Doctor Who News, Articles, Cast and Crew Interviews

[Alan]

#DoctorWhoLockdown: Heaven Sent
Tuesday, 14 April, 2020 - Reported by Chuck Foster

http://www.doctorwhonews.net/2020/04...042017008.html

The next shared Doctor Who viewing organised by Doctor Who Magazine's Emily Cook takes place this evening (UK) in celebration of Peter Capaldi's birthday:

To join in, simply pop in your DVD or Bluray disc of Heaven Sent, or access a streaming service such as BBC iPlayer, Amazon Video, iTunes, Google Play or Netflix, and then hit play at 8:00pm BST / 1:00pm EDT / 4:00am AEST / 5:00am NZST and share your viewing experience!

Tweet #HellofaBird

The Twitter discussion will include insights from writer Steven Moffat, director Rachel Talalay and the embodiment of the Veil, Jami Reid-Quarrell.

Heaven Sent: Global Simulcast Trailer

There is also a special message from the Doctor himself, Peter Capaldi, in advance of the discussion:

Emily Cook @Emily_Rosina





As promised, ahead of today's #HellofaBird watchalong with @StevenWMoffat, @rtalalay and @JReidQ...

Here's A NOTE FROM PETER CAPALDI! #DoctorWhoLockdown




3:03 PM - Apr 14, 2020

[Alan]

Farewell, Sarah Jane. - New Mini Episode Released Sunday
Saturday, 18 April, 2020 - Reported by Marcus

http://www.doctorwhonews.net/2020/04...i-episode.html

A brand new conclusion to The Sarah Jane Adventures, Farewell Sarah Jane, has been written by series creator Russell T Davies and will be released on Sunday.

The episode will be released at 5pm on the BBC Doctor Who YouTube, Facebook, Twitter & Instagram accounts. Later that evening the latest #DoctorWhoLockdown event will be a rewatch of the final two episodes of Series Four The Stolen Earth and Journey's End. Fans around the world will simultaneously watch the episodes along with twitter commentary from Russell T Davies, David Tennant, Catherine Tate, Freema Agyeman, John Barrowman and director Grahame Harper.

The Sarah Jane Adventures ended in 2011 after the death of Elisabeth Sladen, who first appeared alongside Jon Pertwee in 1973. The mini episode was made with the support of Sladen's family.

#DoctorWhoLockdown is organised by Emily Cook of Doctor Who Magazine. It's aim is to bring fans around the world together during the current lockdown through their shared love of Doctor Who.

Russell T Davies @russelldavies63
SUNDAY 5pm! Farewell, Sarah Jane. The final Sarah Jane Adventure. Made with the blessing of Lis's family; come and say goodbye. Available on Doctor Who YouTube, Facebook, Twitter & Instagram, and both the global http://doctorwho.tv and BBC Doctor Who sites #FarewellSarahJane

12:00 PM - Apr 18, 2020

[iiradned]

Elisabeth Sladen's daughter Sadie Miller will play the role that cemented her mother in our hearts in a new Big Finish production along side Tom Baker.

https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2...h-jane-recast/

[Alan]

Farewell, Sarah Jane | Doctor Who
19th April 2020

[BruTak]

Here I am, a grown man of almost 50, and I am in bits.

[Alan]

Here I am, a grown man of almost 50, and I am in bits.

I know how you feel. I didn't have a dry eye whilst watching that.

I was in a complete daze when I first heard the news of Elisabeth Sladen's passing. Nine years on and it is still quite hard to believe that she isn't with us anymore. She's very much missed.

[BruTak]

I've one very minor criticism about it, which I'll put in spoilers because some folk might not have watched it yet.

Spoiler:

Why would K-9 leave with Dorothy/Ace? Surely he'd stay with Luke?

That bothered me for some reason.

[Alan]

Time Lord Victorious - Multi Platform Story
Monday, 27 April, 2020 - Reported by Marcus

http://www.doctorwhonews.net/2020/04...-platform.html

BBC Studios have announced that Doctor Who will be the focus of a new multi-platform story launching later this year.

Time Lord Victorious will see partners including Penguin Random House, Doctor Who Magazine, Titan Comics, Escape Hunt, Big Finish Productions, Eaglemoss Hero Collector, Immersive Everywhere, Maze Theory, BBC Books and BBC Audio, unite to tell a brand new Doctor Who story.

Time Lord Victorious will launch later this year, with products and experiences scheduled to launch over a twelve-week period.

Time Lord Victorious will tell a new and untold story, set within the Dark Times at the start of the universe when even the Eternals were young. Following several Doctors across space and time as they defend their home planet from a terrible race, this is a story like no other.

