Christian Cawley's Blog, page 140

Check These Interviews From Big Finish Day 6!

Christian Cawley 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.

Miss Big Finish Day 6? Couldn’t manage everything? Got drunk in the bar? Worry not: Big Finish has released this video compiling some interviews with the guests at the event.

Taking place on January 17th, the event – from which we learned an awful lot – saw Big Finish fans descend on Slough where they were able to chat with various Doctor Who stars in autograph sessions and topical discussion panels.

Featuring interviews with Nicholas Briggs, Big Finish’s Master Alex Macqueen, Romana actress Lalla Ward, Bernice Summerfield star Lisa Bowerman and the Seventh Doctor himself, Sylvester McCoy – not to mention recast Third Doctor voice Tim Trealor – the video gives you a feeling not for that event, but for Big Finish Day conventions as a whole.

Later this year, Big Finish Day 7 will take place – with Colin Baker and Yasmin Bannerman confirmed so far – and bookings are already being taken through the Tenth Planet website.

The post Check These Interviews From Big Finish Day 6! appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Neil Gaiman & Sir Ian McKellen Success At BBC Audio Drama Awards

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.

Neil Gaiman, writer of The Doctor’s Wife and Nightmare in Silver, has won an Outstanding Contribution Award for his audio work.

The American Gods novelist was presented his award at the BBC Audio Drama Awards in London, winning for his work adapting his books Neverwhere and Good Omens, the latter alongside Terry Pratchett. Rather perfectly, it was given to Gaiman by comedian, Lenny Henry, whose initial idea sparked Neverwhere as a 1990s TV series, a novelisation, and now a radio drama. In his acceptance speech, Neil name-checked another Who writer (one responsible for the fan-favourite serial City of Death and much-underrated The Pirate Planet):

“I’m absolutely honoured, overwhelmed, thrilled by the award, it’s a wonderful, wonderful thing. I’ve loved radio since I was a small child. You can do amazing things inside someone’s head with radio and radio drama. Geniuses like Douglas Adams have paved the way before us. I’m thrilled I get to turn some of my stories into radio dramas.”

Neverwhere aired in 2013, starring X-Men: Days of Future Past‘s James McAvoy alongside the beautiful Natalie Dormer (Elementary; Game of Thrones) and Sherlock‘s Benedict Cumberbatch – as well as plenty of Who stars like Anthony Head (School Reunion), David Harewood (The End of Time), and Sophie Okenedo (The Beast Below).

Gaiman recently spoke about 2013’s Nightmare in Silver, or more specifically, the disappointment of it. “Nightmare in Silver is some people’s favourite but everybody, including me, thinks, ‘oh if we had another week, we could’ve changed this,’ and then you’re kind of stuck with it,” he says. “I think there are things that could’ve been better, but I also think that the thing I wanted to do in Nightmare in Silver I did: to show people that Matt Smith could act.” He expands on this:

“It was one of those things that fascinated me watching Matt, getting to know Matt a little bit: it was sensible people who should’ve known better assuming that the Eleventh Doctor was just Matt Smith, and I’m going, ‘No, that’s a part that he’s playing,’ and he’s an incredible, fantastic actor, who is, as the Doctor, capable of this enormous range, and yet there’ s a lot of stuff he’s not doing. So I thought, ‘wouldn’t it be amazing to have him go up against himself?’ Which is something that even though is a staple of sci-fi drama, is not something that’s ever happened in Doctor Who. Even people who don’t like bits of Nightmare in Silver love the ‘Matt Smith as [Cyber-Planner alter-ego] Mr Clever’ stuff.”

Oh, we know how great Matt is, Neil – but admittedly, seeing him as Mr. Clever was a refreshing change of pace.

Meanwhile, Digital Spy reckons a new adaptation of Neverwhere could be “the next Doctor Who“, replacing Atlantis which, it was announced last week, wouldn’t get a third series.

