Doctor Who News, Articles, Cast and Crew Interviews

[cosmichobo]

Uncle Terry was huge in any Classic Who fan’s life whether they knew it or not...

For me, The Five Doctors was weekly viewing on VHS... (mostly because my brother played it so much but hey - it was an epic park of my fandom on original airing, too!)

As you’ve both noted, ha novelisations however were such a big part of my childhood. My DW card catalogue meant I wrote his name so many times... lol...

Thank you, Terrence. Thank you.

[planet_tv]

‘Doctor Who’s Peter Capaldi Joining James Gunn’s ‘The Suicide Squad’; Is ‘SNL’s Pete Davidson Next?

[Alan]

Season 26 Blu-ray Release
Tuesday, 03 September, 2019 - Reported by Marcus

http://www.doctorwhonews.net/2019/09...y-release.html

BBC Studios have announced that Season 26 will be the next instalment in the DOCTOR WHO: THE COLLECTION Blu-ray range

Released on Monday 23rd December is the acclaimed final season from the series’ original run, starring Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred:

Doctor Who – The Collection: Season 26

• BATTLEFIELD
• GHOST LIGHT
• THE CURSE OF FENRIC
• SURVIVAL

In 1989, Doctor Who was on a creative high, with the Seventh Doctor and his companion Ace revitalising the programme for a new generation. Season 26 featured four epic adventures traversing a future Britain invaded by inter-dimensional knights, a strange Victorian house haunted by ghosts from Ace’s past, an alien world populated by Cheetah People and a 1940s army camp under siege from monstrous vampires.

With guest stars including Nicholas Courtney (Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart), Anthony Ainley (The Master), Jean Marsh, Nicholas Parsons, Anne Reid, Ian Hogg, Sylvia Syms and comedy duo Hale & Pace, this fondly-remembered set of stories saw the end of an era for Doctor Who, and set the stage for its hugely successful revival.

With all episodes newly remastered from the best available sources, this Blu-ray box set also contains extensive and exclusive special features including:

Rare Restored Extended Cuts

• The Curse of Fenric VHS Extended Version
• The Curse of Fenric DVD Special Edition
• Battlefield VHS Extended Version
• Battlefield DVD Special Edition

5.1 surround sound & isolated scores

• On all 14 broadcast episodes, plus 5.1 sound on all extended versions of The Curse Of Fenric and Battlefield.

Behind the Sofa

• New episodes with Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred, pluscompanions Janet Fielding, Sarah Sutton, Anneke Wills andJodie-Whittaker-era writers Pete McTighe & Joy Wilkinson.

Showman - the Life of John Nathan-Turner

• A feature-length look at the life and career of Doctor Who’slongest-serving producer, who fought to keep the programme on-airduring the 1980s. Contributors include Peter Davison and Colin Baker.

Making ‘The Curse of Fenric’

• A brand new documentary featuring Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred,Tomek Bork, Nicholas Parsons, Cory Pulman, Marek Anton,Ian Briggs, Andrew Cartmel, Mark Ayres and Ian Collins featuringunseen behind-the-scenes footage and photographs.

In Conversation

• Matthew Sweet chats to companion Sophie Aldred.

The Writers’ Room

• Ben Aaronovitch, Marc Platt, Ian Briggs, Rona Munroand Andrew Cartmel discuss their work on Season 26.

Becoming The Destroyer

• Actor Marek Anton and prosthetics designer Stephen Mansfield recall the creation of one of Doctor Who’s best ever monsters.

The seven-disc box set also includes hours of special features previously released on DVD.

Pre-order on Amazon.

On Saturday 23rd November, the BFI Southbank will be screening Doctor Who: The Curse of Fenric (from the Special Edition Blu-ray) and holding a Q&A with actor Sophie Aldred and script editor Andrew Cartmel. Tickets are available from the BFI on the following dates:

• Monday 16th September – BFI Patrons and Champions
• Tuesday 17th September – BFI Members
• Tuesday 24th September – public booking

[cosmichobo]

I’d love an Ace series... but whilst the format suggested by this trailer would fit a kids tv series better (budget wise), I prefer the Ace future hinted at in one of the Target novels... Ace travelling through Time (earth based) righting wrongs...

Oh - cool set though! . Can’t wait!

