Revelation of the Daleks on UKTVBookmark and Share

Saturday, 29 June 2013 - Reported by Paul Scoones

UKTV

Sunday 30th June sees the broadcast of the 1985 Colin Baker story, Revelation of the Daleks on Australian and New Zealand television. The story is presented as part of the 50th Anniversary season of Doctor Who on the UKTV channel.

The story screens at 4:15pm in Australia and 4:10pm in New Zealand.

The UKTV billing describes Revelation of the Daleks as follows:
The Doctor arrives in a facility where the wealthy can have their newly-deceased bodies cryogenically frozen until medical science can cure what killed them.
Revelation of the Daleks was first broadcast in Australia in 1986. New Zealand first saw it in 1988, as part of a week of special screenings to mark the series' 25th anniversary. The story was originally screened in Britain as two 45-minute episodes, but was first broadcast in Australia and New Zealand in four parts. The UKTV transmission will feature the two-episode version.

UKTV is showing stories throughout the year in the lead-up to the anniversary in November. In July the focus is on Sylvester McCoy's Seventh Doctor, with the following stories scheduled: Paradise Towers (7 July); Remembrance of the Daleks (14 July); The Greatest Show in the Galaxy (21 July); The Curse of Fenric and Survival (both 28 July).

Up-and-coming broadcasts from both 20th and 21st Century series of Doctor Who can be found via UKTV's Doctor Who sections for Australia and New Zealand.





FILTER: - Classic Series - WHO50 - New Zealand - Australia

Create a Soundtrack: Winners AnnouncedBookmark and Share

Friday, 28 June 2013 - Reported by Marcus
Doctor Who Prom 2013 - Promotional Image (Credit: BBC/Chris Christodoulou)The BBC has announced the winners in the Doctor Who: Create a Soundtrack competition, launched in April.

The challenge was for secondary school students to create their own musical soundtrack for a scene from Doctor Who, to be performed at the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

The winners – two in each of the categories, junior (11-14) and senior (14-16), attended a workshop with Ben Foster, the orchestrator and conductor of Murray Gold’s music for Doctor Who, and Samuel Thompson the orchestration coordinator for the television series. The workshop was held earlier this month at the BBC's Maida Vale Studios, former home of the BBC Radiophone Workshop, and the place where much of the soundtrack to the classic series was created, including the iconic theme music.

Winners of the Junior Category (11-14) were William and Jordan of the Biddulph High School in Stoke-on-Trent, who commented
Being big fans of Doctor Who, it is great to have our music recognised on the BBC Proms stage. We are now really looking forward to the Doctor Who Proms that are kicking off the season.
Winners of the Junior Category (14-16) were Gabe and Matthew of Cirencester Deer Park School in Gloucestershire, who said
This is an amazing experience and a fantastic opportunity, particularly working with Ben and Sam to gain a real insight into this side of the music world. This experience has inspired us to work in this wonderful field of music-making and we are so looking forward to hearing our piece at the Proms.
The jury which included Executive Editor Music Television BBC Cymru Wales Paul Bullock, composer Anna Meredith and conductor Ben Foster were extremely impressed by the quality of music submitted. Paul Bullock commented:
I was really impressed with the quality, creativity and individuality of the work submitted. The vivid imagination displayed across the wide range of entries truly captures the spirit of the Doctor Who series and I can’t wait to see the winners’ works come to life at the Proms!
The 2013 Proms season starts on Friday 12 July with Prom 2 and Prom 3 featuring some of the music from Doctor Who.




FILTER: - Music - Competitions

Hinchcliffe Era RevivedBookmark and Share

Friday, 28 June 2013 - Reported by Marcus
Big Finish are to produce a couple of Doctor Who stories in association with former producer Philip Hinchcliffe, the man who led Doctor Who through one of its most successful and best remembered eras.

Starring Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor and Louise Jameson as Leela, the two audio plays will evoke the spirit and feel of the period when Hinchcliffe was in charge of production. Philip Hinchcliffe produced Doctor Who from 1975’s The Ark in Space through to the 1977 story The Talons of Weng-Chiang. He was responsible for a series of stories which regularly top fan polls of favourite titles and which include some of the episodes with the highest ratings in Doctor Who’s history.

The idea for revisiting the era came after Hinchcliffe visited the Big Finish studios to watch the recording of series three of The Fourth Doctor Adventures. Big Finish Producer David Richardson said
I know that Tom Baker and Louise Jameson were thrilled to have him there, and they both enthused to him about what a great time they were having working for Big Finish. After the recording ended, Philip took me and executive producer Nicholas Briggs aside, and pitched the idea of doing a set of stories of the kind he would have hoped to have done, had he stayed on to produce the series for longer. We just said ‘yes’ instantly!

