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Month: March 2015

Radio Times: Doctor Who’s Top 10 episodes of the Modern Era (as voted by you)

Radio Times: Doctor Who’s Top 10 episodes of the Modern Era (as voted by you)

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Doctor Who’s top ten episodes of the modern era (as voted by you)

A staggering 280,859 votes were cast in RadioTimes.com’s poll to find the best episode since 2005. Here’s the final countdown…

Such is the timey-wimey nature of Doctor Who that hot on the heels of the Time Lord’s 50th anniversary in 2013, we are celebrating his tenth. For on March 26th, it will be a decade since Russell T Davies relaunched the Tardis to great acclaim on BBC1.

It’s remarkable for any drama series to clock up ten years, so to celebrate, RadioTimes.com ran a poll for readers to select their favourite episodes. A staggering 280,859 votes were counted and now we can reveal the winner for the first time.

Before that, though, Radio Times’ biggest Whovians count down to the victor, and give their thoughts on why your picks deserve to be in the top ten Doctor Who episodes of the modern era. Starting with…

10. The End of Time (2009, 2010) [5.37% of the overall vote]

9. Silence in the Library / The Forest of the Dead (2008) [6.09%

8. Bad Wolf / The Parting of the Ways (2005) [7.01%]

7. The Girl in the Fireplace (2006) [8.51%]

6. Army of Ghosts / Doomsday (2006) [8.61%]

5. The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances (2005) [9.99%]

4. The Day of the Doctor (2013) [13.28%]

3. The Stolen Earth / Journey’s End (2008) [13.3%]

2. Vincent and the Doctor (2010) [13.7%]

 

1. Blink (2007) [14.3%]

Doctor Who: Damaged Goods: Trailer

Doctor Who: Damaged Goods: Trailer

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A trailer is now online for May’s Big Finish adaptation of Doctor Who producer Russell T Davies’ novel Doctor Who – Damaged Goods…

In May, Big Finish release the second of their Doctor Who – The Novel Adaptations collections, part of which is a brand new audio version of Doctor Who producer and writer Russell T Davies’ Doctor Who – Damaged Goods:

The year is 1987 and there’s a deadly new narcotic on the streets of London. As part of their investigations the Doctor and his companions Chris and Roz move into the Quadrant, a rundown housing estate. An ancient alien menace has been unleashed, a menace somehow linked to a local gang leader known as The Capper, a charmed young boy called Gabriel and his mother Winnie, the enigmatic Frei Foundation, and Eva Jericho, a woman driven to the brink of madness.

As London descends into an apocalyptic nightmare, the Doctor must uncover the truth about the residents of the Quadrant and a desperate bargain made one dark Christmas Eve.

Based on the original 1996 New Adventures novel by Doctor Who writer and executive producer Russell T Davies.

The trailer for Doctor Who – Damaged Goods can be found by clicking the link above, as well as further details and pre-orders on CD or Download.

Doctor Who – Damaged Goods can also be bought in a luxury book packaging Doctor Who – Novel Adaptations Volume 2 comprising Doctor Who – Damaged Goods, the adaptation of the Gareth Robert’s novel Doctor Who – The Well-Mannered War, and a fifth disc of exclusive extras.

Fans of the Virgin Doctor Who novels may be interested to hear about other Big Finish adaptations, including Doctor Who – Love and War, Doctor Who – The Highest Science, Doctor Who – The Romance of Crime, and Doctor Who – The English Way of Death. The latter two are also collected into a luxury five-disc book set, Doctor Who – Novel Adaptations Volume 1.

Doctor Who: The Fourth Doctor Adventures: Requiem for the Rocket Men: Released

Doctor Who: The Fourth Doctor Adventures: Requiem for the Rocket Men: Released

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The latest of Big Finish’s Fourth Doctor Adventures range is out today with the release of Doctor Who – Requiem for the Rocket Men – and there’s a little reward for purchasers through the Big Finish site…

Doctor Who – The Fourth Doctor Adventures: Requiem for the Rocket Men is out today, John Dorney’s script the third Big Finish visit to the worlds of the villainous, murderous space pirates!