[DigiFluid]

I really need them to do standard edition versions of these releases. I really want them, but not at these prices/availability.

[cosmichobo]

Considering what they charged for DVD releases, the BluRays to date (at least here in Australia) have been pretty good value. Instead of around $20 - $30 per story, you pay $69 and get a whole season - 4 to 7 stories.

If you want no frills - I think iTunes still has WHO??

[DigiFluid]

Considering what they charged for DVD releases, the BluRays to date (at least here in Australia) have been pretty good value. Instead of around $20 - $30 per story, you pay $69 and get a whole season - 4 to 7 stories.

If you want no frills - I think iTunes still has WHO??

Well no, I don't want no frills. I want all the bonus stuff too

Thing is, I don't think $70 for a season of TV (seasons of 25+ year old TV at that) is reasonable pricing in 2019. $40 definitely, $50 pushing it but I'd still go for. Anything more than that just isn't justifiable IMO.

[cosmichobo]

I don't buy much else to compare it to, but from what I have seen, WHO tends to have a LOT of extras, and over the years, there's been a LOT of work on restoring picture / sound.

At this point, other than a few extra documentaries, I'm not sure how much work is going into the BluRays. I am guessing that they are doing very very minimal work on the actual episodes, unless there were issues originally that they can fix now. Change the bit rates etc due to the better bandwidth of BluRay... Done?

I know you can go pick up a season of Supernatural for about $30. But - Supernatural is hardly Doctor Who.

[Alan]

Freema Agyeman returns to Big Finish
Monday, 09 September, 2019 - Reported by Marcus

http://www.doctorwhonews.net/2019/09...ig-finish.html

Freema Agyeman reprises her role as Martha Jones in a brand new audio adventure from Big Finish Productions.

Torchwood: Dissected sees Agyeman paired up with Eve Myles as Gwen Cooper in Torchwood: Dissected.

Martha Jones who was the companion of the Tenth Doctor in his second series returns to the world of Torchwood in February next year. Freema Agyeman starred in series 3 of New Doctor Who and its spin-off show, Torchwood, before going on to a huge career.

Big Finish Productions has announced it is delighted that Freema is reprising her role in this new Torchwood story, which explores what Martha did after her adventures with the Doctor.

Employed by UNIT, Martha is reunited with former Torchwood colleague Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles) – over a dead body...

Gwen Cooper turns up on Martha Jones’s doorstep with a dead body in tow. She needs to ask one final favour of her. And to find out why they stopped being friends.

A lot’s happened to Torchwood since Martha left. A lot’s happened to Martha since she left Torchwood. And there’s something very odd about the dead body Gwen’s brought with her. Tonight she's going to be getting more answers than she bargained for.

Freema Agyeman talked about returning to the character of Martha Jones.

Aw mate, the nostalgia has been quite overwhelming. It really is like stepping into comfortable old shoes. It feels like about five minutes ago and yet so much time has passed. That’s the wonderful thing about the Whoniverse – you never feel on the outside of it. It’s great to be back.

Director Scott Handcock added

I first met Freema back in 2006 working on Doctor Who Confidential. I watched Martha Jones arrive and grow, and it’s a pleasure to welcome her back to the world of Torchwood. It’s something we’ve been chatting about for years, and to finally make it happen with the amazing Eve Myles (who adores her and vice versa) is a real treat!

Writer Tim Foley told us more about uniting two of science fiction’s most courageous female leads

Martha Jones is back! And I’ve locked her in a room with Gwen! It’s such a delight to pit these two against each other. This is quite an experimental story – you’ll be listening to an autopsy in real time, which was such a fun challenge. Luckily for me Eve and Freema spar off each other marvellously, stuck in a lab with nothing but a corpse for company...

Torchwood: Dissected starring Freema Agyeman and Eve Myles, will be released in February 2020 priced at £7.99 on download or £9.99 on CD.

[Alan]

Doctor Who Magazine: Issue 543
Wednesday, 18 September, 2019 - Reported by Marcus

http://www.doctorwhonews.net/2019/09...issue-543.html

This month's Doctor Who Magazine takes a new perspective on Doctor Who’s longest-serving producer John Nathan Turner.

Issue 543 of the magazine looks at the legaxy of the contriversal producer and includes previously unseen images from his own scrapbooks!

