In terms of baseline quality, the Seventies is probably the most consistent Doctor Who has been until the 21st Century. There’s a classic story in nearly every season, and fondly-thought-of stories throughout. The long-list for this one was very long, the certainty of not including someone’s favourite even more certain than usual.
Producer Barry Letts and Script Editor Terrance Dicks took a show with the potential for cancellation and moved it from Quatermass homage to the cosiest of nightmare fuel: a family show on and off-screen with the reassuringly haughty Jon Pertwee ruffling hearts and minds at the head of a regular ensemble cast.
After five seasons the family was breaking up, and the show was revitalised by incoming Producer Philip Hinchcliffe and Script Editor Robert Holmes. Aiming at an older audience (Holmes in The Daily Express in 1977: ‘I wouldn’t let any child under ten see...
Producer Barry Letts and Script Editor Terrance Dicks took a show with the potential for cancellation and moved it from Quatermass homage to the cosiest of nightmare fuel: a family show on and off-screen with the reassuringly haughty Jon Pertwee ruffling hearts and minds at the head of a regular ensemble cast.
After five seasons the family was breaking up, and the show was revitalised by incoming Producer Philip Hinchcliffe and Script Editor Robert Holmes. Aiming at an older audience (Holmes in The Daily Express in 1977: ‘I wouldn’t let any child under ten see...
- 11/27/2022
- by Louisa Mellor
- Den of Geek
BBC Books has released a new edition of ‘Doctor Who and the Daleks’, David Whitaker’s adaptation of the first Dalek story that was originally published in 1964 (under the title ‘Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks’) and the first Doctor Who novel ever published. The difference with this re-release (there was an earlier one in 2011) is it’s in hardback with illustrations by American artist Robert Hack (who started working on the Idw Comic range in 2008). You may have seen his art in the comics and TV title sequence of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.
Hack’s approach to the art, which is the really distinctive element here, is a successful fusion of the monochrome TV original, Whitaker’s prose, and the Peter Cushing colourful movie version from 1965. There are some of the same bold colours from Cushing’s movie but usually one colour dominates each painting,...
Hack’s approach to the art, which is the really distinctive element here, is a successful fusion of the monochrome TV original, Whitaker’s prose, and the Peter Cushing colourful movie version from 1965. There are some of the same bold colours from Cushing’s movie but usually one colour dominates each painting,...
- 11/22/2022
- by Louisa Mellor
- Den of Geek
Warning: contains spoilers for every multi-Doctor story on TV.
Multi-Doctor stories – what they are and what they try to do – are hugely shaped by the context in which they’re made. Very broadly speaking, they can be approached in two ways: ‘The Three Doctors’ and ‘The Day of the Doctor’ are examples of multi-Doctor stories that use the recent storylines of the show as a starting point, and have the story change the existing status quo (with the Doctor being able to pilot the Tardis again after ‘The Three Doctors’ and the restoration of Gallifrey in ‘Day of the Doctor’). By comparison, ‘The Five Doctors’ is a fun but heartfelt runaround of the show’s cliches and iconography.
However, it’s not as simple as that. All of these stories revel in nostalgia, and even the romp of ‘The Five Doctors’ has a twist long-standing character from the Doctor’s...
Multi-Doctor stories – what they are and what they try to do – are hugely shaped by the context in which they’re made. Very broadly speaking, they can be approached in two ways: ‘The Three Doctors’ and ‘The Day of the Doctor’ are examples of multi-Doctor stories that use the recent storylines of the show as a starting point, and have the story change the existing status quo (with the Doctor being able to pilot the Tardis again after ‘The Three Doctors’ and the restoration of Gallifrey in ‘Day of the Doctor’). By comparison, ‘The Five Doctors’ is a fun but heartfelt runaround of the show’s cliches and iconography.
However, it’s not as simple as that. All of these stories revel in nostalgia, and even the romp of ‘The Five Doctors’ has a twist long-standing character from the Doctor’s...
- 3/27/2022
- by Louisa Mellor
- Den of Geek
It’s rare for someone to like all of Doctor Who. A fan may find some of it to have the occasional redeeming feature, but just doesn’t find it entertaining as a whole. On occasion, a run of stories isn’t what they want from Doctor Who. Fortunately the show has a solution to this: Doctor Who changes.
This has been said often enough that it feels like background noise but it’s worth stressing. Different people have made Doctor Who up as they went along, responding to different contexts as best they can. It’s unlikely you’re going to enjoy all of it, but on the bright side, the show always has been and will be different.
Depending on the role played by the BBC, the transition between production teams can be uneven. The change from producer Philip Hinchcliffe to Graham Williams in 1977 wasn’t helped by...
This has been said often enough that it feels like background noise but it’s worth stressing. Different people have made Doctor Who up as they went along, responding to different contexts as best they can. It’s unlikely you’re going to enjoy all of it, but on the bright side, the show always has been and will be different.
Depending on the role played by the BBC, the transition between production teams can be uneven. The change from producer Philip Hinchcliffe to Graham Williams in 1977 wasn’t helped by...
- 5/14/2020
- by Louisa Mellor
- Den of Geek
Alex Westthorp Oct 1, 2019
Witches, demons and ancient pagan rituals: Alex explores the use of folk horror in the Doctor's adventures...
This article originally ran on Den of Geek UK.
Thought to be a relatively recent term, coined by director Piers Haggard and popularised by Doctor Who's own Mark Gatiss, "folk horror" is essentially horror based on old countryside folklore. It is a sub-genre of occult fiction, which encompasses paganism, witchcraft, superstition, legends and the traditions of the countryside. Often texts will refer to "Green man" rituals, stone circles, Devil worship, disfigurement and the "memories" of the earth.
In the cinema, folk horror is at the fore in films like the 1967 Hammer classic The Devil Rides Out, Terence Fisher's vision of the 1934 novel by Denis Wheatley, Piers Haggard's own 1974 film Blood On Satan's Claw (which incidentally features a terrific cast including a pre-Who Anthony Ainley and a post-Who Wendy Padbury...
Witches, demons and ancient pagan rituals: Alex explores the use of folk horror in the Doctor's adventures...
This article originally ran on Den of Geek UK.
Thought to be a relatively recent term, coined by director Piers Haggard and popularised by Doctor Who's own Mark Gatiss, "folk horror" is essentially horror based on old countryside folklore. It is a sub-genre of occult fiction, which encompasses paganism, witchcraft, superstition, legends and the traditions of the countryside. Often texts will refer to "Green man" rituals, stone circles, Devil worship, disfigurement and the "memories" of the earth.
In the cinema, folk horror is at the fore in films like the 1967 Hammer classic The Devil Rides Out, Terence Fisher's vision of the 1934 novel by Denis Wheatley, Piers Haggard's own 1974 film Blood On Satan's Claw (which incidentally features a terrific cast including a pre-Who Anthony Ainley and a post-Who Wendy Padbury...
- 10/1/2019
- Den of Geek
Andrew Blair Sep 3, 2019
Without Terrance Dicks' writing, Doctor Who could now well be a thing of the past. Andrew salutes his inestimable contribution...
This article originally ran on Den of Geek UK.
I met Terrance Dicks in Hamilton Library when I was eight. I was holding a copy of The Auton Invasion that I'd bought in a shop in Hereford and could not get the price sticker off. He said it was an early pressing of the first book he'd written for the Target Novelization range, then launched into an anecdote about it. It may not have been this story's first outing but damn it I was paying attention.
I mean, sure, he wrote Warmonger, but can any of us say they haven't on some level "written Warmonger"?
Certainly none of us can say we introduced thousands of children to literature, and not the "Ian McEwan pretends Science Fiction doesn't exist" sort of literature,...
Without Terrance Dicks' writing, Doctor Who could now well be a thing of the past. Andrew salutes his inestimable contribution...
This article originally ran on Den of Geek UK.
I met Terrance Dicks in Hamilton Library when I was eight. I was holding a copy of The Auton Invasion that I'd bought in a shop in Hereford and could not get the price sticker off. He said it was an early pressing of the first book he'd written for the Target Novelization range, then launched into an anecdote about it. It may not have been this story's first outing but damn it I was paying attention.
I mean, sure, he wrote Warmonger, but can any of us say they haven't on some level "written Warmonger"?
Certainly none of us can say we introduced thousands of children to literature, and not the "Ian McEwan pretends Science Fiction doesn't exist" sort of literature,...
