Jodie Whittaker is the first celebrity revealed to be taking part in the next series of #WhoDoYouThinkYouAre on BBC One. Jodie will explore the Yorkshire roots of her family. The show will air this Summer.
https://twitter.com/TVZone_/status/1239480273156411393
Bristol Hippodrome has announced John Barrowman will headline this year’s pantomime at the theatre.
The popular actor, singer, presenter, author, judge and all-round showman will perform in this year’s family panto as the Wicked Queen in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
In November 2019 Barrowman had to cancel his scheduled Christmas show at the venue after being rushed to hospital with a neck injury, so fans will be keen to see him this time around.
On television, the 53-year-old has presented and appeared on numerous programmes and was most recently a contestant on the 18th series of I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!
Having also appeared in the first ever series of ITV’s Dancing on Ice, he recently returned to the rink as a judge alongside Jayne Torvill, Christopher Dean and Ashley Banjo.
The star of numerous musicals, both in the West End and on Broadway, Barrowman has appeared in legendary productions including Sunset Boulevard, The Phantom of the Opera, Miss Saigon, Beauty and the Beast, Chicago and The Fix, for which he was nominated for a Lawrence Olivier Award for his performance.
As an actor he is best-known for his iconic role as Captain Jack Harkness in Doctor Who for the BBC, a role that proved so popular he became the leading role in its spin-off series, Torchwood, which made John a household name.
He has also starred in Desperate Housewives and as Malcolm Merlyn in the acclaimed US television shows Arrow, Flash and Legends of Tomorrow, based on the DC Comic. He also appears in the feature films De-Lovely, The Producers and Zero Dark Thirty.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs runs at Bristol Hippodrome from December 5th 2020 until January 3rd 2021.
BBC Studios has released a free set of Doctor Who items for game creation platform, Roblox.
A new set of virtual Doctor Who items for Roblox are free to download until March 26, 2020.
Roblox avatars can be personalised with The Pterrible Pting creature, as seen in the 2018 episode The Tsuranga Conundrum, and a nifty, bigger-on-the-inside, TARDIS backpack.
Avatar bundles of the tenth and thirteenth Doctors – as played by Jodie Whittaker and David Tennant – are also available. Each bundle includes a head, torso, hair, arms, legs, and a variety of animations.
Speaking about the new Doctor Who items, Christina Wootton, VP of Brand Partnerships at Roblox, says:
“On Roblox your online identity is a powerful tool that helps our community express who they are and who they want to become. We are delighted to partner with Doctor Who, whose diverse set of characters inspire the freedom and creativity that help our community define who they are in the real world as much as the virtual world.”
BBC Studios’ head of marketing, Sarah Bold, adds:
“The Doctor Who fan community is renowned for creativity, making it a joy to take the TARDIS to Roblox where millions of fans will be able to play and create with these new items.”
Players can download the Doctor Who range by heading over to the Roblox store.
March sees the release of a range of brand-new audio adventures from Big Finish. Here’s a roundup of what’s available to buy on CD and download this month.
Donna Noble: saving the world at 100 words per minute!
Donna Noble has come home. After the trauma of the Library, Donna wants a break, to see old friends and family, to remind herself of normality. But when she starts investigating strange abductions, she’s dragged into a whole new universe of trouble…
Order Donna Noble – Kidnapped! from Big Finish
The First Doctor returns to Skaro.
Two new adventures for the Doctor, Susan, Barbara and Ian, one which sends them to the past, and one that propels them back to the future. David Bradley, Jemma Powell, Jamie Glover and Claudia Grant return as the original, yet slightly different, TARDIS team, and this time they’ll be facing the Doctor’s greatest foe – the Daleks!
Order The First Doctor Adventures Volume 04 from Big Finish
Captain Jack, Jackie Tyler and River Song!
River Song and Captain Jack Harkness cross paths for the first time in their zig-zagging timelines. Will the universe ever be the same again? Alex Kingston co-stars along with Camille Coduri, also returning as Jackie Tyler, with John Barrowman playing the immortal Captain Jack Harkness.
Order The Lives of Captain Jack Volume 03 from Big Finish
A classic Bernice Summerfield novel is now an audiobook.
Don’t ever annoy the Fifth Axis. They might throw you into the Glass Prison on Deirbhile and throw away the key. Once you’re inside, there’s nowhere to hide. You’re going to be watched for the rest of your life. Even if you’re a professor of archaeology.
Order Bernice Summerfield – The Glass Prison from Big Finish
The Third Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith in space!
