Script Doctor ReprintBookmark and Share

Sunday, 31 January 2021 - Reported by Marcus
Script Doctor (Credit: Ten Acre Films)
Script Doctor, Script Editor Andrew Cartmel's inside account of the final years of classic Doctor Who returns for a limited reprint.
 
‘There are worlds out there where the sky is burning, and the sea’s asleep, and the rivers dream. People made of smoke and cities made of song. Somewhere there’s danger, somewhere there’s injustice, and somewhere else the tea’s getting cold. Come on, Ace – we’ve got work to do!’
 
Andrew Cartmel was the script editor on Doctor Who from 1986 to 1989. During his time on the show, he introduced the seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) and his companion Ace (Sophie Aldred) and oversaw 42 scripts written by eight writers new to the series.
 
With a clear mission to bring proper science fiction back into Doctor Who, he formulated what was later termed ‘The Cartmel Masterplan’, reintroducing the mystery to the character of the Doctor as the series celebrated its 25th anniversary and beyond.
 
Script Doctor is his memoir of this time, based on his diaries written sometimes on set and sometimes not even in the diary itself but on the backs of script pages. 
 
With an introduction by modern-era Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat, a foreword by Sylvester McCoy, and an afterword by Sophie Aldred, this book is illustrated with 32 pages of photographs, many never published before. It is a vivid account of life in the Doctor Who production office in the late eighties.
 
The book can be ordered online
 
 




FILTER: - Books - Seventh Doctor - Production

Doctor Who Season 24 - Blu-rayBookmark and Share

Thursday, 21 January 2021 - Reported by Marcus
Season 24 - Pack (Credit: BBC Studios)

The next release in the Doctor Who: The Collection range will be Season 24, the first staring the Seventh Doctor Sylvester McCoy.

First shown in 1987, the box set can be pre-ordered from today ahead of a release date later this year.

Doctor Who – The Collection: Season 24

  • TIME AND THE RANI
  • PARADISE TOWERS
  • DELTA AND THE BANNERMEN
  • DRAGONFIRE

Season 24 first aired in 1987 and saw the Seventh Doctor and companion Mel, played by Bonnie Langford, travel through space and time traversing alien planets, a hostile futuristic tower block, 1950s Wales and finally, the mysterious colony of Iceworld, where the Doctor meets Ace played by Sophie Aldred.

The Doctor is faced with enemies including the Rani (Kate O’Mara) and the terrifying Tetrapsi n Time and the Rani, Kroagnon and his cleaning robots in Paradise Towers, the ruthless Bannermen in Delta and the Bannermen and Kane (Edward Peel), the murderous ruler of Ice world in Dragonfire.

These four stories have been newly remastered alongside extensive and exclusive special features including

  • EXTENDED VERSIONS of all four stories, featuring previously unseen material
  • IMMERSIVE 5.1 SURROUND SOUND – on all four stories and extended versions
  • ISOLATED SCORES – on all four stories
  • BRAND NEW DOCUMENTARIES - Including a feature-length overview of Season 24 -Here’s To The Future, plus The Making Of Delta And The Bannermen.
  • RARE STUDIO & LOCATION FOOTAGE - Over 25 hours of raw material never seen before, including behind-the-scenes footage from the regeneration scene
  • IN CONVERSATION - Matthew Sweet interviews Sylvester McCoy about his life, career, and time as the Seventh Doctor.
  • BEHIND THE SOFA - Four new episodes with Sylvester McCoy, Bonnie Langford, Sophie Aldred, Peter Davison, Janet Fielding, Sarah Sutton, Colin Baker & Michael Jayston
  • THE DOCTOR’S TABLE - Sylvester McCoy, Bonnie Langford, Sophie Aldred and Clive Merrison reminisce about the making of the season.
  • RARE GEMS FROM THE ARCHIVES - Hours of footage covering the promotion of this season including lots of previously unreleased material.
  • AN AUDIENCE WITH LADY STEPHENS - A brand new interview with Season 24 actor and rocky Horror cult figure Patricia Quinn
  • BLU-RAY TRAILER - A brand new mini-episode
  • CONVENTION FOOTAGE
  • HD PHOTO GALLERIES - Including many previously unseen images.
  • INFO TEXT - Behind-the-scenes information and trivia on every episode.
  • SCRIPTS, costume designs, rare BBC production files and other rarities from the archive

The eight-disc box set also includes hours of special features previously released on DVD and Blu-Ray.

