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Stuart Mascair

Welcome to the News & Reviews section here at Doctor Who Online! This is where you will find all the latest Doctor Who related news and reviews split up into easy to use sections - each section is colour coded for your convenience. The latest items can be found at the top, and older items follow down the page.

Archived news and reviews can be accessed by clicking on the relevant area on the News / Reviews Key panels to the right.

E-Mail NewsE-Mail Reviews
25 January 2011

Yesterday, the BBC Press Office issued a press release outlining plans for a 25% cut in the budget for BBC Online's service listing budget - a move that will see half of the Top Level Domains closing.

As a result of this news, DWO was inundated with emails from our visitors wanting to know if the BBC Doctor Who Site was included in the cuts. We got in touch with the publicity team for BBC Online who gave us the following statement:

"The BBC Doctor Who site will not close.

As background, we’ve just posted a blog about the proposed reduction in top-level domains which explains how we’ve identified which directories or sites we’ll be removing from BBC Online over time.  To ensure quality for our audiences it’s necessary to reduce the number of individual websites we manage and concentrate resources in areas where they can be used to best effect.

To streamline efforts further, in future automatically-generated programme pages which will be hosted at bbc.co.uk/programmes – these are dynamically populated and will help us to ensure our web publishing operation is as cost-effective as possible.  But, rest assured, bespoke online offerings for popular programmes like /doctorwho will remain due to the continued value they deliver to large audiences. 

We hope you continue to enjoy the content on offer!"

[Source: Doctor Who Online]

20 January 2011

David Tennant hosted this year's Radio Times Covers party at Claridges, and found a moment to cross his own time stream and get snapped with new who star Karen Gillan

The party was held to celebrate the Radio Times covers of 2010 where both Karen and David were presented with covers that they featured on.

Other guests at the party were Terry Wogan, Aidan Grimshaw, Jean Marsh, Keeley Hawes, Hugh Bonneville and David Morrissey.

[Source: Radio Times]

 

 

8 January 2011

David Tennant and Catherine Tate, appearing on BBC Breakfast this morning, have confirmed that they will be working together again in Much Ado About Nothing, at London's Wyndhams Theatre.

The Shakespeare play is said to be directed by Mark Rylance, and performances will commence from 16th May through to September 2011.

Tennant will play the part of Benedick, a role the actor has previously stated he would love to play, and Tate will play Beatrice.

[Sources: BBC Breakfast, What's On Stage]

4 January 2011

Various tabloids and online media are now reporting the news that former Doctor Who star, David Tennant, is engaged to Actress, Georgia Moffett.

Moffett, who has also appeared in the show as The Doctor's daughter, Jenny, has been dating Tennant for over two years.

Although an official confirmation of the news has yet to be made, a source speaking to UK tabloid, The Sun, stated that the couple are 'besotted with each other and cannot wait to tie the knot'. The couple are expecting to marry in early 2012.

DWO would like to extend its congratulations to David and Georgia.

Georgia Moffett is a guest in the DWO Forums, and is answering questions from her fans as part of our Ask & Answer section.

[Source: The Sun]

<mce:script

17 December 2010

The guys responsible for a new tongue-in-cheek, but affectionate Doctor Who Fanzine titled; Planet of the Ming Mongs, have got in touch with details on their new issue:

Ming mong (n.) [miŋ mơŋ] - An obsessive Doctor Who fan (usually disparaging)

Planet of the Ming Mongs is a new and/or exciting online fanzine, celebrating Doctor Who fandom in all its weird and sometimes disturbing glory. Bravely poking its nose into the live nest of Who fans, Planet of the Ming Mongs is a cornucopia of comedy, parody, art and articles virtually guaranteed to bring tears to your eyes.

Special features to look out for within POTMM include an exclusive interview with Doctor Who Magazine illustrator Ben Morris, comic strips by Jonathan This, Doctor Who facts with Garr and Suthers, "Oi, Spaceman!"'s first convention, and growing up hating Doctor Who with Tommi ‘The Tomlette’ Grey. Also, Tom Bradford explores some of fandom's more baffling myths surrounding Who mythology, and primary school teacher Rebecca Foster talks to us about the effect Doctor Who has had on the children in her class.

Plus, in a scoop more scandalous than Wikileaks, we feature some juicy and 100% not-made-up (honest) unpublished extracts from Russell T Davies and Ben Cook's email opus, The Writer's Tale.

