April 2015
Eh? Doctor who? What's he talking about...? “Well, I don't like it either! It's all right up to the eyebrows, then it just goes haywire! Look at the eyebrows. These are attack eyebrows. You can take bottle tops off with these!” — 12th Doctor
Volume 1, Number 1
Doctor Who will run for at least another five years, according to Steven Moffat in the latest issue of ‘Doctor Who Magazine’. He is quoted as saying “When I first took it over, the BBC said to me, ‘We’ve done all our calculations. The ratings will now fall. Expect to lose quite a bit. We don’t mind that. We’re going to keep it going. So long as it’s a good show we won’t mind if the ratings stop being quite as amazing as they were. That’s absolutely fine.’ And they didn’t. They pretty much stayed the same.” He went on to say: “I thought it would last ten years. I didn’t think it would last ten 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. I mean, it could do 26! It’s not easy to find new people. It’s not easy to find new Doctors. That could be the danger – that you start to think that it’s easy. There’s nothing easy about doing Doctor Who.” BBC Head of Drama Commissioning, Ben Stephenson, in the same issue also sheds some light on why he thinks Doctor Who lasts on TV. “The brilliant thing about Doctor Who is that it’s so adjustable. It doesn’t have to be ‘There are 13 episodes and they start in September’. Of course, the fans want it to keep coming back with regularity but we could choose, as they did with David Tennant, to do a year of Specials. I’m not saying we’re planning that, because we plan to keep it regularly in the schedules. But because it’s such an amazing format, because you can constantly revive it and reimagine it, then as long as the people looking after it are passionate about it and the BBC is passionate about it, there’s absolutely no reason why it can’t do another 50 years.”
Maisie Williams – best known as Game of Thrones Arya Stark is to be a guest star in series 9 of Doctor Who, which is currently filming. On her first day on set Maisie Williams said, “I’m so excited to be working on Doctor Who as it’s such a big and important part of British Culture. I can’t wait to meet the cast and crew and start filming, especially as we’ll be shooting not too far from my home town.” Steven Moffat commented on the announcement: “We’re thrilled to have Maisie Williams joining us on Doctor Who. 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. 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 NETHERSPHERE EDITED BY Dallas Jones & Roger Reynolds
The Doctor Who story Listen has been nominated for a 2015 Hugo Award in the Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form category. Other shows nominated include Game of Thrones, The Flash, Grimm and Orphan Black. The 2015 Hugo Award winners will be announced Saturday August 22 2015, during the Hugo Awards Ceremony at the 2015 Worldcon.
Quarterly e-newsletter of the DWCA ________________________
Many thanks to the contributors to this issue: Daniel Worsley, Pam Isaacson, Sonia Steinbeck Simon Gauss and Lewis Palmer
DISCLAIMER Doctor Who is copyright to the BBC. Copyright of all other material contained within returns to the contributor on publication. No attempt is made to supercede any copyright. Views express within are those of the writer and not necessarily held by Doctor Who Club of Australia.
Milk VFX, Real SFX, and BBC Wales VFX the three visual effects houses that create all of the CGI used in Doctor Who have been nominated for the 2015 BAFTA Craft Award for Special, Visual, and Graphic Effects. Danny Hargreaves of Real SFX tweeted "Very proud of my team today". Doctor Who won the award last year for the work on the fiftieth anniversary special, The Day of the Doctor. The winners will be announced on Sunday April 26 at the Brewery in East London.
Karen Gillan took away the Best Female Newcomer for her work on Guardians of the Galaxy and Oculus at the Jameson Empire Awards. Also in attendance was Peter Capaldi who was among the stars of Paddington who appeared on stage to accept the award for Best Comedy. In brief interviews, afterward, with various press people, he touched upon why Doctor Who would be perfect as a movie – but also that it should remain very much domestic. “It looks so much like a movie now,” he said. “The production values are so high that it looks extraordinary. So it would look great on the big screen… But I think there’s something nice about the domestic quality of it being in the living room as well. I mean, that’s the great thing about Doctor Who; it’s always managed to be both galactic and domestic.” He also revealed that Paddington was the last thing he made before stepping into the TARDIS, and that he has no current plans for another movie as yet – simply because in the time between filming Doctor Who, he’ll be promoting it!
CONTACT DWCA Mail: DWCA GPO Box 2870 Sydney NSW 2001 Phone: 0402 689 054 E-mail: Enquiries@drwhoaustralia.org
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The PromaxBDA Europe Awards 2015 took place in Berlin on March 24 and AMC Networks took the award for General Image Programme Design Package for the evocative imagery created by Drover for the launch of classic Doctor Who on the Horror Channel. ‘The New Doctor Lands’, the BBC campaign to accompany the arrival of Peter Capaldi by Red Bee Creative, picked up Silver in the Promotional Interactive Applications category.
Doctor Who has won two awards at the Cardiff Life Awards, which celebrate the very best businesses in Cardiff. The Doctor Who Experience has been awarded Best in Leisure & Tourism at the event. Meanwhile, Real SFX who has been providing Special Effects for Doctor Who, has been awarded the prize as best Creative in the city.
Samuel Anderson has won the award for Best Male Performance in TV at the 2015 Screen Nation Film & Television Awards for his work on Doctor Who and Trollied. The Awards reward professionals of African heritage working in the UK in global film, TV industries. The awards were presented at a ceremony held at London's Hilton Metropole on February 16.
The 41st Annual Saturn Award nominations have been announced, and see Doctor Who up for two awards for this year. The show itself is listed in the Best Youth-Oriented Television Series category. Jenna Coleman has also been nominated in the Best Supporting Actress in a Television Series category. The Awards are presented by The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films, and will take place this year on June 25 2015.
