No Return For The 8th Doctor

Paul McGann has hinted that he would not be as keen to join Doctor Who in 2011.

The 51-year-old actor, who played The Doctor in the 1996 TV movie, said that he would find the attention attached to the role these days "tricky", comparing himself to Ninth Doctor Christopher Eccleston.

Speaking about the adulation now afforded to fellow stage actor David Tennant following his lead role in Doctor Who, McGann told Official London Theatre: "He's fantastic of course and he's obviously got a great sense of humour about everything.

"Chris, I think, seemingly found it tricky. I think I probably would have been more like Chris. I like my privacy."

The star added that he was happy to "escape" the format, having not reprised his role when Russell T Davies brought the show back in 2005.

McGann was initially employed for a full Doctor Who series following the one-off film, but the idea was subsequently scrapped.

Source: Digital Spy

Tribute To Elisabeth Sladen that aired over in the UK 4/23/11

Over here in the US we were not as privlaged to have seen this but I found it this morning. The Doctor Who family come together to send off one of their own in this lovely tribute to Elisabeth Sladen, known for her portrayal of Sarah Jane Smith! We Miss You!!

Newsround - Elisabeth Sladen Tribute

David Tennant on BBC Breakfast

David Tennant talks about Elisabeth Sladen on BBC Breakfast

Digital Spy's Interview with Steven Moffet

So Rory's shot Amy. The TARDIS has exploded with River inside it. And The Doctor has been trapped in the Pandorica. In short, it's the end of the universe. But there's still one episode of the series to go, so things must be far from over, right? Not if you believe Steven Moffat. We caught up with the Doctor Who showrunner at the launch of the latest Adventure Game in Edinburgh to glean what we could about the finale and beyond.

When you came to plan out this series, did you have the finale in your head from the start?
"I had aspects of it. I had certain things I needed that I need to get to, and I had an overarching idea that would, and I suppose it's a better conversation to have after next week's episode. There are certain things that you'll see that have been there from the beginning. There's been quite a careful planning of things, which is pretty obvious from episode 12, that everything was set up and paid off there. There's more coming next week, in the event that anyone comes out of the Pandorica. So yeah, you have to leave yourself some space to improvise, otherwise it gets boring, otherwise you get bored with your own script, and quite a lot of episode 13, which is a mad episode, is brand new. But there are certain key points where I know I wanted 'this'. I'm thinking of the next finale right now so I can plot the rest of the series. I know what the big reveals are and the big hopefully jaw dropping moments are going to be."

So you'll be planning a similar sort of setup for the next series?
"Similar in the sense that it's an arc that doesn't get in the way too much. That's in the event if there is another series, which is all told in flashback."

Episode twelve ended with an almighty trio of cliffhangers. Can you tell us anything at all about episode 13?
"Well, there's going to be some light music and a short note of apology saying, 'The universe ended last week, we're really sorry, we don't know what you're doing here, didn't you get the message?'"

Does the series wrap things up with a neat resolve in time for the Christmas special?
"Well we blew up the universe, so it'll be a nice flashback episode at Christmas."

Will there be any kind of trailer for the Christmas special after the episode?
"After the 50 minutes of gentle music and weeping apology? Nope. The universe has ended."

Will you at least reveal the title?
"There will be a Christmas special - well, a flashback Christmas special - but no, we won't be telling you anything, not a single thing. It's too early."

Do you know when we'll find out?
"No, I don't actually know when we'll start releasing that information. I genuinely don't! [We'll] try and work what we've normally done as with all these specials before, but there'll be some strategy that won't be mine."

Watching this series back as it's aired, have you learned any lessons about what works and what doesn't?
"I think you learn things every day, yeah. A lot of things we learn isn't necessarily artistic in a way, sometimes it's practical, it's 'That's where you spend your money, over there, not over there, over there'. A lot thinking that's wasted money. Don't use your CGI when you need a spaceship, when you use CGI somewhere make sure it blows something up. Just stuff like that. It's less artistic and more practical."

How far into planning series six are you?
"Not far enough, I think is the answer to that! I've got lots of plans - plans are not nearly as useful as scripts, I find - so I'd like to have more scripts and fewer plans. We're not quite as ahead of the game as we were last time. But it's fine."