Doctor Who – The Collection: Season 24 can be pre-ordered now from Amazon and will be released later this year.

 





FILTER: - Season 24 - DVD/Blu-ray

TARDIS Magazine Vol 17 Issue 2Bookmark and Share

Tuesday, 19 January 2021 - Reported by Marcus
TARDIS Issue 2 (Credit: DWAS)
The Doctor Who Appreciation Society has published issue 2 of TARDIS magazine.
 
All sales will benefit ‘MIND’,  the mental health charity. 
 
TARDIS was first published in 1975 and was brought out of retirement by DWAS in 2020.
 
This issue runs to 64 A4 colour pages and includes:
 
• We speak to the Seventh Doctor himself, Sylvester McCoy, and his television co-stars Bonnie Langford and Sophie Aldred, aka Mel and Ace
John Lucarotti’s widow Rolli provides an in-depth insight into the celebrated Doctor Who writer’s life and work
• Missing in Action: We take a comprehensive look at The Celestial Toymaker. This bumper feature includes an analysis of the camera scripts and audience research reports, viewers’ memories, set photos, an interview with dancing doll Delia Lindon, reminiscences from Peter  Purves, and a study of Gerald Savory’s play George and Margaret – uncovering some surprising links to the madcap world of the Toymaker!
Stephen Wyatt looks back at his two Doctor Who adventures – Paradise Towers and The Greatest Show in the Galaxy – and recalls his visit to the Gallifrey convention in America
Stephen McKenna, son of T.P. McKenna, remembers his late father, who memorably portrayed Captain Cook in The Greatest Show in the Galaxy
Jessica Martin discusses Greatest Show’s Mags and her graphic novel work. She also provides us with our back-cover art!
• Celebrating 100 years of Agatha Christie’s first novel, Mark Aldridge (author of Agatha Christie’s Poirot from HarperCollins) examines her Doctor Who connections, and Fenella ‘Agatha’ Woolgar and Daniel ‘Davenport’ King discuss the popular Tenth Doctor adventure, The Unicorn and the Wasp
• Actor Liam Rudden spills the tea on Richard Franklin and John Levene’s outrageous 1984 Edinburgh Fringe show, UNIT: The Great Tea Bag Mystery
• We celebrate thirty years of the New Adventures with The New Adventurers! Our four bookwyrms – Daniel, Kevin, Mat and Sarah – provide an illuminating commentary on the controversial Timewrym: Genesys
• Blue Kangs are the best! Suzanna Cardash reflects on her time in Paradise Towers’ not so cowardly girl gang…
• David J Howe recalls the trials and tribulations of editing his very first fanzine
• We trace the history of the annual Oxford vs Cambridge Doctor Who quiz
• In 'Masters of the Land of Fiction', Emma Reeves discusses her Big Finish audio The Moons of Vulpana,and Simon Guerrier his Tenth Doctor novel The Pirate Loop
• We discover Doctor Who’s Cricket Connections
• Director Julia Smith talks Fish People and Smugglers in an archive Tardis interview
Mark Campbell analyses the The Twin Dilemma and Paradise Towers novelisations in our second Target Audience feature!
• The Space Museum reopens for a look at late ‘80s merchandise – including Dapol action figures and Dalek pyjamas
Paul Magrs celebrates the Seventh Doctor in his column
Gavin French concludes The Timeless Fan with a look back at fandom in the ‘80s
Colin Howard discusses his Paradise Towers VHS cover
• Who is the Seventh Doctor?
Nigel Robinson returns for another round of fiendish quiz questions!
 