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LOST IN TIME Obituaries BARRY NEWBERY Veteran Doctor Who designer Barry Newbery has died at the age of 88 on February 25. He was one of the most prolific designers of Doctor Who, working on more episodes of the classic series than any other designer in its 26 year history. His contribution ranged from the very first story An Unearthly Child in 1963 through to The Awakening in 1984, a total of 62 episodes across 14 stories. Barry Newbery joined the BBC in the late 1950’s after working as a freelance designer in London. Early work for the Corporation included Comedy Playhouse and The Last Man Out, a 1962 period drama starring Barry Letts. Outside of Doctor Who Newbery worked on a vast range of projects, including The Onedin Line, Prince Regent, The Citadel, The Shadow of the Tower, Z Cars, Softly Softly, The Expert, Dad’s Army and Sykes. In 1979 Newbery won an RTS Television Award for his work on The Lost Boys and the following year he received a BAFTA nomination for Prince Regent. Newbery took a great many behind-the-scenes photographs during his time on Doctor Who and a large selection were published in The Barry Newbery Signature Collection, published by Telos Publishing in 2013. HUGH WALTERS The veteran actor Hugh Walters died on February 13 at the age of 75. He first appeared on Doctor Who in the 1965 story The Chase when he portrayed William Shakespeare in the scene where the Doctor shows off his Time and Space Visualiser. In 1976 he appeared in The
The Magician's Apprentice / The Witch's Familiar Written by Steven Moffat. Directed by Hettie MacDonald. Guest starring: Michelle Gomez, Jemma Redgrave Kelly Hunter, Clare Higgins, Jaye Griffiths, Daniel Hoffmann-Gill, Jami Reid-Quarrell, Aaron Neil, India Ria Amarteifio, Joey Price, Dasharn Anderson, Harki Bhambra, Demi Papaminas (School girl). Parts of the opener will take place on an alien planet and parts on contemporary Earth. Clara is still at Coal Hill. Shot in the second filming block with early filming taking place in the Teide National Park, Tenerife in Spain. Ali Asad is Director of Photography. Story Two (Titles yet to be announced) Written by Toby Whithouse. Directed by Daniel O’Hara. Guest starring: Paul Kaye (Prentis), Sophie Stone (Cass), Morven Christie (O’Donnell), Arsher Ali (Mason Bennett), Colin McFarlane, Sophie Stone, Zaqi Ismail, Steven Robertson, Neil Fingleton. Shooting for this story was in the first filming block. The Girl Who Died Written by Jamie Mathieson and Steven Moffat. Directed by Ed Bazalgette. Guest starring: Maisie Williams, Rufus Hound, Tom Stourton, Ariyon Bakare, Simon Lipkin, Ian Conningham, Murray McArthur, Barnaby Kay, John Voce, Struan Rodger. The first of two consecutive period stories. Filming took place at Margam Castle, Castell Coch, Llanharan, and Marble Hall within Cardiff Town Hall. The Woman Who Lived Written by Catherine Tregenna. Directed by Ed Bazalgette. Miscellaneous Mark Gatiss has written a story for series 9. He told the Telegraph: “It has been a tough nut to crack, but I’m delighted with how scary it is. I can’t say any more than that.” Neil Gaiman has said that he currently doesn’t have time to contribute. Peter Harness’s return was hinted at by Moffat. Moffat has teased that the penultimate episode of the run will end with a massive cliff-hanger and one he doesn’t think fans will see coming. He has also explained why he is changing up the format for Series 9 with an increase in two-parters. “Writing the first two-parter that I had done in years [with Dark Water/Death in Heaven] …. This feels more unpredictable.’ Because you don’t know how far you’re going to get through the story… The rule I’ve got is that you won’t be absolutely certain whether a show is going to be a twoparter or not. And sometimes something that looks like it’s going to be a single, isn’t a single. I think the nice thing is not having the feeling of, ‘It’s five minutes until the end of Doctor Who, so he’s bound to start running now. With each of the two-parters we’re doing, there’s a substantial difference between the two halves.” He also said “I told the writers, don’t just write him mean, write him funny – because he’ll make any joke fly. … Tonally, [next season is] very much the same. Peter is getting stronger and more confident in the role.” It appears that the Capaldi’s costume may be getting a makeover as twitter user Amberlabamba has snapped images of it in-between recent filming.
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Deadly Assassin as Runcible, a fellow-former classmate of the Doctor whose snide personality was nicely captured by Walters. His final role in Doctor Who was in 1985’s Revelation of the Daleks, when he played Vogel, ever-loyal secretary to Eleanor Bron’s Kara. He appeared in a large number of TV shows including: Z Cars, Private Schulz, Shine On Harvey Moon, Rumpole of the Bailey, All Creatures Great and Small, Survivors, The Dick Emery Show, The Fenn Street Gang, George and Mildred, The Russ Abbott Show, New Avengers and Heartbeat. In movies he played Charles Hawtrey in the Carry-On drama Cor Blimey and also appeared in 1984 and Brimstone and Treacle. He would return to the world of Doctor Who with the role of Roderick Allingham in The Fearmonger for Big Finish. MARK CAPUTO Club member Greg Long reports that club member Mark Caputo had passed away in December. He said of Mark “He attended the Southern Sydney tavern with us and we had wondered at his absence, thinking that perhaps he had been confused by our move to Miranda RSL. Anyway, today we ran into someone we knew from another area of our lives, who just happened to live next door to him. We asked her and she said that he had passed away from a heart problem. When we first attended the Southern Sydney tavern a few years back my daughter had nicknamed him "Laughing Mark" because he always chuckled at everything. He was also always very friendly to my family and I. Anyway, he will be greatly missed. We found his plaque in section 18 of Centenary Court at Woronora Cemetery if anyone wants to pay their respects.”
