Doctor Who News, Articles, Cast and Crew Interviews

[Alan]

Doctor Who Magazine: Issue 602
Thursday, 28 March 2024 - Reported by Marcus

https://www.doctorwhonews.net/2024/0...issue_602.html

Issue 602 of Doctor Who Magazine is out today
Inside this issue!

• In the run-up to the new series, Millie Gibson talks to DWM about playing companion Ruby Sunday – her most in-depth interview yet!
• We examine a long-lost interview that First Doctor William Hartnell gave to the Scottish press – including some forthright opinions!
• Davina McCall shares her love of Doctor Who and reflects on her role in last year’s Christmas Special.
• Script to screen: find out what processes went into bringing creepy puppet Stooky Bill and his family to life in The Giggle.
• To tie-in with the release of Season 15 on Blu-ray, we present an interview with model-maker Bill Pearson.
• We visit the set of Henry House – a new series starring many familiar faces....
• A report from from LA super convention Gallifrey One!
• Letter from the Showrunner – Russell T Davies on celebrating milestones out of sequence!
• Time-Space Visualiser – this month: the Trods!
• Who & Me – DWM contributor Beth Axford on how she became hooked on Doctor Who.
• Loose Ends – exploring the mysteries of the Sixth Doctor!
• The Fact of Fiction – a deep dive into the plot of Twelfth Doctor story The Woman Who Lived.
• The adventures of the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby Sunday continue in the comic strip!

PLUS!

• Gallifrey Guardian – packed with all the latest news about the upcoming series!
• Reviewed – the new Season 15 Blu-ray Collection and all the latest audio releases.
• Other Worlds – the essential guide to new stories in Doctor Who’s expanded universe.
• Win Blu-rays and the latest audio releases!

Doctor Who Magazine Issue 602 is on sale Thursday 28 March from panini.co.uk and WH Smith priced £7.99 (UK).
Also available as a digital edition from pocketmags.com priced £6.99.

[Alan]

Doctor Who Episode Titles and Guest Star Revealed
Sunday, 31 March 2024 - Reported by Marcus

https://www.doctorwhonews.net/2024/0..._revealed.html

As Doctor Who gears up for its global premiere this May, the episode titles have now been revealed for the season, as well as a guest star who has jumped aboard the TARDIS for the upcoming season.

DOCTOR WHO – EPISODE TITLES
Space Babies: Written by Russell T Davies, directed by Julie Anne Robinson
The Devil’s Chord: Written by Russell T Davies, directed by Ben Chessell
Boom: Written by Steven Moffat, directed by Julie Anne Robinson
73 Yards: Written by Russell T Davies, directed by Dylan Holmes Williams
Dot and Bubble: Written by Russell T Davies, directed by Dylan Holmes Williams
Rogue: Written by Kate Herron and Briony Redman, directed by Ben Chessell
The Legend of Ruby Sunday: Written by Russell T Davies, directed by Jamie Donoughue
Empire of Death: Written by Russell T Davies, directed by Jamie Donoughue

Joining Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson in the Julie Anne Robinson directed 'Space Babies', is Golda Rosheuvel (Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story) who joins Doctor Who as Jocelyn, who the Doctor and Ruby collide with, in their first adventure in the TARDIS together.

Russell T Davies, Showrunner said:

It’s been amazing to see the whole world appreciate Golda’s talents, because of Bridgerton, and it’s been an absolute joy to invite her to Cardiff to help launch Ncuti and Millie’s first season.

Rounding out the explosive double bill is previously announced Jinkx Monsoon who stars in ‘The Devil’s Chord’, the Doctor’s most powerful enemy yet. In this episode, the Doctor and Ruby step back to the sixties to meet The Beatles.

New episodes will then debut weekly across BBC iPlayer, BBC One and outside of the UK on Disney+ (where available), with the Steven Moffat penned adventure ‘Boom’ up next, followed by ‘73 Yards’, ‘Dot and Bubble’, ‘Rogue’, and a massive two-part finale spread across two weeks titled ‘The Legend of Ruby Sunday’ and ‘Empire of Death’.

Over the rest of the season there are an array of brilliant guest stars jumping aboard the TARDIS, including Callie Cooke, Dame Siân Phillips, Alexander Devrient, Bhav Joshi, Majid Mehdizadeh-Valoujerdy, Tachia Newall and Caoilinn Springall. They join the previously announced guest cast: Michelle Greenidge, Angela Wynter, Anita Dobson, Aneurin Barnard, Yasmin Finney, Jonathan Groff, Gwïon Morris Jones, Bonnie Langford, Genesis Lynea, Jemma Redgrave, Lenny Rush and Indira Varma.

[Alan]

New Companion Varada Sethu in Gatwa's Second Series
Friday, 12 April 2024 - Reported by Marcus

https://www.doctorwhonews.net/2024/0...nd_series.html

BBC Studios have released images of Varada Sethu who will join the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby Sunday in Ncuti Gatwa's second season of Doctor Who which will air in 2025.