The first story in the set will be an epic six-parter set in Victorian London, adapted by Marc Platt, who wrote the TV story Ghost Light, which will be paired with a four-parter.

Hinchcliffe said he wanted to create stories that felt as if they could belong to his second or third season
They are not designed to follow on from my era, more to re-evoke it for fans who enjoyed the originals: and so the Doctor and Leela in these new stories are the same as they were then, in the glorious seventies! That's the beauty of radio - they look and sound the same.

Doctor Who: Philip Hinchcliffe Presents will be released in August 2014, and is available for pre-order.




FILTER: - Audio - Tom Baker - Big Finish

Who Is The Doctor?Bookmark and Share

Thursday, 27 June 2013 - Reported by Marcus
BBC Radio 2 has told Doctor Who News it is to produce a documentary entitled Who is the Doctor? to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who.

The 90-minute programme will be broadcast on Thursday 21st November, just two days before the celebration date. More details when we have them.

Also on Radio 2, former companion to the Sixth Doctor, Bonnie Langford, will be Graham Norton’s guest this Saturday. The actress, who played Mel from 1986 to 1987 is scheduled to appear at around 12.15pm UK time. Questions can be sent to Norton at the usual address graham.norton@bbc.co.uk

BBC Radio 2 can be heard worldwide via the BBC website.




FILTER: - Doctor Who - Documentary - Classic Series - Radio

An Unearthly Series - The Origins of a TV LegendBookmark and Share

Thursday, 27 June 2013 - Reported by Marcus
Doctor Who Hassle
The thirteenth in our series of features telling the story of the creation of Doctor Who, and the people who made it happen.

The story so far: Pre-production is now under way on the new Saturday evening science fiction series Doctor Who. Conceived by Sydney Newman, the series was expected to air on BBC Television in the late summer. A producer had been appointed, Verity Lambert, but the show was far from being ready. With no completed scripts and no actors yet cast, the new producer was in for a rocky ride.

At the end of June Sydney Newman returned from holiday to discover all was not well with his new show. Like any big organisation the BBC throughout its history has often suffered from an overblown bureaucracy and middle managers determined to protect process over progress, Doctor Who was not immune from such obstacles and on the 27th June 1963, exactly fifty years ago today, Newman was determined to tackle the problem.

In a heated phone call with Joanna Spicer, the Assistant Controller (Planning) Television, Newman listened to some of the complaints. The new series had bypassed the proper BBC procedures and the production had been carrying out auditions without authorisation he heard. Indeed just two days before director Rex Tucker had been interviewing actresses for the role of Susan Foreman. Furthermore, he was told the series would place unacceptable demands on the servicing departments due to its ambitious nature. Scripts weren’t ready and production was way behind schedule.

Newman leapt to the defence of his team. He dictated a memo to Spicer which pulled no punches. It was entitled Doctor Who Hassle.
Doctor Who Hassle

From: Sydney Newman.
To: Joanna Spicer
27 June 1963

Your comments of today on the phone absolutely flabbergasted me and I take exception to most of what you said. We are trying to get a new children's serial out economically and quickly have from what I can see the Serials Department of this group has acted in complete accordance with all standard Corporation procedures.

In view of the above and since the first recording date is only five weeks away do you wonder we are anxious not to be held up? We have got to cast people who must wear well over something like 52 episodes. I cannot understand from the mass of correspondence that has gone on about this project why permission is still required from your office. At no time have I received from Ch.P(1) (Controller of Programmes) or anybody else, the notion that the project was ever vaguely in doubt. Especially as we have in the main held to the limitations stated on 26 April. While I may be ignorant of some of the finer points of Corporation routine, it is apparent that Ayton Whitaker and others in my group are not. I am, therefore, surprised at what seems to me a last minute hold up. After all it was only H.Tel.Des who dug his heels in about the scripts and he changed his mind two days ago.

You may assume only that I intend to get drama programmes out on time and within budget. That my attitude to you and the Corporation routine will never be less than correct.

Newman's memo caused much discussion in the upper echelons of BBC Television. At a meeting with Donald Baverstock, Spicer and her Head of Department decided to rethink the early evening Saturday slot. The original plan was to fill 50 minutes with programming aimed at children. They now reduced this to 30 minutes between 5.20pm and 5.50pm each Saturday. The slot would be initially filled with the cartoon series Deputy Dawg and then Doctor Who. The new series would now need to be made in 30-minute episodes, so to give the production team more time it was decided Doctor Who would now be delayed by eight weeks. The pilot episode would be recorded on Friday 27th September and the series would debut on Saturday 9th November.

