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Month: April 2015

Doctor Who: Novel Adaptations Early Release

Doctor Who: Novel Adaptations Early Release

Big Finish are delighted to announce that the release date of May’s three Doctor Who novel adaptations titles has been brought forward – to Monday!

On Monday 13th April, Big Finish release three very special titles: Doctor Who – The Novel Adaptations Volume 2Doctor Who – The Well-Mannered War, and Doctor Who – Damaged Goods. Originally scheduled as May releases, they’ve been brought forward exclusively through the Big Finish site, with other retailers keeping the May date. People worrying about their budgets should be reassured that the pre-order price will be kept to the end of May.

Doctor Who – The Well-Mannered War is our fourth adaptation of the novels of Doctor Who writer Gareth Roberts, adapted by John Dorney, starring Tom Baker, Lalla Ward, and John Leeson as the Fourth Doctor, Romana and K9:

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.

Doctor Who – Damaged Goods is Jonathan Morris’ adaptation of a novel by Russell T Davies, the writer and producer who brought Doctor Who back to hugely popular televisual life in 2005. It stars Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor, accompanied this time by Roz Forrester (Yasmin Bannerman) and Chris Cwej (Travis Oliver):

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.

Doctor Who – The Novel Adaptations Volume 2 is a limited edition, five-disc release (also available as a download) bringing together the content of Doctor Who – The Well-Mannered WarDoctor Who – Damaged Goods, and not only a fifth disc of interviews about the making of these tales, but for anyone buying through the Big Finish site, there’s an exclusive download version of the fifth disc, featuring an additional 40 minutes of conversations with Russell T Davies and others.

For an early listen to both interviewees, and the Seventh Doctor in action, check out the new podcast here.

Doctor Who: The Secret History Trailer

Doctor Who: The Secret History Trailer

In June, Big Finish will release Doctor Who – The Secret History, the two hundredth release in their main Doctor Who range. Today we’re delighted to put the trailer live…

In June, the Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison) finds himself back in history – not only that of Earth, but of his own with Vicki (Maureen O’Brien) and Steven (Peter Purves) – in Eddie Robson’s Doctor Who – The Secret History:

The TARDIS brings the Doctor, Steven and Vicki to the Italian city of Ravenna in the year 540 – besieged by the army of the celebrated Byzantine general Belisarius. Caught up in the fighting, Steven ends up on a boat bound for Constantinople, the heart of the Roman Empire.

Rescuing Steven, however, is the least of the Doctor’s problems – because he shouldn’t be mixed up in this particular adventure at all. Someone has sabotaged his own personal timeline, putting him in the place of his First incarnation… but who, and why? The truth is about to be revealed – but at what cost to all of the Doctors, and to the whole future history of the planet Earth?

From today the trailer for Doctor Who – The Secret History can be heard on the story’s page, along with more details and the opportunity to pre-order on either CD or Download.

The three “Locum Doctors” stories celebrating our 200th main range release – featuring the Doctor pitched into the lives of his earlier selves – start with Doctor Who – The Defectors, and continue with Doctor Who – Last of the Cybermen in May.

Subscriptions can be easily bought for the main range Doctor Who stories, not only offering a significant saving, but also making available downloadable PDF scripts, extended extras, and four newly-commissioned Doctor Who – Subscriber Short Trips stories a year.

Doctor Who: Monthly Short Trips: The Ghost Trap

Doctor Who: Monthly Short Trips: The Ghost Trap

The latest release in our Download range of Doctor Who short stories is out today: Doctor Who – The Ghost Trap…

It’s Louise Jameson in the recording booth this month to bring Nick Wallace’s story Doctor Who – Monthly Short Trips: The Ghost Trap to life:

Responding to a salvage team’s distress call, the Doctor and Leela arrive on a crippled space ship. Its owners, the Dihmokk, are a secretive race of space mariners whose navigation skills make them the envy of the galaxy. The salvage team are long dead, but their last log entries speak of a spectre stalking the ship’s halls, picking them off one by one. When the pair become separated, Leela must fight for survival whilst the Doctor seeks to understand the nature of the ghost…

Doctor Who – Monthly Short Trips – The Ghost Trap is available to Download from today. The entire Doctor Who – Monthly Short Trips range can be Subscribed to for twelve releases at a considerable saving, appearing in your account as soon as each is released!

