Christian Cawley's Blog, page 143

Brazil to Enjoy Doctor Who and Sherlock on Free TV!

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.

Mark Gatiss’ South American charm offensive and the unprecedented Doctor Who World Tour seem to have done their job in promoting the show in Brazil! Viewers in the vast Portuguese speaking nation – famed for its production of audacious footballers over the years – will now get to see Doctor Who, Sherlock and other BBC shows on free TV!

That’s right, Brazil-based readers, you can cancel the subscription TV deal. BBC Worldwide has reached agreement with TV Cultura, in a package that consists of all eight seasons of Doctor Who since 2005, and the three series of Sherlock to date.

BBC Worldwide has inked a new content deal with TV Cultura that will see such hit series as Doctor Who and Sherlock airing on the Brazilian free-TV broadcaster.

Fred Medina, is executive VP and managing director of BBC Worldwide Latin America and U.S. Hispanic. “After 50 years of production, Doctor Who connects with Brazilian audiences. This important market values BBC drama, from classic series such as Doctor Who to modern productions like Sherlock, which will be now also available on free TV in Brazil as part of this new deal with TV Cultura.”

Not only is this great news for the fans of these shows (which, of course, have huge crossover appeal without their being any actual crossover) we suspect Gatiss and co-writer Steven Moffat are quite happy about it too…

The post Brazil to Enjoy Doctor Who and Sherlock on Free TV! appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Laurel and Hardy Dance to the Doctor Who Theme Tune

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.

We’re pretty sure the title says it all. Click play above to watch Hollywood comedy legends Laurel and Hardy dance to the Doctor Who theme tune.

What do you mean, “they’ve been dead for 50 years”?! Never heard the Kinks song “Celluloid Heroes”?

I wish my life was non-stop Hollywood movie show

A fantasy world of celluloid villains and heroes

Because celluloid heroes never feel any pain

And celluloid heroes never really die

Come to think of it, haven’t you seen The Impossible Astronaut?

So, with that in mind, spend the next couple of minutes watching this and marvel at just how closely Laurel and Hardy’s dance – from the movie Way Out West (1930) – matches Murray Gold’s arrangement. Uncanny, yet amusing, we think you’ll agree.

(With thanks to John Guilor)

The post Laurel and Hardy Dance to the Doctor Who Theme Tune appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

New Doctor Who Merchandise Revealed At The Toy Fair 2015!

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.

The London Toy Fair has been running for 62 years and once again, top Doctor Who toy makers have been filling their corner of the 22,000 square metres of the Olympia with what they hope are this years must have toys.

Thanks to some eagle eyed chaps over at The Doctor Who Site and the work of @AlDewer on Twitter, we’ve got a little company by company sneak peak at the upcoming release for 2015.

Zeon

Showcased at the event were these exquisite high value Doctor Who watches from Zeon – the UK’s largest importer and distributor of timepieces – which are available to buy now from the BBC Shop for £149.99.

The limited edition Dalek Collectors watch which features black leather wrist straps with golden “sensory array” Dalek bumps, a blue digital display with Dalek symbols surrounded by a square golden casing, and the TARDIS Collectors watch which features a TARDIS blue leather strap with printed artwork of the St. John Ambulance Association logo and police phone-box sign from the TARDIS’ exterior, a polished chrome case, a glass lens and Galliyfreyan print on the dial.

Both come in their own TARDIS blue collectors’ box along with a uniquely number collector’s card.

The third watch, the Doctor Who Deluxe Ladies Collectors Watch, which was announced March 2014, features a stainless steel case and bracelet, diamante dial and pyramid lens inspired by the TARDIS. The watch also comes inscribed with the phrase ‘mad man in with a box’ and judging by the photos at the toy fair also comes in its own TARDIS blue collectors’ box – hinting at a similar price bracket as the other designs.

However, the granddaddy of all Time Lord timepieces is the ‘I am the Doctor’ design seen below.

Set to retail at a rumoured £700 the watch features a similar TARDIS blue leather strap with printed artwork of the St. John Ambulance Association logo and police phone-box sign from the TARDIS’ exterior. However, what sets it quite literally apart is the ability to remove the face of the watch and use it as a rather nifty open faced pocket watch complete with engraved pendant featuring both the TARDIS and the police phone-box sign.

The watch comes in its own wooden collectors’ box with a stainless steel Doctor Who logo emblazed on its lid and what appears to be its own unique serial number similar rendered in steel.

