The BBC have finally announced some details on the long overdue 50th anniversary trailer and promised plenty more treats are in store.
Tonight, immediately before and after the brilliant Atlantis (BBC One, 8.25pm) there will be ‘stings’ for The Day of the Doctor that reveal the ident which will be used for the episode, plus a hashtag that (hopefully!) you’ll soon be very familiar with…
We recently announced a raft of programmes that will be help celebrate the Doctor’s anniversary but stand by for several surprises en route to the 50th… One of them is a brand new trailer, specially written and shot for The Day of the Doctor. It’s never been seen before and is currently in post-production. Bold, brilliant and unexpected, it promises to be an ideal way to look forward to the big day – 23 November.
We’ll bring you that trailer as soon as we can, but in the meantime, here’s a shot from behind the scenes of its production. And don’t forget to catch the stings tonight on BBC One around Atlantis! If they’re on a little late for you, don’t worry, we’ll have them right here on the official site so you can watch for weeks after they air!
John - I never actually say "Thank You!" for the stuff you post...I'm an avid reader - please, keep it coming, eh? You are my "Go-To" guy for any news Who-related...
Doctor Who‘s 50th anniversary is coming, entitled “The Day of the Doctor,” and the fans want to do something special to mark the occasion. They want to light up the Empire State Building in blue for the special event.
Doctor Who is the longest-running science fiction TV series of all time, and revolves around the adventures of the bow tie wearing Time Lord who regenerates every time he almost dies. Apparently the next such near-death is scheduled to happen on November 23, which happens to mark the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who.
To celebrate this, fans have started several petitions on Change.org, the biggest of which involves turning the Empire State Building blue like the Doctor’s preferred mode of transportation, the TARDIS.
The other reason behind the fans petitioning to turn the Empire State Building blue is because the Doctor has visited New York quite often in his travels, and almost nothing says New York better than the Empire State Building. Also the Statue of Liberty would probably be in bad taste, as it’s a British TV series and there are probably laws against using that particular landmark.
The TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimension in Space) is a time machine that looks like a police booth from the outside, but inside is a much larger structure which accommodates the plucky hero as he travels about solving problems throughout time.
The Doctor Who 50th anniversary marks the transition between Doctors, from Matt Smith to David Tennant, and also stars Jenna Coleman, Billie Piper, and John Hurt.
There is a petition to turn the @EmpireStateBldg blue on November 23. Info here: http://t.co/7w39dugzDE
— Doctor Who on BBCA (@DoctorWho_BBCA) September 27, 2013
On September 9 of this year, the paperwork was filled out to begin the petition process, and now all that seems to remain is the okay to actually do the deed. If you’re interested in supporting the petition to turn the Empire State Building blue to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who, click here.
Doctor Who‘s 50th anniversary is a big deal, and the fans want to celebrate in a very visible way, turning the top of the Empire State Bulding TARDIS blue.
The BBC has confirmed further details on its plans to simulcast the 50th Anniversary special, The Day of the Doctor. BBC Worldwide today announces that the special 50th Anniversary episode of Doctor Who, the world’s longest running and most successful sci-fi series will, for the first time ever, be broadcast simultaneously to millions of viewers worldwide in a global simulcast on 23rd November 2013.
From Canada to Colombia, Brazil to Botswana and Myanmar to Mexico, fans in at least 75 countries spanning six continents will be able to enjoy the episode in 2D and 3D* at the same time as the UK broadcast, with more countries expected to be confirmed within the next month. The US, Australia and Canada have also signed up for the simulcast which will be shown in numerous countries across Europe, Latin America and Africa. In addition to Matt Smith and Jenna Coleman, the one-off special, entitled The Day of the Doctor stars former Time Lord David Tennant as well as Billie Piper, and John Hurt.
On top of the worldwide TV broadcast, hundreds of cinemas in the UK and across the world also plan to screen the hotly anticipated special episode simultaneously in full 3D, giving fans the opportunity to make an event of the occasion and be part of a truly global celebration for the iconic British drama series. Details about tickets for the anniversary screening will be announced in due course.