The budget for the series was now set at £2,300 per episode. Newman was asked to confirm that the costs of the 'time/space' machine would be met from an additional budget. The team were allocated Lime Grove Studio D. Newman accepted most of these changes but was unhappy about the proposal to increase the running time to 30 minutes. In this he was supported by Ronald Waldman, the General Manager of Television Enterprises, who favoured 25-minute episodes for overseas sales.

One major problem caused by the delay was the fact that Rex Tucker, the assigned director of the first story, would not be available to direct the story as he would be on holiday in Majorca at the time the episodes were in production. It was therefore decided to swap the first two directors around. The first story would now be directed by newcomer Waris Hussein, with Tucker taking on the second. With script editor David Whitaker now on board too, the production was now complete. But they still needed four character actors to play the main roles. Disliking Tucker's suggestions for the roles, Hussein and Lambert began the search in earnest.

Next EpisodeTeam Building
SOURCES: The Handbook: The First Doctor – The William Hartnell Years: 1963-1966, David J Howe, Mark Stammers, Stephen James Walker (Doctor Who Books, 1994)




FILTER: - The Story of Doctor Who

Doctor Who Magazine 462Bookmark and Share

Thursday, 27 June 2013 - Reported by Chuck Foster
Doctor Who Magazine 462 (Credit: Doctor Who Magazine)The new edition of Doctor Who Magazine, out today, asks the question as to who will be the Twelfth Doctor. And as speculation mounts about the identity of who that might be, the show’s head writer and executive producer Steven Moffat writes exclusively about casting Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor, and the times they’ve shared together during the production of the series.

These have been the maddest few years of my writing career – so many ridiculous adventures, so many things I thought I'd never do – and I could not have shared them with a kinder, more considerate, more supportive friend than the man I completely refuse to call Smithers.

Also this issue:
  • How many Doctors? If you thought there just eleven Doctors, think again! And we’re not just referring to the surprise appearance of John Hurt at the end of The Name of the Doctor. Discover the Doctor’s forgotten incarnations in The Sixty-Seven Doctors!.
  • The Captain's Back! He fought at the Third Doctor's side as UNIT's Captain Mike Yates, confronting Autons, battling Daleks, and resisting the control of mad computers... DWM talks exclusively to Richard Franklin about his relationship with his alter ego.
  • Choc's Away! Clara makes her comic strip début in the first part of a brand new adventure, A Wing and A Prayer, written by Scott Gray with art by Mike Collins. When a sandstorm forces the TARDIS down in the Iraqi desert in 1930, Clara is overjoyed to meet the legendary Amy Johnson, currently engaged in her bid to become the first woman to fly across the world. But something else is hiding in desert sands. Something small and sinister...
  • Changing History: the Sixth Doctor uncovers a plot by the Cybermen to change their own history by using Halley’s comet to destroy the Earth, in Attack of the Cybermen, The Fact of Fiction places this serial from 1985 under the microscope, revealing more facts about the story than a Cyberman can shake a clenched silver fist at. Excellent!
  • Power Mad! DWM's Countdown to 50 reaches the final days of the Tenth Doctor era and the five Specials shown from Christmas 2008 to New Year’s Day 2010, as the chorological tour through Doctor Who history continues. So eager to help people, the Tenth Doctor crosses a line and breaks the rules...
  • Sun Burn: Chris, Emma, Michael and Will are on the edge of their seats as the seconds count down to disaster for the ill-fated SS Pentallian and her crew as it plunges down into the hungry fires of a sun. Will our Time Team chums survive the tension of the nail-biting Tenth Doctor adventure, 42? Or will it just be one big meltdown?
  • Don't Interrupt! There’s nothing more annoying than having your viewing of a brand new episode of Doctor Who disturbed by a phone call or a knock at the door. But, as Jacqueline Rayner relates in this issue’s Relative Dimensions, with a husband and two children, it’s not always easy to maintain that perfect peace and calm, even for just 45 minutes...
  • Yum, Yum: WOTCHA! is full of Goodies this issue as the mysterious white one shines a light on some of Doctor Who’s more notable, enduring and often quoted misconceptions – including that there was an episode featuring a giant kitten that climbed up the Post Office Tower! All this to be found in A History of Doctor Who in 100 Objects. Plus The Six Faces of Delusion continues the Goodies theme; a selection of new previously unknown definitions from The Stockbridge English Dictionary; The Top Ten Nursery Rhymes with a Doctor Who twist; and an unforgiving spotlight on another Supporting Artist of the Month.
PLUS! All the latest official news, TV and merchandise reviews, previews, ratings analysis, competitions, a prize-winning crossword and much, much more!




