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Jodie Whittaker plans to have a good rest before filming Doctor Who

Jodie Whittaker’s casting as the first-ever female Doctor Who was one of TV’s best-kept secrets – for an impressive five months – until it was officially announced on 16 July.

Indeed, when TV Magazine went to meet the actress back in June at an exclusive preview of the BBC’s gripping psychological thriller Trust Me, she was keeping very tight-lipped about her huge new role as the Time Lord.

“I’m not doing anything at the moment,” claimed Jodie when we wondered what was next on her agenda after the lead role in Trust Me.

“I should play it really cool and be like: ‘I’m doing this, this and this.’ But you know what? I’m not doing ’owt.

“I can’t be bothered to be sneaky or tactical about it. I’m not naive, I’m very lucky that I’ve worked for the last year solidly. So I’m taking a well-earned couple of months off.”


It turns out Jodie had only let the truth slip to one person after landing the coveted role: her husband, American actor Christian Contreras.

Naturally, TV Magazine is thrilled by the casting of a woman in the role and can forgive her little white lie. It’s possible that we won’t even see her as the 13th incarnation of the Doctor until autumn 2018, as she’s said to start filming next year, so she truly is “taking a couple of months off”.

Read the full article by at The Sun

Steven Moffat reveals how Doctor Who's Christmas specials almost disappeared forever

Steven Moffat has confirmed he stuck with Doctor Who through the end of 2017 to save the show's annual Christmas special.

Broadchurch writer Chris Chibnall is set to replace Moffat as showrunner for the next full series in 2018, but neither writer had originally planned to write this year's festive episode.

"There was one big glitch, which was Christmas," Moffat told Digital Spy. "I was going to leave at the end of series 10 – I had my finale planned and what I wanted to do with it. I had a good notion of that.

"Then I learned at a drinks event somewhere that Chris didn't want to start with a Christmas, so at that point they were going to skip Christmas. There'd be no Christmas special and we would've lost that slot."


Moffat suggested that, if Doctor Who had skipped Christmas in 2017, it might never have got its much-coveted December 25 slot back.

"Doctor Who would've lost that slot if we hadn't [done a special] because Christmas Day is now so rammed. So I said, probably four glasses of red wine in, 'I'll do Christmas!' and then had to persuade Peter [Capaldi] that's how we were leaving.

"Then I had to work out how you could get mortally injured in one episode and spend an hour regenerating on Christmas Day, which I hopefully have done!"


But while a changeover of showrunners is an epic event for fans, Moffat further admitted that handing the reins over to Chibnall is "incredibly prosaic" in many ways.

"It's like handing over any job," he insisted. "Though Chris was incredibly, and is incredibly, fastidious about not wanting to seem to lurk behind me, ready to knife me in the back!
Chris Chibnall

"I never felt that – he was absolutely welcome to be there any time he wanted, I had no problem with it all. He's a good friend."


Thanks to The Moff, Doctor Who will return to BBC One this Christmas with 'Twice Upon a Time', in which our current Doctor (Capaldi) goes on one last adventure, teaming up with his very first incarnation (David Bradley).

Via Digital Spy by Morgan Jeffery

Bill Potts’ return to Doctor Who “can be done” according to Stephen Moffat

Writer will “park” character after Christmas special, leaving the possibility of a comeback…

In a new interview with Doctor Who Magazine, Stephen Moffat has talked a little about winding up his time on the show, and what that means for some of the key characters of his tenure.

He came out fervently against killing off companions – something he has avoided during his time in charge of the show – saying:

“It’s wrong! I’m not even that crazy about it when they did it with Adric [in 1982’s Earthshock]. I don’t think that’s the story. I’m sorry, it’s a children’s programme. And explicitly, the companions are like Doctor Who’s children. Or his grandchildren. They’re in his care, and lovely old Doctor Who is opening the TARDIS doors and saying, ‘I will always look after you.’ Get it right – that’s the story.

It’s not the mean-spirited kind of story where you’ve proved the ‘grittiness’ of real life. It’s not real life – it’s Doctor Who.”