The pictures released today show the cast together at a read-through for an episode in the series currently being filmed.

Like many Doctors who have come before him, one companion is not enough for the Fifteenth Doctor and in season two, he will have two by his side as Varada Sethu steps aboard the TARDIS joining Mille Gibson playing Ruby Sunday

Sethu is best known for her role as Cinta Kaz in the Disney+ Original series “Andor.” Her additional credits include “Jurassic World Dominion,” “Annika” and “Strike Back.”

Sethu says:

I feel like the luckiest person in the world. It is such an honour to be a part of the Whoniverse, and I'm so grateful to the whole Doctor Who family - because that is what they are - for welcoming me with open arms and making me feel so at home. I couldn't ask for a better team than Ncuti and Millie to be on this adventure with, this is SO much fun!

Showrunner, executive producer and writer Russell T Davies says:

I first worked with Varada on a BBC production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and it's a joy to welcome her on board the TARDIS. Right now in the studio, shooting for 2025, we've got Ncuti, Millie and Varada fighting side by side - we need all three, because the stakes are higher than ever!

Currently in production, the second season of Doctor Who, the fifteenth since the revival in 2005 and the 41st since the series started in 1963, is set to debut in 2025 on BBC One and BBC iPlayer in the UK and Disney+ in the U.S. and around the world (where available).

[Alan]

Three Fifteenth Doctor Doctor Who Novels Coming
Thursday, 18 April 2024 - Reported by Marcus

https://www.doctorwhonews.net/2024/0...ls_coming.html

BBC Books has announced that three new Doctor Who novels will be published this year, featuring Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor. Each book is an original, stand-alone adventure and will be published simultaneously in hardback and audiobook. The books are:

Ruby Red by Georgia Cook
April, 1242: the Doctor and Ruby answer a distress call sent from medieval Russia. The signal’s sender? Ranavere, an alien girl forced to take part in a barbaric conflict between the armies of Estonia and Novgorod on the frozen surface of Lake Peipus. Ranavere wants to escape, but her distress call has summoned her warmongering sisters, intent on preserving family tradition whatever the cost. And as human battle begins, the Doctor and Ruby must face a more devastating threat – a monstrous entity with plans of conquest, growing stronger beneath the icy lake…

Georgia Cook is an illustrator and writer from London. She has written for several sets in the Big Finish Doctor Who Audio range, including The Eleventh Doctor Chronicles, Gallifrey: War Room, and the Interludes. She has also contributed short stories to publications such as Baffling Magazine and Flame Tree Press, and is a frequent contributor to various horror anthology podcasts as a writer and voice over artist.
The audiobook edition of Doctor Who: Ruby Red will be narrated by Millie Gibson, who plays companion Ruby Sunday in the TV series

Caged by Una McCormack
Are aliens ever abducted by aliens? And if they were, would anyone believe their story? When the Doctor and Ruby arrive on Cavia, they meet a gentle local who is certain that she has been taken for study by creatures from the stars. The Doctor is concerned to find mysterious meteors appearing in the sky, while strange robotic creatures crowd the forests, watching everything and waiting for…what? Who is interested in Cavia, and why? What is the sinister truth of the abductions? The Doctor and Ruby must discover the secrets of this mysterious world – and those who would seek to destroy it…

Una McCormack is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. She has written many Doctor Who articles, scripts and novels, including The King's Dragon, The Way Through the Woods, Royal Blood, Molten Heart and Time Lord Victorious: All Flesh is Grass, all from BBC Books.

Eden Rebellion by Abi Falase
On the crystalline planet of Yewa, the Gardens of Kubuntu are a true Eden, said to be the most peaceful destination in the universe. At least, until the Doctor and Ruby arrive. Ancient rivalries between Yewa and its more prosperous sister world of Bia are being stirred by forces unknown, threatening to plunge its people into anarchy. With Ruby swept up in the fire of the Yewan rebellion, the Doctor finds dark secrets buried deep in the planet’s ancient history – and his hopes for a lasting peace hanging by a thread. For sinister guardians stalk the Gardens of Kubuntu, while an implacable enemy plots in the shadows – and in plain sight…

Abi Falase is a Black British writer and director, reimagining fundamental societal concepts in inventive new worlds. Creating what they like to call “feel-good social realism”, wrapping big discussions about everything from race and gender to capitalism in little pockets of humour – because if you don’t laugh, you’ll cry.

Ruby Red by Georgia Cook (BBC Books, £14.99) is out in hardback and audiobook on 13th June
Caged by Una McCormack (BBC Books, £14.99) is out in hardback and audiobook on 27th June
Eden Rebellion by Abi Falase (BBC Books, £14.99) is out in hardback and audiobook on 24th November