Doctor Who News, Articles, Cast and Crew Interviews

[Teddybrown]

http://www.doctorwhotv.co.uk/smith-t...es-5-62214.htm
Smith on best story telling.

[Blencathra]

Happy Birthday Peter Capaldi!

[BruTak]

Awww..

[Blencathra]

Sorry but I'm going to have a bit of a moan.

Titan Comics print subscriptions are now open for the two new Doctor Who comic series.

However, you can only get a print subscription if you live in the US, Canada, New Zealand or Australia. If you live in the UK you can only get a digital version.

Once again UK fans get a poor deal. I'm losing count of the times that UK fans have lost out on something completely or had to wait longer or had to complain until the problem was rectified.

[Blencathra]

Interview Extra - Tom Baker, Doctor Who

http://www.tvchoicemagazine.co.uk/in...r-who?page=0,0

From Friday, 18th April at 7pm, you'll have the opportunity to catch up with the first seven Doctors — great and small — as the Horror Channel embarks on a re-run of some of the Time Lord's greatest classic era adventures!

Naturally, they're going back to the very beginning, the Doctor's first adventure from 1963 — An Unearthly Child — starring William Hartnell. But, very soon, we'll have the chance to reacquaint ourselves with the character's fourth incarnation (the longest-serving and arguably the very best) who was played by Tom Baker. And for that reason alone, TV Choice set its coordinates for an encounter with the great man, who talked about returning to the show last year for its 50th anniversary, and how he loves upstaging the other Doctor Who actors...

Tom, now that Doctor Who has found a home on the Horror channel, which of your stories are the most horror-filled and why?

I thought they were all great comedy when I was doing it. But they're very obvious aren't they? It's going to be Talons of Weng Chiang [a Victorian horror, first aired in 1977], stuff like that. My God, they've taken their time to discover the horror, haven't they? I mean it's only 32 years since I finished it! Seems like only yesterday.

Do you think Doctor Who should be horrific?

Yes. I think it should be whatever people want it to be. I'm very interested in horror. Not so much now, because horror is an actuality with me. But, yeah, we like to be frightened. We all want to get away from sanity and chastity and virtue. And be frightened. Enter another world. When in reality we want nice neighbours and no crime, don't we? It's that lovely area of our imagination that says, 'Let's get out of here.'

Are you reconciled about the fact there are other actors who played the Doctor — or is that an uncomfortable truth?

Well, it's only recently it dawned on me that there were other Doctors! I don't know them, and I've got no desire to know them. Of course, I've never watched them. I thought it was only fair never to watch, because I didn't watch myself. All I wanted to do was do it. You see, the thing is, I can say now — because it doesn't really matter what I say — I was playing Doctor Who before I got the part! And that's why it made me so happy when I did get it.

When you came back and appeared with Matt Smith last year, did you feel proprietorial then?

Well, going to Cardiff [where it's now filmed] on a winter's morning at 4am couldn't possibly be fun. But he was nice, you know, and I didn't understand the cameras anymore because of the HD. I didn't understand that. I was a bit uneasy. But Matt Smith was a charming young man and we did this little scene, which people liked a lot, that little scene.

Do you have a clear idea or an opinion as to who your character actually was in that? Was he a future version of the Fourth Doctor?

Well, typical of the BBC — nobody knows! He could be anything. He could be the next Director-General! With the BBC, you've really got to be able to suspend your disbelief, haven't you? Anything can happen at the BBC. The monsters on Doctor Who were never so amazing as the monsters on the Sixth Floor [where management worked in Television Centre]. I remember some very improbable people up there.

You were also asked to be in the 20th anniversary special back in 1983, The Five Doctors, which you turned down. Why?

I had left Doctor Who because I think I had run my course, but also I wasn't getting on very well with John [Nathan-Turner, the then producer]. Later we became friends. So when I realised he was going to produce the thing, I thought, 'No'. Anyway, I didn't want to play 20 per cent of a role. I didn't fancy being just a kind of feed for other Doctors. It filled me with horror. Now, of course, if someone asked me to do a scene with some old Doctors, if they let me tamper with the script, it could probably be quite droll.

