Doctor Who News, Articles, Cast and Crew Interviews

[Alan]

Arachnids In The UK - This Weekend
Friday, 26 October, 2018 - Reported by Marcus

http://www.doctorwhonews.net/2018/10...s-weekend.html

A number of new publicity images to promote this week's episode of Doctor Who, Arachnids In The UK

Arachnids In The UK

Writer: Chris Chibnall
Director: Sallie Aprahamian

Something’s happening with the spiders in this city.

The Doctor, Yaz, Graham and Ryan find their way back to Yorkshire – and Yaz’s family – only to find something is stirring amidst the eight-legged arachnid population of Sheffield.

Episode 4 Trailer | Arachnids In The UK | Doctor Who
FIRST LOOK: Episode 4 | Arachnids In The UK

This episode will debut on BBC One at 7.00pm.

Main Broadcast Details
United Kingdom	BBC One	Sunday 28th October	7.00pm BST
United States of America	BBC America	Sunday 28th October	8.00pm EDT
Canada	SPACE	Sunday 28th October	8.00pm EDT
Australia	ABC	Monday 29th October	6.00pm AEST

Full listings here

[Alan]

Derrick Sherwin 1936 - 2018
Monday, 29 October, 2018 - Reported by Marcus

http://www.doctorwhonews.net/2018/10...1936-2018.html

Former Doctor Who producer Derrick Sherwin, the man responsible for creating UNIT, has died at the age of 82.

Derrick Sherwin worked on Doctor Who in many capacities, writing scripts, producing the series for the transition between the second and third Doctor, and even appearing in once scene, playing a Car Park Attendant in the 1970 story Spearhead from Space. His most lasting legacy was creating the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce or UNIT for the 1968 story The Invasion. UNIT, helmed by Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, was an essential component for the Third Doctor's tenure, with its influence reaching as far as the Twelfth Doctor.

Sherwin was born in 1936 in the Buckinghamshire town of High Wycombe, just west of London. His early work was in the theatre, but he quickly moved into television appearing in the 1958 show Duty Bound. Over the next ten years, he had a steady series of small roles appearing in dramas such as Here Lies Miss Sabry, The Edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre, United! and Armchair Theatre.

His first contact with Doctor Who came when he joined as Assistant Script Editor to help the incumbent Peter Bryant who was preparing to take over as producer. It was a baptism of fire as he was immediately charged with rescuing a number of scripts which were not ready for production. He told Doctor Who Magazine.

It was just before Christmas, and I was landed with a great pile of scripts that had to go into production immediately after the holiday break. The director had sent them back and said he wouldn’t do them. Pat Troughton had thrown a wobbly – they really were appalling! That set the pattern for the first three months. It was a real baptism of fire.

He took over as Script Editor for the 1968 story The Dominators and later that year had the chance to write his own story from scratch. The result was The Invasion, the Cybermen story that set up the pattern for the series for much of the next five years. Sherwin felt the series had become too fantastical, with different monsters every week. He wanted to give the series a more grounded approach and saw as his inspiration the 1950's Quatermass stories. To help achieve that he took a character created for the story The Web of Fear, Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart, promoted him to Brigadier, and created UNIT around him.

I sat down and wrote a couple of pages about this special task force, specifically with members from all nations, which had been set up to investigate funny things happening in space or the possibility of UFO’s or whatever. It was basically an army intelligence unit with special powers and, on some occasions, special weapons.

Sherwin took over of producer for the last Patrick Troughton story, The War Games and was responsible for casting the third Doctor Jon Pertwee and overseeing the series move from Black and White to Colour. He left the series after Spearhead in Space

He moved onto produce the series Paul Temple and later The Man Outside and Perils of Pendragon

In the 1980's, when Doctor Who was under threat of cancellation from the BBC he offered to buy the franchise from the BBC and produce it independently.

I wrote to Michael Grade and said ‘Look, obviously the BBC can’t afford to do this and doesn’t know where to go with it, so I will take it off your hands, produce it independently, finance it independently, and sell it back to you as a package’. He turned me down, saying that he’d got plans for the series. Then, when Grade left, I wrote to Peter Cregeen about it. So I offered to buy ‘Doctor Who’ out twice!

Derrick Sherwin died last week after a long illness.

[cosmichobo]

I'm kinda sad about that.

Instrumental in many ways to the direction of the show.

