David Tennant has revealed that he recently had his first ever movie audition in Hollywood.
The Doctor Who star told BBC Wales that he was "nervous" because he had not had to audition for a part since Casanova in 2004.
Tennant said: "I had my first ever Hollywood audition yesterday. The terrible thing is I've been very spoilt in Britain for the last few years - I haven't done an audition.
"I went to this room and I found the place and I had to get past the security guard who wanted to see some ID, and I said, 'I've not brought any ID!' I didn't realise that was something you needed to do to come for an audition."
He added that he had some difficulty when the casting director asked him to "just go off script" because of the limited knowledge he had about the role.
"You have a few sides, you're having to intuit from a few lines what this character may be or what his story may be," Tennant continued.
"So you end up having to improvise around this character's life about which you know nothing and about which you're invited to know nothing. It was sort of alright."
He added: "It was for quite a big Hollywood film, I won't get it!"
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Tom Baker: 'I won't advise Matt Smith'
Former Doctor Who star Tom Baker has admitted that he would be reluctant to offer advice to the show's new lead actor Matt Smith.
The 75-year-old, who played the Time Lord's fourth incarnation from 1974 to 1981, revealed that he would prefer to leave Smith alone as he discovers his own approach to the role.
Speaking to the Daily Record, he explained: "I don't give advice to the young. I have often noticed that the young shudder at the sight of the old, so I keep silent."
Smith started filming for the iconic sci-fi show in Cardiff last month alongside his new co-star Karen Gillan (Amy Pond).
The 26-year-old will make his debut on the programme when David Tennant bows out as the Tenth Doctor at the end of three specials in early 2010.
Baker added: "David Tennant is a wonderful actor, a huge star. He is young and handsome. I never saw him in that role, but then, I never saw myself as The Doctor either."
The veteran actor recently announced that he is to return as the Fourth Doctor in a new audio series.
The 75-year-old, who played the Time Lord's fourth incarnation from 1974 to 1981, revealed that he would prefer to leave Smith alone as he discovers his own approach to the role.
Speaking to the Daily Record, he explained: "I don't give advice to the young. I have often noticed that the young shudder at the sight of the old, so I keep silent."
Smith started filming for the iconic sci-fi show in Cardiff last month alongside his new co-star Karen Gillan (Amy Pond).
The 26-year-old will make his debut on the programme when David Tennant bows out as the Tenth Doctor at the end of three specials in early 2010.
Baker added: "David Tennant is a wonderful actor, a huge star. He is young and handsome. I never saw him in that role, but then, I never saw myself as The Doctor either."
The veteran actor recently announced that he is to return as the Fourth Doctor in a new audio series.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Tom Baker Q & A on "Hornets Nest"
Q: Have you enjoyed reprising your role as The Doctor?
A: Yes, yes! Oh yes.
Q: The excitement amongst fans is building by the day in the run up to the release. What can they look forward to in the Hornets’ Nest first instalment ‘The Stuff of Nightmares’?
A: These Hornets are not just any old Hornets; oh no! They are PRIME BBC Hornets, the likes of which have never been seen or heard of before. And of course BBC Hornets are the stuff of nightmares! And as lovers of nightmares, the fans will not be disappointed.
Q: Doctor Who has a tremendously loyal fan base, what do you think sets fans of the show apart?
A: Their unswerving loyalty. Their good taste. Their BLIND LOVE.
Q: You’ve often described yourself as a performer rather than an actor, where do you think the difference lies and how has this affected your choice of roles?
A: Is that a quote? What’s the difference? I think of myself as an entertainer.
Q: The Brits hold a particular affection for Doctor Who, what do you think is the key to the show’s appeal?
A: The formula is so good. Benevolent alien, a being with secrets. A sonic screwdriver, but I’m sworn to secrecy by the BBC. They pay me 30 pieces of silver every month to be discreet.
Q: What was the appeal of recording a new series of audio dramas?
A: The scripts arrived at a good moment. I’m a bit capricious about what I accept. I asked some hard questions and made some impossible demands. The BBC agreed to everything I asked on condition the details would be locked in a strongbox in the Bank of England. They will be revealed on the BBC website on January 20th 2034 at 6.12 AM – the hundredth anniversary of my birth.
Q: Are you a fan of audio books? Which titles have you enjoyed?
A: I’m a great fan of anything that Michael Jayston records. He’s a magnificent teller of the tale. What a guy! What an actor, and a very tricky bowler at cricket.
A: Yes, yes! Oh yes.
Q: The excitement amongst fans is building by the day in the run up to the release. What can they look forward to in the Hornets’ Nest first instalment ‘The Stuff of Nightmares’?
A: These Hornets are not just any old Hornets; oh no! They are PRIME BBC Hornets, the likes of which have never been seen or heard of before. And of course BBC Hornets are the stuff of nightmares! And as lovers of nightmares, the fans will not be disappointed.
Q: Doctor Who has a tremendously loyal fan base, what do you think sets fans of the show apart?
A: Their unswerving loyalty. Their good taste. Their BLIND LOVE.
Q: You’ve often described yourself as a performer rather than an actor, where do you think the difference lies and how has this affected your choice of roles?
A: Is that a quote? What’s the difference? I think of myself as an entertainer.
Q: The Brits hold a particular affection for Doctor Who, what do you think is the key to the show’s appeal?
A: The formula is so good. Benevolent alien, a being with secrets. A sonic screwdriver, but I’m sworn to secrecy by the BBC. They pay me 30 pieces of silver every month to be discreet.
Q: What was the appeal of recording a new series of audio dramas?
A: The scripts arrived at a good moment. I’m a bit capricious about what I accept. I asked some hard questions and made some impossible demands. The BBC agreed to everything I asked on condition the details would be locked in a strongbox in the Bank of England. They will be revealed on the BBC website on January 20th 2034 at 6.12 AM – the hundredth anniversary of my birth.
Q: Are you a fan of audio books? Which titles have you enjoyed?
A: I’m a great fan of anything that Michael Jayston records. He’s a magnificent teller of the tale. What a guy! What an actor, and a very tricky bowler at cricket.
David Tennant: rich, talented and famous.. but still likeable
REASONS to hate David Tennant? Loads. He's Doctor bloody Who, for starters. He's snogged Billie Piper.
He's rich and famous and jet-sets back and forth across the Atlantic the way us mere mortals go between home and work. And he can probably bed any girl he wants.
However, the most annoying thing about the 38-year-old from Ralston, Paisley, is this - it's practically impossible to dislike him.
He's cheerful and friendly, annoyingly modest and self-deprecating and laughs off the whole stardom thing like it's the most ridiculous idea he's ever heard.
He's massively, childishly enthusiastic about his work - especially when it comes to all things Tardis - and he even admits he gets starstruck when he meets famous people, chickening out of talking to them just like you or me.
The annoyingly likeable David said: "I still get that thing where I think, 'Oh,I'd love to say hello to him,' but then think, 'Oh, leave him alone.' I sawMorrissey once having a pizza in a restaurant in London.Meat-free, not aMeat Feast - that would have been a coup.
"I've not even ever been that big a Smiths fan - I've always liked them and I like his solo stuff - but there's something about Morrissey. He's a 'thing' isn't he? A creation. He just comes with aura.
"He was looking remarkably normal. He was just sitting there with a mate, laughing and joking.
"So I still do have that fan worship a little bit. You meet someone... but I stop myself now. I suppose when you've been on the other side of it a little bit, you kind of know what it is.
"The other day I was in Cardiff Bay - as Doctor Who is filmed in Cardiff - buying a coffee and there was the little fella fromManic Street Preachers. James Dean Bradfield.
"But I thought, 'Leave him alone. Let the man have his coffee.' But I couldn't remember his name. Which was probably the other reason I thought, 'Don't go up to him.'"
When it comes to his own fame, David seems to find the notion that people flock to see him - thousands were turned away from his appearance at Comic-Con in the States - utterly ludicrous.
The prospect of stardom going to his head is one he simply can't get his head around.
David said: "Well all that's just silly isn't it? I don't really know how to answer that.Maybe if I had been 21 when it all happened, maybe not. It's difficult to say. I was very well brought up, that's what it is."
He now faces the difficult task of following his dream job after quitting as the Time Lord in Russell T Davies's hit reimagining of Doctor Who.
While rumours swirl around linking him with just about every major film franchise in Hollywood and beyond - notably The Lord Of The Rings' prequel The Hobbit - he reckons it's all nonsense. In fact he's worried people will be disappointed when they find out he's up to.
David said: "We're slightly worried.We're doing a bit of expectation management because there are so many rumours. Whatever is bouncing round the web isn't true. We just need to manage expectation.
"There's a new rumour about me every day. I'm playing The Hobbit, apparently. No phone calls about that yet but I don't know, no idea.
"I don't think I'm in Harry Potter. There is a film at the moment - I'mplaying the villain in St Trinians 2 - but beyond that, who knows?
"We've done Hamlet. It's a TV version. It's a record of the stage play, so it's not a full-scale stage drama but it's the production that we did on stage last year and that'll certainly be on the BBC at Christmas."
With a Tardis-free future ahead and no notable roles to announce at the moment, many actors would wonder if they had done the right thing.
No such doubts for David - and despite his decision to quit after three seasons, his unmistakable love for the character shines through.
He said: "It's a Saturday night TV event. And it was when we were kids as well. I grew up obsessed with it really, so it's strange to be sitting here at 38 and be in it.
"It's still the same show, the story continues. I'm the same man asWilliam Hartnell, I'mjust wearing a different wig.
"There are bits of all those old Doctors in there somewhere, yet you make the role new and of yourself because that's how it works.
"It's not like James Bond or Sherlock Holmes or other characters reborn in the same mould.We want to break the mould a bit, make him a new man, which is why I went with a different wig than William."
David's input into the look of his Doctor didn't stop with the hair - he insisted on wearing his own shoes in his first episode as the wardrobe department wouldn't give him a pair he felt looked ruined enough.
He said: "The very first pair of shoes that I wore were my own shoes because I wanted them to be old and battered and hanging off my feet. And one thing that costume designers hate is things being really knackered.
"I really wanted them to be scruffy and knackered so I got my own shoes and said, 'I'mjust going to wear these.' The soles were flapping. "They were very old. But they really did fall apart,
"We sold them for Children In Need. So somebody's got an old pair of shoes rotting in the corner of their bedroom somewhere. Cherishing them. As they rot."
With Matt Smith stepping in to fill David's stinky shoes, it has hit home that he really has walked away from the Tardis for the last time.
But David is happy to have handed over the controls of the famous police box - and insists he was careful not to have any input whatsoever into the new boy's interpretation of the role.
He said: "We've met. I've chatted to him several times. He was down in Cardiff doing a recce.
"It's weird because I'mvery excited for him and at the same time I don't want to get in his way.
"We talked a bit and then he said, 'Well, what advice have you got?' and I said, 'I don't have any advice really.'
"He's a great actor - he's got no worries from that point of view - he knows what he's doing.
"He'll bring his own energy and enthusiasms with him, and that's how it should be really. And he doesn't need my advice - it's the same character but a different man every time.
"Doctor Who is a big thing and you get attention, some of which is nice and some that's intrusive. But he'll cope. He's bright, normal, and down to earth."
We haven't seen the last of David as the Doctor yet -he will be on screen in three more specials as well as popping up in spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures.
But the massively hyped talk that he could return for the 50th anniversary appear to be just that - hype. He is most insistent that there are no actual plans whatsoever in place.
David said: "Who knows what will happen? But, you know, 50th anniversary, 2013. We did talk about it ... so never say never but I have no plans.
"For now, I've just done an audiobook, which is due out soon. They might be the last words I utter as the Doctor.
"And I crop up in Sarah Jane. That was my last proper acting in the suit. It's a great show and I'm afraid I just greedily wanted a part, so I just demanded that I be included."
So for now, David will sit back, enjoy his vast array of rich-bloke pursuits like yachting and peasant-hunting, and relax.Well, no.
He said: "I don't have hobbies. I don't have 'pursuits'. I did play squash three times. I was quite good.
"I should get some pursuits. I've started cooking. I've got a Jamie Oliver book that I'm slowly working through. What he says you can rustle up in half an hour will take me three hours. But oh, it works. And you get great satisfaction.
"Tv, I love a good box-set. I've got TheWire ready to go - the first couple of episodes are quite tough but you have to persevere.
"And music, I'ma big Proclaimers fan. I make no secret of that." When David does decide to tell us what he will be up to next, don't expect to hear from him on Twitter - he thinks it's a colossal waste of time. Another good reason to like the man.
He said: "Twitter? Noooo. 'I'mhaving a cup of tea' Who cares? There's plenty of people pretending to be me on Twitter.
"They can tell you that they're having a cup of tea. It'll just be the same. It'll be a different cup of tea but the information's the same."
He's rich and famous and jet-sets back and forth across the Atlantic the way us mere mortals go between home and work. And he can probably bed any girl he wants.
However, the most annoying thing about the 38-year-old from Ralston, Paisley, is this - it's practically impossible to dislike him.
He's cheerful and friendly, annoyingly modest and self-deprecating and laughs off the whole stardom thing like it's the most ridiculous idea he's ever heard.
