The Gallifreyan Newsroom is thrilled to report that Doctor Who has received great praise in the BBC’s Annual Review, part of which we present below.  The Gallifreyan Newsroom would like to add our congratulations and thanks to all of the Doctor Who production team who are producing a series that is word-class and the pride of the BBC.

Tony Hall Wrote….

I am pleased to report on a year of positive progress at BBC Worldwide. Over the 12 months, and against a backdrop of market transformation that presented some challenges, the company took significant strides both to bring its strategy to life and to re-shape its business for the future. These moves – investing in premium content, amplifying the BBC brand overseas, and transforming digitally – will underpin profit and shareholder returns in the years ahead, and come at a time when the BBC is more determined than ever to ensure we extract the maximum sustainable future contribution from all our commercial subsidiaries.
BBC Worldwide delivered a very respectable financial performance. As set out elsewhere in this Annual Review, reported numbers are complicated by a number of factors, principally the part-disposal of BBC AMERICA – a partnership with AMC Networks (AMCN), which will be visible on UK screens through co-developed programmes, as well as securing the future of our independent channel in the world’s largest media market. Overall, results were in line with the Board’s expectations and represent a good outcome.

Most importantly, 2014/15 saw a step-change in financial flows to BBC Worldwide’s parent. BBC Worldwide invested £94.4m in BBC commissions (2013/14: £88.9m) from both BBC Production and from UK independents. And at £226.5m (2013/14: £173.8m), shareholder returns were up by almost one-third, equivalent to 12.6% of total BBC Television content spend, up from 10.1% the previous year.

Vitally, as a result of this financial contribution, audiences in the UK were able to enjoy investment in programmes at a higher level than the licence fee alone can provide. Among these enhanced shows was Doctor Who, seen in the UK by an average consolidated audience of 7.4m, airing in over 70 other countries, and achieving record ratings on BBC AMERICA and Space channel in Canada. Meanwhile Life Story, from the BBC Natural History Unit – which was over 70% funded through commercial investment via BBC Worldwide – was seen by a domestic consolidated audience of 6.5m, with rights to broadcast the series acquired by international broadcasters for 151 territories.

However, BBC Worldwide is not just significant for the financial contribution it makes to the Corporation. In ‘bringing the UK to the world’ – one of our public purposes – it provides a route to market for UK programme makers through its sales force, on BBC branded channels internationally, and via the successful UKTV channels in the UK, part-owned by BBC Worldwide. In total, its indie payments, covering all commissions, rights acquisitions and royalties, remained strong at £113.1m (2013/14: £116.4m). BBC Worldwide champions the cause of UK content and culture both in the UK and outside. And research demonstrates that business leaders who consume the BBC have increased propensity to trade with UK firms, suggesting economic dividends, beyond television, for the UK as a whole.

We believe BBC Worldwide is the most successful commercial subsidiary of any Public Service Broadcaster in the world. Although commercial returns are a small part of the BBC’s funding mix, we are nonetheless determined to maximise their impact. Therefore, looking ahead to the next phase of the BBC’s development, and a new Charter period, it is the Board’s aim to sustain annual financial returns at around this new level, even without the one-off benefit of BBC AMERICA proceeds. This will not be easy, but it is important that we utilise all the BBC’s financial levers to their very maximum, and BBC Worldwide has ambitious business plans to support this. We are therefore looking to BBC Worldwide to generate around £1bn in returns for the Corporation in the five years starting from 2014/15 – an increase of almost one quarter on the previous half-decade.

In support of that aim, the year ahead will see further momentum from BBC Worldwide’s strategy. A continued focus on premium content will include War and Peace, natural history landmark The Hunt, and the return of Sherlock on the slate. Global BBC brands will remain at the heart of BBC Worldwide, with results coming through from the three new international channel feeds launched in 2014/15, a further four since year end, and others to follow. As well as continued exploitation of world-class programme brands from Dancing with the Stars to Doctor Who. And digital developments will take the form of BBC Store, enabling UK customers to buy and keep the BBC programmes they love, as well as plans for further digital BBC services in selected markets outside the UK.

Finally, I would like to acknowledge BBC Worldwide’s staff, in the UK and outside, its many partners and clients around the world, and all those who have played a role in helping BBC Worldwide to support the BBC in the year.