Of course, Gaiman isn’t the only person honoured at the BBC Audio Drama Awards: the Great Intelligence himself, Sir Ian McKellan won Best Actor for appearing in Eugenie Grandet, an adaptation of the 1833 novel by Honore de Balzac. “Radio drama is very special to me as an actor and as an audience because it transports me to my pre-television youth,” he says. “I sat with my family, lucky to stay up late in my pyjamas and dressing gown meeting Chekhov for the first time, and Ibsen and Shakespeare, and lesser writers, and discovering the magic of words and sounds through the air, and so it’s with eyes closed that you can discover new worlds and escape.”

McKellan triumphed over stiff competition from Sherlock‘s Moriarty, Andrew Scott, amongst others.

Congratulations to both Neil and Sir Ian! Well deserved!

The post Neil Gaiman & Sir Ian McKellen Success At BBC Audio Drama Awards appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Spoiler Free Preview – Doctor Who: The Ninth Doctor #2

Christian Cawley 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.

Written by Cavan Scott and with art by Blair Shedd, the 32 page second installment of the Ninth Doctor’s new comic book adventures hits stores on April 8th 2015, and we’ve got an early sneak peak for you!

This is the second thrilling installment of Weapons Of Past Destruction – an all-new miniseries adventure featuring the Ninth Doctor – as played by Christopher Eccleston – along with companions Rose and Jack!

Get dragged into the Time Vortex as the Doctor and his friends uncover time-lost Gallifreyan super-weapons being sold on the black market! 

Who are the cosmically-empowered Lect and Unon – and can the Doctor help stop an all-new Time War before it starts?!

As you can see above, this issue comes with three covers, just in case you like collecting multiples. We’ll have more closer to release, as well as the obligatory review. For now, head to your local comic store and order your copy.

The post Spoiler Free Preview – Doctor Who: The Ninth Doctor #2 appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Top 5 Things The Master Might Have Done After The End of Time

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.

The dust may have settled on Series 8 but there’s no shortage of pressing issues to discuss. Is the new Doctor a good man? Is Danny really gone for good? How come we didn’t know before that there was a chicken inside the moon? (Okay, okay, I should just leave it, I know…) But surely one of the most fun things to speculate on is what happened to the Master between the conclusion of The End of Time and his reappearance with a (dramatically) changed appearance as Missy, serving tea to dead folk? Join us as we explore just what he/she was up to in the intervening years!

1. Went Back Into Hell

The last we saw of the Master in The End of Time was him sacrificing himself to foil Rassilon’s plan to escape the time lock and restore Gallifrey. Presumably he ended up back on his home world, at that moment being ravaged by the Time War. It’s fair to say that big chief Rassilon and the other top Time Lords wouldn’t have been best pleased, but in the midst of all that chaos would there have been an opportunity to escape? The Master had certainly got out of some pretty tight spots before – maybe he quickly donned a rubber mask and slipped away, cackling as he did so? Or perhaps he came out the winner of his struggle with Rassilon, killing the old boy and going on to assume the presidency?

2. Cooked Up Dastardly Plans

Perhaps the Master didn’t stick around when he got back to Gallifrey. Recognising he most definitely was not among friends there, maybe he stole a TARDIS and made a swift exit. Hell, there’s a whole universe out there to explore – no need to stick around in one place. Gallifrey was, of course, time locked and inaccessible (a bit like Scunthorpe) until the Doctors came together to restore it in The Day of the Doctor but, being an ingenious sort, could the Master have found a means to get away, thus freeing himself to get up to all kinds of mischief on other worlds? And the Doctor wouldn’t have been there to stop him!

