It is being reported by Deadline.com that British actors union Equity has written to a government regulator urging it to take action against Mad Dog 2020 Casting, a 25-year-old UK agency that collapsed last month owing creditors more than £1.5 million ($1.9 million).
Paul W. Fleming called on Ben Bruten, boss of the Employment Agencies Standards Inspectorate, to exercise its powers against Mad Dog, which includes fines, prosecutions, and the ability to ban individuals from running agencies in the future. Mad Dog’s parent company, Cinextra Limited, lists directors including CEO Graham Beswick.
“Equity would like to ask … how the EASI intends to use its powers to ensure that the individuals behind Mad Dog are held accountable for systematic breaches of their statutory obligations and treatment of artists, and so that they cannot continue their behaviour,” Fleming said.
Deadline chronicled the issues at Mad Dog last year, with clients complaining that they were owed thousands by the agency that supplied background actors to productions including Call the Midwife and Doctor Who. Mad Dog continued to trade despite failing to observe multiple county court judgments in favour of supporting artists owed money.
Fleming told Deadline that the company’s collapse had been “horrendous” for Equity members, adding that the “scale [of damage] is extraordinary for people with precarious incomes.” He acknowledged that it was unlikely that actors would be paid money they are owed, but said this will not stop Equity fighting for justice. “If we can’t get a pound in cash, we can get a pound in flesh,” he added.
Mad Dog filed for liquidation in February. MHA, the accountancy company, is overseeing the process and has called a meeting of creditors on Friday morning. A statement of Mad Dog’s affairs, seen by Deadline, shows the agency owes £1.66M ($2.1M) to creditors, including £1.3M to trade and expense creditors and £67,400 to employees. MHA said there was a “large number of creditors.”
A spokesperson for the Department for Business and Trade, which oversees the EASI, said: “We take all relevant complaints about agencies seriously and ensure they are thoroughly investigated.” The spokesperson declined to comment on the EASI’s industry-wide investigation into agencies in the entertainment space.
Last year, Mad Dog apologized to clients and stressed that it was committed to clearing its backlog of payments. The agency blamed the twin U.S. writer and actors strikes for its financial issues. Under UK regulations, it is unlawful for an agency to withhold payment from clients for more than 10 days after receiving funds from a producer, broadcaster or streamer.
A blue TARDIS is sat next to a bronze and scarred Dalek
An auction of Doctor Who props and costumes raised £245,243 for Children in Need.
Auctioneer Propstore, based in Chenies, Buckinghamshire, said more than 2,000 global fans and collectors bid on more than 170 lots.
The biggest earner was a Dalek – used on screen for actress Jodie Whittaker’s final episode as the doctor – which sold for £16,380.
Stephen Lane, founder and chief executive of Propstore, was delighted and said:
“From Doctors to Daleks, the dedication and passion of Doctor Who fans supporting this auction has been second to none.”
A Mondasian Cyberman which looks vaguely steampunk with a material like face. It has large silver headpiece and light-up box on its chest
A TARDIS prop used in a biographical film about the creation of Doctor Who, called An Adventure in Space and Time, sold for £12,600.
Parts of a Cyberman costume, from one of actor Peter Capaldi’s last stories, fetched £15,120.
Doctor Who brand director Vanessa Hamilton said:
“We’re so incredibly proud of the results of this auction and to support BBC Children in Need.
“It’s amazing to be able to share parts of Doctor Who with the fan community, and we hope they enjoy owning a piece of TV history.”
Headless mannequins wearing costumes are stood together in a line. The first has a tuxedo used by David Tennant, the second is wearing a costume used by Jodie Whittaker, a third is one used by Matt Smith and a fourth is a Peter Capaldi costume.
Several costumes were also sold – including a wedding dress for £4,410, used by actress Catherine Tate playing Donna Noble – but the highest earner was an outfit belonging to Whittaker which sold for £9,920.
