Big Finish Update

Tuesday, 2 October 2007 - Reported by Jarrod Cooper

Big Finish has released covers and announced scheduling changes for releases over the next few months.

The first installment of Dalek Empire: The Fearless has been delayed due to problems with sound design. Originally set for a September release, October 7th is the new target release date.

Also pushed back is Short Trips: Defining Patterns, which will now see release in March 2008.

Now released are the covers for three of the upcoming Companion Chronicles, as well as the December release The Girl Who Never Was. Trailers for all four Companion Chronicles are also availabl




FILTER: - Audio

Sarah Jane Audios

Monday, 1 October 2007 - Reported by Josiah Rowe

The official Doctor Who site has announced that BBC Audiobookswill be releasing two original audiobooks based on The Sarah Jane Adventures, read by Elisabeth Sladen.

In The Glittering Storm by Stephen Cole, Sarah Jane investigates the strange behavior of patients at a London clinic and discovers a plot to harvest all the gold from Earth. Says Cole, "My first memories of Doctor Who are of poor Sarah stuck in a ventilator shaft back in 1975, so I jumped at the chance to write a story for Lis Sladen. She is a fantastic actor with a wonderful voice, and Sarah Jane is a marvellous character. With The Glittering Storm I aimed to provide a story with creepy scares - as well as humour and thrills - in the vein of the new TV series. The idea is that we on Earth are not the only people who prize gold highly... Others in space have a fascination for the stuff too, and are rather more menacing in the way that they use it..."

In The Thirteenth Stone by Justin Richards, Sarah Jane finds an secret associated with an ancient stone circle. Richards says, "I had enormous fun writing The Thirteenth Stone. It's always slightly daunting writing a story that is going to be read aloud - you really have to be at your best. But knowing that Elisabeth Sladen - Sarah Jane Smith herself - was going to be reading it was a tremendous boost to the confidence as well as a huge privilege. I can't wait to hear the finished result!"

Both audiobooks will be available for purchase as CDs or downloads from November 5. Teaser clips from both stories are available through the official site.




FILTER: - Audio - Sarah Jane

Soundtrack Vol. 2

Sunday, 30 September 2007 - Reported by Josiah Rowe

Following the announcement in the latest Doctor Who Magazine that a second CD of Murray Gold's incidental music is to be released, the cover and release date have begun to appear on a number of retail sites. According to HMV amongst others, the CD is due in UK shops on 5th November, and will feature music from the show's third series.




FILTER: - Murray Gold - Audio

Collected Audiobooks To Be Released

Friday, 28 September 2007 - Reported by Jeremy Bement

According to the BBC's Doctor Who website, October 1st will see the release of Doctor Who: Collected Stories from BBC Audiobooks. Says their release statement:
The Feast of the Drowned, The Stone Rose and The Resurrection Casket are all narrated by David Tennant.

Anthony Head (Mr Finch in School Reunion) reads The Nightmare of Black Island, Shaun Dingwall (Pete Tyler) reads The Price of Paradise, and Don Warrington (The President in The Age of Steel) reads The Art of Destruction.

The set, which runs to about 15 hours of audio, will cost £50.




FILTER: - Audio - Books

Billie Piper's new series a hit

Friday, 28 September 2007 - Reported by DWNP Archive

BBC NEWS reports Diary of a Call Girl, starring Billie Piper in the title role, is turning in to a ratings success for ITV2. The first episode of the raunchy series recorded one of the biggest audiences for the channel since it began in 1998.

It also scored higher ratings than the programmes showing at the same time on BBC Two, Channel 4 and Five.

The drama is based on an online diary, written under the pseudonym Belle de Jour, which became a best-selling book.




FILTER: - People - Billie Piper

K9 and Company for early 2008

Thursday, 27 September 2007 - Reported by Chuck Foster

Phoenix Film and Television Productions have announced on their website that K9 and Company is slated for release early next year. Phoenix Productions produce special features for "Classic" Doctor Who DVD releases.
Phoenix Film and Television have been commissioned to produce several special feature documentaries for classic Doctor Who releases plus the long awaited "K9 and Company" all for DVD release later this year and early next year respectively.

The content of the extras must remain under wraps for the moment but Phoenix will be producing 9 documentaries in total spanning several releases throughout 2007 and 2008.

"It is a very exciting project!" explains Phoenix head of Production Rohan Latchman, "It's an opportunity to really delve into such a classic TV classic and try and come up with something different." "The new show is so high end and full of spectacular special effects, but classic Doctor Who offered all in involved so many challenges on a weekly basis to keep the show fresh and inventive and I'm really looking forward to being involved in such an exciting project!"