3. Had The Drums Removed

Okay, that sounds flippant but there’s a serious point here. The John Simm version of the Master was plagued by the drumming in his head, and in The End of Time this is revealed to have been planted there by Rassilon as a signal to ultimately enable Gallifrey to escape the Time War (do keep up). This cast the character in a rather more sympathetic light than before, as a desperate man driven to do terrible things because of the Time Lords’ malign influence – mad rather than bad. By the time we meet Missy this doesn’t seem to be a problem any more, though she could hardly be described as well-balanced. Perhaps the Master had some kind of treatment to get rid of the noise that plagued him? Do they have counselling on Gallifrey?

4. Lived The Quiet Life

You know what, maybe the Master decided to take things easy after the events of The End of Time. He couldn’t be blamed if he did – things most certainly had not gone well for him and to cap it all he discovered he’d basically been used as a means for Rassilon to get what he wanted. The Master has form when it comes to disappearing for extended periods and in Utopia we see him living a very different sort of life as a kindly old professor at the edge of the universe. Maybe he just laid low for a while, content to wait for his opportunity and recharge his batteries? No, I can’t see it either…

5. Became A Monk

Sick of the drumming, shouting, disguises and failed attempts at universal domination, the Master opted for a quiet life, joining a monastery for contemplation and reflection upon the dastardly deeds of his previous lives. There’s no way our other favourite Time Lord can be all bad, not with all of those times he and the Doctor have found themselves teaming up. Of course, had he spent time in a monastery, there is no doubt that the Master would only have got bored eventually, unseating the abbot and taking over…

And the One Thing S/He Actually Did…

In the midst of all this speculation the one thing we most definitely can say is that at some point the Master changed gender (and then thought it might be nice to celebrate the Doctor’s birthday by giving him an army of Cybermen. As you do). The series had established in recent years that Time Lords can change sex when they regenerate, but is this what happened? Did the Master become Missy not by regeneration but another heinous act of body theft, a la Tremas and Eric Roberts? There’s surely a great bit of fan-fiction to be written to fill in this gap, which sees the Master using his considerable charm and dancing skills to woo a good-hearted Scottish lady who is so delighted to have finally met the right one. Only it all ends horribly, in a dreadful moment of realisation that this is a man really only interested in one thing…

But enough of what we think! You’ve read our (not entirely serious) theories but what do you reckon the Master was up to before he was Missy? Let us know!

The post Top 5 Things The Master Might Have Done After The End of Time appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Forget Netflix: Amazon Prime Dumping Doctor Who In Two Weeks

Christian Cawley 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 fans thought they had won a victory for online streamers a couple of weeks ago when Netflix decided that actually, yes it would renew its agreement with BBC Worldwide to make British TV shows available to subscribers.

Unfortuantely, Amazon doesn’t seem to be as flexible. According to reports this weekend, its subscriber streaming service Amazon Prime – the home of Ripper Street Series 3 – is set to dump all BBC shows for which it doesn’t have an exclusive licence. In order to focus on and promote exclusives like Hannibal, Ripper Street and Orphan Black, and new productions that are coming in 2015, Amazon Prime’s new strategy is to sever ties with any shows or movies that aren’t exclusive to its service.

This means that Doctor Who fans will suffer. Over the weekend, Amazon is set to announce to its subscribers the forthcoming changes. Other shows that are to be removed include:

Downton Abbey
Luther
Torchwood
Being Human
Misfits
Skins
Red Dwarf

…and many more.

Starting February 15th, shows will begin to be removed from Amazon Prime. This, obviously, saddens us, as the best thing for Doctor Who fans is for the show to be available legally in as many places as possible.

How do you feel about this? Will you be switching to Netflix? Let us know – put your thoughts in the comments box below.

The post Forget Netflix: Amazon Prime Dumping Doctor Who In Two Weeks appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Eve Myles Still Open To Torchwood Return

Christian Cawley 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.

She’s currently baffling viewers as to her intentions in the second series of Broadchurch as Claire Ripley (oh come on, don’t tell me you haven’t suspected her of the Sandbrook murders?!) but Eve Myles is still interested in getting back to Cardiff and into the Hub again in a revived Torchwood…

Speaking to the Radio Times, and following rumours of a return to radio for Torchwood, Myles revealed that she would jump at the chance. “If I was lucky enough to get a script from Russell T Davies, I’d jump at it! My God, what actor wouldn’t?”