Karen Gillan is to appear with John Travolta, Ethan Hawke and Burn Gorman, in a new western called In A Valley of Violence. “I never thought I’d get to do something so quintessentially American.” she said. Gillan is also working on a pilot for HBO, called The Devil You Know. The show is about the Salem Witch Trials and is co-written by Jenji Kohan, creator of Orange Is The New Black. It will star Ever Carradine, Eddie Izzard, Nadia Alexander, Ismenia Mendes, and Ewen Bremner, who plays the father of Gillan’s character. Production is currently taking place in Boston. There are also rumours of a possible part in the Guardians Of The Galaxy sequel. But she’s a bit reticent about losing her ginger locks again, as she recently explained: “I have a physical and emotional attachment to this hair. We’ll have to see if I have to shave it. Maybe CGI will have developed further by the time we shoot it.” It’s still not been confirmed that Nebula will be back for the sequel, but this sounds like a substantial hint. Bonnie Langford is to appear in EastEnders from June 2015, where she joins as the mother of market-stall holder Kush, Carmel Kazemi. Bonnie said. “I’m so thrilled and delighted to be part of EastEnders. 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.” Jenna Coleman has been cast in a high profile movie Me Before You, it stars Emilia Clarke, Sam Claflin and Charles Dance and it is currently set for an August 2015 release. The movie tells the story of two very different characters: Lou (Clarke), a small town girl caught between dead-end jobs; and Will (Claflin), a high-profile, successful man who becomes wheelchair bound following an accident. Arthur Darvill has been cast in the untitled Flash/Arrow spin-off. Darvill will play Rip Hunter, “a roguish time traveller who hides the strains of being responsible for history itself behind a facade of charm and wit.” Darvill will join Brandon Routh as the Atom, Wentworth Miller as Captain Cold, and Ciara Renée as Hawkgirl. David Tennant was asked to do a little additional voice narration for a section in the upcoming series of W1A because of the Top Gear/Jeremy Clarkson incident. Tennant is part of the cast of the currently in-production Netflix show, A.K.A. Jessica Jones, based on Marvel’s Jessica Jones character. Tennant is set to play the villain Doctor Zebediah Killgrave, also known as Purple Man. Tennant is also about to make a return to the stage with the Royal Shakespeare Company. He will be taking part in the 400th Anniversary of Shakespeare appearing as Richard II at the Barbican this autumn. Matt Smith is the favourite for the lead character Newt Scamander in Warner Bros. upcoming trilogy, of J. K. Rowling’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Official casting announcements, with or sans Smith, should be coming pretty soon. Mark Gatiss has been spotted in decidedly Victorian attire for the next Sherlock, for reasons, he says, “which become apparent”. He is also in the updated film version of Dad’s Army, in which he plays Colonel Theakes, plus he was recently seen Channel 4’s TV movie Coalition, in which he played PM, Peter Mandelson.
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EVENT HORIZON Upcoming Events April Saturday 11th (please note not on Sunday) – Toowoomba Local Group Meeting. East Creek Community Centre, 43 Kitchener Street, Toowoomba. 10 am to 3 pm. Small admission charge. Sunday 12th – Newcastle Local Group Meeting. Belmont Library 19 Ernest Street Belmont NSW 2280 1pm to 4pm. Small admission charge Saturday 18th – Central Coast Local Group Meeting. Dark Dimension Comics and Collectables, Shop 6 168 Pacific Highway Tuggerah. From 4pm. Admission FREE. May Sunday 3rd – Canberra Local Group Meeting Dickson Library, Dickson Shops (off Antill St) Dickson 12 to 4 pm Saturday 9th – Allora Local Group Meeting Allora QCWA Rooms 51 Warwick St Allora 11 am to 4 pm. Admission FREE. Sunday 10th – Newcastle Local Group Meeting. (See above for details) Saturday 16th – Central Coast Local Group Meeting. (See above for details) Sunday 24th – Sydney Day Event. Club Burwood, 97 Burwood Rd Burwood. 10 am to 4 pm. Adults : $10, Concession : $7, Children under 13 FREE Family : $20 DWCA members receive $2 discount on above prices and DWCA Family members receive $4 discount on above prices. (DWCA Special General meeting follows at 4pm.) Sunday 31st – Brisbane Local Group Meeting. Brisbane Square Library Cnr George and Adelaide Streets Brisbane. 10 am to 3pm. Admission FREE. Please note. All dates and venues are liable to change, with little notice, through no fault of the DWCA. All attempts are made to flag any changes as soon as they occur. Please check the DWCA website and social media channels closer to the date or email the relevant organising group if unsure.
Doctor Who on Bit Torrent – Legally BBC Worldwide has announced a new collaboration with content distribution service BitTorrent to mark a decade of new Doctor Who. The file sharing network is offering a ten story box set featuring specially selected highlights from the modern era of Doctor Who for $12 globally. The download includes: Rose, The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances, The Girl in the Fireplace, Blink, The End of Time, The Vampires of Venice, The Doctor’s Wife, The Rings of Akhaten, The Day of the Doctor and Listen. The package also includes exclusive video content from Peter Capaldi as well as Doctor Who: Earth Conquest – the documentary about the 2014 global tour. Surprised Fans at the Doctor Who Experience On March 26 Peter Capaldi surprised fans by appearing unannounced at a 10th Anniversary of Nu Who event at the Doctor Who Experience. Easter saw the return of the ‘Official Doctor Who Filming Locations Tour’, a carefully curated walking tour of Cardiff Bay presented by the Doctor Who Experience. The 75 minute tour takes in more than 40 filming locations. The tours are every Friday, Saturday and Sunday until June 27 2015. Also from Easter, the Doctor Who Experience welcomed a wealth of new props and costumes. Featured items include outfits worn by Jenna Coleman as Clara Oswald from three episodes: ‘Kill the Moon’, ‘Mummy on the Orient Express’ and ‘Flatline’. Brighton and Hove name bus in honour of JNT John Nathan-Turner (1947–2002), former Doctor Who producer has had the honour of having a bus christened with his namesake in his former city of Brighton and Hove. He was one of 9 selected by public vote, along with Rudyard Kipling and Anna Neagle from a shortlist of 31. His name will now go on one of the 24 new Coaster buses on route 12, which travels east along the Sussex heritage coast towards Eastbourne. The new buses come with a host of new features including, free Wi-Fi, an upper deck table with USB charge points and ‘talking buses’ with next stop information. Milk VFX to open second studio in Cardiff Milk VFX, the VFX company that brought us amongst other things the “Half Faced Man”, has announced they are opening a second studio which will be in Cardiff. It is likely that the Cardiff studio will probably handle a great deal of Milk’s work on Doctor Who. Verity Lambert: An Appreciation The British Film Institute has recently had a tribute event to honour Verity Lambert, Doctor Who's first producer. The event was held as part of the Women in Film season, and was followed by a brief retrospective of some of her rarer titles, including The Norman Conquests, Comics and Achilles Heel. The 90 minute panel event took place on April 1 at 6.10pm at the BFI Southbank, and was hosted by Richard Marson, who has just written a biography of the producer, Drama and Delight: The Life of Verity Lambert. Guests included Joanna Lumley and Lynda La Plante and the discussion was interspersed with clips from many of her most memorable productions.
