BBC want Virgin advert banned?

BBC Worldwide have reportedly asked Virgin to suspend their advert which features David Tennant and Richard Branson as it apparently breaks guidelines by using the BBC brand to endorse its product.



The advert shows David Tennant selecting Doctor Who on TV and Richard Branson in a TARDIS/Lazarus Experiment type contraption which makes him younger.

In response, Virgin said their “new campaign explores some of the benefits of Virgin Media TiVo, including the ability to search for your favourite actor and discover TV programmes, films and YouTube content available live, on demand and as catch-up TV.”

Sauce

Don't Cry For Me, Amy Pond

It's nearly coming to a close for Amelia Pond and Rory Williams, but will they go out with a bang (no naughty pun intended)?

Well, there seems to be a rumour going around...

SERIES7SERIES7SERIES7

New Companion!

JENNA-LOUISE COLEMAN has been announced as the next companion, replacing Karen Gillan!

Having previously starred in Waterloo Road and the ITV adaptation of Titanic, Jenna-Louise is no stranger to TV.

It has been confirmed that the as-of-yet unnamed companion will debut at Christmas!

Good luck Jenna!

Karen Gillan joins Doctor Who Convention!

Karen Gillan has been confirmed as the latest guest to appear at the official Doctor Who Convention!

The event, taking place on March 24th and 25th this year, already has a superbly massive guest list, namely... Matt Smith; Steven Moffat; Karen Gillan; Arthur Darvill; Mark Sheppard; Nick Briggs; Ian McNeice; Raquel Cassidy; Neill Gorton; Danny Hargreaves; Tom MacRae; Toby Haynes; Barnaby Edwards; Caroline Henry; Stephen Pehrsson; Michael Pickwoad; Andy Pryor; Gary Russell; Simon Fisher-Becker and Marcus Wilson... phew!

“I'm really looking forward to the Convention and meeting all of the wonderful Doctor Who fans!” Karen said.

The £99 tickets can be bought from the Convention website.

Russell T Davies is back!

The legend behind the revival of Doctor Who is back with a brand new TV show!

Russell T Davies (the T stands for nothing) is to return to TV with a new television series entitled Aliens vs. Wizards, to be shown on CBBC. Expected to air in Autumn this year, the show sees a 16-year old wizard and his friend battling to save Earth from an alien race: the Nekross.

Writing for children in the biggest challenge of all and I think CBBC stands right at the heart of broadcasting. So I'm delighted to launch this show, a true nationwide collaboration – a Salford commission from a BBC Wales team. We're joining genres too – the show's a wild, funny, thrilling and sometimes scary collision of magic and science fiction.

Davies' last venture was The Sarah Jane Adventures, which ended last year. Another Davies production is also in the works to be shown in the US.

Sarah Jane Adventures DVD news

The BBC will be releasing two Sarah Jane Adventures DVD sets on February 6th.

The first is the Fifth (and final) Series, which will be accompanied with the special feature entitled "Goodbye Bannerman Road - Remembering Elisabeth Sladen" including contributions from Matt Smith, amongst others. The second is the complete SJA boxset, including all five series.

Both items are available for pre-order here and here.

Is there a MOVIE in the works?!

Apparently, director, David Yates, is teaming up with the BBC to make a Doctor Who movie.

According to Variety, Yates is working with Jane Tranter, who is the LA head of BBC Worldwide, previously Head of Fiction at the BBC until 2008.

"We're looking at writers now. We're going to spend two to three years to get it right," he said. "It needs quite a radical transformation to take it into the bigger arena."

Yates says that the movie will not be continuing from Russell T Davies' or Steven Moffat's writing, confirming that "we have to put that aside and start from scratch."

Doctor Who has had a bunch of films in the past, the most recent being the 1996 movie, starring Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor.

The news is quite an exciting prospect, but let's hope it doesn't ruin the 'Britishness' of the show by making it American (see: Shameless, Skins etc.)

Update: This has been confirmed!

Mini episode for Children In Need?