He's massively, childishly enthusiastic about his work - especially when it comes to all things Tardis - and he even admits he gets starstruck when he meets famous people, chickening out of talking to them just like you or me.
The annoyingly likeable David said: "I still get that thing where I think, 'Oh,I'd love to say hello to him,' but then think, 'Oh, leave him alone.' I sawMorrissey once having a pizza in a restaurant in London.Meat-free, not aMeat Feast - that would have been a coup.
"I've not even ever been that big a Smiths fan - I've always liked them and I like his solo stuff - but there's something about Morrissey. He's a 'thing' isn't he? A creation. He just comes with aura.
"He was looking remarkably normal. He was just sitting there with a mate, laughing and joking.
"So I still do have that fan worship a little bit. You meet someone... but I stop myself now. I suppose when you've been on the other side of it a little bit, you kind of know what it is.
"The other day I was in Cardiff Bay - as Doctor Who is filmed in Cardiff - buying a coffee and there was the little fella fromManic Street Preachers. James Dean Bradfield.
"But I thought, 'Leave him alone. Let the man have his coffee.' But I couldn't remember his name. Which was probably the other reason I thought, 'Don't go up to him.'"
When it comes to his own fame, David seems to find the notion that people flock to see him - thousands were turned away from his appearance at Comic-Con in the States - utterly ludicrous.
The prospect of stardom going to his head is one he simply can't get his head around.
David said: "Well all that's just silly isn't it? I don't really know how to answer that.Maybe if I had been 21 when it all happened, maybe not. It's difficult to say. I was very well brought up, that's what it is."
He now faces the difficult task of following his dream job after quitting as the Time Lord in Russell T Davies's hit reimagining of Doctor Who.
While rumours swirl around linking him with just about every major film franchise in Hollywood and beyond - notably The Lord Of The Rings' prequel The Hobbit - he reckons it's all nonsense. In fact he's worried people will be disappointed when they find out he's up to.
David said: "We're slightly worried.We're doing a bit of expectation management because there are so many rumours. Whatever is bouncing round the web isn't true. We just need to manage expectation.
"There's a new rumour about me every day. I'm playing The Hobbit, apparently. No phone calls about that yet but I don't know, no idea.
"I don't think I'm in Harry Potter. There is a film at the moment - I'mplaying the villain in St Trinians 2 - but beyond that, who knows?
"We've done Hamlet. It's a TV version. It's a record of the stage play, so it's not a full-scale stage drama but it's the production that we did on stage last year and that'll certainly be on the BBC at Christmas."
With a Tardis-free future ahead and no notable roles to announce at the moment, many actors would wonder if they had done the right thing.
No such doubts for David - and despite his decision to quit after three seasons, his unmistakable love for the character shines through.
He said: "It's a Saturday night TV event. And it was when we were kids as well. I grew up obsessed with it really, so it's strange to be sitting here at 38 and be in it.
"It's still the same show, the story continues. I'm the same man asWilliam Hartnell, I'mjust wearing a different wig.
"There are bits of all those old Doctors in there somewhere, yet you make the role new and of yourself because that's how it works.
"It's not like James Bond or Sherlock Holmes or other characters reborn in the same mould.We want to break the mould a bit, make him a new man, which is why I went with a different wig than William."
David's input into the look of his Doctor didn't stop with the hair - he insisted on wearing his own shoes in his first episode as the wardrobe department wouldn't give him a pair he felt looked ruined enough.
He said: "The very first pair of shoes that I wore were my own shoes because I wanted them to be old and battered and hanging off my feet. And one thing that costume designers hate is things being really knackered.
"I really wanted them to be scruffy and knackered so I got my own shoes and said, 'I'mjust going to wear these.' The soles were flapping. "They were very old. But they really did fall apart,
"We sold them for Children In Need. So somebody's got an old pair of shoes rotting in the corner of their bedroom somewhere. Cherishing them. As they rot."
With Matt Smith stepping in to fill David's stinky shoes, it has hit home that he really has walked away from the Tardis for the last time.
But David is happy to have handed over the controls of the famous police box - and insists he was careful not to have any input whatsoever into the new boy's interpretation of the role.
He said: "We've met. I've chatted to him several times. He was down in Cardiff doing a recce.
"It's weird because I'mvery excited for him and at the same time I don't want to get in his way.
"We talked a bit and then he said, 'Well, what advice have you got?' and I said, 'I don't have any advice really.'
"He's a great actor - he's got no worries from that point of view - he knows what he's doing.
"He'll bring his own energy and enthusiasms with him, and that's how it should be really. And he doesn't need my advice - it's the same character but a different man every time.
"Doctor Who is a big thing and you get attention, some of which is nice and some that's intrusive. But he'll cope. He's bright, normal, and down to earth."
We haven't seen the last of David as the Doctor yet -he will be on screen in three more specials as well as popping up in spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures.
But the massively hyped talk that he could return for the 50th anniversary appear to be just that - hype. He is most insistent that there are no actual plans whatsoever in place.
David said: "Who knows what will happen? But, you know, 50th anniversary, 2013. We did talk about it ... so never say never but I have no plans.
"For now, I've just done an audiobook, which is due out soon. They might be the last words I utter as the Doctor.
"And I crop up in Sarah Jane. That was my last proper acting in the suit. It's a great show and I'm afraid I just greedily wanted a part, so I just demanded that I be included."
So for now, David will sit back, enjoy his vast array of rich-bloke pursuits like yachting and peasant-hunting, and relax.Well, no.
He said: "I don't have hobbies. I don't have 'pursuits'. I did play squash three times. I was quite good.
"I should get some pursuits. I've started cooking. I've got a Jamie Oliver book that I'm slowly working through. What he says you can rustle up in half an hour will take me three hours. But oh, it works. And you get great satisfaction.
"Tv, I love a good box-set. I've got TheWire ready to go - the first couple of episodes are quite tough but you have to persevere.
"And music, I'ma big Proclaimers fan. I make no secret of that." When David does decide to tell us what he will be up to next, don't expect to hear from him on Twitter - he thinks it's a colossal waste of time. Another good reason to like the man.
He said: "Twitter? Noooo. 'I'mhaving a cup of tea' Who cares? There's plenty of people pretending to be me on Twitter.
"They can tell you that they're having a cup of tea. It'll just be the same. It'll be a different cup of tea but the information's the same."
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Tennant: 'I felt like Robbie Williams'
David Tennant has said that he felt like Robbie Williams after the reception he received from Doctor Who fans at last month's Comic-Con convention in San Diego.
Speaking on an audio postcard recorded for the BBC, the actor said that the streets were lined with people dressed as Stormtroopers from Star Wars and Scooby Doo.
Tennant said: "It was slightly mental. I've never been to San Diego before, so I don't know what it's like normally, but it was just crawling with hundreds of thousands of fans."
Outgoing head writer Russell T. Davies said: "You often get told over there that Doctor Who's not well known and Torchwood's not well known, and I'm beginning to deny that! David, you're far too modest. You were welcomed like a rockstar."
Tennant admitted: "It was a bit like being Robbie Williams for a minute there. I mean they did go crazy, didn't they?"
Davies added: "I was reading all our press clippings last night. I have to say I thought they did that for everyone - no they don't! Yours was really rare and noted by the press and phenomenal.
"I'm really pleased. A lot of press clippings were saying that was an extraordinary welcome for you and how deserved and marvellous it was."
Speaking on an audio postcard recorded for the BBC, the actor said that the streets were lined with people dressed as Stormtroopers from Star Wars and Scooby Doo.
Tennant said: "It was slightly mental. I've never been to San Diego before, so I don't know what it's like normally, but it was just crawling with hundreds of thousands of fans."
Outgoing head writer Russell T. Davies said: "You often get told over there that Doctor Who's not well known and Torchwood's not well known, and I'm beginning to deny that! David, you're far too modest. You were welcomed like a rockstar."
Tennant admitted: "It was a bit like being Robbie Williams for a minute there. I mean they did go crazy, didn't they?"
Davies added: "I was reading all our press clippings last night. I have to say I thought they did that for everyone - no they don't! Yours was really rare and noted by the press and phenomenal.
"I'm really pleased. A lot of press clippings were saying that was an extraordinary welcome for you and how deserved and marvellous it was."
BBC Audio Renews Big Finish Licence for Doctor Who
Big Finish is delighted to announce that its licence to make The Audio Adventures of Doctor Who has been extended by BBC Audiobooks, for a period up to December 31 2011.
“We’re thrilled that the license has been renewed,” says executive producer Jason Haigh-Ellery. “and we’ve got some fantastic stories lined up for the rest of 2009, and through 2010 and beyond. Not only from the Doctor Who main range, but also the New Eighth Doctor Adventures and the Companion Chronicles, plus additional ranges like The Lost Stories.
“All of us at Big Finish love making Doctor Who on audio, and we feel privileged that the BBC has entrusted us to continue.”
“We’re thrilled that the license has been renewed,” says executive producer Jason Haigh-Ellery. “and we’ve got some fantastic stories lined up for the rest of 2009, and through 2010 and beyond. Not only from the Doctor Who main range, but also the New Eighth Doctor Adventures and the Companion Chronicles, plus additional ranges like The Lost Stories.
“All of us at Big Finish love making Doctor Who on audio, and we feel privileged that the BBC has entrusted us to continue.”
Monday, August 10, 2009
BBC AMERICA's Best Week Ever - 3.3 Million Tune in to Torchwood
Torchwood: Children of Earth is BBC AMERICA's most successful series ever, reaching 3.3m in Live+SD across the week. It delivered an average audience of 705,000 viewers per episode, with Friday's finale attracting 847,000, the largest average audience in the channel's history. Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead also performed strongly with 657,000 viewers in Live+SD.
BBC America picks up 'Who' season five
BBC America has picked up the US rights to air the upcoming fifth season of Doctor Who, it has been announced.
The new run, which sees Matt Smith take over from David Tennant in the lead role, is currently being filmed in Cardiff, Wales.
The thirteen-episode fifth season will air on BBC America and BBC America HD in Q2 2010 shortly after its UK premiere.
The network also confirmed that its recent screening of Torchwood: Children Of Earth reached a cumulative 3.3 million viewers (live + SD) over its broadcast week at the end of July, making it BBC America's most successful ever series. The subsequent broadcast of Doctor Who: Planet Of The Dead brought in 657,000 viewers.
The new run, which sees Matt Smith take over from David Tennant in the lead role, is currently being filmed in Cardiff, Wales.
The thirteen-episode fifth season will air on BBC America and BBC America HD in Q2 2010 shortly after its UK premiere.
The network also confirmed that its recent screening of Torchwood: Children Of Earth reached a cumulative 3.3 million viewers (live + SD) over its broadcast week at the end of July, making it BBC America's most successful ever series. The subsequent broadcast of Doctor Who: Planet Of The Dead brought in 657,000 viewers.
Former 'Who' writer: 'Doc snogging is lazy'
The writer of the final classic TV Doctor Who story has criticised the revived show for exploiting sexual tension between The Doctor and his companions.
Rona Munro told The Guardian that it was lazy to suggest the possibility of romance between the show's lead character and those that join him in the TARDIS.
Munro said: "This is my chance to say it. I don't think The Doctor should have fallen in love with anybody.
"I think that's wrong. I don't think there should be any snogging or any sexual tension because he's a Time Lord, and his companion is but a mortal."
Munro penned 1989's three-part Season 26 finale Survival, the last episodes of Doctor Who before its return in 1996's one-off TV movie and the full revival of the series in 2005.
Rona Munro told The Guardian that it was lazy to suggest the possibility of romance between the show's lead character and those that join him in the TARDIS.
Munro said: "This is my chance to say it. I don't think The Doctor should have fallen in love with anybody.
"I think that's wrong. I don't think there should be any snogging or any sexual tension because he's a Time Lord, and his companion is but a mortal."
Munro penned 1989's three-part Season 26 finale Survival, the last episodes of Doctor Who before its return in 1996's one-off TV movie and the full revival of the series in 2005.
Doctor Who Greatest Moments
Doctor Who Greatest Moments: The Doctor, coming to BBC 3 on Thursday 20th August 2009, series taking viewers on a journey through time and space to relive all the action from the legendary sci-fi show, featuring exclusive interviews with key actors offering unique insights on the classic moments. In this edition, the likes of David Tennant, John Barrowman, David Morrissey and the League of Gentlemen's Mark Gatiss guide us through the Time Lord himself's greatest moments.
Saturday, August 08, 2009
THE girlfriend of Doctor Who star David Tennant is becoming a doctor herself - in BBC1 hit Casualty.
Georgia Moffett, 24, is joining the long-running medical soap as a junior doctor in September.
The beauty met David, 38, while guest-starring as his daughter in Doctor Who.
Georgia is one of four new stars joining the 24th series of Casualty. The others are Personal Affairs beauty Laura Aikman and newcomers Steve Miller and Will Sharpe.
The beauty met David, 38, while guest-starring as his daughter in Doctor Who.
Georgia is one of four new stars joining the 24th series of Casualty. The others are Personal Affairs beauty Laura Aikman and newcomers Steve Miller and Will Sharpe.
Torchwood fans hit back over Ianto Jones death messages
UPSET sci-fi fans have hit back after internet death threats were posted to Torchwood writers to say: ‘We’re not all crazy’.