Do you have all of your writers confirmed yet?
"We've got a fair number of them, there's one more I'm chasing, but yeah."

Do you think it's possible Russell could come back to write an episode?
"Is it possible? He's pretty adamant that he's not going to. I'm in constant touch with him. I don't know, you'd have to ask him. He did an awful lot of Doctor Who for an awful lot of years, and I think he's finding it in a way hard, because he's done a Doctor Who story in effect for Sarah Jane Adventures. So I think he possibly wants to get away from it for a bit. I can understand that, because he did a hell of a lot. But I'd love to get him, it would be just joyous to get him back because I miss him."

So it's something you'd like to see happen?
"Oh I would love it, and I said to him, "Look I want" and he said, 'Don't even ask me for series five because I'm just knackered, I just want to go lie down,' and I think I'll find out how that feels. But I did ask him for series six, and I always will."

And you definitely can't tell us anything about episode 13?
"The universe has ended, mate, he's dead. The Doctor is in the Pandorica, there's this little voice saying: 'Hello, that was a big bang wasn't it? Oh, something happened out there?'"

Thanks for your time, Steven.
"I hope you enjoy it, it's the maddest thing you'll ever see."


Source: Digital Spy

Doctor Who Confidential Clip

Smith Introducing The Big Bang

RTD Interview about Torchwood Series 4

I am really hoping that they are not planning on Americanizing it as much as it sounds like they are planning too cause it will just ruin it!!! Even though I love RTD and understand that he is in the US know but please don't ruin it like how they did when Fox did Doctor Who that one time with the 8th doctor!! PLEASE!!! Torchwood is great the way it is don't alter it to where we can hardly recognize it!!!

Digital Spy on Doctor Who

Could River Song be the Doctor's Mum????

From The Time Vortex

Alex Kingston has suggested that her Doctor Who character River Song could be the Doctor's mother.

Speaking to the Radio Times, Kingston explained that she had previously thought that River was the Doctor's lover.

"I was absolutely certain," she said. "That's what I'd assumed. But when I was reading 'The Time Of Angels', I suddenly thought, 'My God, she's his mother!'"

However, Kingston explained that she still thinks the pair have a romantic relationship.

"The flirtation between them still indicates they have a much more intimate relationship further down the line, and I sort of hope it is that," she said. "I hope they're married. Otherwise, if she's his mother, the flirtation isn't quite appropriate!"

She continued: "[Showrunner] Steven Moffat always leaves a couple of doors open a chink, so he can change tack whenever he wants. That makes it exciting to act, but also a little dangerous. She could be the Doctor's grandmother, for goodness' sake! I don't think Steven wants to be pinned down."

Doctor Who Dalek created out of 480,000 matchsticks

This full scale matchstick model of one of television's scariest aliens is the work of Brian Croucher, 66, who spent more than two years on the task in the sitting room of his end of terrace house in Bognor Regis, West Sussex.

He finished it last month by applying the last of three coats of clear varnish to the 480,000 matches which have been cut, shaped and sanded into the 5ft 3in extraterrestrial.

"I spent an hour or maybe two on it at a day because I have a bad back and it is difficult sitting still for such a long time," said Mr Croucher, a retired electroplater. "Besides, it can be a tedious business."

Mr Croucher was bitten by the matchstick modelling bug 30 years ago when he watched his nephew struggling to make a model of his mother's house. He said: "I told him it looked good but bet him that I could make a matchstick boat and finish it before he finished his house. He gave up half way through but I carried on.

Read On at the Telegraph

BBC Interview with John Simm

The final scenes in Doctor Who are a "brilliant send-off" for David Tennant, his co-star has said.

The Life On Mars actor John Simm returns as The Doctor's nemesis, The Master, in a two-part Christmas special.

He says he had loads of fun working on David Tennant's last episodes, which are now complete.

"It's all done," he said. "I've just spoken to David (Tennant) and he hasn't seen it either. We're doing some dubbing and we go in and do the voice-overs.

"Hopefully we'll see a bit of it then. I'm looking forward to seeing it. It was a great script and we had such fun doing it.

"It'll be a brilliant send-off for Mr Tennant. Last time I did it it was such fun to do. It was wonderful to be asked back and to be in the very, very last one.

