Christian Cawley's Blog, page 17

Out Now: Torchwood – Uncanny Valley

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.

Outside the Government; beyond the police: The penultimate audio from the first series of Big Finish’s Torchwood, Uncanny Valley is out right now.

John Barrowman returns to the much-loved role of Captain Jack Harkness in a tale of troublesome automatons…

What has made billionaire Neil Redmond emerge from his long seclusion? Captain Jack knows the answer, and is prepared to go to any lengths to prove it.

A couple of years ago, Neil Redmond was in a terrible accident. His recovery has been long and slow, but now he’s back and looking better than ever. Much better than ever.

Dark forces have been behind Neil’s transformation. Dark forces that Jack has been hunting for a long time. But Captain Jack’s never been able to resist the darkness.

Barrowman is joined by Steven Cree as Neil Redmond and Emma Reeves as Miss Trent, in this fifth release of Big Finish’s Torchwood range, which began in September.

Fans of '#Torchwood: Uncanny Valley' may love/hate this. Test footage of an animatronic head from 'The World's End'. https://t.co/LA2osE84ux

— David Llewellyn (@TheDaiLlew) January 22, 2016

Series 1 concludes with next month’s More Than This, with Eve Myles as Gwen Cooper, but don’t worry too much: Series 2 starts in March, and Naoko Mori has been confirmed as returning to the role of Toshiko Sato already!

Written by David Llewellyn (who wrote the first audio, The Conspiracy, also starring Barrowman), and directed by Neil Gardner, Torchwood: Uncanny Valley is available from their website: £9.99 for a physical copy, or £7.99 for a download.

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Chibnallysis! Everything You Need to Know about Chris Chibnall

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.

Yesterday Doctor Who fans were rocked by the news that showrunner Steven Moffat is departing the show after six series in charge, with former Doctor Who writer and Broadchurch creator Chris Chibnall set to take his place.

Bringing with him a wealth of showrunner experience and genuine fanboy credentials, Chibnall is a smart choice; coming as he does off the back of Broadchurch, his biggest success to date. Featuring nearly every actor to have appeared in Doctor Who, the hit ITV drama isn’t the only experience he has of being in charge of a big TV project.

He was previously involved as the de facto showrunner for Russell T Davies Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood, which he ran for two series and, crucially for Doctor Who, penned finales for both series and the series 2 opener.

Along with Doctor Who – Chibnall penned 42, The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood, Dinosaurs on a Spaceship and The Power of Three –  his time wrangling Captain Jack has given him experience of managing various tones and settings; a must for anyone looking to shape the world the Doctor inhabits.

If we were looking for themes to build a series upon, family and domesticity play an important part in most of Chibnall’s episodes – it was Chibnall who introduced Brian, Rory’s father, and took him on an adventure with the Doctor – along with a focus on celebrity historical guest stars like Egyptian Queen Nefertiti in Dinosaurs on a Spaceship.

Could this attention towards family and domesticity mean we’re heading back to Russell T Davies era home-life? And, what with the Torchwood connection, will this all be tempered with a darker, watershed baiting edge that’s become familiar under Moffat?

Outside the Doctor Who connection, he also served as a showrunner on ITV crime drama Law and Order: UK, Arthurian drama Camelot for Channel 4; was a producer or writer for BBC 1’s Born and Bred, helped develop Merlin and was the only guest writer to work on both series of Life on Mars.

Then there’s the acclaimed one-off dramas including The Great Train Robbery and United – about the Manchester United Munich air disaster staring the Tenth Doctor himself David Tennant (it’s great, a personal favourite of mine)

And, let’s face it, if nothing else comes from all this experience, Broadchurch has taught him to be discreet.

Without wanted to draw too many conclusions from his past, whatever happens in the future, Chibnall will almost certainly give us something unexpected, something familiar and hopefully, something that builds on past successes.

So what do you think of Chibnall’s appointment? What changes do you want to see under his tenure? What don’t you want to see? What’s your favourite Chibnall episode/drama?

The post Chibnallysis! Everything You Need to Know about Chris Chibnall appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Big Finish Celebrate his 45th Anniversary with The Two Masters!

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.

They are the Master, and you will obey them!