Last week Wales on Sunday revealed some fans had left online messages saying they would ‘murder’ the scriptwriters responsible for killing off the show’s Ianto Jones, played by Newport actor Gareth David Lloyd in the Children of Earth mini-series.
But in scores of responses left at Wales on Sunday’s website, WalesOnline, admirers of the Cardiff-set BBC hit distanced themselves from ‘extremists.’
One, writing as Iam, insisted the article highlighted only a tiny proportion of fans.
Iam said: “I am sure that 99% of these comments were simply ill-conceived knee-jerk reactions to the strong emotions elicited by the death of Ianto.
“I want to stress that THOUSANDS of fans are protesting politely and peacefully. Over £4,000 has been raised for the charity Children in Need as part of this protest.”
And ‘Kendra’ said: “There are thousands of fans out there, who are raising money for charity, sending polite and reasonable letters, and doing what we can to be supportive of the character and actor.
“But it’s always the crazies that get highlighted and from then on, any time anybody tries to make a reasonable argument, we’ll get dismissed as being one of the death threat/ wacko/ axe-wielding nutcases.”
KB13 admitted fans were angry at ‘RTD’ – Torchwood creator and Dr Who writer Russell T Davies – but said: “Those comments are over the top and upsetting, they came from personal journals and fans gathering places where people are blowing off steam.
“Please don’t condemn us based on things written in private and shared with other fans.”
But Jimmy 900 said: “This is what happens when socially inept people are asked to handle emotional content.”
Behellmorph added: “This is getting out of hand, sending death threats to writers? That’s just wrong.
“Granted, the passing of Ianto’s death is very sad but that doesn’t mean you should go threatening people like that.”
Meanwhile ‘Cuisle’ urged fans to accept Gareth David-Lloyd had left the show.
Jovialien insisted making threats of violence was not typical fan behaviour.
And Tardigger said: “Only the most miniscule portion of fans saddened by the demise of Ianto Jones and concerned about the fate of Torchwood have posted comments similar to those cited in (last week’s) article.
“The many thousands of other Torchwood fans, however, reflecting myriad opinions both pro and con towards Children of Earth and Mr Davies, remain united by one common element – respectful disagreement through open discourse.”
Rusty added: “GROW UP! It’s a TV character!
“Granted, I was never that fond of Ianto to begin with – he was a blank as far as I’m concerned, but death threats?
“Come on, people!”
Last week Wales on Sunday revealed some fans had left online messages saying they would ‘murder’ the scriptwriters responsible for killing off the show’s Ianto Jones, played by Newport actor Gareth David Lloyd in the Children of Earth mini-series.
But in scores of responses left at Wales on Sunday’s website, WalesOnline, admirers of the Cardiff-set BBC hit distanced themselves from ‘extremists.’
One, writing as Iam, insisted the article highlighted only a tiny proportion of fans.
Iam said: “I am sure that 99% of these comments were simply ill-conceived knee-jerk reactions to the strong emotions elicited by the death of Ianto.
“I want to stress that THOUSANDS of fans are protesting politely and peacefully. Over £4,000 has been raised for the charity Children in Need as part of this protest.”
And ‘Kendra’ said: “There are thousands of fans out there, who are raising money for charity, sending polite and reasonable letters, and doing what we can to be supportive of the character and actor.
“But it’s always the crazies that get highlighted and from then on, any time anybody tries to make a reasonable argument, we’ll get dismissed as being one of the death threat/ wacko/ axe-wielding nutcases.”
KB13 admitted fans were angry at ‘RTD’ – Torchwood creator and Dr Who writer Russell T Davies – but said: “Those comments are over the top and upsetting, they came from personal journals and fans gathering places where people are blowing off steam.
“Please don’t condemn us based on things written in private and shared with other fans.”
But Jimmy 900 said: “This is what happens when socially inept people are asked to handle emotional content.”
Behellmorph added: “This is getting out of hand, sending death threats to writers? That’s just wrong.
“Granted, the passing of Ianto’s death is very sad but that doesn’t mean you should go threatening people like that.”
Meanwhile ‘Cuisle’ urged fans to accept Gareth David-Lloyd had left the show.
Jovialien insisted making threats of violence was not typical fan behaviour.
And Tardigger said: “Only the most miniscule portion of fans saddened by the demise of Ianto Jones and concerned about the fate of Torchwood have posted comments similar to those cited in (last week’s) article.
“The many thousands of other Torchwood fans, however, reflecting myriad opinions both pro and con towards Children of Earth and Mr Davies, remain united by one common element – respectful disagreement through open discourse.”
Rusty added: “GROW UP! It’s a TV character!
“Granted, I was never that fond of Ianto to begin with – he was a blank as far as I’m concerned, but death threats?
“Come on, people!”
Friday, August 07, 2009
Life as a dalek alongside Billie Piper and David Tennant
SO the truth is out. Billie Piper didn't get a Dalek to tell ex-hubby Chris Evans he was "exterminated". Just in case you were wondering. The story started circulating in the press about three years ago, while Nick "voice of the Daleks" Briggs was working alongside Billie in Doctor Who.
"Billie asked me to speak as a Dalek down the phone to some of her friends," he explains.
When Nick repeated the story to journalists, a tabloid reporter asked: "Did she get you to phone Chris Evans?"
"No," Nick said.
The next day, the headline was: Billie Tells Chris He's Exterminated.
"On the plus side, they put my age as 35," says Nick, 47.
Nick, from London, was asked to be a Dalek during the Doctor Who re-launch in 2005 and has been an irate-voiced fixture ever since. Prior to the TV series, he was executive producer on the Big Finish Doctor Who audio productions for the BBC.
He worked first with Christopher Eccleston. When he heard that the Doc from the North would be leaving after one series, he felt duty-bound to mention the rumour to his old friend David Tennant, who had worked with him on the audio productions and was a massive Doctor fan.
"I met him and told him he should go for the role. He said, 'Oh, that's an interesting idea'," recalls Nick. "In fact, he already had the part but he wasn't allowed to tell anyone."
He records his Dalek drone on set, as the action is being filmed. "It's better than just recording it in post-production. It creates a bit of special atmosphere on set," he says.
"Plus, there's the fact that my voice activates the flashing lights on the Dalek."
He admits he hasn't met young Doctor Matt Smith yet, so can't really comment on how the new incarnation is shaping up.
Will there be Daleks in the new series?
"You get shot at dawn if you reveal secrets," he says. "But could you have a series of Doctor Who without the Daleks?"
Nick voices all the Daleks, which can be tricky if there's a crowd of them declaring war. He admits he may be in danger of suffering "Dalek schizophrenia".
So how does he produce that special vocal blend of ear-jangling irascibleness and war-mongering villainy?
"You have to do some serious hectoring," he admits. "You have to get REALLY cross! It's like playing a very weird musical instrument."
Electronic sound mixing on a ring modulator gives Nick's vocals a fractious, tinny edge but the basic ingredients are all him.
"It makes me a much calmer person. Being a Dalek is a very good way of getting rid of all your aggression!" he laughs.
One place Nick won't be doing his Dalek monotone, though, is at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham. For this summer, he will be moving from Doctor Who to Whodunnits in the 2009 Classic Thriller Season. Nick has almost a decade-worth of classic thrillers with Colin McIntyre under his belt. But this season will be special. Not only has he adapted Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's book The Hound of the Baskervilles; he's also starring as Sherlock Holmes.
"I would go almost anywhere to play Sherlock!" he said.
It turns out Sherlock, like the Doctor, is a hero.
"Anything a little bit out of the ordinary has always interested me," explains Nick.
His passion for his subject matter means he feels bound to stay faithful to the original. "In all the adaptations on film or TV, they seem to have changed things for no good reason. There's so much that's exciting and interesting in the original," he enthuses.
Nick has decided to reinvent the play using the framing device of Watson adapting a play about Holmes' most famous case.
"He's invited Holmes along to the Theatre Royal to get him involved," explains Nick.
As the case is recreated for audiences, the major conundrum is how the actors will manage to produce "the hound".
"Colin suggested not having the hound but you can't have the Hound of the Baskervilles without the hound!" laments Nick. So he's found a way around it but he's not saying what.
Audiences are staunchly loyal to the Royal's thriller season but Nick's hoping some new crowds may venture through the doors as well. When it comes to attracting new audiences, Doctor Who is, of course, the classic example.
"It's become cool and acceptable," marvels Nick. "Kids have gone bonkers about it in a way I never thought they would."
"Billie asked me to speak as a Dalek down the phone to some of her friends," he explains.
When Nick repeated the story to journalists, a tabloid reporter asked: "Did she get you to phone Chris Evans?"
"No," Nick said.
The next day, the headline was: Billie Tells Chris He's Exterminated.
"On the plus side, they put my age as 35," says Nick, 47.
Nick, from London, was asked to be a Dalek during the Doctor Who re-launch in 2005 and has been an irate-voiced fixture ever since. Prior to the TV series, he was executive producer on the Big Finish Doctor Who audio productions for the BBC.
He worked first with Christopher Eccleston. When he heard that the Doc from the North would be leaving after one series, he felt duty-bound to mention the rumour to his old friend David Tennant, who had worked with him on the audio productions and was a massive Doctor fan.
"I met him and told him he should go for the role. He said, 'Oh, that's an interesting idea'," recalls Nick. "In fact, he already had the part but he wasn't allowed to tell anyone."
He records his Dalek drone on set, as the action is being filmed. "It's better than just recording it in post-production. It creates a bit of special atmosphere on set," he says.
"Plus, there's the fact that my voice activates the flashing lights on the Dalek."
He admits he hasn't met young Doctor Matt Smith yet, so can't really comment on how the new incarnation is shaping up.
Will there be Daleks in the new series?
"You get shot at dawn if you reveal secrets," he says. "But could you have a series of Doctor Who without the Daleks?"
Nick voices all the Daleks, which can be tricky if there's a crowd of them declaring war. He admits he may be in danger of suffering "Dalek schizophrenia".
So how does he produce that special vocal blend of ear-jangling irascibleness and war-mongering villainy?
"You have to do some serious hectoring," he admits. "You have to get REALLY cross! It's like playing a very weird musical instrument."
Electronic sound mixing on a ring modulator gives Nick's vocals a fractious, tinny edge but the basic ingredients are all him.
"It makes me a much calmer person. Being a Dalek is a very good way of getting rid of all your aggression!" he laughs.
One place Nick won't be doing his Dalek monotone, though, is at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham. For this summer, he will be moving from Doctor Who to Whodunnits in the 2009 Classic Thriller Season. Nick has almost a decade-worth of classic thrillers with Colin McIntyre under his belt. But this season will be special. Not only has he adapted Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's book The Hound of the Baskervilles; he's also starring as Sherlock Holmes.
"I would go almost anywhere to play Sherlock!" he said.
It turns out Sherlock, like the Doctor, is a hero.
"Anything a little bit out of the ordinary has always interested me," explains Nick.
His passion for his subject matter means he feels bound to stay faithful to the original. "In all the adaptations on film or TV, they seem to have changed things for no good reason. There's so much that's exciting and interesting in the original," he enthuses.
Nick has decided to reinvent the play using the framing device of Watson adapting a play about Holmes' most famous case.
"He's invited Holmes along to the Theatre Royal to get him involved," explains Nick.
As the case is recreated for audiences, the major conundrum is how the actors will manage to produce "the hound".
"Colin suggested not having the hound but you can't have the Hound of the Baskervilles without the hound!" laments Nick. So he's found a way around it but he's not saying what.
Audiences are staunchly loyal to the Royal's thriller season but Nick's hoping some new crowds may venture through the doors as well. When it comes to attracting new audiences, Doctor Who is, of course, the classic example.
"It's become cool and acceptable," marvels Nick. "Kids have gone bonkers about it in a way I never thought they would."
Doctor Who - Mike "The Streets" Skinner To Star?
The pop star's Twitter account reveals he is to star opposite Matt Smith in the next series of the world's most successful science-fiction show.
Mike Skinner, of the popular beat combo The Streets, has revealed via a social networking site that he has landed a part in the new series of Doctor Who. A post on Twitter read: "You wouldn't believe the week I've had. I can't talk about it but let's just say I got a part in 'Doctor Who'."
Conspiracists may note that the Tweet has since been withdrawn with the comment: "and just like that. the tweet is deleted." Skinner has 'fronted' The Streets since 2000 scoring a number of hits and awards though the 31 year old has yet to be seen acting.
This would not be the first time The Streets have appeared in the world's longest running science-fiction television show. During 2005's Father's Day, Rose could hear their song "Don't Mug Yourself" on a car radio.
At the moment filming continues on the next series of the show starring Matt Smith and Karen Gillan; the first to be overseen by Steven Moffat.
Mike Skinner, of the popular beat combo The Streets, has revealed via a social networking site that he has landed a part in the new series of Doctor Who. A post on Twitter read: "You wouldn't believe the week I've had. I can't talk about it but let's just say I got a part in 'Doctor Who'."
Conspiracists may note that the Tweet has since been withdrawn with the comment: "and just like that. the tweet is deleted." Skinner has 'fronted' The Streets since 2000 scoring a number of hits and awards though the 31 year old has yet to be seen acting.
