Canada: Runaway Bride Repeat

Monday, 2 July 2007 - Reported by Mike Doran

Doctor Who is pre-empted tonight due to the live broadcast of a U20 World Cup match on CBC in Canada. However in Alberta and British Columbia where the game will be over before Doctor Who's regular timeslot viewers will be treated to a repeat prime-time broadcast of The Runaway Bride. Viewers in the Mountain Time Zone will see the special from 8:30-10:00pm MDT and viewers in the Pacific Time Zone will see it from 8:00-9:30pm PDT.

New episodes will return to the full CBC network next week with Gridlock.




FILTER: - Canada - Broadcasting

Revenge of the Judoon

Monday, 2 July 2007 - Reported by Jarrod Cooper

Amazon.co.uk has announced the title of the next Quick Reads release.Revenge of the Judoon will be written by Terrance Dicks and is currently slated for release on March 6, 2008. Plot and cover information is not available at this time.




FILTER: - Books

BBC Bomb Apology

Monday, 2 July 2007 - Reported by Jarrod Cooper

The BBC have issued an apology for sparking terror fears with an explosion in Cardiff city centre during filming for Torchwood.

The explosion was staged next to the Millennium Stadium in an old courtroom building. Because of the latest terrorist attacks in Glasgow and London, the BBC issued warnings one hour before the blast on local radio and police had issued an alert two hours before the blast was due to go off.

Passers-by were horrified by the explosion which sent a huge pall of smoke over the city centre.

A BBC production member said:

"The filming was planned many weeks ago before the recent terrorist incidents."

"We had informed neighbouring businesses but could not tell everyone who might be in the city centre. We apologise if anyone was frightened."




Full article available at The Sun Online




FILTER: - Torchwood - Production - Press

Official: Kylie Minogue in 2007 Christmas Special

Monday, 2 July 2007 - Reported by Shaun Lyon

Confirming long-standing rumors in the British tabloid press, Australian pop princess Kylie Minogue will join the Doctor in the 2007 Christmas Special,Voyage of the Damned, according to a press release issued this evening on Minogue's official website and now corroborated by the official Doctor Who website.

The 39-year-old actress and singer will have a "major lead role" in the hour-long special, says Minogue's website, which Tuesday morning's edition of The Sun identifies as a waitress aboard the RMS Titanic. Minogue's official site notes that "The production team has also confirmed that the storyline will follow on directly from the ending of series three where viewers witnessed The Titanic crash through the Tardis walls..."

Minogue has one of the longest and most successful careers as a performer in contemporary pop music, and in Europe and Australia she has become one of her generation's most recognisable celebrities and sex symbols. Says Minogue, "It is an incredible thrill to be joining David and the entire Dr Who production for this year's Christmas special. Dr Who enjoys a unique history and it is going to be very exciting to be a part of that."

The episode has been written by Doctor Who's executive producer and head writer Russell T Davies, who noted that "We are delighted and excited to announce that Kylie Minogue will be joining the Doctor. Doctor Who Christmas specials are always a joy and we feel very confident that this will be the most ambitious and best Christmas episode yet."

The news was originally embargoed by BBC press until midnight Monday night; such sites as Digital Spy and the Daily Mail reported the story before pulling it off their feeds later. Sites later began reprinting the article as of the embargo deadline.

Update: BBC News are now reporting the news as the main story in its entertainment section. There is also a video report by arts correspondent David Sillito.

Photo at right: David Tennant with Kylie Minogue, released by BBC Pictures. Photo copyright © Darenote Ltd., used solely for publicity purposes.




FILTER: - Specials - Production

Mickey To Return For Seson Four?

Sunday, 1 July 2007 - Reported by DWNP Archive

In an interview with the Sci-Fi Wire website, Noel Clarke has hinted at Mickey's possible return in the upcoming fourth season of Doctor Who. When he was asked whether he had written any more scripts for Torchwood, he replied: "I'm not doing the second season of Torchwood, because I'm doing things that I can't talk about."

When asked how would Mickey's return would be explained, Noel Clarke said: "The only thing I could say is that it's sci-fi, right? And in sci-fi, there's no real rules, is there?"