This summer, Big Finish are bringing many-a-fans’ dreams alive with The Two Masters, played by the audio incarnations of the Time Lord, Geoffrey Beevers (who debuted in The Keeper of Traken) and Alex Macqueen.

The different incarnations will meet the Fifth and Sixth Doctors separately before facing off against the Seventh Doctor in the third part of the hypnotically-great trilogy. Script Editor, Alan Barnes says:

“A ‘Two Masters’ storyline was something I’d been thinking about for a while; ever since [minor spoiler alert!] Alex Macqueen’s ‘New’ Master arrived in UNIT: Dominion – putting him opposite Geoffrey Beevers’ ‘Old’ Master seemed an irresistible idea. But if Two Masters are better than one, then three Master stories are definitely better than two, heh heh heh. So I came up with a dastardly plan to put together a whole trilogy of adventures.”

Ah, a most dastardly scheme.

Alan’s …And You Will Obey Me kick-starts the linked stories, with Peter Davison’s Fifth Doctor arriving at a quiet churchyard in the English countryside – the supposed last resting-place of the ‘old’ Master (Geoffrey Beevers). But alien forces are gathered around, determined to ensure that the Master will not rest in peace.

Then, in Justin Richards’ Vampire of the Mind, Colin Baker’s Sixth Doctor suspects the hand of his oldest enemy behind a spate of mysterious disappearances… but will he even recognise the ‘new’ Master (Alex MacQueen), when he arrives at the scene of one of their earlier encounters?

And finally, with John Dorney’s The Two Masters, Sylvester McCoy’s Seventh Doctor must battle Gallifrey’s most ingenious criminal – squared! Director, Jamie Anderson said:

“It was a pleasure to be invited to direct this long-awaited team up between two versions of Doctor Who’s most iconic villain. Alan and his writers have come up with a ‘masterplan’ which is sure to surprise fans of this classic character – in his 45th year of terrorising the universe!”

Indeed, these adventures will be the first in a number of audio appearances celebrating the Master’s 45th anniversary – including an appearance in Jago & Litefoot: Series 11.

Executive Producer, Nicholas Briggs adds:

“This is something that our listeners have been asking us to do for absolutely ages… So we’re very happy to deliver! It’s also something that our boss, Jason Haigh-Ellery was very keen on. The idea has been a long time in the making, because we wanted to get it totally right. As is fitting, it’s slightly crazy, slightly mind-melting and massively exciting with loads of shocks, twists and turns along the way. We’re also very happy to have Jamie Anderson on board as director. He did a fantastic job of directing and producing our audio versions of his father Gerry’s creation, Terrahawks, that we gave him the opportunity to work on our Doctor Who range. He’s very quickly established a great working relationship with our Doctors and we hope he’ll be with us for many years to come.”

The entire Two Masters trilogy is available to pre-order right now…

 

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Arthur Darvill on Time-Travelling Similarities and Peter Capaldi!

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.

Arthur Darvill is a time traveler! Yes, he was Rory Williams, going through time and space with Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor and Karen Gillan’s Amy Pond from 2010 to 2012, but that’s not what I meant. No, I was talking about the new DC Comics show, Legends of Tomorrow…

Darvill, as you’ve no doubt heard already, plays Rip Hunter, leader of a band of heroes – and seasoned Time Master. So what did he make of the similarities between this role and the one he’s most famous for? Arthur told Headlines & Global News:

“When they pitched the idea of the show, I was like, ‘This is very close to Doctor Who‘. We had various discussions and, obviously, it deals with similar themes like time travel. I’m an Englishman in a long coat [with] a time machine, so there’s no getting away from that. But, as the series goes on, I’m pleased you will notice more and more differences between Rip Hunter and the Doctor. They are very different.”

The show opens in the year 2166, a world crippled by Vandal Savage, who further murders Hunter’s family. Rip travels back in time to assemble a team of superheroes – including The Atom, Hawkgirl and Hawkman, and White Canary – to fight Savage, to get payback. But if he does decide to change the future and save his family, that, as we all know, is A Massive Paradox.