This would not be the first time The Streets have appeared in the world's longest running science-fiction television show. During 2005's Father's Day, Rose could hear their song "Don't Mug Yourself" on a car radio.
At the moment filming continues on the next series of the show starring Matt Smith and Karen Gillan; the first to be overseen by Steven Moffat.
BBC America to air Who uncut, and quicker
It's bad enough that Americans have to wait a few weeks or months to watch Doctor Who episodes on BBC America after they've aired in the United Kingdom on BBC One, but we also have to endure edited versions: Though the show fills an hour in the U.K., it have to be cut by at least 15 minutes to accommodate commercials here.
Well, no more.
Garth Ancier, president of BBC America, announced Wednesday that BBC America will air unedited versions of Doctor Who and other series. The shows will still have commercials: They'll just exceed an hour all told. That's only for the premiere airing, of course.
"In order to keep the storylines intact on most of these shows now, on the premiere airing we don't do any cutting at all," Ancier said in a press conference in Pasadena, Calif., as part of the Television Critics Association's summer press tour. "We just take the entire show, and we run over off the clock. That's what we've been doing, and that's what we're going to do for Doctor Who going forward. The audience seems to be following it, and that way we're not screwing up someone's vision, what they're trying to do, or screwing up story points."
Doctor Who producer Russell T Davies thanked Ancier for respecting the BBC run times, adding that David Tennant's final episode, "The End of Time," will push the schedule even further. "Actually, our very last episode, coming at Christmas, David's very last episode, is one hour and 15 minutes long," Davies revealed in the press conference.
That means with commercials, "Time" will require at least a 90-minute block. "At least an hour and a half, maybe [two]," Ancier replied. "It's great. We run off the clock. It's what the audience wants to see. We actually get complaints if we don't. They know the U.K. episodes somehow, and they don't like it when we take any of it out." (What, is Ancier suggesting that avid U.S. fans aren't waiting for the BBC America to air the show, but rather are bittorrenting the British episodes right off the Internet immediately after they air in the U.K.? Who would do such a thing?)
Expect BBC America airings to debut closer to BBC U.K. airings, too. Contractually, BBC America has to run after the U.K., but with schedules locked in in advance, they are able to schedule close enough to get the Christmas special around Christmas or New Year's Day.
"Doctor Who Christmas and New Year specials are such iconic things, they're locked on the schedule very early," Ancier said. "That allows us to put it on pretty quickly."
Well, no more.
Garth Ancier, president of BBC America, announced Wednesday that BBC America will air unedited versions of Doctor Who and other series. The shows will still have commercials: They'll just exceed an hour all told. That's only for the premiere airing, of course.
"In order to keep the storylines intact on most of these shows now, on the premiere airing we don't do any cutting at all," Ancier said in a press conference in Pasadena, Calif., as part of the Television Critics Association's summer press tour. "We just take the entire show, and we run over off the clock. That's what we've been doing, and that's what we're going to do for Doctor Who going forward. The audience seems to be following it, and that way we're not screwing up someone's vision, what they're trying to do, or screwing up story points."
Doctor Who producer Russell T Davies thanked Ancier for respecting the BBC run times, adding that David Tennant's final episode, "The End of Time," will push the schedule even further. "Actually, our very last episode, coming at Christmas, David's very last episode, is one hour and 15 minutes long," Davies revealed in the press conference.
That means with commercials, "Time" will require at least a 90-minute block. "At least an hour and a half, maybe [two]," Ancier replied. "It's great. We run off the clock. It's what the audience wants to see. We actually get complaints if we don't. They know the U.K. episodes somehow, and they don't like it when we take any of it out." (What, is Ancier suggesting that avid U.S. fans aren't waiting for the BBC America to air the show, but rather are bittorrenting the British episodes right off the Internet immediately after they air in the U.K.? Who would do such a thing?)
Expect BBC America airings to debut closer to BBC U.K. airings, too. Contractually, BBC America has to run after the U.K., but with schedules locked in in advance, they are able to schedule close enough to get the Christmas special around Christmas or New Year's Day.
"Doctor Who Christmas and New Year specials are such iconic things, they're locked on the schedule very early," Ancier said. "That allows us to put it on pretty quickly."
Interview with Doctor Who's David Tennant and Russell T. Davies
is the longest running sci-fi series in television history and a cultural institution in the UK. The iconic series originally aired on the BBC from 1963 - 1989 and ran on over 400 stations in the 1980's.
When award-winning writer Russell T. Davies, the man behind Torchwood and the original Queer as Folk, took over the series, his slick re-imagination put a fresh spin on the adventures of the popular Time Lord and his feisty companions, who travel across the universe to protect Earth from dangerous aliens and terrifying monsters.
Both Davies and the 10th Time Lord, David Tennant, who is one of the UK's best known actors, have decided to end their involvement with Doctor Who with a series of four specials in 2009 and early 2010. At the Television Critics Association Press Tour, the two men talked about what fans can expect from their final specials, along with why working on Doctor Who was such a memorable experience for both of them.
Q: Russell, it's so interesting how different one Doctor is from the next. The 9th Doctor was a very serious fellow, and the 10th Doctor seems to have a bit more of a light touch with it. How did you make the decisions to go with two such very different portrayals of a character that you love?
Russell: It really comes from choosing two different actors. And, hand on heart, I can't say I ever sat there thinking about massive differences between the two Doctors. I always think there's very essential Doctor-ness behind whatever he's saying and doing. I think you can get hung up on adjectives and descriptions, and one-line hooks for characters, then that's all you write. So, I just tend to write in terms of flow. I surf it and see wherever he's going, and just follow the story. I think, if the 9th Doctor did seem harder in places, that's because he was recovering from a war. And, if the 10th Doctor seems lighter, that's because he's getting better in that recovery, and his human companions are making his life different. I tend to think of it in story terms. I don't sit there, thinking of characteristics for the Doctor. You can just depend on character hooks too much, so I just tend to write whatever happens on the spot, really.
Q: When you are transitioning from one Doctor to another, how do you balance the opportunities of changing aspects of the show to reflect the new Doctor?
David: Well, that's not on our watch now, in terms of how they do it after us.
Russell: Yeah. You've just got a different lead actor, but we did not have great big meetings about that. We just carried on. It's such an unusual show because it's different, every week. If it was a very regular precinct show, always in the same place, then the change of lead actor would have enormous repercussions on everyone around it. With Doctor Who, you can do a comedy episode with Agatha Christie. You can do a dark, psychological episode, like that midnight episode. You can have romps. You can have love stories. You can have adventures. Because it's always changing, you don't need to worry too much about the change. We all just hang on for the ride, really.
Q: When it was time to replace Chris Eccleston and find a 10th Doctor, what made David the right guy? And, how did you and he shape the character to be different than his predecessor?
Russell: Well, we were lucky, in that David and I had already worked together. I first met David when we did Casanova for the BBC, and I remember doing rehearsals and making Doctor Who jokes, which amused us. And so, he was already there, in a way. It was just the best possible time. It wasn't set up in advance, like that. But, when you work with or find a great actor, you just cling to them. They're just so limitless and inspiring. And so, when it came to putting it together and writing it, we talked surprisingly little about it, really.
David: He just wrote it. That was it, really. And, I just got the script and did it.
Russell: And, we sort of continued like that. We should have had those meetings where we discussed things, but we didn't, really. I would watch the rushes every day and watch what David was doing.
Q: What was he was doing that you liked?
Russell: With the Casanova audition, I thought, "Oh, my lord, that's someone I want to spend many years working with." Practically every male actor in the land had auditioned for Casanova, to play the world's greatest lover. Everyone came in and gave us very heavy, very serious, would-be romantic portrayals. And, David could just dance over dialogue. He's one of the few actors who understands that dialogue is sort of irrelevant. You throw it away and you rattle across it with real speed because it's about what's going on underneath. He gets the humor and the comedy, and there are not many actors who do that. They take it very seriously. And, I like stuff on the lighter end, no matter how dark the actual stuff is. It has that throw-away quality to it, and I love that.
Q: David, when you signed on to do Doctor Who, did you know how many years you'd be doing it? And, because you were such a fan, did you know what you were going to do with the role?
David: I responded to what was in the script. I tried not to sit down and work out a list of self-conscious quirks because I think it can become cloyingly quirky, in the wrong way. I think idiosyncrasies are better born than imposed, so I just responded to what Russell had written. And then, working with directors like Euros Lyn, we just bumbled through it, really.
Q: Doctor Who has been a staple in the U.K. forever, but the U.S. explosion has been largely due to you guys. What was it like to see that fan reaction at Comic-Con?
David: I wanted to crowd dive, but they were all sitting down. It was a bit disappointing, for me. I figured that was probably the only opportunity in my life that I was going to get to do that. I should have done it.
Russell: It was amazing. That's obviously a very specific crowd, but we do keep getting told back home that it's completely unknown in America. So, we were slightly amazed, in a good way, that we had that response.
David: It was great fun. It was such an extraordinary experience.
Q: The Doctor's assistants have added so much to the show, Billie Piper in particular. Can you talk about picking Billie Piper, and the ones that followed, and how important that is, each time?
Russell: That's just been a vital part of the format, in that you've got a man who's 906 years old, and he's an alien, and he's a Time Lord. He's wonderfully human, but he has that huge other dimension of being practically immortal and hugely wise, which is dangerous. The human person just brings him down to Earth, literally. It's the yin and the yang, the human and the alien, the man and the woman, the boy and the girl. It's just oddly inventive. That's a great classic patent for a series. It just happens that this has got the human and the alien added to it, but so many series have the two male and female leads, for which you explore every story. Maybe it's true to say, in the old days of the series, the companion wasn't quite so well-developed, but that wasn't the purpose then.
Now, in bringing it back to have the female lead to attract people, not just Billie Piper, but of Catherine Tate status, to the series, you've got to write it well, otherwise you're not going to get them. One of the joys of the whole show was to work with people like that. It was just brilliant.
Q: What will the tone of the specials be like?
Russell: Well, The Waters of Mars is one of those claustrophobic, submarine-type dramas, with them all trapped in an enclosed space with increasing darkness and intensity.
David: Planet of the Dead was the last hurrah for the 10th Doctor. He was in mortal danger, but he was loving it. Really, from The Waters of Mars and heading into that final story, the sword of Damocles is dangling, and that informs everything that goes on.
Russell: The finale is a personal epic. The Waters of Mars all takes place in a very small location. And then, that final story becomes epic, almost like a fairytale. But, it's really intimate, at the same time. It's got funny little aliens with green spikey faces, running around.
Q: The Doctor has had pretty steady companions for a few series, and then for the specials the Doctor has been solo with new companions. How was it to shoot those specials? How did that change the dynamic on the set for you?
David: It's been slightly different in each one. In the first one, we had Michelle Ryan who, for all intents and purposes, was the companion, and she was fantastic. Although she was a very distinct character, she was in the mold of the traditional young, beautiful woman, who is also feisty. Bu, in the next special, the closest thing we have to a companion is Lindsey Duncan, who is an older woman, which is not something the show has done before. And, she probably thinks she's more in charge than the Doctor is. In many ways, she is, actually. So, that's a different dynamic. And then, coming into that final two-part story, although Catherine Tate is back and Donna is a big part of that story, the companion really is Bernard Cribbins, and that is the first time the Doctor has had an 80-year-old man as his sidekick.
So, it's been great to get to play these different facets of the character. The Doctor himself is also slightly on the run from himself, and on the run from the inevitable, so he's trying not to get too close to anyone. So, it's important that there is a revolving door of confidence for him. But, getting to see Bernard Cribbins in that final story is so brilliant and moving. He's just such a great actor, and that was a great finish to the story, for me. You get these wonderful scenes of these two old men. The Doctor is a lot older than Wilf, and yet the two of them get to sit down and discuss life in a way that we've never seen the Doctor be able to do before. It's just a way of reinventing the wheel with this character, who has been around since 1963, and yet we are still managing to find a new aspect of him.
Q: After Planet of the Dead, will the remaining episodes all be ramping into the next regeneration? How do you dramatically play a progress towards a death where the character knows not really a death, having been through multiple regenerations?
Russell: Yes, the Doctor is heading for his next adventure, called The Waters of Mars, in November in Britain. It should be shown soon after on BBC America. I think this Doctor likes being this Doctor. He's raging against the dying of the light. And, that's the beat that we play. That's the story. He knows that the sands of time are running out. He's been told. And, the bell is tolling for him, and he doesn't want to go quietly. That's how we play that.
Q: David, why leave now, when it's so big?
David: Sometimes, you have to take a deep breath and make a difficult decision, and I like the fact that I stand a chance of leaving an audience and myself wanting more, rather than people asking when I'm leaving. I never had a definite stepping-off point, but when Russell and Julie were moving on, it seemed like the obvious time. It seemed like a natural end for all of us, really.
Q: Knowing that this is basically the end for you, is it bittersweet?
David: It's so many things, actually. It's very exciting, but it's also very sad. It's thrilling to be handing over the show in such good health, actually. We've all come on this journey together and we're all leaving together. It feels like we're coming to the end of something very special. It's a whole mixture of emotions that probably won't actually transmit for awhile. I don't quite know how it feels. I don't think any of us really do because we're still clinging on, until the shows go out.
