Christian Cawley's Blog, page 128

Cover Revealed for Third Doctor’s Return to Big Finish!

Nick Kitchen is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

Big Finish has just unveiled the spectacular cover artwork for the brand new audio adventures featuring the Third Doctor, as performed by Tim  Treloar! This five disc set also features Katy Manning’s Jo Grant as well the return of Captain Mike Yates (Richard Franklin). The trio can be seen together in the behind the scenes picture below:

While story details are limited at this point, we can confirm titles and writers for this new release. The set will feature Justin Richards’ Prisoners of the Lake and The Havoc of Empires by Andy Lane.

Personally speaking, I’m interested to see the fan reaction to this new series as this is the first time we’ve seen a full cast Third Doctor adventure since Treloar voiced the Pertwee Doctor in 2013’s Light at the End. If Facebook is any indicator or the fandom’s temperature, this change for an ongoing series may not be totally welcome. As for me, I’ll be crossing my fingers for a hit, as the Third Doctor is my favourite amongst the classic Doctors and enthusiastically welcome new stories.

The set is scheduled for an October release, but it can be preordered now on disc and digital download. Will you be taking a new trip on the TARDIS with the Third Doctor? Or do you think it would have been better to leave the character as Pertwee, save anniversary occasions? Let us know, dear readers!

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Where Can You Find Doctor Who Scripts?

Philip Bates is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

Doctor Who provides inspiration – particularly for those wanting to work in the TV industry… or how to get a head in business if you’re watching Voyage of the Damned. If you’re a Wannabe Screenwriter, Director, Producer, Script Editor, Nosy Parker, or just want to see the transition to screen, one of the best things you can do is look at scripts. It also helps if you’re searching for a quote or can’t quite remember the exact wording of that scene where the Doctor scares off the Atraxi.

The BBC knows you’d like a glimpse behind the scenes; that’s why Doctor Who Confidential existed, and why Doctor Who Extra continues; that’s why they release occasional books about the workings of each series; and that’s why the Writer’s Room offers a wealth of scripts. One of the most interesting Confidentials involved The Doctor’s Wife scribe Neil Gaiman reading out extracts from his script and then seeing how they were made for TV.

But they’re hard to get hold of. Ian Levine was selling some of his old scripts, but you have to fork out quite a bit of money for originals. I’m the proud owner of Jemma Redgrave’s original (signed) script for The Power of Three – but it’s not the sort of thing you can acquire easily.

So where can you find the scripts? Well, if you’re only looking for inspiration or quotes, not hunting for originals, there are places you can turn to…

Actual Scripts

In 2005, Doctor Who returned, highly praised for its taut writing. The BBC did something brilliant: released them as a hardback book, accompanied by introductions. Yes, there were the scripts, including directions, by Russell T. Davies, Mark Gatiss, Robert Shearman, Paul Cornell, and Steven Moffat. And they were available in good (and bad) shops down your high street! It might still be, depending on how old the stock in your local WHSmith or Waterstones is.

Doctor Who: The Shooting Scripts is one of the most helpful, interesting, and thought-provoking Who books of recent years, and you can still buy it from Amazon. At the time of writing, you can get it for £30.

Sadly, that was the only one. I was really hoping it would be an annual thing, but alas, nothing more has come of it. Maybe there’s still time –  you never know – but it’s doubtful. So where else can you go?

Further extracts can be found alongside detailed thought processes in Russell’s superb book, Doctor Who: The Writer’s Tale, and its revised follow-up, The Final Chapter. These are only bits and piece, though. Fortunately, he kindly uploaded his Series 4 scripts onto the official website. Unfortunately, that no longer exists.

Not that that matters! It’s all archived, so you can still download the following as PDFs: Voyage of the Damned, Partners in Crime, Midnight, The Stolen Earth, Journey’s End, The Next Doctor, Planet of the Dead, The Waters of Mars, and both parts of The End of Time. It really is a fascinating index; well worth a look.

 

Another treat can be found at the BBC Writer’s Room Library, which contains the script for episode one of Series 3, Smith and Jones. I’d also advise you to peruse the rest of the site to find inspiration, opportunities, and further scripts for programmes like Spooks, Luther, and The Archers.