Tim Davie, CEO of BBC Worldwide comments: “Few TV shows can still lay claim to being appointment viewing but Doctor Who takes this to another level. In its 50th Anniversary year we wanted to create a truly international event for Doctor Who fans in as many countries as possible and the simultaneous broadcast and cinema screening of the special across so many countries will make for a fitting birthday tribute to our Time Lord.”
Steven Moffat, Showrunner for Doctor Who and Executive Producer of the 50th Anniversary episode adds: “The Doctor has always been a time traveller – now he’s travelling time zones. On the 23rd of November, it won’t be the bad guys conquering the Earth – everywhere it will be The Day of the Doctor!”
The free-to-air 3D coverage will be available to those with access to a 3D TV set and to the BBC’s HD Red Button service. This is part of the BBC’s two-year trial experimenting with 3D production and distribution, which has also included selected coverage from Wimbledon 2012 and the London 2012 Olympic Games.
* 3D television broadcast is subject to availability within global region.
The 50th Anniversary special of Doctor Who will be simultaneous broadcast with the UK in the following countries:
Europe
Germany (Fox), Finland (YLE), Poland (BBC Entertainment), Russia (Karousel and NKS) North America
USA (BBC America), Canada (Space) Latin America (on BBC Entertainment and BBC HD)
Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela Africa (on BBC Entertainment)
Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde Islands, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome & Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, South Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania & Zanzibar, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe. Australia (ABC)
Asia (on BBC Entertainment)
Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand
A Doctor Who-themed trailer promoting the return of comedy panel quiz show Have I Got News For You has been made available to view online by the BBC.
The trailer, which has been airing on TV, shows the TARDIS arriving in front of the Houses of Parliament - and a visibly aged BBC News political editor Nick Robinson! - in the year 2063 and team captains Ian Hislop and Paul Merton emerging in Fourth Doctor-style garb to glean from a copy of a final print edition of a newspaper what has changed in the world. (Not much, apparently!)
This isn't the first time the show has had such a strong Doctor Who connection - and, indeed, a Fourth Doctor one at that. Tom Baker was the guest presenter on the third edition of the 36th series, which was first broadcast on 31st October 2008. (Staying in the sci-fi world, William Shatner also made a memorable appearance as guest host on the seventh edition of the 43rd series, first broadcast on 25th May 2012.)
Have I Got News For You will start its 46th series on BBC One on Friday 4th October at 9pm, with David Mitchell as the guest presenter and Danny Baker and Cathy Newman as the guest panellists. The series will comprise 11 episodes.
Alex Kingston appears to have teased yet another appearance from River Song.
Speaking in a BBC America video, she said: “I look forward to sharing more of [River] with you in the future, but… spoilers!”
Rumours have suggested that River will appear in Matt Smith’s final episode this Christmas, although could the character also carry over to Peter Capaldi’s era? With Moffat still in charge we wouldn’t rule it out.
Mankind blasted into the UK singles chart from nowhere in 1978 with their disco rendition of the Doctor Who theme - and now a special remix of their top 30 hit Dr Who? is being produced to mark the show's 50th anniversary, with a new album containing all their recordings being released too.
The album Space, Time And Beyond - due out on Monday 18th November on the Mondo Recordings label - will be a bumper affair consisting of: • A translucent-blue 14-track vinyl LP with gatefold sleeve telling the story of the making of the 1978 single • A poster plus unpublished photos from the first Doctor Who convention in the USA, held in 1979 and for which a special pressing of the single was made A CD consisting of the same tracks will also be released separately on the same date. Containing the same information as the vinyl release, it will be presented in a six-panel digipak.
Dos Amigoz - rising stars on the production, remix, and DJing scene - are creating the 2013 remix, with work on Dr Who? (Dos Amigoz Space Time Remix) featuring Diane Charlemagne expected to finish tomorrow. It will be given a worldwide release via all major download sites on a date to be announced soon.
Brought together in 1978 by Don Gallacher - a recording engineer determined to be a record producer - Mankind took Dr Who?, released in November that year, to number 25 in the UK, spending a total of 12 weeks in the chart. It eventually sold more than 240,000 copies, with Gallacher now commenting:
If a single sold that many copies between November and January in the present day, it would probably be number one for the entire Christmas/New Year period! It also saw them appear on Top of the Pops three times, with those appearances due to be aired again soon on BBC Four as part of the channel's ongoing series of repeats of the former BBC1 pop-music programme.