Russell: We're happy with a job well done.
Q: Since it is sci-fi and we have seen previous regenerations come back, would you ever come back, even just for a cameo?
David: I'll wait for the correct opportunity, but I've got the costume hanging up in my wardrobe. As long as I can keep my waistline and still fit into the trousers, I'll never say never.
Q: As a fan, who was your favorite Doctor Who star, while you were growing up?
Russell: I was a Tom Baker man, really. I was just the right age. I was 11, going into comprehensive school, and that's when I really, really fell in love with the show. That was the most extraordinary combination of an actor and a part coming together, in just absolute television magic. I loved that very much.
David: Tom Baker and Peter Davison were the two that I grew up with. I think there is something about it, like a chick hatching from an egg. Who you first see is who you imprint on it. But, I've liked them all.
Q: Russell, when you were bringing Doctor Who back, in the very beginning, you brought back some continuity, but decided to get rid of something things, like the Time Lords, so that the Doctor is now the last of his kind. How did you decide what to keep, what to bring back and what to get rid of?
Russell: It's funny because, as a long-term fan of the show, it was like the show had 40 years of market testing. I was a 40-year-old focus group, working on what worked and what didn't, and I never liked the Time Lords. I always thought they were slightly boring and bumped the program down, apart from the one Time Lord, obviously. So, the decision to get rid of the Time Lords was just immediate. It didn't take me a long time to reach that decision. It was on the very first document, and I knew immediately.
Q: David, what are you doing next?
David: Long term, I don't really know. In the immediate future, I've just done a television version of Hamlet, which is broadcasting soon. And, I'm doing a film called 1St. Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold, at the moment. But I don't know, after that.
When award-winning writer Russell T. Davies, the man behind Torchwood and the original Queer as Folk, took over the series, his slick re-imagination put a fresh spin on the adventures of the popular Time Lord and his feisty companions, who travel across the universe to protect Earth from dangerous aliens and terrifying monsters.
Both Davies and the 10th Time Lord, David Tennant, who is one of the UK's best known actors, have decided to end their involvement with Doctor Who with a series of four specials in 2009 and early 2010. At the Television Critics Association Press Tour, the two men talked about what fans can expect from their final specials, along with why working on Doctor Who was such a memorable experience for both of them.
Q: Russell, it's so interesting how different one Doctor is from the next. The 9th Doctor was a very serious fellow, and the 10th Doctor seems to have a bit more of a light touch with it. How did you make the decisions to go with two such very different portrayals of a character that you love?
Russell: It really comes from choosing two different actors. And, hand on heart, I can't say I ever sat there thinking about massive differences between the two Doctors. I always think there's very essential Doctor-ness behind whatever he's saying and doing. I think you can get hung up on adjectives and descriptions, and one-line hooks for characters, then that's all you write. So, I just tend to write in terms of flow. I surf it and see wherever he's going, and just follow the story. I think, if the 9th Doctor did seem harder in places, that's because he was recovering from a war. And, if the 10th Doctor seems lighter, that's because he's getting better in that recovery, and his human companions are making his life different. I tend to think of it in story terms. I don't sit there, thinking of characteristics for the Doctor. You can just depend on character hooks too much, so I just tend to write whatever happens on the spot, really.
Q: When you are transitioning from one Doctor to another, how do you balance the opportunities of changing aspects of the show to reflect the new Doctor?
David: Well, that's not on our watch now, in terms of how they do it after us.
Russell: Yeah. You've just got a different lead actor, but we did not have great big meetings about that. We just carried on. It's such an unusual show because it's different, every week. If it was a very regular precinct show, always in the same place, then the change of lead actor would have enormous repercussions on everyone around it. With Doctor Who, you can do a comedy episode with Agatha Christie. You can do a dark, psychological episode, like that midnight episode. You can have romps. You can have love stories. You can have adventures. Because it's always changing, you don't need to worry too much about the change. We all just hang on for the ride, really.
Q: When it was time to replace Chris Eccleston and find a 10th Doctor, what made David the right guy? And, how did you and he shape the character to be different than his predecessor?
Russell: Well, we were lucky, in that David and I had already worked together. I first met David when we did Casanova for the BBC, and I remember doing rehearsals and making Doctor Who jokes, which amused us. And so, he was already there, in a way. It was just the best possible time. It wasn't set up in advance, like that. But, when you work with or find a great actor, you just cling to them. They're just so limitless and inspiring. And so, when it came to putting it together and writing it, we talked surprisingly little about it, really.
David: He just wrote it. That was it, really. And, I just got the script and did it.
Russell: And, we sort of continued like that. We should have had those meetings where we discussed things, but we didn't, really. I would watch the rushes every day and watch what David was doing.
Q: What was he was doing that you liked?
Russell: With the Casanova audition, I thought, "Oh, my lord, that's someone I want to spend many years working with." Practically every male actor in the land had auditioned for Casanova, to play the world's greatest lover. Everyone came in and gave us very heavy, very serious, would-be romantic portrayals. And, David could just dance over dialogue. He's one of the few actors who understands that dialogue is sort of irrelevant. You throw it away and you rattle across it with real speed because it's about what's going on underneath. He gets the humor and the comedy, and there are not many actors who do that. They take it very seriously. And, I like stuff on the lighter end, no matter how dark the actual stuff is. It has that throw-away quality to it, and I love that.
Q: David, when you signed on to do Doctor Who, did you know how many years you'd be doing it? And, because you were such a fan, did you know what you were going to do with the role?
David: I responded to what was in the script. I tried not to sit down and work out a list of self-conscious quirks because I think it can become cloyingly quirky, in the wrong way. I think idiosyncrasies are better born than imposed, so I just responded to what Russell had written. And then, working with directors like Euros Lyn, we just bumbled through it, really.
Q: Doctor Who has been a staple in the U.K. forever, but the U.S. explosion has been largely due to you guys. What was it like to see that fan reaction at Comic-Con?
David: I wanted to crowd dive, but they were all sitting down. It was a bit disappointing, for me. I figured that was probably the only opportunity in my life that I was going to get to do that. I should have done it.
Russell: It was amazing. That's obviously a very specific crowd, but we do keep getting told back home that it's completely unknown in America. So, we were slightly amazed, in a good way, that we had that response.
David: It was great fun. It was such an extraordinary experience.
Q: The Doctor's assistants have added so much to the show, Billie Piper in particular. Can you talk about picking Billie Piper, and the ones that followed, and how important that is, each time?
Russell: That's just been a vital part of the format, in that you've got a man who's 906 years old, and he's an alien, and he's a Time Lord. He's wonderfully human, but he has that huge other dimension of being practically immortal and hugely wise, which is dangerous. The human person just brings him down to Earth, literally. It's the yin and the yang, the human and the alien, the man and the woman, the boy and the girl. It's just oddly inventive. That's a great classic patent for a series. It just happens that this has got the human and the alien added to it, but so many series have the two male and female leads, for which you explore every story. Maybe it's true to say, in the old days of the series, the companion wasn't quite so well-developed, but that wasn't the purpose then.
Now, in bringing it back to have the female lead to attract people, not just Billie Piper, but of Catherine Tate status, to the series, you've got to write it well, otherwise you're not going to get them. One of the joys of the whole show was to work with people like that. It was just brilliant.
Q: What will the tone of the specials be like?
Russell: Well, The Waters of Mars is one of those claustrophobic, submarine-type dramas, with them all trapped in an enclosed space with increasing darkness and intensity.
David: Planet of the Dead was the last hurrah for the 10th Doctor. He was in mortal danger, but he was loving it. Really, from The Waters of Mars and heading into that final story, the sword of Damocles is dangling, and that informs everything that goes on.
Russell: The finale is a personal epic. The Waters of Mars all takes place in a very small location. And then, that final story becomes epic, almost like a fairytale. But, it's really intimate, at the same time. It's got funny little aliens with green spikey faces, running around.
Q: The Doctor has had pretty steady companions for a few series, and then for the specials the Doctor has been solo with new companions. How was it to shoot those specials? How did that change the dynamic on the set for you?
David: It's been slightly different in each one. In the first one, we had Michelle Ryan who, for all intents and purposes, was the companion, and she was fantastic. Although she was a very distinct character, she was in the mold of the traditional young, beautiful woman, who is also feisty. Bu, in the next special, the closest thing we have to a companion is Lindsey Duncan, who is an older woman, which is not something the show has done before. And, she probably thinks she's more in charge than the Doctor is. In many ways, she is, actually. So, that's a different dynamic. And then, coming into that final two-part story, although Catherine Tate is back and Donna is a big part of that story, the companion really is Bernard Cribbins, and that is the first time the Doctor has had an 80-year-old man as his sidekick.
So, it's been great to get to play these different facets of the character. The Doctor himself is also slightly on the run from himself, and on the run from the inevitable, so he's trying not to get too close to anyone. So, it's important that there is a revolving door of confidence for him. But, getting to see Bernard Cribbins in that final story is so brilliant and moving. He's just such a great actor, and that was a great finish to the story, for me. You get these wonderful scenes of these two old men. The Doctor is a lot older than Wilf, and yet the two of them get to sit down and discuss life in a way that we've never seen the Doctor be able to do before. It's just a way of reinventing the wheel with this character, who has been around since 1963, and yet we are still managing to find a new aspect of him.
Q: After Planet of the Dead, will the remaining episodes all be ramping into the next regeneration? How do you dramatically play a progress towards a death where the character knows not really a death, having been through multiple regenerations?
Russell: Yes, the Doctor is heading for his next adventure, called The Waters of Mars, in November in Britain. It should be shown soon after on BBC America. I think this Doctor likes being this Doctor. He's raging against the dying of the light. And, that's the beat that we play. That's the story. He knows that the sands of time are running out. He's been told. And, the bell is tolling for him, and he doesn't want to go quietly. That's how we play that.
Q: David, why leave now, when it's so big?
David: Sometimes, you have to take a deep breath and make a difficult decision, and I like the fact that I stand a chance of leaving an audience and myself wanting more, rather than people asking when I'm leaving. I never had a definite stepping-off point, but when Russell and Julie were moving on, it seemed like the obvious time. It seemed like a natural end for all of us, really.
Q: Knowing that this is basically the end for you, is it bittersweet?
David: It's so many things, actually. It's very exciting, but it's also very sad. It's thrilling to be handing over the show in such good health, actually. We've all come on this journey together and we're all leaving together. It feels like we're coming to the end of something very special. It's a whole mixture of emotions that probably won't actually transmit for awhile. I don't quite know how it feels. I don't think any of us really do because we're still clinging on, until the shows go out.
Russell: We're happy with a job well done.
Q: Since it is sci-fi and we have seen previous regenerations come back, would you ever come back, even just for a cameo?
David: I'll wait for the correct opportunity, but I've got the costume hanging up in my wardrobe. As long as I can keep my waistline and still fit into the trousers, I'll never say never.
Q: As a fan, who was your favorite Doctor Who star, while you were growing up?
Russell: I was a Tom Baker man, really. I was just the right age. I was 11, going into comprehensive school, and that's when I really, really fell in love with the show. That was the most extraordinary combination of an actor and a part coming together, in just absolute television magic. I loved that very much.
David: Tom Baker and Peter Davison were the two that I grew up with. I think there is something about it, like a chick hatching from an egg. Who you first see is who you imprint on it. But, I've liked them all.
Q: Russell, when you were bringing Doctor Who back, in the very beginning, you brought back some continuity, but decided to get rid of something things, like the Time Lords, so that the Doctor is now the last of his kind. How did you decide what to keep, what to bring back and what to get rid of?
Russell: It's funny because, as a long-term fan of the show, it was like the show had 40 years of market testing. I was a 40-year-old focus group, working on what worked and what didn't, and I never liked the Time Lords. I always thought they were slightly boring and bumped the program down, apart from the one Time Lord, obviously. So, the decision to get rid of the Time Lords was just immediate. It didn't take me a long time to reach that decision. It was on the very first document, and I knew immediately.
Q: David, what are you doing next?
David: Long term, I don't really know. In the immediate future, I've just done a television version of Hamlet, which is broadcasting soon. And, I'm doing a film called 1St. Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold, at the moment. But I don't know, after that.
Wednesday, August 05, 2009
David Tennant and Patrick Stewart are bringing "Hamlet" to PBS
David Tennant is trading in his sonic screwdriver for a crown.
The "Doctor Who" star will reprise his stage role as "Hamlet" for PBS' "Great Performances" in 2010. Tennant won critical acclaim for playing the troubled Danish prince in a 2008 production of the Royal Shakespeare Company play. Patrick Stewart also will reprise his role as Claudius/Ghost.
Tennant first will appear on PBS on Oct. 25, when he debuts as host of "Masterpiece Contemporary" when the anthology series returns with "Endgame," a political thriller about the final days of apartheid in South Africa. It stars Chiwetel Ejiofor, William Hurt and Jonny Lee Miller.
The "Contemporary" season continues Nov. 1 and 8 with "Place of Execution," a drama starring Juliet Stevenson as a TV reporter who investigates the 40-year-old disappearance of a 13-year-old girl. Tennant also will introduce "Collision," a drama about a major road accident that connects 10 strangers. It airs Nov. 15 and 22.
