Christian Cawley's Blog, page 64

Win Tickets to Magician’s Apprentice Premiere in New York!

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.

BBC America is running a competition for stateside fans to attend an exclusive screening of the Doctor Who Series 9 opener, The Magician’s Apprentice.

While it only takes place two days before the episode actually airs across America, Canada, and the UK, the episode is introduced by Michelle Gomez, who plays Missy in the first two-parter! Gomez recently said:

“It felt so good [to be back], especially as I thought it was all over for Missy at the end of Series 8. But then of course she is the Master after all, so anything can happen, even dodging death. I’m still in a state of shock at actually being in a show I watched avidly as a child.”

The screening will be held on 17th September (at 7pm) at New York’s SVA Theatre, but you don’t have long to enter!

If you can get to New York for that date, and are 18 or above, just visit the BBC America website and enter before 11:59pm tonight. All you need to do is enter your details – and keep your fingers crossed!

(Thanks to DWNews.)

The post Win Tickets to Magician’s Apprentice Premiere in New York! appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Lovarzi’s Fourth Doctor Scarf Sold Out… For Now?

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.

Lovarzi, who has made special replicas of Doctor Who items since 2012, has launched their new-look website… but there’s one thing missing: the original multi-coloured Fourth Doctor Scarf!

The first product from Lovarzi’s Who range, it was a bestseller for the company – and it seems high sales have taken their toll. It’s not an ideal situation, of course, with their new site having gone live today, although there’s still the Burgundy Season 18 Scarf, and a full 18ft Scarf available.

Maninder Singh Sahota, Director of Lovarzi, told Kasterborous:

“We’re very happy that fans are so enthusiastic about our range, and we always knew the Fourth Doctor Scarf would be a popular item – nonetheless, the scale of its success has proved a fantastic surprise! At conventions, I’m always on the look out for cosplayers wearing our products. And there’s still life in the Fourth Doctor range: in fact, for anyone upset at missing the original multi-coloured scarf, we’ve got some good news coming very soon…”

New Doctor Who products are expected to be released in the coming months before Christmas – as well as an expansion to their Sherlock range.

In our review of the Fourth Doctor Scarf, we said:

“The detail is incredible: whereas a family-knitted one might skimp on a few individual stripes, Lovarzi has made sure they’ve created an exact facsimile. There’re a few colours that are only used on stripes the width of your finger, which is really impressive and shows just how much love and respect has gone into it.”

Are you a cosplayer? Did you manage to get the scarf before it sold out? Let us know below!

UPDATE: Lovarzi has told us that more stock of the Fourth Doctor Scarf will be forthcoming, though we don’t know when as yet.

The post Lovarzi’s Fourth Doctor Scarf Sold Out… For Now? appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Jenna Coleman on Clara’s New Perspective in 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.

Have you heard? Doctor Who is back in just over a week! Yeah, they kept that quiet.

Jenna Coleman, aka Clara Oswald, teases what’s to come in Series 9, noting that it’s more space-bound, and features thought-provoking storylines and scary monsters.

Some of what she says – about losing Danny giving Clara a new perspective on life, and how she’s cutting her ties to Earth – remind me of what Jackie Tyler told Rose in Army of Ghosts (2006) – that one day, she’ll just be on her own, a mad woman left on some desolate rock somewhere in the universe…

How are you feeling about this new series?

Really excited, a lot of the stories are very self contained two-parters; it’s a lot more space-bound and it’s all about adventures and time travelling. The amazing benefit of doing them is not only do you get more time to explore the story, but also at the end of the first part you get to create a huge cliffhanger. Clara and the Doctor are united, they’re strong together and are just enjoying travelling and doing and seeing as much as possible. It’s very adrenaline-fuelled and full of reckless adventure, with them throwing themselves head first into it.

Clara seems to be more determined and focused on time travelling, do you see that she’s moved on since the last series?

She’s cutting ties with Earth more and more. Since losing Danny her perspective has changed on life and in a way she’s lost fear of her own mortality. When that happens there’s a sense of freedom – going into adventures there’s nothing holding her back. But as much fun as it is, it can be dangerous. I think there’s definitely something in that for Clara, she’s losing herself in the position.