Doctor Who: Surburan Hell Cover

Doctor Who: Surburan Hell Cover

The cover for May’s Fourth Doctor adventure – Doctor Who – Suburban Hell – is now online…

The Anthony Lamb-designed cover for Doctor Who – The Fourth Doctor Adventures: Suburban Hell has been revealed on the Big Finish website:

Somewhere in a suburb of North London, there’s a crisis. More than a crisis, a positive disaster: Belinda and Ralph are expecting four for supper, and there’s no Marie Rose sauce for the Prawns Marie Rose. All in all, the evening couldn’t possibly get any worse…

Until the doorbell rings, bringing the Doctor and Leela to the dinner party. They’ve got a crisis, too – temporal ruckage has sent the TARDIS to another time zone entirely. Meaning they might have to endure a whole evening in Belinda’s company.

But the Doctor and Leela aren’t the only uninvited guests tonight. There’s a strange fog falling, out in the road. And in that fog: savage blue-skinned monsters, with dinner party plans of their own. Because it’s not Prawns Marie Rose on their menu – it’s people!

Doctor Who – The Fourth Doctor Adventures: Suburban Hell will be available in May, and can be pre-ordered on CD or Download via the link above. An intriguing new trailer was released last week and can be heard on the same page.

The Fourth Doctor’s adventures continue afterward with Doctor Who – The Fourth Doctor Adventures: The Cloisters of Terror in June. All six series of Doctor Who – The Fourth Doctor Adventures can be Subscribed to at a considerable saving, or people can get the most recent series Bundled up with popular Fourth Doctor Leela boxed set, Doctor Who – Philip Hinchcliffe Presents…

Bonnie Langford to join EastEnders cast

Bonnie Langford to join EastEnders cast

Bonnie Langford

Theatre actress and 70s child star Bonnie Langford is joining the cast of EastEnders, the BBC says.

She will take the role of Carmel Kazemi, Kush’s mother.

She will start filming her scenes this month and will make her first screen appearance in June.

Known for her role as Mel Bush, Doctor Who’s assistant as well as her stage roles in Chicago and Cats, Langford said: “I’m so thrilled and delighted to be part of EastEnders.”

She added: “I’m a great fan of the show and think the recent 30th anniversary was sensational and shows just how good British television can be. To be part of this family is an absolute privilege.”

 Dominic Treadwell-Collins, executive producer for EastEnders, described Langford as a “British institution” as well as an “old-school hard-graft actress gifted at both comedy and serious drama”.

He added: “Bonnie brings wit, pathos and a touch of class to Carmel Kazemi – a thoroughly modern Essex divorcee who isn’t quite ready to cut the apron strings firmly attached to her son Kush.

“Even if it means clashing spectacularly with an already prickly Shabnam.”

BBC to keep Doctor Who for at least FIVE more years?

BBC to keep Doctor Who for at least FIVE more years?

Doctor Who on set at BBC studio

According to the DAILY STAR, the BBC has put plans in place to keep the sci-fi show on air for another five years.

And they see no reason why it cannot continue beyond that date.

Writer Steven Moffat has revealed that when the Beeb brought the show back in 2005 with Christopher Eccleston, 51, and Billie Piper, 32, he never expected it to carry on for so long.

But in an interview he says: “I didn’t think it would last 10 years with BBC Worldwide trying to get me in a room to talk about their plan for the next five years.

“So it’s going to do a minimum of 15 years.”

Doctor Who was launched in 1963 and then axed in 1989 before being revived.

Bosses warn the show, currently starring Peter Capaldi, 56, and Jenna Coleman, 28, can only survive if they find the actors to play the Time Lord and writers who are real fans.

Moffat, 53, admits to Doctor Who Magazine: “It’s not easy to fi nd new Doctors.”

BBC drama chief Ben Stephenson adds: “As long as the people looking after it are passionate, and the BBC is passionate about it, there is no reason why it can’t do another 50 years.”