Tony Hall
Chairman, BBC Worldwide and Director-General, BBC

News Source: BBC

News has reach The Gallifreyan Newsroom that Michael Hawkins – who played General Williams in the 1972 Doctor Who adventure Frontier In Space – died late last year.  Mr Hawkins was also interviewed about his role on the Making Of… documentary on the Dalek War DVD box set.

A handsome actor with a refined air about him, he was more versatile than the parts he usually got suggested – note his turn as Beavis, the beleaguered subject of cruel mental conditioning in the Doomwatch episode Hair Trigger (1972). He had previously appeared in the very first episode of that series, The Plastic Eaters (1970), and his other genre roles included an aristocrat in the early scenes of Hammer’s Hound Of the Baskervilles (1959), The Avengers (3 roles from 1961), Out Of This World (1962), as a regular in R3 (1965), Thirteen Against Fate (1966), The Baron (1967), Man In A Suitcase (1968), and another military type in Survivors (1977).

He enjoyed a busy time of it on television all through the 60s and 70s in everything from Z-Cars to George And Mildred, via I,Claudius and Crown Court, with decent stints in Brett (1971), season one of The Brothers (1972), The Scobie Man (1972), King Cinder (1977) and The Devil’s Crown (1978) propping up a hefty roster of one-off guest stints.

News Source: Toby Hadoke

Peter Capaldi and his current companion both believe the Time Lord could change gender in the future

This year’s San Diego Comic Con seems determined to address geek culture’s sometimes problematic relationship with women, with the brilliantly named ‘Women Who Kick Ass’ panel.

Despite appearing on the same intimidating bill as Brienne of Tarth (Gwendoline Christie from Game of Thrones) and actual honest-to-God Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), Doctor Who’s Jenna Coleman held her own in the ass-kicking stakes, weighing into one of the most contentious issues in the fandom: whether the Time Lord could one day be played by a woman.

“I think it’s absolutely possible. There’s absolutely no reason why not,” she told an appreciative crowd.
Nevertheless, she’s not campaigning for the top job just yet: “I think Peter Capaldi is doing the most wonderful job so there’s not currently a vacancy.”

As for the man himself, Capaldi also seemed receptive to a female replacement. “I would expect so at some point, I think why not? Absolutely,” he told PA. “I would expect it at any moment. If you turn around right now I might suddenly transform.”
“You know, in the real world of television it’s not my choice,” he went on. “I love being Doctor Who, I love playing this part and working with Michelle Jenna and Steven and the whole team.”

Nevertheless, Michelle Gomez –who recently demonstrated gender-changing regeneration by playing Missy, the first female version of the Master– stuck up for the current regime: “Can I just say on the Doctor’s behalf that we have right now, it’s hard for any of us to see past this one, and he’s all man.”

News Source: Radio Times

We’re trying to make a Doctor Who that is of lasting value,” says the showrunner, “so we will do only what is best for the TV series”

Doctor Who has been on the big screen before – fans lucky enough to watch the 50th anniversary in the cinema won’t soon forget it – but the idea of a full blown Doctor Who movie has never gone away.

The recent Sony leaks revealed BBC Worldwide – the corporation’s commercial arm – were in discussions to produce a movie separate from the TV series. Before that, the series was only successfully rebooted in 2005 after similar plans were dropped.

Speaking to IGN at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, showrunner Steven Moffat gave the usual provisos (“I really don’t know, it’s up to the BBC. It’s a BBC show, they wholly own it”) before laying out the main issues.

“If it’s the same Doctor, what do we do, take all that time off? Do you really want one big movie instead of a whole series? Because that’s the arithmetic. If it’s a different Doctor, suddenly you’re trying to promote two Doctors at the same time, and how does that work? You don’t have one James Bond in the movies and one James Bond on a TV series. So I think there’s problems with it.

“That circle might be squareable, someone might be able to come up with the answer to that. And if they can, brilliant.”

Nevertheless, Moffat was quick to defend the corporations against accusations of money grubbing, saying “mainly what I think is nobody at all, including the BBC, is just trying to make a fast buck out of Doctor Who. We’re trying to make a Doctor Who that is of lasting value. So we will do only what is best for the TV series.”