A hand-painted recreation of Van Gogh’s “Thatched Cottages at Cordeville, 1890”, used in a popular episode with actor Matt Smith secured £8,190.
Several statues depicting popular monsters, including the Weeping Angels, a foe that first appeared in 2007, were also sold at the auction.
But the highest earning one, was a bust that won £6,930 after 37 bids.
A woman is holding a decapitated Cyberman head next to a weeping Angel statue which is missing wins and a left hand.
Doctor Who had a long association with Children in Need. In 1983, the show’s 20th anniversary episode “The Five Doctors” aired as part of the fundraising programme.
Tommy Nagra, director of content at BBC Children in Need said:
“The Doctor Who family have been long-time friends of the charity and we are so thrilled to see them come together once again to support BBC Children in Need”.
VFX studio The Mill was put into administration and shut down after 35 years when its parent company, Technicolor Creative Studios UK Limited, a part of Technicolor Group filed for administration on February 24, 2025.
The Mill was the company responsible for the VFX of around 150 episodes of Doctor Who, The Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood until 2013, the same year a group of artists and producers from The Mill’s TV department formed their own company, Milk VFX.
The post-production and visual effects company launched in 1990. Along will providing visual effects, they designed the Doctor Who title sequence introduced in the first 2005 Doctor Who story Rose.
According to a letter from the Technicolor Group to their team, the Group has been experiencing difficulties linked to a variety of factors including the difficult operational situation resulting from post-covid recovery, a costly and complex separation from the previous group followed by the writers’ strike leading to a slowdown in customer orders causing severe cash flow pressures.
Doctor Who radiophonic archive made available for first time
Delia Derbyshire at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop in the 1960s
The BBC has announced that its groundbreaking Radiophonic Workshop archive has been made available to musical artists and producers for the first time.
The archive includes samples of sounds and music made for a huge range of BBC shows from Doctor Who to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, all of which were created using the Workshop’s unconventional methods – including hitting lampshades and manipulating tape loops with milk bottles.
The work done at the studio has been cited as an influence by a number of major musicians including Brian Eno and Hans Zimmer, and the BBC has said that by making the archive available, it will preserve “an important musical heritage for generations to come”.
The key features of the new library include authentic sounds from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop archives, new recordings and experiments by Workshop members and associates, and a wide range of sounds, including archival content, found sounds, junk percussion, tape loops, and vintage synthesisers.
You can get a closer look at the Workshop by watching the below trailer:
Describing the Workshop as “a department at the BBC that was purely for making bonkers noises”, archivist Mark Ayres explained further why the decision had been made to open up the archive.
“I’m the youngest member of the core Radiophonic Workshop – and I’m 64!” he said. “We’re not going to be around forever.
“It was really important to leave a creative tool, inspired by our work, for other people to use going forward. I hope we’ve made an instrument that will inspire future generations.”
He added:
“This instrument is all formed from the work, processes and equipment that the Workshop created and used.
“You know, sampling now really looks like sampling then, but with a few more twiddles. I’ve been saying for years that Workshop composers such as Delia Derbyshire and John Baker were really samplists.”
Meanwhile, Harry Wilson, head of recording at Spitfire Audio – which has collaborated with the BBC on the project – said:
“We’re not just looking back at what the members were doing way back when. We’re projecting a strand of their work into the future and saying: if the Workshop was engaged with a similar process now, what would it sound like?”
And Dominic Walker, global business director for BBC Studios, said:
“We are thrilled to be collaborating once again with Spitfire Audio in bringing the legendary sounds of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop to a new generation of musicians and composers with this valuable online library.”
Access to the library costs £149 at full price, although there as introductory offer of £119 that will run until 17th March – you can access it now.
Macandrew Bay sci-fi enthusiast Jason Connolly standing behind his home-made Dalek. PHOTO: GERARD O’BRIEN
A quiet house in suburban Dunedin, New Zealand, is now home to a violent exterminator set on destroying any “impure” forms of life.
