI High - 15 Jan - 388,000
10 - MI High - 20 Nov - 378,000
11 - The Story of Tracy Beaker - 21 Nov - 374,000
12 - Shaun the Sheep - 5 Nov - 368,000
13- Sarah Jane - Eye of the Gorgon 1 - 365,000
14 - The Story of Tracy Beaker - 13 Nov - 346,000
15 - The Story of Tracy Beaker - 20 Nov - 342,000

Top Programmes on CBBC since launch

1 - Sarah Jane - The Lost Boy 2 - 659,000
2 - Sarah Jane - Whatever happened to Sarah Jane 2 - 633,000
3 - The Story of Tracy Beaker - 2 Dec 05 - 602,000
4 - The Story of Tracy Beaker - 9 Dec 05 - 521,000
5 - The Story of Tracy Beaker - 14 Dec 05- 517,000

Source: BARB

FILTER: - Ratings - UK - Sarah Jane

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