Gallacher said: I realised a year ago that the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who on TV was coming up. Should I do anything about it? I have a very busy life as a film music supervisor and now a film producer. [The Black Dogs - a British film about a fictitious supergroup - is currently in pre-production, with the actors' names firmly under wraps.]
Still, I have always kept a toe in the music business water and it was my first love. I had compiled and remastered all the Mankind tracks and thought of a modern remix of the single. When I bumped into my old colleague and friend Andy Richmond, who owns his own label, Mondo Recordings, I mentioned my ideas for a Mankind album. Andy called me shortly after and said "OK, let's do it."
The past few weeks of preparation have been like 1978 all over again, and it is great fun! When Andy suggested Dos Amigoz to do the remix I was thrilled. What I know about today's dance music is not very much, but I know the duo's reputation and like their work.
I awaited the new remix with some trepidation. What if I didn't like it? Well, it arrived and I didn't like it - I absolutely loved it! These were the sounds I could only dream about in 1978! Dr Who? originally came about after Gallacher had noted Meco's number 7 hit the previous year with the disco version of the Star Wars Theme - Cantina Band. Together with keyboard player Mark Stevens, he hired session musicians guitarist Dave Christopher, bass player Dave Green, and drummer Graham Jarvis (since his usual session drummer, Graham Hollingworth, wasn't available). A 24-track studio in Clapham was booked to record it, with Gallacher adding the vocals himself to circumvent Radio 1's anti-instrumental policy at the time.
The single was first released on the Motor Records label, which had been formed especially by Gallacher for that purpose, but overwhelming interest led to the disc's promotion and distribution switching to Pinnacle - an eager new label better placed to cope with the growing nationwide demand.
For the Top of the Pops appearances, Paul Martinelli - a former band member of Gallacher's - stood in for Christopher on guitar and mimed the vocals, while Hollingworth finally got the drumming honours.
Tragically, Stevens, Martinelli, Green, and Jarvis have all since died.
Gallacher is now a freelance music supervisor, while Hollingworth is still a session drummer and teaches drums too. Christopher, meanwhile, now works for a helicopter manufacturer.
The vinyl album package can be pre-ordered here, and the CD of Space, Time And Beyond can be pre-ordered here.
Doctor Who News will be running a Mankind competition shortly with fabulous prizes, so keep checking back!
Mankind now have a dedicated Facebook page and can also be followed on Twitter.
UPDATE - 10.55pm BST, TUESDAY 8th OCTOBER: Contrary to earlier information received and reported in good faith, Doctor Who News has now been informed that because of a misunderstanding with the label, a CD will not be included with the vinyl package. This news item has therefore been amended accordingly, and we regret any confusion caused.
STEVEN MOFFATT is apparently trying to come up with a way that allows there to be more than 12 Time Lord's in the Doctor Who franchise.
According to Peter Davison, the 5th Doctor, Moffatt is trying to fix the script so that the Time Lord can regenerate himself again and again.
This comes after it was brought to the public's attention that Robert Holmes, the late scriptwriter, wrote a 1976 instalment of the series which stated that the Doctor can only regenerate 12 times, meaning that Peter Capaldi's takeover at Christmas should be the last ever Doctor.
“I know people are worried about it, but I think there will be a way around that rule,” Davison told the Telegraph.
“I know that Steven has put in the groundwork already in an episode so that there can be more.”
The idea that the Doctor only has12 regenerations was mentioned again in the show’s 20th anniversary special, The Five Doctors.
And some mega-fans have vowed to abandon the show if the Doctor breaks the law and survives his 12th regeneration.
Meanwhile, it has been revealed that the BBC have found a number of early episodes of the show, which were believed to have been permanently lost.
A total of 106 episodes featuring the first two actors to play the Doctor, William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton, were said to have been missing but speculation has mounted that some of those have been located.
BBC Worldwide is expected to confirm the find at a press screening in London later this week.
OK! Magazine may have printed a huge 50th anniversary spoiler (or a shocking mistake) in their latest issue.