It seems like the Doctor and Clara are more alike than ever before, would you say that’s true?

There’s an ease between them, a shorthand, and she is becoming more and more like him. I think they’ve always been a lot more similar – perhaps other Doctors and companions have been. I think she quite wants to be like him, but the more time they spend together the more Doctorly she’s getting, and more independent of him. There are quite a few stories in this series where you see us parting ways, where we’re covering different bases, and then you see us coming back together – they’re a proper team. I think they’ve been through so much together and they know each other so well that they’re entwined.

Working with guest cast in each block, how does the dynamic change on set for yourself and Peter?

The two of us are always behaving as stupidly as we do, and it’s been lovely having Michelle [Gomez, who plays Missy] back, she’s always a laugh. Maisie [Williams, guest star] is wonderful, I was a really big fan of hers before she came to Doctor Who, she fits right in so it’s been really great having her join us. One of the most wonderful things about the show is every episode feels so different, it feels like a whole new show in a way.

What has been your favourite episode from this series and why?

Episode 11 will be really unique and the Viking episode was so much fun to film. The scripts for episodes 7 and 8 are really strong, Peter Harness [writer of Invasion of the Zygons/ Inversion of the Zygons] has done such a good job with those. They feel like quite different Doctor Who episodes – tense, very relevant, thought-provoking, and clever.

You have great looks this series – do you have any input in to what you wear?

My idea for Clara is very much a school teacher who rides a motor cycle, in a retro ’60s style, but also sci-fi. The aim was to merge all those elements together for Clara’s look.

In episode 1 the Doctor is lost and you’re contacted by your greatest enemy Missy. How do Clara and Missy work together to save the Doctor without killing each other?

The peril that the Doctor’s in is so great that the only thing to do is to put differences aside and work together. I think in a way, Clara’s quite fascinated by Missy, but disgusted at the same time. That’s partly to do with how Michelle Gomez plays her, she’s so magnetic that you can’t help but like her, even though you’re supposed to hate her. It’s one of the really clever things she does. Clara and Missy actually end up getting on, but remembering they don’t like each other again.

Having two females that are very close to the Doctor is interesting for Clara to witness, because the Doctor and Missy are enemies, but they are also very ancient friends. They have a past and history that they cannot even touch upon, or even understand how you can like or be in love with somebody that has repeatedly tried to kill you throughout time and space.

I also think it’s interesting for Clara to operate under a female Time Lady, she’s so used to running with the Doctor that to be with a Time Lady is quite a new experience for her. Somebody who is so maniacal is quite fun. You think you’re safe and within 30 seconds you’re literally being pushed down a cliff.

You’ve done a few stunts in the series – can you tell us about them?

I’ve done a lot of hanging upside down this series: upside down on a cliff in Tenerife was new, but surprising, it looks so easy but it’s not at all. It was tricky because we could only do it in minute spurts, filming the scenes. I also had a scene where I was hanging outside of the TARDIS too, so it seems to be one of my specialities this series.

Doctor Who Series 9 starts on 19th September with The Magician’s Apprentice – featuring Daleks, Missy, and more! And transmission times have also recently been announced…

The post Jenna Coleman on Clara’s New Perspective in Series 9 appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

The Magician’s Apprentice Transmission Times Announced

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 BBC has confirmed that The Magician’s Apprentice, the first episode of Series 9, will premiere on BBC One at 7:40pm.

To air on 19th September, this is around the normal time Doctor Who has recently occupied – in fact, it’s ten minutes earlier than last year’s debut, Deep Breath, which broadcast on 23rd August 2014 at 7:50pm.

The Steven Moffat-penned opener will then air at 9pm EDT on BBC America and SPACE in Canada.

The episode, sadly, isn’t an extra-long special, but does have a slightly increased running time, clocking in at around 50 minutes.