Tennant's "Doctor Who" will be back for two more specials this fall and winter on BBC America, "The Waters of Mars" and "The End of Time."
The "Doctor Who" star will reprise his stage role as "Hamlet" for PBS' "Great Performances" in 2010. Tennant won critical acclaim for playing the troubled Danish prince in a 2008 production of the Royal Shakespeare Company play. Patrick Stewart also will reprise his role as Claudius/Ghost.
Tennant first will appear on PBS on Oct. 25, when he debuts as host of "Masterpiece Contemporary" when the anthology series returns with "Endgame," a political thriller about the final days of apartheid in South Africa. It stars Chiwetel Ejiofor, William Hurt and Jonny Lee Miller.
The "Contemporary" season continues Nov. 1 and 8 with "Place of Execution," a drama starring Juliet Stevenson as a TV reporter who investigates the 40-year-old disappearance of a 13-year-old girl. Tennant also will introduce "Collision," a drama about a major road accident that connects 10 strangers. It airs Nov. 15 and 22.
Tennant's "Doctor Who" will be back for two more specials this fall and winter on BBC America, "The Waters of Mars" and "The End of Time."
Monday, August 03, 2009
Gareth David-Lloyd on whether it really is the end for Ianto
THERE has been an overwhelming reaction from fans to the death of Torchwood character Ianto Jones, played by Gareth David-Lloyd, in the miniseries Children of Earth.
Ianto's tragic demise in the arms of Captain Jack from a deadly airborne virus has had a massive impact, both here in the UK and also in the USA, where the Doctor Who spin-off is incredibly popular.
Here, Gareth talks exclusively to the Coventry Telegraph about his departure from Torchwood and his reaction to the intense outpouring of emotion from fans.
He also addresses the many questions online about whether his character will be back and if there will be a fourth season of Torchwood.
After Ianto's poignant passing, followers of the show were shocked, saddened and even griefstricken. Some were so upset that they lashed out angrily, making threats against the show's writers.
As I reported the other day, there are several campaigns to show the strength of feeling out there and to call for Ianto's return if there is another season of Torchwood.
Gareth, 28, spoke to me to clear up all the gossip and unanswered questions and address the fans who are so passionate about the programme. Here's what he had to say:
Firstly, Gareth, what did you think about the amazing reaction we have seen from fans?
"It's really flattering. It's really nice if the the show affected people emotionally. That's what any drama is aiming to do and what any actor hopes their performance will achieve, and it shows both the support for my character and for the show in general."
How did the death scene come about? Was it your choice? And what did you think about Ianto's demise?
"When I was approached about the third series, my agent said I was needed for only four of the five episodes, so obviously I twigged that it might be the end for Ianto.
"At the back of my mind I had been thinking I do not want to be playing Ianto for the bulk of my career, I don't want to become typecast, even though I was disappointed and I was expecting to do at least another full series. I would definitely have liked to have done more episodes.
"But I was really happy with what happened, how it was done. It was an exit I can proud of."
But is that really the end? Could Ianto come back, do you think they would bring him back and would you consider it?
"I would say anything could happen, especially in sci-fi. But I would not want him (Ianto) to come back too quickly, it would cheapen the scenes and take away the impact.
"But it's not to say I would say no. It's a huge part of my life and I would love any excuse to work with the crew or the other actors again.
"The bottom line is that anything could happen. I am resolved that my character is dead but I am not closed to the idea of working with the producers again."
Will there be a Season Four of Torchwood?
"I really hope there is another series, it really lent itself to the new structure of five episodes over five nights and I really liked that format. I know discussions are being had over another series of the show, it's a big possibility. They are definitely in talks.
"I would like to see the same structure but maybe one set of episodes at the start of the year and one at the end, so it is then as much as a full series."
I know you went to Comic-Con last year and are doing Dragon*Con and other US events this year. Are you hoping for offers of work in the US as a result of Torchwood?
"There has been some interest from networks in America, for sure. Torchwood has a huge following in the USA and it's definitely a springboard to other things, so we'll see what happens."
And your final thoughts to the fans out there?
"I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who has made a positive response to Ianto, including donating to charity, which has been brilliant, a great way to express support and show their feelings.
"To the fans who are still absolutely devastated, I would say it is just a TV show and I am still here and still doing things even if Ianto is gone."
And Gareth is definitely not going anywhere, with a full calendar for the rest of the year. He has a whole host of appearances coming up, connected with Torchwood and also with his band, Blue Gillespie.
He and the band have a gig in Newport on August 14, in London on August 21 and at Cardiff Mardi Gras on August 29. He is presenting the Sex, Wales and Anarchy 2 arts event in Cardiff on August 30 and he will be at Dragon*Con in Atlanta from September 4 to 7 and Wales Comic-Con on September 27.
He joins John Barrowman, James Marsters and other Torchwood cast at The Hub 3 convention in Birmingham, UK, from October 23 to 25, then he is at the Hurricane Who event in Orlando from October 30 to November 1 and New England Fan Experience in Boston from November 13 to 15. He ends the year by starring in panto, playing Prince Charming in Cinderella at Preston, UK, from December 18 to January 3.
Davies, Tennant on Vacating “Doctor Who”
The longest running science fiction series in television history, “Doctor Who,” is a beloved pop culture icon in its native U.K. Among U.S. viewers, however, coming out as a Whovian used to be a bit risky. Self-identified geeks once considered the classic series to be a little too geeky even for them.
BBC America, Russell T. Davies and David Tennant changed all that over the past few years — Tennant, especially. For three seasons the gregarious actor portrayed The Doctor with a combination of goofiness and gravitas, making him charismatic, sexy and at times even sinister. We believed it when centuries-old Doctor’s companions fell for him because, after all, we had too. Tennant and Davies’ recent Comic-Con appearance drove the fans into a frenzy.
That’s why the news that Tennant’s run on “Doctor Who” would be coming to an end made our hearts ache a little. The journey for his incarnation of The Doctor is already in the process of ending. “Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead” had its BBC America premiere last Sunday. The next special, “The Waters of Mars,” arrives in the fall and enlists a new companion named Adelaide (Lindsay Duncan, familiar to “Rome” fans as Servilia of the Junii). Tennant’s final special arrives at what would otherwise be the most wonderful time of the year, Christmas. Davies confirmed that it’s called “The End of Time,” and it will be at least an hour and a half, maybe more, with commercials.
The decision to leave wasn’t easy for Tennant but, as he explained to critics on Wednesday, “I like the fact that I stand a chance of leaving an audience and myself wanting more rather than people asking when I’ve leaving.”
For the record, Davies announced he’d be handing the reins off to Steven Moffat in May 2008, before Tennant decided it was time for him to go — he hit us with that news last October.
The actor described the feeling of abandoning the role that brought him such love and acclaim in both the U.K. and the states as both very exciting, and very sad. “It’s thrilling to be handing over the show in such good health, actually…we’ve all come on this journey together, and it feels like we’re coming to the end of something very special.”
As do we.
Davies explains the arc for Tennant’s final four specials in a note on BBC America’s site: “The mysterious Ood have told him that his song is ending soon; something deadly is waiting on Mars; Donna’s grandfather, Wilf, is experiencing strange visions; and a powerful psychic warns the Doctor that “He will knock four times…” The end is coming. But will the Doctor, and the human race, survive?”
Understandably, this Doctor isn’t ready for his number to be up. “I think this Doctor likes being this Doctor,” Tennant explained. “And I think he’s raging against the dying of the light…He knows the sands of time are running out. He’s been told. And the bell is tolling for him, and he doesn’t want to go quietly.”
Up next for Tennant is a television version of “Hamlet.” He’s also in the midst of shooting a film called “St. Trinians 2.”
The next Doctor, 26-year-old Matt Smith, is a relative newcomer and the youngest of all the actors to play the last Time Lord. Karen Gillan was recently unveiled as his new companion. The first of their adventures will premiere in spring 2010.
BBC America, Russell T. Davies and David Tennant changed all that over the past few years — Tennant, especially. For three seasons the gregarious actor portrayed The Doctor with a combination of goofiness and gravitas, making him charismatic, sexy and at times even sinister. We believed it when centuries-old Doctor’s companions fell for him because, after all, we had too. Tennant and Davies’ recent Comic-Con appearance drove the fans into a frenzy.
That’s why the news that Tennant’s run on “Doctor Who” would be coming to an end made our hearts ache a little. The journey for his incarnation of The Doctor is already in the process of ending. “Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead” had its BBC America premiere last Sunday. The next special, “The Waters of Mars,” arrives in the fall and enlists a new companion named Adelaide (Lindsay Duncan, familiar to “Rome” fans as Servilia of the Junii). Tennant’s final special arrives at what would otherwise be the most wonderful time of the year, Christmas. Davies confirmed that it’s called “The End of Time,” and it will be at least an hour and a half, maybe more, with commercials.
The decision to leave wasn’t easy for Tennant but, as he explained to critics on Wednesday, “I like the fact that I stand a chance of leaving an audience and myself wanting more rather than people asking when I’ve leaving.”
For the record, Davies announced he’d be handing the reins off to Steven Moffat in May 2008, before Tennant decided it was time for him to go — he hit us with that news last October.
The actor described the feeling of abandoning the role that brought him such love and acclaim in both the U.K. and the states as both very exciting, and very sad. “It’s thrilling to be handing over the show in such good health, actually…we’ve all come on this journey together, and it feels like we’re coming to the end of something very special.”
As do we.
Davies explains the arc for Tennant’s final four specials in a note on BBC America’s site: “The mysterious Ood have told him that his song is ending soon; something deadly is waiting on Mars; Donna’s grandfather, Wilf, is experiencing strange visions; and a powerful psychic warns the Doctor that “He will knock four times…” The end is coming. But will the Doctor, and the human race, survive?”
Understandably, this Doctor isn’t ready for his number to be up. “I think this Doctor likes being this Doctor,” Tennant explained. “And I think he’s raging against the dying of the light…He knows the sands of time are running out. He’s been told. And the bell is tolling for him, and he doesn’t want to go quietly.”
Up next for Tennant is a television version of “Hamlet.” He’s also in the midst of shooting a film called “St. Trinians 2.”
The next Doctor, 26-year-old Matt Smith, is a relative newcomer and the youngest of all the actors to play the last Time Lord. Karen Gillan was recently unveiled as his new companion. The first of their adventures will premiere in spring 2010.
Saturday, August 01, 2009
Tom Baker at Invasion 2008
From Radiofreeskaro.com: In this clip, Tom Baker, the actor most identified with Doctor Who, tells the tale of a woman who rushed up to him on a train and confessed her undying love for him.
Tom Baker may return
Doctor Who legend Tom Baker has said he would be interested in taking part in a reunion show for Children In Need - but only if he was allowed to vet the script. Skip related content
There have been rumours that show bosses are planning a special edition reuniting all the surviving actors who have played the Time Lord, but the 75-year-old said he had not yet been approached about the idea.
Baked said: "They should actually try and do something like that and they should get a nice jolly script with them."
He added: "I don't know what it will be like and they haven't approached me yet and I'd want to have some say about the script."
Baker, who appeared in nearly 200 episodes of the show in the 1970s and 80s, said he was "amazed" at all the kissing done by the last Doctor, David Tennant, and thought the special effects were losing some of their impact.
He said: "I think it is quite difficult now to surprise an audience with special effects, you may please an audience, but visually you can't actually amaze an audience can you?
"In a sense you just watch them trying, but if people can appear and disappear and walk through walls and disappear and then carry on fencing or kissing girls, that amazes me.
"Of course they didn't do that in my days, and I don't want to be a reactionary old fart about that but in my days, it never occurred to me to try and kiss a girl."
There have been rumours that show bosses are planning a special edition reuniting all the surviving actors who have played the Time Lord, but the 75-year-old said he had not yet been approached about the idea.
Baked said: "They should actually try and do something like that and they should get a nice jolly script with them."
He added: "I don't know what it will be like and they haven't approached me yet and I'd want to have some say about the script."
Baker, who appeared in nearly 200 episodes of the show in the 1970s and 80s, said he was "amazed" at all the kissing done by the last Doctor, David Tennant, and thought the special effects were losing some of their impact.
He said: "I think it is quite difficult now to surprise an audience with special effects, you may please an audience, but visually you can't actually amaze an audience can you?
"In a sense you just watch them trying, but if people can appear and disappear and walk through walls and disappear and then carry on fencing or kissing girls, that amazes me.
"Of course they didn't do that in my days, and I don't want to be a reactionary old fart about that but in my days, it never occurred to me to try and kiss a girl."
Tennant Talks About Rose Tyler
David Tennant on why Rose Tyler is better off with the Doctor's clone than the real thing.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Dalton is the Narrator?
"He's playing a character called the Narrator, but you'll have to see more at Christmas for that," Davies said in a group interview following the press conference. "He's wonderful, that voice."
Davies would not confirm that Dalton would appear on screen, but enjoyed repeating that his character's name is the Narrator. Even choosing clips for the teaser was a debate.
"We argued over them long and hard, because there's an editor called Thomas back in BBC Cardiff who put those together," Davies said. "We went over them 27 times, every time saying, 'No, take that out. No, take that out.' Because I know science fiction fans are very clever. You can show them one character, and if he's hiding something in his hands, they will guess what it is. If he's hiding something, they will guess why he's hiding something, and therefore they'll guess what the entire plot is. I've seen them do that. So it's such a literate audience, all you really get in those Christmas clips are faces, to show you who is in it, because we daren't show any more."