So when you were approached to appear in the 50th anniversary episode, did you ever contemplate not doing it?

Yeah. I did contemplate not doing it. And I was persuaded by a girl called Caroline Skinner who was the producer. She came to meet me in Rye, some little hotel — The Mermaid Hotel — and she begged me to be in it. She was a very persuasive girl and she was very charming about it and said I could tamper with the script or whatever. So I said yes to her. Anyway, then the script arrived a few months later, and I didn't much care for it. I rang the BBC and said, 'Listen, get me Caroline Skinner'. They said, 'Who?' I said, 'Is that the Doctor Who production office?' They said, 'Yeah'. And I said, 'And you're asking me who Caroline Skinner is? The producer!' Crackle on the line. 'Hello, I'm so sorry, she's not with us anymore'. And it was only later I found out she'd been murdered — by someone else at the BBC who was after her job! [Tom's joking, of course] I never heard of her again, but by that time, you see, I'd agreed to do it. I'm not sorry now. I miss Caroline. She was very sweet.

Are you aware your appearance upset some of the other former Doctors who felt they should have been asked back?

Oh, I hope so, yeah! Thanks a lot for reminding me of that! Ha ha ha! Were you at the 50th anniversary convention? There were about 3,000 people there, and the host, the charming Nick Briggs, called all us old Doctors onto stage one by one. He quite reasonably thought, 'I'll start with the old man in case he's dead by the time I get to him,' and he said, 'Ladies and gentlemen, Doctor Who the fourth, Tom Baker!' Now I walked on into the light. It was ecstasy! The applause was tumultuous! I thought, 'I hope this never stops'. Anyway, it went on and on and on. And I was messing around to extend it, and that was a terrible mistake because I know as an old actor, that in a room there's only so much laughter. There's only so much energy, and I'd taken up about 30 per cent of it in the first 40 seconds. I was thinking, 'If this goes on, the other boys are going to come out to silence'. So, naturally, I went on.

How does it feel when you're approached by young fans who weren't even born when you were in the show?

I have lots of small coins, because children adore money nearly as much as adults do! I say, 'Are you all right for money?' to a little boy. He says, 'Well no'. So I give him a pound and a 20p. And then I say, 'Look, if you meet a beggar, give him the 20p and you keep the pound'. And then he looks at his father and thinks I'm mad. Fortunately my wife is not very poor, so I've got a pocket full of change.

Do you have any advice for new Doctor Peter Capaldi?

No, I don't have any advice for anybody! Not for anybody. Certainly not for someone taking over Doctor Who. But he's a very accomplished actor. I've seen him do those mean things, swearing into his mobile. Nobody has ever failed, have they? So there you are. There'll be all right. We nod to each other at conventions, but we don't really, er… No, we don't.

How's it feel to still be the longest-running Doctor?

Well, it's daunting, actually. I'm now 29,200 days old. That's a pretty daunting thing, that. I can't believe it. All that time has passed. It almost makes me immortal that people are still stopping me in the street to say, 'You were really influential in my life'. I like that a lot. And if they say it nicely enough, I offer them money. Not advice, but money. People are more interested in money.

Can you remember how you felt when you first got a fan letter for playing the Doctor?

Yeah. It was a good feeling. But now it wears me out, because the fans are often very demanding. When I open a letter there are lots of instructions, telling me where to sign and what to do. And also, I can tell when people are anxious by the letters, because I can't get the letters open. You know, those people who put lots of sellotape around them? Fortunately I have a man who helps me in the garden, so he opens the bad ones.

There were rumours you were going to appear in The Sarah Jane Adventures before Elisabeth Sladen died. Was that true?

I think it was being mooted at a time when Elisabeth began to be ill. I'd never seen it, you see, but she was so thrilled. I had a terrific, tender thing for her. I never met her out of the studio, except by the time she was doing that. But I never got around to doing that. I don't accept many jobs now. Because I think I can't be bothered. What's the point of having a rich wife and chasing cheap jobs at the BBC? It just doesn't figure, does it?