News Source: Radio Times

The Gallifreyan Newsroom are delighted to confirm to our readers that Michelle Gomez and Ingrid Oliver have been added to the line-up for the official Doctor Who Festival, 13-15 November 2015 at London ExCeL!

Find out all the backstage secrets as you join Michelle and Ingrid in one of our panel-led sessions, available to all Doctor Who Festival ticket holders.

Not to be missed!

News Source: BBC

It’s an all-new era for the Doctor Who Main Range, with the perfect jumping-on point for new listeners!

The Doctor Who Main Range brings you a new full-cast adventure every month, starring one of the original actors to play the Doctor on television! Featuring fantastic, new creations or the best-loved monsters from the past of the series, these new stories are perfect for Doctor Who fans young and old.

Our 201st release, Doctor Who: We Are the Daleks, is the perfect jumping-on point for new listeners interested in checking out the range. Starring Sylvester McCoyas the Seventh Doctor and Bonnie Langford as Mel, his computer programming companion, this brand new adventures features the return of the Daleks, who have their ‘bubbling lump of hate’ minds set on a new campaign to conquer the universe!

The year is 1987, and Britain is divided. In Bradford, strikers are picketing and clashing with the police. In the City of London, stockbrokers are drinking champagne and politicians are courting the super-rich. The mysterious media mogul Alek Zenos, head of the Zenos Corporation, is offering Britain an economic miracle. His partners wish to invest – and their terms are too good to refuse.

While the Doctor investigates Warfleet, a new computer game craze that is sweeping the nation, Mel goes undercover to find out the truth about Zenos’s partners.

The Daleks have a new paradigm. They intend to conquer the universe using economic power. The power of the free market!

Written by Jonathan Morris, this brand new double-disc release gives listeners the perfect entry point into the world of Big Finish – with plenty of surprises for long-term fans! Buy your copy today – and don’t forget, all Big Finish CD orders through our website also come with a complimentary digital download!

Join us in August, when the Doctor and Mel will continue their journeys in Doctor Who: The Warehouse.

You can also subscribe to the range today, in either six or twelve month periods. Subscribers receive a discounted rate against ordering individually, plus plenty of special extras, including PDF scripts and exclusive Short Trip audiobooks. See here for more information!

News Source: Big Finish

The Gallifreyan Newsroom is proud to present everything we know so far about the forthcoming season of Doctor Who – Buckle up and off we go…

The new series of Doctor Who begins Saturday, 19 September and sees the return of the Doctor (Peter Capaldi) and Clara (Jenna Coleman). The 12 episode run contains a number of two-parters and is executive produced by showrunner Steven Moffat and Brian Minchin.

Check out the new trailer and unlock its secrets…

These new stories see the Doctor and Clara having the best time as they continue their travels. As Peter Capaldi commented, ‘They’ve suddenly realised that they are the most fortunate people in all of time and space and are hell-bent on adventure.’ As for the Doctor, Peter revealed, ‘He’s in pursuit of joy and grabbing every thrill that he can along the way. But I sense him running from something, that even he does not yet understand…’

Episodes 1 and 2: The Magician’s Apprentice / The Witch’s Familiar

Written by Steven Moffat

Directed by Hettie Macdonald

Produced by Peter Bennett

Guest cast includes Michelle Gomez as Missy, Jemma Redgrave as Kate, Kelly Hunter, Clare Higgins and Jaye Griffiths.

Episodes 3 and 4: Titles TBC

Written by Toby Whithouse Directed by Daniel O’Hara Produced by Derek Ritchie Guest cast includes Paul Kaye, Morven Christie, Arsher Ali, Colin McFarlane, Sophie Stone, Zaqi Ismail, Steven Robertson and Neil Fingleton.

Toby Whithouse has written some of the show’s most memorable episodes including School Reunion, The Vampires of Venice and The God Complex but his first two-parter may be his most chilling story to date. Steven Moffat called it ‘brilliantly creepy… one of our scariest adventures yet!’

Paul Kaye (Game of Thrones) makes his Doctor Who debut and enthused, ‘As a kid of the 1970s, the two shows you always watched were Top of the Pops and Doctor Who, they were unmissable… I got to present TOTP back in the mid ’90s and landing this role in Doctor Who completes the dream double.’