Spreading the net currently is a purported magazine scan from said publication that appears to confirm another popular companion is returning in addition to the already confirmed Billie Piper.
Steven Moffat has made another bold statement promising that the The Day of the Doctor will change the show as we know it.
In an interview with SFX (#241, out today), Moffat says: “We’ve got to set the Doctor off in a brand new direction. It’s chapter two of his life. Now something happens to him that changes the way he thinks and the way he will adventure from now on. You can celebrate an anniversary in many ways – I think the most productive one within the narrative is to say “This is where the story really starts. This is where he finds his mission, he finds his destiny.”
He adds: “We’re not fibbing – this one is going to change the course of the series. And it’s very rare in Doctor Who that the story happens to the Doctor. It happens to people around him, and he helps out – he’s the hero figure who rides in and saves everybody from the story of the week. He is not the story of the week. In this, he is the story of the week. This is the day of the Doctor. This is his most important day. His most important moment. This is the one he’ll remember, whereas I often think the Doctor wanders back to his TARDIS and forgets all about it.”
Moffat also spoke about the dynamic between the Doctors: “I wrote it as the friction version. When you’re talking to yourself there are no limitations, there’s no holding back. You wouldn’t be kind or courteous. At the same time, because they are two loveable, madcap, caffeinated Doctors, they’re also quite fanboyish about each other. They think it’s quite cool. They’re not broody, upset Doctors – it’s more “There’s two of us! Brilliant!” But that’s mostly in the playing, because they were having such a good time together that they brought that out. They get giggly with each other. It is, by lovely accident, a tremendous double-act. They’re naturally funny together. Enough alike and enough dissimilar. Matt said it was like Laurel and Laurel, as if Hardy didn’t show up – except he does in the form of John Hurt!”
Adding: “The weird thing is there’s never that much contrast between Doctors. The truth is it’s not wildly different how they’re written. I’ve written quite a lot for both of them, and you just have the voice in your head, very clearly. Where they are similar is funny, because they’re practically in unison, and where they are different is David is a cheeky, sexy, genuinely cool Doctor, up against a Doctor who thinks he’s sexy and cool but is woefully wrong on that subject! And that’s just naturally funny.”
Steven Moffat seems to have made it pretty clear that no Classic era Doctors will appear in the 50th anniversary special, The Day of the Doctor.
In an interview with SFX magazine (#241, out 16 October), Moffat says: “The absolute reality was we didn’t have all those Doctors about to come back through the door. There were limitations to who we could get back.
“They’re all brilliant, they’re all terrific, but time has passed. I think it would be beyond the dignity of all those very fine actors to want to force themselves back into a costume from 20 or 30 years ago.
“I was thinking more “What would be a grand old story for the Doctor? And what would speak to the generation who are watching it now, while still celebrating the fact that it’s been around for all that time?” Everyone wanted to see David again – that’s just a fact. And David and Matt together are glorious. That’s a joy.”
Why has no one asked Moffat about whether or not they tried to approach Eccleston?
If the story is what I think it is, it would also have made sense to include Paul McGann. He could have come in at the tailend of his life, just as Sylvester McCoy did in the movie. His somewhat advanced age since 1996 would therefore not really be an issue.
Those are the kinds of questions I'd love to have answered.
Why has no one asked Moffat about whether or not they tried to approach Eccleston?
If the story is what I think it is, it would also have made sense to include Paul McGann. He could have come in at the tailend of his life, just as Sylvester McCoy did in the movie. His somewhat advanced age since 1996 would therefore not really be an issue.
Those are the kinds of questions I'd love to have answered.
Wondering whether there will be a role for the Hurt Doctor post-50th...
...shame Eccy is not returning, but I can't help but feel that we are being fed a bit of nonsense (it wouldn't be the first time) about some other previous incarnations...after all, some have been seen on-set, we just don't know what those sets were for...I think it's winding up to be a wonderful couple of weeks for Who fans though....
Thanks. It's what I expected and what I've been reading about Ecclecston for years. He doesn't return to roles. I wonder if he'll regret it down the road, just as Tom Baker regretted his refusal to be in the FIVE DOCTORS special.
But what about McGann? Has no one asked a question about him?