Darvill explains how the character fascinated him, and is especially happy about having an action figure of himself (you’re free to point out there’s a Rory figure already available, but they were pretty hard to buy for a while). He says Whovians have been enthusiastic about Legends of Tomorrow too:

“Everyone has been really positive about the whole thing. I think people are enjoying the similarities, and I’m not going to stand here and say there are no similarities because there are, but what’s great is the show is so totally different from that show.”

When asked whether he’s watched Doctor Who since the Twelfth Doctor got the key to the TARDIS, he replies:

“Yes, I have, and think Peter Capaldi is one of the best actors in the world. He’s so committed and brings his own amazing nuance to everything he does. I think he’s great, and I’m a big fan of his.”

DC’s Legends of Tomorrow airs Thursdays at 8pm ET on The CW. It’s due to debut on Sky 1 in the UK on 3rd March.

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Moffat Replaced by Chibnall as Showrunner in 2018

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.

We’ve a huge load of seismic changes to share with you now, readers, so we’ll do this in as efficient a manner as possible. Please excuse the bullet points but action stations!

Steven Moffat is to stand down as showrunner following the broadcast of the next series.
Chris Chibnall (42; Dinosaurs on a Spaceship) will take over as new showrunner.
Only one episode of Doctor Who will air this year: the Christmas special.
Series 10, the final with Moffat as showrunner, will air in Spring 2017.
Chibnall will begins his tenure as head writer and executive producer in 2018.
It’s unknown whether a new companion will debut this Christmas, but he or she will be there for Series 10, according to BBC sources.
It’s unknown what this means for Peter Capaldi.

So let that settle in. Crikey.

Chibnall was rumoured to be taking over, but there were so many players, it was all just speculation. It does explain why Broadchurch Series 3 might be the last.

Explaining the decision to hold Moffat’s last series until next year, BBC1 controller Charlotte Moore said:

“I have decided to schedule Steven’s big finale series in Spring 2017 to bring the nation together for what will be a huge event on the channel. 2016 is spoilt with national moments including the Euros and Olympics and I want to hold something big back for 2017 – I promise it will be worth the wait!”

SPORT?!

She also says it’s undecided whether the show will continue to air in the Spring when Chibnall takes over. Moffat said:

“Feels odd to be talking about leaving when I’m just starting work on the scripts for season 10, but the fact is my timey-wimey is running out. While Chris is doing his last run of Broadchurch, I’ll be finishing up on the best job in the universe and keeping the TARDIS warm for him. It took a lot of gin and tonic to talk him into this, but I am beyond delighted that one of the true stars of British Television drama will be taking the Time Lord even further into the future. At the start of season 11, Chris Chibnall will become the new showrunner of Doctor Who. And I will be thrown in a skip.”

Moore added:

“I want to thank Steven Moffat for everything he has given Doctor Who – I’ve loved working with him, he is an absolute genius and has brought fans all over the world such joy,” she added. “I will be very sad to see him leave the show but I can’t wait to see what he will deliver in his last ever series next year with a brand new companion… I would also like to take this opportunity to welcome Chris Chibnall, a wonderfully talented writer who I know will bring something very special to the hit series.”

Chris Chibnall, officially our new showrunner, ladies and gents, enthused:

“Doctor Who is the ultimate BBC programme: bold, unique, vastly entertaining, and adored all around the world.  So it’s a privilege and a joy to be the next curator of this funny, scary and emotional family drama. I’ve loved Doctor Who since I was four years old, and I’m relishing the thought of working with the exceptional team at BBC Wales to create new characters, creatures and worlds for the Doctor to explore.  Steven’s achieved the impossible by continually expanding Doctor Who’s creative ambition, while growing its global popularity. He’s been a dazzling and daring showrunner, and hearing his plans and stories for 2017, it’s clear he’ll be going out with a bang. Just to make my life difficult.”

And Polly Hill, BBC controller of drama commissioning, told the Radio Times:

“Like Charlotte I would like to thank Steven for his brilliance, which has made Doctor Who a global hit under his tenure. Chris Chibnall is the perfect successor to take over the reins of this incredible show, so I am delighted that his love for Doctor Who has made it impossible for him to resist !  Chris is an incredible writer and his vision and passion for Doctor Who gives it an exciting future and promises to be a real treat for Doctor Who fans across the world.”

It’s likely that this news blast was rushed out after The Mirror revealed its front page tomorrow. Another leak at the BBC…?