- 9/3/2019
- Den of Geek
Terrance Dicks, one of the most prolific contributors to sci-fi series Doctor Who, has died at the age of 84.
Dicks had a long association with the BBC drama and wrote for the series between 1968, when he was hired as a script editor, through to 1983, when he wrote 20th anniversary special The Five Doctors.
He had a close working relationship with Doctor Who producer Barry Letts and also worked on Doctor Who stage plays as well as Doctor Who audio drama Comeback, which was one of the first spin-offs to involve companion Sarah Jane Smith in a significant capacity.
In addition to Doctor Who, he worked on soap opera Crossroads, created BBC sci-fi drama Moonbase 3 and wrote for Space: 1999 before overseeing the BBC strand that produced period adaptations of Oliver Twist and Vanity Fair between 1985 and 1988.
A slew of writers, including those in the Doctor Who universe, paid tribute to Dicks.
Dicks had a long association with the BBC drama and wrote for the series between 1968, when he was hired as a script editor, through to 1983, when he wrote 20th anniversary special The Five Doctors.
He had a close working relationship with Doctor Who producer Barry Letts and also worked on Doctor Who stage plays as well as Doctor Who audio drama Comeback, which was one of the first spin-offs to involve companion Sarah Jane Smith in a significant capacity.
In addition to Doctor Who, he worked on soap opera Crossroads, created BBC sci-fi drama Moonbase 3 and wrote for Space: 1999 before overseeing the BBC strand that produced period adaptations of Oliver Twist and Vanity Fair between 1985 and 1988.
A slew of writers, including those in the Doctor Who universe, paid tribute to Dicks.
- 9/2/2019
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
Andrew Blair Jul 18, 2019
The Doctor has been taken down a dark path several times in Who's history. Andrew explores why it's not a sustainable storytelling approach
This Doctor Who article comes from Den of Geek UK.
Iconic sci-fi author Iain M. Banks once said he didn’t want to write Doctor Who because you have to put all the toys back in the box afterward, as it’s written with a view to infinity, to the story never ending. Doctor Who is the answer to the question "What if a game of Consequences never stopped?" But if the show has proved anything over the years, it's that those consequences can never be that severe.
With different writers and creative teams, the show has dabbled in dark, violent stories, occasionally for a sustained period of time. Sometimes this is due to the aesthetic considerations of the creative team, sometimes things just...
The Doctor has been taken down a dark path several times in Who's history. Andrew explores why it's not a sustainable storytelling approach
This Doctor Who article comes from Den of Geek UK.
Iconic sci-fi author Iain M. Banks once said he didn’t want to write Doctor Who because you have to put all the toys back in the box afterward, as it’s written with a view to infinity, to the story never ending. Doctor Who is the answer to the question "What if a game of Consequences never stopped?" But if the show has proved anything over the years, it's that those consequences can never be that severe.
With different writers and creative teams, the show has dabbled in dark, violent stories, occasionally for a sustained period of time. Sometimes this is due to the aesthetic considerations of the creative team, sometimes things just...
- 7/18/2019
- Den of Geek
Mark Harrison May 10, 2017
Over Doctor Who's long history, what prompted the decision to leave for those in the lead role?
All sorts of things have killed off the Doctor. In the last half century, Doctor Who's unique approach to recasting the lead character has seen him fettled by old age, as punishment, by radiation poisoning, falls big and small, dodgy operations and time itself. There are plenty of in-universe reasons for why the Doctor regenerates, and the outgoing Time Lord Peter Capaldi promises that his upcoming demise will be suitably timey-wimey, but what of the behind-the-scenes reasons that the Doctor has to go?
See related DC Comics movies: upcoming UK release dates calendar Batman V Superman: where does it leave the Justice League? Why cinema needs Batman: the world’s greatest detective Zack Snyder interview: Batman V Superman Deborah Snyder & Charles Roven interview: Man Of Steel
“While you're enjoying it,...
Over Doctor Who's long history, what prompted the decision to leave for those in the lead role?
All sorts of things have killed off the Doctor. In the last half century, Doctor Who's unique approach to recasting the lead character has seen him fettled by old age, as punishment, by radiation poisoning, falls big and small, dodgy operations and time itself. There are plenty of in-universe reasons for why the Doctor regenerates, and the outgoing Time Lord Peter Capaldi promises that his upcoming demise will be suitably timey-wimey, but what of the behind-the-scenes reasons that the Doctor has to go?
See related DC Comics movies: upcoming UK release dates calendar Batman V Superman: where does it leave the Justice League? Why cinema needs Batman: the world’s greatest detective Zack Snyder interview: Batman V Superman Deborah Snyder & Charles Roven interview: Man Of Steel
“While you're enjoying it,...
- 5/3/2017
- Den of Geek
Mark Harrison Feb 1, 2017
Ahead of his final series in the role, we look back at how Peter Capaldi has left his mark on Doctor Who and fandom.
“Everything ends, and it’s always sad. But everything begins again too, and that’s always happy.”
Well, it's that time again. Peter Capaldi has confirmed that Series 10 of Doctor Who will be his last as the Twelfth Doctor and before the year is out, we'll be looking at number 13. Speculation about who will be cast as the next Doctor usually begins anew the day after one has been announced, and will only intensify in the next few weeks and months, but let's not forget what Capaldi has achieved in the role so far.
Immediately taking umbrage with his new kidneys at the end of The Time Of The Doctor, the Twelfth Doctor is usually characterised as a grumpier and less cuddly version...
Ahead of his final series in the role, we look back at how Peter Capaldi has left his mark on Doctor Who and fandom.
“Everything ends, and it’s always sad. But everything begins again too, and that’s always happy.”
Well, it's that time again. Peter Capaldi has confirmed that Series 10 of Doctor Who will be his last as the Twelfth Doctor and before the year is out, we'll be looking at number 13. Speculation about who will be cast as the next Doctor usually begins anew the day after one has been announced, and will only intensify in the next few weeks and months, but let's not forget what Capaldi has achieved in the role so far.
Immediately taking umbrage with his new kidneys at the end of The Time Of The Doctor, the Twelfth Doctor is usually characterised as a grumpier and less cuddly version...
- 1/31/2017
- Den of Geek
Alex Westthorp Sep 19, 2016
We revisit Tom's Midnight Garden, Moondial, The Chronicles Of Narnia and a few lesser-known UK children's TV series...
Read our look-back at UK kids' fantasy dramas 1980 - 1984 here.
By 1985 British TV's children's drama had really hit its stride, achieving "a balanced diet of programmes" as Edward Barnes, the head of the BBC children's department observed. The late 80s, arguably, saw a new golden age for spooky and magical kids drama. Excellent production values, improved significantly by well-honed special effects work using Quantel, Paintbox and Harry, and moreover some interesting casting - often of very talented newcomers - produced some of the most memorable dramas of the era.
The second half of the decade saw the BBC riding high on the back of the success of their state-of-the-art adaptation of John Masefield's Box Of Delights. Meanwhile, anthology series Dramarama was going from strength to strength on ITV.
We revisit Tom's Midnight Garden, Moondial, The Chronicles Of Narnia and a few lesser-known UK children's TV series...
Read our look-back at UK kids' fantasy dramas 1980 - 1984 here.
By 1985 British TV's children's drama had really hit its stride, achieving "a balanced diet of programmes" as Edward Barnes, the head of the BBC children's department observed. The late 80s, arguably, saw a new golden age for spooky and magical kids drama. Excellent production values, improved significantly by well-honed special effects work using Quantel, Paintbox and Harry, and moreover some interesting casting - often of very talented newcomers - produced some of the most memorable dramas of the era.
The second half of the decade saw the BBC riding high on the back of the success of their state-of-the-art adaptation of John Masefield's Box Of Delights. Meanwhile, anthology series Dramarama was going from strength to strength on ITV.
- 8/16/2016
- Den of Geek
Alex Westthorp Sep 14, 2016
Did fantasy dramas Chocky, The Box Of Delights and Dramarama leave an impression on you as a kid? Revisit those nightmares here...
Spooky, always magical and occasionally downright scary dramas are the bedrock of kids' television. For me, the pinnacle of this sort of programme was reached in the 1980s. The decade saw a new approach to both traditional and contemporary drama by both UK broadcasters: ITV committed itself to regular seasons of children's plays with Dramarama (1983-89), a kind of youth version of the venerable BBC Play For Today (1970-84), which saw the 1988 television debut of one David Tennant. The BBC, building upon an impressive body of work from the early 70s onwards, produced some of its very best family drama in this era, embracing cutting edge technology to bring treats like The Box Of Delights (1984) and The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe (1988) to the screen.