Zeon, which also specialises in all kinds of character based gadgets and gifts under its Zeon Character banner, also presented Smartphone operated 8” K-9 and red drone Dalek.

The K-9 model features moving ears, light-up eye, extendable gun and illuminated keypad while its Dalek counterpart features a rotating head, lights, an illuminated eye, autonomous navigation mode and illuminated laser.

The pair work with both Android and Apple devices and are available to pre-order now for release on 30th April from Forbidden Planet for £69.99.

 

Character

Future Character Doctor Who Wave 4 3.75” (yeah, I know) figures look set to include as part of three shipments across 2015 – there were no bases at the Toy Fair although that doesn’t necessarily mean they will be discontinued:

The Foretold from Mummy on the Orient Express – with impressive detailing on the bandages
The Twelfth Doctor as the caretaker, complete with his Ghostbusters style backpack – although the lack of detail in his face does give him a strange resemblance to Boris Karloff (which I guess with the Foretold coming out is kind of fitting).

Who ya gonna call?

. pic.twitter.com/aAFpNBdWlu

— Al Dewar (@TheFab14) December 17, 2014

The Twelfth Doctor in orange spacesuit, complete with two spider-germs from Kill the Moon.
Two variations of Skovox Blitzer, complete with light up blue eyes or light up red laser.
Two variations of the slightly updated Cyberman design from Dark Water/Death in Heaven, one with arm gun and light up chest, and one without arm gun and blue chest light.
A Cyber-Danny figure which comes with open face plate, an arm gun and a chest light – although neither the gun or the chest light have been confirmed.
Two variations of Clara; one with the tartan red skirt seen in The Time of the Doctor/Deep Breath and the other, In the yellow top, black skirt combo seen in The Time of the Doctor – although there was only the Tartan skirt model ready for the Toy Fair.
The Twelfth Doctor in Purple Shirt as seen in Robots of Sherwood – although again, that design was unavailable at the Toy Fair.
Rusty the Dalek from Into the Dalek – which is a rumoured Argos exclusive and comes as part of a 3.75” scale time zone set of his Dalek innards – this was also unavailable at the Toy Fair.
The Tenth Doctor in Orange Spacesuit, which, if his hair is anything to go by, features a character modelled on his look from The Day of the Doctor.

pic.twitter.com/8wTybZ5StW

— Al Dewar (@TheFab14) January 19, 2015

Also coming soon from Character are:

An Electronic Moving Dalek, which is part of the Heritage Line and comes in four variations: Emperor’s Guard Dalek, Bronze Dalek, Dalek Sec and Asylum Dalek. The Daleks move thanks to a ‘wave of sound’ that vibrates from the base allowing them to ‘patrol’ without RC controls.
A Black and Red Dalek Security Patrol Ship complete with Exclusive Pilot Figure – the 3.75” scale set is a variation of the more tradition bronze Dalek set released for The Day of the Doctor anniversary special and comes with the same detailed deluxe Dalek battle vehicle, a real working cannon and pop-off armoured flight panels.
A Cyberman Attack! Sonic Blast Game – Armed with a Sonic Screwdriver players will on cue, be able to ‘disrupt the Cyberman’s electronics’ with targeted sonic blasts to his stumpy body; three blasts on target and his arms fall off, three more blasts and our one armed friend loses the other appendage, nail him that final time and he’ll fall over and beg for mercy (okay, maybe he doesn’t beg).
Sonic Screwdrivers Wave 4 – much the same as previous Waves (the Sonics sell well in the States so every incarnation is usually a replacement for the last with minor tweaks) but what was pictured at the event include variations of the Tenth, Eleventh, Third Doctors and River Songs future Sonic Screwdriver.
TARDIS Wi-Fi Space Telegram & Nightlight Interactive Message Device – this 5” scale TARDIS lets you ‘call it from anywhere’ If anywhere happens to be on the same Wi-fi network, leave a message – causing the TARDIS to light and windows to flash, the message is delivered directly at home, where the Doctor relays ‘you have a new space telegram…’ because why not?

And finally, as Character Building have gone the way of the Dodo, why not pick up the new wave of Time Squad Collectable Figures? There are ten to collect including: The Twelfth Doctor, Clara, The Eleventh Doctor, a clockwork droid and a Dalek to name a few.