While viewers in Germany and Italy have to wait until December 2015 and January 2016, respectively, to see Series 9, The Magician’s Apprentice is set to screen across this month and the next in further countries. The schedule looks like this:

Asia Pacific – 20 Sep at 10am on BBC Entertainment
Australia 20 Sep at 7:40pm on ABC (Also simulcast on iView)
New Zealand – 20 Sep at 7:30pm on Prime TV
Benelux Europe – 22 Sep at 9pm on BBC First
Finland 28 Sep at 6:05pm on YLE TV2
South Africa – 24 Oct at 6pm on BBC First

It’s yet to be confirmed what other shows will bookend Doctor Who, but expect the usual National Lottery at the very least. The following Saturday is also likely to be a huge audience-grabber, with not only the second part of this serial (The Witch’s Familiar), but also the first live show of this year’s Strictly Come Dancing.

The post The Magician’s Apprentice Transmission Times Announced appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Great Intelligence Manifests Himself in Westeros?

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.

Richard E Grant is the latest actor to chalk up credits on both Doctor Who and that other big beast of SF and fantasy television Game of Thrones – according to a swiftly removed reference on his agent’s website anyway.

Although it’s yet to be officially confirmed, it looks as though the non-canonical Ninth Doctor will be joining the extensive cast list for the sixth season of HBO’s mega-hit drama, currently filming for transmission in 2016.

Having appeared in several formats of Doctor Who (The Curse of Fatal Death and Scream of the Shalka as different versions of the Doctor, and more recently as Doctor Walter Simeon and subsequently the Great Intelligence in the series proper) Grant is soon to be seen on screen in the interesting-looking new genre show Jekyll and Hyde on ITV this autumn.

Grant is by no means the first actor to have made the journey from the world of Doctor Who to Westeros; Harry Lloyd, Mark Gatiss and Iain Glen are just some of those to have worn this particular path before. And Doctor Who viewers will soon be able to see Maisie Williams and Paul Kaye, both Game of Thrones veterans, when Series 9 starts later this month.

Game of Thrones (always a show that likes to give viewers plenty of notice) returns on April 3 2016.

The post Great Intelligence Manifests Himself in Westeros? appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Gwen and Rhys Join Big Finish’s Torchwood

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.

Gwen Cooper and her husband, Rhys Williams will be appearing in the third release of Big Finish’s Torchwood range!

The audio’s company’s first foray into the universe of nuWho begins this month, but we’ll have to wait for November’s Forgotten Lives to hear Eve Myles reprise her role as Gwen, and Kai Owen to return as Rhys.

It’s actually the 10th anniversary of Eve’s first appearance in Doctor Who: she played Gwyneth in The Unquiet Dead, but the Who crew liked her so much, they invited her back to play the audience’s introduction to Torchwood, a sort of riskier UNIT back in 2006. Four series of the spin-off followed, and Big Finish has confirmed that these audio dramas take place after the latest run of TV episodes, grouped together as Miracle Day. Here’s what Forgotten Lives is about:

“It has been four years since the Miracle, and Gwen and Rhys’s lives have gone back to normal, very normal. They’re raising their daughter (they’ve got pictures they’d be only too happy to show you), they’re living in a nice house, and they’re almost on top of the laundry.

Captain Jack Harkness has been missing from the world and their lives for a long time. But late one night the phone rings, and they’re summoned to an isolated part of North Wales. The Bryn Offa Nursing Home contains a dark secret, an alien threat, and someone who really shouldn’t be there.

Gwen and Rhys are about to discover that Torchwood stays with you for the rest of your life.”

Written by Emma Reeves, and directed by Scott Handcock, the story also stars Phillip Bond as Griffith, Valmai Jones as Elunedd, and Seán Carlsen as Gary. Reeves, who further guests as Ceri and Nurse Bevan, says:

“I’ve been lucky enough to write for Eve before, on Belonging, and I know that she has a unique gift of imbuing every syllable with the deepest meaning. Getting Eve Myles and Kai Owen, too, is basically like winning the writer lottery.”

Eve has been confirmed for later on in the series too – although more details have yet to be revealed. This series will run monthly until February 2016, and you can subscribe (making the most of special savings) now.

Forgotten Lives is available for pre-order for £9.99 for a CD, or £7.99 for a downloadable copy.

The post Gwen and Rhys Join Big Finish’s Torchwood appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Awesome Competition: Win a Full Subscription to Doctor Who: The Complete History!

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 teamed up with Hachette Partworks to offer one lucky Kasterborous reader a full subscription to Doctor Who: The Complete History!