 
The magazine costs £9-99 including UK delivery (airmail orders are £13-99 for Europe and £15-99 Worldwide) and may be ordered directly from the DWAS eBay store
 
DWAS members may purchase at a reduced price when via from the online store at the website - www.dwasonline.co.uk 




FILTER: - DWAS

Time Space Visualiser: Zoom! - Starts TodayBookmark and Share

Sunday, 17 January 2021 - Reported by Marcus
Time Space Visualiser: Zoom!
Time Space Visualiser: Zoom! is bringing the Doctor Who Fantom convention experience into your home for free in 2021
 
Right now we are sadly not able to meet up in person as we would like to, but fear not, because we are bringing back the magic of our Time-Space Visualiser to help our Doctor Who family through lockdown.

Last year we produced ten full-length online conventions, broadcast live and for free into your homes. Hundreds of hours of Doctor Who content to keep everyone’s spirits up, with Doctors, companions, guest stars and more, all doing their part, joining in to help out. For anybody who missed it, you can still catch up with these on our YouTube channel.
 
This year Time-Space Visualiser: Zoom! will be a series of informal question and answer sessions, hosted on Zoom. The first session stars Katy Manning and begins on Sunday 17th January at 1700 UK time. 
 
There is no charge for joining in with these, but you will need to pre-register your interest. It is requested that if possible a donation is made to to the Theatre Support Fund.
 
  • Sunday 17th Jan KATY MANNING
  • Wednesday 20th Jan MARK STRICKSON
  • Sunday 24th Jan TBA
  • Wednesday 27th Jan ANNETTE BADLAND & ERIC POTTS
  • Sunday 31st Jan BONNIE LANGFORD 
 
Places can be booked here




FILTER: - Convention

New Target ReleasesBookmark and Share

Thursday, 14 January 2021 - Reported by Marcus

BBC Books has announced seven new titles in the Doctor Who Target range, all publishing on 11th March 2021, each with newly commissioned cover artwork by Anthony Dry

For Doctor Who fans, the range of novelisations published by Target Books in the 1970s and 1980s holds a special place. There was a novel published for almost every Doctor Who serial between 1963  and 1989, with just five notable exceptions.

Since 2012, BBC Books has been successfully reissuing these classic paperbacks and expanding the Target range to include all-new novelisations of modern-era Doctor Who episodes.  

These latest novelisations, almost all by the original writers of the TV episodes, will help Target fans finally complete their classic-era collection, and take the Target range into its next incarnation.  

They include the long-awaited Target editions of Eric Saward’s Resurrection of the Daleks and  Revelation of the Daleks; The Pirate Planet by James Goss which is based on the scripts by Douglas  Adams; as well as a reissue of Gary Russell’s novelisation of The TV Movie starring Paul McGann.  

To complete the set are three new-era novelisations: The Crimson Horror by Mark Gatiss, Dalek by  Robert Shearman, and The Witchfinders by Joy Wilkinson.

The Witchfinders is the first Thirteenth  Doctor adventure to be published on the Target list, and the first to carry the new-look Target branding, with the current Doctor Who logo, that will appear on all future Target releases. 

 

Doctor Who: The Pirate Planet 

Douglas Adams and James Goss 

The Fourth Doctor and Romana arrive at the right place to find the wrong planet.

Douglas Adams is best known as the creator of The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which started life as a BBC Radio 4 series. The book went on to be a No. 1 bestseller. He followed this success with The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (1980); Life, The Universe and Everything (1982); So Long and Thanks for all the Fish (1984); Mostly Harmless (1992) and many more. He sold over 15 million books in the UK, the US and Australia. Douglas died unexpectedly in May  2001 at the age of 49.

James Goss is the author of the novelisation of Douglas Adams’ City of Death, as well as several other  Doctor Who books. While at the BBC James produced an adaptation of Shada, an unfinished Douglas Adams Doctor Who story, and Dirk is his award-winning stage adaptation of Dirk Gently’s Holistic  Detective Agency. He won Best Audiobook 2010 for Dead Air and his books Dead of Winter and First  Born were both nominated for the 2012 British Fantasy Society Awards.
 