Winning Moves

Doctor Who Cluedo: The Doctor and Professor Plum, together at last! Well maybe not if this temporary box art is anything to go by. The mystery this time isn’t to solve the murder of Dr Black – you can almost imagine the Eleventh Doctor bumbling around Tudor Mansion, finding hidden passages leading to an alien race of criminals hiding out in the pantry (clear this is a lost opportunity), but instead, the mystery revolves around finding Danny Pink. Quite where this takes place – Earth, TARDIS or Afterlife, remains to be seen.

What do you think you’ll be buying first?

The post New Doctor Who Merchandise Revealed At The Toy Fair 2015! appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Yes, Digital Spy Went There: Of Course David Tennant Isn’t Returning To Doctor Who

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.

David Tennant has seemingly ruled out a return to Doctor Who… for the foreseeable future at least.

Speaking to Digital Spy after the National Television Awards in one of those post-show interviews grabbed outside as the stars are on their way to find a kebab and a taxi home Tennant said that, whilst filming the 50th anniversary special had been ‘great fun’, another return would most likely be some way off:

“I think you have to ration these things. It’s probably got to be at least 10 years before that happens again, I think.”

Watch the full interview below.

There are all sorts of reasons why bringing old Doctors back wouldn’t be a great idea, of course. It’s understandable, even expected to have a multi-Doctor story to celebrate a landmark birthday but the more these tricks are tried, the less memorable the results would most likely be. The show needs to look forward rather than be constantly harking back to its past and it would arguably be unfair on the current Doctor to have their limelight stolen by an eye-catching appearance from one of their predecessors. And it’s easy to imagine Tennant’s agent advising him against another return to the role when he clearly has so many other opportunities to pursue.

As has often been commented, appearances by past Doctors can be one of those things that are more fun in the imagination than on the screen. Patrick Troughton had such a good time filming The Five Doctors that he immediately asked John Nathan-Turner if he could do another one and whilst it was welcome to see the Second Doctor at the controls of the TARDIS again in The Two Doctors, the resulting story has hardly gone down as a classic.

So perhaps Tennant is only voicing a common-sense view that, like Advocaat and selection boxes, these things have to be reserved for special occasions. After all, 2023 isn’t that far away in relative terms and if he keeps himself in shape he won’t look so very much older than he did when he was the Doctor by the time The Fifteen Doctors comes around to mark the big 6-0.

Now if only the BBC would give Big Finish permission to record stories based on the new series, that would be a different matter…

What do you think? Is this Tennant right to have moved on with no forwarding address? Or should he pop back to pick up his post and meet the new occupant? Let us know!

The post Yes, Digital Spy Went There: Of Course David Tennant Isn’t Returning To Doctor Who appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Amazing: Doctor Who Theme Performed Acapella!

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.

The wonderfully named Otto Tunes acapella group perform their version of the Doctor Who theme tune, in a display that we’re contemplating featuring on the podKast next week.

Yes, we love it! Although the intro could do with being cropped slightly (“we want Doctor”?) overal this is a beautiful arrangement that deserves to be listened through, especially as Otto Tunes perform the much loved/hated “middle eight”.

So, kick back with a snack and a warm drink and enjoy. Or, do what we’re doing, which is joining in. Yeah, to hell with the neighbours, let it all out, it’s Friday!

The post Amazing: Doctor Who Theme Performed Acapella! appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Who-er, Missus! When Doctor Who Got It Dead Wrong

Nick May 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.

January appears to be the month of lists here at Kasterborous and, with the excellent recent summary of those moments from the show that weren’t quite right, it only seems proper to celebrate those things from Who history that were just plain wrong. What were the writers, designers and props people thinking? Read on and titter ye not (not much, anyway).

1. Erato (Creature from the Pit, 1979)

There is very little to say about Erato. The various appendages flapping everywhere, the Doctor’s attempts to get to know the creature a bit better… it’s all a bit much. Legend has it the only person not moved to helpless laughter by the sight of the creature was legendary BBC weatherman and hurricane naysayer Michael Fish, who greeted the proud ambassador with a non-plussed ‘it’s made of weather balloons’. From that cool reaction, if we ever make contact with aliens and they look like Erato, Michael Fish could be our only hope for interplanetary diplomacy.

2. The Axon Spaceship (The Claws of Axos, 1971)

Katy Manning commented on it. My partner commented on it. There is something very wrong with an alien race who drift through universe in some sort of flying sex aid. The bit they left sticking out of the ground when they crashed is particularly iffy. Remember: if a group of people in very tight tie-dye onesies invite you in to see their wares, you say ‘no’.