Highlights of this issue include:

• Former Doctor Who script editor Andrew Cartmel describes working with John Nathan-Turner.
• Sophie Aldred explains how JNT changed her life.
• Stephen Cranford on what it was like to know JNT as a friend.
• Writer Philip Martin and actor Nabil Shaban reveal Sil and the Devil Seeds of Arodor.
• Composer Richard Hartley on recreating his score for 1986’s ‘Mindwarp’.
• An investigation into the deepest mysteries of regeneration.
• Your at-a-glance guide to Doctor Who’s post-regeneration stories.
• An interview with the creators of the new VR game The Edge of Time.
• The Fact of Fiction explores the 2017 story Knock Knock.
• DWM’s verdict on Doctor Who: The Collection – Season 23.
• Part One of Mistress of Chaos, a new comic-strip adventure featuring the Thirteenth Doctor and her friends.
• The Blogs of Doom, audio reviews, previews, news, prize-winning competitions and much, much more!

On sale from Thursday 19 September 2019£5.99 (UK)

[Alan]

Mission to the Unknown Reconstruction
Wednesday, 02 October, 2019 - Reported by Marcus

http://www.doctorwhonews.net/2019/10...struction.html

A recreation of a long lost Doctor Who episode is to be released on the official Doctor Who YouTube channel, exactly 54 years after it was first screened in the UK.

Mission to the Unknown was first screened on BBC One on Saturday 9th October 1965. Sometimes known as The Dalek Cutaway it was a prequel to the upcoming 12 part story The Dalek Masterplan and is the only Doctor Who episode in history in which neither The Doctor or any of his companions are featured.

The original episode was destroyed by the BBC many years ago, but the story has been faithfully recreated by a team of students, graduates and staff of the University of Central Lancashire.

The new production will be premiered on the Doctor Who YouTube channel at exactly 5.50pm BST on the 9th October to mark the anniversary of the original broadcast of the episode.

The project was masterminded by Andrew Ireland, Pro-Vice Chancellor of Digital and Creative Industries at the university, and brought together a dedicated group of students from a wide range of disciplines including film and television, acting, fashion, music, design and dance to recreate the episode from the original script as authentically as possible, carefully researching and reproducing as faithfully as possible the original 1960s production techniques to re-create the classic look of the series.

The recreation caught the imagination of several Doctor Who luminaries including Nicholas Briggs, who has provided the Dalek voices for the recreated episode, and stars including Peter Purves, who played 1960s companion Steven Taylor, and Edward de Souza, who played Marc Cory in the original episode, visiting the new set to lend their support.

The episode will be followed by a making-of documentary short created by YouTuber Josh Snares.

Luke Spillane, Digital Publishing Manager for Doctor Who at BBC Studios, said:

I’m delighted that we will be bringing the story of Space Security agent Marc Cory to our 1.3 million subscribers on the Doctor Who YouTube channel as it is such a fantastic recreation, made lovingly with real craft and expertise by everyone at the University of Central Lancashire. I hope audiences around the world can imagine that it’s tea time on the 9th October 1965 as they rather excitingly watch a black and white episode of Doctor Who premiere on their television sets, mobile phones and tablets.

Andrew Ireland, Pro-Vice Chancellor of Digital and Creative Industries at the University of Central Lancashire, said:

It is such a loss to our cultural heritage that so many episodes of 1960s Doctor Who are missing from the BBC archives. This project presented us with an exciting opportunity to address that, to explore a new way of bringing these missing slices of TV history to life, and in the process, help students learn their craft by comparing contemporary production methods with historical approaches. The project gave so many people great experiences, and it is wonderful to see the Daleks menacing a black and white jungle once more.

[DigiFluid]

Ahh, I was wondering if that would ever get a wide release. Good stuff.

[Alan]

Ahh, I was wondering if that would ever get a wide release. Good stuff.

Agreed. Also very touching that they're releasing it on the date and time of its original broadcast back in 1965.

[BruTak]

Yeah, I'd been wondering about it as well. There was coverage in DWM a few months ago, then silence.

Roll on next Wednesday.

[cosmichobo]

Have to admit I’m impressed by the trailer! More than I expected.

I guess when you consider the budget of 60’s Who, they didn’t have to shoot too far.