The partwork looks at every Doctor Who serial from 1963’s An Unearthly Child (or 100,000BC if you will) to last year’s special, Last Christmas, and builds up to form a definitive guide presented in hardback volumes. And thanks to Hachette, you can win a subscription that’s worth nearly £800!

The first volume is released nationwide today with Issue 1 covering the Tenth Doctor stories, Gridlock, Daleks in Manhattan/ Evolution of the Daleks, The Lazarus Experiment, and 42.

Editor, John Ainsworth told us:

“Certainly there had been a steady demand to collect together and republish Andrew Pixley’s Archives in a consistent format. However, as is clear from the number of volumes that we will be publishing, this was never going to fit into one single book. I think the partworks format is the ideal way to publish this material and make it accessible to a whole new audience as well as appealing to the more seasoned fans who will be familiar with the material from its original publication.”

Each book includes: an Introduction (specially written  for each story, highlighting the contributions that each one has made to the mythology of the series); The Story (a full, episode-by-episode synopsis of every story, including quotes from the characters and illustrated with images from the TV broadcast); Production (detailed accounts of the production process, from scripts, through casting, rehearsals, location filming, studio recordings and editing and music – including deleted content); Publicity (how each serial was promoted in the papers, on TV, in magazines such as Radio Times, and by personal appearances from the cast and production team); Broadcast (when and where each story was originally shown, along with viewer ratings and repeat showings, plus the reaction from the newspaper critics); Cast and Crew (a complete listing of each story’s cast members and the characters they played, including individuals uncredited on-screen, along with the production personnel); Profiles (a biography of a key crew member, actor or author for each story); and Merchandise (the extended life of each story and its characters, featuring in reference books, full-length novels, video games, DVDs, gadgets, action figures, and toys).

So what do you have to do to win? First of all, this competition is for UK readers only – the partwork, at least for now, isn’t available outside the United Kingdom. Only one entry per household please.

Andrew Pixley’s Archives, first published in Doctor Who Magazine, is the basis of the collection (though it’s been fully revised and updated). What you have to do to enter is answer this question:

What were the first and last Archives by Pixley published in DWM in 1991 and 2003 respectively?

Now, this is a big prize, so you can’t go at this halfheartedly. We need you to tell us the first and last, not just whichever you know!

Email your answers, alongside your name, naturally, to:

competitions@kasterborous.com

This competition is open right now, and closes on Friday 18th September at 23:59pm – that’s a week from this Friday! Any entries received after this date won’t be entered.

The winner will be announced soon after, and we’ll then need your home address, which we’ll pass on to Hachette.

Good luck everyone!

The post Awesome Competition: Win a Full Subscription to Doctor Who: The Complete History! appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Coleman on Time Lady Woes, Series 9 & More

Richard Forbes 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.

“In a way she’s cutting ties with earth more and more,” says Jenna Coleman on her character, Clara Oswald, set to return with Doctor Who’s Series 9. “Since losing Danny I think her perspective has changed on life and in a way she’s lost fear of her own mortality a bit.”

Jenna, speaking about her character and her relationship with the Doctor and Earth in a recent interview, hinted that there were changes on the horizon for Clara – a more reckless, adventurous, even “Doctorly” Clara, who, detached from her life on Earth, has become a fully-fledged, thrill-seeking companion – in doing so, this series marks a “golden age”, as she and others have suggested, where the Doctor and Clara’s relationship has grown to the point of maturation with a better understanding and greater respect for one another.

Clara’s quite fascinated by Missy, but disgusted at the same time.

“There’s an ease between them, a shorthand, and she is becoming more and more like him,” Jenna notes. As she continues the discussion veers towards the “Clara Who” controversy that had so many fans wondering if Clara (especially in Flatline) was taking on too much of a centre role in Doctor Who: “I think they’ve always been a lot more similar than perhaps other Doctors and companions have been.

Then quickly veering back to a discussion on her relationship with the Doctor and their teamwork…

“I think she quite wants to be like him, but the more time they spend together the more doctorly I suppose she’s getting and more independent of him. There are quite a few stories in this series where you see us parting ways, where we’re covering different bases and then you see us coming back together, they’re a proper team. I think they’ve been through so much together, they know each other so well that they’re entwined.”