Did fantasy dramas Chocky, The Box Of Delights and Dramarama leave an impression on you as a kid? Revisit those nightmares here...
Spooky, always magical and occasionally downright scary dramas are the bedrock of kids' television. For me, the pinnacle of this sort of programme was reached in the 1980s. The decade saw a new approach to both traditional and contemporary drama by both UK broadcasters: ITV committed itself to regular seasons of children's plays with Dramarama (1983-89), a kind of youth version of the venerable BBC Play For Today (1970-84), which saw the 1988 television debut of one David Tennant. The BBC, building upon an impressive body of work from the early 70s onwards, produced some of its very best family drama in this era, embracing cutting edge technology to bring treats like The Box Of Delights (1984) and The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe (1988) to the screen.
- 8/15/2016
- Den of Geek
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Mid-way through the F.A. Cup semi-final, a new Doctor Who companion was announced. A few thoughts...
So, all in all, I feel the second half was much more exciting than the first. Stones started to push forward from the back for Everton and Delofeu's introduction meant a better final ball into the box. Shame Lukaku was off form. Probably a fair result though, and it's intriguing to see what Man United will do now that van Gaal has started to inject a bit of excitement back into the team.
In Doctor Who terms, I feel like the new companion, who Twitter has christened 'asBill', is an interesting prospect on a number of levels. From the little we've seen of her, in many ways Bill falls in with the general pattern of young female companion from the present day, quick of wit and inevitably feisty. You could...
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Mid-way through the F.A. Cup semi-final, a new Doctor Who companion was announced. A few thoughts...
So, all in all, I feel the second half was much more exciting than the first. Stones started to push forward from the back for Everton and Delofeu's introduction meant a better final ball into the box. Shame Lukaku was off form. Probably a fair result though, and it's intriguing to see what Man United will do now that van Gaal has started to inject a bit of excitement back into the team.
In Doctor Who terms, I feel like the new companion, who Twitter has christened 'asBill', is an interesting prospect on a number of levels. From the little we've seen of her, in many ways Bill falls in with the general pattern of young female companion from the present day, quick of wit and inevitably feisty. You could...
- 4/23/2016
- Den of Geek
The Doctor: “This is a splinter group. The rest of the Zygons – the vast majority – they want to live in peace. You start bombing them, you’ll radicalize the lot. That’s exactly what the splinter group wants.”And with that brief, impassioned speech, “The Zygon Invasion” arguably became the most important Doctor Who episode since “Vincent and the Doctor” tackled depression back in 2010. Doctor Who has a history of addressing real world social and political issues through its fantastical lens, most notably back in the Barry Letts-produced Jon Pertwee era, which was famous for it. Indeed, one of my major gripes with the modern incarnation of the series is that it doesn’t do it often enough. It is the job of science fiction to show us the better part of ourselves, often by showcasing the downright ugly. If it wasn’t previously obvious that this story is...
- 11/1/2015
- by Ross Ruediger
- Vulture
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Unit, shape-shifters and the Doctor cosplay. Here are the geeky bits and pieces we spotted in Doctor Who's The Zygon Invasion...
For at least the third time this series, one or all of the characters you care about on this show are dead. So what better way to celebrate than to read through our weekly list of callbacks, allusions, shared themes and generally interesting (if tenuous) nonsense? As ever, feel free to leave your own contributions in the comments below!
The Old-Who Invasion
This is the third appearance of the Zygons in Doctor Who; they first menaced the fourth Doctor in 1975’s Terror Of The Zygons, a story which revealed the Loch Ness Monster to be one of the Skarasen, a race from the Zygon homeworld. Unit also featured in that tale, with Kate’s father Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart revealing his Scots heritage in a fetching kilt.
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Unit, shape-shifters and the Doctor cosplay. Here are the geeky bits and pieces we spotted in Doctor Who's The Zygon Invasion...
For at least the third time this series, one or all of the characters you care about on this show are dead. So what better way to celebrate than to read through our weekly list of callbacks, allusions, shared themes and generally interesting (if tenuous) nonsense? As ever, feel free to leave your own contributions in the comments below!
The Old-Who Invasion
This is the third appearance of the Zygons in Doctor Who; they first menaced the fourth Doctor in 1975’s Terror Of The Zygons, a story which revealed the Loch Ness Monster to be one of the Skarasen, a race from the Zygon homeworld. Unit also featured in that tale, with Kate’s father Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart revealing his Scots heritage in a fetching kilt.
- 10/30/2015
- by louisamellor
- Den of Geek
James McLean is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.
It’s been a few years since my last Blake’s 7 audio outing, and things have changed a lot since I heard Avon, Tarrant and Vila spar and bicker in the BBC’s audio drama, The Sevenfold Crown (by Barry Letts). It was a story that never quite captured the world or characters of Blake’s 7, but...
The post Reviewed: Blake’s 7 Ghost Ship appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.
It’s been a few years since my last Blake’s 7 audio outing, and things have changed a lot since I heard Avon, Tarrant and Vila spar and bicker in the BBC’s audio drama, The Sevenfold Crown (by Barry Letts). It was a story that never quite captured the world or characters of Blake’s 7, but...
The post Reviewed: Blake’s 7 Ghost Ship appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.
- 3/28/2015
- by James McLean
- Kasterborous.com
From the Queen Vic to the Tardis. As Eastenders prepares to mark its 30th anniversary, we look back at its encounters with Doctor Who...
Back in the mid-eighties an actor who played "Third Assistant" in a Doctor Who story called The Savages (1966) and the director of another Doctor Who adventure, The Underwater Menace (1967), came together to create one of the BBC’s most successful television shows.
And when they got together, it was murder. Well, not quite. (Though the first episode did feature a victim who would later die, fact fans.) But what they did create was Eastenders.
Broadcast on February the 19th 1985 (in between episodes one and two of The Two Doctors), this creation of Who alumni would go on to share numerous links with the long-running science-fiction for years to come. Even its time-slot owes much to the adventures of everyone’s favourite Gallifreyan.
In an interview in...
Back in the mid-eighties an actor who played "Third Assistant" in a Doctor Who story called The Savages (1966) and the director of another Doctor Who adventure, The Underwater Menace (1967), came together to create one of the BBC’s most successful television shows.
And when they got together, it was murder. Well, not quite. (Though the first episode did feature a victim who would later die, fact fans.) But what they did create was Eastenders.
Broadcast on February the 19th 1985 (in between episodes one and two of The Two Doctors), this creation of Who alumni would go on to share numerous links with the long-running science-fiction for years to come. Even its time-slot owes much to the adventures of everyone’s favourite Gallifreyan.
In an interview in...
- 2/12/2015
- by louisamellor
- Den of Geek
Missy -> Mistress -> Master. We should've really seen it coming, and to be fair, some of us did.
He's a notorious insatiable fibber, that Steven Moffat, so as soon as Doctor Who's head writer, executive producer and chief keeper of secrets declares an element from the show's past "over" and "done", it's a fair bet that said element will be rearing its head sometime soon.
Just so, Michelle Gomez was unveiled as the ninth actor to play the maniac Time Lord on Saturday night, and the first ever female to take on the part - a game-changing moment in Doctor Who history.
But if you're a series newcomer with no clue who this 'Master' is - or you're only familiar with depictions of the character post-2005 - then Digital Spy has assembled all of the pertinent information you'll need before this week's 'Death in Heaven'.
1971-73
Doctor Who...
He's a notorious insatiable fibber, that Steven Moffat, so as soon as Doctor Who's head writer, executive producer and chief keeper of secrets declares an element from the show's past "over" and "done", it's a fair bet that said element will be rearing its head sometime soon.
Just so, Michelle Gomez was unveiled as the ninth actor to play the maniac Time Lord on Saturday night, and the first ever female to take on the part - a game-changing moment in Doctor Who history.
But if you're a series newcomer with no clue who this 'Master' is - or you're only familiar with depictions of the character post-2005 - then Digital Spy has assembled all of the pertinent information you'll need before this week's 'Death in Heaven'.
1971-73
Doctor Who...
- 11/3/2014
- Digital Spy
This time on The Forgotten, we've made the film under discussion available to watch, for free, below.