When NASA has a problem, they quickly turn to the Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith to investigate. Their Mariner 10 probe disappeared for 30 minutes, with no explanation. What starts out as quick investigation ends up having catastrophic consequences…
Order Decline of the Ancient Mariner from Big Finish
All titles are initially available exclusively from the Big Finish website in March. Check back here next month for a roundup of next month’s releases!
Six First and Second Doctor stories are remastered as soundtrack recordings, we return to Peladon with the Third Doctor, plus ten Sarah Jane Smith stories are out now in one collection – all available this month from BBC Audio.
Here’s a look at what’s available to buy on CD and download from BBC Audio in March.
Jon Culshaw reads this exciting novelisation of a classic TV adventure for the Third Doctor, featuring the Ice Warriors.
Fifty years after his first visit to Peladon, the Doctor returns to find that Queen Thalira has inherited a troubled kingdom from her father.
Membership of the Galactic Federation was expected to bring peace and prosperity to the planet, but the spirit of the sacred monster Aggedor is once more spreading terror and death.
The Doctor uncovers a treacherous plot to steal the mineral wealth of Peladon and is again confronted by his old enemies – the Ice Warriors.
Jon Culshaw reads this novelisation of Brian Hayles’ 1974 TV serial, which starred Jon Pertwee as the Doctor.
Doctor Who and the Monster of Peladon is available on Amazon and Audible.
Doctor Who and the Monster of Peladon: 3rd Doctor Novelisation
Six stories return as narrated TV soundtrack adventures, starring William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton as the First and Second Doctors
Absent from the TV archives, these stories survive in their entirety only as soundtrack recordings. Now remastered, with additional linking narration, you can enjoy them again with bonus interviews with Anneke Wills, and the BBC Radio 3 programme Dance of the Daleks.
In The Smugglers, the travellers have an adventure in 17th Century Cornwall with pirates and hidden treasure; in The Tenth Planet, Earth’s twin planet enters the solar system and brings with it the Cybermen; in The Power of the Daleks, a new Doctor must fight the Daleks on the swamp planet Vulcan; in The Highlanders, the TARDIS arrives in Scotland after the battle of Culloden; in The Underwater Menace, it lands above the long-lost city of Atlantis; in The Moonbase, a weather control station is in the grip of plague – caused by the Cybermen.
In the bonus feature Dance of the Daleks, Matthew Sweet investigates the weird and wonderful sound world of Doctor Who.
Doctor Who: The Lost TV Episodes Collection Three is available on Amazon and Audible.
Doctor Who: The Lost TV Episodes Collection Three: 1st and 2nd Doctor TV Soundtracks
Ten thrilling adventures for Sarah Jane and her friends, as seen on TV, read by Elisabeth Sladen, Daniel Anthony and Anjli Mohindra.
Sarah Jane Smith always finds herself in trouble. As an old friend of the Doctor she’s used to encountering aliens, battling monsters and defeating evil. Along with her friends Luke, Clyde, Rani, Maria and Sky – not to mention supercomputer Mr Smith – Sarah Jane and her trusty lipstick are prepared for anything the universe throws at them.
In these amazing stories Sarah Jane finds herself investigating a private health clinic, a mysterious stone circle, some lethal alien artefacts, a strange Victorian house and a bizarre hill-carving. Then there’s the camping trip that sees the friends stranded in Snowdonia, the deadly computer virus, the terrifying creatures from a world of nightmares, the steam-powered robot, and the race of aliens who think Sarah Jane is a dangerous law-breaker…
Specially written for audio, eight of the stories are read by Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane), one by Daniel Anthony (Clyde) and one by Anjli Mohindra (Rani).
The Sarah Jane Adventures Audio Collection is available on Amazon and Audible.
The Sarah Jane Adventures Collection
Coming in April and May 2020:
According to Tom Spilsbury, the consolidated seven-day rating for Doctor Who finale, The Timeless Children, was 4.69m (4.55m on televisions and 0.14m on other devices). It was the 30th most-watched programme of the week across all television.
Also reported by TV Zone…
RATINGS: The series finale of #DoctorWho consolidated to an underwhelming 4.69m according to 7-day figures (inc. devices), making it the 30th most-watched show of the week.
Not only is that the lowest of the series, it's the lowest 7-day rating since the show returned in 2005.
— TV Zone (@tvukzone) March 9, 2020
The BBC complaints department have issued the following:
“Doctor Who is a beloved long-running series and we understand that some people will feel attached to a particular idea they have of the Doctor, or that they enjoy certain aspects of the programme more than others. Opinions are strong and this is indicative of the imaginative hold that Doctor Who has – that so many people engage with it on so many different levels.