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SCANNER SCREEN Doctor Who and its spin-offs currently on Australian Television Doctor Who
ABC 2 Monday to Friday at 7.30 pm Mon 30th Mar to Fri 3rd Apr – Rose to World War Three Mon 6th Apr to Fri 10th Apr – Dalek to The Doctor Dances Mon 13th Apr to Fri 17th Apr – Boom Town to New Earth Mon 20th Apr to Fri 24th Apr – Tooth and Claw to Age of Steel Mon 27th Apr to Fri 1st May – The Idiot’s Lantern to Fear Her Mon 4th May to Fri 8th May – Army of Ghosts to The Shakespeare Code Mon 11th May to Fri 15th May – Gridlock to 42 Mon 18th May to Fri 22nd May – Human Nature to Sound of Drums SyFy Monday to Friday at 6am Tom Baker Mon 6th Apr - Power of Kroll episode 1 through to Fri 1st May - Creature from the Pit episode 1 Monday to Friday at 7.30 pm Matt Smith Mon 6th Apr - Flesh and Stone through to Thur 7th Jun – The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe Christopher Eccleston Fri 8th Jun – Rose Tuesday at 8.30pm 7th Apr – Night Terrors 14th Apr – The Girl who Waited 21st Apr – The God Complex 29th Apr – Closing Time 5th May – The Wedding of River Song. Saturday at 2 am Current Matt Smith Saturday from 6 am -11 am Currently 4 Matt Smith episodes Sunday at 6.30pm Currently Matt Smith
Tennant’s father very ill The father of David Tennant has gone public with his terminal illness and voiced his support for a bill legalising the right to die. 77-year-old Reverend Sandy McDonald, is suffering from lung condition pulmonary fibrosis, and now lives in a hospice. What Peter Capaldi did for Red Nose day 2015 Peter Capaldi got involved and travelled to Africa to record a film for the Comic Relief telethon. He arrived in Malawi’s second city, Blantyre, before moving onto the massive slum of Ndirande, where the Comic Relief-funded C-Code project has been funding development of sanitation facilities, among other things.
Doctor Who on The Horror Channel now free! The Horror Channel in the UK is to be broadcast on Freeview, allowing the majority of UK viewers to watch classic Doctor Who, without a subscription. Formerly only available with a Sky or Virgin Media subscription, the channel is home to an extensive backlist of Doctor Who episodes featuring the first seven Doctors.
CSI trumps Who Doctor Who’s record for the world’s largest simulcast, set in 2013 by The Day of the Doctor, has been beaten by CSI. The US drama has been officially recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records for the March 4 2015 showing in 171 countries of the episode which launched the latest version of the franchise CSI: Cyber. Back in its 50th anniversary year Doctor Who ‘only’ managed to reach 94 countries. Radio Times: Top Ten Episodes in Ten Years The March 21-27 2015 edition of the Radio Times featured a Top 10 of Doctor Who episodes over the last 10 years, as voted by RadioTimes.com website readers. 280,859 votes were cast and they voted the best episode of Doctor Who in the modern era as Blink. Second was Vincent & The Doctor, followed by The Stolen Earth/Journey’s End; The Day of the Doctor; The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances; Army of Ghosts/Doomsday; The Girl in the Fireplace; Bad Wolf/Parting of the Ways; Silence of the Library/Forest of the Dead and rounding out the top ten was The End of Time. Steven Moffatt wants Sherlock / Doctor Who crossover. Executive producer of Doctor Who and Sherlock Steven Moffat has recently expressed his desire to consider writing and producing a Sherlock and Doctor Who crossover. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Moffat stated “if people want to, we should give it to them” It appears that Mark Gatiss, Benedict Cumberbatch, executive producer Sue Vertue and Martin Freeman were not as keen. He went on to comment that notwithstanding Gatiss’, Cumberbatch’s, Vertue’s and Freeman’s concerns he would be gratified with “banging it out” and making it as good as it could be, backing it up by declaring that he was in the camp of giving the fans everything they wanted.
Sherlock and Doctor Who crossover on British TV! The Labour Party has produced a party political broadcast starring Martin Freeman, Sherlock‘s John Watson, with a little assistance from the voice of David Tennant.