It gets more difficult to find scripts for Classic Who, but they’re out there. In 2001, for instance, they released an annotated book containing the documents for Tom Baker’s first season as the Fourth Doctor, including Robot, The Ark in Space, and Genesis of the Daleks. You can find used copies of Doctor Who – The Scripts Tom Baker 1974/5 on Amazon or on eBay for pretty reasonable prices, considering how beautiful and in-depth the tome is.

Furthermore, some scripts were released as thinner paperbacks in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Sometimes, you can come across a haul at a car boot sale or at a secondhand books market – or again, you can turn to eBay, where you’ll find, amongst others, the Doctor Who scripts for serials such as Galaxy 4, Ghost Light, and The Daemons. Volumes from the Doctor Who: The Audio Scripts series can also be found on Amazon.

That’s perhaps yer lot for Classic Who, but not for Classic Doctors. A few years ago, Big Finish released Doctor Who: The Audio Scripts, beautiful hardback books collecting together a few specially-selected scripts from their early days. These spanned four volumes, and concluded with Omega, Davros, Master, and Zagreus, the fiftieth release.

Once more, you can get used copies from Amazon UK. If you want to write for radio, these are a must.

Transcripts

Okay, so these are quite different beasts, but if you’re after a look at the rhythm of sentences, looking for a good quote, or just want to relive moments, you can always turn to online transcripts. These are basically when dedicated fans type out every bit of dialogue and describe actions to get a decent account of Doctor Who in its entirety.

Let’s take Chakoteya, for example. This is a surprisingly extensive site full of transcripts from every episode ever – as well as some audio adventures! It particularly focuses on speech, so is a little light on action or scene setting. This can mean each set segues into one another without you realising the change, but if you’ve seen the episodes, you know the ins and outs anyway. The exhaustive archive is to be applauded, as is the speed at which transcripts of new serials go up (typically in the week of broadcast).

The Doctor Who Transcript Project is another extensive effort, this time focussing on the Classic Doctors (that is, from Hartnell’s First to McGann’s Eighth). It’s all the serials once more, but this time, the dialogue is split up a little better. The action and shots are described with more precision. You get quite a good idea of how each looks on screen if you can’t quite recall that the first two scenes of The Dominators are model shots of space and the island on Dulkis.

The one thing that hampers this impressive collection is the onslaughts of advertisements: they’ll pop up at the bottom of the screen, at the side, in a separate page…

A good halfway-house, then, is Forever Dreaming’s Transcripts, which treads a good line between dialogue and description.

Unfortunately, this is especially good for NuWho, but has little for Classic Who. In fact, at the time of writing, I could find only Nightmare of Eden.

Just A Guide

Sometimes, it’s difficult to align the continuities of all the potentially-canon stories. If you’d like a breakdown of every story and suggestions of when Big Finish audios, or those Virgin books slot into place, I recommend the Doctor Who Reference Guide

So far, this only covers up to the 50th anniversary episode, The Day of the Doctor, but it’s nonetheless worth losing yourself in the history of Who if you want to focus purely on storytelling as a whole.

Okay, so that’s our guide to finding Doctor Who scripts – but have you got any more suggestions? Any other resources? Let us know below!

The post Where Can You Find Doctor Who Scripts? appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

No Doctor Who Sketch For 2015’s Comic Relief

James Lomond is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

The Radio Times has announced a televisual smorgasbord of comic delights for next Friday’s Comic Relief (March 13th) – and some familiar faces will be involved. However, unlike previous instalments of the biennial fundraiser which asks the British public to dig deep for charitable projects at home and in Africa, there’s no mention of a comic contribution from Who…

Following in the footsteps of many celebrity (including Tenth Doctor, David Tennant), the current incarnation, Peter Capaldi has been filming in local projects in Africa to promote the work that money raised by the event will support. Also involved in the more sombre side is actor, Olivia Coman (Broadchurch, The Eleventh Hour) while laughs are being provided by the likes of David Walliams (Little Britain, The God Complex), Tenth Doctor companion Catherine Tate and alternative comedy Doctor, Rowan Atkinson.