FILTER: - Magazines - DWM

Competitions UpdateBookmark and Share

Thursday, 27 June 2013 - Reported by Chuck Foster
Here is an update on current competitions available from Doctor Who News.

Big Finish: Council of War
Closing Date: 30th June

To be in with a chance to win one of five copies of Council of War courtesy of Big Finish, please answer the following question:

John Levene has been long associated with the role of Benton, but name his only credited monstrous role and relevant story from the television series.

Send your answer to comp-council@doctorwhonews.net with the subject line "beneath the mask", along with your name, address, and where you saw the competition (the news website, twitter, facebook, etc.). Only one entry per postal address will be accepted. The competition is open worldwide, and the closing date is 30th June 2013.
AudioGo: Shockwave
Closing Date: 4th July

To be in with a chance to win one of three copies of Shockwave courtesy of AudioGo, please answer the following question:

Ace's adventures with the Doctor can continue indefinitely in media, but what did she eventually become involved in, according to The Sarah Jane Adventures?

Send your answer to comp-shockwave@doctorwhonews.net with the subject line "nitro-9", along with your name, address, and where you saw the competition (the news website, twitter, facebook, etc.). Only one entry per postal address will be accepted. The competition is open worldwide, and the closing date is 4th July 2013.
AudioGo: Doctor Who and The Leisure Hive
Closing Date: 4th July

To be in with a chance to win one of three copies of Doctor Who and The Leisure Hive courtesy of AudioGo, please answer the following question:

In the broadcast version of the story, what 'special tactic' was employed by the production team in order to assist K-9's travels across the pebbly beach in Brighton?

Send your answer to comp-leisure@doctorwhonews.net with the subject line "hover mode not engaged!", along with your name, address, and where you saw the competition (the news website, twitter, facebook, etc.). Only one entry per postal address will be accepted. The competition is open worldwide, and the closing date is 4th July 2013.
AudioGo: Shroud of Sorrow
Closing Date: 4th July

To be in with a chance to win one of three copies of Shroud of Sorrow courtesy of AudioGo, please answer the following question:

What is the significance of the name "PC Reg Cranfield", as mentioned in the novel's publicity?

Send your answer to comp-shroud@doctorwhonews.net with the subject line "'ello 'ello 'ello", along with your name, address, and where you saw the competition (the news website, twitter, facebook, etc.). Only one entry per postal address will be accepted. The competition is open worldwide, and the closing date is 4th July 2013.

Other Competitions

If you're in the mood for more Doctor Who Competitions, you could also visit the following: win Doctor Who: Regeneration from Doctor Who Online; win Doctor Who: Series 7 Part 2 (and other DVDs) from Cultbox; win Spearhead from Space on Blu-ray from Eye of Horus; win the Aaru Movies on Blu-ray from Mature Times; and win tickets to see Remembrance of the Daleks on the big screen from the BFI.




FILTER: - Competitions

AudioGo: July ReleasesBookmark and Share

Thursday, 27 June 2013 - Reported by Chuck Foster
AudioGo's ongoing celebration of 50 Years of Doctor Who reaches the Seventh Doctor in July, with he and Ace facing a Shockwave in the Destiny of the Doctor series. Meanwhile, the Fourth Doctor visits The Leisure Hive alongside Romana in the latest Target novelisation adaptation, and the Eleventh Doctor goes back to 1963 in the audio adaptation of BBC Books novel Shroud of Sorrow.

Destiny of the Doctor: Shockwave (Credit: AudioGo)Destiny of the Doctor: Shockwave
Starring Sophie Aldred, with Ian Brooker (pre-order)

In the far future, the inhabitants of Tarsus Six face a desperate struggle to evacuate their world before their sun, Tarsus Ultra, collapses into a cataclysmic spatial anomaly.

When the Doctor navigates the TARDIS to a space station orbiting Tarsus Six, Ace assumes that he intends offer their assistance. But it soon becomes clear that the Doctor has an agenda of his own.

With the TARDIS immobilised, Ace realises that their own lives are as much in danger as those of the fleeing inhabitants. The race is on to escape the destruction of Tarsus Six and the devastating shockwave that will follow, reaching out and destroying everything in its wake.