When talking specifically about the future of last season’s companion, Bill Potts – who we’ve already seen will return in the upcoming Christmas special, he holds firm to the same line.

“I actually tried to find ways to give everybody closure,” he says, “but simultaneously park them somewhere. You want something that feels like an end. That’s right and proper. Love triumphs over all. As it always must, whatever any fool says. But there’s enough in there that if anyone wanted to pick her up again and use her again, then it can be done.”

So there. There’s still a chance we’ll see Bill Potts and the 13th Doctor together at some point. Sooner, rather than later, we hope.

Presumably, given his attitude on the matter, the same will apply to Jenna Coleman’s Clara Oswald, who has also been rumoured to be making a cameo appearance in Peter Capaldi and Moffat’s swan-song instalment.

Via Cult Box

The London Film and Comic Con with the Who Addics


Matthew, Jacob & Liv of the 'Who Addics' travelled down to London for their first ever London Film & Comic Con! 

Here are the vlogs'...



Freema Agyeman would “never say never” to a Doctor Who return

Former Doctor Who companion Freema Agyeman has revealed that she’d be open to returning to the BBC sci-fi series, with the TV and theatre actress saying that she felt there was “more to explore” with her character Martha Jones (who last appeared in the series in 2010, after first starring in 2007).

“I had a really great time on the show, I really loved the character, it brings so many people so much joy,” Agyeman told RadioTimes.com. “So never say never! I feel like there was more to explore with Martha, definitely, but I don’t know what form that would take.”
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“I know I kept doing audiobooks until after I’d even left the show. So I don’t know – it could be case of maybe one day, maybe one day soon, maybe one day in 30 years time. We will wait and see.”

Martha fans should probably keep their eyes (and ears) peeled for future audio and televisual projects, then – though of course, viewers recently got to see Agyeman back in the main series anyway, with the actress cropping up in a montage of previous companions during a scene late in series 10 finale The Doctor Falls.

It was, however, an appearance that Agyeman herself was unaware of until the story aired...

“I didn’t even know about that!” she told us. “It was only on Twitter that I saw all of this stuff, and I thought ‘Oh gosh, what’s that all about?’

“That’s the world of Who, isn’t it? It’s kind of incredible how 10 years down the line, people do still want to talk to you about it, and those connections will never go.

“It’s such a gift really, to be part of something that is such a happy show. You know, and all the opportunities that it affords you later on. That association is not one that I ever feel I want to disassociate myself from.”

Read the full article over at Radio Times by Huw Fullerton

Read Steven Moffat’s final words about ‘Doctor Who’

We’re all stories in the end.
And Steven Moffat’s story will be repeated for years to come.

The Doctor Who head writer and showrunner—for only one more episode—already said goodbye to his cast and crew. But last week, he bid adieu to fans in his final Doctor Who Magazine column (reprinted on the alphacentauriiswatchingyou Tumblr blog).

“The fact is, I have no more news for you. Barely any secrets to keep,” he wrote. “One more special on Christmas Day, and I’ll be gone before the end credits.”

Known for complex storylines and lengthy monologues, the lifelong Whovian in 2004 signed on to the BBC’s Doctor Who revival. He earned three consecutive Hugo Awards (“The Empty Child”/”The Doctor Dances,” “The Girl in the Fireplace,” “Blink”), and one more nomination (“Silence in the Library”/”The Forest of the Dead”), before replacing Russell T. Davies as executive producer.

Nearly a decade later, Moffat revealed plans to depart the long-running show in December.

“I first wrote Doctor Who in 2004, and I very much hoped I’d get to write it again. Then I wrote more, and then so much more, until I thought it might go on forever,” he said in DWM.

It turns out forever is about 12 years—fittingly, the same number Doctor with whom Moffat will end his Who career.

“Even I don’t care about me—this is all about Peter Capaldi,” the Scotsman said of the show’s star.

