Much Ado Opens in London

Wednesday, 1 June 2011 - Reported by Marcus

The London production of Shakespeare's comedy Much Ado About Nothing - starring the former Doctor/companion teaming of David Tennant as Benedict and Catherine Tate as Beatrice - opens later today, 1st June, at Wyndham's Theatre.

The play, which has been previewing for the past two weeks, sees Tennant return to the London stage for the first time since January 2009 when he played Hamlet.

Much Ado About Nothing was written around 1600 with the earliest recorded performances being two that were given at Court in the winter of 1612–13. In the play marriage seems inconceivable for reluctant lovers Beatrice and Benedick whose endless witty sparring threatens to keep them apart forever. Meanwhile two young lovers Claudio and Hero are to be married imminently but the devious scheming of a resentful Prince looks set to thwart the nuptials.

This version is set in the 1980s and sees Tennant appearing in a white naval uniform while Tate dons the dungarees of a a beer-swilling, cigarette smoking, feminist.

The play is directed by Josie Rourke, Artistic Director of the Bush Theatre,and runs at Wyndham's Theatre in Charing Cross Road until 3rd September.

FILTER: - Catherine Tate - David Tennant

Doctor versus Doctor at the 2011 Constellation Awards

Thursday, 26 May 2011 - Reported by Marcus

Doctor goes up against Doctor in the 2011 Constellation Awards, with both Matt Smith and David Tennant nominated for their role as The Doctor in the Best Male Performance - Television category.

The Awards, now in their fifth year, are Canada's premier awards rewarding excellence in science fiction film and television. Because they cover programmes broadcast in 2010, both the Tenth and Eleventh Doctor's are eligible. Tennant for his performance in The End of Time - Part Two, and Smith for his performance in last year's Christmas special, A Christmas Carol. David Tennant was given last year's award for his performance in The Waters of Mars. Also nominated is Tony Curran for his portrayal of Vincent Van Gogh in Vincent and the Doctor.

Karen Gillan is nominated for Best Female Performance - Television for her role in Amy's Choice and faces Katherine Jenkins nominated for A Christmas Carol.

Doctor Who is also nominated in the Best Science Fiction Television Series category, a category it has one three times before although it lost out in last year's awards to Supernatural, which has also been nominated for 2010.

Murray Gold earns a nominaton for Doctor Who's music in the Best Technical Accomplishment category, with Steven Moffat and Richard Curtis both being nominated for Best Overall 2010 Science Fiction Film or Television Script, Moffat for The Eleventh Hour and Curtis for Vincent and the Doctor.

For a full list of nomanees see the awards website.

The awards will be announced at a Ceremony on July 16, 2011 at the Sheraton Parkway Toronto North hotel.

FILTER: - Matt Smith - David Tennant - Awards/Nominations - Series 5/31

The Doctor's Jacket - re-worn

Tuesday, 24 May 2011 - Reported by Chuck Foster

After the controversy raised by Scottish media last weekend over the commercial sale of replicas of the Doctor's coat, Canada's premier news agency Postmedia investigated further from the perspective of the country where replica producer AbbyShot Clothiers are based.

BBC Worldwide spokesperson Emma Finlay clarified that AbbyShot approached them with the proposal:

... as rights-holder, we obviously don't dictate to our licensees where they make their products or other aspects of the product's manufacture (but that we) insist that they meet our ethical sourcing criteria, prohibiting products made from unregulated, sweatshop labour.

The agency also confirmed that the adapted jacket worn by Matt Smith for the current series was not a Chinese replica as intimated in the earlier reports, but was actually tailored into a warmer version for the actor by a Saville Row shop - though using a substitute for true Harris Tweed. The replica being produced by AbbyShot is a wool-acrylic blend based on that design.

Last year, AbbyShot received a Canadian SME Innovator of the Year award from Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters. The company specialises in making screen-accurate representations of popular iconic clothing seen on television and in movies.

News links: Vancouver Sun, Calgary Herald

FILTER: - Series 6/32 - Matt Smith

Matt Smith guests on The One Show

Tuesday, 24 May 2011 - Reported by Marcus

Matt Smith will join Matt Baker (Aliens of London) and Alex Jones in the studio for tonight's One Show on BBC One at 7.00pm.

Following transmission the show will available in the UK on the BBC iPlayer for the next seven days.

The BBC Doctor Who website have revealed that a "previously unseen clip" from The Almost People will premiere on tonight's One Show and will be made available to watch immediately after on their website.