Macandrew Bay residents might be safer inside their homes because a six-foot (183cm) merciless Dalek, from the cult television show Doctor Who, is now operating in the area.
Sci-fi enthusiast Jason Connolly spent about 200 hours over the past three months building the life-size replica of the show’s most menacing antagonist in his workshop.
He said he had been a fan of Doctor Who in the late 1970s and early 1980s when Tom Baker was The Doctor, and more recently when David Tennant assumed the role.
When he visited a Doctor Who exhibition in Wellington, in October last year, it “reawakened” his love for the show and he decided to build a replica of a special 50th anniversary edition Dalek.
Most of the four-tier structure was built from scratch and was “a pain” to build, he said.
“The only [ready-made] thing that I’ve been able to stick in, is that plunger.”
Built on a modified mobility scooter, the Dalek moves using a wired remote and is big enough to fit a small-to-medium sized person inside.
However, Mr Connolly who is 1.93m tall and weighs 120kg, could not fit.
The machine also had bright blue and red lights attached to it, as well as a speaker for sound effects.
Mr Connolly had already been invited to display his Dalek at festivals in Christchurch and Auckland, and was keen to take it to events in Dunedin when possible.
He is a district nurse for Health New Zealand/Te Whatu Ora Southern during the day, and only built pop culture replicas for a hobby, he said.
When things were busy or he needed a bit of “quiet time” he liked to go into his workshop, have a cup of tea or a glass of wine and build things.
Mr Connolly said he was starting to run out of space to store his projects, which included a Storm Trooper, a full-sized Chewbacca suit and a samurai Batman suit.
So there was no danger of any more aliens popping up in the area.
“I don’t know if I can make anything else because we’ve got nowhere for anything else to go.”
The theme music to iconic British sci-fi TV show Doctor Who has been immortalized by Australia’s National Film and Sound Archive.
Wait? What? Why is music from the UK’s most substantial contribution to broadcast sci-fi worthy of inclusion in an Australian archive?
Because, as explained by the Archive (NFSA), it was written by an Aussie.
English musician and composer of electronic music, Delia Derbyshire.
“While the theme for the long-running BBC series, with its otherworldly pulsing bassline, was recorded by English musician Delia Derbyshire, it was written by Australian composer Ron Grainer,” the NFSA explained, before going on to remind us all that the theme is thought to have been the first piece of electronic music used as a TV theme – and remains in use to this day, albeit modernized.
“Each note was painstakingly realized using musique concrète techniques – cutting, splicing, and manipulating analog tape recordings of white noise, a test-tone oscillator, and a single plucked string,” NFSA noted in its account of the tune’s creation.
That description accords with one The Register published in 2010, when we brought readers news that the BBC planned to air a previously un-aired interview with Delia Derbyshire.
That interview can be heard here as part of a 58-minute BBC program celebrating her life and work.
NFSA’s biography of Grainer explains that he was a musical prodigy who moved to London in 1952 and was once hit on the head by a grand piano lid – an incident that threw him into an orchestra pit.
He eventually found himself in the orbit of the BBC and in demand for his composing skills, which he used to create themes for classic programs Steptoe and Son and The Prisoner.
His IMDB profile lists him as also contributing to many Doctor Who episodes, Charlton Heston flick The Omega Man, and a program featuring UK comic Benny Hill. That’s an oeuvre surely worth archiving in some form! ®
First-look into the making of Season 1 in celebration of Doctor Who Day.
To celebrate sixty-one years of Doctor Who, we’re bringing you a little bit extra from the latest era of the series! Over on the official Doctor Who YouTube channel, you can watch deleted scenes from Season 1 and the third 60th Anniversary special, The Giggle.
There are many reasons why not everything in a script makes it into the final broadcast episode: runtime, pacing, or even just a change in artistic direction. And, as an extra treat, each deleted scene comes with a note from showrunner Russell T Davies explaining the decision not to include it in the final cut.