We’ll leave the speculation about all this news for now. I think we all need a bit of time to ourselves.

The post Moffat Replaced by Chibnall as Showrunner in 2018 appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Broadchurch Starts Filming in May 2016

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.

That breezy, feel-good, perfect-for-cheering-up-those-blues crime drama, Broadchurch will begin filming again this May, according to Olivia Coleman.

On tonight’s Graham Norton Show, the actress told Norton:

“We are filming it in May… I don’t know when it goes out – ages after!”

She was last year quoted as saying filming starts this coming summer, but this is the first time a month has been pinned down. This third series, written by Chris Chibnall (42; Dinosaurs on a Spaceship), will star the Tenth Doctor, David Tennant, alongside Coleman, who played Prisoner Zero in The Eleventh Hour (2010). The first series was directed exclusively by Doctor Who alumni, Euros Lyn (Tooth and Claw; The End of Time) and James Strong (The Impossible Planet/ The Satan Pit; Voyage of the Damned).

There’s been much speculation over whether this will be the final series, fueled by Tennant saying:

“I think it’s conceived as a trilogy. But I genuinely have no idea what’s coming; even more so than season two, I have not a clue what the story for season three is so I’ve no idea where it will take us.”

While ratings did drop during Series 2, the average viewership was still greatly above 9 million.

Broadchurch premiered in 2013, and Series 2 aired a year ago, across January, and February 2015. It wouldn’t come as a great surprise if Series 3 aired in a similar slot next year.

The post Broadchurch Starts Filming in May 2016 appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

David Tennant to host live BBC Shakespeare Show

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.

David Tennant will host a live TV celebration of William Shakespeare to mark the 400th anniversary of the Bards death.

The Tenth Doctor himself will be joined in Stratford-Upon-Avon by former Doctor Who guest star Sir Ian McKellen and Dame Judi Dench.

Unveiling details of Shakespeare Live! – which will be broadcast on BBC Two on 23 April – at the launch the BBC’s Shakespeare Festival on Thursday, Tennant said: “We have opera, we have ballet, we have hip-hop – all celebrating Shakespeare and what he’s done for our cultural heritage.”

The live tribute show at the RSC theatre in Stratford coincides with Shakespeare’s birthday weekend.

It will also feature Joseph Fiennes – who played the lead in the film Shakespeare in Love – the English National Opera, Birmingham Royal Ballet, and rapper Akala, founder of the Hip Hop Shakespeare Company.

The BBC Shakespeare Festival 2016 is billed as “the most far-reaching celebration of Shakespeare’s work ever broadcast”. BBC director general Tony Hall said it aimed “to make Shakespeare irresistible to everybody”.

Other festival highlights include A Midsummer Night’s Dream by former Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies featuring Matt Lucas, Maxine Peake, John Hannah, Elaine Page, Richard Wilson and Bernard Cribbins, The Hollow Crown: The Wars of the Roses starring Benedict Cumberbatch Dame Judi Dench, Keeley Hawes, Sophie Okonedo, Hugh Bonneville and Sir Michael Gambon on BBC Two, Cunk on Shakespeare – a half-hour special featuring the character of Philomena Cunk (Diane Morgan), a regular on Charlie Brooker’s Weekly Wipe and a special episode of Horrible Histories on CBBC, looking at the Bard’s early life with Tom Stourton as Shakespeare.

The festival sees the BBC in partnership with a number of arts organisations, such as the RSC.

Gregory Doran, the RSC’s artistic director, said Shakespeare was still relevant and accessible after 400 years.

“Shakespeare is for everyone so we want as many people as possible to have a chance to experience his work this year,” he said.

Tennant, who played an acclaimed Hamlet for the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2008, is currently starring in the RSC’s Richard II at London’s Barbican.

Speaking of his first brush with live Shakespeare As You Like It in his school gym hall in the early 1980s.

“We all filed in and sat and watch this performance and I got blown away. I thought Touchstone was the coolest man I’d ever seen…Shakespeare has been a huge part of my life, these characters and stories are catnip for actors.”

 

 

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Matt Smith Won’t Be Back – Terminator Genysis Sequel Dropped

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.