1948 was one of the great years of British film, with Powell & Pressburger, David Lean and others on top form. Terence Fisher, later to make his name at Hammer (Curse of Frankenstein, Horror of Dracula, etc.) was only just beginning his career, but he began it well: soon he would co-direct the gripping Hitchcockian yarn So Long at the Fair (1950), but before that came 40-minute short subject To the Public Danger, a thriller revolving around drunk driving.
As four characters meet in an English roadhouse and begin the kind of inebriate evening people fresh from WWII seemed to take in their strides, recklessness and arrogance leads towards inevitable doom, with the boozing accompanied by bullying, seduction, class prejudice, cowardice, paranoia and a slew of other unattractive qualities. The result is not so much mounting tension as an oppressive,...
1948 was one of the great years of British film, with Powell & Pressburger, David Lean and others on top form. Terence Fisher, later to make his name at Hammer (Curse of Frankenstein, Horror of Dracula, etc.) was only just beginning his career, but he began it well: soon he would co-direct the gripping Hitchcockian yarn So Long at the Fair (1950), but before that came 40-minute short subject To the Public Danger, a thriller revolving around drunk driving.
As four characters meet in an English roadhouse and begin the kind of inebriate evening people fresh from WWII seemed to take in their strides, recklessness and arrogance leads towards inevitable doom, with the boozing accompanied by bullying, seduction, class prejudice, cowardice, paranoia and a slew of other unattractive qualities. The result is not so much mounting tension as an oppressive,...
- 10/23/2014
- by David Cairns
- MUBI
Let's take a moment and spare a thought for the poor advertising people. An advertising employee's life is a tricky one. He or she may have a fat bottomed bank balance that makes their world go round but they face a tricky task. How do they put a new spin on a familiar advertising icon and keep it fresh? From puppies rolling around in loo paper through to cartoon tea northerners in big caps, these are the faces of vital products and if they get tired or stale, the folks won't buy 'em any more – leaving those poor advertising sorts as crying puddles in corners.
Taking this concept into time and space, let's also spare a thought for the big cheeses at the Doctor Who studios. Doctor Who has its fair share of familiar icons – the sort that you'd list in a Family Fortunes studio to win a hefty jackpot cash prize.
Taking this concept into time and space, let's also spare a thought for the big cheeses at the Doctor Who studios. Doctor Who has its fair share of familiar icons – the sort that you'd list in a Family Fortunes studio to win a hefty jackpot cash prize.
- 9/2/2014
- Shadowlocked
The Letter, about the early life of Tom Baker, is heading for production soon. Here are some details...
Comfortably one of the funniest autobiographies we've ever had the pleasure is Tom Baker's Who On Earth Is Tom Baker?, which we talked about in the Den Of Geek Book Club (which is a thing), right here.
Now, however, news has reached us, via The Digital Fix, that there's a one-off drama heading to our screens that tells the story of Tom Baker's early life. A casting call for a project called The Letter has appeared online, with the focus on "how a chance letter to the BBC when working as a builder's labourer lead to him becoming the most iconic Doctor Who".
The following roles, lists the casting call, are all required for a single day of filming. Given that contracts are on a "deferred profit share" basis and...
Comfortably one of the funniest autobiographies we've ever had the pleasure is Tom Baker's Who On Earth Is Tom Baker?, which we talked about in the Den Of Geek Book Club (which is a thing), right here.
Now, however, news has reached us, via The Digital Fix, that there's a one-off drama heading to our screens that tells the story of Tom Baker's early life. A casting call for a project called The Letter has appeared online, with the focus on "how a chance letter to the BBC when working as a builder's labourer lead to him becoming the most iconic Doctor Who".
The following roles, lists the casting call, are all required for a single day of filming. Given that contracts are on a "deferred profit share" basis and...
- 8/11/2014
- by simonbrew
- Den of Geek
Andrew argues that Doctor Who series 8 could do worse than look to Hinchcliffe/Holmes story The Ark in Space for inspiration...
4C or not 4C? (Yes, it's a cryptic start, but frankly we don't have enough production code puns on the website). Let us speculate, just for a change, about what series eight of Doctor Who holds in store.
Is Peter Capaldi's Twelth Doctor going to be a less risky version of the Sixth? Initially unlikeable, but with the audience warming to him as he progresses?
Is Clara going to become a more rounded character, with the writers raising their game to reflect the quality of Jenna Coleman's performance?
Will you read a comment along the lines of 'Actually there were twenty six seasons of Doctor Who already, so I don't see why you're referring to it as “series eight”'?
Maybe, maybe, and yes.
For those of...
4C or not 4C? (Yes, it's a cryptic start, but frankly we don't have enough production code puns on the website). Let us speculate, just for a change, about what series eight of Doctor Who holds in store.
Is Peter Capaldi's Twelth Doctor going to be a less risky version of the Sixth? Initially unlikeable, but with the audience warming to him as he progresses?
Is Clara going to become a more rounded character, with the writers raising their game to reflect the quality of Jenna Coleman's performance?
Will you read a comment along the lines of 'Actually there were twenty six seasons of Doctor Who already, so I don't see why you're referring to it as “series eight”'?
Maybe, maybe, and yes.
For those of...
- 7/30/2014
- by louisamellor
- Den of Geek
Andrew examines what it really means for Capaldi era Doctor Who to be described as going 'back to basics'...
Feature
“It seems to me the episodes that we're doing now seem more like classic Who. We're going back to that style.”
So says Ben Wheatley in an interview with io9. The Capaldi era is being styled as a 'Back to Basics' approach (those words being used by Capaldi to describe his costume), with the Radio Times reporting 'a clean slate' of storylines for series eight, and a Doctor who – in the words of Steven Moffat - “is not apologising, he's not flirting with you – that's over.”
Do you have salt ready? Take a pinch. What does 'Back to Basics' mean, anyway, for a show that's fifty years old and is built around regular upheaval? Is Capaldi going to kidnap some teachers in monochrome? Are there bases under siege? Shall we rip off Quatermass some more?...
Feature
“It seems to me the episodes that we're doing now seem more like classic Who. We're going back to that style.”
So says Ben Wheatley in an interview with io9. The Capaldi era is being styled as a 'Back to Basics' approach (those words being used by Capaldi to describe his costume), with the Radio Times reporting 'a clean slate' of storylines for series eight, and a Doctor who – in the words of Steven Moffat - “is not apologising, he's not flirting with you – that's over.”
Do you have salt ready? Take a pinch. What does 'Back to Basics' mean, anyway, for a show that's fifty years old and is built around regular upheaval? Is Capaldi going to kidnap some teachers in monochrome? Are there bases under siege? Shall we rip off Quatermass some more?...
- 7/17/2014
- by louisamellor
- Den of Geek
BBC
It’s easy to see why Steven Moffat claims to loathe the internet. It’s not just the criticism; that all-too-familiar swarm of mindless complaints that accompany pretty much every TV show, it’s that websites and wikis alike have given the audience an infinite capacity to catalogue, compare and contrast absolutely everything against absolutely everything else. Writers can’t cheat, they can only choose whether or not they give a damn about the consequences.
There’s an amusing nod to this newfound omniscience in the first Doctor Who Programme Guide, released in the early 80s; producer Barry Letts explains that Atlantis was destroyed three times during the show’s early run. With TV being produced as “fire-and-forget” broadcasting, such little note was taken of what had gone before that each new team believed they were the first to visit the underwater city. It’s baffling to think that...
It’s easy to see why Steven Moffat claims to loathe the internet. It’s not just the criticism; that all-too-familiar swarm of mindless complaints that accompany pretty much every TV show, it’s that websites and wikis alike have given the audience an infinite capacity to catalogue, compare and contrast absolutely everything against absolutely everything else. Writers can’t cheat, they can only choose whether or not they give a damn about the consequences.
There’s an amusing nod to this newfound omniscience in the first Doctor Who Programme Guide, released in the early 80s; producer Barry Letts explains that Atlantis was destroyed three times during the show’s early run. With TV being produced as “fire-and-forget” broadcasting, such little note was taken of what had gone before that each new team believed they were the first to visit the underwater city. It’s baffling to think that...
- 7/8/2014
- by Chris Allcock
- Obsessed with Film
Feature Alex Westthorp 16 Apr 2014 - 07:00
Alex's trek through the film roles of actors who've played the Doctor reaches Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy...