But perhaps best of all, it’s completely free - or your money back.

Planet of the Ming Mongs is edited by Nicholas Blake and designed by Richard Kirby.

 Read the Planet of the Ming Mongs Fanzine, here.

[Source: Nicholas Blake]

<mce:script

17 December 2010

Karen Gillan features in more ways than one in the current issue of ShortList Magazine, available online.

As well as an interview in which she discusses her career with a focus on Doctor Who, Karen also has a photo-shoot, with some images that are sure to warm the blood of even the coldest snowman this Christmas.

 Check Out Karen's Photo Shoot on ShortList!

[Source: Tom Cullen]

<mce:script

6 December 2010

A forthcoming episode of the popular BBC quiz show, Eggheads, will feature a Doctor Who celebrity team.

The team, which will consist of Colin Baker (The 6th Doctor), Frazer Hines (Jamie), Louise Jameson (Leela), Katy Manning (Jo) and John Leeson (Voice of K9), will battle against the Eggheads to win a sum of money for charity.

The episode, which was recorded in the Summer, will air on BBC Two, on Monday 20th December at 6:00pm.

[Source: Colin Baker]

2 December 2010

A line up of Doctor Who related figures will appear at The Space event in January 2011. The Space (Southern Performance and Creative Energies) is a unique monthly entertainment and arts event, with a line up of high calibre special guest interviews held within an intimate environment.

Thursday 6th January 2011 / Komedia / 6:30pm / £7.50/£5

DAVID MORRISSEY

The acclaimed actor David Morrissey is perhaps most recognised for his roles in 2008’s Doctor Who Christmas special, The Next Doctor, as well as the BBC drama State of Play, Red Riding, and Blackpool.

His breakthrough roles came with the dramas Our Mutual Friend and Hilary and Jackie. Film parts followed, including roles in Some Voices and Captain Corelli's Mandolin, before he played the critically-acclaimed roles of fictional MP Stephen Collins in State of Play, and Gordon Brown in The Deal by leading screenwriter Peter Morgan. The former won him a nomination at the British Academy Television Awards and the latter a Best Actor award at the Royal Television Society Awards. His film roles have not always been acclaimed; his appearance as the male lead in Basic Instinct 2 was widely criticised, and The Reaping bombed at the box office. Since then, he has had leading roles in Cape Wrath, Sense and Sensibility, and Red Riding.

David is also a director; he has directed Sweet Revenge and Passer By for the BBC. His feature debut, Don't Worry About Me, premiered at the 2009 London Film Festival.

Thursday 6th January 2011 / Komedia / 7:30pm / £7.50/£5

TOBY WHITHOUSE

Toby Whithouse is best known as the creator of the highly acclaimed BBC Three supernatural drama series Being Human, which is one of the channel’s most popular programmes. The third series is set to be broadcast in January 2011. 

He also created the Channel 4 drama No Angels, and has written for BBC One’s Hotel Babylon and Doctor Who. His Doctor Who episode, titled School Reunion, featured the return of the robot dog K-9 and Sarah Jane Smith. Toby also wrote the 2010 episode, The Vampires of Venice

As an actor, he was a regular in the early 1990s BBC One drama series The House of Eliott. In 1997, Toby appeared on stage in the West End, co-starring with Gene Wilder in Laughter on the 23rd Floor by Neil Simon. Frustrated at what he perceived as a lack of quality in many of the scripts he was sent to read, he took to writing in his spare time between acting roles, eventually writing a play which was performed as the opening production of the Soho Theatre. His first television work was writing an episode for the ITV drama series Where the Heart Is.

Toby went on to write for the Doctor Who spin-off series Torchwood, with the 2006 episode Greeks Bearing Gifts.

[Source: Wayne Imms]

24 November 2010

Doctor Who stars, Matt Smith and Karen Gillan will present Radio 1's Top 10s of 2010, on Christmas Eve.

The show will see the pair airing their favourite tracks from 2010, and will be broadcast between 8-9pm.

Full details, together with other presenters over the festive period, can be found via the press release on the BBC Press Office website.

[Source: BBC Press Office]

24 November 2010

London workers got a bit of a shock on their way into the office this morning...