“I saw him at the end, you know. The very last shot you see of him as the Doctor is in fact the very last thing Peter did on the show,”
Moffat continued. “Just as popping out the TARDIS and confusing Strax was the very first thing he did in ‘Deep Breath,’ all those centuries ago.”

Reading Moff’s last words—reminders of space and time gone by, whispers of new adventures to come—it’s hard not to wax nostalgic.

“It was funny, that last day. I was in the studio for most of it, which is the first time I’ve ever managed that on Doctor Who,” he wrote, musing over former responsibilities like planning, writing, and casting. “But now, with my time on the show winding down, with desks falling empty, and computers falling silent, and endless rounds of goodbye drinks, there’s nowhere else for me to be.”

Two weeks ago—after Moffat filed his farewell column (in which he cheekily plays a scene between himself and tight-lipped director Rachel Talalay)—the BBC announced Jodie Whittaker will replace Capaldi in this winter’s finale.

Taking on the role of the first female Doctor, Whittaker reunites with Broadchurch boss Chris Chibnall for Doctor Who‘s 11th season, scheduled for 2018.

Via Geek.Com by Stephanie Mlot

Will we see the First Doctor regenerate into the Second in the Doctor Who Christmas special – and who will play him?

David Bradley is no stranger to Doctor Who. In 2012 episode Dinosaurs on a Spaceship he played ruthless merchant Solomon and a year later, for the show’s 50th anniversary celebrations, he starred as William Hartnell, the First Doctor, in An Adventure in Space and Time, Mark Gatiss’s drama about the genesis of the show.

But now Bradley can legitimately “join the ranks of the legends”, having appeared as the actual Doctor in actual Doctor Who, popping up at the end of the series ten finale and set to appear alongside Twelfth Doctor Peter Capaldi in his last ever adventure this Christmas.

“It’s something that I never imagined when I did my Dinosaurs on a Spaceship about five years ago,” said Bradley, speaking at London Film & Comic Con at the end of July. “I thought ‘wow, that’s the Tardis, wow, that’s the police box, well this is my Doctor Who experience and that’s gonna be it but that will be fine’. And then eventually Space and Time came up, but after that I still couldn’t call myself the Doctor – I was William Hartnell and his version of the Doctor – but I was told that [after the Christmas special] I can now join the ranks of the legends.”

But could another actor also be joining those legends in the Christmas special? We know Capaldi’s Twelfth Doctor will regenerate in the episode but based on what we’ve seen in the trailer, so could Bradley’s.

Although unconfirmed, everything points to the initial setting for the episode being the South Pole in 1986, the scene of Hartnell’s last outing, The Tenth Planet. The First Doctor’s speech at the start of the trailer is from that story, the blizzard conditions fit, it features companion Polly, and the title, Twice Upon a Time, sounds very much as if it could hint at a return to a moment the Doctor has lived through before. Add to that the fact that the trailer shows that telltale golden glow emanating from the First Doctor’s hands and it looks as if we’re in for the show’s first double regeneration.

Of course, that glimpse could be as much as we’ll ever see – perhaps we leave the First Doctor at that point. But if so, why blow it in the trailer?

And if we do see it through to its conclusion, that means a new (or perhaps old) face for the Doctor.

So who could it be?

Gatiss’s League of Gentlemen co-star Reece Shearsmith played Second Doctor Patrick Troughton in a brief appearance in Space and Time, so does that mean he’ll follow Bradley into Who canon? I don’t think so, and I hope not.

Bradley earned his place on Doctor Who partly because he looks a lot like Hartnell did at that age and partly thanks to an uncanny performance as the Doctor in An Adventure in Space and Time (during the Comic Con session he was asked to read the First Doctor’s farewell speech again and was so bang on that it sent shivers down my spine).

I'm not criticising Shearsmith's performance (there wasn't enough to criticise) but he looks nothing like Troughton. He lacks the hawklike features, and his relatively slight frame in an oversized jacket, along with that unconvincing mop-top wig, combined to make him look more like a clown than a Doctor.