Read the previous part in this series, Doctor Who: the film careers of Patrick Troughton and Tom Baker, here.
In March 1981, as he made his Doctor Who debut, Peter Davison was already one the best known faces on British television. Not only was he the star of both a BBC and an ITV sitcom - Sink Or Swim and Holding The Fort - but as the young and slightly reckless Tristan Farnon in All Creatures Great And Small, about the often humorous cases of Yorkshire vet James Herriot and his colleagues, he had cemented his stardom. The part led, indirectly, to his casting as the venerable Time Lord.
The recently installed Doctor Who producer, John Nathan-Turner, had been the Production Unit Manager on...
Alex's trek through the film roles of actors who've played the Doctor reaches Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy...
Read the previous part in this series, Doctor Who: the film careers of Patrick Troughton and Tom Baker, here.
In March 1981, as he made his Doctor Who debut, Peter Davison was already one the best known faces on British television. Not only was he the star of both a BBC and an ITV sitcom - Sink Or Swim and Holding The Fort - but as the young and slightly reckless Tristan Farnon in All Creatures Great And Small, about the often humorous cases of Yorkshire vet James Herriot and his colleagues, he had cemented his stardom. The part led, indirectly, to his casting as the venerable Time Lord.
The recently installed Doctor Who producer, John Nathan-Turner, had been the Production Unit Manager on...
- 4/15/2014
- by louisamellor
- Den of Geek
Feature Alex Westthorp 9 Apr 2014 - 07:00
In the next part of his series, Alex talks us through the film careers of the second and fourth Doctors, Patrick Troughton and Tom Baker...
Read Alex's retrospective on the film careers of William Hartnell and Jon Pertwee, here.
Like their fellow Time Lord actors, William Hartnell and Jon Pertwee, Patrick Troughton and Tom Baker also shared certain genres of film. Both appeared, before and after their time as the Doctor, in horror movies and both worked on Ray Harryhausen Sinbad films.
Patrick George Troughton was born in Mill Hill, London on March 25th 1920. He made his film debut aged 28 in the 1948 B-Movie The Escape. Troughton's was a very minor role. Among the better known cast was William Hartnell, though even Hartnell's role was small and the two didn't share any scenes together. From the late Forties, Troughton found more success on the small screen,...
In the next part of his series, Alex talks us through the film careers of the second and fourth Doctors, Patrick Troughton and Tom Baker...
Read Alex's retrospective on the film careers of William Hartnell and Jon Pertwee, here.
Like their fellow Time Lord actors, William Hartnell and Jon Pertwee, Patrick Troughton and Tom Baker also shared certain genres of film. Both appeared, before and after their time as the Doctor, in horror movies and both worked on Ray Harryhausen Sinbad films.
Patrick George Troughton was born in Mill Hill, London on March 25th 1920. He made his film debut aged 28 in the 1948 B-Movie The Escape. Troughton's was a very minor role. Among the better known cast was William Hartnell, though even Hartnell's role was small and the two didn't share any scenes together. From the late Forties, Troughton found more success on the small screen,...
- 4/8/2014
- by louisamellor
- Den of Geek
Feature Alex Westthorp 28 Mar 2014 - 07:00
In a new series, Alex talks us through the film roles of the actors who've played the Doctor. First up, William Hartnell and Jon Pertwee...
We know them best as the twelve very different incarnations of the Doctor. But all the actors who've been the star of Doctor Who, being such good all-rounders in the first place, have also had film careers. Admittedly, some CVs are more impressive than others, but this retrospective attempts to pick out some of the many worthwhile films which have starred, featured or seen a fleeting cameo by the actors who would become (or had been) the Doctor.
William Hartnell was, above all else, a film star. He is by far the most prolific film actor of the main twelve to play the Time Lord. With over 70 films to his name, summarising Hartnell's film career is difficult at best.
In a new series, Alex talks us through the film roles of the actors who've played the Doctor. First up, William Hartnell and Jon Pertwee...
We know them best as the twelve very different incarnations of the Doctor. But all the actors who've been the star of Doctor Who, being such good all-rounders in the first place, have also had film careers. Admittedly, some CVs are more impressive than others, but this retrospective attempts to pick out some of the many worthwhile films which have starred, featured or seen a fleeting cameo by the actors who would become (or had been) the Doctor.
William Hartnell was, above all else, a film star. He is by far the most prolific film actor of the main twelve to play the Time Lord. With over 70 films to his name, summarising Hartnell's film career is difficult at best.
- 3/26/2014
- by louisamellor
- Den of Geek
Review Andrew Blair 21 Nov 2013 - 10:30
Neil Gaiman perfectly captures the voices of Eleven and Amy in his super-scary Doctor Who short, Nothing O'Clock...
This review contains spoilers.
Some people were holding out for J.K. Rowling being the final author of this book series (the collected paperback edition is out today), or were disappointed when a writer who had already written for the TV series was announced. Likewise, some people were hoping for a person of colour or a woman to be the Twelfth Doctor. However, in both cases there is a strong argument in the incumbent's favour: they're Neil Gaiman and Peter Capaldi. That's at least a little bit exciting, surely?
Gaiman now has the chance, albeit with a limited page count, to ignore the budgetary constraints of the TV show and write the most expensive Doctor Who story he can think of. He does not. Instead, he goes...
Neil Gaiman perfectly captures the voices of Eleven and Amy in his super-scary Doctor Who short, Nothing O'Clock...
This review contains spoilers.
Some people were holding out for J.K. Rowling being the final author of this book series (the collected paperback edition is out today), or were disappointed when a writer who had already written for the TV series was announced. Likewise, some people were hoping for a person of colour or a woman to be the Twelfth Doctor. However, in both cases there is a strong argument in the incumbent's favour: they're Neil Gaiman and Peter Capaldi. That's at least a little bit exciting, surely?
Gaiman now has the chance, albeit with a limited page count, to ignore the budgetary constraints of the TV show and write the most expensive Doctor Who story he can think of. He does not. Instead, he goes...
- 11/21/2013
- by louisamellor
- Den of Geek
The Third Doctor – easily the most dashing, daring ,colorful and violent Doctor the series has ever produced. Often found speeding in his old roadster Bessie while wearing an eye-catching velvet jacket before defeating the baddies using Venusian Akido (which is throwing people over your shoulder while shouting ‘Hai!), it isn’t surprising this Doctor and his era’s episodes are some of the most popular in the show.
Clocking up 24 stories, choosing a top ten for Pertwee is incredibly hard. During his tenure, the series was at its very best – thanks to the partnership of Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks, it featured deep, meaningful, well-written plots and a flamboyant, exciting Doctor .This made for simply one of the best run of episodes the series ever produced, so picking out singular episodes is an almost herculean task.
Nonetheless, I’ve made an attempt – without further ado, here are Jon Pertwee’s ten best episodes,...
Clocking up 24 stories, choosing a top ten for Pertwee is incredibly hard. During his tenure, the series was at its very best – thanks to the partnership of Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks, it featured deep, meaningful, well-written plots and a flamboyant, exciting Doctor .This made for simply one of the best run of episodes the series ever produced, so picking out singular episodes is an almost herculean task.
Nonetheless, I’ve made an attempt – without further ado, here are Jon Pertwee’s ten best episodes,...
- 11/19/2013
- by William Egan
- Obsessed with Film
Digital Spy readers named David Tennant as Doctor Who's greatest ever Doctor - now, with less than three weeks to go until the 50th anniversary, DS is embarking on a new quest... to list the top 10 Who stories of all time.
After paying heed to 'The Talons of Weng-Chiang', this week we've opted for another Tom Baker tale - the third greatest Doctor Who story of all time transports us to the battle-ravaged planet of Skaro, where a war between two races culminates in the creation of a scientific abomination...
3. Genesis Of The Daleks (1975) - Six episodes - written by Terry Nation
"Do I have the right?"
Yes, the giant clam is rubbish.
With that out of the way, let's get about appreciating everything that's amazing about 'Genesis of the Daleks' - without question, Terry Nation's best Doctor Who script and indeed one of the show's finest ever serials.
After paying heed to 'The Talons of Weng-Chiang', this week we've opted for another Tom Baker tale - the third greatest Doctor Who story of all time transports us to the battle-ravaged planet of Skaro, where a war between two races culminates in the creation of a scientific abomination...
3. Genesis Of The Daleks (1975) - Six episodes - written by Terry Nation
"Do I have the right?"