Speaking about the new series in general, Jenna writes that with each episode feeling different, it feels as though it’s a “whole new show” this year. She notes that episode 11, the show’s first Doctor-only episode, should be “really unique” and that she found filming the Viking episode in Series 9 to be “so much fun”. She also praised Peter Harness’ Zygon two-parter, the Invasion / Inversion of the Zygons, especially, calling it “really great” – going on to describe it as “tense”, “very relevant”, “provoking”, and “clever” – with executive producer Steven Moffat also praising Harness’ two-parter as an answer to Doctor Who’s traditional mid-season slump, Harness’ two-parter sounds like it’s the story that might catch fans by surprise this season. A reportedly “political” Zygon story is worth some speculation. Could the Zygons have assimilated so well into the human population that UNIT needs to, say, wiretap and snoop on unsuspecting citizens-?

While also on the publicity tour, Jenna also dropped a bit of a revelation that she had tried out for a role in Doctor Who previous to nabbing her role as Oswin, a role which would have (if she had gotten it) had Coleman play a youthful River Song (aka. “Mels”) in Let’s Kill Hitler who was instead played by Nina Toussaint-White. Jenna however admitted she never thought she had a chance at getting the role as the killer archeologist, laughing as she admits “I never thought they would have cast [Amy and I] as childhood best mates because the height difference was too much.”

River Song aside, The Magician’s Apprentice sees Clara facing off against another Time Lady – none other than Missy herself – the Doctor’s devilish frenemy back with a vengeance from the events of Death in Heaven. But do Clara and the Missy get on?

“I think in a way, Clara’s quite fascinated by Missy, but disgusted at the same time,” concedes Jenna. “That’s partly to do with how Michelle Gomez plays her, she’s so magnetic that you can’t help but like her, even though you’re supposed to hate her. It’s one of the really clever things she does. Clara and Missy actually end up getting on, but remembering they don’t like each other again.

A switch from the Doctor to a Time Lady, Jenna suggests, is a challenge for our beloved companion.

“I also think it’s interesting for Clara to operate under a female Time Lady, she’s so used to running with the Doctor that to be with a Time Lady is quite a new experience for her. Somebody who is so maniacal is quite fun. You think you’re safe and within 30 seconds you’re literally being pushed down a cliff.”

Sounds like fans can expect one helluva cliffhanger (sigh) come September 19 with Doctor Who Series 9’s opening episode, The Magician’s Apprentice.

The post Coleman on Time Lady Woes, Series 9 & More appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Impossible Worlds, Martha Hate & 13th Doctor Casting Rumour

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.

Oh yes, it is that time of the week again, as the podKast team of Christian Cawley, James McLean and Brian A Terranova bring you a range of topics and conversation, ranging from insane rumours concerning the Thirteenth Doctor to why fandom doesn’t seem to like Martha Jones. This is particularly baffling, as we love her!

Look out also for talk on TV marathons, some interesting new Doctor Who merchandise, our recollections of 1980s Doctor Who toys, and the possibility of spoiling Star Wars: The Force Awakens by buying all of the 13″ figures and listening to the dialogue they play…

Kasterborous PodKast Series 5 Episode 30 Shownotes

Rumour claims 13th Doctor is already cast
David Tennant marathon on BBC America
Twelfth Doctor sonic screwdriver remote
Doctor Who: Impossible Worlds by Mike Tucker
Star Wars: The Force Awakens toys

Anthony Daniels interview


Doctor Who toys from the 1980s
Recommendations: Whitechapel Series 1, Thunderbirds: The Vault by Marcus Hearn, Death in Paradise Series 1, The Black Tribbles podcast, Community, The Thick of It.

The podKast theme tune is by Russell Hugo. He’s excelled himself this time, hasn’t he?

Listen to the PodKast

There are several ways to listen. In addition to the usual player above, we’re pleased to announce that you can also stream the podKast using Stitcher, an award-winning, free mobile app available for Android and iPhone/iPad. This pretty much means that you can listen to us anywhere without downloading – pretty neat, we think you’ll agree! (Note that it can take a few hours after a new podKast is published to “catch up”.)