The Asteroid – notorious hideaway of the piratical Rocket Men. Hewn out of rock, surrounded by force-fields and hidden in the depths of the Fairhead Cluster, their base is undetectable, unescapable and impregnable.

In need of allies, the Master has arranged to meet with Shandar, King of the Rocket Men. But the mercenaries have captured themselves a very special prisoner – his oldest enemy, the Doctor.

What cunning scheme is the Doctor planning? How does it connect with Shandar’s new robotic pet? And just what has happened to Leela? The Master will have to work the answers out if he wants to leave the asteroid… alive…

As well as Doctor Who – The Fourth Doctor Adventures: Requiem for the Rocket Men, the other Rocket Men titles are still available – Doctor Who – The Companion Chronicles: The Rocket Men and Doctor Who – The Companion Chronicles: Return of the Rocket Men. We’ve set up both Download and CD bundles (with free UK postage on the latter) to make it easy to get all three in one go!

When it came to the CD mastering on this new Doctor Who title, we discovered we had too much interview material to fit onto the disc and had to reluctantly edit them down. However, as a special downloadable addition, anyone who buys Doctor Who – Requiem for the Rocket Men through the Big Finish site – on CD or Download – will find a special supplementary download in their account which is the full-length version of the extras as an MP3 file.

This month’s edition of free downloadable magazine Vortex talks extensively to those behind the Rocket Men tales and is a recommended read.

A money-saving Subscription to the Doctor Who – The Fourth Doctor Adventures range is available, or alternatively a Bundle brings together the current fourth series with our popular Doctor Who – Philip Hinchcliffe Presents… boxed set at a special price.

Doctor Who – The Fourth Doctor Adventures range continues next month with Doctor Who – Death Match!

Doctor Who: The Entropy Plague: Released

Doctor Who: The Entropy Plague: Released

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The latest main range Doctor Who title – the Fifth Doctor story The Entropy Plague – is out today…

The March release of our Doctor Who main range is Doctor Who – The Entropy Plague, a final adventure (or is it?!) in E-Space for the Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison), Tegan (Janet Fielding), Nyssa (Sarah Sutton) and Turlough (Mark Strickson), written by Jonathan Morris:

A Great Darkness is spreading over E-Space. Entropy increases. In search of a last exit to anywhere, the TARDIS arrives on the power-less planet of Apollyon, where the scientist Pallister guards the only way out – a mysterious portal. But the portal needs power to open, and the only power Pallister can draw on is the energy contained within the molecular bonds of all living tissue…

The Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan and Turlough soon learn that neither Pallister nor his ally, the space pirate Captain Branarack, will stop at murder to ensure their escape. But they’re not the only menace on Apollyon. The Sandmen are coming – creatures that live on the life force; that live on death.

Death is the only way out into N-Space. Death, or sacrifice.

But whose death?

Whose sacrifice?

Doctor Who – The Entropy Plague is out today on Download for all Big Finish purchasers, with CDs also being shipped from our warehouse. For more details on the story, including a trailer, simply click on the link above.

Those who have money-saving Subscriptions to our main range of Doctor Who releases, or who get one which includes Doctor Who – The Entropy Plague will immediately get access to a PDF download of the script, and the very latest release of our Doctor Who – Subscriber Short Trips in their accounts, with Doctor Who – String Theory, a new Fourth Doctor and Leela story written by Kini Brown. An exclusive subscriber-extra interviews download for The Entropy Plague will follow soon.

The range continues in April with Doctor Who – The Defectors, the first of three stories celebrating us reaching 200 main range stories in June!

Ark In Space audio book to the read by Jon Culshaw

Ark In Space audio book to the read by Jon Culshaw

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Jon Culshaw, perhaps the finest Fourth Doctor impersonator this side of Kasterborous, France, will be lending his dulcet tones to the audiobook adaptation of the indomitable Doctor Who and The Ark in Space.

Ladbroke audio played host to the Dead Ringers star as he recorded his very first audiobook over two fun, epic days as he brought Ian Marter’s novelisation of Robert Holmes’ 1975 serial to life.