“Torchwood is certainly a project that will not go away,” she says. “It’s there all the time – and we’ve been off the air with Torchwood now for…four years, something like that. And still it’s as vibrant as ever. The fanbase is electrifying, I’ve never witnessed anything like it. And it’s all over the world! And they are screaming for it to come back. I don’t know if it will, is the answer – but if they call me I’ll certainly do it.”

So, Barrowman’s interested, Myles is interested and there’s a good chance of a radio series. What next? Torchwood on BBC TV overseen by Russell T Davies once again?

Welcome to the 2000s, ladies and gentlemen…

The post Eve Myles Still Open To Torchwood Return appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Old Sherlock Holmes, McInnerny Casting, Bow Tie Strippers & Fan Series Writers Wanted!

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.

News, bits of interest, have we got another news blast chock full of goodies for you! This time around we’ve got a a good number of items about the various productions of Sherlock that are currently happening, as well as news about a fairly prestigious honor that some of our favourite people have been given. But do not fret, we’ve got some Who news too! So read on!

Sir Ian McKellen as Sherlock Holmes

While most of the world is waiting with baited breath for news of the Cumberbatch/Freeman/Moffat version of Sherlock, Sir Ian McKellen (The Great Intelligence in The Snowmen)and director Bill Condon have been quietly working on a different tale of the good detective, one that imagines Sherlock Holmes as a 93 year old retired man in 1947, working on one last case.

While an image of Sir Ian as the titular Mr. Holmes was released a few months ago, thanks to Den of Geek, we now have seen our first full glimpse of the man, although there doesn’t seem to be any trace of the iconic deerstalker and cape coat. Take a look –

Tim McInnerny Joins Sherlock Special

Aside from those pictures coming from the fans stalking the Sherlock filming locations and fueling the #Setlock controversy, we’ve gotten little else in the way of information of what the special might be about, although thanks to some tweets by Mark Gatiss and others, there’s speculation that it will be based on a classic Sherlock Holmes Christmas tale, The Adventure Of The Blue Carbuncle. What we have now recently learned, for certain, thanks to Cultbox and Den of Geek, is that Tim McInnerny, known to Doctor Who fans as Klienman Halpen from Planet Of The Ood, has joined the cast of the special as Sir Edwin.

If you’ve been paying attention, that’s the same name as one of the characters in His Last Vow, but we’ve not gotten word on if it is indeed supposed to be the same man, or if it’s just a coincidence. But given what we all know about how Mr. Moffat writes, I don’t think the man believes in coincidence.

Cumberbatch, Moffat, Capaldi Land On the Debrett’s 500 List

For quite some time, Debrett’s has published a yearly list of the 500 most influential people in all of Britain. The list names persons from all walks of life, from the Arts and Education, to Politics, Business, Law, Philanthropy, and those involved in national defense. To be named to the list is to be counted among those who have shaped and guided Britain over the past year.

For 2015, along with notables such as Tony Blair and HRH The Duchess Catherine of Cambridge, Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch, Sherlock and Doctor Who writer and executive producer Steven Moffat, and Doctor Who star Peter Capadli have all been named to the list. Given how popular both shows have now become in other parts of the world, it’s not surprising that they’d all be considered influential!

New Classic Who Web Series Looking For Writers

There are quite a number of Doctor Who fan films out there (including the DW/Torchwood crossover Legacy staring K’s own Brian A. Terranova) but many of them center on the adventures of the “nuWho” Doctors rather than those of the classic era. Thanks to Horror Society, we’ve heard about a new production, Doctor Who: The Classic Series Regenerated, looking to change that. This new web series is currently in development and is seeking writers to help bring the Fourth Doctor back to life.