Beyond that, though, transferring one actor from a drama about Doctor Who to the show itself is just about acceptable, but doing it with two feels like smashing the fourth wall to bits and I have a feeling that’s a sentiment departing showrunner Steven Moffat might share.

So if we do see the Second Doctor, I don’t think it will be Shearsmith.

On one hand, the prospect of having a new actor play Troughton’s Doctor is quite exciting, even if it would set a record for the shortest stint ever as the Time Lord (unless series eleven is going to take a very unusual turn and follow the adventures of both the Thirteenth and Second Doctors – ha! I wonder if that would placate the fans who are still struggling to accept a woman in the role).
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Patrick Troughton's actor son Michael would no doubt be happy to pay tribute to his dad in a one-off appearance, and he certainly has Patrick's nose and mouth, even if he is fuller-faced. Could he step in?

More likely, it seems to me, we’ll glimpse the real Troughton’s face surrounded by regeneration energy as Bradley changes – much as we did when John Hurt’s War Doctor became Christopher Eccleston’s Ninth.

That’s easy enough to do with CGI these days – Eccleston wasn't involved in The Day of the Doctor, they just used old footage. Hell, maybe the BBC will even up the budget for Moffat and Capaldi’s last episode (after all, it is Christmas) and give us a few moments of Troughton in action, post-regeneration.

When I asked David Bradley about all of this, he was understandably guarded. “As far as I know you don’t see anything like that," was his initial reaction, but he quickly followed it up by suggesting there could be something to hide, even if it's not Reece Shearsmith. "I mean, I don’t know what’s a spoiler," he said. "Even if I knew I couldn’t really say. But I never saw Reece.”

Of course, two Doctors don't need to be in the same room in order to shoot a regeneration scene – by all accounts, Peter Capaldi filmed his departure long before Jodie Whittaker shot her arrival (if she's even done it yet) – so there's no reason that Bradley would have seen Shearsmith anyway. But I want to believe he's not involved so that's what I'm going to read into Bradley's words.

As for how much of the First Doctor's regeneration we'll get to see, well it would seem strange if an adventure that looks set to recreate scenes from Hartnell's final episode (which currently remains lost) did not include the most significant moment in Doctor Who history – the introduction of the very idea, regeneration, that means the show is still going half a century later.

There would be a pleasing symmetry to it, too. Two Doctors, the first and the latest, two regenerations, two departures – for Capaldi and Bradley – and a neat signing off for Steven Moffat, creating yet another of the big moments that have become a mark of his time in charge of Doctor Who, in an episode that increasingly looks as if it is going to be chock full of them.

Via Radio Times by Paul Jones

Torchwood - Series 5 - cover art and synopses revealed

Coming soon, the fifth season of Torchwood - and Big Finish can reveal the artwork and synopses for these exciting episodes!

Today we are excited to reveal more details and episode synopses for Torchwood Series 5 - Aliens Among Us, the official continuation of Torchwood from Series 4 - Miracle Day.

5.1 Changes Everything by James Goss

Tyler Steele has washed up in Cardiff looking for a fresh start. A disgraced journalist, he’s looking into the Red Doors movement – are they really behind the terrorist attacks on immigrants? Who is stirring up the racism and hatred in the city, and what does outsourcing contractor 3Sol have to do with it? Tyler finds out that Torchwood - a secret organisation that everyone thought long gone - is back in business. Tyler realises that this is the second chance he's been looking for, and he'll do anything to be a part of it.

5.2 Aliens & Sex & Chips & Gravy by James Goss

Has Cardiff really been invaded by aliens? Tyler thinks he’s found a lead – the daughter of the mysterious Ro-Jedda is getting married and has booked a private party. If Torchwood can infiltrate it, there’s a chance they’ll end up closer to the truth. Free bar, canapés, and the chance to find out what’s really going on. What could possibly go wrong? Soon Torchwood are on the run for their lives, and learning more than they ever wanted to about alien life.