Like many institutions in British entertainment, Who has a rich tradition of contributing to TV charity with skits or mini-episodes provided for both Children in Need and Comic Relief. As far back as 2009 the incumbent stars were contributing high quality laughs in sci-fi-sketch show fusion form…

Then we had two full-on (in more ways than one) minisodes in 2011 as the Eleventh Doctor, Rory and Amy delivered Timey Wimey nonsense aplenty…

Whilst preparations were hitting their stride for the 50th Anniversary celebrations a more modest offering, though very much in the spirit of Comic Relief  was delivered by Matt Smith in costume (inter-celebrity snogging and giving-chase has been the order of the day since people emptied their purses to see Dawn French and Hugh Grant lock lips before the cameras)…

And who could forget Curse of the Fatal Death?

But there’s no mention of a Who-themed comic morsel this year. Certainly Capaldi’s involvement infant of the cameras where the charity projects are being explored and explained emphasises how much faith the makers of Comic Relief have in his ability to engage the audience on more serious issues. Though despite the lack of pseudo-Who on the menu, we’re getting a host of epic-sounding surprises. Where else would you find James Bond, Little Britain and Stephen Hawking rubbing shoulders?..

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Friday’s News: The Late Late Show With Tennant & Burton

Rebecca Crockett is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

Gather ’round K readers! We’ve got another patented News Blast for you!

Today we’ve got a look at James Corden (Craig Owens from the Eleventh Doctor episodes The Lodger and Closing Time), a DIY TARDIS outdoor house decoration, a surprise involving RTD’s new shows on Logo, some Tim Burton-esque Doctor, and some serious news about David Tennant’s father.

The Late Late Show with James Corden

Come 23rd March, one of our favourite Who guest stars, James Corden, will take over in his new job as the host of the US late night talk show, The Late Late Show, on CBS . Since Doctor Who fan Craig Ferguson left the hosting job this past December, the show has had a revolving door of guest hosts, each with their own take on late night talk.

We still don’t know yet if Corden’s show will be more like Conan O’Brien’s absurd comedy meets talk show or like Jimmy Fallon’s more tradition The Tonight Show, but from the look of the newly released promo images, Corden will certainly be a dapper host! Maybe his show will have a more British flair? I can’t wait to see! The first episode of The Late Late Show with James Corden will air at 12:30AM EST on 23rd March on CBS. His first guest will be Tom Hanks. Check out Mashable for more promo shots.

Light Up TARDIS Mural

Want to add some Who flair to your home’s outside decor? How about a TARDIS that lights up?

Shelbyville, Tennessee, resident Rocky Derryberry decided that’s what he wanted for his house so he made it happen. The Derryberry’s have a full size TARDIS painted on their garage door with a lighted Police Box sign. Rocky, who works in construction, was introduced to the show by his wife, Emilee. He calls the Tenth Doctor “his” Doctor, but is a fan of Christopher Eccleston’s “angry, bitter, but still hopeful” Ninth Doctor.

Read more about the light up garage door TARDIS mural and an interview with Mr Derryberry in the Shelbyville Times-Gazette.

Surprise! Logo Airs First Episodes Of Two New RTD Series Ahead Of Schedule

Russell T Davies has been working hard in his time since leaving Doctor Who. Following their success in the UK, his two new interconnected dramas, Cucumber and Banana, were originally slated to premiere on the channel on 13th April. But following the season premiere of the channel’s popular RuPaul’s Drag Race on Monday night, the first episodes of both new dramas were aired as a treat for viewers. Cucumber, an 8 episode, hour-long drama, follows the aftermath of the relationship of Henry and Lance. Banana is a half-hour show and will follow the lives of the other characters in Henry and Lance’s world.

But don’t worry if you missed them – both episodes will air again in their original and normal time slots on Mondays, on their original premiere date of 13th April.

Tim Burton Who?

We here at the K love seeing all the creative ways fans show their love for Doctor Who (and all their other fandoms) especially with all of the Who-inspired artwork out there. We’ve seen the Doctor imagined in the Powerpuff Girls style, as owls, and as loads of other comic and cartoon characters. But what about in the style of Tim Burton? Burton’s creepy and weird aesthetic could be a good fit for the human-looking (or is that Gallifreyan looking?) alien Doctor. Well, thanks to deviantArt member MichaelthePure, we have this great mashup!

The Fourth Doctor looks even more manic and wild than Tom Baker ever was and the Eleventh Doctor is almost skeletal! The moving images are even creepier. Head on over to Killer Kitsch for the rest of the Doctors and more of the moving versions!