3. The ‘Mind’ of Axos (The Claws of Axos, 1971)

…and here’s why. No good will come of it, as the Doctor discovers when invited to take a seat on the Axons’ inflatable plastic sofa and ends up eye-to-eye with, well, the one-eyed monster that’s popped up to reveal all. The plot, I mean. Possibly embodying what a lot feminists have been saying about the location of blokes’ brains, the Mind of Axos swings about in Jon Pertwee’s face for a while before going temporarily limp and then rising again at the end, as it were, covered in foam.

4. Alpha Centauri (The Curse of Peladon, 1972)

On first seeing the hermaphrodite hexapod member of the Galactic Federation, director Lennie Mayne, concerned that Alpha Centauri looked a lot like, well, a galactic member, ordered that it be covered up. Fortunately that worked and nobody ever noticed how phallic the creature really was. What’s that? They did? Oh.

5. The Time Detector (The Time Monster, 1972)

“Throbbing with time energy”

The Pertwee years have proven to be a fertile ground for this article. Here, in an already silly story, you have this particularly silly device. It has a probe bit, two separate sections for some dials, and sadly for Katy Manning, holding it with the pointy bit towards her isn’t going to detract from the fact that the design is very similar to that seen in just about every defaced text book you ever got at school.

6. The Doctor’s Reacting Vibrator (The Savages, 1966)

In an interesting juxtaposition, this doesn’t look rude (from the telesnaps, anyway), but hearing William Hartnell go round banging on about his reacting vibrator never fails to raise a smile. It’s for doing calculations, by the way. That’s what it’s for. It is.

7. The Fungoid Plants (Planet of the Daleks, 1973)

And it’s back once more to the Third Doctor era for scenes of Jo Grant running the gauntlet of the planet’s spurting flora to get help for the Doctor, who is so close to death that he only has time to get changed before suffocating. Surely the mess the Fungoids make of the TARDIS screen would alert you to the fact that, Daleks or no Daleks, the whole eco-system on Spiridon really needs to take a cold bath.

8. The Target Room (Tomb of the Cybermen, 1967)

“There’s some kind of a subliminal target that you’re trained to aim at”, says ill-fated archaeologist Bill Haydon, shortly before meeting his end while trying to out-stare a pair of flashing op-art knockers. There’s a moral in there somewhere.

9. The Master’s Tissue Compression Eliminator (Various, 1980s)

This is probably best explained by some confusion as a child when I watched the BBC drama Edge of Darkness. There is a scene when grieving policeman Craven searches his late daughter’s bedroom to see if he can find some clue as to why she was killed. Amongst her possessions is what I took at the time to be some alien weapon akin to that waved about with camp menace by Anthony Ainley in Doctor Who. Sadly, the Time Lord connection to one of the finest conspiracy dramas ever made came to nothing, but my question did generate one of the most awkward pauses ever to grace our living room.

10. Taxi for the script editor! (Various)

“Once he’s got what he wants, we’ll mean nothing to him.”; ” Switch over to sexual air supply.”; “Men, young men, are dying for it”; “The Doctor has the greatest weapon of all”; “The penetration must be stopped!”; “We’ll all go and deal with old cocky lickin’”; “Shall I give him a taste of Thomas Tickler?”. Fnarr, fnarr, as Viz readers everywhere will doubtless be saying…

So there we have it. A round-up of the dodgy, the deranged and the double-entendre-some from the worlds of Doctor Who. Let’s take a moment to salute the straight faces and fortitude with which these things were said, worn and, in some cases, handled by the actors.

I’m sure you can think of others, but you’re probably too grown up to mention them…

The post Who-er, Missus! When Doctor Who Got It Dead Wrong appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Friday News: Awards, Deductions And Abuse

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.

Harassment allegations, Award nominations, Sherlock expectations, Ratings oscillations, Critics admirations, Actress Aspirations, and Squirrel transformations – this is the news! Is it blasted? It’s practically singed.

Not Something to Kid About

Kidulthood actor Adam Deacon has appeared in court charged with posting abusive and threatening messages on social media relating to Doctor Who star and Kidulthood director Noel Clarke.

Deacon, who was arrested last month after failing to appear at Hammersmith Magistrates’ Court, west London, denies harassing his former co-star.