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UK TV On Sunday three Matt Smith episodes are currently being screened in the morning 12th Apr 6 am, 7 am and 7.55 am Vincent and the Doctor; The Lodger and The Pandorica Opens 19th Apr 5.45 am, 6.45 am and 8.05 am The Big Bang; A Christmas Carol and The Impossible Astronaut 26th Apr 6.05 am, 7.00 am and 8.00 am Day of the Moon; The Curse of the Black Spot and The Doctor’s Wife 3rd May 6.20 am, 7.15 am and 8.10 am Rebel Flesh; The Almost People and A Good Man Goes to War 10th May 5.45 am, 6.45 am and 7.40 am Let’s Kill Hitler; Night Terrors and The Girl Who Waited 17th May 6.00 am, 7.00 am and 7.55 am The God Complex; Closing Time and The Wedding of River Song 24th May 5.45 am, 6.55 am and 7.55 am The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe; Asylum of the Daleks and Dinosaurs on a Spaceship 31st May 6.05 am, 7.00 am and 7.55 am A Town Called Mercy; The Power of Three and The Angels Take Manhattan NuWho now also available on Netflix Australia. Torchwood
SyFy From Monday 9th March at 1.30 pm for five days a week (Monday to Friday) the whole of series 1, 2 and 3 ending on Monday 20th April. Plus selected episodes on Saturday at 1 am and 4 am and also a selected episode at 5.30 pm on Sunday. Now also available on Netflix Australia. Sarah Jane Adventures
None currently K9
None currently
Death by Dalek covered by Virgin life insurance A new life insurance policy is set to cover every eventuality… including being exterminated by Daleks, crushed by a Transformer or killed in a ‘Sharknado’! Virgin Money will also pay out in the unfortunate event of being killed by Martian death rays or eaten by the Loch Ness monsters.
Doctor Who is teaching kids how to code As part of their new ‘Make It Digital – computer awareness movement’ the BBC will be adding a new level of fan interaction to the series 9 of Doctor Who. No details have come to light yet on just how this new challenge will work, but the goal will be to have viewers watch the series and based on information given during the episodes, create a new computer programme based on Who. The BBC’s creative director Alan Yentob told Radio Times that Doctor Who executive producer is “on board” with the idea. BBC’s Make it Digital has already had a hit with free downloadable game The Doctor and the Dalek which enables users to develop their IT skills whilst solving a unique adventure. Capaldi the puppet The arched eyebrows of Peter Capaldi and Benedict Cumberbatch's stretched face will make an appearance in ITV's topical puppet animation sketch show Newzoids. The six-part series will launch on Wednesday April 15.
Paul Cornell writing multi-Doctor comic Titan has announced that Paul Cornell is writing a special multi-Doctor comic series bringing together the Tenth, Eleventh and Twelfth Doctors. The fivepart storyline will replace the regular Tenth, Eleventh and Twelfth Doctor comic series. It launches on August 12 and will run weekly through to the end of September. The companions in the crossover event will be drawn from the current comic book series for each Doctor, meaning comic book originals Gabriella Gonzalez and Alice Obiefune in addition to the Twelfth Doctor’s current traveling partner Clara Oswald. “Doctor Who Adventures” changes owners Doctor Who Adventures has changed publishers to Panini UK where it will become a stablemate of Doctor Who Magazine. The first Panini issue will appear on April 23 with Jason Quinn taking over as editor. This issue will be numbered issue 1, as opposed to continuing the existing numbering. Issue 363 will be the final one to be published by Immediate Media. Dominic Glynn CD Dominic Glynn’s has released a mini-album featuring music from The Trial of a Timelord, Dragonfire and Survival, as well as a new take on the Terror Version from Variations on a Theme CD. It is available as a digital download from various platforms and you can pre-order from April 18. The Underwater Menace DVD dropped The Underwater Menace was moved onto this year’s schedule, but now the BBC DVD Enquiry Line, says it’s been removed from the 2015 schedule too! The BBC Consumer Products department have released this statement: “We appreciate that some Doctor Who fans are disappointed that we have not yet been able to release The Underwater Menace on DVD. We would like to reassure everyone that we are currently reviewing the best way to bring fans more Classic Doctor Who titles. Please bear with us – we’ll let you know more as soon as we can.”
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JAMES STOKER Humour in Doctor Who
Further DVD news A series of 5 DVD interviews have been released by Fantom Films under the title “Cult Conversations”. The interviews are with: Katy Manning, Fenella Fielding, Terry Molloy, John Carson and the late Tom Adams.
Hi there!! Here is a little giggle my family and I came up with on the 19th of December, 2014. We think it's original, if a bit cringe worthy. Q: What does the Eleventh Doctor have on his fish fingers when he's out of custard? A: TARDIS sauce. Kind regards Sonia Steinbeck.
A limited edition of the Blu-Ray Steelbook of “Daleks – Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.” to be released on May 15 by Zavvi in the UK, has already sold out.
ARE YOU LOCAL?
Reeltime’s Pictures range of Doctor Who interviews, under the title of Myth Makers, has been relaunched through a brand new website called Time Travel TV. The site initially featured fifty titles for fans to download, stream or purchase on DVD. Reeltime have also recorded a series of brand new Myth Makers to be released over the coming months. An Anthony Ainley tribute plus interviews with special effects guru Mike Tucker, composer Dominic Glynn, seventies producer Graham Williams and writer David Fisher.
DWCA Local Groups
Allora – Fraser Clark allora@drwhoaustralia.org Bathurst – Ali Kin & Kieron Dorian centralwest@drwhoaustralia.org Brisbane – Steve Glasby brisbane@drwhoaustralia.org Canberra – Ian McAlpine canberra@drwhoaustralia.org Gosford – Chris Collins centralcoast@drwhoaustralia.org Newcastle – Luke Steele Sandford lukejake1982@hotmail.com Sydney – Dallas Jones sydney@drwhoaustralia.org Toowoomba – David Riley towoomba@drwhoaustralia.org Note: All Local Groups apart from Canberra have a group on Facebook to facilitate discussion and publicise meet-ups. Go to the DWCA Local Groups webpage to get full details of each of the groups activities.