Doctor Who: The Fourth Doctor Adventures: Series 5

Doctor Who: The Fourth Doctor Adventures: Series 5

As revealed in this month’s Doctor Who Magazine, the titles and some further details for series five of Fourth Doctor Adventures have been announced…

The Fourth Doctor, Romana and K9 return in 2016 for a full season of Doctor Who audio adventures from Big Finish. The eight releases will see the return of some old foes and friends, and include a stellar line-up of guest stars.

The Wave of Destruction by Justin Richards kicks off the run, as the travellers become involved with strange occurrences on a pirate radio station in the 1960s. Karl Theobald (Primeval, Twenty Twelve) plays disc jockey Mark Lanchaster.

In February’s The Labyrinth of Buda Castle by Eddie Robson, the Doctor and Romana decide to holiday in another exotic European city, but find that death is stalking the local population. Kate Bracken (Misfits, Being Human) guest stars as supernatural investigator Celia Soames.

March’s The Paradox Planet and April’s The Legacy of Death, both by Jonathan Morris, take us to the world of Aoris, where two different time zones have declared war on each other. And the Doctor and Romana are trapped on different sides… Simon Rouse (Doctor Who: Kinda) plays Drang, Tom Chadbon (Doctor Who: The City of Death, Del Grant in Blake’s 7) plays scientist Embery while Emma Campbell-Jones (Doctor Who: The Wedding of River Song and The Night of the Doctor) is his assistant Shola.

‘How brilliant to have Tom Chadbon back with his City of Death cast mates!’ says producer David Richardson. ‘And while it wasn’t a return for the detective Duggan, it was still a joy to watch them sitting together on the sofa, fondly reminiscing about their times filming in Paris back in 1979.’

The Gallery of Ghouls by Alan Barnes, released in May, finds the Doctor and Romana investigating a waxworks exhibition in Brighton in 1833. Celia Imrie (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Doctor Who: The Bells of St John) plays Madame Tissot, while Nickolas Grace (Robin of Sherwood, Brideshead Revisited) is the waxworks manager Goole.

The cockney Time Lord Drax, whose only TV appearance was The Armageddon Factor in 1979, makes his comeback in June’s The Trouble With Drax by John Dorney. Ray Brooks (Big Deal, Mr Benn, Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 AD) takes on the role originally portrayed by Barry Jackson, while the cast also includes John Challis (Doctor Who: The Seeds of Doom, Only Fools and Horses, The Green Green Grass, and recently interviewed for the free Big Finish podcast Toby Hadoke’s Who’s Round #111) and Hugh Fraser (Agatha Christie’s Poirot).

‘We devised The Trouble With Drax for Barry,’ says producer David Richardson, ‘but sadly he passed away before the script was even completed. We searched hard for an actor to continue his legacy, and Ray Brooks was the ideal choice – so charming, so naughty… I think people will love the new incarnation of Drax when they hear him.’

The season ends on an epic story spread over two releases – The Pursuit of History in July, and Casualties of Time in August, both by Nicholas Briggs. David Warner makes his comeback as the mysterious Cuthbert, and his former assistant Mr Dorrick (Toby Hadoke) is back too. Both characters appeared in four releases during the second season of The Fourth Doctor Adventures.

‘I’d always intended to continue the story of Cuthbert and Dorrick and the mysterious Conglomerate,’ says Nick, ‘but when we lost dear Mary Tamm all plans for that storyline were put aside. However, with Lalla signing up to these stories I decided to return to some of my original ideas, melded them with some new thoughts, and the result is the huge season finale. It’s quite a ride!’

The guest cast also includes David Troughton (Doctor Who: Midnight and The Curse of Peladon) as the Black Guardian.

‘Could it be that the past is finally catching up with the Doctor and Romana?’ teases Nick…

The fifth series of Doctor Who – The Fourth Doctor Adventures can be Subscribed to today on CD or Download at a price that saves considerably on buying the stories individually. The next story in this range is Doctor Who – Death Match which comes out later in the month.

Easter treats at the Doctor Who Experience

Easter treats at the Doctor Who Experience

The Doctor Who Experience celebrates the Easter holiday with a return of the Official Doctor Who Filming Locations Tour, a carefully curated walking tour of Cardiff Bay hosted by the Doctor Who Experience. The official tour will return on 3rd April 2015.