In 2011, the pair fell out over Twitter, the same year that Deacon, who was the recipient of the BAFTA Rising Star award in 2012 – an award which Clarke himself won in 2009 – wrote and co-directed a spoof of both Kidulthood and Adulthood, Anuvahood.

He pleaded not guilty to one count of harassment between March 5 and December 19 last year.

Will The Unicorn Nab An Oscar?

Congratulations are in order for Doctor Who guest star Felicity Jones who has been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress.

Jones, who appeared as the titular Unicorn in 2008’s The Unicorn and the Wasp, received the nod for Stephen Hawking biopic The Theory of Everything playing Hawking’s first wife Jane Hawking.

Although Hawking himself has never appeared in the show he was interview for Doctor Who Live: The Next Doctor and was name checked in 2006’s Doomsday – not to mention attending a gala opening at the Tate Modern in the Eighth Doctor novel The Tomorrow Windows.

The film itself also contains a brief reference to Doctor Who when Stephen first uses his speech-generating device.

Other Doctor Who guest stars who have been nominated for Academy Awards include: Sophie Okonedo, Carey Mulligan, Pauline Collins, Imelda Staunton, Sir Ian McKellan – who was nominated twice – John Cleese (nominated for Best Original Screenplay for A Fish Called Wanda) and, of course, Peter Capaldi, who won an Oscar for his fabulous short film Franz Kafka’s It’s a Wonderful Life.

Your Deductions, Please…

The Christmas special of Sherlock may be underway – #setlock – so what better time to get your deductions in for Season Four: Will the Christmas Special (rumoured to be based on The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle, if tweets from Mark Gatiss and episode director Douglas Mackinnon are to go by) pick up right after the events of His Last Vow? Will it feature an appearance by Moriarty (which one, I here you cry) and when will Moffat canonise Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century already?!

All these and possibly none of them may be answered in Emergency Awesome’s top ten predictions for Season Four.

Accepting Awards With Grace

David Tennant and his region-less American accent has won Favourite actor in a New Television Series at Wednesday night’s People Choice awards for the role of Det. Emmett Carver in Gracepoint – the American remake of Broadchurch which, as its second series airs, is currently infuriating legal pendants.

Tennant was up against Ben McKenzie (Gotham), Dylan McDermott (Stalker), Laurence Fishburne (Black-ish), and Scott Bakula (NCIS: New Orleans).

Gracepoint had been shortlisted for Favourite New Television Drama but didn’t receive enough votes from viewers against the likes of Constatine, The Flash, Forever, Gotham and How to Get Away with Murder.

Top Gear Sherlock Is Most-Watched On Demand Show of 2014!

Power sliding up the BBC iPlayer Christmas charts, Top Gear knocked Doctor Who from the top spot – continuing a 25% year on year boom for the on demand service… Oh but wait! Team Moffat (as no one is calling them) has swiftly poo-pooed on the three middle-aged guys obsessed with pieces of metal and offending everyone in the charts for the most-watched on-demand programme of 2014.

Because as soon as Top Gear seemingly won a virtual iPlayer award, Sherlock pipped it to first position!

There were more than 2 million requests to view the first part of Top Gear’s not at all contentious Patagonia Special, broadcast on BBC 2 on 27th December with a further 1.5 million requests for the concluding part. But the first episode of Sherlock series 3, The Empty Hearse was requested nearly 4.2 million times – and the episodes accounted for three spots in the Top 10. So the most requested show of last year was originally aired on 1st January 2014… Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss said:

“Really thrilling to see Sherlock at the very top of the iPlayer ratings… We always knew he’d survive jumping off that building, but we never thought he’d fly so high.”

Doctor Who, which topped the festive iPlayer charts for the last two years, slipped to ninth spot with 1m requests during a nine-day period over Christmas, according to figures published by the BBC on Wednesday.

The Snowman, the 2012 Christmas Special, received 1.5 million requests, a 300% increase on 2011’s The Doctor, the Widow and The Wardrobe which received 434,000 requests.

It echoed the drop in the TV audience for the Doctor Who Christmas special, which fell to 8.3 million from 11.1 million viewers in 2013, the biggest drop of any of the most popular Christmas Day shows – although that doesn’t account for the boost last year’s special would have received due to Matt Smith’s much anticipated regeneration.

The BBC reported a record-breaking 227 million iPlayer requests across the whole of December. The figures also exclude people using the iPlayer via Sky or Virgin Media.