A US exclusive DVD collecting the following Cybermen stories: Earthshock, "Army of Ghosts", "Doomsday", "Closing Time", "Nightmare in Silver", "Dark Water", and "Death in Heaven". It will be released on May 19 2015. “When to Die” is 5th entry in the P.R.O.B.E. series of spinoff video dramas produced by BBV. It is about the activities of a Torchwood-esque agency called the ‘Preternatural Research Bureau’, led by Liz Shaw. Caroline John passed away in 2012 and in this new drama the character of Liz has been recast with Hazel Burrows playing the role. Released on April 15.
Also available will be a number of curiosities that have remained unreleased until now including Sophie’s Choice, an early 90’s pilot for an unmade children's documentary series hosted by Sophie Aldred. Later this year will also see the release of a brand new drama from Reeltime, White Witch of Devils End. This six episode series stars Damaris Hayman reprising her role as Miss Hawthorne. Reeltime also plan to shoot several Myth Makers with actors from the new series of Doctor Who, to be done live at a convention. Vinyl Figures Funko – the company who hold the license to make vinyl and pop culture licensed toys, have just unveiled their new Doctor Who range. The TARDIS, The 12th Doctor, The 11th Doctor, The 10th Doctor, The 4th Doctor, A Dalek, A Cyberman, A Weeping Angel and an Adipose all feature in the first wave of Doctor Who vinyl figures.
Doctor Who Figurines Doctor Who Figure Collection Magazine latest issues announced are: Issue 51 – 7th Doctor, Issue 52 – Handbot, Issue 53 – Moonbase Cyberman, Issue 54 – The Foretold and Issue 55 – Supreme Council Dalek from Planet of the Daleks plus two more special issues: The Beast and The Dalek Emperor (The Evil of the Daleks). Robert Harrop has announced two new Doctor Who Limited Edition 1:12 scale hand painted figurines. They are the Ice Warrior Varga and a Revenge of the Cybermen Cyberman. Terrance Dicks to write for Lethbridge-Stewart series Lance Parkin novel Horror of Det-Sen will no longer be published as part of the series. David A McIntee's The Schizoid Earth moves into the June slot and it will be followed by a new replacement entitled Beast of Fang Rock it will be co-written by Andy Frankham-Allen and Terrance Dicks. Then follows Mutually Assured Domination by Nick Walters. 2016 will see novels by John Peel, Jonathan Cooper, Lizbeth M Myles and Adrian Rigelsford. Candy Jar Books has made a 65 page e-book called Lethbridge-Stewart: Top Secret Files available for download from their website. It contains previously unpublished material, including an extended short story first published in Doctor Who Magazine issue 483 and a special, previously unreleased interview in which Doctor Who director Graeme Harper talks about the actor who played Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, Nicholas Courtney.
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Big Finish until at least 2020! Big Finish has announced that its licence to make original Doctor Who on audio has been extended until March 31 2020. They are already, planning Doctor Who stories into 2017 and 2018 including more adventures from the Fifth, Six and Seventh Doctors in the monthly range, more stories for the Fourth Doctor and his companions in The Fourth Doctor Adventures. Starting in October 2015 will be a new era for the Eighth Doctor, Liv Chenka and their new friend gifted philologist Helen Sinclair in Doctor Who: Doom Coalition. The series will see the TARDIS recalled to Gallifrey by the Time Lords, where they will be battling a new foe known only as The Eleven. It is an epic saga that will span four box sets (a total of sixteen episodes) forming one breathtaking inter-connecting saga that will push the Doctor’s bravery and resourcefulness to its limits.
Books 31 March Revolutions of Terror {Titan Books} Graphic 6 April Unofficial Doctor Who: The Big Book of Lists {Race Point Publishing} 7 April Companion Piece: Women Celebrate the Humans, Aliens and Tin Dogs of Doctor Who {Mad Norwegian Press} 17 April Drama and Delight: The Life & Legacy of Verity Lambert {Miwk} 30 April Erimem: The Last Pharaoh {Thebes Publishing} Fiction April Seasons of War {ChinBeard Books} Short stories and The New Who Programme Guide {Wonderful Books} 1 May The Good Soldier {Panini} Graphic 7 May Time Traveler’s Journal {BBC Children's Books} 21 May Doctor Who: City of Death {BBC Books} 31 May The Man Behind the Master: The Biography of Anthony Ainley {Fantom Films} and Outside In 2 – 125 Unique Perspectives on 125 Modern Doctor Who Stories by 125 Writers {ATB Publishing} May Temporal Logbook {Pencil Tip Publishing} Short stories and LethbridgeStewart: Fear of Light {Candy Jar Books} Fiction June Mac: The Life and Work of Malcolm Hulke {Miwk} September Royal Blood by Una McCormack {BBC Books} Fiction; Big Bang Generation by Gary Russell {BBC Books} Fiction and Deep Time by Trevor Baxendale {BBC Books} Fiction
Audio April 198. The Defectors {Big Finish} Dark Eyes 4 {Big Finish} Fourth Doctor Adventures: 4.04. Death Match {Big Finish} Short Trips: 08. The Ghost Trap {Big Finish} Jago & Litefoot: Series Nine {Big Finish} Frontios {BBC Physical Audio} The Roundheads {BBC Physical Audio} May 199. Last of the Cybermen {Big Finish} Fourth Doctor Adventures 4.05. Suburban Hell {Big Finish} Novel Adaptations, Volume 2 – Limited Special Edition {Big Finish} Novel Adaptations: Damaged Goods {Big Finish} Short Trips: 09. The King of the Dead {Big Finish} The 4th Doctor by Gareth Roberts: The Well-Mannered War {Big Finish} The Worlds of Big Finish {Big Finish} Last of the Gaderene {BBC Physical Audio} City of Death {BBC Physical Audio}
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June 200. The Secret History {Big Finish} Fourth Doctor Adventures: 4.06. The Cloisters of Terror {Big Finish} Short Trips: 10. As Good As A Rest {Big Finish} The Companion Chronicles: The First Doctor Box Set {Big Finish} The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield Vol 2: The Triumph of Sutekh {Big Finish} The Massacre {BBC Physical Audio} The Nest Cottage Chronicles {BBC Physical Audio} The House of Winter {BBC Physical Audio}
Other Titan comics: 15 April – Tenth Doctor issue 9, Eleventh Doctor issue 11 and Twelfth Doctor issue 7; 29 April – Ninth Doctor issue 2; 6 May – Twelfth Doctor issue 8 and Tenth Doctor issue 10; 13 May – Eleventh Doctor issue 12; 27 May – Tenth Doctor issue 11 and Ninth Doctor issue 3 DWM: 19 March – The Essential Doctor Who: The Master; 2 April – issue 485; 30 April – issue 486; 28 May – issue 487
NEXT ISSUE A Doctor Who Wedding!