FILTER: - Blu-ray/DVD - K9

Hammond's Torchwood Teaser

Wednesday, 26 September 2007 - Reported by Kenny Davidson

Peter J Hammond, writer of the Torchwood episode Small Worlds, has told the SFX blog that his story for season two of the Doctor Who spin-off will be scarier still.

According to the writer, he has borrowed a plot element from his iconic ITV series Sapphire and Steel, which he created in the early 1980s. Click on the spoiler tag to read more...

"I think one of my favourite Sapphire and Steels was the one with Mr Shape going in and out of photographs. Torchwood takes this a bit further and it's people coming out of moving films from the '20s. There are some lovely 'black and white' people in it."

As the SFX blog points out, that particular Sapphire and Steel story by Hammond has inspired two recent writers in their Doctor Who scripts, with the faceless people in The Idiot's Lantern and the trapped-in-mirrors resolution to the Family Of Blood.





FILTER: - Torchwood

Stewart Eyes Who

Wednesday, 26 September 2007 - Reported by Jarrod Cooper

Patrick Stewart, best known to science fiction fans as Jean-Luc Picard on Star Trek : The Next Generation, has told This Is North Scotland that he would like to appear in Doctor Who. The 67-year-old Star Trek star said he was a fan of the long-running time travelling show, but was sad he had never been involved.

"I have been (a fan) actually yes, and deeply dismayed that I was never asked to be in it! I think it's a terrific series," Stewart said.

Stewart is currently set to appear opposite current Doctor David Tennantin Hamlet with the Royal Shakespeare Company next year; Tennant will play the title role and Stewart will play Hamlet's uncle, Claudius.




FILTER: - People

Sarah Jane Ratings

Tuesday, 25 September 2007 - Reported by Marcus

The first episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures achieved a rating of 1.3 million viewers, an 11% share of the audience.

This is much higher than CBBC programmes usually get in this slot. Last Monday, Escape from Scorpion Island got 0.9 million.

In the children's chart, the programme was the 6th most watched of the day with an audience of 0.5 million which was a 29.8% share.

Over on CBBC the second episode was watched by 0.44 million making the programme the most watched of the day on CBBC and the 7th most watched programme on multi channel television.




FILTER: - Ratings - UK - Sarah Jane

Davros DVD details

Tuesday, 25 September 2007 - Reported by Josiah Rowe

The official website has released full details for the forthcoming Davros DVD box set, scheduled for release in the UK on November 26, 2007. In the set, Genesis of the DaleksResurrection of the Daleks andRevelation of the Daleks will contain the same material as the previously released DVDs of those stories. Destiny of the Daleks will also contain roughly the same material as the separate DVD of the story being released on the same day. However, the box set will contain a two-disc version ofRemembrance of the Daleks, with the following extras:
  • Commentary with actors Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred
  • Back to School - Cast and crew talk about the making of the story accompanied by rare behind-the-scenes material
  • Remembrances - Cast and crew talk about the influences and references to other Doctor Who adventures that are spread throughout the story
  • Extended and Deleted Scenes
  • Outtakes
  • Multi-Angle Sequences - allowing the viewer to watch Ace's escape from the Chemistry lab and the Daleks blowing up the large gates from one of two camera angles
  • Trails and Continuity
  • Plus photo gallery, isolated music, Radio Times listings, subtitles, and Dolby Digital 5.1 mix

The documentaries "Back to School" and "Remembrances" are new, and are not found on the previously released single DVD version of Remembrance of the Daleks. The original Region 2 DVD of Remembrance also had a few missing effects shots, which will be restored in the box set version.

The set will also include a new documentary on the character and history of Davros, titled "Davros Connections".

Finally, the box set will contain eight audio dramas from Big Finish Productions starring Terry Molloy as Davros. The stories are Davros(starring Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor), The Juggernauts (also starring Colin Baker), Terror Firma (starring Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor), the four parts of the miniseries I, Davros, and a new audio drama,The Davros Mission, written by Nicholas Briggs. The BBC site describes this new story, specially commissioned for the DVD box set, thus: "Davros is taken by the Daleks for trial and imminent execution. But even in his darkest hour, he finds allies and an insatiable cunning to survive..."

Only 10,000 of the individually numbered box sets will be issued.




FILTER: - Classic Series - Blu-ray/DVD - Radio Times