Meanwhile, only one episode of Doctor Who Series 8 made it into the Top Ten most-watched iPlayer shows: Deep Breath, Peter Capaldi’s debut, appears at #10 with 2.8m requests.

Everyone’s A Critic

Doctor Who has come ninth in Radio Times Critics’ poll.

Writer Huw Fullerton admitted that the Peter Capaldi’s ‘more hostile, older Time Lord’ had been a ‘hard sell’ but said it was now difficult to imagine anyone else at the helm of the TARDIS.

Topping the poll was BBC One’s police drama Happy Valley which the magazine’s editor Alison Graham called “bitingly raw” and said its writer Sally Wainwright and lead actor Sarah Lancashire had “never been better”.

Line of Duty and Sherlock rounded out the top three with Steve Coogan comedy The Trip to Italy and Sky Atlantic’s True Detective filling the rest of the top five slots.

Tim Glanfield, editor of the Radio Times website, said: “The critics’ top five shows that our love of quality crime and detective drama is alive and well.”

Tish Goes To Tinseltown

She may have been involved in ‘the year that never was’ but this year, actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw, who played Tish Jones in Series 3 of Doctor Who, has been wowing critics and landing major parts in high profile dramas in Tinseltown.

A pivotal moment came when the 31 year-old graduate of London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art took home the Best Actress award at this year’s British Independent Film awards for Belle, the tale of the real-life Dido Elizabeth Belle born in 1761 to an enslaved African mother and a white father in the British Navy.

First up in 2015, she has a role in Jupiter Ascending, the Wachowski siblings’ intergalactic adventure starring Mila Kunis and Channing Tatum.

“I was so excited to do something that was the antithesis of period drama,” she said. “It was so unusual and ambitious, and I just thought that was a way to get Belle out of my system — do something in a completely different world.”

Following Jupiter Ascending, Mbatha-Raw will appear on-screen alongside Keanu Reeves and Renée Zellweger in The Whole Truth, a legal thriller where she’ll play ‘the moral compass of the story.’

With all the attention, the in-demand actress won’t be settling down anytime soon: “I have a permanently packed suitcase that comes with me everywhere,” she said.

Deleting Wildlife Since 2014

And finally, ever since Doomsday, the Daleks and Cybermen have been pitched as mortal enemies. With their fixed ideologies and staunch, murderous belief in their own superiority, they simply cannot allow each other to exist in their perfect new order.

This battle has been raging across the galaxy and now, it has reached our backyards. Not content with making our humble homes their battleground, these bitter foes have enlisted a patsy – a fall guy for their own nefarious ends – to decide who shall be our glorious new leader.

That’s right, the Daleks may have struck first with maximum cuteness but now, the Cybermen retaliate.

Prepare yourself dear reader for the future of Naturewatch; the rise of the cybersquirrel!

This novelty squirrel feeder was not the brain child of John Lumic in some parallel universe where Trigger weaponised the grey squirrel against its red enemy, but by mother of two Emma Young, who spent hours creating it by taking apart a novelty radio, padding the rough edges with felt, filling it with a mix of peanuts and peanut butter, and hanging it at just the right height in her garden in Beaulieu, Hampshire.

Young admits that the first Squirrel, Test Subject X, was ‘very nervous’; however she added that: “The smell of the peanuts quickly overcame any wariness, and he reached up and got stuck in… It was hilarious to watch. Well worth all the time and effort.”

Oh I pray that, once we have all been marched to death camps by our cute and fuzzy overlords, we don’t live to regret the day the squirrel found his nuts.

Fine. I’ll get me coat. Come back soon for another charred blast of news.

The post Friday News: Awards, Deductions And Abuse appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Christopher Eccleston Returns to TV Drama In Fortitude

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.

After refusing to take part in the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary and opting for high-camp space opera (and a bigger budget) in Thor 2, Ninth Doctor, Christopher Eccleston is returning to the small screen playing a British scientist. As if he hadn’t taunted us enough…

Fortitude is a new crime drama set in the colder (!) parts of Iceland where a murder threatens to destabilise a previously peaceful community within the Arctic Circle. Produced by Tiger Aspect and Fifty Fathoms for Sky Atlantic and Pivot, it’s spread across twelve hour-long episodes premiering on 29th January and has been described as “Sky’s most ambitious drama to date.”

Also starring more top British talent with Michael Gambon (A Christmas Carol, 2010), Richard Dormer (Game of Thrones), the show is another of the new Nordic Noir genre, and features Danish star Sofie Gråbøl, known for her role in The Killing.