Lore Burns had a Doctor Who themed wedding, recently, in March. The following are quotes from Lore: "The wedding was very Doctor Who and theatrical. For instance, a full sized Dalek chases me down the aisle; the groomsmen arrive in the Tardis etc. We basically want to show our wedding to as many people as possible because we think it's cool." Find out more next issue!
Welcome to this, the first issue of “The Nethersphere” DWCA’s new enewsletter. It is planned for this publication to come out every three months, between issues of Data Extract. So expect to see issue two sometime mid-July. If you wish to contribute with a letter, topical review, piece of artwork, news item, short story, article, joke (thanks to Sonia Steinbeck for sending one in, thus we have created a column it). Anyone else who wants to send us a Doctor Who joke or a contribution to the “Web Planet” column or anything else, then please send it to the_nethersphere@yahoo.com.au. In case you have not noticed, in the newsletter there are quite a few hyperlinks to more information on the web, we hope this makes for a more interesting read. If you come across a website, webpage or video/audio on the web that you think may be of interest please contact us (as above) and we will consider putting it into the “Web Planet” column. The other contribution you may be interested in providing is for our “Eh? Doctor who? What’s he talking about…?” Column. This showcases a particular quote from a Doctor Who character. This issue, the quote is by the 12th Doctor from “Deep Breath”. Hi from Dallas: Just a personal note that I am feeling very much déjà vu in editing the first issue of a newsletter for the DWCA. It takes me back to 1980 when I offered to do a newsletter so as to keep people informed of what was happening in Doctor Who, between issues of the club’s magazine, which at that time was Zerinza. “Full Circle” as Andrew Smith would say. Hi from Roger: What-ho everyone. Well, here I am again, with me ol' mate Dallas, hammering out the words on the anvil, hoping it makes sense and, perchance, to amuse. Putting together a newsletter is quite a new experience for me. The challenge, I believe, will be to consolidate an eclectic variety of material in an interesting and engaging manner; and do it regularly, on time – but there's no budget – just the usual currency of blood, sweat and tears. Upwards and onwards – allons-nous!
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Dallas Jones and Roger Reynolds
Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular QANTAS Credit Union Arena – Saturday 7th February I went to the Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular in Sydney and when I arrived I was surprised to find out that I had been given a new seat. My ticket was originally for a seat near the back but instead I was given a seat about five rows nearer. Peter Davison did a wonderful job of presenting and Ben Foster was the conductor and at the end for the finale he came out wearing the Fifth Doctor’s coat! The only other ‘person’ (other than the musicians of the orchestra) who appeared on stage was the soprano Antoinette Halloran who sang beautifully. There was a lot going on with the music, videos on the screens and aliens making themselves known. I really enjoyed my Doctor Who night out.
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Pam Isaacson
WEB PLANET Quirky and interesting items from the net On YouTube:
Tom Baker’s Christmas message here; Festive Cheer from Sylvester McCoy here; Last Christmas deleted scene here; Doctor Who Extra - Last Christmas here; Doctor Puppet - The Planet that came for Christmas here; Robot orchestra perform Doctor Who theme - Royal Institution Christmas Lectures 2014 here; London New Year’s Fireworks - Doctor Who Section here; Dalek on The Big Fat Anniversary Quiz here; Home movie footage of Tom Baker circa 1979 here; Ten Years of New Doctor Who - It's a long one so, settle down with a cup of tea and a Jammy Dodger here & here; Doctor Who season one (1963) trailer in colour here; The BabelColour The Time War Chronicles here; 22 of Peter Capaldi's Funniest Scenes here; Peter Capaldi Remembers Rose (Doctor Who BBC) here; The TARDIS on the Big Bang Theory here; The Doctor Surprises Fans at the Doctor Who Experience Doctor Who here; Webpages:
From Trove “Take a Dalek to the Beach” (1965 Australian Woman’s Weekly) here; Australian Transmission History (Part One) (19651967) here.
Doctor Who – Engines of War By George Mann. A War Doctor novel. Yes. War Doctor. It acts as a prelude/prequel to "Day of the Doctor", in which we see what inspires him to say "No More", and it's unsettling (in fact, it'd inspire any of the Doctors to take radical action). How is the War Doctor different to any of the other Doctors you may ask? Basically, he takes the "ends justify the means" attitude; an approach where "some corners of the universe ... they must be fought" attitude and he moulds this dark motivation into one little ball of barely contained fury. A stand out moment sees him jumping onto a table and marching down it towards a Time Lord with an "I'm going to murder you" expression on his face, which worries someone who has known The Doctor for years; he genuinely thinks the War Doctor will throttle the Time Lord. There's a reference back to the famous "do I have the right?" scene where he says effectively, "I was wrong" and then proceeds to blow up the Dalek Factory he's in. But importantly, you do get a sense of an "innate Doctorishness" about him, his curiosity is still easily piqued and his sense of justice is still there. In fact, it is his sense of justice which ultimately drives him to say "No More". Throughout the story, however, there is an underlying impression that although he's not "The Doctor" he once used to be, deep down he wants to be "The Doctor" and he will, one day, return to being that person.