5.3 Orr by Juno Dawson

Vincent Parry is the most successful property developer in Cardiff. A while ago he made an agreement with the mysterious Ro-Jedda, and it is an arrangement he has come to bitterly regret. Something has to be done – but it’s going to cost him everything he loves. With time running out for Cardiff, Torchwood encounter an alien who knows them only too well.

5.4 Superiority Complex by AK Benedict

Poverty and homelessness are on the rise in Cardiff. The streets are full of the desperate and the dispossessed. So, of course, it’s the right time to open a 7-star luxury, all-inclusive hotel. And, naturally, the hotel is for aliens only. As the humans stand outside the gates and look hungrily in, there’s one thing that makes them smile. Someone is murdering the guests.

Starring John Barrowman, Paul Clayton, Alexandria Riley, Jonny Green, Sam Béart, Kai Owen and Eve Myles, with writers James Goss, Juno Dawson and AK Benedict, directed by Scott Handcock and produced by James Goss, don't miss this exciting new series, available for pre-order at £28 on CD or £25 on download.

Or save in a bundle. Pre-order the whole series (part 2 out in October and Part 3 out in February) as a bundle, for £75 on CD or £60 on download.  



With the anticipation for this upcoming series, we talked to the producer of this series, James Goss to see what gossip and information we could get in the upcoming series, its characters and all things Torchwood.

Big Finish (BF): James Goss, how are you doing? We are here to talk Torchwood: Series 5 - Aliens Among Us, part 1 and we’re very excited

James Goss (JG): I’m very excited too!

BF: We’ve just listened to episode 1, called Changes Everything, which is a clever reversal on the pilot episode of Torchwood, Everything Changes. And with the Torchwood team returning to Cardiff after the events of Miracle Day, is it a regression back to the early days of Torchwood?

JG: It introduces Torchwood to someone who has no idea what Torchwood is. And whereas in the first episode of Torchwood you got to discover Torchwood through the eyes of someone you love, this is discovering the world of Torchwood through the eyes of someone who makes you wince. Tyler Steele is the anti-Gwen, which is why it’s so good to pair him up with her. You can tell Gwen immediately gets the measure of him, but at the same time you look at Tyler and go “You’re Horrible! I wouldn't mind a go, but you’re HORRIBLE”.

BF: Amazing! And why did you move the series back to Cardiff? After Miracle Day, did it feel like the natural thing to do?

JG: The home of Torchwood has always been Cardiff and will always return to Cardiff - that’s where it started, and that’s where it feels most at home. Miracle Day told a brilliant story all over the world, but the best scenes were set in a kitchen in Swansea. Well, apart from Lauren Ambrose fighting Eve Myles in a lift...

And Cardiff is great! In the world of Torchwood, it's like Gotham. It's been through so much… it seems foolish to say “Here’s Torchwood in its new base of Northampton" - “I look forward to the episode where they go to Kettering”. Cardiff is Torchwood and it’s brilliant.

BF: Plus, the Rift is there.

JG: Yes! There is no Rift in Northampton*

BF: Should there be?

JG: Nooooo.

BF: How involved was Russell (T Davies, creator of Torchwood)? We’ve mentioned before that Russell oversaw it and loved it. But to what level do we get Russell’s input in this new series?

JG: Russell has managed to be the most enthusiastic back seat driver imaginable. When we started we had meetings with Titan so that their comic series will tie up with this new series (which it will). We told Russell our plans and he said: "This is all lovely, but how about..." It's brilliant, as we're able to email writers with a document about the series and they go “Wait - this document is written by Russell!".

Some of the thoughts that Russell had are things we would never dare do. Big Finish normally (rightly) has a custodial duty to the brands it licences - take them interesting, amazing places but, at the end of the day, return them to the garage without a scratch. With Aliens Among Us, Russell’s approach is “Drive it off a cliff! Bring them back, kill them off...” Some of the stuff to come is really shocking.

This series is ambitious, even by Big Finish's standards! This is a full series of 12 hour-long episodes, and Russell has been instrumental in creating all the fun bits of the puzzle. He’s been so hands on. Answering emails, discussing casting options with Scott… he went to see one of the cast in a play they were touring in, and told us “Oh yes, great choice”. It’s amazing to have Russell over our shoulders. Amazing and scary.