Your last line in Doctor Who — 'It's the end, but the moment has been perpared for' — is very celebrated. Were you happy with it?

Well, fans like lines like that. They like those lines. I wanted to put in more. I wanted to say things like, 'Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?' Or things like that. But the BBC didn't find that funny at all. And I can't say I blame them. I do have some terrible ideas.

[The Flyattractor]

Tom is such a nut!

[Blencathra]

I love him. He is The Doctor, both on and off screen.


Somebody got a bit of film from yesterday of the cast & crew singing Happy Birthday to Peter.

No spoilers.

Also a fan wished him a Happy Birthday. He said he didn't mind being at work on his birthday though - "It's not work, I'm The Doctor."

[Teddybrown]

http://www.doctorwhotv.co.uk/series-...-day-62438.htm
Slightly spoilery photos for episode 3.

[Blencathra]

A few more slightly spoilery behind the scenes pics (for Jenna's costume) from today. She looks lovely as always.

http://blencathra.tumblr.com/post/82...ilming-4-15-14

[BruTak]

A few more slightly spoilery behind the scenes pics (for Jenna's costume) from today. She looks lovely as always.

http://blencathra.tumblr.com/post/82...ilming-4-15-14

I'll say she does! Wow!

[Blencathra]

Ohhh! I've just seen something on twitter posted by a fairly reliable filming stalker. He overheard a conversation (which confirms something heard a few weeks ago) in which it was said that after their Easter break filming will continue

(possible location spoiler)

Spoiler:

in Lanzarote.

A return to Sarn (Planet of Fire) perhaps?!

[Teddybrown]

http://www.doctorwhotv.co.uk/tom-bak...nned-62493.htm
Tom Baker reunion with SJS was planned.

[BruTak]

http://www.doctorwhotv.co.uk/tom-bak...nned-62493.htm
Tom Baker reunion with SJS was planned.

The four saddest words in the English language, "what might have been".

[Blencathra]

John Hurt films Doctor Who segment for The One Show to support Bafta Radio Times Audience Award

http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2014-...audience-award

The stars and celebrity fans of six of the biggest TV shows of last year will be appearing on tonight's One Show in an attempt to grab viewers' votes for this year's Bafta Radio Times Audience Award.

The Day of the Doctor star John Hurt is filming a special segment for the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary episode, while Gogglebox couple June and Leon will be live from Liverpool asking audiences to vote for the Channel 4 series.

In the studio, Educating Yorkshire’s Mr Burton, Musharaf and Ryan will make the case for their show, Great British Bake Off winner Frances Quinn will explain why she thinks it has the recipe for success, Broadchurch actor Joe Sims will play advocate for the ITV crime drama phenomenon and comedian and Breaking Bad superfan Omid Djalili will pitch for the only US show of the six.

The appeals will be peppered throughout tonight's hour-long One Show special with Heat magazine's TV editor Boyd Hilton introducing the segments.

The Radio Times Audience Award is the only award at the TV Baftas voted for by viewers.

Vote here - http://www.radiotimes.com/win/radio-...-2014/211.html

[Blencathra]

Does anyone want a job on Doctor Who? They are after a publicist.

http://careerssearch.bbc.co.uk/jobs/...ydd-Drama/7791

The post-holder will provide 360 degree communications support for key drama content produced by BBC Wales, including Doctor Who.

You’ll plan and execute proactive publicity campaigns across traditional and digital media, identifying and managing reputational issues and crises, managing relationships with high profile talent and production executives. You’ll also work to a priority-based publicity strategy to achieve the optimum profile for Wales-made network dramas in order to enhance the reputation of BBC Wales, the relevant channel / service and the BBC.

You’ll have a proven record of achievement in publicity, public relations or journalism along with a good understanding of the media environment and the news gathering process both in radio, television and print. You’ll have excellent news sense and be able to work in highly pressurized and high profile situations. You’ll write crisp, clear, lively press releases and copy, which stimulate both press and public interest. You’ll also have proven creativity – the ability to think laterally and outside the box, together with a hunger to constantly try new ideas and approaches.