It’s not long before the crew of the TARDIS find things going suspiciously wrong, and the station under attack from the giant Wirrrn, deadly creatures who, in their lust for power, now threaten the future of the whole Human Race.

The story sees the Fourth Doctor, Sarah Jane and Harry on an automated ark ship far off in the future; on board and frozen in suspended animation, a selection of humanity awaits the day the craft returns to Earth.

It’s not long before the crew of the TARDIS find things going suspiciously wrong, and the station under attack from the giant Wirrrn, deadly creatures who, in their lust for power, now threaten the future of the whole Human Race…

The first novelisation by Marter brought about several changes to Holmes’ original scripts including altering the ending, changing the spelling of ‘Wirrn’ to ‘Wirrrn’ and removing the line “Well, my doctorate is purely honorary, and Harry here is only qualified to work on sailors,” entirely.

These aren’t the only changes; as Michael Stevens, Commissioning Editor of BBC Audio, told DWM: “Jon is of course famous for his uncannily accurate impression of Tom Baker as the Doctor, and so he’ll be bringing his aptitude for the Doctor to book! Jon is also a keen fan of the programme himself, and has been delighted to immerse himself in the adventure on Terra Nova, as Nerva Beacon is renamed in the book.”

Culshaw is no stranger to Doctor Who; he appeared in the webcast Death Comes to Time and audio drama The Kingmaker. In the latter, he got to perform his Tom Baker impression “for real” (voicing tape recordings of the Fourth Doctor), although his nominal part was that of Earl Rivers.

In November 2013, Culshaw also appeared in the one-off 50th anniversary comedy homage The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot.

Terrence Dicks discusses Malcolm Hulke at “An Audience With…”

Terrence Dicks discusses Malcolm Hulke at “An Audience With…”

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Held at Manchester’s Fab Cafe on 19th April, Dicks will discuss the work of his friend, Hulke, who is perhaps most famous for creating the Silurians and Sea Devils, but also wrote stories like Colony in Space, Frontier in Space, and The Faceless Ones. The pair co-wrote The Ambassadors of Death (with several others), and the Second Doctor’s swansong, The War Games.

This event celebrates the release of Doctor Who and the Communist, a pamphlet by Michael Herbert, and will also include a screening of one of Mac’s episodes, chosen on the day by the audience! There will be an opportunity for signings and the chance to buy Red Flag Walks’ brand new publication on the day.

“It’s really just a continuation of the smaller, niche events we used to run at the Lass O’Gowrie. I think the larger conventions do a great job of providing a surface celebration of the programme, but sometimes you just want the opportunity to delve a little beneath the surface of the subject,” Lass Productions says. “By getting Terrance to talk about his close friend and writing partner, Mac Hulke, I think we’ll deliver a fitting tribute to the man who brought us not only the Time Lords, but also the Silurians, Sea Devils, Draconians and some of the best remembered Target novels of the Seventies.

Tickets cost just £4 and available in advance or on the door. There will be no charge to have items signed, but please don’t bring your entire Target collection along…

Make it Digital

Make it Digital

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Major initiative will give a coding device to every child in year 7 across the UK, 1 million devices in total; create up to 5,000 digital trainees; partner with around 50 organisations; and launch a season of dedicated BBC programmes and online activity.

The BBC today launched Make it Digital – a major UK-wide initiative to inspire a new generation to get creative with coding, programming and digital technology.

The UK is facing a significant skills shortage with 1.4m digital professionals needed over the next five years.[1] BBC Make it Digital will capture the spirit of the BBC Micro, which helped Britain get to grips with the first wave of personal computers in the 1980s, for the digital age. It will put digital creativity in the spotlight like never before, and help build the nation’s digital skills, through an ambitious range of new programmes, partnerships and projects. These include:

  • A major partnership to develop and give a ‘Micro Bit’ coding device to all year 7 children across the UK for free to inspire a future generation – 1 million devices in total
  • A season of programmes and online activity involving the BBC’s biggest and best-loved brands, including Doctor Who, EastEnders, Radio 1, The One Show, Children in Need, BBC Weather and many more, including a new BBC Two drama based on Grand Theft Auto and a documentary on Bletchley Park
  • The Make it Digital Traineeship to create life-changing opportunities for up to 5,000 young unemployed people, the largest traineeship of its kind
  • Partnerships with around 50 major organisations across the UK, including Apps for Good, ARM, Barclays, British Computing Society, BT, Code Club, DWP, Google, iDEA, Microsoft, Nesta, Samsung, Skills Funding Agency, Tech City UK, the Tech Partnership, TeenTech, Young Rewired State
  • A range of formal education activities and events, including Bitesize, Live Lessons and School Report.