The story will feature the Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Doctors, companion Rose Tyler and monsters including the Daleks and the Ood, with more to be revealed over the coming months as products are announced.

James Goss, Producer, said

BBC Studios’ Doctor Who licensees have come together to tell an amazing epic – one that’s full of monsters, fun and heart. All strands of the story unite into a mighty patchwork that ranges from one end of the universe to the next. There's more to be revealed, but the enthusiasm and ideas which the licensees have come up with are breath-taking. It's going to be such fun.

Further information about Time Lord Victorious can be found on DoctorWho.TV, where a timeline of product releases will be collated as products are announced.

[Alan]

April 28th, 2020
The Power Of The Daleks Special Edition Blu-ray

https://merchandise.thedoctorwhosite...ition-blu-ray/

Available to order from www.zoom.co.uk and www.zavvi.co.uk

Listed but not available to order yet on www.amazon.co.uk

Patrick Troughton stars in this recreation of a lost classic from 1966.

The TARDIS brings the Doctor, Polly and Ben to a colony on the swamp planet of Vulcan. Soon after arriving, the Doctor witnesses a brutal murder.

Meanwhile, in another part of the colony an ancient crashed space capsule has been discovered in the swamps. The colony’s misguided chief scientist opens the capsule and discovers a group of strange metal ‘creatures’ inside. The creatures appear to be long dead. The Doctor calls the metal creatures ‘Daleks’ and claims that they are incredibly dangerous.

‘The Power of the Daleks’ was the first Doctor Who story to star Patrick Troughton as the Doctor – broadcast between November and December 1966. Sadly, none of the six original broadcast episodes of ‘The Power of the Daleks’ any longer exist in the BBC Film Archives. However, complete audio recordings of the lost episodes have survived in the hands of private collectors. And it is these audio recordings that are used as the basis for this special animated production of the programme. Now in a brand new edition and brought to you in glorious black and white…

Includes exciting new special features:

• Two new documentaries about The Power of the Daleks
• 1993 BBC audio version of The Power of the Daleks narrated by Tom Baker
• Raw incidental music
• Photogrammetry Featurette
• Whicker’s World – I Don’t Like My Monsters to Have Oedipus Complexes
• Daleks – The Early Years: A 1992 documentary presented by Peter Davison
• Robin Hood – 1953 Episode: Patrick Troughton’s earliest surviving TV appearance
• BBC archive footage from BBC regional news, BBC Breakfast, Blue Peter and Newsnight
• Previously unreleased animation trailers and animatics

Additional bonus material:

• Audio commentaries by Anneke Wills on each episode
• Animation test footage
• Photo Gallery, including previously unreleased and rediscovered full colour on-set photos from 1966.
• Servants & Masters – The Making of The Power of the Daleks
• Doctor Who – The Highlanders

[Alan]

Doctor Who: Shadow of the Sun - Release Date May
Wednesday, 29 April, 2020 - Reported by Marcus

http://www.doctorwhonews.net/2020/04...ease-date.html

The first full-cast, full-length Doctor Who audio drama to have been recorded entirely during lockdown will be released on 12 May.

Tom Baker, Louise Jameson and John Leeson star in Doctor Who: Shadow of the Sun, a Fourth Doctor mystery adventure written by Rob Valentine.

This is the first full-cast Doctor Who audio drama to have been produced using Big Finish’s remote recording techniques, and it boasts among its guest cast Fenella Woolgar (Inside Number 9, Call the Midwife) as a terminally bored socialite, Lady Malina Rigel-Smythe. She is one of many passengers onboard a luxury liner with a difference.

Doctor Who: Shadow of the Sun is now available to pre-order exclusively at the Big Finish website, from just £8.99.

After an accident, the TARDIS lands on a luxury star-liner. Leaving their ship to repair itself, the Doctor, Leela and K9 find themselves facing a great terror: mingling at a cocktail party.

Something seems awry behind the pleasantries however. Guests are going missing, and equipment is breaking down. When the Doctor investigates further he discovers that the star-liner is literally on course for disaster.

But no-one seems surprised by this information, still less troubled. What’s going on? And can the Doctor and his friends save everyone... when nobody wants to be saved?

Director Nicholas Briggs said

In Shadow of the Sun, we have a great, well-made script by Rob Valentine. A lovely slice of science fantasy. It has a great central idea and a cast of superb characters. At its core, there’s a fanatical belief in something that is patent nonsense, but the Doctor, Leela and K9 find themselves to be the only people who know the truth. That’s a great set-up!

And it also has a flavour of the often talked about ‘base under siege’ setting, which adds appealing claustrophobia to the storytelling. It makes the situation more extreme and therefore more of an exciting ride for the audience.