Celebrating 50 years of Doctor Who, a brand new adventure for the Seventh Doctor. Sophie Aldred - Ace in the BBC TV Doctor Who series - and Ian Brooker perform this original story by James Swallow.
Doctor Who and the Leisure Hive (Credit: AudioGo)Doctor Who and the Leisure Hive
Written by David Fisher
Read by Lalla Ward (pre-order)

An exciting novelisation of a classic 1973 Doctor Who serial The Leisure Hive, featuring the Fourth Doctor - Tom Baker.

The Doctor and Romana visit the Leisure Hive on the planet Argolis, the surface of which is uninhabitable following a twenty minute nuclear war between the Argolins and their enemies, the Foamsi. The Argolins themselves are now sterile. Pangol, the youngest, was created by the Tachyon Recreation Generator, a machine that runs games in the Hive. He now secretly plans to use the Generator, modified by an Earth scientist named Hardin, to recreate himself many times over, forming an army of duplicates to destroy the Foamsi. Pangol's mother Mena, the controller of the Hive, is meanwhile coming under pressure from a supposedly human finanacier, Brock, to sell it to the Foamasi …

Read by Lalla Ward, who played Romana in the original TV series.
Shroud of Sorrow (Credit: AudioGo)Shroud of Sorrow
Written by Tommy Donbavand
Read by Frances Barber (pre-order)

23 November, 1963. It is the day after John F. Kennedy's assassination - and the faces of the dead are everywhere. PC Reg Cranfield sees his late father in the mists along Totter's Lane. Reporter Mae Callon sees her grandmother in a coffee stain on her desk. FBI Special Agent Warren Skeet finds his long-dead partner staring back at him from raindrops on a window pane. Then the faces begin to talk, and scream...and push through into our world. As the alien Shroud begins to feast on the grief of a world in mourning, can the Doctor dig deep enough into his own sorrow to save mankind?

A thrilling new adventure from the spectacular BBC series, starring Matt Smith and Jenna-Louise Coleman.
 




FILTER: - Audio - Seventh Doctor - Eleventh Doctor - WHO50 - Fourth Doctor

BFI: The Sixth Doctor PanelBookmark and Share

Wednesday, 26 June 2013 - Reported by John Bowman
A video of the guest panel from the BFI's screening of The Two Doctors earlier this month was released today.

Unlike previous panels, though, it has not been uploaded to the organisation's YouTube channel but instead is available to view on its videos page.

The event took place on 15th June to mark the Sixth Doctor's era, as part of the BFI's Doctor Who At 50 season.

Lasting 15 min 34 sec, it features the actors Frazer Hines and Tony Selby, script editor and writer Eric Saward, and visual effects designer Mike Kelt in conversation with season co-curator Justin Johnson.

UPDATE - SATURDAY 6th JULY: The BFI has now uploaded the video to its YouTube channel, meaning it can be watched below:





FILTER: - Special Events - Sixth Doctor - Online - BFI - WHO50

BFI Screenings: Ninth Doctor Stories AnnouncedBookmark and Share

Monday, 24 June 2013 - Reported by John Bowman
The BFI will be showing the episodes Bad Wolf and The Parting of the Ways to mark the Ninth Doctor's era for its Doctor Who At 50 season.

The two stories, written by Russell T Davies and directed by Joe Ahearne, first aired on Saturday 11th June and Saturday 18th June 2005 respectively. They comprised the Series 1 finale, which saw Christopher Eccleston hand over control of the TARDIS to David Tennant after an epic battle against the Daleks.

The screenings are being held on Saturday 24th August from 2pm at BFI Southbank. The special guests for the accompanying panel session are yet to be announced.

Tickets are being issued via a ballot system through the members' section, with BFI Champions able to enter the ballot from Monday 1st July and members from Tuesday 2nd July. The ballot will close on Friday 5th July and be run over the weekend of 6th and 7th July, with all entrants to be notified on Monday 8th July if they have been successful or not.

All tickets reserved for Champions and members through the ballot will be held until 8.30pm on Friday 12th July, and any that are unclaimed by then will be released for public sale on Saturday 13th July.

Although all the screenings in the season so far have been immediate sell-outs, returns and stand-bys are a strong possibility, so it's always worth checking back with the BFI.

The organisation is skipping from the Seventh Doctor's era to the Ninth Doctor's because of guest availability, with the Eighth Doctor event currently planned to be held sometime in September. The precise date plus guests are still to be confirmed and announced.




FILTER: - Ninth Doctor - Special Events - UK - BFI - WHO50