Davies would not confirm that Dalton would appear on screen, but enjoyed repeating that his character's name is the Narrator. Even choosing clips for the teaser was a debate.
"We argued over them long and hard, because there's an editor called Thomas back in BBC Cardiff who put those together," Davies said. "We went over them 27 times, every time saying, 'No, take that out. No, take that out.' Because I know science fiction fans are very clever. You can show them one character, and if he's hiding something in his hands, they will guess what it is. If he's hiding something, they will guess why he's hiding something, and therefore they'll guess what the entire plot is. I've seen them do that. So it's such a literate audience, all you really get in those Christmas clips are faces, to show you who is in it, because we daren't show any more."
Last original Dalek operator dies
Michael Summerton, who died on June 16 aged 65, was an actor turned agent, and represented stars of soap operas and dance, among them Lesley Joseph, Hot Gossip and Arlene Phillips; he was also the last survivor of the original Daleks in Dr Who.
Read the rest here.
Read the rest here.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Monday, July 27, 2009
A chat with Jonathan Ross and Tennants butt pics wow lol
Great interview and a great pic of DT for the fans go check it out:
Exclusive Chat with Jonathan Ross about Doctor Who
By Kate Kotler
Exclusive Chat with Jonathan Ross about Doctor Who
By Kate Kotler
"End of time" teaser SDCC cam
Not a good copy at all but all i can find at the moment
Slighty less jumpy closer cam version here. You can see Wilf, donna, sigma, the master, and lucy in the clip. gonna be epic!!! lol
Slighty less jumpy closer cam version here. You can see Wilf, donna, sigma, the master, and lucy in the clip. gonna be epic!!! lol
Details emerge about finale
If anyone wants to remain in the dark about the two specials which form the Tenth Doctor's finale, please look away now! Footage from the first of these episodes was screened during the Doctor Who panel at Comic-Con International, 2009, meaning details about the adventure are officially out there!
As we revealed earlier today, the episodes feature the return of John Simm as the Master. The Doctor's fellow Time Lord is sporting a different hair colour in the finale, working a striking, lighter look.
And the Master isn't the only familiar figure returning from Doctor Who's recent past. Executive Producer Russell T Davies, who wrote David Tennant's final episodes, confirmed that Alexandra Moen is back as Lucy Saxon, the character we previously saw in The Sound of Drums and The Last of the Time Lords. Although married to the Master she put a serious dent in their relationship by shooting him but what happened to her after the events of Series Three has remained a mystery, so far...
Russell further explained that footage from the finale screened at Comic-Con included the voice of Timothy Dalton as the Narrator. His exact role in the specials is currently undisclosed but Dalton is, of course, best known for portraying James Bond in The Living Daylights and Licence to Kill.
One of the biggest cheers of the Doctor Who panel occurred when the trailer showed the face of Catherine Tate, last seen playing Donna Noble in Journey's End. Bernard Cribbins, who played her grandfather, Wilf, also features in the trailer which depicts a grim-faced Doctor walking purposefully away from a wall of leaping flames... but towards what, or whom..?
As we revealed earlier today, the episodes feature the return of John Simm as the Master. The Doctor's fellow Time Lord is sporting a different hair colour in the finale, working a striking, lighter look.
And the Master isn't the only familiar figure returning from Doctor Who's recent past. Executive Producer Russell T Davies, who wrote David Tennant's final episodes, confirmed that Alexandra Moen is back as Lucy Saxon, the character we previously saw in The Sound of Drums and The Last of the Time Lords. Although married to the Master she put a serious dent in their relationship by shooting him but what happened to her after the events of Series Three has remained a mystery, so far...
Russell further explained that footage from the finale screened at Comic-Con included the voice of Timothy Dalton as the Narrator. His exact role in the specials is currently undisclosed but Dalton is, of course, best known for portraying James Bond in The Living Daylights and Licence to Kill.
One of the biggest cheers of the Doctor Who panel occurred when the trailer showed the face of Catherine Tate, last seen playing Donna Noble in Journey's End. Bernard Cribbins, who played her grandfather, Wilf, also features in the trailer which depicts a grim-faced Doctor walking purposefully away from a wall of leaping flames... but towards what, or whom..?
John Simm Returns for the Finale!
John Simm will return as the Master in the two special episodes which bring David Tennant's era as the Doctor to a stunning conclusion. There's been speculation about Simm's involvement with the show but we can confirm he'll be back later this year, once again playing the Doctor's deadly nemesis.
Simm first appeared as the Master in Utopia, The Sound of Drums and The Last of the Time Lords. All three episodes were written by Executive Producer and Head Writer Russell T Davies who also wrote his upcoming adventure.
The character debuted in 1971 and on-screen has faced all but the Second and Ninth Doctors. Davies' version of the Master saw him retain his wit and cunning but since Utopia he's been callous and charismatic, sick, psychotic and enormously likeable. In short, everyone's favourite megalomaniac.
At the close of Series Three we saw the Master gunned down by his wife and whilst lying in his enemy's arms, he refused to regenerate. The world believed he had died and the Doctor accepted he was the last of the Time Lords. But this is Doctor Who and you can't keep a good bad guy down!
We've yet to find out how he survived but we can promise we'll be bringing you an exclusive interview with John Simm and some brand new Master material later this year.
Simm first appeared as the Master in Utopia, The Sound of Drums and The Last of the Time Lords. All three episodes were written by Executive Producer and Head Writer Russell T Davies who also wrote his upcoming adventure.
The character debuted in 1971 and on-screen has faced all but the Second and Ninth Doctors. Davies' version of the Master saw him retain his wit and cunning but since Utopia he's been callous and charismatic, sick, psychotic and enormously likeable. In short, everyone's favourite megalomaniac.
At the close of Series Three we saw the Master gunned down by his wife and whilst lying in his enemy's arms, he refused to regenerate. The world believed he had died and the Doctor accepted he was the last of the Time Lords. But this is Doctor Who and you can't keep a good bad guy down!
We've yet to find out how he survived but we can promise we'll be bringing you an exclusive interview with John Simm and some brand new Master material later this year.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Doctor Who - Waters of Mars Comic Con 2009 Trailer
The brand new trailer for the Doctor Who 2009 special Waters of Mars starring David Tennant and Lindsay Duncan
I09 reports on Who finale
We saw two teaser trailers for David Tennant's very final episodes as the time-traveling hero of Doctor Who, and they revealed some dark times ahead for our Time Lord, including a menacing figure in a hoodie. Spoilers in the TARDIS!
First we saw a trailer for "Planet Of The Dead," the desert planet epic that premieres tonight at 8:00 on BBC America — complete and unedited.
We also saw a trailer for "Waters Of Mars," the following story, which looks to be considerably darker.
We see images of a Martian base, with lots of somewhat primitive Earth tech including flashing buttons. The base is sort of cross-shaped, with modules sticking out at various points. The Doctor says, "Certain moments in time are fixed. Everything else is in flux. Anything can happen. But there are certain moments that must stand." We see images of the people in the Mars base going about their business, and then the weird water zombie thing starts, with people turning into water and getting the scabby reptilian faces. "This time and place on Mars, what happens here, must not be changed," the Doctor adds. And then we see more of the watery monster panic. And then the Doctor, in a different scene, explains that whatever this thing is, it doesn't just hide in water — it creates water. And if the humans take it back to Earth, it's all over. "Any one of us could be infected," says a blonde woman. More scenes of chaos and havoc as the base starts to fall apart. And then the Doctor stands in his orange spacesuit (from "The Satan Pit") with flames behind him. In his most dramatic voice, he says to the blonde woman, "It doesn't end here and now — because I don't hear anyone knocking, do you?" And then there are four brutal, loud knocks. And the titles say "THE WATERS OF MARS."
And then there was the trailer for Tennant's final two-parter, which appears to be called "The End Of Time":
We see the planet Earth from space, with the sun coming out behind it, and Timothy Dalton's voice purrs: "It is said that in the final days of the planet Earth, everyone had bad dreams." And then we see weird laughing faces, followed by David Tennant looking quite perturbed. We see glimpses of Wilf, Donna, Donna's mother, and an African man in a suit, all looking very serious. And there's a scary snake-faced creature. And then there's a figure in a dark hoodie lurking ominously. Dalton narrates: "He returns." We catch a glimpse of Ood Sigma, the Ood who told the Doctor his song was ending. And then the Doctor standing in the background, with the guy in a hoodie in the foreground. And then the hoodie comes off, and it's John Simm with his hair weirdly bleached! His voice comes: "My name is the Master." And then a title comes on the screen: "THE END OF TIME." And the Doctor walks forward with flames in the background, his face looking smoky and serious. And the title says "CHRISTMAS 2009." And the crowd goes wild.
The Doctor Who panel was more fun than informative, as it really should be. David Tennant had a huge standing ovation, and people in the crowd were shouting "WE LOVE YOU!!" at regular intervals. At one point, Tennant responded "We love you too. Each one of you in a slightly different, individual way. We want you to know that."
Russell T. Davies did confirm that Lucy Saxton, the Master's long-suffering wife, will be back in the final episodes, alongside Simms. And the words "He will knock four times" have a great significance.
And Tennant alluded to something bad that happens to the Doctor's jacket in one of the last scenes he shot.
Someone asked David Tennant if the new Who is a reimagining of the old show, and he responded: "It's the same show and the story continues. I'm playing the same man tht William Hartnell was playing. I just have a slghtly different wig."
Someone from the Guinness Book Of World Records presented the show with an award for being the most successful science fiction show of all time, and Davies happily accepted, making jokes about Star Trek. ""Eat that, Supernatural!" He shouted, followed by "Eat me, Supernatural — oh I didn't really say that, did I?"
Someone mentioned that John Barrowman (who plays Captain Jack Harkness) talked about stealing a few items from the Doctor Who set, and asked if Tennant had taken anything as well. Executive producer Julie Gardner quipped, "I think John Barrowman just stole things off the set so he could be strip-searched."
Tennant only has one regret about leaving the show now: "The one thing I leave the show with a great sadness about is, I didn't get to snog Bernard Cribbins. I got to snog all the other ones."
And a fan asked if Professor River Song might come back at some point, and Davies and Gardner made it clear they have nothing to do with the episodes going out in 2010 and have no clue what'll happen. But Davies added: "I think if you go online and do a little search for River Song, you might be very happy."
First we saw a trailer for "Planet Of The Dead," the desert planet epic that premieres tonight at 8:00 on BBC America — complete and unedited.
We also saw a trailer for "Waters Of Mars," the following story, which looks to be considerably darker.
We see images of a Martian base, with lots of somewhat primitive Earth tech including flashing buttons. The base is sort of cross-shaped, with modules sticking out at various points. The Doctor says, "Certain moments in time are fixed. Everything else is in flux. Anything can happen. But there are certain moments that must stand." We see images of the people in the Mars base going about their business, and then the weird water zombie thing starts, with people turning into water and getting the scabby reptilian faces. "This time and place on Mars, what happens here, must not be changed," the Doctor adds. And then we see more of the watery monster panic. And then the Doctor, in a different scene, explains that whatever this thing is, it doesn't just hide in water — it creates water. And if the humans take it back to Earth, it's all over. "Any one of us could be infected," says a blonde woman. More scenes of chaos and havoc as the base starts to fall apart. And then the Doctor stands in his orange spacesuit (from "The Satan Pit") with flames behind him. In his most dramatic voice, he says to the blonde woman, "It doesn't end here and now — because I don't hear anyone knocking, do you?" And then there are four brutal, loud knocks. And the titles say "THE WATERS OF MARS."
And then there was the trailer for Tennant's final two-parter, which appears to be called "The End Of Time":
We see the planet Earth from space, with the sun coming out behind it, and Timothy Dalton's voice purrs: "It is said that in the final days of the planet Earth, everyone had bad dreams." And then we see weird laughing faces, followed by David Tennant looking quite perturbed. We see glimpses of Wilf, Donna, Donna's mother, and an African man in a suit, all looking very serious. And there's a scary snake-faced creature. And then there's a figure in a dark hoodie lurking ominously. Dalton narrates: "He returns." We catch a glimpse of Ood Sigma, the Ood who told the Doctor his song was ending. And then the Doctor standing in the background, with the guy in a hoodie in the foreground. And then the hoodie comes off, and it's John Simm with his hair weirdly bleached! His voice comes: "My name is the Master." And then a title comes on the screen: "THE END OF TIME." And the Doctor walks forward with flames in the background, his face looking smoky and serious. And the title says "CHRISTMAS 2009." And the crowd goes wild.
The Doctor Who panel was more fun than informative, as it really should be. David Tennant had a huge standing ovation, and people in the crowd were shouting "WE LOVE YOU!!" at regular intervals. At one point, Tennant responded "We love you too. Each one of you in a slightly different, individual way. We want you to know that."
Russell T. Davies did confirm that Lucy Saxton, the Master's long-suffering wife, will be back in the final episodes, alongside Simms. And the words "He will knock four times" have a great significance.