Filming on the adventure began in early January, 2015 and it was the first of the new series to be shot.

Episode 5: The Girl Who Died

Written by Jamie Mathieson and Steven Moffat
Directed by Ed Bazalgette
Produced by Derek Ritchie
Guest cast includes Maisie Williams.

Maisie Williams is best-known for playing Arya Stark in Game of Thrones and is a three-time Screen Actors Guild Awards nominee. On her first day on set she told us, ‘I’m so excited to be working on Doctor Who as it’s such a big and important part of British culture.’ But who is she playing in Doctor Who?

Steven Moffat remained tight-lipped. ‘It’s not possible to say too much about who or what she’s playing, but she is going to challenge the Doctor in very unexpected ways.’ He added, ‘This time he might just be out of his depth, and we know Maisie is going to give him exactly the right sort of hell.’

The episode is co-written by Steven Moffat and Jamie Mathieson, who previously penned Mummy on the Orient Express and Flatline. Along with episode 6 (see below) this formed the third filming block, meaning the fifth and sixth episodes were shot sequentially. It’s therefore uncertain whether the monsters glimpsed above and immediately below will appear in The Girl Who Died, the following adventure or both!

Episode 6: The Woman Who Lived

Written by Catherine Tregenna
Directed by Ed Bazalgette
Produced by Derek Ritchie
Guest cast includes Rufus Hound as Sam Swift.

Although we know very little about Sam Swift, we’re hoping that Rufus didn’t shave off this magnificent beard when it came to the shoot! He was delighted to appear in the show, admitting he was ‘pretty ruddy happy’ moments after the read-through for his episode.

It’s Catherine Tregenna’s first script for Doctor Who but fans may remember her four episodes of Torchwood – Out of Time, Captain Jack Harkness, Meat and Adam.

Episodes 7 and 8: Titles TBC

Written by Peter Harness
Directed by Daniel Nettheim
Produced by Peter Bennett
Guest cast includes Jemma Redgrave, Ingrid Oliver, Jaye Griffiths, Rebecca Front, Cleopatra Dickens, Sasha Dickens, Abhishek Singh, Todd Kramer, Jill Winternitz, Nicholas Asbury, Jack Parker, Aidan Cook… and the Zygons!

The BAFTA winning Rebecca Front also joins the guest cast for the adventure and when the news broke about her involvement she tweeted, ‘Work with Peter Capaldi again? In Doctor Who? Hell yeah…’
And finally, last seen in The Day of the Doctor, the Zygons will be crossing the Time Lord’s path again in this two-parter which is written by Peter Harness (Kill the Moon).

Episode 9: Everything TBC
Basically it’s not even started filming yet so there’s nothing to see here! Still shrouded in mystery – watch this space!
Episode 10: Title TBC
Written by Sarah Dollard
Directed by Justin Molotnikov
Produced by Nikki Wilson
Guest cast includes Joivan Wade as Rigsy.
The episode sees the return of Joivan Wade as Rigsy, the young graffiti artist who helped save the world in Flatline. After finishing filming for the episode, Joivan tweeted, ‘And that’s a Wrap! On @bbcdoctorwho episode 10! I’ve had an amazing time! Can’t wait for the series!’

The episode is written by Sarah Dollard who admitted, ‘Getting to play in the Doctor Who toy box is a dream come true. It’s a total honour to contribute to a show that has brought me such joy as a fan. However, writing for Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman has presented a serious problem: some days I’ve been too excited to actually sit down and type!’

Episodes 11 and 12: Titles TBC

Written by Steven Moffat
Directed by Rachel Talalay
Produced by Peter Bennett

Details for the big finale are sparse at the moment and although writer Steven Moffat has promised us a very special cliff-hanger for episode 11, he wouldn’t be drawn on any plot points.
We know that Rachel Talalay, who helmed last year’s Dark Water/Death in Heaven, is back in the director’s chair. ‘These episodes are completely different to what I did last year…’ she told us. ‘Episode 11 is one of the most complicated and different episodes I’ve ever done… It just has my head in spaghetti!’