The Pirate Planet (Credit: BBC Books)

Doctor Who: Resurrection of the Daleks 

Eric Saward 

The TARDIS is ensnared in a time corridor, catapulting it into derelict docklands on 20th century Earth. The Fifth Doctor and his companions, Tegan and Turlough, stumble on a warehouse harbouring fugitives from the future at the far end of the corridor – and are soon under attack from a Dalek assault force. 

Eric Saward has written for both radio and television, script edited Doctor Who for five years and also written four original stories for the show. During this time, he also novelised four scripts and wrote the first-ever Doctor Who radio serial. Recently he has completed a  graphic novel based around the adventures of Lytton. 

 

Amazon Link

Resurrection of the Daleks (Credit: BBC Books)

Doctor Who: Revelation of the Daleks 

Eric Saward  

 

The Sixth Doctor and Peri land on the planet Necros to visit Tranquil Repose – a funerary home where the dead are interred and the near-dead placed in suspended animation until such time as their conditions can be cured.
 

Amazon Link

Revelation of the Daleks  (Credit: BBC Books)

Doctor Who: The TV Movie 

Gary Russell 

The Eighth Doctor confronts the Master in modern-day San Francisco.

Gary Russell, previous Doctor Who, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures script editor, has written books on subjects such as Doctor Who, Frasier, The Simpsons and The Lord of the Rings movies. He is currently overseeing animated reimaginings of old 1960s missing Doctor Who stories for BBC Studios.

 

Amazon Link

 
Doctor Who: The TV Movie  (Credit: BBC Books)

Doctor Who: Dalek 

Robert Sheaman 

The Ninth Doctor and Rose discover an unexpected survivor of The Time War. 

Robert Shearman is an award-winning writer for television, radio and the stage, as well as several acclaimed short story collections, the first of which won him a World Fantasy Award, and Doctor Who audio scripts for Big Finish Productions. 

 

Amazon Link

Doctor Who: Dalek  (Credit: BBC Books)

Doctor Who: The Crimson Horror 

Mark Gatiss 

The Eleventh Doctor and Clara investigate something ghastly afoot in Victorian Yorkshire. 

Mark Gatiss is one of The League of Gentlemen from the award-winning television show, and the author of the novels The Vesuvius Club and The Devil in Amber. He has also written acclaimed radio and television scripts, including episodes of Doctor Who. He co created and writes for the hit TV series Sherlock with Doctor Who show-runner Steven Moffat. 

 
The Crimson Horror  (Credit: BBC Books)

Doctor Who: The Witchfinders 

Joy Wilkinson 

The Thirteenth Doctor and companions battle an evil presence in 17th century Lincolnshire. 

Joy Wilkinson is an award-winning writer working across film, television, theatre and radio. As well as Doctor Who her TV credits include Nick Nickleby and The Watch. Her directing debut – the film Ma’am – is released in 2020.

 
The Witchfinders (Credit: BBC Books)

 





FILTER: - Books

Christopher Eccleston's Ninth Doctor Audio AdventuresBookmark and Share

Saturday, 9 January 2021 - Reported by Marcus
Ravagers (Credit: Big Finish)

Cover artwork and story titles for the first volume of Big Finish Doctor Who – The Ninth Doctor Adventures starring Christopher Eccleston are unveiled today.

Due for release in May 2021, Doctor Who – The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Ravagers is a full-cast audio drama box set comprising three fantastic stories all written by Big Finish’s Creative Director, Nicholas Briggs.

Joining Christopher Eccleston on his first audio odyssey through time and space are Camilla Beeput as Nova, a galley chef from the Sphere of Freedom enlisted by the Doctor to stop a dastardly plan, and Jayne McKenna as Audrey, the oldest gamer in Freedom City (although there may be more to her than meets the eye).