Writer Robert Valentine added

This is a story inspired by the modern trend of giving the same value to opinion as fact – including everything from climate change denial to the anti-vaccination movement – but specifically the recent (and ultimately fatal) rocket launch experiments intended to prove that the Earth is flat. The Doctor is about to find himself in a situation where the true enemy is pseudo-scientific hubris, and for once it might be an enemy he hasn't the tools to overcome.

Doctor Who: Shadow of the Sun is now available to pre-order exclusively at the Big Finish website, as a collector’s edition CD (priced at £10.99) or digital download (price at £8.99).

Please note that Big Finish is currently operating a digital-first release schedule. The mailout of collector’s edition CDs will be delayed, 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.

[Alan]

Doctor Who Collection range discussion
Monday, 11 May, 2020 - Reported by Chuck Foster

http://www.doctorwhonews.net/2020/05...520170008.html

An interview has been released online featuring Chris Chapman, one of the main contributors to the ongoing range of Doctor Who seasons being released on Blu-ray. The producer/director chatted about the challenges of creating fresh features and insights for the stories previously released on DVD, including those on the latest release, Season 14, and hinted about existing/potential developments planned for the future of the range.

The interview is available courtesy of Fantom Events.

Doctor Who Newscast: Season 14 Bluray Secrets! With Chis Chapman, via Youtube

[Alan]

First ‘Time Lord Victorious’ stories announced!
12th May 2020

https://www.doctorwho.tv/news/?artic...orious-stories

BBC Books will be publishing two novels to tie into the multi-platform Doctor Who story, Time Lord Victorious, starring the Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Doctors.

You can pre-order The Knight, the Fool and The Dead and All Flesh is Grass now.

Time Lord Victorious is a brand-new multi-platform Doctor Who story told across audio, novels, comics, vinyl, digital, immersive theatre, escape rooms and games!

Set within the Dark Times at the start of the universe, three incarnations of the Doctor must travel across Space and Time as they defend the universe from a terrible race.

These two novels are just some of the stories in this epic saga!

We live forever, barring accidents. Just like everyone else in the universe.

The Doctor travels back to the Dark Times, an era where life flourishes and death is barely known...

Then come the Kotturuh – creatures who spread through the cosmos dispensing mortality. They judge each and every species and decree its allotted time to live. For the first time, living things know the fear of ending. And they will go to any lengths to escape this grim new spectre, death.

The Doctor is an old hand at cheating death. Now, at last, he can stop it at source. He is coming for the Kotturuh, ready to change everything so that life wins from the start.

Not just the last of the Time Lords. The Time Lord Victorious.

The Knight, the Fool and The Dead will be released in October 2020.

Even a Time Lord can’t change the past.

A wasteland. A dead world… No, there is a biodome rising from the ashes. Here, life teems and flourishes, with strange, lush plants and many-winged insects with bright carapaces – and one solitary sentient creature, who spends its days talking to the insects and tending this lonely garden. This is Inyit, the Last of the Kotturuh.

In All Flesh is Grass we are transported back to The Dark Times. The Tenth Doctor has sworn to stop the Kotturuh, ending death and bringing life to the universe. But his plan is unravelling – instead of bringing life, nothing has changed and all around him people are dying. Death is everywhere. Now he must confront his former selves – one in league with their greatest nemesis and the other manning a ship of the undead…

All Flesh is Grass will be released in December 2020.

You can pre-order The Knight, the Fool and The Dead and All Flesh is Grass now.

[Alan]

Six new Doctor Who figurine sets coming soon!
18th May, 2020

https://www.doctorwho.tv/news/?artic...cter-june-2020

Character Options has announced six upcoming sets of Doctor Who products, going on sale from June 2020.

These action figures will be available from B&M stores in the UK from June 2020, and from Amazon and the BBC Shop in the US.

Friends and Foes of the Thirteenth Doctor set

These are the first figures of the Thirteenth Doctor’s friends Yasmin Khan, as seen in Arachnids in the UK, and Ryan Sinclair as seen in the story Rosa. The set also features a Judoon Trooper, one of the ruthless intergalactic security enforcers seen in the story Fugitive of the Judoon.

Second Doctor and TARDIS Set

This Second Doctor and TARDIS has detailing from the last episode of 1969’s ten-part epic The War Games, the final story of Season Six. The set comprises the Second Doctor with ripped trouser knee details and bedraggled appearance. The TARDIS comes in dark blue with iconic Second Doctor square top lamp, standard opening doors, ‘POLICE BOX’ signage and the newer low-profile base.