Stitcher

Audioboom

What’s more, you can now listen and subscribe to the podKast via our Audioboom channel (formerly Audioboo)! Head to https://audioboom.com/channel/doctorwhopodkast and click play to start listening. You can also comment and record your own boos in response to our discussions! Meanwhile you can use the player below to listen through Audioboom:

You haven’t clicked play yet?! What are you waiting for? As well as our new Stitcher and Audioboo presence you can also use one of these amazingly convenient ways to download and enjoy this week’s podKast.

Use the player in the top right of the Kasterborous home page, or visit the podKast menu link.
Listen with the “pop out” player above, which also allows you to download the podKast to your computer.
You can also take advantage of the RSS feed to subscribe to the podKast for your media player, and even find us on iTunes, where your reviews will help the show considerably.

The post Impossible Worlds, Martha Hate & 13th Doctor Casting Rumour appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Daleks from Across the Decades & Going Solo in Series 9

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.

Series 9 is nearly upon us and, with positive early spoiler free reviews and a glut of new interviews – covering everything from Dalek nostalgia, a one-hander Doctor Who episode, facing down fans expectations, the odd chat show appearance and a little bit of method Dalek acting; it’s time for a mini news blast.

Daleks Old & New

It’s Daleks aplenty in the opening double header with Peter Capaldi particularly admiring the 1960’s incarnation. As The Magician’s Apprentice trailer shows, the Twelfth Doctor will come face to face with a horde of battle ready Daleks – ranging from RTD era models to the Special Weapons Dalek – and, for the nostalgic and the Doctor himself, it’s the older models that continue to fascinate.

“I don’t have a particular favourite, but I do like to see the little old ones,” he said. “They’re very sweet as they’re quite small – but actually they’re still strangely brutal, nasty little pieces of work.

You get a whole group of them together in the opening episode. I think we had about 20 of them in the studio so that was very exciting.”

Dalek Theme Park

Someone who probably found the less exciting is Blink director Hettie Macdonald who has handed the enormous task of wrangling the Dalek horde – at least it amused her leading man.

“Once you had them all moving, it was very funny watching Hettie directing them,” Capaldi said “because she was directing them like actors – ‘You’re getting upset at this moment, have a look at your friends’ – and they’d look at their friends and then she’d say, ‘You need to look nervous now’, and they’d actually be able to convey nervousness”

“It was actually very, very clever. It was like being in a Dalek theme park, with a free ticket, so that was fun.”

The Doctor, Truly on His Own…

Something else fun is the first ever solo Doctor Who episode. Confirming recent rumours, Steven Moffat has announced that Peter Capaldi will star in a special ‘one hander’ episode – featuring no characters other than the Doctor.

In the past, absent co-stars usually meant slashed budgets but, this time, it’s the challenge that drew the Doctor Who team to leave Capaldi as the last Time Lord standing.

“We always like a new challenge on the show,” Moffat said. “I can’t tell you too much about this, but it’s certainly unique and a big first for the show!”

Moffat also promises to bring us: “urban thrillers, underwater ghost stories [and] journeys that take us from Vikings to the end of time”.

I Don’t Look Down

One man who wasn’t looking to make any promises when it came to pleasing audiences was Peter Capaldi.

Reflecting upon his first series as the Doctor, Capaldi told The Red Bulletin he wasn’t looking for validation from audiences but admitted it was a risk to make his Doctor less accessible than predecessor Matt Smith.

“I was very nervous about playing the part, but I didn’t really think about the expectations of the fans,” Capaldi said. “I just tried to think about playing the part of the Doctor as best as I could.

“I didn’t want to seek the audience’s approval. I think they must find out whether they like you or not. It is a risk. I just had to dive in.”

As for the pressure of being the focal point of one of the most popular shows in the world, Capaldi tries not to think about it: “”I sort of try not to look down – do you know what I mean? If I become over-conscious of the scale of interest in it, then I think that would make me a difficult person to live with.”

Doctor Who Series 9 will be along soon. September 19th, to be precise…

The post Daleks from Across the Decades & Going Solo in Series 9 appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.