Doctor Who @ 50: Great Doctor Who Quotes #3

"..I left my car outside a junkyard in the fog, and ended up catapulted through time and space. Me and.. Barbara.. we'd been intrigued by one of our pupils.. named Susan, and we'd followed her home. Well, turned out her home was just a box.. bigger on the inside.. some kind of science of the Doctor's. He was Susan's grandfather.. It was a ship really, on the outside it looked like a police telephone box.. but.. it could travel through time. Anyway, the Doctor whisked us off in this ship, TARDIS he called it.."

- Ian Chesteron, The Companion Chronicles: The Revenants

(Published by Big Finish, 2012)

Written by Ian Potter

Great Doctor Who Quotes #2

"In all my travelling throughout the universe I have battled against evil, against power mad conspirators. I should have stayed here! The oldest civilisation: decadent, degenerate, and rotten to the core... Daleks, Sontarans, Cybermen? They're still in the nursery compared to us! Ten million years of absolute power. That's what it takes to be really corrupt."

- The Doctor, The Trial of a Time Lord, Part 13
(November 29th 1986)

Written by Robert Holmes

Missing Doctor Who Episodes Revealed

Many months of internet speculation, and newspaper reports last weekend, culminated on Tuesday with official confirmation from the BBC of the existence of an unspecified number of 'lost' Doctor Who episodes.

The Radio Times website even reported that some recovered material would be released this week for sale online.

Finally, at a press conference in London yesterday, the Corporation revealed that nine installments from the Patrick Troughton era had been discovered in Nigeria by Phillip Morris, and restored by BBC Worldwide. The haul comprised of the five missing parts of The Enemy of the World, and four episodes from The Web of Fear. Frazer Hines, Deborah Watling and Mark Gatiss joined other guests and journalists to view two returned episodes.
The two complete adventures are now available to purchase from iTunes, and DVD releases are due next month and in the New Year.

Doctor Who Anniversary Schedule Unveiled

The BBC have announced details of their new celebratory TV and radio commissions for the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who which will culminate in the special 75-minute story, The Day of the Doctor to be broadcast on Saturday November 23rd.

• BBC Two will screen the 90-minute biopic, An Adventure in Space and Time which stars David Bradley as William Hartnell
• Matthew Sweet explores the cultural impact of Doctor Who in a hour-long special of The Culture Show, whilst Professor Brian Cox will present his own Royal Lecture before an audience of fans
• BBC Four will repeat a newly restored version of the four-part adventure, An Unearthly Child
• CBBC will feature two live Doctor Who themed episodes of Blue Peter, and a one-off 'vox-pops' show called 12 Again
• The Ultimate Guide will air on BBC Three, and viewers will get to vote for the programme's greatest baddie in their Monsters and Villains Weekend
• Radio 2 will broadcast two new documentaries, The Blagger's Guide and Who is the Doctor? and Graham Norton will host his weekly show live from the Doctor Who Celebration in London
• an hour-long documentary looking at Time Lord Rock (TROCK) will air on Radio 1
• Radio 4 Extra, the home of Doctor Who audio stories, is to broadcast a three-hour programme, Who Made Who?

Great Doctor Who Quotes #1

“…but think about it. There’s a murder, and Agatha Christie… isn’t that a bit weird? Agatha Christie didn’t walk around surrounded by murders… that’s like meeting Charles Dickens and he’s surrounded by ghosts, at Christmas… come on! It’s not like we could drive across country and find Enid Blyton having tea with Noddy. Could we? Noddy’s not real, is he? Tell me there’s no Noddy… you’ll be telling me it’s like Murder on the Orient Express, and they all did it!”

- the plucky Miss Donna Noble, The Unicorn and the Wasp
(May 17th 2008)
Written by Gareth Roberts

NEW DOCTOR ANNOUNCED.. LIVE!

After two months of intense speculation, the Twelfth Doctor was unveiled tonight at Elstree Studios, live on BBC One.

Scottish-actor Peter Capaldi was revealed as Matt Smith's successor on Doctor Who Live: The New Doctor, which was simulcast in the UK, North America and Australia.

Capaldi was presented before a studio audience of Whovians, and special guests Peter Davison, Bernard Cribbins, and celebrity fans Liza Tarbuck, and Rufus Hound. Filmed contributions also came from Matt Smith, Steven Moffat, Colin Baker, Anneke Wills, Katy Manning, Janet Fielding, Bonnie Langford, Jenna Coleman, and even Professors Stephen Hawking, Robert Winston and Brian Cox.

Moffat previewed the announcement by commenting "The decision is made and the time has come to reveal who's taking over the TARDIS. For the last of the Time Lords, the clock is striking twelve" then stated tonight that "It's an incendiary combination, one of the most talented actors of his generation is about to play the best part on television."
Capaldi is best known as the foul-mouthed spin-doctor, Malcolm Tucker in BBC comedy series, The Thick of It. The Glasgow-born BAFTA-winning actor, aged 55, also appeared in Doctor Who: The Fires of Pompeii, and Torchwood: Children of Earth. On his new role, he said "Being asked to play the Doctor is an amazing privilege. Like the Doctor himself I find myself in a state of utter terror and delight. I can't wait to get started."

Doctor Who Vs. Oliver Twist (2005)

By 2005, the French-born film-maker, Roman Polanski was keen to produce a child-friendly cinematic version of Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist - actually the first adaptation since the Oscar-winning musical, Oliver! in 1968. This new rendition, shown on Film4 today, was shot entirely in the Czech Republic.

Literary classic Oliver Twist (also known as The Parish Boy's Progress, and originally published monthly in Bentley's Miscellany from 1837-39) was only Dickens' second novel.

The cast here was headed by Sir Ben Kingsley as Fagin, with the famous orphan now portrayed by Barney Clark (picutred left), and also featured these ten Doctor Who cast connections:

• Ian McNeice (Limbkins) played Winston Churchill in Victory of the Daleks, The Pandorica Opens and The Wedding of River Song (a role reprised for Big Finish's The Churchill Years), and also voiced Zeus for Immortal Beloved (2007), and Reginald Harcourt for The Renaissance Man (2012)
• Chris Overton (Noah) voiced Terrill and Levek for The Brood of Erys (2014)
• Jamie Foreman (Bill Sykes) was Eddie Connolly in The Idiot's Lantern
• Timothy Bateson (Parson) was Binro in The Ribos Operation
• Joseph Tremain (Hungry Boy) was Jim in The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances
• Peter Copley (Master) was Dr Warlock in Pyramids of Mars
• Gerald Horan (Farmer) was Clark in Human Nature and The Family of Blood
• Patrick Godfrey (Bookseller) was Tor in The Savages, and Major Cosworth in The Mind of Evil
• Frank Mills (Officer) was the Radio Telescope Director in Terror of the Autons
• Paul Brooke (Grimwig) voiced Paolo for The Ghosts of N-Space, and Toby the Sapient Pig for Year of the Pig (2006)