"To go head-to-head with him was a real honour. It was lovely to be asked. It was a great, great experience. We had such fun doing it. Hopefully it'll come across."

Simm says one of the main reasons he chose to appear in Doctor Who was because of his son.

He first appeared as The Doctor's nemesis, The Master, in 2007 in a special three-part end to the last series.

The role means the actor's eight-year-old son Ryan can now watch at least one of the programmes he appears in.

He said: "The things I usually do on TV or film are quite adult and he doesn't get to see it.

"He knew his dad was an actor but I never got the chance to prove it to him because he's not allowed to watch Life On Mars or Human Traffic or State Of Play. He wouldn't get it, thank God.

"It was a great opportunity to make my son proud."

SFX Interview with Liz Sladen

Lis Sladen previews The Sarah Jane Adventures
Back in July SFX went on set for The Sarah Jane Adventures (during the filming of series finale “The Gift”) and talked to the cast about what it was like working with David Tennant on the mid-season story in which he guest stars. You can read all about it in issue 190, on sale Wednesday 18 November (yes, November!). In the meantime, here’s a little bit of a preview of the first four stories, by the prenaturally ever-young Lis Sladen.

Episodes one and two
“Prisoner Of The Judoon” by Phil Ford.
“I love one and two, because I’m evil Sarah Jane, and I absolutely relished it – it’s great! I said to Phil Ford, ‘Why did you think I could do that?’ and he said, ‘It’s something you did or said last year’, so I thought ‘Oh… They do listen!”

Episodes three and four
“The Mad Woman In The Attic” by Joseph Lidster
“Three and four my husband [Brian Miller] is in, which is brilliant. That was in the rain on Barry Island. If you’ve ever been on Barry Island, with or without rain, you would remember it. I got a chest infection on Barry Island! You look at it and you don’t see the terrible weather we had - it was a nightmare for poor Alice [Troughton, the director], it really was. And for the lighting guy. And of course this year we’re in HD for the first time. It’s a different kind of look and it looks so expensive – it’s wonderful, I’m so thrilled with it.”

Episodes five and six
“The Wedding Of Sarah Jane Smith” by Gareth Roberts
“A great story. It’s by my lovely Gareth – he’s lovely because he knows Sarah so well, he knows Doctor Who so well. He puts little things in sometimes, where I look up from a read-through and maybe only he and I and Russell and someone else will spot them! It’s really nice to have those little moments.”

Episodes seven and eight
“The Eternity Trap” by Phil Ford
“The haunted house one is incredibly scary - I mean I even screech in it when something happens! Danny [Anthony, who plays Clyde] went to the loo and he wouldn’t look in the mirror - when he came back out from washing his hands, he flew out!”

The Next Doctor Would Love A Return......

David Morrissey has said that he enjoyed his time working on Doctor Who and would gladly return to the programme if given the opportunity.

The star appeared in 2008 Christmas special 'The Next Doctor', where he played a character who believed himself to be a Time Lord.

Speaking at the press launch of the BFI London Film Festival, Morrissey told DS: "I loved doing Doctor Who, I really did.

"In my total naivety I wasn't prepared for how mad it would get. People were camping out in my garden and so on. Russell [T. Davies] asked me to do this thing where it might be you, it might not be you, and I said yes. He said 'Don't tell anyone'. I said, 'Well, I'll tell my kids'. He said, 'No, don't tell your kids!'.

"It was really weird. My kids were coming home from school saying, 'Are you going to be Doctor Who?' and I said, 'I can't say. Do your homework and I might tell you!' I was on breakfast TV and it was like being on Jeremy Paxman, they were really grilling me about it."

He continued: "It was one of the happiest jobs I've ever done. It's so well run down there and I also had the pleasure of working with David [Tennant] again. We were somewhere, and I got out the car and it was like being a member of Take That. There were thousands of people. People shouting, screaming at him.

"David takes on the role of the Doctor not just as his character... he does the whole thing. Signing photographs, people bringing their kids to set, stuff like that. He really embraced the whole ambassadorial thing about being Doctor Who. I loved working with him, he was great."

Morrissey added: "We filmed the Christmas special at the end of an eight-month run for him. He was first man on set, always making sure everyone's alright. I was full of admiration for him. So if they wanted me to do it again I'd be well up for it."