BF: You mentioned “Bring them back” there… Anyone we should… look out for?

JG: Well, someone is coming back from the dead. There’ll be a few familiar faces…

BF: So, spoiler-free for BF listeners, please… Tyler Steele. Who is he? What does he do? What’s his motivation? And who’s going to shag him first?

JG: Tyler is dreadful! He’s a journalist in disgrace who’s come to Cardiff as a last resort and clearly, he’s set his sights low. He’s not Clark Kent, planning on having an exciting career in journalism or a Pulitzer Prize - his highest ambition is a 5,000-word essay on Buzzfeed. And he encounters Torchwood because he’s actually very good at his job. Torchwood discover him, realise he’s onto something and they work with him. Along the way, Tyler discovers that Torchwood aren’t insane, there really are aliens in Cardiff.

BF: These new characters, Orr, Mr Colchester, Tyler, are they a mix of Russell’s and your ideas, or do the actors also help bring them to life as well?

JG: The actors have a lot of input. But most of it comes from Russell. Orr (in the third episode), is the kind of character only Russell could create. It’s been brilliantly written by Juno Dawson, an excellent writer who was so enthusiastic about Orr that you could only say “Juno, have at it.” Episode 3 is bizarre, it’s delightful and Orr, as played by Sam Béart, is disturbingly unique.

BF: A lot has happened since Torchwood started on screen in 2007 and to Torchwood now in the modern day. Has Torchwood completely changed?

JG: Yes. Austerity hit Cardiff. The entire Welsh property market collapsed. Aliens Among Us’ is set against the backdrop of this. A city that’s just getting back on its feet, and in Aliens Among Us there’s a strange reason why the Cardiff property market is going through a boom. The city's become worried about immigration, refugees, about people who aren't like them. And Tyler has found that something is behind all of this, stirring this up for reasons of their own.

The writers have really delivered. AK Benedict has one with an all-inclusive luxury hotel. You hear about luxury hotels in third-world countries where impoverished people with no clean water peer through the fence at rich holidaymakers eating pineapple by the pool.

We also hear a lot about a group called Red Doors. It was inspired by a story from Manchester, where the front doors of asylum seekers were accidentally painted red, causing a massive increase in hate crimes.

And, worryingly Captain Jack discovers dating apps. A man with a Vortex manipulator and dating apps... How's that going to work out? Badly and messily.

BF: Since Torchwood came to Big Finish, all the stories have stood alone, are there any essentials for listeners before starting series 5?

JG: You can start from scratch with Series 5. But, if you want to listen to Torchwood stories that are relevant, we’ve been slowly telling the story on how Gwen has been restarting Torchwood, you can listen to More Than This, Forgotten Lives…

BF: And Juno Dawson and AK Benedict’s fantastic Torchwood stories!

JG: Yes! Juno’s The Dollhouse - a hilariously feminist retelling of Charlie's Angels, and AK Benedict’s The Victorian Age, which is utterly charming - Captain Jack and Queen Victoria go hunting monsters together!

BF: Amazing! But with series 5, is this the end of the Torchwood monthly releases?

JG: No, the regular range has a short hiatus so we can focus on series 5, but then the regular range kicks off again, with a special guest and an old flame returning… Our first release is the funniest, naughtiest, most 18+ thing that Torchwood has ever done. Not to be listened to with children.

Thanks, James Goss! Get ready for Series 5, which Changes Everything...

*Big Finish cannot confirm nor deny the existence of a Rift in Northampton

Via Big Finish Productions

Jenna Coleman weighs in on new Doctor: ‘I Can’t Wait to Hear Her Speak’

The Whoniverse is rallying behind the newest Doctor, even former companions who are flying through the universe.

At the Television Critics Association press tour on Monday morning,  Jenna Coleman weighed in on the news that Jodie Whittaker will become the first-ever woman to play the lead on the BBC’s long-running sci-fi series “Doctor Who.”

