Retro TV to air The Mind of Evil in colourBookmark and Share

Tuesday, 30 September 2014 - Reported by Chuck Foster
Colouring The Mind Of Evil (Credit: Stuart Humphryes)American broadcaster Retro TV will air third Doctor adventure The Mind of Evil in colour next month, the first television channel in the world to do so since the late 1970s!

With the original transmission tapes long-sinced erased, by the beginning of the 1980s only black and white prints of the episodes were still held by the BBC, meaning that the story has only been available to broadcasters around the world since then in that format. However, 2013 saw the story prepared for release on DVD with a newly colourised episode one by Stuart Humphryes (aka Babelcolour) and Peter Crocker, and colour-recovered episodes two to six by Richard Russell. Premiered at the British Film Institute in March last year, the story has since been shown a number of select locations, and made available on DVD and streaming services such as Hulu; Retro's broadcast will mark the first time the story can be enjoyed in colour on broadcast television once more.

Stuart Humphryes told us:
The work required to bring this classic serial back to colour was quite mind-boggling, but the fact it has been embraced so warmly by fans and now about to receive a wider audience through TV broadcast is extremely exciting and very satisfying and makes the thousands of hours worthwhile. I hope the viewers enjoy it!
More details about the colourisation process for episode one can be read via the Babelcolour website.

Episode One airs on Retro from 8:30pm on the 15th October.




FILTER: - Broadcasting - Classic Series - International Broadcasting - Third Doctor - USA

Kill the Moon - New PicturesBookmark and Share

Tuesday, 30 September 2014 - Reported by Marcus
The BBC has released a new set of pictures from the next episode of Doctor Who - Kill the Moon, which debuts next Saturday.
In the near future, the Doctor and Clara find themselves on a space shuttle making a suicide mission to the Moon.

Crash-landing on the lunar surface, they find a mining base full of corpses, vicious spider-like creatures poised to attack, and a terrible dilemma.

When Clara turns to the Doctor for help, she gets the shock of her life.
Written by Peter Harness and directed by Paul Wilmshurst.

Doctor Who: Kill the Moon. Photos: Adrian Rogers, BBC Worldwide 2014 Doctor Who: Kill the Moon. Photos: Adrian Rogers, BBC Worldwide 2014 Doctor Who: Kill the Moon. Photos: Adrian Rogers, BBC Worldwide 2014 Doctor Who: Kill the Moon. Photos: Adrian Rogers, BBC Worldwide 2014 Doctor Who: Kill the Moon. Photos: Adrian Rogers, BBC Worldwide 2014 Doctor Who: Kill the Moon. Photos: Adrian Rogers, BBC Worldwide 2014 Doctor Who: Kill the Moon. Photos: Adrian Rogers, BBC Worldwide 2014 Doctor Who: Kill the Moon. Photos: Adrian Rogers, BBC Worldwide 2014 Doctor Who: Kill the Moon. Photos: Adrian Rogers, BBC Worldwide 2014 Doctor Who: Kill the Moon. Photos: Adrian Rogers, BBC Worldwide 2014




FILTER: - Press - Series 8/34

Maggie StablesBookmark and Share

Monday, 29 September 2014 - Reported by Marcus
The actress Maggie Stables who had played the Sixth Doctor companion Evelyn Smythe in the Big Finish audios, has died after a long illness.

Maggie Stables turned to acting as a second career after taking early retirement from her post as a French teacher.

After some experience in musical theatre, in 1991 she acted in a production of Jane Eyre with Nicholas Briggs. This led to Briggs later casting Stables as Ruthley in Big Finish's first Doctor Who play The Sirens of Time, and as Evelyn the following year.

She played the character in twenty Big Finish productions.

Nicholas Briggs paid tribute to the actress on the Big Finish Website.
I was keen to get her involved in the Big Finish audios, casting her as the gruff Ruthley in our very first Doctor Who release, The Sirens of Time. It wasn't long before my friend and producer Gary Russell spotted her and saw her as potential 'companion' material. Evelyn Smythe made Doctor Who history. The first, dare I say it, 'elderly' companion of the Doctor's. Maggie was superb in the role and she and her Doctor, Colin Baker, immediately hit it off. And even though Maggie appeared in two 'final' adventures for Evelyn, it was always our intention to continue working with her -- such is the advantage of time travel. I was very pleased to welcome her back for another trilogy in 2011.

Maggie was such a lovely, warm person who did a fantastic job of playing Evelyn. She was extremely popular with our listeners and always a delight to work with. I have many fond and sometimes raucous memories of working with her in Doctor Who and on stage.

I shall always be grateful for the support and affection she gave to me and for all the laughs we shared along the way.'
Sixth Doctor Colin Baker also paid tribute to the actress
Devastated to hear about dear Maggie Stables. Lovely, generous, kind, wise lady and her Evelyn was the definitive companion for old Sixie
Maggie staples died in her sleep on Friday night, the 26th of September.