FILTER: - Matt Smith - Press

The Doctor's Jacket

Sunday, 22 May 2011 - Reported by Harry Ward

Today's Sunday Mail has reported that the jacket worn by Matt Smith's Doctor in the current series of Doctor Who is a Chinese remake of the Harris Tweed one from last series.

A BBC spokesperson told the paper that: "the tweed changed because they needed a warmer jacket for outside filming"; back in June 2010, Smith himself told the Sun newspaper:

I went for a costume fitting this very morning for next year. I've always said that I think the look will evolve. I don't want to say too much but, just practically, we film in November and it's freezing. And just a tweed jacket can get a bit cold.

A spokeswoman for BBC Worldwide told the paper that the decision to drop Harris Tweed was taken by programme makers, adding: "we've had no input into the jacket design." Ann MacCallum, Managing Director of the Isle of Lewis mill which makes Harris Tweed said: "the BBC told me Matt wanted something different for the new series."

Lydia Walton, a spokesman for Harris Tweed Scotland said:

Harris Tweed is so special as it is woven by hand on the Western Isles and every 50 metres is stamped by the Harris Tweed authority. It is steeped in romance and history. I find it very odd that they would use a replica costing £360 when our genuine Harris Tweed jackets retail at £250. Why pay more for a replica than have the original?

Western Isles MP Angus MacNeil told the Mail:

I'm appalled and outraged. What the BBC are doing is stealing Scotland's heritage. It is a kick in the teeth to one of our most iconic industries.

The BBC has granted a license to AbbyShot Clothiers, a Canadian company who make screen-accurate TV and movie clothing, who will sell the the official replica jacket through various affiliates. AbbyShot has previously made the official replica of the tenth Doctor's coat and the red leather jacket worn by Martha Jones.

Fashion expert Tessa Hartmann said:

I suspect the BBC has gone down the commercial route with the new blazer because they received so much coverage from the previous series' jacket. However, I think part of the allure was the Harris Tweed authenticity and craftsmanship. Once you lose that, it becomes just any blazer. But £360 is a steep price for a replica jacket. Harris Tweed is part of a uniquely British fashion institution and has an incredible heritage and brand identity. People will pay for luxury garments but a Far East replica is not the same thing.

The replica is currently available to pre-order from the Forbidden Planet website.

FILTER: - Series 6/32 - Matt Smith

People roundup

Friday, 20 May 2011 - Reported by Harry Ward

Catherine Tate guest starred on The Office (US) last night as Nellie Bertram, a potential replacement for the departing boss of Dunder Mifflin, Michael Scott (Steve Carell). The Hollywood Reporter suggests that Tate could make her appearance a permanent one; reporting that she "is said to be the top choice of the show's producers, though her ability to take the job is in question due to her current theater commitment.".

John Barrowman will be a guest judge on So You Think You Can Dance on Saturday, 21 May 2011, to help find Britain's favourite dancer. The show airs live at 5.35pm on BBC One, with the results show at 7.30pm. Barrowman said:

"This is such an amazing opportunity – I met all these guys when I was a guest judge at the Choreography Camp rounds a few months back, and I can't wait to come back and see how they have improved and developed as performers. It's going to be great now it's down to the top ten dancers - the competition is getting hotter."

English singer-songwriter Sophie Ellis-Bextor has revealed on her Twitter page that she would like a role in Doctor Who.

Sophie Ellis Bextor: Ambition thought of the day: I would love to play an alien on
Dr Who. No prosthetics required!

Filming has begun for the second series of Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss' Sherlock. The three x 90-minute films are written by Moffat, Gatiss and Stephen Thompson (The Curse of the Black Spot) and directed by Toby Haynes.

FILTER: - People - Catherine Tate

Doctor Who reaches Twitter

Friday, 20 May 2011 - Reported by Chuck Foster

Doctor Who is now officially represented on the the popular social communication service Twitter. The new feed, DoctorWho_BBC, was announced by the series brand manager, Edward Russell, and at present tweets link to new articles on the BBC's Doctor Who site.

Doctor Who already has an official presence on the popular social networking site Facebook, where sister show Torchwood is also represented - the new series, Miracle Day, also has an official Twitter feed. The official profiles come after several bogus feeds and pages created over the past few months suggested that they were BBC-managed.

A variety of cast and crew are also present on Twitter, not least of which includes Doctor Who's show-runner Steven Moffat, the writer and director of last week's episodes, Neil Gaiman and Richard Clark, and the writer of this coming Saturday's The Rebel Flesh, Matthew Graham. Links to other cast and crew can be found via our own Twitter lists.