The production is looking to have a script in place and a teaser trailer ready to go before launching a crowd-sourced funding campaign, hopefully in the next few months. They’ve set up a Facebook account to get the word out so if you or someone who know has ideas for the Fourth Doctor, contact them!

Fan Wars?

Ah, fandoms. They are complex things. You combine people of all ages, from all walks of life and all ideologies, political and religious, together in one large and constantly growing group over a shared love of something, most frequently some pop culture phenomenon. Amongst all these disparate peoples there will be those with strong opinions about all aspects of the particular fandom. Classic vs nuWho. Tennant vs Tom Baker. Trek vs Wars. Kirk vs Picard (Tennant, Trek, and Picard, thank you) These debates have occurred since the beginning of popular culture and can sometimes become rather heated. In this age of the Internet, most arguments end at the click of a mouse but others have bled into real life.

With the current “SetLock” controversy happening within the Sherlock fandom, Radio Times has  complied a list of what it calls the Top 10 “Fan Wars” though DW lands at third in their ranking behind DC vs Marvel and the Mods vs Rockers clashes of the ’60s. Actual violence does trump television…

Cosplayer Wanted For A Good Time

Happen to know anyone in the New York City area that cosplays the Doctor, could use some extra cash, and isn’t adverse to a… um… having a good time with a group of ladies?

A poster on Craigslist seems to be searching for just such a… gentleman to entertain those gathered for a friend’s bachelorette (hen) party next month. The posting seems to be legitimate, but given it’s on Craigslist, you can never be too sure, so contact the poster and/or share the post with some discretion and caution.

They seem to be interested in an Eleventh Doctor, although I gather the poster isn’t a fan of the show. I’m guessing they wouldn’t turn down other Doctors…

Well that’s all the news that’s fit to print for this news blast! Thanks for reading and do come back next time to this same Who channel!

The post Old Sherlock Holmes, McInnerny Casting, Bow Tie Strippers & Fan Series Writers Wanted! appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Moffat Talks New Sherlock & Doctor Who Episodes

Christian Cawley 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.

Sherlock‘s 2015 special has been shooting recently, and chief writer and Executive Producer Steven Moffat has revealed that he doesn’t know when the episode is likely to air!

Speaking to the Radio Times, Moffat – who is overseeing Doctor Who and Sherlock productions concurrently – can only say that “I know it won’t be for a while, and I suspect it’s going to be end of year-ish, and as everyone has seen, it’s Victorian.”

The special also marks the first official co-write between Moffat and Sherlock co-creator Mark Gatiss.

“It’s the first time that Mark and I officially have written it together. Unofficially we always write it together, but it’s the first time officially we’ve actually sat in a room to write it.”

Moffat – who you can see talking above – also revealed that there are some new writers lined up for Doctor Who Series 9, which is currently in the middle of filming two episodes by Toby Whithouse.

“We’re filming our first two parter at the moment, which in fact are going to be episodes three and four of the new series, a brilliant script by Toby. Then there’s a couple more lined up from other writers, some new, some old, some middle aged frankly. It’s a little bit early to start teasing it but I’m a little bit excited. I think we’ve got some very, very good stuff going on.”

New writers? About time, we say. What do you think? Who would you like to see writing on Doctor Who for the first time?

The post Moffat Talks New Sherlock & Doctor Who Episodes appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Enjoy ‘An Evening of Doctor Who Classics’ with The Radiophonic Workshop!

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.

On May 20th The Radiophonic Workshop: Out of the TARDIS – An Evening of Doctor Who Classics and Other Unworldly Sounds will be performed at the National Concert Hall, Dublin as part of Perspectives 2015.

Celebrate their enormous contribution to music as the surviving composers and engineers of the revered BBC music studio perform, amongst others, their remix of the Doctor Who theme – which you can listen to here –  for the 50th anniversary which includes a section of the original, written by Ron Grainer and recorded by Delia Derbyshire in 1963 along with Peter Howell’s interpretation from the 1980s and a brand new intro, with visuals edited by the band.