It looks like we might not be getting just a Christmas special preview... but some mini episode(s) too?

According to Doctor Who's official Twitter page...

There's an extra special treat for #DoctorWho fans on Friday’s Children
in Need… Or at least there will be if things go according to plan!

Hurray! Things ARE going according to plan! Steven Moffat’s mini-script has just hit the in-boxes of a lucky few… Must look over shoulders…

Great! We can confirm that Matt Smith will be back in the bow-tie soon because the Doctor returns on Friday night in Children in Need.

We’ve seen the short script and it is NOT what you’d expect. Oh, it’s funny and fast and Doctorish and brilliant… but not what you’d expect…

Yay!

Elisabeth Sladen's Autobiography to launch at Doctor Who Experience

To celebrate the publication of Elisabeth Sladen's posthumous autobiography and her amazing life, Aurum Press will be hosting a one-off event at the Doctor Who Experience. Elisabeth's daughter, Sadie Miller, the 4th Doctor: Tom Baker, and Doctor Who writer and producer Terrance Dicks will be in conversation with TV Choice magazine's Ben Lawrence, discussing the life and their memories of Elisabeth Sladen in the screening room at the Doctor Who Experience at 2.30pm on November 26th.

The event is free to Doctor Who Experience ticket holders. As there are only a limited number of spaces available they will need to book a slot in advance. To do this, visitors must select 12.30pm/ 1pm or 2pm time slot on Saturday 26th November. When they select their ticket type they will also have the option to select ‘Elisabeth Sladen book launch entry’. They will then be issued with a separate ticket for this.


To book tickets to this event, visit: http://www.doctorwhoexperience.com!

Don't forget to check out our review of Elisabeth's autobiography too.

BBC announces first Doctor Who convention!

BBC Worldwide have revealed that they will be hosting the first ever Doctor Who convention on the 24th and 25th March 2012 at the Millennium Centre in Cardiff, Wales.

There are only 1500 tickets available for each day and it is certainly not something you would want to miss! The convention promises a whole host of stars, including Matt Smith and Steven Moffat! You can also get a once-in-a-lifetime insight into the mechanics behind Doctor Who, with Danny Hargreaves, Michael Pickwoad, Marcus Wilson and the Millennium FX team also in attendance!

According to their press release,

The unique interactive programme will include theatre sessions and Q&As with cast and crew; behind the scenes sessions show-casing the script to screen process; discussions with episode directors and writers and demonstrations from Special FX and prosthetics experts that will illustrate the challenges and scale of their work on the world’s longest running sci-fi show. Autograph and photo opportunities will also be available with attending cast members and there will be official Doctor Who merchandise and collectables on sale.

Tickets are priced at £99 and will go on sale at 9pm on November 14th here.

Another jam-packed Whofest at Memorabilia 2011!

The Winter Memorabilia, held at the NEC in Birmingham, is set to be one of their biggest yet.

The event, spanning the 19 - 20th November, will include a whole host of Doctor Who stars, past and present. The legendary Sixth Doctor, Colin Baker, and the bumbling action hero Rory, Arthur Darvill, will be making an appearance, as well as the clumsy-adorable Rhys Jones, Kai Owen.

And that's not all! Also attending are the Doctor's companions: Katy Manning, Sophie Aldred, Deborah Watling, Louise Jameson and Sarah Sutton.

If that hasn't enticed you enough, this year's Memorabilia will also have cast reunions of Only Fools and Horses, Hi-De-Hi, Village of the Damned and Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter.

For more information, you can check out the website here!

Bernard Cribbins gets an OBE!

Bernard Cribbins has been appointed an OBE for his services to drama!


The star, who we all know and love as Wilf, has a large range of credits to his name, including being the narrator in The Wombles and starring in The Railway Children.

According to the BBC, Bernard said had no intention of retiring, adding: "I love it, I can't stop, why should I? I'm still able to read and write."

Well done Mr Cribbins!

Doctor Who Encylopedia launches iPad app

BBC Books have revealed that they have launched the Doctor Who Encyclopedia on an iPad app.