A group of intimidating Cybermen from cult show Doctor Who invaded the city, marching through St Paul's and the London Undergound.

The stunt was to celebrate the launch of the Doctor Who Experience - a fully interactive themed adventure and exhibition opening in the capital in February.

The cyborgs recreated a very familiar scene from the famous 1968 episode The Invasion, posing on the steps in front of St Paul's Cathedral.

Visitors to the Experience will be invited to step inside the Tardis to become The Doctor's companion in fighting his other enemy, the Daleks.

The Doctor Who Experience, which will open at London's Olympia Two on February 20, 2011, will include special effects and newly-filmed scenes with current Doctor Matt Smith recreating the Time Lord's adventures.

It includes an exhibition charting the history of the programme from its first series in 1963 to the latest episodes. Original costumes, a Tom Baker-era Tardis and Cybermen, Silurians and a Zygon will also be on display.

Executive producer Steven Moffat said: 'The Doctor Who Experience is a fan's dream come true - a fully interactive adventure that will allow viewers of the show to get as close as possible to some of the scariest monsters from the series.

'It will also be the first time that Doctor Who artefacts from all the show's 47-year history - classic and new - will be on display together, many of them being seen for the first time. 

'And never mind that, this is the day the Doctor teaches you how to fly the Tardis through time and space, and takes you into battle with all his deadliest enemies in a brand new adventure.'

Tickets for the show are on sale now through www.doctorwhoexperience.com.

[Source: The Daily Mail]

16 November 2010

Doctor Who has been declared the greatest sci-fi & fantasy TV show of all time by top genre website Totalscifionline.com.

The BBC’s long-running series about the time-travelling Doctor and his ever-changing companions saw off stiff competition from over 60 years’ worth of genre television. Star Trek: The Original Series, starring William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy, was voted into second place, while Rod Serling’s classic anthology series The Twilight Zone rounded out the top three.

Doctor Who first hit our screens in 1963 with William Hartnell in the role of the Doctor. Since then, the character has regenerated 10 times, most recently in the form of Matt Smith in this year’s acclaimed season.

Totalscifionline editor Matt McAllister said: “There have been plenty of mind-bending, thought-provoking SF shows in the history of television, but none have proven as enduring as Doctor Who. The key to the show’s longevity has been its ability to re-invent itself for new generations while maintaining a consistency in tone and character, and the Daleks and TARDIS have now become part of our cultural landscape. 2010 saw Who head in yet another triumphant direction – surely another 50 years are guaranteed?”

Viewers can get a sneak peek of this year’s Doctor Who Christmas special on Children in Need, this Friday on BBC One.

The full Top 10 Sci-Fi and Fantasy TV shows are:

1) Doctor Who (1963-present)

2) Star Trek: The Original Series (1966-69)

3) The Twilight Zone (1959-1964)

4) The X-Files (1993-2002)

5) The Prisoner (1967-68)

6) Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003)

7) Battlestar Galactica (2004-09)

8) The Quatermass Experiment (1953)

9) Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994)

10) Babylon 5 (1993-98)

 You can read the full Top 100 article at: http://totalscifionline.com/features/5769-the-100-greatest-sci-fi-fantasy-tv-shows

[Source: TotalScifiOnline]

16 November 2010

Doctor Who star, Matt Smith will be appearing on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson this evening in the USA.

Matt will be interviewed on the show regarding his role on Doctor Who, as well as the recent filming in the United States for Series 6. Last night's show featured a Dalek, which is expected to reappear on tonights show.

The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson is a Peabody Award-winning American late-night talk show hosted by Scottish American comedian Craig Ferguson.

 Watch the show weeknights 12:35pm/11:35pm Central Time.

[Sources: Neilfan12; BBC America]

12 November 2010

In what appears to be another example of life imitating science fiction, scientists believe they have found a crack in the universe...well...sort of!

Like a thin band of light stretched across space, it looks like some sort of intergalactic letterbox.

But the extraordinary image to the right is in fact a distant galaxy called NGC 4452, captured as it lies directly edge-on to Earth.

The result is an extraordinary picture taken by the Hubble space telescope of billions of stars observed from an unusual angle. The bright nucleus can be seen at the centre, along with the very thin disc that looks like a straight line from our unusual viewing position.

A hazy halo of stars on the periphery of the galaxy makes it seem to glow.