[Alan]

Doctor Who: Thirteenth Doctor #1
Thursday, 01 November, 2018 - Reported byMarcus

http://www.doctorwhonews.net/2018/11...-doctor-1.html

Next week sees the hotly-anticipated release of the comic Doctor Who: Thirteenth Doctor #1 from Titan

Taking control of the TARDIS for this regeneration is a new team: Eisner-nominated writer Jody Houser (Stranger Things, Mother Panic, Faith, Spider-Man), illustrator Rachael Stott (Doctor Who, Motherlands), and colourist Enrica Angiolini (Warhammer 40,000).

Titan’s new comic series sees the Doctor played by Jodie Whittaker, traveling the cosmos with three brand new friends: Graham (played by Bradley Walsh), Yasmin (Mandip Gill), and Ryan (Tosin Cole).

The comic is released on 7 November 2018

Doctor Who: Thirteenth Doctor #1

Writer: Jody Houser
Artist: Rachael Stott
Colourist: Enrica Eren Angiolini

Experience mind-blowing challenges and dynamic adventures through time and space - right alongside the Doctor and her friends!

A new series for a new era on the TARDIS, from a creative team of astounding women - Eisner-nominated writer Jody Houser (Faith, Mother Panic, Star Wars: Rogue One, Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows, Orphan Black), art by Rachael Stott (Doctor Who, Motherlands, Star Trek/Planet of the Apes) and colors from Enrica Angiolini (Shades of Magic)!

[Alan]

The Tsuranga Conundrum - This Weekend
Friday, 02 November, 2018 - Reported by Marcus

http://www.doctorwhonews.net/2018/11...s-weekend.html

A number of new publicity images to promote this week's episode of Doctor Who, The Tsuranga Conundrum

The Tsuranga Conundrum

Writer: Chris Chibnall
Director: Jennifer Perrott

Risk to life: absolute.

Injured and stranded in the wilds of a far-flung galaxy, The Doctor, Yaz, Graham and Ryan must band together with a group of strangers to survive against one of the universe’s most deadly -- and unusual -- creatures.

Episode 5 Trailer | The Tsuranga Conundrum | Doctor Who

This episode will debut on BBC One at 7.00pm.

Main Broadcast Details
United Kingdom	BBC One	Sunday 4th November	7.00pm BST
United States of America	BBC America	Sunday 4th November	8.00pm EDT
Canada	SPACE	Sunday 4th November	8.00pm EDT
Australia	ABC	Monday 5th November	6.00pm AEST

Full listings here

[Teddybrown]

Is it true there will be no Doctor Who this Christmas?

[DigiFluid]

Is it true there will be no Doctor Who this Christmas?

Possibly?

The report says that they don't want to do a Christmas episode because they're tapped out on Xmas ideas--but Chibnall still seems to think there will be a 'special' episode after the finale, possibly a New Years story.

This sounds like deliberate obfuscation and/or misdirection to me though. It's already November, so presumably filming on any kind of holiday episode would have been long since completed by now. Whether something happens at Xmas/New Years/whenever is at this point already decided, but for whatever reason, Chibnall isn't saying.

[Alan]

Episode 6 Trailer | Demons Of The Punjab | Doctor Who: Series 11

[Alan]

Doctor Who - Episodes Seven and Eight
Monday, 05 November, 2018 - Reported by Marcus

http://www.doctorwhonews.net/2018/11...and-eight.html

The BBC has released details of Doctor Who Episodes Seven and Eight



Episode Seven: Kerblam!

“Delivery for the Doctor!”

A mysterious message arrives in a package addressed to the Doctor, leading her, Graham, Yaz and Ryan to investigate the warehouse moon orbiting Kandoka, and the home of the galaxy’s largest retailer: Kerblam!

Guest starring Julie Hesmondhalgh and Lee Mack.

Written by Pete McTighe.

Directed by Jennifer Perrott.



Episode Eight: The Witchfinders

The Doctor, Ryan, Graham and Yaz arrive in 17th century Lancashire and become embroiled in a witch trial, run by the local landowner.

As fear stalks the land, the arrival of King James I only serves to intensify the witch hunt. But is there something even more dangerous at work? Can the Doctor and friends keep the people of Bilehurst Cragg safe from all the forces that are massing in the land?

Guest starring Siobhan Finneran and Alan Cumming.

Written by Joy Wilkinson.

Directed by Sallie Aprahamian.