FILTER: - People - Series 4/30

Last of the Time Lords - Overnight Rating

Sunday, 1 July 2007 - Reported by Marcus
Doctor Who went out on a massive high with unofficial overnight figures showing that Episode Thirteen, Last of the Time Lordswas watched by 8.0 million viewers, a 39.1% share of the total television audience.

The programme was by far the most watched of the day, beating the second placed Casualty by nearly 1.5 million viewers.

The repeat of The Weakest Link: Dr Who Special was fifth with 4.5 million people watching.

ITV1's opposition, the feature film The Mummy averaged just 3 million viewers.

With just Sunday's ratings to come, Doctor Who is currently the 5th most watched programme of the week, virtually guaranteeing a top ten place when the final figures are compiled. It currently stands ahead of all episodes of Emmerdale, three episodes of EastEnders and one episode of Coronation Street.

The children's audience was 1.5 million which was a 55.6% share of the 4-15 year olds watching television.

On BBC3, Doctor Who Confidential was watched by 0.93 million making it the most watched programme on multichannel television with a 5.7% shareof the audience. This is the highest rating of the series and the second highest rating the programme has received on the channel.

Earlier in the day the showing of the compilation of the animated story Doctor Who - The Infinite Quest had 0.6 million viewers.




FILTER: - Ratings - UK - Series 3/29

Interviews

Sunday, 1 July 2007 - Reported by Marcus
SFX magazine is appealing for questions from fans to put to Freema Agyeman.

The magazine will be talking to Freema on Tuesday and invites submissions via the Website. Closing date for questions is 5pm on Monday 2nd July.

Meanwhile Paul Kasey, who has played a host of aliens over the past three years including a Cyberman, an OOD and the Judoon Captain, has given an interview to Stuart Maisner of BBC South East Today.

The full interview can be seen here.




FILTER: - People - Press

Doctor Who dropped at London Pride 2007

Sunday, 1 July 2007 - Reported by Marcus
Dr Who fans who endured very wet weather in London yesterday were disappointed when the organisers of London Pride 2007 had to pull the plug on the season finale, Last of the Time Lords, due to end the event on a large outdoor screen.

Hundreds of people gathered in Trafalgar Square to celebrate gay pride and were looking forward to seeing the show on the big screen when, at approximately 7.45pm, an apologetic host told the crowd that the programme had been cancelled.

The fans who had sat in the rain for a number of hours with the promise that "Doctor Who would be airing shortly" were left severely disappointed.

It was initially blamed on a faulty DVD player, but later transpired there was an 8pm curfew imposed on the event by Westminster Council and the police which meant there was no time for the broadcast.

Scheduling delays also lead to confusion over timing and some Who fans missed appearances by John Barrowman andFreema Agyeman (a typo in a timetable flyer amusingly listed her as Freda Agyeman). Altogether, a wet and disappointing day out in London for Who fans.

Submitted by Mark Nisbitt. Thanks also to Bruce Walcroft and Andrew Warrilow.




FILTER: - Special Events - Series 3/29

Who on Two

Saturday, 30 June 2007 - Reported by Marcus
Two Doctor Who stars have been making appearances on BBC Radio Two.

Freema Aygeman was the guest on Steve Wright in the Afternoon on Friday.

The programme will be available for the next six days via the BBC's listen again feature. The interview starts about 1 hour 27 minutes into the programme.

On Saturday morning Mark Gatiss was a guest on Jonathan Ross.

This programme can be heard for the next seven days via the listen again feature. Mark Gatiss appears about 47 minutes into the programme.




FILTER: - People - Radio

Friday Ratings

Saturday, 30 June 2007 - Reported by Marcus
Doctor Who had a strong performance on Friday night with unofficial figures showing that 0.55 million watched the BBC3 repeat of Episode twelve,The Sound of Drums, a 3.3% share of the audience.

This was the highest rating the programme has received in this time slot and was enough to make the programme the second most watched multichannel programme for the day.

The earlier repeat of Episode Eleven, Utopia had 0.32 million viewers, a 2.1% share of the audience.

Doctor Who Confidential also did well with 0.33 million watching at 8.45pm and 0.43 million watching at 9.45pm, enough to make this showing the 8th most watched multichannel programme of the day.




FILTER: - Ratings - UK - Series 3/29