“Oh, I love it,” she said via satellite. “I think it’s genius. I think she’s brilliant and lovely.”

Coleman had played companion Clara Oswald on the series alongside Matt Smith as the 11th Doctor and later, Peter Capaldi as the 12th Doctor. She left the show in 2015.

Coleman added, “I can’t wait to hear her speak. I want to hear the voice. I think it’s very exciting times.”

After leaving “Doctor Who,” the actress signed on to play the young Queen Victoria in Masterpiece’s “Victoria.” The second season will return in 2018.

Whittaker, who starred in “Attack the Block” and “Broadchurch” prior to receiving the iconic role of The Doctor, will be joining the series during the upcoming Christmas Special, “Twice Upon a Time.” The Radio Times reports that the episode will feature some sparring over “casual chauvinism” between the 12th Doctor and the first (played by David Bradley), which should make for an intriguing counterpoint to the Doctor’s latest regeneration.

“Doctor Who” will return this Christmas on BBC America.

Via IndieWire

Lost Doctor Who Classic Shada to be BBC Worldwide’s Next Animation Project

News has emerged that following 2016’s animation of the missing 1966 Doctor Who story The Power of the Dales, BBC Worldwide’s next animated project will be the legendary lost Tom Baker story Shada.

As fans will know, Shada was set to be the final story in the Fourth Doctor’s sixth season in early 1980, but was abandoned partway through recording due to strike action in the TV studio. With only the exteriors and one of three studio sessions completed, the story was only around 50% finished, and a number of attempts to remount the final studio sessions failed.

One of the reasons Shada is still held in such high regard is that it was then-script editor Douglas Adams’ final work on the series. As a six-part story, it would also have been his longest Doctor Who serial.

Shada has since appeared on VHS and DVD in an incomplete version, and as a novel, an audiobook, an online animation (with the Doctor recast as Paul McGann), and in an unofficial animated version from Ian Levine, completing the story utilising animated segments and voice recordings from most of the extant cast but – significantly – a voice artist’s impression of Tom Baker rather than an appearance from the actor himself. Levine’s version was offered to BBC Worldwide some years ago but declined.

All that could be about to change, with BBC Worldwide set to release their latest version this November.

According to actor Daniel Hill’s Spotlight account, he is credited with an appearance in “Doctor Who – Shada” for “television”, under the joint directorship of Pennant Roberts (the serial’s original television director) and Charles Norton – the director in charge of Worldwide’s Power of the Daleks project. The reference to “television” might be an indication of another North American TV broadcast for the serial.

Indeed, Hill himself tweeted on June 27th of this year: “fantastic time recording for SHADA 2017”, following this up on July 3rd with “v exciting ready in November apparently”. Hill was, of course, cast as the character Chris Parsons in the original production.

All of which pretty much confirms this as the follow-up to The Power of the Daleks. And although fans of the missing 1960s episodes will no doubt be disappointed at the news, the audio track for this new version will effectively comprise brand new “old” Doctor Who, whereas the soundtrack recordings for the missing black and white serials have already been released often several times over. With Tom Baker’s involvement an almost certainty since he’s finally become one of the “Big Finish Doctors”, the key question that now remains is, will this be a full animation of the entire story (perhaps the most likely option if a broadcast is indeed the intention), or a part animation of only the missing segments? Time, as they say, will tell.

Via Starburst

An unexpected event in the Doctor Who Christmas special left David Bradley and Peter Capaldi “almost blubbing”

What could David Bradley be talking about? In a session at the London Film and Comic Con, the actor who plays the First Doctor in this year’s Doctor Who Christmas special talked about a scene from the episode that he says left both himself and departing Twelfth Doctor Peter Capaldi close to tears – and that somehow came as a surprise to them.

It apparently involves some unexpected events that took place around them as they were filming, which seems pretty unprecedented in the world of scripted TV, and makes it sound as if they deliberately had a surprise sprung on them.