Read on for the full list of deleted scenes below.
THE GIGGLE
SCENES 9-10A: As UNIT welcomes the Doctor and Donna to their new HQ, Donna ensures that her family are protected from the dangers of the Giggle on the outside world. RUSSELL T DAVIES’ NOTE: “Cut because it spoils that sweeping entrance, to stop and have a chat. And get to Mel faster!”
SCENE 27: Doors, doors and more doors! The Doctor and Donna attempt to negotiate their way through the Toymaker’s infinite and tricksome domain. RTD NOTE: “Cut for time.”
SPACE BABIES
SCENE 16: Ruby shares her experience as an orphan with the Space Babies before being interrupted by an excitable Doctor on his way to Portal 357. RTD NOTE: “Cut for time, which is a shame, Millie’s wonderful here.”
SCENES 40/42: “Into the belly of the beast…” The Doctor and Ruby navigate some daunting and increasingly bogey-filled corridors as they approach the Bogeyman’s lair. RTD NOTE: “Cut to get to the Bogeyman faster.”
SCENE 63: The Doctor and the Bogeyman recover from their airlock encounter, and the Doctor even checks on the Bogeyman’s wellbeing – carefully, of course! RTD NOTE: “Not needed, though a wide shot of this scene plays on the screens behind Jocelyn.”
THE DEVIL’S CHORD
SCENE 9A: After witnessing a miserable performance of ‘Three Blind Mice’, the Doctor declares, “Someone has stolen music!” RTD NOTE: “Felt a bit psychic of the Doctor, how does he know it’s stolen?”
SCENE 23: Maestro, having just popped out of a rooftop piano, uses their cosmic tuning fork to track the location of the retreating Doctor and Ruby. RTD NOTE: “Cut for time, get on with it!”
SCENE 72: The Doctor and Ruby run back up the rooftop stairwell as music returns to the world. RTD NOTE: “Cut because this explains what’s about to happen. Just let it happen instead!”
SCENE 74: A montage through some Londoners’ windows as they rediscover music in their hearts. RTD NOTE: “Nice idea, but not really needed.”
73 YARDS
SCENES 3-4: With the Doctor suddenly missing, Ruby waits outside the TARDIS alone, with the mysterious Woman standing nearby… RTD NOTE: “It’s already a long, slow opening, get on with it!”
SCENES 53-54: The morning after her victory against Roger ap Gwilliam, 40 year-old Ruby runs to her window to find, sadly, that the Woman is still outside. RTD NOTE: “Much more effective to cut on the earlier scene, as Ruby asks the Woman, ‘Can you leave me alone now?’
THE LEGEND OF RUBY SUNDAY
SCENES 41-44: An alternative sequence of the moment Harriet Arbinger heralds the return of Sutekh. RTD NOTE: “All tightened, sharpened and pulled up.”
EMPIRE OF DEATH
SCENE 35: The Doctor, Ruby and Mel arrive in 2046. Shortly after they exit the Remembered TARDIS, it fades away; its purpose fulfilled. RTD NOTE: “We lost this because I didn’t want the Remembered TARDIS to die, I like the thought of it still out there somewhere.”
SCENES 59-63: Ever wondered where the Doctor’s TARDIS-controlling whistle came from? This timey-wimey sequence shows the Doctor programming the TARDIS to respond to the whistle’s pitch, then using a hatch to pass the whistle back to his past self. Bit of a cheat, but as the Doctor says, “We’re fighting a god – we get one trick once!” RTD NOTE: “This seemed terribly complicated. But watching it again now, it’s great, maybe we shouldn’t have cut it. Though I don’t think anyone wondered where he got his whistle from…?
Mandy Rose and Phillip Roy stars of Doctor Who meets The Scorpion (Credit: James Woodward)
A Doctor Who fan feature film described as a ‘passionate tribute to the classic ’70s and ’80s series’ is nearing completion in Cardiff using local amateur actors and crew.