Tennant’s Father In Religious, Political Debate

On a more serious note, the Very Reverend Sandy McDonald, father of the Tenth Doctor David Tennant, is currently part of a political and religious debate with the Church of Scotland over the right of persons to have a “peaceful end of life”. Generally termed “assisted suicide”, the church is against any possible changes to the laws that prohibit caregivers from helping those that want to end their life.

Mr McDonald, who is unfortunately terminally ill himself, says that in his more than 50 years in ministry, he has had to face those that wished the laws were different, and now on a personal level understands their suffering.  He believes that if the Church changed their stance on the matter, the state would soon follow. Earlier this year, Tennant dedicated his special award at the National Television Awards to his ailing father. It has brought praise from McDonald:

“For a relatively young man (43) he has had a great career…the event brought a great deal of joy.  Friends from all over have been ringing since the broadcast. Some people I have not heard from for years have been in touch to say how delighted they were. It was good to talk to them. Some have been generous in their interest in the work I have done in the Church.”

The team at Kasterborous sends our best wishes to Sandy McDonald and his family.

The post Friday’s News: The Late Late Show With Tennant & Burton appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Latest Doctor Who: Short Trips Releases!

Nick Kitchen is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

We recently discussed the virtues of Big Finish’s Doctor Who – Short Trips line of audio stories, especially for those who are missing the exeptional Companion Chronicles line.

Today, we want to bring you the details of the two latest Short Trips releases that you can enjoy right now! Take a look with us, will you?

Little Doctors

By Philip Lawrence

Feburary saw the release this brand new Second Doctor story, narrated by former companion to Troughton, Frazer Hines:

“The TARDIS brings the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe to a sophisticated Earth colony. Olympos is a world of hi-tech cities, where the lives of the populace are controlled by an all-seeing, all-knowing super computer: Zeus.

When the Doctor sees how the human inhabitants have been robbed of the more simple pleasures, he sets out to bring real life back to the colony. But his mental connection to Zeus has some unexpected consequences…”

The audio can be downloaded now for the excellent price of £2.99 – and don’t forget to check out our review!

Flywheel Revolution

By Dale Smith

Perhaps William Hartnell’s Doctor is more your cup of tea. Find yourself in that camp, and you’ll not want to miss Doctor Who – Short Trips: Flywheel Revolution!

“On a planet in the far future, Frankie and his fellow robots have been consigned to the Scrapheap, doomed to explore no further than the limits of the artificial Wall. Life goes on, day after day – until a monster appears in their midst.

It lives alone in a small hut on the edge of Scrapyard, and scours at night for the remains of dead robots. Frankie sets out to confront the monster in its lair. Its name? The Doctor!”

The first release in the 5th season of Short Trips dropped in January and can be obtained forthwith!

Personally speaking, I am excited to check these out. I’m also crossing my fingers for a day when this line might also include stories from Doctors 9-present. We can always hope, eh, fellow Kasterborites?

Each download-only release in the Short Trips range is just £2.99. What do you think of these releases, dear readers? Will you be picking them up? Let us know!

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Jenna Really Was Going To Leave Doctor Who… Twice

Philip Bates is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

Steven Moffat has revealed that Jenna Coleman, who has played Clara Oswald (and variations thereof) since 2012, really was going to leave Doctor Who at the end of Series 8. And then again in Last Christmas!

In the latest issues of Doctor Who Magazine, Moffat says:

“I originally wrote her out in Death in Heaven. That was her last episode. And then she asked me if she could be in Christmas. So I said, ‘OK, I’ll write you out in Christmas’. She came to the read through and did the ‘write out’ version – and again changed her mind.”

In Death in Heaven, you may recall that the Doctor and Clara lied to each other, seemingly leading the latter to leave the TARDIS. In Last Christmas, she was also written out, the Doctor having left it too long to come back for her. Then Santa appeared and that, too, was a dream, induced by the Kantrofarri.

Steven, it seems, was prepared for Jenna changing her mind again:

“But the truth is I never wanted her to go. I didn’t really want Death in Heaven to be her last episode. And with Last Christmas, I’d already written the alternative version where she stayed, and I preferred that version. Frankly, I didn’t want to lose her. She’s an amazing actress, and she never stops working to make Clara better. I was very happy to go the extra mile to make sure we could keep her.”

There were stories in the press about how Jenna had changed her mind, but… well, it’s the British media. No one ever believes that.