FILTER: - Big Finish - Obituary

Kill The Moon: BBC TrailerBookmark and Share

Monday, 29 September 2014 - Reported by Chuck Foster





FILTER: - OnlineSeries 8/34

The Caretaker - AI:83Bookmark and Share

Monday, 29 September 2014 - Reported by Marcus
Doctor Who The Caretaker had an Audience Appreciation Index or AI score of 83.

The Appreciation Index or AI is a measure of how much the audience enjoyed the programme. The score, out of a hundred, is compiled by a specially selected panel of around 5,000 people who go online and rate and comment on programmes.

Overall Doctor Who rated slightly higher with Women rather than Men and scored the highest within the 16-54 age group.

The X Factor once again topped the ratings for Sunday with 9.0 million viewers, while Downton Abbey had 8.1 million watching. Doctor Who is currently in 24th place for the week. Final figures will be published next week.

The Sunday repeat of The Caretaker on BBC Three had an overnight estimate of 0.27 million viewers, a 1.2% share of the audience.




FILTER: - Ratings - Series 8/34 - UK

Australian overnight ratings for The CaretakerBookmark and Share

Monday, 29 September 2014 - Reported by Adam Kirk
The Caretaker averaged 882,000 national viewers in Australia (these figures include the five major capital cities and regional and rural viewers). It was the second highest rating drama of the day (after The Code and Scorpion which were equal first on 904,000 national viewers) and the tenth highest rating program of the day overall. Excluding regional and rural viewers, this story averaged 569,000 viewers in the five major Australian capital cities and was also the tenth highest rating program of the day overall in the big cities. These ratings do not include time shifted viewers.




FILTER: - Australia - Broadcasting - Ratings - Series 8/34

Time Heist - Final RatingsBookmark and Share

Sunday, 28 September 2014 - Reported by Marcus
6.99 million watched the UK transmission of Time Heist according to consolidated figures available today, which include those recording the programme and watching within one week of transmission.

The final chart position should be available later in the week.




FILTER: - Ratings - Series 8/34 - UK

The Caretaker - Overnight Viewing FiguresBookmark and Share

Sunday, 28 September 2014 - Reported by Marcus
4.89 million viewers watched Doctor Who - The Caretaker according to unofficial overnight viewing figures.

The overnight rating is almost identical to the previous two weeks, despite the later time slot for Doctor Who, with the series now directly opposite The X Factor .

The new series of Strictly Come Dancing took top place for the day with 8.1 million viewers, while The X Factor itself had 7.7 million watching.

Doctor Who is currently 22nd for the Week. Final ratings will be available next Sunday.




FILTER: - Ratings - Series 8/34 - UK

Rare Doctor Who micro figures unveiled by Character OptionsBookmark and Share

Saturday, 27 September 2014 - Reported by Marcus
Character Options has revealed details of a number of brand new super rare micro- figures amongst the latest Character Building Doctor Who Display Brix Series 4 collection, which is out now.

The assortment of 12 highly detailed and fully articulated figures features key characters Doctor Who. The first micro-figure for the Twelfth Doctor played by Peter Capaldi together with his companion Clara Oswald and many other classic characters monsters are included in the range. Each figure comes in its own transparent Display Brix casing that can be stacked and presented into one Doctor Who display.

Character Options can confirm that there are actually five further figures to hunt for; all super-rare with 100 or less of each to find.

Who to look out for…
  • 100 of Clara Oswald in Bow Cardigan
  • 75 of The Eleventh Doctor with Handles
  • 75 of The Eleventh Doctor as he was seen in the episode “The Crimson Horror”
  • And rarest of all …
  • 50 of Wooden Cybermen
  • 50 of Captain Jack Harkness
Mark Hunt from Character Options commented:
At just £1.99 our Doctor Who Character Building Display Brix are already highly collectable for fans, but we like to throw in a little extra excitement by adding a number of super rare figures to each new Series of figures. The new collection is by far the coolest we’ve released, with a wide variety of new collectibles and rarer than ever special figures which will be a huge bonus for fans who are lucky enough to find them.




FILTER: - Character Options - Eleventh Doctor

Doctor Who Extra: The Caretaker on the BBC Red ButtonBookmark and Share

Friday, 26 September 2014 - Reported by Chuck Foster
The Doctor (Credit: Adrian Rogers, BBC/BBC Worldwide 2014)The next edition of online behind-the-scenes show Doctor Who Extra, covering the sixth episode The Caretaker, will also be available via digital television's Red Button service on BBC channels at the following times next week:

It’s an episode with everything from robots to romance and a new job for the Doctor… Now, Peter Capaldi and the team share the secrets behind it!

Saturday9:10pm-10:30pm
Sunday4:00pm-7:55pm
Monday7:25pm-Midnight
Tuesday6:00am-7:00pm
Thursday3pm-Midnight
FridayMidnight-4:00pm
Saturday2:55am-5:55am






FILTER: - Online - Series 8/34