So, the new series is edging closer and it promises to be extraordinary. ‘There is an epic sweep to this season and I think the villains and monsters reflect that,’ Peter Capaldi observed. ‘Great new ones, brilliant old ones, and some very scary creatures looming in stories with real emotional ambition.’
Series 9 will be a hell of a journey… The Doctor and Clara are out for adventure in episodes mixing drama, humour, excitement and enchantment. Frankly, we can’t wait for The Magician’s Apprentice to cast its spell.

News Source: BBC

“BORN TO SAVE THE UNIVERSE”

Exploding with epic and thrilling adventures, Doctor Who returns to BBC One on Saturday 19 September in the ninth series of the hit show.

The Doctor (Peter Capaldi) is joined by Clara Oswald (Jenna Coleman) for time travel on a cinematic scale. Having the time of their lives, the pair meet new and old monsters, and go on a journey that takes them to deadly alien planets, creepy underwater bases, Viking villages, a global Zygon uprising, and leads them through hidden alien dens, to the very end of time itself.

Meeting monsters old and new, the Doctor will come face to face with Missy (played by Michelle Gomez), a city of Daleks, deadly mercenaries called the Mire, terrifying ghosts and far more.

Having filmed in Cardiff since January, Peter Capaldi says: “Soaring through all of time and space, series nine sees the Doctor throw himself into life with a new hunger for adventure. The cosmos is there for the taking, thrilling, epic and enticing, and his to play in. But he’s almost reckless in his abandon. It’s almost like he’s running from something, something that if it ever catches him will turn his life upside down.”

Previously announced and taking up a guest role in the new series will be young new talent Maisie Williams, having already achieved global success for her role as Arya Stark in the fantasy drama series Game Of Thrones. Michelle Gomez (Missy) returns to plague the Doctor and Clara in the series opener, and UNIT are back with Jemma Redgrave and Ingrid Oliver (Osgood) returning to series nine following their popular entrance in series eight. Also confirmed as guest cast in the series are Rebecca Front, Rufus Hound, Paul Kaye, Joivan Wade and Sophie Stone.

The show’s ninth series has been written by lead writer Steven Moffat, Toby Whithouse, Jamie Mathieson, Peter Harness, Mark Gatiss, and new writers to Doctor Who – Sarah Dollard and Catherine Tregenna; directed by Hettie Macdonald, Daniel O’Hara, Ed Bazalgette, Daniel Nettheim, Justin Molotnikov, Rachel Talalay; and produced by Tracie Simpson, Derek Ritchie, Nikki Wilson and Peter Bennett.

The star-studded cast continue to shoot in Roath Lock studios, Cardiff Bay, having previously filmed in Tenerife, and South Wales locations Caerwent, Caerphilly Castle, Cardiff Castle, St Athans and Margam Park.

Doctor Who has had a decade of success and is one BBC One’s most highly regarded shows. The much-loved brand is already a phenomenon delivering on a global scale, with the last series’ (series 8) consolidated average at 7.4 million.

Doctor Who is a BBC Cymru Wales production for BBC One and will be back on air this September.

For the new series, designer Michael Pickwoad has introduced brand-new roundels to the inside of TARDIS.

Other guest cast include:

Colin McFarlane, Morven Christie, Arsher Ali, Zaqi Ismail, Steven Robertson, Tom Stourton, Ariyon Bakare, Simon Lipkin, Ian Conningham, Murray McArthur, Barnaby Kay, John Voce, Struan Rodger, Jaye Griffiths, Cleopatra Dickens, Sasha Dickens, Abhishek Singh, Todd Kramer, Jill Winternitz, Nicholas Asbury, Jack Parker, Aidan Cook, Daniel Hoffmann-Gill, Jami Reid-Quarrell, Aaron Neil, India Ria Amarteifio, Joey Price, Dasharn Anderson, Harki Bhambra, Demi Papaminas, Simon Lipkin, Ian Conningham, Murray McArthur, Barnaby Kay, John Voce, Struan Rodger, Ariyon Bakare, Naomi Ackie, Simon Manyonda, Simon Paisley Day, Letitia Wright, Robin Soans, Angela Clerkin, Caroline Boulton, Jenny Lee.
THE COUNTDOWN HAS BEGUN!!

News Source: BBC