Personally, I get the feeling that her friendship with Peter Capaldi keeps drawing her back in. Part of her must feel that she’s been there a while now (she started filming Hide in May 2012), so feels that she should probably move on. But to me, she still feels quite a new companion, so I’m more than happy she’s back for the next full 12-episode run.

Might this confirm that the Twelfth Doctor was to find a new companion at Christmas – perhaps in the shape of Shona McCullough? Yes, actress Faye Marsay says there have been no official talk of her return, but hey, we should be used to white lies by now!

Everyone at K Towers is now wondering how this leaves Clara for Series 9. What will her story arc be? Have we already seen the way Moffat intended her to leave? And does this mean Series 9 will definitely be her last? Speculate below!

The post Jenna Really Was Going To Leave Doctor Who… Twice appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Moffat in DWM#484: “I’m Writing Quite Funny This Year”

Philip Bates is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

The new Doctor Who Magazine is out today and features an exclusive in-depth interview with showrunner, Steven Moffat!

In it, Moffat explains that we’re going to see a new side to the Twelfth Doctor in Series 9: “We’re not bringing him back exactly as we left him, at all. I think that was already evident at Christmas. He’s left some of the burden of being a superhero of the universe behind. So I’m pushing him – I’m writing quite funny this year – I’m pushing him the other way…”

The issues is packed with further articles exploring the history of Who including an interview with Eighth Doctor, Paul McGann, including his thoughts on Peter Capaldi and how he’s made him reevaluate this own Time Lord incarnation. Aside from this, there’s also a preview of Dark Eyes 4, with contributions from Alex Macqueen, aka the Master.

Here’s what else is in #484:

Bonnie Langford, who played Mel – companion to the Sixth and Seventh Doctors – in the 1980s, recalls her turbulent time on the show.
Doctor Who‘s very first director, Waris Hussein, continues his guide to the making of the classic 1964 adventure Marco Polo, with the help of unique documents unseen for more than 50 years.
Discover fascinating new facts about the 1972 Third Doctor adventure The Time Monster in The Fact of Fiction.
In a special feature, the Watcher solves the mystery of when the Doctor was first revealed not to be human.
There’s trouble in storage for Doctor and Clara in Space Invaders!, a brand-new comic strip written by Mark Wright and illustrated by Mike Collins.
 Steven Moffat answer readers’ questions – and speculates about the return of the CyberBrig!
The Time Team take a side-step to watch Peter Capaldi star in the dark Doctor Who spin-off, Torchwood: Children of Earth.
Jacqueline Rayner reflects on fear and terror in Doctor Who in Relative Dimensions.
The DWM Review assesses the very latest Doctor Who audio and book releases.
The Watcher celebrates the man who played the First Doctor, William Hartnell, in the latest Wotcha!
The DWM Crossword, prize-winning competitions, official news and much more!

Oh no. Please not more of the CyberBrig. Even once was once too many.

Doctor Who Magazine #484 is out now, priced £4.99.

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Bid on Signed Doctor Who Items – For Charity!

Andrew Reynolds is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

Looking for a little help while giving a lot back, Robin Miller, charity fundraiser and marathon runner, is seeking funding for another wonderful endeavor.

Ahead of him lies the London Marathon; 26.2 miles of sheer endurance to use the old cliché but before Robin can even line up with the professionals, amateurs and people dressed as the Honey Monster, he needs sponsorship and that’s where you come in.

However it isn’t simply a matter of handing over whatever you can spare. Robin discovered a long time ago that the most effective method of fundraising is to be able to give something back to those who support you.

So in 2011 he organised The Ultimate Doctor Who Art Auction for the Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity which brought together cast, crew and celebrities in creating an artwork based on their immediate reaction to the words ‘Doctor Who’,

Now he’s once again preparing to auction off some awesome Doctor Who items to the highest bidder.

The auction aims to raise money for the magnificent folks at Children with Cancer UK, the leading national children’s charity dedicated to the fight against all childhood cancers. Technically, the auction has ended, but for any he hasn’t sold, he’s more than happy to look at any proposals. Ergo, there’s still time!

On offer are a whole host of signed Doctor Who playing cards including individually signed cards from the Monster Invasion, Battles in Time, Top Trumps and Torchwood ranges – with such celebrity squiggles as Rob Shearman, Suranne Jones, Simon Callow, and Peter Davison to name a few.