Doctor Who Greatest Moments: The Enemies

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3


Part 4


Part 5


Part 6

DW Greatest Moments: The Companions

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3


Part 4

DW Greatest Moments- The Companions

Tonight on BBC3 at 8pm airs the second installment of Doctor Who's Greatest Moments: The Companions! Here is a preview:

Tennant Trying to be an ordinary Bloke after DW

David Tennant has admitted that he is keen to brush up on "life skills" now that he has completed work on Doctor Who.

The 38-year-old actor, who recently stepped down from his role as the Time Lord, confirmed that cooking and gardening will be keeping him busy in the months ahead.
"Those basic life skills seem to have escaped me and maybe now's the time to make them my hobby," Tennant told the Daily Express.

"Cooking is not something that comes naturally to me, so I'm working my way through some cookbooks to teach myself. I don't have any distinctive flair for it. So I'm trying to learn some techniques there."

On his other aspirations, he added: "I'm trying to teach myself how not to kill plants, which I do manage to have the skill for. I'd like to be a little more nurturing with my garden."
(Digital Spy)

RTD and DT Interview with Richard Metzger

Paul Whitelaw Interviews Former Doctor: Tom Baker!!

As Tom Baker steps back into The Doctor's shoes after a 30-year hiatus, he convinces PAUL WHITELAW it's no time at all – for a Time Lord

IT IS ALWAYS IMMENSELY gratifying to be reminded that Tom Baker is, in real life, precisely as you'd expect him to be. A disarmingly charismatic raconteur, the 75-year-old actor remains one of Britain's most beloved eccentrics.

From his early as a monk (he subsequently renounced his faith), to international stardom as one of the most popular Doctor Whos (1974 to 1981), to his present status as a national institution, Baker has lived a life as rich as his instantly recognisable voice. I can

PW: Aside from a brief cameo in a 1993 Children in Need special, this is the first time you've played the Doctor since leaving the series. What was so special about this project?

TB: They just called me at a good moment. People are always asking me to do things about Doctor Who, and most of the time I can't be bothered. Then I read the scripts – well, I read my bits, I don't read scripts. I really think that reading a whole script is kind of prying and neurotic, don't you?

PW: Doesn't that make them hard to understand?

TB: Well that's life, isn't it? Just imagine if you knew everything about me. We wouldn't discover anything, we wouldn't be surprised. It's none of my business where characters have been – I want to be surprised by what they do. I've never ever read a script. I really must read Macbeth, because I was in it once. I got a lot of laughs in that, I can tell you.

PW: So what's Hornet's Nest about?

TB: It seemed to me to be really very clever writing, because the hornet's nest is obviously a metaphor for the BBC. I think so anyway, although I didn't mention it to anyone there, because you don't want to be talking to directors, otherwise they get the idea that they're important. But it all made sense to me, these abused worker hornets, and queens and kings and ambitious ones who want to take over the world. I thought, yes, that's the BBC! Anyway, they didn't know my thinking, but they seemed to like what I did, and apparently they're very pleased with it. It's been well received in the religious press.

PW: Really? I didn't realise the religious press were interested in Doctor Who audio plays.

TB: Yes, there's a very good plug for it in The Tablet, whatever that is. I thought it was a kind of doctor's weekly, but apparently it's a Roman Catholic paper. It goes on about God. They're always giving God a plug, aren't they?

PW: Well, He needs all the press He can get. I haven't heard from him in years.

TB: Well, it depends what sort of company you keep! I quite often meet people who say they believe in God, and I go along with them. And I think, My God, I am actually having a conversation here with someone who's completely mad! I often say kind of cod-spiritual things about the democracy of growing old and the humiliation of dying being shared by us all, and that it's a great comfort to know that finally when we shed off this mortal coil we'll all be happy together. But the people who swallow that kind of guff are boneheads, aren't they? What I can't understand is why they don't understand the word "incorporeal". It's rather like the Muslims with their 75 virgins. I mean, what are you going to do with 75 virgins if you're incorporeal?

PW: Quite. So, did you find it easy, slipping back into the role of the Doctor?

TB: Well, you can tell by talking to me that I never slipped out of it! I'm really not an actor of any kind. I've always seen myself as an entertainer, someone who makes people laugh. That's all I've ever wanted to do. Doctor Who has always just been me, really. So when I picked up this script and read it, I just started as I would normally. There was no difficulty about it.