What it might be who can say, but the fact that the special is likely to end with Capaldi’s farewell and regeneration and perhaps Bradley’s as well means something emotional isn’t too much of a surprise – but the fact that they didn’t know it was coming certainly is.

What can it all mean? Here’s what happened in David Bradley’s own words, so you can judge for yourselves…

“There’s an event towards the end of [the Christmas special] that happens and when it happened, well, we just did a take and neither Peter nor I expected it.

“There was no CGI involved, it was all happening and we were both almost blubbing by the time that the take ended. I can’t say, I’m not going to say, what it was but it was quite an event and we weren’t prepared for all the things that were going to be going on around us as we were doing our dialogue.

“And as I say to you, we got quite lumpy. They’ve kept that out of the trailer but it takes it all to another dimension…”

A multi-Doctor episode, a regeneration, the introduction of the first female Doctor, a farewell to Peter Capaldi – and now this. It’s pretty clear this is going to be a very special episode of Doctor Who – and it’s going to get emotional…


Via Radio Times by Paul Jones

David Bradley: there’s “a lot of conflict” between the two Doctors over “casual chauvinism” in the Doctor Who Christmas special

The First and Twelfth Doctors may have to work together in the Doctor Who Christmas special but they're also going to find themselves clashing – over the original Time Lord's outdated views about women.

"What we did emphasise [about the First Doctor] was the old fashioned nature and how he is from the 60s," revealed David Bradley, who plays the part opposite Peter Capaldi's more enlightened incarnation.

"He goes into the Twelfth Doctor’s Tardis and says ‘it’s a bit dusty around here, it’s in an awful state isn’t it? Where’s Polly? Shouldn’t she give it a spring clean?' And then Peter’s saying ‘you can’t say that’.

"[The First Doctor] brings all his 60s sensibilities, what’s lovingly called casual chauvinism," said Bradley, speaking at the London Film and Comic Con. "He’s just talking [as if] the [companions] are there just to help out, and do the dusting and do all the domestic chores – his attitudes to a lot of things come right from the 60s, so there’s a lot of conflict between Hartnell’s Doctor and Peter’s Doctor about how things have changed in the last 50 years... we had quite a bit of fun with that."

We can only hope that the First Doctor is around long enough to see who the Twelfth regenerates into...

David Bradley was speaking at the London Film & Comic Con

Via Radio Times by Paul Jones

Sacha Dhawan "never auditioned for Doctor Who" – but he wants to replace Jodie Whittaker

Since Jodie Whittaker was unveiled as the 13th Doctor, all talk has been about her pioneering position as the first woman in the role.

But in the run-up to the announcement there was also much discussion about the possibility of the show casting its first non-white Doctor, with Sacha Dhawan rumoured to be one of the frontrunners.

Dhawan, who had a major role in the most recent series of Sherlock, and also fronted co-creator and sometime Doctor Who writer Mark Gatiss's MR James ghost story The Tractate Middoth, has always been very enthusiastic about being associated with the part of the Doctor – but he has now admitted that he did not get as far as auditioning for it.

"I never auditioned for Doctor Who," revealed Dhawan, speaking at the London Film and Comic Con. "I think because I'm associated with Sherlock and the Doctor Who world someone must have thrown my name in the hat. It was really nice, Mark Gatiss messaged me 'I've just seen this on Twitter', to the point where I was calling my agent saying 'have I got an audition for this?' No."

Dhawan is remaining upbeat about one day landing the role though, and is already considering the prospect of being Whittaker's successor, adding "hopefully when Jodie finishes, I'll get considered."
In the meantime, he's very pleased about her land-mark casting – even if he does have one regret...

"I'm really happy, it's great. I always said it would be nice to have a female Doctor and also I know Jodie as well and she's just fantastic and perfect for it.

"I'm actually gutted because before they made the announcement I heard it was gonna be Jodie and when she was announced I was 'damn, I should've put a bet on!'"


Sacha Dhawan was speaking on a panel at the London Film and Comic Con

Via Radio Times by Paul Jones