“We wholeheartedly support the creative freedom of the writers and we feel that creating an origin story is a staple of science fiction writing. What was written does not alter the flow of stories from William Hartnell’s brilliant Doctor onwards – it just adds new layers and possibilities to this ongoing saga.
“We have also received many positive reactions to the episode’s cliff-hanger. There are still a lot of questions to be answered, and we hope that you will come back to join us and see what happens, but we appreciate that it’s impossible to please all of our viewers all of the time and your feedback has been raised with the programme’s Executive Producer.”
For Record Store Day 2020, Demon Records presents a narrated full-cast TV soundtrack of a legendary historical adventure, starring William Hartnell as the original Doctor. In this ‘lost’ 4-part serial, first shown in February 1966, the TARDIS materialises in Paris in 1572, a time of great danger and religious strife.
In The Massacre, the Catholic Queen Mother, Catherine de Medici, is hatching a plot to kill all French Protestants, and the Doctor and Steven are quickly caught up in events. While Steven is befriended by a group of Protestants, the Doctor has a perfect double in the shape of the hated dignitary, the Abbot of Amboise. One of them is about to lose his life!
Written by John Lucarotti, this dramatic story now survives only as a sound recording. Linking narration is provided by Peter Purves (Steven) and the cast includes Eric Thompson as Gaston, André Morell as Tavannes, Leonard Sachs as de Coligny and Annette Robinson as Anne.
Presented across 2 x heavyweight 180g pieces of vinyl, in a striking ‘Parisian Blaze’ splatter, this narrated TV soundtrack evokes a classic Doctor Who adventure in all its aural magnificence. The vivid sounds of 16th Century Paris in turmoil, and the encroaching terror of the massacre, are all accompanied by the eerie sonics of Ron Grainer & Delia Derbyshire’s theme tune.
The coloured vinyl LPs are presented in a gatefold sleeve with illustrated inner bags and full episode billings, cast and credits.
Make sure you’re ready to pick up this release at your local record store on 18th April 2020. Head here to see participating stores.
Series 12 sees Jodie Whittaker return for her second outing as the Doctor as she travels through time and space to save the world accompanied by her three best friends Ryan, Yaz and Graham.
This series follows the Thirteenth Doctor as she faces her toughest challenges yet battling the Cybermen, coming face to face with the Master, and encountering a previously unknown incarnation of the Doctor. Featuring terrifying monsters old and new, figures from Earth’s history, and an eclectic set of guest stars, this series will delve deeper into the hearts of the Thirteenth Doctor.
This release also includes the New Year’s Day special, Resolution.
Exclusive to this release, fans of the show will be able to enjoy bonus features including ten Closer Look behind-the-scenes documentaries, three audio commentaries and a special ‘What To Expect in Series 12’ preview.
The series is also available as a limited edition steelbook, available exclusively on Amazon.
Doctor Who Series 12 will be available to buy on DVD, Blu-ray and steelbook online and in-store from 20th April 2020. It is available to pre-order below.
Doctor Who – Complete Series 12 (Amazon Exclusive) [Blu-ray] [2020]
David Tennant is returning to his iconic Doctor Who role for another reunion with Catherine Tate.
The iconic pairing have been working with Big Finish over the last few years on audio dramas continuing the adventures of the Tenth Doctor and Donna Noble during gaps in the TV series continuity.
Tate has also recorded her own solo series called Donna Noble: Kidnapped, featuring her intrepid companion and her mate Nat (The Catherine Tate Show‘s Niky Wardley) investigating some strange extraterrestrial occurrences following her return from The Library.
Before long, the duo will be whisked away along with the TARDIS by very unfriendly aliens on an adventure that will see them visiting intergalactic planets, the Middle Ages and a very different version of Chiswick. All without the help of The Doctor!
However, Tennant will be popping up just in time for a very special cameo during one of the four audio dramas included in the Kidnapped box set. For an audio preview, click here.
Other guests include the return of Jacqueline King as Donna’s mum Sylvia Noble, legendary stage star Isla Blair and Dracula‘s Lydia West.
“It’s just lovely to come back and do Donna, and especially doing it with Niky, that’s great fun,” Tate said. “We’re friends, and we’ve known each other for a long time, so there’s a shorthand, like there is with me and David Tennant. It’s always great doing audio stuff.
“There are so many big ticks for audio. You don’t have to get up too early. It’s always warm. No-one cares what you look like. And it just means you never have to let it go.”
You can get Donna Noble: Kidnapped via Big Finish by clicking here for both the digital and CD releases for the box set.