The Gloucestershire Herald caught up with Eccleston about the new show. Having enthused about playing a baddy with “motivation” in Thor 2 and shot both that and Fortitude on location in Iceland, it sounds like he had a better time on his second trip:

“I did Thor 2, whatever it was called… Dark Underpants or something, but I had a much better time on Fortitude… I much preferred the locations that we shot in, I had a much better script and I wasn’t in prosthetic make-up for eight hours every day. And I wasn’t a naughty elf. I was a naughty elf in the bar on Fortitude, but I wasn’t a naughty elf [on set].”

Aww. He goes on to enthuse more about the bar (and in fairness there is good beer to be had in Iceland). Immediately after the shoot he flew to Manhattan to film grim sci-fi, The Leftovers and was surprised at the American enthusiasm for ITV’s Downton Abbey. Ever the ray of sunshine, when asked whether he’d like a guest role on the British period drama he replied, “I think you’ve got to leave yourself open to everything, when you’ve got a mortgage…”

He is however very keen to return to Iceland for more Fortitude should he be asked back for further series. Interestingly one of the directors involved on the shoot is Nick Hurran who directed several Doctor Who episodes including 50th Anniversary special The Day of the Doctor which Moffat was keen for Eccleston to take part in. It seems top talent moves in similar circles!

Fortitude promises to be something pretty special – check out Eccleston, Gambon and others in the trailer below.

The post Christopher Eccleston Returns to TV Drama In Fortitude appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Big Finish’s The Exxilons Available Now!

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.

It’s a great day to be a fan of the Fourth Doctor, dear readers! The latest release in the Fourth Doctor Adventures range, Doctor Who: The Exxilons, is available now.

This adventure reunites the TARDIS trio of the Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker), Leela (Louise Jameson), and K9 (John Leeson) as they encounter an “ancient power” that isn’t exactly benevolent:

“Planet E9874 supports a developing civilisation known as the Tarl. The peaceful, technologically advanced Locoyuns are helping the Tarl develop rudimentary technology. What could be more innocent than that?

When the Doctor, Leela and K9 arrive, they find the delicate balance in the relationship between the two cultures reaching an unexpected crisis point. The spears are flying and the threat of all-out war is in the air. The Doctor must use all his guile to tread a careful path with Tarl leader Ergu, while Leela and K9 discover an ancient power of unimaginable strength which threatens to tear the minds out of its victims.”

If that isn’t enough to whet your appetite, you can also hear the trailer for the release here.

As a K9 fan, this writer is especially looking forward to this release. I’m also interested to see how Exxilons are used in the story. For those of you who may not know, the Exxilons made their first appearance in the Third Doctor serial, Death to the Daleks, and outside of a few written occasions have largely been unused in television and audio adventures. Big Finish has a way with classic era monsters, so I am genuinely excited for their treatment of the race.

Be looking out for a review from our talented reviewers in the very near future. Doctor Who: The Exxilons is available for purchase here.

Are you excited for another trip with Leela and K9? Will you or have you picked this up? Let us know your thoughts below.

The post Big Finish’s The Exxilons Available Now! appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Blink Director Hettie McDonald Returns For Series 9!

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.

Hettie McDonald, the director of the ever-popular Series 3 episode Blink, will finally be returning to Doctor Who.

According to the online CV of production designer, Michael Pickwoad, Hettie will direct at least one episode of Series 9, the second run of stories to star Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor. The episode looks like it will be produced by Peter Bennett, who was partly-responsible for producing Series 8.

Her only other Who credit is 2007’s Blink, the tale that introduced us to the Weeping Angels, for which she worked alongside current showrunner, Steven Moffat. Since then, McDonald has directed Wallander, Law & Order UK, and two Agatha Christie franchises, Marple, and Poirot – actually directing Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case!

The only other director confirmed for Series 9 is Being Human‘s Daniel O’Hara, who is said to be working on a two-part script by Toby Whithouse (The God Complex; A Town Called Mercy). Frankly, we’ve no idea whose script Hettie will be working on, but it’s fun to speculate… so my vote goes to either Jamie Mathieson (Mummy on the Orient Express) or Tom MacRae (The Girl Who Waited), neither of whom have been confirmed as writers for the 12-episode run.

Looking forward to Hettie’s return to the Whoniverse? Let us know below.

The post Blink Director Hettie McDonald Returns For Series 9! appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.