Also available are individual doodles on 8×5 white cards by such luminaries as the late Richard Bonehill, Ian Hogg, Rick English, the late Lynda Bellingham, Julian Glover, Rob Cavazos, Holly Earl, and Cush Jumbo.

You can also grab individual script pages or part pages signed by the actors involved including a page from Journey’s End signed by Davros himself Julian Bleach, a page from The Unicorn and the Wasp signed by Felicity Kendal and a partial ‘pink page’ from The Beast Below signed by Alfie Field who played Timmy.

And finally, why not get yourself a signed glossy photo from the likes of Sarah Sutton, Mat Irvine, Spencer Wilding, Neve McIntosh and Sophie Aldred?

To bid for these items all you need to do is email twelveby12@yahoo.co.uk or tweet @13challenge – who’ll confirm if your bid has been accepted. Payment is by Paypal with items shipped in the UK via recorded delivery which is charged on top of the price paid for each item. If the final price exceeds £50 then the items will be sent via special delivery on top of the cost for the items.

For international deliveries items will be sent via signed and tracked mail, with any tax and custom charges to be paid for by the bidder.

To check out the full range head over to One4TheMoney.

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The Future of BBC Three, In House Productions & Doctor Who

Philip Bates is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

Things at the BBC are changing. These are uncertain times. The changes began in 2010 when the TV license fee was fixed until early 2017 at £145.50 (or £49 for monochrome, but who has monochrome these days anyway?!). Since then, we’ve had some sterling drama and sensational comedies – but behind the scenes, there have been cutbacks.

The TV license has been attacked by select members of the public, egged on by the ever-eager media (The Daily Mail, for instance, always has it in for the Beeb), and the Government who perhaps is troubled by TV’s ability to help people think clearly, the BBC particularly, which is supposed to remain impartial. In my opinion, the TV license is just a victim of everyone’s general dissatisfaction with authoritarian aspects of modern life, a way the coalition can point fingers away and divert attention from other dubious deals. And the BBC are having to fall in line.

The BBC Director of Strategy, James Purnell, has stated that “the license fee should be modernised.” This comes after comments made by John Whittingdale, chairman of the House of Commons Culture, Media, and Sport Committee, about how the systems is “becoming harder and harder to justify and sustain.” I would add here that part of the reason it’s becoming harder to justify is down to the global recession, and the Government’s continual questioning of the broadcasting corporation – not a statement on the quality of the TV shows. At the moment, £8 a month of your license fee is used for TV (with the rest going on radio, online, and other services), which seems pretty good considering the high output of drama, comedy, and quizzes this particular viewer watches.

The Committee has warned that the BBC should prepare for “the possibility of change in the 2020s. We recommend that as a minimum the licence fee must be amended to cover catch-up television as soon as possible.” That, at least, does sound reasonable… though adds further difficulties for anyone who wants to watch iPlayer abroad. The Committee also said that Aunty Beeb shouldn’t aim to cater for everyone, and so shouldn’t cover areas already featured by commercial stations. To me, that sounds an incredibly dumb move.

In fact, this whole thing stinks somewhat, seen as it’s the Government advising what a broadcaster should disseminate. In that same set of recommendations, the Committee has highlighted the importance of the BBC World Service, as the UK shouldn’t lose ground to China and Russia in the “global information war.” That is the stench of irony.

They have further recommended a change in the law: that it should no longer be illegal to not pay the license fee. Currently, you don’t have to own a license fee as long as you don’t watch live TV, but instead consume either catch-up services or DVDs and the like.

Instead, BBC services could be available only as subscription. So many people like Doctor Who, EastEnders, Strictly Come Dancing, The Apprentice, The Musketeers and other ongoing programmes that it seems unlikely that many wouldn’t want to consume BBC shows. Speaking of which…

One long-running show is coming off the air. New Tricks will come to an end following its 12th series this Summer.

Naturally, the media is blaming low ratings; indeed, at the height of its powers, New Tricks was attracting nearly 10 million viewers, whereas last year, the run averaged 5.9 million. That is still very good though! Since its debut in 2003, the rota has changed from Amanda Redman, Alun Armstrong, James Bolam, and Dennis Waterman to a team led by Nightmare in Silver‘s Tamzin Outhwaite. In the coming series, Waterman is replaced by Larry Lamb, who’s perhaps best-known for being a cheeky cockney (also: EastEnders and Gavin and Stacey).