Daniel Worsley
Last Christmas "To sleep, perchance to dream-ay, there's the rub." Hamlet - William Shakespeare Is this all, our very existence, a dream? Are we but shadows on a cave wall, or, perhaps, creatures living on the surface of a hypersphere or, could we be submerged in tank of nutrients hooked into a vast computer some-where? "No one knows they're not dreaming. Not one of us. Not ever. Not for one single moment of our lives." Eloquently put, my dear Doctor. The Moff's 2014 Christmas special was, indeed, a special. We had been in fear of Blinking, Breathing, Turning around, Drinking water, and Eating. We can now add Dreaming to that list. What remains? On the surface, you might be led to think that "Last Christmas" is a fanciful, almost throw away, creation; but it has a deeply unsettling motif. Dreams within dreams within dreams; do we ever wake up? We commence the story with an apparently light-hearted disaster when
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Santa and his Sleigh, with a couple of insouciant elves and an assortment reindeer, crash lands on Clara's rooftop. Ah, ha. Is this another fluffy story about Santa and masses of children not getting their presents? TARDIS plus Doctor to the rescue! Tally-ho chaps. We are mistaken. The story takes an abrupt and sinister turn as we are transported to a remote research establishment located at the North Pole. We quickly grasp the familiar trope of remote base under siege. So familiar is this theme, we do not question the purpose of the base, what, actually, is Shona doing, and why The Doctor and Clara turn up there. We accept the (sleigh) ride without question. "What is going on?" we ask. Santa, his two elves, a saddled-up reindeer plus Rudolf with a remotely controlled red nose, turn up to do the necessary explaining and establish the nature of the impending danger to the human race. We'll all be murdered in our beds! The Doctor tells us that The Dream Crabs can weaponize our own dreams against us. So, is this a dream too? Clara's encounter with Danny shows us a romanticized view of their relationship and her unwillingness to accept the reality of his death. Has she been taken by a Dream Crab? Clara tells The Doctor to leave her to die in the happiness of her dream. A revealing moment which allows us to see just how much Danny meant to Clara. Gallantly, Danny tells her to remember him but insists she must live her life to the full. Perhaps this is the crux of the story; each Christmas we should get together with family and loved ones, as it might be The Last Christmas that we have that chance. Is there likely to be a more 'sleighride moment' than the one shown here? Possibly, but this one is spectacular, punctuated as it is with the departure of the various North Pole characters with the disclosures of who they actually are, and in some cases, their dream-state turns out to be much better than their reality. The final scene between The Doctor and the aged Clara would suffice as an adequate epitaph for Clara's exit from the show. However, the revelation that she is staying on with "the mad man with a box" provides one heck of an optimistic and uplifting final moment. That moment completes a story in keeping with a few of the standard Doctor Who lores of monsters, remote bases and classic myths; yet it also manages to balance the melancholy and joyousness of the Christmas season. "Last Christmas" is a rattling good story with belies an unsettling proposition: what is reality? Peter and Jenna are excellent in their roles while top rate acting support is rendered by Nick Frost, Samuel Anderson and Faye Marsay. 
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Simon Gauss
GOLDEN YEARS Doctor Who celebrates fifty years on Australian Television
Just over fifty years ago on January 12 1965 Doctor Who began its screening in Australia. It was screened by the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Commission then, and now the Australian Broadcasting Corporation) but as television in Australia, at that time, was not networked this first screening, the episode “An Unearthly Child”, was shown only in Perth at 7.30 pm.
TANGERINE DREAM The tangerine seems to be very important in “Last Christmas” so I have gathered together all of its appearances in the story. Tangerines are first seen at 31’ into the story when Clara opens a door to find that Santa and his two elves have crash landed on her roof with a large amount of tangerines and presents scattered over the roof. The elf named Wolf is wearing a jacket which is mostly tangerine in colour. At 50’ Santa tells the elves to “Just clear all the tangerines up”. Ian, the other of the elves, replies that “You know that no one really likes tangerines, don’t you?” Santa tells Ian that it is “His signature gift, that and the walnut”. The elves then start to pick up the scattered presents and tangerines.
Three days later on January 15 the same episode was screened in Sydney, various NSW Country stations and the ACT. This was followed by screenings on: January 22 for Brisbane and Toowoomba, February 20 for Melbourne and various Victorian country stations, March 4 for Townsville, March 15 for Adelaide, March 18 for Rockhampton and finally on June 11 for Hobart and Launceston. Many ABC stations had not been opened by January 1965 and in fact 10 opened in 1965 and a further 14 in 1966. This meant that various areas in Australia did not see their first Doctor Who until later in the first season and some in the middle of a story! Some areas did not even have an ABC transmitter, so missed out altogether for many years.
At 4”25’, as the Doctor enters his TARDIS, Santa says “Be sure to save some room for a tangerine Doctor” to which The Doctor replies “Nobody likes tangerines”. At 6”22’ a bowl of tangerines can be seen in the background at the North Pole Station. At 9”06’ the same bowl can be seen in the background. At 12”10’, immediately after the explosion in the base, a single tangerine bounces into the room. This is followed by Santa and his elves, one of whom has a balloon animal that is tangerine in colour. At 19”52’, 20”51’, 21”07’, 21”52’ and 21”59’ the bowl of tangerines can again be seen in the background. At 25”00’ when Clara sees the word “dreaming” on the blackboard the lights, out of focus, in the background are, what look like, tangerines. At 35”22’ the Doctor gives the group each a copy of the base manual, its cover is tangerine in colour. At 47”28’ Ashley lights up a distress flare which is clearly tangerine in colour. At 52”25’ when Shona wakes up there is a half consumed bottle of orange (tangerine?) drink on the table in front of her. Finally at 59”36’ as the TARDIS dematerialises we see a tangerine sitting on the window sill of Clara’s bedroom.
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Lewis Palmer