Yes, the giant clam is rubbish.
With that out of the way, let's get about appreciating everything that's amazing about 'Genesis of the Daleks' - without question, Terry Nation's best Doctor Who script and indeed one of the show's finest ever serials.
- 11/4/2013
- Digital Spy
November 23rd, 2013 will mark the 50th anniversary of the debut of Doctor Who. This is a remarkable achievement shared by only a few properties (in the Us: Face The Nation, The Tonight Show, As the World Turns, General Hospital) and unmatched in nighttime scripted television. The longevity of the series from a practical standpoint comes from its protagonist’s ability to regenerate, which allows the series to continue unhampered by cast comings and goings. A brilliant solution to the failing health of William Hartnell, who played the First Doctor and was eventually too sickly to continue in the role, regeneration gave the show a creative solution to aging itself out of relevance, but this alone didn’t assure the series’ continuing place in pop culture- in the ‘90s, after being all but run into the ground by the BBC, the show went on hiatus for 16 years, with only a Fox-produced...
- 11/1/2013
- by Kate Kulzick
- SoundOnSight
Digital Spy readers named David Tennant as Doctor Who's greatest ever Doctor - now, with just 10 weeks to go until the 50th anniversary, DS is embarking on a new quest... to list the top 10 Who stories of all time.
Jon Pertwee's third Doctor makes his second appearance in our top 10 this week; after 'The Daemons' scooped ninth place, an earlier Pertwee outing - originating from mid-1970 - takes up position number six in our list...
6. Inferno (1970) - Seven episodes - written by Don Houghton
"Listen to that! It's the sound of the planet screaming out its rage!"
Doctor Who's seventh season is one of the show's all-time greatest runs, comprising Jon Pertwee's thrilling debut 'Spearhead From Space', the thoughtful and terrifying sci-fi of 'Doctor Who and the Silurians' and the Quatermass-esque 'The Ambassadors of Death'.
But it arguably reached a zenith with its final tale – Hammer...
Jon Pertwee's third Doctor makes his second appearance in our top 10 this week; after 'The Daemons' scooped ninth place, an earlier Pertwee outing - originating from mid-1970 - takes up position number six in our list...
6. Inferno (1970) - Seven episodes - written by Don Houghton
"Listen to that! It's the sound of the planet screaming out its rage!"
Doctor Who's seventh season is one of the show's all-time greatest runs, comprising Jon Pertwee's thrilling debut 'Spearhead From Space', the thoughtful and terrifying sci-fi of 'Doctor Who and the Silurians' and the Quatermass-esque 'The Ambassadors of Death'.
But it arguably reached a zenith with its final tale – Hammer...
- 10/14/2013
- Digital Spy
Feature Andrew Blair 11 Oct 2013 - 08:40
Andrew downloaded The Web Of Fear and The Enemy Of The World. Here's how it went...
Call me cynical, but I don't know if embargoes work terribly well, relying as they do on the much loved 'Trust' system of responsibility. As a result, Doctor Who fans spent much of yesterday sifting through social media's ever-shifting barrage of information, with every new find immediately verified, debunked, then re-assessed.
It was like the nineties all over again. It was like my relationship with the Colin Baker era. It was like looking for a ring in the deserts of Aridius. Except that last one. That wasn't real. Sorry everyone, to shatter the previously-unimpeachable verisimilitude of The Chase like that. It's been a stressful few days.
The return of the missing episodes was definitely real. It was happening. The BBC was doing a secret press conference and everything.
Andrew downloaded The Web Of Fear and The Enemy Of The World. Here's how it went...
Call me cynical, but I don't know if embargoes work terribly well, relying as they do on the much loved 'Trust' system of responsibility. As a result, Doctor Who fans spent much of yesterday sifting through social media's ever-shifting barrage of information, with every new find immediately verified, debunked, then re-assessed.
It was like the nineties all over again. It was like my relationship with the Colin Baker era. It was like looking for a ring in the deserts of Aridius. Except that last one. That wasn't real. Sorry everyone, to shatter the previously-unimpeachable verisimilitude of The Chase like that. It's been a stressful few days.
The return of the missing episodes was definitely real. It was happening. The BBC was doing a secret press conference and everything.
- 10/11/2013
- by louisamellor
- Den of Geek
Digital Spy readers named David Tennant as Doctor Who's greatest ever Doctor - now, with just 10 weeks to go until the 50th anniversary, DS is embarking on a new quest... to list the top 10 Who stories of all time.
We kicked off proceedings last Monday with William Hartnell classic 'The Aztecs' - now we travel seven years forward in time, for one of Jon Pertwee's all-time greats...
9. The Daemons (1971) - Five episodes - written by Guy Leopold
Season eight of Doctor Who - Jon Pertwee's second year with the show - represented the BBC sci-fi drama's second major creative revamp in two years. Just four stories on from a switch to full colour and new Earthbound format, Who found itself rejigged once again in 1971, with producer Barry Letts and script editor Terrance Dicks eager to push the show in a new direction.
Sweeping change is always a risk,...
We kicked off proceedings last Monday with William Hartnell classic 'The Aztecs' - now we travel seven years forward in time, for one of Jon Pertwee's all-time greats...
9. The Daemons (1971) - Five episodes - written by Guy Leopold
Season eight of Doctor Who - Jon Pertwee's second year with the show - represented the BBC sci-fi drama's second major creative revamp in two years. Just four stories on from a switch to full colour and new Earthbound format, Who found itself rejigged once again in 1971, with producer Barry Letts and script editor Terrance Dicks eager to push the show in a new direction.
Sweeping change is always a risk,...
- 9/23/2013
- Digital Spy
Interview Louisa Mellor 3 Sep 2013 - 07:00
Philip Hinchcliffe, Doctor Who producer 1974 - 1977, chats about Tom Baker, villains, visual FX, companions, the 2005 revival, & more…
A week or so ago in a Brighton basement, Den of Geek attended a fun evening organised by the - aptly named, in this instance - arts and entertainment group, Space.
A regular Brighton-based event, Space regularly welcomes luminaries from the creative world to talk to its intimate group. Past guests have been from the world of film and television (Mark Gatiss, Toby Whithouse, Nicholas Roeg, David Morrissey, The Dark Knight trilogy and Inception visual effects artist Paul Franklin, Star Wars, Superman and Raiders of the Lost Ark production designer Norman Reynolds), literature (Ian Rankin), and music (William Orbit, Skunk Anansie’s Skin, Goldie).
There are two Q&As per event, and opportunities to ask questions in an informal, friendly and geeky atmosphere, making the nights well worth the £8 advance ticket price.
Philip Hinchcliffe, Doctor Who producer 1974 - 1977, chats about Tom Baker, villains, visual FX, companions, the 2005 revival, & more…
A week or so ago in a Brighton basement, Den of Geek attended a fun evening organised by the - aptly named, in this instance - arts and entertainment group, Space.
A regular Brighton-based event, Space regularly welcomes luminaries from the creative world to talk to its intimate group. Past guests have been from the world of film and television (Mark Gatiss, Toby Whithouse, Nicholas Roeg, David Morrissey, The Dark Knight trilogy and Inception visual effects artist Paul Franklin, Star Wars, Superman and Raiders of the Lost Ark production designer Norman Reynolds), literature (Ian Rankin), and music (William Orbit, Skunk Anansie’s Skin, Goldie).
There are two Q&As per event, and opportunities to ask questions in an informal, friendly and geeky atmosphere, making the nights well worth the £8 advance ticket price.
- 9/3/2013
- by louisamellor
- Den of Geek
Peter Capaldi, the newly named star of "Doctor Who," is the first of the 12 actors to play this iconic part to have won an Oscar. However, the actor did not take home this award in 1994 for a performance; rather it came for helming "Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life," which tied "Trevor" for Best Live Action Short. (Watch this 22-minute comic gem below.) The comic film, which Capaldi also wrote, looks at the life of Kafka as he is about to begin writing "The Metamorphosis." He gets continually interrupted by increasingly silly distractions, which may be figments of his imagination. Richard E. Grant ("Withnail and I"), who played Kafka, was Dr. Simeon in "The Snowmen," a chilling episode of the most recent season of "Doctor Who." And Crispin Letts, who portrayed Kafka's main character, Gregor Samsa, is the son of Barry Letts who produced "Doctor Who&q...