This is also a shame for Julian Simpson, director of 2011’s The Rebel Flesh/ The Almost People, who has been a writer and director on New Tricks since 2008.

Hmm. This all sounds depressing. How about good news? Good news, good news, goooood newss… Oh! I know! Two things, then. The BBC has hinted that filming for the next episodes of ever-popular crime drama, Luther has begun. The gritty show, starring Idris Elba, vanished off screen after a climatic third series. There were rumours of a film, then a spin-off… but then a trailer for upcoming BBC Drama included the detective with the big walk in its presentation. And lo, Luther will be back later this year with two one-hour specials, written by creator, Neil Cross.

You’ll likely know Cross for writing two Series 7 episodes – both underrated – The Rings of Akhaten and Hide.

And another bit of good news: with BBC Three moving online, there were questions about Doctor Who. Since the show’s return in 2005, a repeat of each episode has been broadcast on the channel for da yoof that same week, in prep for the next episode. But it now looks likely that said repeats will move to one of the other channels; maybe BBC2, possibly BBCFour – but hey, I wouldn’t complain about further showings on the flagship! Remember that one Christmas when repeats of festive Who were shown in the afternoons? That was great. Big tick.

What I wanna know is, where will Doctor Who Confidential be screened now?

… Oh wait. Ah. Yes. That’s still upsetting. (Shakes fist at Zai Bennett, a name almost as infamous as Michael Grade.)

Finally, the corporation is to set up a BBC Studios division in a bid to compete with digital rivals like Netflix. This would involved hiving off productions like Doctor Who (and other dramas, as well as comedies, entertainment, and factual shows) away from the central BBC. The second stage of this, yet to be given the go-ahead by the BBC Trust and the Government, would involve BBC Studios becoming separate from the publically-funded part of the Beeb. Essentially, it would become a subsidiary, operating away from the core BBC but still answerable to Director General Tony Hall.

This then opens the corporation up to producing programmes for other stations, while a change in the Charter would allow more independents to work in the BBC Studios sector, thus altering the guarantee that 50% of productions would be in-house. This sounds good… but it also sounds too much like privatisation.

It’s all very complicated, but is also going quite under-the-radar.

So: times are changing at the BBC. For better or for worse? What do you think? Excited about Luther and the potential of Doctor Who repeats on BBCOne? Now free from the shackles of New Tricks, do you want to hear Dennis Waterman singing the theme tune of Doctor Who? Let us know by angrily shouting from your bedroom window, or perhaps even commenting below.

The post The Future of BBC Three, In House Productions & Doctor Who appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Unmissable New Cartoon Strip: The Ice Warriors

Jonathan Appleton is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

If you like to experience the worlds of Doctor Who in comic strip form you’re going to want to check out The Ice Warriors, a new independent online series created by Tzvi Lebetkin and Stefano Cardoselli.

Cold Warrior, Cold Heart is the title of the story we’re going to be treated to in regular instalments; a tale that sees one of Mars’s finest taking rather extreme measures to save his scaly skin in a no-win situation. Read the opening episode for yourself – it’s a well produced, single page affair in simple black and white that certainly gets things off to an arresting start.

Writer Tzvi Lebetkin initially illustrated his own script, and has bravely made this early effort available for viewing. But he decided that a more professional approach was called for and sought the help of his pal Stefano Cardoselli who he felt had the ‘brutish approach’ needed for this dark tale.

The results are reminiscent of the legendary Dalek strips from the 1960s and perhaps also those back-up strips in the early days of Doctor Who Weekly and Doctor Who Monthly which carried Doctor-less stories featuring characters and monsters spun off from the parent show. Abslom Daak (killer of Daleks, as if you need reminding) and Kroton the Cyberman with human feelings are just two of the recurring characters that made the magazine especially worth buying in that era, along with the amazing Adrian Salmon strip, The Cybermen.

The Ice Warriors were always one of the Doctor Who monsters that had the richest, most rounded back-story and Lebetkin has made a good choice for the subject of his series. Check out part one online now, with part two expected on March 15th 2015!

And be sure to let us know what you think!

The post Unmissable New Cartoon Strip: The Ice Warriors appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.