And Tennant alluded to something bad that happens to the Doctor's jacket in one of the last scenes he shot.
Someone asked David Tennant if the new Who is a reimagining of the old show, and he responded: "It's the same show and the story continues. I'm playing the same man tht William Hartnell was playing. I just have a slghtly different wig."
Someone from the Guinness Book Of World Records presented the show with an award for being the most successful science fiction show of all time, and Davies happily accepted, making jokes about Star Trek. ""Eat that, Supernatural!" He shouted, followed by "Eat me, Supernatural — oh I didn't really say that, did I?"
Someone mentioned that John Barrowman (who plays Captain Jack Harkness) talked about stealing a few items from the Doctor Who set, and asked if Tennant had taken anything as well. Executive producer Julie Gardner quipped, "I think John Barrowman just stole things off the set so he could be strip-searched."
Tennant only has one regret about leaving the show now: "The one thing I leave the show with a great sadness about is, I didn't get to snog Bernard Cribbins. I got to snog all the other ones."
And a fan asked if Professor River Song might come back at some point, and Davies and Gardner made it clear they have nothing to do with the episodes going out in 2010 and have no clue what'll happen. But Davies added: "I think if you go online and do a little search for River Song, you might be very happy."
RTD says FU to fans of Ianto, wow what an ass....
Backlash shmacklash. That's Torchwood creator Russell T. Davies' reaction to the outcry over the shocking death of Gareth David-Lloyd's much-loved Ianto in the BBC America miniseries Children of Earth. "It's not a backlash really," he scoffs. "It's just a few people posting online." Those few people may want to fasten their seat belts, 'cause the unapologetic Brit behind the original Queer as Folk also has some strong opinions about why Ianto had to die, what TV show pissed off fans should watch instead (hint: see headline above), and where Torchwood goes from here.
Question: Why'd you kill Ianto?
RUSSELL T. DAVIES: The threat to the world was just so great it simply would have been unlikely if everyone had survived. Torchwood is an adult show. We have killed off leading members of the cast before. Those have always been the stakes. Poor Ianto was defeated by a greater evil, I'm afraid.
Question: So this wasn't something that resulted from Gareth wanting to leave?
DAVIES: No, it was my decision.
Question: What do you make of the fan backlash?
DAVIES: It's not particularly a backlash. What's actually happening is, well, nothing really to be honest. It's a few people posting online and getting fans upset. Which is marvelous. It just goes to prove how much they love the character and the actor. People often say, 'Fans have got their knives out!' They haven't got any knives. I haven't been stabbed. Nothing's happened. It's simply a few people typing. I'm glad they're typing because they’re that involved. But if you can’t handle drama you shouldn’t watch it. Find something else. Go look at poetry. Poetry’s wonderful.
Question: Can you confirm that Ianto is, in fact, dead?
DAVIES: I’m afraid so. He’s a wonderful actor. I've worked with him before. I’m a big fan of his and I [look forward to] watching his career prosper. But death is death in this case. It would devalue the entire plot if we brought him back.
Question: But it's a risky thing to kill off such a popular character.
DAVIES: Absolutely. There’s a risk that some people won’t come back to watch now that Ianto’s gone. I thank them for watching the show and I recommend they go watch Supernatural, because those boys are beautiful. And don’t tell me they’re brothers. [Laughs] Not in my mind.
Question: One of my readers wondered if you were under pressure to de-gay Torchwood and that's why you killed him off.
DAVIES: I think you can forget about people picking up gay rights as an issue. It's rather like children picking up nursery blocks and waving them in the air but having no idea what it entails. We’re talking about issues in my entire life here, not just one small television program. If they did research they’d go and look at the history of gay and lesbian characters that I have put on screen. They should simply grow up, do some research, and stop riding on a bandwagon that they actually don’t know anything about.
Question: What was Gareth's reaction when you told him you were killing Ianto?
DAVIES: Oh, he’s a lovely, professional man. He completely understood. He’d seen two major characters disappear the year before. It’s a job. It’s a very straightforward process. He loved filming that great big death scene.
Question: With half the cast dead, where does Torchwood go from here?
DAVIES: We don’t yet know about our fourth series, but I’m fairly confident [it will continue] in some shape or form. I will just sit down and invent new stories and characters. That’s what I’ve spent my entire life doing. It’s not difficult at all. I could write the first 10 scenes in an episode right now.
Question: Will Jack continue to be the centerpiece?
DAVIES: Oh, I would think so. I would hope so. He’s absolutely fundamental to Torchwood.
Question: Do you think you'll stick to the miniseries format?
DAVIES: It’s hard to say. It’s been pretty successful. We were the number one show for five nights running [in the UK], which was amazing. Everything’s looking good, but it’s hard to say. We’re in a recession so no one gets easy money to make television. I like continuous story. I like doing new things. In many ways, Torchwood was designed as a digital weapon. It’s kind of multi-purpose, multi-adaptable, shape-shifting weapon that can become anything. I’m kind of excited what we’ll do next.
Question: What about a feature film?
DAVIES: Oh, God. Raising money for that would be harder than a television show. But anything is possible.
Question: Any hints about where the story will go next?
DAVIES: No, it’s literally too soon. I don’t know yet.
Question: Why'd you kill Ianto?
RUSSELL T. DAVIES: The threat to the world was just so great it simply would have been unlikely if everyone had survived. Torchwood is an adult show. We have killed off leading members of the cast before. Those have always been the stakes. Poor Ianto was defeated by a greater evil, I'm afraid.
Question: So this wasn't something that resulted from Gareth wanting to leave?
DAVIES: No, it was my decision.
Question: What do you make of the fan backlash?
DAVIES: It's not particularly a backlash. What's actually happening is, well, nothing really to be honest. It's a few people posting online and getting fans upset. Which is marvelous. It just goes to prove how much they love the character and the actor. People often say, 'Fans have got their knives out!' They haven't got any knives. I haven't been stabbed. Nothing's happened. It's simply a few people typing. I'm glad they're typing because they’re that involved. But if you can’t handle drama you shouldn’t watch it. Find something else. Go look at poetry. Poetry’s wonderful.
Question: Can you confirm that Ianto is, in fact, dead?
DAVIES: I’m afraid so. He’s a wonderful actor. I've worked with him before. I’m a big fan of his and I [look forward to] watching his career prosper. But death is death in this case. It would devalue the entire plot if we brought him back.
Question: But it's a risky thing to kill off such a popular character.
DAVIES: Absolutely. There’s a risk that some people won’t come back to watch now that Ianto’s gone. I thank them for watching the show and I recommend they go watch Supernatural, because those boys are beautiful. And don’t tell me they’re brothers. [Laughs] Not in my mind.
Question: One of my readers wondered if you were under pressure to de-gay Torchwood and that's why you killed him off.
DAVIES: I think you can forget about people picking up gay rights as an issue. It's rather like children picking up nursery blocks and waving them in the air but having no idea what it entails. We’re talking about issues in my entire life here, not just one small television program. If they did research they’d go and look at the history of gay and lesbian characters that I have put on screen. They should simply grow up, do some research, and stop riding on a bandwagon that they actually don’t know anything about.
Question: What was Gareth's reaction when you told him you were killing Ianto?
DAVIES: Oh, he’s a lovely, professional man. He completely understood. He’d seen two major characters disappear the year before. It’s a job. It’s a very straightforward process. He loved filming that great big death scene.
Question: With half the cast dead, where does Torchwood go from here?
DAVIES: We don’t yet know about our fourth series, but I’m fairly confident [it will continue] in some shape or form. I will just sit down and invent new stories and characters. That’s what I’ve spent my entire life doing. It’s not difficult at all. I could write the first 10 scenes in an episode right now.
Question: Will Jack continue to be the centerpiece?
DAVIES: Oh, I would think so. I would hope so. He’s absolutely fundamental to Torchwood.
Question: Do you think you'll stick to the miniseries format?
DAVIES: It’s hard to say. It’s been pretty successful. We were the number one show for five nights running [in the UK], which was amazing. Everything’s looking good, but it’s hard to say. We’re in a recession so no one gets easy money to make television. I like continuous story. I like doing new things. In many ways, Torchwood was designed as a digital weapon. It’s kind of multi-purpose, multi-adaptable, shape-shifting weapon that can become anything. I’m kind of excited what we’ll do next.
Question: What about a feature film?
DAVIES: Oh, God. Raising money for that would be harder than a television show. But anything is possible.
Question: Any hints about where the story will go next?
DAVIES: No, it’s literally too soon. I don’t know yet.
Ianto ‘memorial’ fund helps Children In Need
A FUND set up “in memory” of Torchwood character Ianto Jones has raised £1,800 for charity.
Fans around the world were dismayed when Ianto, a lead character in the sci-fi hit, met an untimely and unexpected demise in this month’s Children of Earth mini-series on BBC1.
A movement to save the character, played by Gareth David-Lloyd, began moments after he was killed off in the series and the resulting website – http://www.saveiantojones.com/ – has had more than 25,000 hits. It urges fans to send postcards and letters to series creator Russell T Davies and to the BBC.
The online donations had last night raised £1,865 for Children In Need. The website, www.justgiving.com/iantojones, says: “Though we, his devoted fans, still hope that he’ll come back (it’s still sci-fi and in sci-fi death can be reversed, can’t it?) we mourn him. In the series, he died saving the children of Earth so it seems fitting to honour his memory by helping the Children in Need.”
Fans around the world were dismayed when Ianto, a lead character in the sci-fi hit, met an untimely and unexpected demise in this month’s Children of Earth mini-series on BBC1.
A movement to save the character, played by Gareth David-Lloyd, began moments after he was killed off in the series and the resulting website – http://www.saveiantojones.com/ – has had more than 25,000 hits. It urges fans to send postcards and letters to series creator Russell T Davies and to the BBC.
The online donations had last night raised £1,865 for Children In Need. The website, www.justgiving.com/iantojones, says: “Though we, his devoted fans, still hope that he’ll come back (it’s still sci-fi and in sci-fi death can be reversed, can’t it?) we mourn him. In the series, he died saving the children of Earth so it seems fitting to honour his memory by helping the Children in Need.”
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Even more set pics
Unit? or some other agency?
Is this where river gets the handcuffs for future use??? hehehe
Monday, July 20, 2009
The Name's Pond. Amy Pond
Details are beginning to emerge about the next Doctor's companion, and the big news is she'll be called Amy Pond.
Back in May we revealed that the new companion will be played by 21 year old Karen Gillan, but until now her character's full name has been more carefully guarded than the Doctor's 'real' name! Amy will travel in the TARDIS alongside the new Doctor, played by Matt Smith, when the next series of Doctor Who begins in 2010.
Amy Pond is another memorable moniker from the new series Head Writer and Executive Producer, Steven Moffat, whose previous creations include Sally Sparrow and River Song. The latest photo which we revealed earlier today indicates Amy will have a laid back, contemporary look. So far we've had no suggestion as to whether we'll meet the new companion's family, or even if she has a family. But time will tell, and we'll be here to bring you Amy's story as it unfolds!
Back in May we revealed that the new companion will be played by 21 year old Karen Gillan, but until now her character's full name has been more carefully guarded than the Doctor's 'real' name! Amy will travel in the TARDIS alongside the new Doctor, played by Matt Smith, when the next series of Doctor Who begins in 2010.
Amy Pond is another memorable moniker from the new series Head Writer and Executive Producer, Steven Moffat, whose previous creations include Sally Sparrow and River Song. The latest photo which we revealed earlier today indicates Amy will have a laid back, contemporary look. So far we've had no suggestion as to whether we'll meet the new companion's family, or even if she has a family. But time will tell, and we'll be here to bring you Amy's story as it unfolds!
Tom Baker is to return as Doctor Who in five audio specials.
The 75-year-old actor - who played the Timelord on TV from 1974 to 1981, the longest so far of the 10 actors to take the role - will voice The Doctor for the BBC, following his adventures when he moves into a Sussex cottage in 2009 after leaving former companions Leela and metal dog K-9 on his home planet Gallifrey.
Writer Paul Magrs told The Sun: "I can picture the very moment he turned back into the Doctor - one minute it was introductions and actorly chat and then, all of a sudden, he was rehearsing lines.
He continued: "His first was, 'Hello, I'm the Doctor'. It was a very shivery moment."
The Doctor will be joined by companion UNIT's Captain Mike Yates, voiced by Richard Franklin, who played the role on the television show with Tom.
The episodes will also feature Mrs Wibbsey - voiced by Susan Jameson, of TV detective show New Tricks - as the Doctor's housekeeper.
The adventures, with series title Hornets' Nest, are due to air monthly from September 3 on BBC radio.
Writer Paul Magrs told The Sun: "I can picture the very moment he turned back into the Doctor - one minute it was introductions and actorly chat and then, all of a sudden, he was rehearsing lines.
He continued: "His first was, 'Hello, I'm the Doctor'. It was a very shivery moment."
The Doctor will be joined by companion UNIT's Captain Mike Yates, voiced by Richard Franklin, who played the role on the television show with Tom.
The episodes will also feature Mrs Wibbsey - voiced by Susan Jameson, of TV detective show New Tricks - as the Doctor's housekeeper.
The adventures, with series title Hornets' Nest, are due to air monthly from September 3 on BBC radio.
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