PW: You loved playing the Doctor, didn't you?

TB: It sounds so gooey, but it was a stupendous privilege, an amazing gift, like something out of a fairy tale. Everywhere I went I was actually loved and adored by children. And now those children have all got children of their own, and they still come and see me. I was at a sci-fi do at Earl's Court the other day, there were several thousand people there, and scores of them showed me pictures of themselves, these middle-aged men losing their hair, sitting on my knee in 1976 or something. It's all very sweet, that.

PW: You enjoy the attention?

TB: Well, I think if more people had more applause, it would make them feel better. I often give my wife a round of applause. If the meal is very good I give her a standing ovation. It's like when you fire off a sharp remark and get a big round of applause in the pub, which is enough to make you briefly immortal in Ireland. It's true, though, isn't it? People need attention, and when you're playing a children's hero you get lots and lots of attention. Doors are opened and people want to floss your teeth for you, it's incredible.

PW: You were very conscientious during your time in the role, making sure that you were never caught drinking, smoking or swearing in the presence of children.

TB: Yes, I took it very seriously because it was such a privilege. It was an absolutely amazing time, and although people asked how I'd feel when I left it, I never did leave it because I remain entirely myself. And here I am, 30 years after I left it, being invited all over the place. I recently travelled across the world on a luxury liner which had been commissioned by Doctor Who fans. They wanted me to go first class as their guest of honour, so how could I say no? These were obviously devoted fans who had made enormous sacrifices to raise money for a tour like that. You see, sci-fi fans remind me of pilgrims, really. I think all fans are pilgrims, like Liverpool fans who walk all the way to London to watch their team play Arsenal. Sometimes I do signing sessions for the BBC, signing new books or CDVs (sic], and some people haven't eaten for two days in order to be able to buy them. People are on the point of fainting.

PW: Isn't that taking things too far?

TB: When people love something absolutely they will make lots of sacrifices. The test of love is the capacity to make sacrifices for it. When you love something you become a victim of what you love. I'm a complete victim of my little dog, and I take her out in the woods at six o'clock in the morning because I love her. And so it is with the people who love football and rugby and cricket and Doctor Who, they become pilgrims. And pilgrims, of course, always had to make sacrifices. In Ireland they turned up on their hands and knees.

PW: You've said that you are now exclusively employed by people who grew up watching you in Doctor Who.

TB: Yes, that's true. Of course, the latest big one was Matt Lucas and David Walliams in Little Britain (Baker voices the narrator]. I was working with Matt the other day, actually, on something for the radio. I don't know if it has a title yet, but it was a comedy in which they set us six things to discuss, and whoever got the biggest laughs won the quiz.

PW: Did you win?

TB: Yes! (laughs uproariously] But I wouldn't mind if I hadn't, because I was brought up a Christian, so there's always a streak of the martyr in me. So one can, actually, after a while as one gets closer to death, enjoy even rejection! As you get old you have to come to terms, to absolutely gurgle with laughter, at the ridiculousness of your knees beginning to creak, and things like that. Sometimes I have to stop in the woods, there are certain logs I can sit on, and I have a walking stick because it's a bit slippery and uneven. I find that funny.

PW: So is life good for Tom Baker?

TB: I think life is good, yes. Waking up in the morning still excites me. I can still laugh, which is the important thing. When I go down to the local supermarket, where I get a lot of attention still, I feel like one of the privileged old men. Quite a lot of them who are my age, and sometimes younger, often haven't had good fortune. They're limping around or groaning, talking about statins and being dizzy, and sometimes I've seen people, when it's a bit quiet in Waitrose … to pass the time on the vegetable stall, someone will drop a five pound note and see which of the old boys can pick it up without blacking out. They get up to all sort of tricks like that. And you see old men watching the girls go by, with that mistiness in their eyes, as they remember long-gone days. But I have a wonderful wife who's good to me, and we have a lovely house in the country with a lovely garden and woodland. Life is good, yes.

PW: I'm glad to hear it. Well, thank you very much for your time, Tom.

TB: My pleasure, and if you need anything else, just make it up. Goodbye!

• The first episode of Hornet's Nest will be on shelves from 3 September at www.bbcshop.com/page/hornetsnest