Tony Hall, BBC Director-General, said: “This is exactly what the BBC is all about – bringing the industry together on an unprecedented scale and making a difference to millions. Just as we did with the BBC Micro in the 1980s, we want to inspire the digital visionaries of the future. Only the BBC can bring partners together to attempt something this ambitious, this important to Britain’s future on the world stage.

“BBC Make it Digital could help digital creativity become as familiar and fundamental as writing, and I’m truly excited by what Britain, and future great Britons, can achieve.”

BBC Make it Digital aims to get the nation truly excited about digital creativity. It will inspire audiences young and old through world-class TV, radio and online content, and focus on helping younger audiences discover their creative potential and take their first steps. Make it Digital will also amplify the great work already taking place across the UK through major initiatives with partners, and ensure young people can continue their learning journeys long after 2015.

Doctor Who’s most complained about episode revealed

Doctor Who’s most complained about episode revealed

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Last year’s Doctor Who episode ‘Dark Water’ received the most complaints to broadcast regulator Ofcom since the show was revived in 2005.

The opening part of Season 9’s two-part finale aired in November 2014 and featured Danny Pink (Samuel Anderson) being killed in a car accident. The story later revealed that the dead are able to feel their bodies being cremated.

The second most complained about episode was Peter Capaldi’s first full story, ‘Deep Breath’, which featured a hot air balloon made from human skin.

The next five most complained about episodes of Doctor Who over the past decade are ‘The End of Time: Part Two’, ‘The Unquiet Dead’, ‘The Caretaker’, ‘Flesh and Stone’ and ‘The Unicorn and the Wasp’.

Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat has hinted that Peter Capaldi’s Doctor will have evolved in the new season.

Season 9 began filming in Cardiff in January and will air on BBC One this autumn.

Doctor Who: The Well Mannered War: Trailer

Doctor Who: The Well Mannered War: Trailer

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Ahead of May’s release of the next Fourth Doctor novel adaptations, the trailer’s been released for Doctor Who – The Well-Mannered War…

In May we release our next collected set of Doctor Who novel adaptations with new versions of Gareth Roberts’ Doctor Who – The Well-Mannered War and Russell T Davies’ Doctor Who – Damaged Goods, available as separate two-disc releases or as a luxury five-disc set edition which includes a further disc of extras. The trailer for The Well-Mannered War is online now:

The edges of space, the far distant future, an era even the Time Lords are not supposed to visit.

Laid claim to by disputing factions of humans and Chelonians, the planet Barclow has become the catalyst for an unusual war. In two hundred years of hostilities not a shot has been fired, and the opposing combatants are the best of friends.

But when the Doctor, Romana and K9 arrive, they discover the peace is not going to last. Something dangerous is happening behind the scenes. An election looms. Bodies are piling up. Tensions are growing. Someone, somewhere is trying to make this well-mannered war very angry indeed.

Only the Time-travellers can save the day. But that might be their biggest mistake.

Based on the original 1997 Missing Adventures novel by Doctor Who writer Gareth Roberts.

Doctor Who – The Well-Mannered War, Doctor Who – Damaged Goods and Doctor Who – Novel Adaptations Volume 2 are released in May on CD or Download and can be pre-ordered today.

The most recent releases to date in the Doctor Who – Novel Adaptations range were Doctor Who – The Romance of Crime and Doctor Who – The English Way of Death, which are also available individually or also in a luxury collection with an additional extras disc.

The next Fourth Doctor story starring Tom Baker is Doctor Who – The Fourth Doctor Adventures: Requiem for the Rocket Men, which is out later this week!