Doctor Who – The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Ravagers is now available for pre-order exclusively at the Big Finish website (www.bigfinish.com), from just £19.99. The stories included in this first volume are as follows:

  1. Sphere of Freedom
  2. Cataclysm
  3. Food Fight

Christopher Eccleston said;

It was lovely coming back to play the role again, due to Nicholas's writing. I was surprised at how very quickly I seemed to recall the choices I made fifteen years ago. It was an odd experience; the Ninth Doctor's still hanging around.


Nicholas Briggs added:

It’s been an honour working with Chris again – it’s truly thrilling to hear him in studio, inhabiting the Ninth Doctor like he'd never been away! Writing and directing Doctor Who stories never gets old for me, and I’m so excited for people to hear what we’ve been up to.

It's been a delight to kick off The Ninth Doctor Adventures series with Chris, and I know that my fellow writers and directors are cooking up some great stuff for the next box set.”

 

Doctor Who fans worldwide can now pre-order all four volumes of The Ninth Doctor Adventures, which are available in three formats – collector’s edition CD, digital download or limited edition gatefold triple LP vinyl – exclusively from the Big Finish website.

Big Finish listeners can save by pre-ordering a bundle of the entire series for just £88 (as a collector’s edition box set) or £78 (as a download).

Doctor Who – The Ninth Doctor Adventures triple LP vinyls are strictly limited to a pressing of 1,000 per volume, and can be pre-ordered at £35.99 each, or £132 for the bundle of all four albums, again exclusively at the Big Finish website (www.bigfinish.com). Please note: the vinyl editions do not include any behind-the-scenes extras.

 

Please note that Big Finish is currently operating a digital-first release schedule. The mail-out of collector’s edition CDs and limited edition vinyl LPs may be delayed due to factors beyond our control, but all purchases of this release unlock a digital copy that can be immediately downloaded or played on the Big Finish app from the release date.





FILTER: - Big Finish - Audio

Revolution of the Daleks - Official Viewing FiguresBookmark and Share

Saturday, 9 January 2021 - Reported by Marcus
Revolution of the Daleks (Credit: BBC Studios)

Doctor Who: Revolution of the Daleks had a final official rating of 6.25 million viewers.

The final rating takes into account all those who recorded the programme and watched it within one week. 

The rating confirms Doctor Who as the top-rated BBC One programme for New Year's Day, beating EastEnders which had 4.36 million watching and Mrs Brown's Boys with 4.87 million.

Overall Doctor Who was second for the day, with Coronation Street just claiming the top spot with 6.39 million viewers.

Doctor Who is likely to finish the week as the 8th most-watched programme, the same position held by the New Year 2020 programme SpyFall

The most-watched programme for the week ending 3rd January was Happy New Year Live! with 9.92 million watching London mark the start of 2021.

 





FILTER: - Ratings - UK

Doctor Who Magazine: Issue 560Bookmark and Share

Thursday, 7 January 2021 - Reported by Marcus
Doctor Who Magazine: Issue 560 (Credit: Panini)

Doctor Who Magazine Issue 560 is now on sale celebrating 50 years of the Master

Highlights of the issue include:

  • The results of the World Cup of the Master – a Twitter tournament to decide the renegade Time Lord’s greatest stories.

  • Current Master Sacha Dhawan answers questions from the TARDIS Tin.

  • On set with Russell T Davies and Phil Collinson as they recreate some classic 1980s Doctor Who for the new Channel 4 drama It’s a Sin.

  • Olly Alexander, who stars in It’s a Sin, tells DWM about working with the Daleks.

  • Interviews with three of the actors who appeared in Resurrection of the Daleks: John Adam-Baker, Sneh Gupta and Nigel Tisdall.

  • Patrick Mulkern accompanies Katy Manning and John Levene on a return visit to Aldbourne, nearly 50 years after the filming of The Dæmons.

  • A solution to the mystery surrounding the 1973 episode that marked Roger Delgado’s final appearance as the Master.

  • An exclusive preview of the Season 8 Blu-ray box set.

  • DWM’s review of the New Year’s Day Special, Revolution of the Daleks. 

  • The Fact of Fiction analyses the 1999 Comic Relief Special The Curse of Fatal Death.