Update: The Doctor Who site has itself re-iterated the problems with 'fake' accounts, and noted that none of the principal stars of the show have a social networking presence; however, though this is true for Matt Smith and Karen Gillan, Arthur Darvill does have a Twitter identity.

FILTER: - Arthur Darvill - Online - BBC

Elisabeth Sladen donations

Tuesday, 10 May 2011 - Reported by Chuck Foster

Doctor Who Magazine have passed on details on where people who wish to make a donation in memory of Elisabeth Sladen should send to; her family have nominated the hospice that cared for her:

Meadow House Hospice
c/o Henry Paul
71 Greenford Avenue
Hanwell
London W7 1LJ

FILTER: - People - Elisabeth Sladen

Arthur Darvill: from Doctor Who to Doctor Faustus

Friday, 6 May 2011 - Reported by Chuck Foster

The Shakespeare's Globe have announced casting for their forthcoming play, Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus; the titular role will be played by Paul Hilton (whose television credits include Silk), with the evil spirit Mephistopheles that 'serves' him in the story to be played by Arthur Darvill - the actor is, of course, currently starring in Doctor Who as TARDIS traveller Rory Williams.

The press release reports:

Arthur Darvill, who is best known for his role as the Doctor’s current companion Rory in BBC’s Doctor Who, will play Mephistopheles in Shakespeare’s Globe’s first production of Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus. Paul Hilton, who was recently seen in the BBC drama Silk, will play the title role of the scholar who makes a pact with the devil in exchange for knowledge. The production will run from 18 June to 2 October and is directed by Matthew Dunster and designed by Paul Wills. They will both collaborate with Puppetry Director Steve Tiplady, former Artistic Director of Little Angel Theatre Company, to transform the Globe in to an arena of wild spectacle with larger than life puppets and illusion. Huge flying dragons and horned stilt walkers will help to bring this dark fantastical world to life.

Doctor Faustus is one of the greatest tragedies in English before Shakespeare, and is being staged for the first time at the current Globe. Restless for knowledge and power, Faustus forsakes scholarship and makes a pact with the Devil: In exchange for giving his soul to the Devil after death, the evil spirit Mephistopheles will serve him for 24 years, providing him with magic and knowledge beyond his wildest dreams.

Arthur Darvill’s television credits include Doctor Who, Little Dorrit for the BBC and He Kills Coppers on ITV. He was nominated for Best Newcomer at the Evening Standard Awards in 2007 for his role as Rex in Swimming with Sharks (Vaudeville), his other theatre credits include Tierre Haute (Trafalgar Studios) and Stacy (Arcola). Arthur is a musician and composer and has collaborated with playwright Ché Walker in writing songs for The Frontline (Shakespeare’s Globe) and Been So Long (Young Vic/UK Tour).

Paul Hilton television credits include Silk for the BBC. He previously appeared in Shakespeare’s Globe’s production of As You Like It in 1998. Other theatre includes Rosmersholm (Almeida), In Celebration (Duke of York’s), The Wild Duck (Donmar), Morning Becomes Electra and Three Sisters (National Theatre).

Matthew Dunster’s previous work at Shakespeare’s Globe includes Troilus and Cressida in 2009 and Ché Walker’s The Frontline in 2008 and 2009. Other credits include Mogadishu (Lyric Hammersmith/UK Tour), The Maddening Rain (Old Red Lion), Love the Sinner (National Theatre) and You Can See The Hills (Royal Exchange and Young Vic).

As mentioned above, the play runs from 18th June through to 2nd October 2011. For more details on the production, see the Shakespeare's Globe website.

(with thanks to West End Theatre, Erisi)

FILTER: - People - Arthur Darvill

The Hand of Fear to be repeated

Tuesday, 26 April 2011 - Reported by Chuck Foster

The Radio Times have reported that The Hand of Fear is to be broadcast as a tribute to the late Elisabeth Sladen; the story was her last appearance as series regular Sarah Jane Smith alongside Tom Baker's portrayal as The Doctor.

The story will be broadcast on BBC4, with parts one and two on at 7:40pm and 8:05pm respectively on Monday 9th, and parts three and four in the same timeslots the following evening.

Episode details may be found both on the Radio Times and from our own Doctor Who Guide.

FILTER: - Classic Series - Sarah Jane - Elisabeth Sladen

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