Buried within the labyrinthine corridors of the BBC Maida Vale complex – resplendent in many layers of cheap green industrial emulsion –  and housed within their own small studios, this collection of mavericks and eccentrics quietly explored new ways of using sound.

The group which is composed of Paddy Kingsland, Roger Limb and Dick Mills – who joined the Workshop very shortly after its formation in 1958, and is affectionately referred to as Dr Dick after he was bestowed with an honorary doctorate from Bradford University, were responsible for some of the most iconic soundtracks to come out of the BBC including:  Horizon, Quatermass, Newsround and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

New members who joined them as a performing concern since 2009’s brilliant but ramshackle performance at The Roundhouse, London have included Prodigy side-man Kieron Pepper on drums, Mark Ayres – their youngest member, formerly the RWS’s archivist in its final days at the Beeb, and the dynamo behind the formation of the new group, and Peter Howell, once a psychedelic folk musician in bands including Agincourt – who split when Howell secured a BBC sound engineering position; working primarily on Doctor Who.

The Radiophonic Workshop released a new album in 2014 and a track by track breakdown can be found over at subscription service, Society of Sound – where members can pick it up for free. You can here a sample of album track Regeneration – a track that came about when Peter Howell asked himself a very straightforward question: What happens before the Doctor Who titles roll? – via Bowers and Wilkins.

Tickets for The Radiophonic Workshops: Out of the TARDIS ‘An Evening of Doctor Who classics’ and other unworldly sounds at the National Concert Hall on 20 May 2015 will go on sale Friday 30th January at 10am from www.nch.ie or Tel: 01 417 0000. Tickets from €25 (15% discount for groups of 10 or more and 20% discount for Friends of The National Concert Hall).

The post Enjoy ‘An Evening of Doctor Who Classics’ with The Radiophonic Workshop! appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Learn About Anthony Ainley with The Man Behind The Master

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.

Coming soon from Fantom Films, The Man Behind The Master will be the first full-length biography of Anthony Ainley, who played the Doctor’s nemesis from 1981-89.

Karen Louise Hollis’s book , due to be released in May, will explore Ainley’s career both as the Master and prior to that in the many roles he played on film and television. Unsurprisingly he was often cast as the villain and his face regularly appeared throughout the 1970s in a number of popular dramas including Upstairs Downstairs, Nicholas Nickleby, and Elizabeth R. It was his role as Rev Emilius in The Pallisers that made John Nathan-Turner, a production manager at the time, think of him when it came to re-casting the Master. Anyone who has been stuck in front of the TV on a wet bank holiday has surely caught his performance as a villainous Nazi in The Land That Time Forgot.

The book certainly promises to be an intriguing read, as trailed by the publisher:

“But the dramas in Anthony’s real life were far more fascinating than any of the many parts he played on screen. Born the illegitimate son of actor Henry Ainley, and taken into care at the Actors’ Orphanage at the age of four, Fantom presents the hidden story behind one of Doctor Who’s most enigmatic characters.

‘This is the first time all aspects of his life have been drawn together’ says Karen Louise Hollis, ‘I have had the pleasure of interviewing a number of friends and colleagues from every aspect of Anthony’s life, and examined the archives to bring together the most complete and fascinating story.'”

A key figure in Doctor Who for the last decade of its original run, Ainley was a private person who, by some accounts, didn’t exactly go out of his way to make himself popular with colleagues. But he certainly enjoyed the notoriety that went with playing one of television’s most familiar villains and was happy to meet the show’s fans at several convention appearances. Anthony Ainley died in 2004 – check out our appreciation.

The last few years have seen some great Doctor Who biographies published and it looks like this one will need adding to the list of must-reads.

Visit Fantom Films for full details.

The post Learn About Anthony Ainley with The Man Behind The Master appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.