- 8/7/2013
- Gold Derby
So, now we know: The BBC has just revealed that the new star of Doctor Who is Peter Capaldi. The 55-year-old Scottish actor is well known the U.K. In the U.S.? Not so much. Here are five things you need to know about the Twelfth Doctor.
1. He’s appeared on Doctor Who before
In 2008, Capaldi played a character called Caecilius who David Tennant’s Tenth Doctor encountered when he visited ancient Pompeii. He also starred in the Who spin-off show Torchwood. Capaldi is not the first actor to have appeared on the show and then later be cast as the Time Lord.
1. He’s appeared on Doctor Who before
In 2008, Capaldi played a character called Caecilius who David Tennant’s Tenth Doctor encountered when he visited ancient Pompeii. He also starred in the Who spin-off show Torchwood. Capaldi is not the first actor to have appeared on the show and then later be cast as the Time Lord.
- 8/4/2013
- by Clark Collis
- EW - Inside TV
Doctor Who Mind of Evil Color DVD. BBC
Kieran Kinsella
Once upon a time, it was thought that people wouldn’t want to watch old TV shows. In the 1970s, the BBC did a pretty good job of destroying bucket loads of episodes of shows such as Dad’s Army and Doctor Who simply to clear shelf space. Roll on the invention of the VHS videotape and suddenly there was a lucrative market for old TV shows. Among the episodes that were lost during the BBC’s Stalin-like purge were all six episodes of the Jon Pertwee Doctor Who story The Mind of Evil. Thankfully, a black and white version of the story survived the cull but it has been 40 years since anyone saw the show in it’s full glory – until now. On 11 June, BBC Worldwide are releasing the color version of The Mind of Evil in the U.
Kieran Kinsella
Once upon a time, it was thought that people wouldn’t want to watch old TV shows. In the 1970s, the BBC did a pretty good job of destroying bucket loads of episodes of shows such as Dad’s Army and Doctor Who simply to clear shelf space. Roll on the invention of the VHS videotape and suddenly there was a lucrative market for old TV shows. Among the episodes that were lost during the BBC’s Stalin-like purge were all six episodes of the Jon Pertwee Doctor Who story The Mind of Evil. Thankfully, a black and white version of the story survived the cull but it has been 40 years since anyone saw the show in it’s full glory – until now. On 11 June, BBC Worldwide are releasing the color version of The Mind of Evil in the U.
- 6/5/2013
- by Edited by K Kinsella
Review Andrew Blair 8 May 2013 - 06:29
A classic Doctor Who story gets another re-release. But is this newly-minted Inferno DVD a worthy purchase? Andrew takes a look...
The main reason for buying this re-release of Pertwee-era serial Inferno is its improved picture quality. It's instantly noticeable when compared with the 2006 release, and makes the film and video transitions less jarring. It is so sharp that it could be mistaken for the Third Doctor's dress sense, although he gets somewhat rumpled in this one.
Inferno, for a seven-parter, largely manages to avoid feeling padded. Season seven had its production schedule imposed on it by the outgoing Troughton-era team; the new regime of Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks were concerned that the two seven-parters scheduled might drag on a bit, and came up with sub-plots that could keep the momentum going and re-energise the narrative. In Inferno's case, this resulted in a...
A classic Doctor Who story gets another re-release. But is this newly-minted Inferno DVD a worthy purchase? Andrew takes a look...
The main reason for buying this re-release of Pertwee-era serial Inferno is its improved picture quality. It's instantly noticeable when compared with the 2006 release, and makes the film and video transitions less jarring. It is so sharp that it could be mistaken for the Third Doctor's dress sense, although he gets somewhat rumpled in this one.
Inferno, for a seven-parter, largely manages to avoid feeling padded. Season seven had its production schedule imposed on it by the outgoing Troughton-era team; the new regime of Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks were concerned that the two seven-parters scheduled might drag on a bit, and came up with sub-plots that could keep the momentum going and re-energise the narrative. In Inferno's case, this resulted in a...
- 5/7/2013
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
It's chucking it down with rain outside on the longest day of the year – and what's supposed to be a hot, sunny time of year. Rainy, windy weather is never very good for morale, and having clicked on the news websites, my mood's not exactly lifted when I find out that another Doctor Who legend has passed.
Caroline John, who played Liz Shaw, sadly died on 5th June 2012. Only 71 years of age. Inevitably, with all long-running TV and film series, the more time goes on, the older people get. But that's no small crumb of comfort to Who fans, and in particular fans of the Pertwee years, considering Barry Letts, Nicholas Courtney and Elisabeth Sladen.
Liz Shaw may not always have been mentioned in the same breath as Sarah Jane or Rose – she only lasted one season, and regrettably never got a trip in the Tardis during her four adventures.
Caroline John, who played Liz Shaw, sadly died on 5th June 2012. Only 71 years of age. Inevitably, with all long-running TV and film series, the more time goes on, the older people get. But that's no small crumb of comfort to Who fans, and in particular fans of the Pertwee years, considering Barry Letts, Nicholas Courtney and Elisabeth Sladen.
Liz Shaw may not always have been mentioned in the same breath as Sarah Jane or Rose – she only lasted one season, and regrettably never got a trip in the Tardis during her four adventures.
- 6/24/2012
- Shadowlocked
Caroline John may not have been the most popular Doctor Who companion, but the template in which she created help the Doctor’s companions become less screaming females in distress as it progressed during its original run. John, who was 71, died on June 5th; however word of her passing was not released to the press by her family until after her funeral on June 20. Cause of death was not released. Caroline John joined Doctor Who for its seventh season, becoming the newly regenerated Third Doctor’s first companion in 1970. As Elizabeth Shaw she was unlike many of the preceding female companions of the Doctor, as Shaw was a doctor of science and understood much of the Time Lords technobabble. Sadly, it was that strength that became the characters downfall –the conceit of the companions was to ask the Doctor a lot of questions. But because Shaw and the Doctor were talking on equal levels,...
- 6/22/2012
- by spaced-odyssey
- doorQ.com
Huzzah! After much media brooding and betting about the identity of the new Doctor Who companion, actress Jenna-Louise Coleman was announced at a press call last Wednesday.
The speculation had been gathering at pace of late, with a few whispers of Sophia Myles somehow coming back to Who after playing Madame du Pompadour six-odd years ago. Possibly this was some sneaky red herring paper trail left by Steven Moffat who urged his Twitter followers to follow La Myles, while a forthcoming interview in Doctor Who Magazine could have also been a clue. But no – quite how Sophia will be involved in the next series (at the time of writing this) is a mystery, so apologies if early next week she's announced as the next incarnation of The Rani.
What else? Waterloo Road, a programme that I dip into about once in a blue moon. It's an odd one in that...
The speculation had been gathering at pace of late, with a few whispers of Sophia Myles somehow coming back to Who after playing Madame du Pompadour six-odd years ago. Possibly this was some sneaky red herring paper trail left by Steven Moffat who urged his Twitter followers to follow La Myles, while a forthcoming interview in Doctor Who Magazine could have also been a clue. But no – quite how Sophia will be involved in the next series (at the time of writing this) is a mystery, so apologies if early next week she's announced as the next incarnation of The Rani.
What else? Waterloo Road, a programme that I dip into about once in a blue moon. It's an odd one in that...
- 3/28/2012
- Shadowlocked
We at Disc Dish are big fans of Doctor Who and are thrilled that BBC has been rolling them out on DVD and Blu-ray. We’re even more thrilled that BBC is giving a special screening of Doctor Who: The Three Doctors in our hometown of Austin, Texas, on March 24.
Doctor Who: The Three Doctors was released in a special edition DVD on March 13.
In the episode, the Doctor (Jon Pertwee) and Unit investigate strange events around Dr. Tyler’s research into cosmic rays. An alien force attacks Unit HQ and the Doctor has no option but to call on the Time Lords for help. But they’re also under attack, from a mysterious power emanating from a black hole. The only way they can help the Doctor is to break the First Law of Time and allow him to help himself. So the first (William Hartnell) and...
Doctor Who: The Three Doctors was released in a special edition DVD on March 13.
In the episode, the Doctor (Jon Pertwee) and Unit investigate strange events around Dr. Tyler’s research into cosmic rays. An alien force attacks Unit HQ and the Doctor has no option but to call on the Time Lords for help. But they’re also under attack, from a mysterious power emanating from a black hole. The only way they can help the Doctor is to break the First Law of Time and allow him to help himself. So the first (William Hartnell) and...
