Doctor Who News, Articles, Cast and Crew Interviews

[Alan]

Adrienne Corri 1930-2016
Saturday, 26 March, 2016 - Reported by Marcus

http://www.doctorwhonews.net/2016/03...1930-2016.html

The actress Adrienne Corri has died at the age of 85

Adrienne Corri played Mena in 1980 story The Leisure Hive, the first story of Tom Baker's last Doctor Who season.

Cori appeared in a number so film roles, and is probably best known for playing Mrs. Alexander in the 1971 Stanley Kubrick film A Clockwork Orange. She played Lara's mother in David Lean's 1965 film Dr. Zhivago and appeared in the Otto Preminger thriller Bunny Lake Is Missing.

Other films include Devil Girl from Mars, The Tell-Tale Heart, A Study in Terror and Vampire Circus. She played Therese Duval in Revenge of the Pink Panther.

Her television credits include playing Angelica in Sword of Freedom, Grace Gould in A Family at War, and Lady Rebecca in Lovejoy.

---

My own personal deepest condolences go out to her family and friends at this very difficult time.

REST IN PEACE
ADRIENNE CORRI
1930-2016

[Alan]

Lethbridge-Stewart: free download for Easter short story The Black Eggs of Khufu
Saturday, 26 March, 2016 - Reported by Chuck Foster

http://www.doctorwhonews.net/2016/03...316110008.html

Candy Jar Books has released a brand new Lethbridge-Stewart short story for Easter, which is being made available free to readers. The Black Eggs of Khufu is written by Tom Dexter and features an ancient alien mystery, camels, explosions and a ‘great egg race’ across the desert.

Lauren Thomas, who recently joined Candy Jar Books as digital and social media assistant, said:

We really thought that Tom Dexter had reached his peak with The Fright Before Christmas. That was until we read his story about the pyramids.

Forthcoming publications from Candy Jar Books include a limited edition anthology of short stories originally released online, The HAVOC Files (almost sold out!), and the next in their full Lethbridge Stewart novels, Moon Blink by Sadie Miller.


Full details on how to purchase the books and for downloading The Black Eggs of Jhufu can be found via their website.

[Alan]

10 Doctor Who DVD Easter eggs you may have missed
The good, bad and downright baffling hidden extras lurking in your disc collection

http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2016-...ay-have-missed

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HAPPY
EASTER
EVERYONE!!!!!!

[Alan]

Is this the first actor to be cast in Doctor Who spin-off Class?
Mr Selfridge star Greg Austin has set Whovian tongues wagging online with a series of curious tweets

http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2016-...spin-off-class

[Alan]

Ronnie Corbett 1930-2016
Thursday, 31 March, 2016 - Reported by Chuck Foster

The actor/comedian Ronnie Corbett has died, aged 85.

Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, he started his acting career after National Service, initially playing a number of schoolchild roles owing to his height, before migrating into comedy on television with the likes of Dickie Henderson and Jimmy Tarbuck However, it was in during The Frost Report in 1996 where he was to first meet and work alongside Ronnie Barker, leading to their successful partnership in The Two Ronnies, running between 1971 and 1987 plus specials, and the show that made him a household name.

His other major television role was as Timothy Lumsden in Sorry!, which ran from 1981-1988. In later years he appeared in films including Fierce Creatures and Burke and Hare, and on television in shows like The Ronnie Corbett Show, game show Small Talk and Ronnie's Animal Crackers, and also made appearance as 'himself' in both Extras and Little Britain.

Though not directly related to Doctor Who, he "inherits" the TARDIS from a 'Doctor' of sorts played by Ronnie Barker in their 1983 Christmas Special sketch, The Adventures of Archie. He was later to appear in The Sarah Jane Adventures universe, playing an ambassador that later turned out to be a Slitheen in the 2009 Comic Relief segment From Raxacoricofallapatorius with Love.

Outside of his career, Corbett was a keen golfer, and was also president of the Lord's Taverners cricketing charity in 1982 and 1987. He received an OBE in 1978 and then a CBE in 2012 for services to entertainment and charity.

He was married to actress and dancer Anne Hart, with two daughters who also act, Emma and Sophie.

Ronald Balfour Corbett, 4th Dec 1930 - 31 Mar 2016

[BruTak]

"The Two Ronnies" was a massive part of my childhood.

[Alan]

Reg Whitehead 1932-2016
Friday, 01 April, 2016 - Reported by Chuck Foster

http://www.doctorwhonews.net/2016/04...416083008.html

The actor Reg Whitehead has died, aged 83.

He was best known in Doctor Who for having played the first Cyberman to be seen on screen, during their invasion of the Antarctic base in The Tenth Planet; he went on to inhabit the insides of Cybermen for their successive stories The Moonbase and The Tomb of The Cybermen, and then as a Yeti in their debut story The Abominable Snowmen.