The movie titled ‘Dr Who meets The Scorpion’ is to be released as a non-profit film on YouTube purely for the pleasure of the fans to watch.
As of last week – only three scenes of the 70 minute film are left to shoot.
Nation Cymru spoke to the multi-talented man behind the movie, Phillip Roy – the film’s writer, producer, director, production designer, and prop maker – as well as the actor taking on the role of the famed Timelord. (He also jokes he makes all the sandwiches for lunch!)
What is the back story to the project and how did it come about?
I’ve been a Doctor Who fan since I was 3 watching Jon Pertwee in the role. I self tape auditioned at home in 2019 for the Doctor role in a fan film but never heard back from them. So it spurred me on to write and produce my own film. Covid put things back a bit but we started filming last July. Just the odd weekends filming here and there but we now have just three scenes left to film.
Was it your intention to stay faithful to the character of Doctor Who and his assistants?
You have to do your own version of The Doctor rather than try and copy Tom Baker or David Tennant but the character stays true and I try to give a nod to some of the previous Doctors with gestures and things they might say. The companion role has changed over the years. You can’t just have the character there to scream. Luckily Mandy Rose is a great actor and brings the character of Jennie to life. Yes, she gets scared but she gets The Doctor out of some difficult scrapes!
Phillip Roy as the Doctor and Mandy Rose as his assistant Jennie. Credit: Damian Chidgey.Phillip Roy and Mandy Rose star in Dr Who meets The Scorpion. Credit: James Woodward.
Are there any copyright implications in making something like this and how would you circumnavigate them?
There are literally hundreds of Dr Who fan films out there on Youtube. As well as Star Trek, Star Wars, James Bonds fan films. As long as you don’t try to make money out of something like Doctor Who that belongs to the BBC there has never been a problem. If you put it out on Youtube for free purely for the enjoyment of the fans then I don’t think the BBC is concerned. I’m not trying to compete with the BBC series and wouldn’t want to. How could we on our tiny budget? We’re trying to give a flavour of the 70s/80s series with a bit of the Peter Cushing Dalek movies thrown in as well. It’s my homage to the days of the classic series where the ingenuity of the designers faced with a tight budget produced some iconic sets and monsters out of nothing. Just like I’m having to do! That’s always been the charm of the classic series for me.
What is the plotline of Dr Who meets The Scorpion without giving away spoilers obviously?
The Doctor bumps into Jennie in a deserted warehouse at night, both there to find out more about the mysterious Scorpion company. They start to unravel a fiendish plot by the arch villain Scorpion and his right hand man Taylor which takes them from Earth to a planet far, far away! Thrills, spills, monsters, peril and adventure await them…and we couldn’t resist including the iconic Daleks as well. Guys with their own Daleks came from all Wales and Somerset to film with us.
Is your outfit all from your own wardrobe?
Yes, anyone who knows me won’t be surprised by my wardrobe in the film. I’ve always loved that 70s leather jacket look and raided my closet to come up with my Doctor’s outfit. For a man that can travel in his Tardis from year zero to the end of time, no clothes are retro, period or futuristic to him. It’s just what he thinks suits their character. Someone described the look as a bit of a Dennis Waterman Doctor in his Sweeney days which I loved. Although I won’t be chain smoking, quaffing Whisky at the Tardis controls and punching out villains!
What have been the biggest obstacles in making the film?
The biggest obstacle is my budget and also availability of the cast and crew which is why we film a couple of days on the weekend every couple of months. We can’t set aside a month of shooting as we all have day jobs and so far I’ve been financing the film out of my own pocket. Which means I have to save up a bit before we can continue. Through great kindness we’ve been given permission to film in a production facility and warehouse in Ely which has given our film some superb production values. But my budget is definitely more ‘Ely-wood’ than Hollywood!