NGC 4452 was first seen by William Herschel in 1784 with his 18.5inch telescope in England. He described the object as a bright nebula, small and very much elongated. The new Hubble image shows just how elongated this unusual object really is.

Galaxies typically contain many billions of stars and can also be grouped in galaxy clusters. NGC 4452 is part of the Virgo Cluster which lies approximately 60 million light-years distant and contains around 2000 galaxies.

Our own Milky Way is also believed to be extremely thin.

[Source: Daily Mail]

12 November 2010

BBC Inside Out will feature a previously unbroadcast interview with the late Delia Derbyshire – the woman who created the iconic Doctor Who theme tune – on Monday 15 November on BBC One at 7.30pm.

In this episode, excerpts of Derbyshire's interview will be heard – which were originally recorded in the late-Nineties by BBC Radio Scotland's John Cavanagh but never broadcast before.

In the interview she reveals that one of the primary influences on her music, including Doctor Who, were the abstract sounds she heard as a child during the Coventry blitz.

Inside Out also features previously unseen footage of Delia later in life at a Doctor Who fan convention.

In the programme, BBC Radio 2 presenter Stuart Maconie looks at her career and explores why the woman herself remains a mystery despite her work influencing the world of electronic music, including Pink Floyd and today's modern dance acts – because, in 1963, hardly anyone outside of avant garde music circles and academia knew electronic music even existed.

But, 47 years on, the Doctor Who theme is probably the most famous piece of electronic music in the world.

Now, her lost recordings, discovered in her attic after her death, are being lovingly restored by the University of Manchester.

BBC Inside Out explores how Delia revolutionised pop music and why she turned her back on music and disappeared. Stuart begins his journey in war-torn Coventry, where Delia grew up, and follows her journey to the Radiophonic Workshop at the BBC. He talks to a range of people, including the man who invented the infamous sound of the Tardis, Brian Hodgson.

Also uncovered in this episode is the revelation that Delia composed music for an astonishing number of landmark programmes of the day, with the original Doctor Who theme being just a small part of Delia's massive output whose style was described in her own words.

Delia says: "Well, the first stage in the realisation of a piece of music is to construct the individual sounds that we are going to use. we can build up any sound we could possibly imagine almost.

"We spend quite a lot of time to invent new sounds, sounds that don't exist already, ones that can't be produced by musical instruments."

As Stuart explains, it was the theme that changed the world and the very first time the public had heard electronic music so who was the person behind it and why was she so important?

He says: "Everyone knows the Doctor Who theme – most of us here have grown up with it. But the techniques developed by one woman to make it have changed the shape and sound of modern music for ever. But the woman herself remains a mystery."

[Source: BBC Press Office]

9 November 2010

DOCTOR WHO ONLINE AND BLENDTEC JOIN FORCES TO ERADICATE THE DALEKS!

The world’s most-popular and longest-running Doctor Who fan site have teamed up with the guys behind the hugely popular 'Will it Blend?' YouTube viral series, in an attempt to exterminate The Doctor's greatest enemy once and for all, in a Blendtec Total Blender.

In the latest video, Tom Dickson of Blendtec, and Sebastian J. Brook of Doctor Who Online present a Doctor Who special, that sees a Dalek Ironside action figure, literally meet its match – machine vs machine!

Previous blends from the series include Coke cans, Golf Balls, Garden Rakes, iPads and iPhones (to name just a few). A complete archive of previous videos can be seen on the 'Will it Blend?' website: http://www.willitblend.com/

Sebastian J. Brook, Site Editor of Doctor Who Online comments: "It was great to work with the Blendtec crew, and even greater to see if one of the show's most iconic villains could be blended to dust!. We've been a huge fan of the 'Will it Blend?' series since it began, and it's great that we could be part of the action by pitting these two great forces against one another!".

Below, in all its glory, is the Doctor Who Will it Blend? Special:

The video can also be seen directly on the Blendtec YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/blendtec

* Doctor Who is copyright to the BBC. Doctor Who Online is a fan site that exists outside of the BBC and provides fans of the show with news, information, reviews, release details, competitions and more.

** We hope to make this one of the most popular Will it Blend's to date, and you can help by passing on the video to as many of your Doctor Who friends as possible! Remember, if it does well, this could be seen by as many as 10 million viewers!

[Source: Doctor Who Online]

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