  • The DWM Christmas Quiz answers.

  • The second part of The White Dragon, a new comic-strip adventure for the Thirteenth Doctor.

  • Previews and reviews, news, prize-winning competitions, Time and Space Visualiser, The Blogs of Doom and more.

Doctor Who Magazine Issue 560 is on sale from Thursday 7 January

£5.99 (UK)

 




FILTER: - DWM

Doctor Who: The Fourth Doctor Adventures Series 10Bookmark and Share

Wednesday, 6 January 2021 - Reported by Marcus
Fourth Doctor - Series 10: Volume 2 (Credit: Big Finish)

The next Fourth Doctor audio release has been announced by Big Finish.

Tom Baker and Louise Jameson are plunging back into the Time Vortex for volume 2 of Doctor Who: The Fourth Doctor Adventures due for release in February 2021.

These two brand-new full-cast audio dramas follow the Fourth Doctor and Leela into an uproarious tour through time and a prehistoric encounter with an esteemed palaeontologist.

Doctor Who: The Fourth Doctor Adventures Series 10 Volume 2 is now available to pre-order as a collector's edition box set (on CD at £24.99) and as a digital download (at £19.99), exclusively from www.bigfinish.com.

The volume consists of two rip-roaring rides, as follows:
 

Tribulations of Thadeus Nook by Andrew Smith

It’s time for the trip of a lifetime! Come along on one of Thadeus Nook’s Time Tours. See history as it really was. Get to witness wars and assassinations! See barbarian warlords right up close!

The Doctor and Leela encounter a most enterprising young gentleman – using time travel for his own financial gain. The Doctor is horrified at the irresponsibility – but it’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Because Thadeus Nook is about to learn that history is often best left in the past.

 

The Primeval Design by Helen Goldwyn

Dorset, 1830. The Doctor has taken Leela to meet Mary Anning, the noted palaeontologist, but the duo immediately stumble into trouble.

A body has been found in unusual circumstances. Attacked by an animal... but one of a size unknown in the area.

It turns out some things might be better off staying buried.

 

Taking on the role of the Doctor for his tenth year with Big Finish, Tom Baker said:

I so love doing all this, I never ever get tired. It’s as if each one is the very first one – and the more improbable it is the more I love it because I, of course, am totally improbable myself!

Series 10 Volume 2 is now available to pre-order as a collector's edition box set (on CD at £24.99) and as a digital download (at £19.99), exclusively at the Big Finish website.

Louise Jameson / Tom Baker / Lucy Briggs-Owen / Charlotte Bate (Credit: Big Finish)




FILTER: - Big Finish - Audio - Fourth Doctor

Hero Collector Revolution Figurines and Pin BadgesBookmark and Share

Wednesday, 6 January 2021 - Reported by Marcus
 Revolution of the Daleks figurines and pin badges. (Credit: Eaglemoss)

Eaglemoss have revealed the identities of their ‘mystery’ Doctor Who Revolution of the Daleks figurines and pin badges.

The identities of these Doctor Who Festive Special themed pin badges and figurines were kept largely under wraps until now, with only the Thirteenth Doctor and Revolution Dalek pin badges revealed.

The figurines depict the Thirteenth Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) and Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) in their prison uniforms, as well as the Revolution Dalek, all at 1:21 scale (approx. 3.5 inches tall).

These hand-painted figurines join Hero Collector’s existing range of Doctor Who models and will be accompanied by an in-depth companion magazine, packed with details from this exciting festive special.

The Revolution of the Daleks Figurine Box Set will launch in April 2021, but is available for pre-order now on the Hero Collector website.

The seven chibi-style metal pin badges depict the Thirteenth Doctor, Captain Jack Harkness, and the Revolution Dalek as well as four imprisoned aliens seen in the Doctor Who Festive Special – the Weeping Angel, the Ood, the Sycorax and the Silence.

The Revolution of the Daleks Chibi Pin Badge Set is available now on the Hero Collector website.

 




FILTER: - Hero Collector - Thirteenth Doctor - Merchandise