- 3/16/2012
- by Sam
- Disc Dish
Doctor Who from 2005 onwards hasn’t often had to worry too much about poor special effects. Given a devoted teams at The Mill and Millennium FX and a decent, if not exactly lavish, budget from the BBC, most of the time whatever Russell T. Davies and now Steven Moffat and co can dream up, the rest of the team can convincingly realise. But it wasn’t always so. In the 1960s, the budget was around £2000 an episode and many recordings were attempted in the tiny Lime Grove studios. Small wonder that several special effects shots fell short of the mark, even by the standards of the day.
But despite the willingness of modern, and usually snide, TV companies to mockingly reshow these embarrassing old clips, the fact is that from 1963-1989, Doctor Who created some innovative images which completely defied the microscopic budgets they were working with. In this article,...
But despite the willingness of modern, and usually snide, TV companies to mockingly reshow these embarrassing old clips, the fact is that from 1963-1989, Doctor Who created some innovative images which completely defied the microscopic budgets they were working with. In this article,...
- 2/28/2012
- by Tom Salinsky
- Obsessed with Film
I had no idea that Elisabeth Sladen was not the first actress cast to play Sarah Jane Smith alongside Jon Pertwee’s Doctor. Apparently not many people knew at all. From Radio Times: How it could have been: nearly 40 years later, the secret of who was originally cast as Doctor Who's Sarah Jane Smith has been revealed. It was April Walker, best known for myriad guest roles in Fawlty Towers, The Two Ronnies and Yes, Minister. ... Doctor Who producer Barry Letts cast Walker when Katy Manning left the role of Jo Grant, the Doctor's previous companion, and she worked in rehearsals for The Time Warrior. But allegedly the pairing of Pertwee's Doctor and Walker's Sarah Jane didn't work: she was a tall and more obviously strong character, along the lines of Pertwee's first companion, Liz Shaw (Caroline John). It's believed that Pertwee was unhappy with the decision but it...
- 1/19/2012
- by MaryAnn Johanson
- www.flickfilosopher.com
Stephen Thorne as Omega. co. BBC
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Stephen Thorne has one of the most recognizable voices in Britain. He has worked on radio for over thirty years but he has also made some memorable contributions to British TV. He played three of Doctor Who’s most notorious villains and he took on the role of Aslan in ITV’s much-loved animated version of C S Lewis’ classic novel The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Kieran Kinsella recently had the opportunity to speak with Stephen and began by asking him about his time on Doctor Who.
Your first appearance in Doctor Who was in the Jon Pertwee story The Daemons in which you played Azal. How did you come to get that part?
“I was asked to do the voice of Azal but when I went for my audition,...
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Stephen Thorne has one of the most recognizable voices in Britain. He has worked on radio for over thirty years but he has also made some memorable contributions to British TV. He played three of Doctor Who’s most notorious villains and he took on the role of Aslan in ITV’s much-loved animated version of C S Lewis’ classic novel The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Kieran Kinsella recently had the opportunity to speak with Stephen and began by asking him about his time on Doctor Who.
Your first appearance in Doctor Who was in the Jon Pertwee story The Daemons in which you played Azal. How did you come to get that part?
“I was asked to do the voice of Azal but when I went for my audition,...
- 8/12/2011
- by admin
If there's one season that The Doctor likes, well it's got to be Christmas. Ever since the show was brought back in 2005, it seems like he's always landing in some festive utopia where Noddy Holder shrieks his innards out, or where brass bands fart along to 'God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen'.
Given that I'm a modern-day Scrooge, this is baffling. The Doctor's only done the Easter landing once (to my knowledge), he seems to give Pancake Day a miss, and more to the point, he blanks Halloween and Bonfire Night, two bonafide opportunities to meet scary monsters. Seems that only robot Santas and killer Christmas trees will do.
Oh, and vengeful gas creatures, as witnessed in the second Christmas episode of Doctor Who called The Unquiet Dead. For those who are new to this Who lark, I should point out that this isn't a Christmas special, since it originally went out in April.
Given that I'm a modern-day Scrooge, this is baffling. The Doctor's only done the Easter landing once (to my knowledge), he seems to give Pancake Day a miss, and more to the point, he blanks Halloween and Bonfire Night, two bonafide opportunities to meet scary monsters. Seems that only robot Santas and killer Christmas trees will do.
Oh, and vengeful gas creatures, as witnessed in the second Christmas episode of Doctor Who called The Unquiet Dead. For those who are new to this Who lark, I should point out that this isn't a Christmas special, since it originally went out in April.
- 4/27/2011
- Shadowlocked
Tom Baker talks about Lis Sladen at his Web site: Lis Sladen was very important to me, you know. When I joined the little world of Doctor Who, Lis was already a star. She had an enormous success with Jon Pertwee. She was good pals with the Brigadier, our beloved Nicholas Courtney; she knew all the regular directors.... So when I replaced Jon Pertwee, it must have been an anxious time for Lis; it was a very anxious time for me. Following in the big footsteps of Jon was daunting. Tom Baker? Never heard of him. And so we started on the first story under Barry Letts as director. We did the location stuff first and I just obeyed orders; running about, with the Brigadier and that silly car Bessie Trotwood, I think it was called: too small for me, but also in its own way a "character". Jon loved cars.
- 4/21/2011
- by MaryAnn Johanson
- www.flickfilosopher.com
Liz Sladen says goodbye to Tom Baker's Doctor at the end of The Hand Of Fear:
Elisabeth Sladen, Doctor Who's very own plucky Metropolitan journalist and all-time great companion, has passed away at the age of 63.
Born in Liverpool on February 1st 1948, Elisabeth's performing roots started at a very young age, with a keen interest in dancing and one appearance with the Royal Ballet. Drama school beckoned after this, and by the early 1960s, she was working at the Liverpool Playhouse repertory company - where she met her husband Brian Miller (Dugdale from Snakedance).
Liz's first on-screen work was as an uncredited extra in Gerry And The Pacemakers film, Ferry Cross The Mersey in 1965. By the early 1970s, she was starting to gain roles in popular TV series such as Coronation Street, Doomwatch and Z Cars. She nearly won the role of Betty in popular sitcom Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em,...
Elisabeth Sladen, Doctor Who's very own plucky Metropolitan journalist and all-time great companion, has passed away at the age of 63.
Born in Liverpool on February 1st 1948, Elisabeth's performing roots started at a very young age, with a keen interest in dancing and one appearance with the Royal Ballet. Drama school beckoned after this, and by the early 1960s, she was working at the Liverpool Playhouse repertory company - where she met her husband Brian Miller (Dugdale from Snakedance).
Liz's first on-screen work was as an uncredited extra in Gerry And The Pacemakers film, Ferry Cross The Mersey in 1965. By the early 1970s, she was starting to gain roles in popular TV series such as Coronation Street, Doomwatch and Z Cars. She nearly won the role of Betty in popular sitcom Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em,...
- 4/20/2011
- Shadowlocked
Today it is with a heavy heart that all of us at Shadowlocked bit a fond farewell to one of science fiction’s finest, Elisabeth Sladen, who played Sarah Jane Smith in the long-running series Doctor Who. She passed away on April 19, 2011 of cancer. She was 63.
While Elisabeth did some film work, she primarily worked in theater and television. It wasn’t until Katy Manning – Jo Grant on Doctor Who – was preparing to leave, that Z-Cars producer Ron Craddock gave a rousing recommendation to Who producer Barry Letts to hire Sladen. She would become Third Doctor Jon Pertwee’s companion in The Time Warrior, and then go on for several series with Tom Baker, finally leaving after The Hand of Fear.
During her time in the Tardis, Sladen got to go up against Cybermen, meet Davros and see the beginnings of the Daleks. In 1981, she filmed a pilot for a spin-off series,...
While Elisabeth did some film work, she primarily worked in theater and television. It wasn’t until Katy Manning – Jo Grant on Doctor Who – was preparing to leave, that Z-Cars producer Ron Craddock gave a rousing recommendation to Who producer Barry Letts to hire Sladen. She would become Third Doctor Jon Pertwee’s companion in The Time Warrior, and then go on for several series with Tom Baker, finally leaving after The Hand of Fear.
During her time in the Tardis, Sladen got to go up against Cybermen, meet Davros and see the beginnings of the Daleks. In 1981, she filmed a pilot for a spin-off series,...
- 4/20/2011
- Shadowlocked
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