According to Doctor Who Online,

It allows you to scroll your way through a complete A-Z of the show and explore and search thousands of entries by series or episode. You will discover the Doctor’s fiercest enemies, closest allies and key places and objects and have the opportunity to preview and buy those must-have episodes.

The app contains over 3000 entries and each entry includes links to episodes, people, places and objects that relate to it. Additionally, each entry has an episode reference, allowing you to search the Encyclopedia by episode or series – so you can find out all you ever need to know about the Doctor, his allies, enemies and everywhere he’s ever visited. You can also preview episodes and buy your favourites directly from iTunes.

The initial purchase of the app will be priced at £4.99 and will include all of the Eleventh Doctor’s content. Further downloads at £4.99 each include all Ninth and Tenth Doctor content.

The app also contains 11 unique portals - special interactive entries, for the Doctor, Amy, Rory, River and other major characters. The Doctors’ portal uses parallax technology which allows users to move their iPad to scroll through a 3D environment, featuring the Doctor’s closest companions and deadliest enemies.

You can buy it here and check out some screenies below.

Matt Smith is not leaving, apparently.

Contrary to current speculation, Matt Smith has implied that he is not leaving the show. In an interview with What's On TV, he said -

"We work very long hours every day for nine months. The schedule is pretty brutal, but I'd never complain about it. I love playing this role, and I don't want to give it up any time soon," he continued.

"I feel very lucky. In the current climate for actors, I'd never say, 'This is too much' - quite the opposite, in fact. I'd say, 'Bring it on.'"

BBC to air Christmas teaser during Children In Need

According to the BBC Press Office -

Newsreaders Fiona Bruce, Emily Maitlis, Sophie Raworth and Sian Williams try their hand at ballroom and face Len Goodman, Bruno Tonioli, Craig Revel Horwood and Alesha Dixon with their own Strictly Challenge. Nick Knowles is in the studio for DIY SOS – The Big Build to celebrate their biggest makeover to date, and there's an exclusive sneak peek at the Doctor Who Christmas special.

Confidential possibly back for Christmas?

Combom have reported that Doctor Who Confidential may be back at Christmas, after a series of tweets by DWC editor Rahim Mastafa suggesting it...

Sad times. Sitting in the #DoctorWhoConfidential edit suite. Is this really for the last time?

Looking forward to working on some #DoctorWhoConfidential stuff this week. Hope it won't be the last time...

So one last outing for DWC? Hurrah!

But you can still petition to save it here.

Reminder: 'Save Doctor Who Confidential' Petition

The petition to save Doctor Who Confidential will end this Friday (28th) when it will be sent to the BBC Trust.

The petition, now at nearly 50,000 signatures, started after the BBC announced that they were axing Doctor Who Confidential due to budget cuts, saying that "our priority now is to build on original British commissions, unique to the channel."

Steven Moffat recently spoke about the axing, commenting on it being a "bad decision" because the "show was watched and loved everywhere."

Two BAFTA nominations for SJA!

The Sarah Jane Adventures continues to succeed even after it has ended by being nominated for two BAFTA Children's Awards this year!

For the fourth year running, it is up for Best Drama, whilst SJA lead writer Phil Ford is up for Best Writer. Let's hope The Sarah Jane Adventures finally gets Best Drama this year!

Voting can be done here, and the voting will end on 25th November at 18:00. The awards will be presented on the 27th November.

(TARDIS Newsroom)

Series 6 Boxset to include mini episodes

The Complete Sixth Series, set for release on 21st November, will include five exclusive 'mini episodes', written by Steven Moffat.
According to SFX, 

The first four episodes are all connected, and set pretty much entirely in the TARDIS. Totalling twelve minutes, they collectively address the question: what does the Doctor get up to while Rory and Amy are asleep? Well, given that he doesn’t need as much sleep as we humans, he has adventures, of course – adventures with a certain flame-haired lady friend…

You can read SFX's reviews on the episodes here.