Outside of Doctor Who, he appeared in a number of television shows during the 1960s and early 1970s, including Z Cars, The Power Game, The Avengers, The Saint, and Counterstrike. In later life he was an enthusiastic racehorse owner, and often involved in projects at his local stables in Newbury.

Reg Whitehead, 11th Dec 1932 - 11 Mar 2016

[Alan]

Class - Cast Announced
Monday, 04 April, 2016 - Reported by Marcus

http://www.doctorwhonews.net/2016/04...announced.html

The BBC has announced the cast for the new Doctor Who Spin off, Class, as the series begins filming today.

The eight part series will star young new talents Greg Austin, Fady Elsayed, Sophie Hopkins and Vivian Oparah.

They will be joined by Katherine Kelly, as she takes the role of a teacher and powerful new presence at Coal Hill School.

Time has looked at your faces now. And time never forgets…
What if your planet was massacred and you were the sole survivor?
What if a legendary figure out of space and time found you a place to hide?
But what if the things that want to kill you have tracked you down?
And worst of all, what if you haven't studied for your A-Levels…?

Like all sixth formers, these four Coal Hill School students have hidden secrets and desires. They are facing their own worst fears, navigating a life of friends, parents, school work, sex, sorrow - and possibly the end of existence.

Coal Hill School has been a part of the Doctor Who Universe since the very first episode, but that has come at a price. All the time-travelling over the years has caused the very walls of space and time to become thin. There’s something pressing in on the other side, something waiting for its chance to kill everyone and everything, to bring us all into Shadow.

Fear is coming, tragedy is coming, war is coming. Prepare yourselves, Class is coming.

Class creator Patrick Ness, says:

We searched far and wide for this amazing cast, fantastic actors who understand what we’re aiming for with this show. And how lucky we are to get Katherine Kelly! She’s been stunning in Happy Valley, The Night Manager and Mr Selfridge, just wait until you see her here.

Steven Moffat, Class and Doctor Who Executive Producer, says:

There’s nothing more exciting than meeting stars that nobody’s heard of yet. We had the read through of the first few episodes last week, and there was a whole row of them. Coal Hill School has been part of Doctor Who since the very first shoot in 1963, but this new show is anything but history. Class is dark and sexy and right now. I’ve always wondered if there could be a British Buffy - it’s taken the brilliant Patrick Ness to figure out how to make it happen.

Class is described as a young adult series set in contemporary London. It is scary, funny, and as painful and sharp as youth. It will also shine a light on a whole new corner of the Whoniverse.

Damian Kavanagh, Controller, BBC Three, adds:

I can’t wait for Class to arrive on BBC Three. BBC Three will always back best young British talent.

The series starts filming today and will premiere online on BBC Three this year.

[BruTak]

Oh, here we go again... Actors in the mid-20s playing teenagers...

[Alan]

Class - Cast Announced
Monday, 04 April, 2016 - Reported by Marcus

http://www.doctorwhonews.net/2016/04...announced.html

The BBC has announced the cast for the new Doctor Who Spin off, Class, as the series begins filming today.

The eight part series will star young new talents Greg Austin, Fady Elsayed, Sophie Hopkins and Vivian Oparah.

They will be joined by Katherine Kelly, as she takes the role of a teacher and powerful new presence at Coal Hill School.

Time has looked at your faces now. And time never forgets…
What if your planet was massacred and you were the sole survivor?
What if a legendary figure out of space and time found you a place to hide?
But what if the things that want to kill you have tracked you down?
And worst of all, what if you haven't studied for your A-Levels…?

Like all sixth formers, these four Coal Hill School students have hidden secrets and desires. They are facing their own worst fears, navigating a life of friends, parents, school work, sex, sorrow - and possibly the end of existence.

Coal Hill School has been a part of the Doctor Who Universe since the very first episode, but that has come at a price. All the time-travelling over the years has caused the very walls of space and time to become thin. There’s something pressing in on the other side, something waiting for its chance to kill everyone and everything, to bring us all into Shadow.

Fear is coming, tragedy is coming, war is coming. Prepare yourselves, Class is coming.

Class creator Patrick Ness, says:

We searched far and wide for this amazing cast, fantastic actors who understand what we’re aiming for with this show. And how lucky we are to get Katherine Kelly! She’s been stunning in Happy Valley, The Night Manager and Mr Selfridge, just wait until you see her here.

Steven Moffat, Class and Doctor Who Executive Producer, says:

There’s nothing more exciting than meeting stars that nobody’s heard of yet. We had the read through of the first few episodes last week, and there was a whole row of them. Coal Hill School has been part of Doctor Who since the very first shoot in 1963, but this new show is anything but history. Class is dark and sexy and right now. I’ve always wondered if there could be a British Buffy - it’s taken the brilliant Patrick Ness to figure out how to make it happen.