[Alan]

The Wheel In Space - Animated Mini Episode
Monday, 05 November, 2018 - Reported by Marcus

http://www.doctorwhonews.net/2018/11...i-episode.html



A new animated sequence from the 1968 Doctor Who story, The Wheel In Space, is to get its debut at the British Film Institute's Southbank Centre this December.

The 10-minute sequence is from Episode 1 of the six-part story. The episode has been missing from the BBC archives since it was junked in the early 1970's. Only two of the six episodes from the story still exist in the archives.

This newly announced mini-episode is produced by Charles Norton, who produced the animated versions of The Power of the Daleks and Shada. It is directed by Anne Marie Walsh who will introduce the BFI Southbank screening and will be included on a future BBC DVD.

The screening is part of the annual Missing Believed Wiped event at the BFI, marking its 25th Anniversary this year. The screening, Session One on 15 December, will also feature previously lost episodes of Vince Hill at Talk of the Town.

Session 2, later the same day will feature an interview with Philip Morris, the man responsible for returning a number of missing Doctor Who episodes to the archives. Among the clips and shows featured in this session are appearances from Morecambe and Wise and the earliest surviving episode from the first series of The Basil Brush Show.

Tickets for both Missing Believed Wiped sessions on 15 December go on sale to BFI members on 6November and the general public from 13 November, with joint ticket option available for both sessions.

[Alan]

The Paternoster Gang return for Big Finish
Monday, 05 November, 2018 - Reported by Marcus

http://www.doctorwhonews.net/2018/11...n-for-big.html

Audio producer Big Finish is to bring back The Paternoster Gang for a new series of audio adventures

Neve McIntosh, Catrin Stewart and Dan Starkey return as Madame Vastra, Jenny and Strax the Sontaran for their own adventures in The Paternoster Gang – Heritage.

Set during the Victorian London of the Twelfth Doctor’s era, the Paternoster Gang have finally been reunited. The much-loved characters from the Steven Moffat era of Doctor Who will return next year in a new set of audios from Big Finish Productions made in association with BBC Studios.

They’ll be facing the first electronic automated cars in London (very ahead of their time), hordes of zombies, and ghost-like figures which are haunting Greenwich before their former selves have died.

Plus they’ll have to cope with the capers of the Bloomsbury bunch! This intergalactic alien trio, comprising a Sontaran couple and their Silurian female servant, will be causing trouble in London – and this town isn’t big enough for two extraterrestrial gangs.

The first adventure for the Paternoster Gang is being released as part of The 8th of March celebratory box set. Following this, four volumes, each containing three adventures, are coming out in 2019 and 2020, kicking off with volume one, Heritage, being released in April:

• 1.1 The Cars that ate London by Jonathan Morris
• 1.2 A Photograph to Remember by Roy Gill
• 1.3 The Ghosts of Greenwich by Paul Morris

Dan Starkey, who plays Sontaran butler Strax, told us about the gangs triumphant return

Remain calm, human scum! Strax need no longer sulk and polish his grenades! It'll be a pleasure to get the gang back together: Big Finish listeners can be assured that we'll be in full prosthetics and restrictive Victorian tailoring in studio to get right back into the Paternoster Row vibe! Can't wait to get started!

Neve McIntosh, who plays Madame Vastra, says

At last our fans will get more adventures with The Paternoster Gang and will find out more about how we came to be!

The Paternoster Gang Volumes 1-4 are available for pre-order now ahead of their release in April 2019, October 2019, March 2020 and October 2020, at £25 on CD or £20 on download each from bigfinish.com and will remain at this price until general release when they will be available for £30 on CD or £25 on download each.

Each box set will consist of three audio adventures plus an additional disc of extras.

[cosmichobo]

Ok - the partial animation of Wheel in Space is the most bizarre news story I’ve heard in years!

There’s something going on...

[DigiFluid]

Doctor Who will part of this year's Children in Need special, no details as of yet.

[BruTak]

Ok - the partial animation of Wheel in Space is the most bizarre news story I’ve heard in years!

There’s something going on...

Yeah, maybe they're going with a different animation style, and this is just a "proof of concept"?

[Linda06]

Hear, hear! In the spirit of our approach to Halloween I've been watching scary movies. Last night I was watching Invasion of the Body Snatchers and right next to me is my computer desk and in my peripheral vision I think I see something move near my keyboard. I moved it to one side and right there was this spider with leg lengths about half that of my pinkie finger! I didn't give it half a chance. My apologies to those people out there that do like spiders.

Only one invasion of the bodysnatchers is worth watching and that's the original

I hope you killed that evil thing good