Looks like we’re not going to be seeing Matt Smith’s evil A.I character again any time soon.

If you wanted a barometer for just how far the Terminator franchise has sank, then the news that US studio Paramount are pulling a projected Terminator Genysis sequel from its release schedule in favour of a Baywatch reboot starring Zac Efron and Dwayne Johnson, is a pretty clear sign of how bad things have become.

The Skydance production was originally supposed to open in cinemas on 19 May 2017. It’s unknown whether the sequel (or a third projected film scheduled for a 2018 release) will still be made, with no alternative release date offered for the sequel.

Sadly, this means Matt Smith (who was the best thing in the last outing which to us at the time felt like a false start rather than a franchise starter) won’t get his moment in the limelight as his evil A.I character – a walking talking Skynet basically – was meant to take more of a central role for the now canned sequels.

Speaking a few months ago Skydance Creative Officer Dana Goldberg admitted that the film needed some “re-adjusting”, though at the time was confident the sequels would continue.

So it looks like it won’t be back after all…

 

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Russell T Davies Round Up

Simon Mills 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.

Russell T Davies is in the news again – this time he has won an award for Outstanding Contribution to Writing from the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain, at an event held recently at RIBA in London. The awards celebrate the best in British writing talents and Davies has certainly produced some quality and controversial output in his time whilst not writing and running Doctor Who. Readers may remember the rather groundbreaking drama set in the manchester gay scene, Queer As Folk and the much more recent Cucumber, Banana and Tofu drama trilogy – also about the gay scene, but a much older version.

Rustie was rather pleased to win this award.

“For me, this is the greatest of honours, coming from fellow writers, and I’m enormously grateful to the Writers’ Guild – for this, and for the work it does for writers everywhere.”

The Guardian has a great interview with Russell which also talks about his award win, but in their article they also talk about his upcoming adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream for the BBC’s upcoming spring season of plays celebrating 400 years since the Bard of Avon died. This 90 minute adaptation will be a full on RTD special effects extravaganza – I may exaggerate a little, but there will be at least one lightning bolt. I think the best casting news ever is that Matt Lucas (Nardole in The Husbands of River Song – in case you didn’t know) will be playing Bottom!

If I may quote The Guardian directly (for it is a great paragraph exemplifying journalistic integrity and RTD double-entendre):

“Dreams, chases, people changing identities and species,” he says. “If that’s not an episode of Doctor Who, I don’t [k]now what is.” Clearly, you can take the man out of Doctor Who, but not Doctor Who out of the man. “I’ve wanted to make this for 30 years,” he says, setting about his eggs benedict. But his obsession with the play goes back even further. “It was the first drama I was in.” He pauses. “I was 11 when I gave Swansea my Bottom.”

It’s a nice article that goes into more detail about what motivates Russell now and tells of a new show he’s writing called The Boys about the hysteria surrounding AIDS in the 1980s. This is his attempt to come to terms with the events of the time and to honour friends he lost at that time.

Also of interest in this article is that the news of Alan Rickman’s untimely death broke whilst the interview was taking place and RTD comments that they asked him to be in Doctor Who so many times… Ahhhh! If only!

Russell, we salute you!

The post Russell T Davies Round Up appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Out Now: Doctor Who: Prisoners of Time Omnibus

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.

Celebrate the 50th anniversary anew with the omnibus edition of IDW’s Doctor Who comic strip Prisoners of Time.

Join all of the Doctors incarnations as writers Scott & David Tipton weave a multi-Doctor story arch featuring art by some of the greatest Doctor Who artists to have inked the great man, all leading up to a final confrontation that’ll shake the Doctor to his core.

Released monthly throughout 2013 each of the first eleven parts focused on a different Doctor, leading to a final multi-Doctor story in December.

The complete set was written by Scott & David Tipton with artwork from the likes of Simon Fraser, Lee Sullivan, Mike Collins, Gary Erskine, Philip Bond, John Ridgway, Kev Hopgood, Roger Langridge, David Messina, Giorgia Sposito, Elena Casagrande, Matthew Dow Smith and Kelly Yates.

You can download the digital edition now for £13.29 with the trade paperback available for pre-order now for £15.90 for release on February 16th from Amazon.    

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