The Daleks Collector Set

This twin Dalek set features the Daleks as seen fully in The Daleks, the second story of the very first season of Doctor Who in 1963. When seen in the early days of black and white television these Daleks were utterly alien in look and virtually identical in their livery of silver, mid grey and blue hemispheres. To identify each prop the casings had parallel black lines etched on, numbering them one to four. This has been replicated as accurately as possible in this new set. Inside is also specially created inserts as part of the heritage Doctor Who brand packaging.

The Dalek Invasion of Earth Collector Set

This set features the Daleks as seen in the story, The Dalek Invasion of Earth, from 1964. These revised Daleks were taller and more imposing with deep bases and revised colour schemes. This stunning new set represents a silver eyed ‘Drone’ Dalek, the black ‘Saucer Command’ Dale and includes specially created inserts as part of the heritage Doctor Who brand packaging.

Companions of the Fourth Doctor

This set features a new figure of Sarah Jane Smith and two figures of the Time Lady Romana. This set includes Sarah Jane Smith as seen in 1975’s Genesis of the Daleks and Revenge of the Cybermen, and Romana as seen in 1978’s The Pirate Planet and 1979’s Destiny of the Daleks.

1971 U.N.I.T The Claws of Axos Set

The Claws of Axos Set brings together the Third Doctor’s core U.N.I.T team of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, Captain Mike Yates and Sergeant John Benton. This set based on the Season 8 1971 story has the Brigadier wearing his less formal uniform with U.N.I.T beret, and Benton and Yates sporting their combat fatigues and webbing.

Al Dewar, Character Options’ Creative Director, said:

“This will be the first time in almost a decade where there will be parallel launches of the same product in the UK and the USA. Hopefully this new wave of toys will contain a few surprises for everyone. As always, the Character team has tried very hard to bring something new to delight, and hopefully exceed the expectations of fans and collectors alike. This time we are bringing even more to the table with six new products!”

These action figures will be available from B&M stores in the UK from June 2020, and from Amazon and the BBC Shop in the US.

[Alan]

Doctor Who: LOCKDOWN | DOCTORS ASSEMBLE! | Teaser
22nd MAY 2020

Coming soon to a screen near you...DOCTORS ASSEMBLE! Coming 23.05.2020

STARRING: David Bradley, Jonathon Carley, Elliott Crossley, Jon Culshaw, Jacob Dudman, Debra Stephenson, Angus Villiers-Stuart, Wink Taylor, Chris Walker-Thomson, Peter Walsh.

Trailer edited by: Rob Baines
Artwork by: Will Brooks
Music composed by: Howard Carter

[Alan]

Eric Roberts Returns as The Master for Big Finish
Friday, 22 May, 2020 - Reported by Marcus

http://www.doctorwhonews.net/2020/05...r-for-big.html

It’s been 24 years since Eric Roberts first appeared as The Master fighting Paul McGann’s Eighth Doctor. Now he’s back in a new audio adventure for Big Finish.

Roberts version of the Master was originally seen in the 1996 TV Movie, Doctor Who. Now he’s escaped the Time Vortex to wreak havoc upon the universe in his very own box set of brand new, full-cast audio adventures, due for release in March 2021.

Along the way, he’ll meet old enemies, new companions and the universe’s most glamorous and dangerous bounty hunter, Vienna Salvatori (a special guest appearance by Chase Masterson).

MASTER! is now available for pre-order as a collector’s edition three-disc box set (on CD at £19.99) and as a digital download (at £16.99).

Abandoned in the Vortex, the Master’s lost incarnation is about to be thrown a lifeline.

Earth rebuilds in the aftermath of invasion, and power rests with those who innovate. Genius Lila Kreeg makes a deal with the devil to see her dreams fulfilled.

As the Master returns, there are those – like Vienna Salvatori – who wish to hunt him, and those upon whom he wishes vengeance himself...

The Master will be doing his dastardly deeds in three thrilling new stories:

• Faustian by Robert Valentine
• Prey by Robert Whitelock
• Vengeance by Matt Fitton

Director, Jamie Anderson, said

Entering this Blade Runner-esque world with the TV Movie Master was a real thrill for me, and it's been a joy to hear our brilliant cast interacting with the effortlessly evil Eric Roberts. The future this writing trio have created is a thrilling place to adventure for three one-hour stories, and listeners are in for a treat when they get to meet the future Earth's characters – both good and evil.

Producer, David Richardson added

The Master continues his cunning plan, by stealth, to take over the Big Finish release schedule – we have the War Master, we have Missy, and now the Movie Master has his own box set, reaching out for help from the Time Vortex – and finding new allies and new foes. Think Killing Eve in a dystopian future and you may just get a taster of what this new direction for the Master looks like.

MASTER! is now available for pre-order as a collector’s edition three-disc box set (on CD at £19.99) and as a digital download (at £16.99), exclusively from the Big Finish website.