Class is described as a young adult series set in contemporary London. It is scary, funny, and as painful and sharp as youth. It will also shine a light on a whole new corner of the Whoniverse.

Damian Kavanagh, Controller, BBC Three, adds:

I can’t wait for Class to arrive on BBC Three. BBC Three will always back best young British talent.

The series starts filming today and will premiere online on BBC Three this year.

Oh, here we go again... Actors in the mid-20s playing teenagers...

Yeah. Hey, remember an actress from a long time ago? Carole Ann Ford I think her name was? Whatever happened to that show she used to appear in again?

[rushy]

It just doesn't look interesting in any way to me... the idea of time travel "thinning" Coal Hill is a bit clumsy, to say the least(exactly how thin is the former UNIT HQ then?) and it seems to be shaping up into sci-fi soap.

[Alan]

It just doesn't look interesting in any way to me... the idea of time travel "thinning" Coal Hill is a bit clumsy, to say the least(exactly how thin is the former UNIT HQ then?) and it seems to be shaping up into sci-fi soap.

But Coal Hill School is still standing and highly active whereas it can be safely assumed that the old UNIT HQ of the 1970's is decommissioned. Coal Hill has had the powerful Hand of Omega on its grounds, a Dalek Transmat platform, not to mention Susan Foreman and the Doctor with their high levels of Artron Energy plus those from Coal Hill (Barbara Wright, Ian Chesterton, Clara Oswald, Courtney Woods) that have been irradiated by the energy from their travels in time and space. Then there is the TARDIS itself which has visited Coal Hill many, many times and its link with the Eye of Harmony. All those technologies and their energies mixed together could have made for quite a cocktail and caused the walls of space and time to thin around Shoreditch.

There is past proof of the TARDIS leaving unusual side-effects in its wake after mixing with unusual phenomena in its presence - its Chameleon Circuit bonded with the Cardiff Space/Time Rift in the late 19th century causing a perception filter to permanently stand above the old Torchwood 3 base right through to the 21st century.

[rushy]

But Coal Hill School is still standing and highly active whereas it can be safely assumed that the old UNIT HQ of the 1970's is decommissioned. Coal Hill has had the powerful Hand of Omega on its grounds, a Dalek Transmat platform, not to mention Susan Foreman and the Doctor with their high levels of Artron Energy plus those from Coal Hill (Barbara Wright, Ian Chesterton, Clara Oswald, Courtney Woods) that have been irradiated by the energy from their travels in time and space. Then there is the TARDIS itself which has visited Coal Hill many, many times and its link with the Eye of Harmony. All those technologies and their energies mixed together could have made for quite a cocktail and caused the walls of space and time to thin around Shoreditch.

There is past proof of the TARDIS leaving unusual side-effects in its wake after mixing with unusual phenomena in its presence - its Chameleon Circuit bonded with the Cardiff Space/Time Rift in the late 19th century causing a perception filter to permanently stand above the old Torchwood 3 base right through to the 21st century.

The Hand Of Omega and the Dalek transmat were just technology. The Doctor wouldn't have used the Hand Of Omega there if he knew there would be freak side-effects later(speaking of which, was the Hand even at the school? I remember him taking it from the undertaker's, burying it and then later retrieving it from the Daleks). And I don't see how a transmat would affect the school(unless the people from The Seeds Of Death have VERY thin timelines.

The Doctor and his companions have stayed longer in other places and nothing has happened. The TARDIS was in Coal Hill only once - in The Caretaker. And it visited Totter's Lane three times: in An Unearthly Child, Attack Of The Cybermen and Remembrance Of The Daleks. Which, again, UNIT HQ? Where the Doctor tinkered with his gadgets for years? Which took a trip through a black hole once? Even if it's sealed up, that place would be the hotspot for the alien invasions instead of a school with minor temporal anomalies at best.

Also, I should mention that the Rift no longer exists as the Doctor sealed most of the cracks in time(apart from the one the Time Lords kept open). So even if that had been the case for Coal Hill, it isn't any longer.

I don't have a big problem with the Class premise in of itself(apart from how mundane it is), but they could've thought of a better explanation than "lots of timey-wimey happened there". It's Angels Take Manhattan all over again.

[BruTak]

Yeah. Hey, remember an actress from a long time ago? Carole Ann Ford I think her name was? Whatever happened to that show she used to appear in again?

Yes, I get what you're saying. But Carol Ann Ford looked younger than she actually was.

Whereas these guys look their ages.

[rushy]

Yes, I get what you're saying. But Carol Ann Ford looked younger than she actually was.

Whereas these guys look their ages.

I'd disagree with that. I've seen some teens who look exactly like that.