Cardiff is the home of Doctor Who and the walking tours enable Doctor Who fans an amazing opportunity to get closer to the iconic show.

The 75 minute tour starts at the Doctor Who Experience – itself a filming location – and our expert guides will take you on a journey back through time where you will get to step foot into more than 40 filming locations. During the tour visitors will be able to see how different parts of Cardiff Bay were used to double for different cities, planets and universes featured in the episodes including those from the latest series featuring Peter Capaldi.

Also, at Easter, the Doctor Who Experience welcomes some new props and costumes from Series Eight which will join earlier Series Eight popular installations already on display which include the Half-face man from Deep Breath as well as pieces from Robot of Sherwood and the Skovok Blitzer from The Caretaker.

Visitors will need to keep an eye out though as some of our monsters will be coming alive on Friday 3rd, Saturday 4th, Sunday 5th and Monday 6th April. So, if you are looking for a monster-day out over Easter, look no further than the Doctor Who Experience.

To book please visit www.doctorwhoexperience.com

BBC Worldwide partners with BitTorrent

BBC Worldwide partners with BitTorrent

BBC Worldwide partners with BitTorrent to celebrate

10 years of new Doctor Who

BBC Worldwide today announces a new collaboration with content distribution service BitTorrent to mark a decade of new Doctor Who.

To celebrate ten years since the series reboot, BitTorrent will be offering a ten story box set featuring specially selected highlights from the modern era of Doctor Who for $12 globally.  The package will also include exclusive video content from incumbent Doctor Peter Capaldi who gives his insight into some of his favourite Doctor Who episodes as well as Doctor Who: Earth Conquest – the documentary about the 2014 global tour which saw Capaldi and companion Jenna Coleman travel the world to meet their fans.

Julia Kenyon, Director of Drama Brands, BBC Worldwide comments: “Ten years ago, the Doctor’s journey began anew with Russell T Davies and “Rose”. The Time Lord continues to evolve and refresh and this innovative deal with BitTorrent allows us to directly reach a huge number of consumers and engage with fans on a global and fast-growing digital platform. Music content has seen tremendous success through BitTorrent Bundles and this deal is the first of its kind for British TV content”

Matt Mason, Chief Content Officer at BitTorrent adds: “For over fifty years, Doctor Who has challenged the way we see time, space, and TV — the way we tell stories. A series like this should be part of a versatile platform; one capable of reaching and engaging fans around the world. BitTorrent Bundle is that platform. It’s fantastic that BBC Worldwide is the media organization forward-thinking enough to make a release like this possible. This is an exciting way for fans to celebrate ten years of New Who and we are honoured to welcome the Doctor to BitTorrent.”

The ten story box set will be available globally to stream or download on BitTorrent Bundle here complete with Peter Capaldi’s breakdown of some of his favourite Doctor Who moments.

The $12 Download / Stream Package includes

Series 1: Rose

Series 1: The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances

Series 2: The Girl in the Fireplace

Series 3: Blink

Series 4: Special – The End of Time (Parts 1 & 2)

Series 5: The Vampires of Venice

Series 6: The Doctor’s Wife

Series 7: The Rings of Akhaten

50th Anniversary special: The Day of the Doctor

Series 8: Listen

Myth Makers: Re-issues and NEW title

Myth Makers: Re-issues and NEW title

Our friends at Reeltime Pictures have today confirmed the following news regarding MYTH MAKERS re-issues and a brand new title: ON SALE FROM 1ST APRIL 2015
RTP0134 Myth Makers 002 John Leeson
RTP0160 Myth Makers 015 Jon Pertwee
RTP0110 Myth Makers 029 Barry Letts & Terrance Dicks Vol. 2
RTP0219 Myth Makers 058 Raymond E Feist
RTP0287 Myth Makers 070 Gareth Thomas
RTP0397 Myth Makers 106 Flight Through Eternity  The Sixties Vol. 2
RTP0456 Who on Earth is Tom Baker?
RTP0443 The PanoptiCon Tapes Vol. 2
RTP0305 Mindgame Trilogy
RTP0457 Myth Makers 117 Dominic Glynn