Where did you find the rest of the cast and crew?
I’ve been so lucky with my cast and crew. As a Cardiff based actor I know a lot of South Wales amateur/semi professional actors and crew having filmed a lot of student films and independent short films and low budget features. We’ve had the same core team on the film since day one. This is my first time directing. I might have a particular shot idea in mind. Richard, our DOP/cameraman will usually better that idea. Because I can’t be behind the camera as well as in front, he sets up wonderful and inventive shots for me as he has more experience. He also puts great effort into lighting the set properly. Lighting is everything.
I take it there’s a certain irony in making this in Cardiff where the TV series is filmed?
I was delighted when Doctor Who was revived in 2005 and even more astonished when I heard they were going to film in my hometown. I’ve spent many a night standing on the sidelines watching location filming to get a glimpse of David Tennant or Catherine Tate. In fact it was Doctor Who that got me into acting and I eventually achieved my dream of working on the show as an ‘Extra’/Background Artist in a few episodes.
My script is also partly set in Cardiff so I could use the famous ‘Cardiff time/space rift’ plot from Doctor Who and Torchwood to get me out some sticky plot holes I was struggling with during the writing process.
When are you ideally hoping to release the film?
We’re looking to get the film out on Youtube for next summer.
WHO KNEW!
Phillip says this is technically his second time playing the Doctor. He actually played the 7th Doctor in portrait stills for the 50th Anniversary story ‘Day of the Doctor alongside Matt Smith, David Tennant and John Hurt’. It doesn’t get much better than that!
To find out more about the movie visit the Facebook page
Original Doctor Who star ponders ’emotional’ return
Carole Ann Ford is the last surviving original cast member of Doctor Who
The last surviving cast member from the very first Doctor Who series said she would like to return to the show as the 60th anniversary of her final appearance approaches.
Carole Ann Ford, from Ilford, played Susan, granddaughter of the Doctor played by William Hartnell when the BBC show started in 1963. The character has been frequently mentioned in the recent series with Ncuti Gatwa.
During an appearance at Luton Comic Con, the actress said she wanted to return although she admitted it “would be very emotional.. very emotional”.
“I don’t know if I could survive the excitement actually, it would be intense beyond all intensity,” she said.
Actress Carol Ann Ford Who Played Companion Susan In Doctor Who
She said: “It’s not just returning, it would bring back all the memories of William Russell and Jackie and Bill [William Hartnell] and various other people who aren’t with us anymore.
“I might be a little bit overcome and start blubbing.
“I keep being reminded I’m the last one standing and it’s not something I’m happy to hear.”
Carole Anne Ford (Middle) with Jacqueline Hill (left) and William Russell (right) as the original TARDIS team.
She appeared as the granddaughter of the original Doctor, played by William Hartnell, but was left behind after a showdown with the Daleks set in Bedfordshire and broadcast on 26 December 1964.
At the time, the Doctor promised to return for her, but despite an appearance in the 20th anniversary special The Five Doctors, a story that would address the reunion between the characters is yet to take place.
“He said he’d come back and get me and never did. I’d give him a good telling off if I saw him again,” she said.
“I understand their dilemma, how difficult it must be to write for me. It has been 60 years since I was first in it.
“I’ve met Russell [T Davies] a few times and I absolutely adore him. He is the man that would be the boss man to say yes or no – so hopefully it’s going to be yes.”
Last year the character returned to screens in a newly colourised version of the 1963 episode, The Daleks, which was broadcast on BBC Four to mark the show’s 60th anniversary.
The actress encouraged fans to be vocal in their support of her return if there was any chance of her returning.
In an interview on BBC Three Counties Radio, she hinted that she had had “one or two” conversations about returning in the past.
“I’ve had many conversations about going back, maybe not with the right people, I don’t know,” she added.
When it was suggested her character could be recast, she joked: “They better not, I’d burn the studio down.”
