19 March 2005 :: Press roundup

More press and some magazines and periodicals too:

Saturday March 19

Newspapers:

• The Daily Telegraph - a small picture of a Dalek features on the front cover alongside a teaser for an article in the "ARTS+BOOKS" section of the newspaper. The section itself features a large photograph of the tree woman from episode 2, a double paged article titled "A tale of british boffins" which concentrates on Doctor Who but also features British science fiction classic Quatermass, which itself is about to enjoy a television revival). This section of the newspaper also includes a full page interview with Mark Gatiss, titled: "It's properly scary and funny"
• The Times - the Saturday Magazine includes a four and a half page a interview with Billie Piper about her career, Chris Evans and Doctor Who. The feature is titled: "BILLIE THE KID"
• The Daily Star - "BILLIE: I'VE FALLEN FOR DALEK", according to the Star Billie Piper "has found love - with a Dalek"

In addition to the above many newspaper listings for this coming weeks television and radio include small features and mentions of Saturday's Doctor Who Night on BBC2, that night's Parkinson show with Billie Piper and the upcoming BBC Radio 2 Documentary - "Project Who" (Tuesday 22 March)

Friday March 18

Newspapers:

Nothing to report on Friday for the first time in a while - phew!

Thursday March 17

Newspapers:

• The Guardian - Letters in science section about Daleks
• The Sun - lookalike with Venus Williams in Ally Ross column
• The Times - Culture Show preview with picture
• Metro - Graham Norton wants to be in new Doctor Who
• The Daily Mail - The Moxx of Balhoon appears alongside Tony Blair in a politicians that look like sci-fi monsters feature (John Prescott is compared to Jabba the Hutt and Robin Cook to the Fly).

Wednesday March 16

Newspapers:

• The Guardian - small letter from about 80s story "Remembrance of the Daleks"
• The Daily Mail - "Wicked Whisper" about Russell T Davies and Cardiff
• The Sun (Scotland) - interview with John Barrowman

Magazines and other periodicals:

• Private Eye (issue 1128) - one cartoon, one Dr Who is back satire piece, one "Dr Who Do You Think You're Looking At?" listing, starring John Reid (UK cabinet minister) as the Doctor
• Design Week - article and interview with Edward Thomas at the back
• TES (Times Educational Supplement) - the magazine section of the latest edition has a Dalek on the cover and inside an article on the history of Doctor Who. In addition a series of Doctor Who themed lesson plans are included for the teachers in our midst.
• Ariel - the BBC's in-house weekly (Week 9, 08 March 2005) includes a large feature titled: "A WONDER OF TIME AND SPACE" on pages six and seven.

Other media:

On the 15th of March RainbowNetwork.com published a piece titled "Dr Who And The Gay Fans"

 

Click here or on the image above to view a gallery of 12 stills from the trailer

 

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16 March 2005 :: New Trailer - WOW!

A new 50 second trailer aired on BBC1 and BBC2 last night to universal acclaim from fans.

The trailer featured Christopher Eccleston addressing the audience and inviting them on the "trip of a lifetime".

It included some stunning effects sequences and images from the inside of the TARDIS. Included amongst the montage of clips were images of a spaceship flying over London and then crashing into Big Ben, a Victorian street scene and a Dalek in chains.

Updated 19 March

Note: there was also a 30 second version of the trailer mentioned above. This was very similar in content barring one shot of the spaceship mentioned above over the River Thames rather than being seen over the city itself. This was followed by the same shot of Big Ben as in the 50 second version.

Rose speaks to camera

The BBC have also been running a 20 second trailer featuring Rose (Billie Piper) over the last few days on CBBC (Children's BBC). The trailer would appear to be most commonly placed either before or after Newsround (5:25pm - 5:35pm) on BBC1.

Confidential trailer

A 10 second Trailer has also been aired for BBC3's Doctor Who Confidential companion series. The only version that we have seen was on BBC3 immediately after the 30 second Eccleston trailer (see above).

Click here or on the images above to view a gallery of stills from these trailers

 

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16 March 2005 :: Press roundup

More press and now some listings magazines too:

Tuesday March 15

Newspapers:

• The Guardian - (as mentioned below) feature titled: "What to say about... ... Doctor Who" by Matt Keating.
• The Sun - "SHAKE A LEG BILLIE - She Lands Much Ado Role" according to the TV Biz page Billie Piper has won a role in a modern version of Much Ado About Nothing to be made by the BBC.

Published Tuesday March 15

Listings magazines:

• Radio Times - cover image, stuff in p19, films, Saturday listings, radio front page and of course the radio listings.
• Total TV - page preview
• TV & Satellite Week - small feature near front and image on cover
• TV Quick - Pick of the day
• TV Times - Pick of the day

All listings magazines this week carry listings for the Doctor Who night on BBC2 to be broadcast on Saturday the 19th.

 

Many thanks to ?hil.

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15 March 2005 :: Digit Magazine - SFX secrets

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD:

(Click on the cover, left, for larger version)

An exclusive six-page article in the April issue of Digit magazine reveals the digital special effects techniques behind the much-hyped Doctor Who series. It also features exclusive images from the series.

Two of those images are available to view here, but be aware they show CGI 'creatures' from episode 2 and are potential spoilers - see link below:

Click here to view images

The editor-in-chief of Digit - the UK's leading digital creativity magazine - was given exclusive behind-the-scenes access to The Mill, the Oscar-winning London-based special effects agency that created the special effects for the new series.

Digit's editor-in-chief, Matthew Bath, witnessed the series' special effects and spoke to the visual effects producer for the series, Will Cohen.

"In a word, the new Doctor Who is amazing. The result has been the creation of over 1,000 effects shots for the 13 episodes - with episode two accounting for a staggering 200 effects shots in just 45 minutes," says Matthew Bath.

The Mill's Cohen has been working on the series since April 2004. Interviewed for the article he explains how they first pitched for - and won - the work, and what he felt when he saw the scripts: "I remember reading them and blocking out the number of effects - it made me sweat."

"[The Oscar-winning] Gladiator had 100 effects shots which we did in six-months. We’ve had nine months to do 10 times that number," Cohen adds.

The result, he says, is spectacular: "It's like nothing that has been seen before on British television."

Bath agrees, writing: "The special effects are at the level seen in the movies."

He adds: "For one episode, which features a morphing character with liquid-plastic skin, the team mixed physical models with CG (computer generated) effects. In many scenes, the actor was given a plastic sheen in make-up. In others, a digital morph involving the actor's fingers - in the style of T100 in Terminator 2 - took the team three weeks."

Cohen at The Mill had 20 people working full-time on the project, using 100 computers. "We had 30 machines dedicated to the project during the day and the full 100 worked during the night."

Cohen also describes his favourite CG character: "The character is played by Zoe Wannamaker. We shot Zoe delivering her lines, and then recreated the CG character with all the facial expressions based on her." The upshot is ... well, like a flattened version of Zoë.

The April issue of Digit, which features an exclusive image of the Tardis on the cover (see above) goes on sale March 10, 2005 and is available through WHSmith and other newsagents.

You can also order the latest issue from Digit's Web site.

Exclusive pictures featured in Digit include: the Tardis in space; star-scapes; CG-generated aliens; and Billie Piper as the Doctor's assistant.

 

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15 March 2005 :: Press roundup

Articles are still appearing on the series with a number over the weekend and on Monday and some early Tuesday.

Here's a roundup of what's appeared over the last few days.

Note: each newspaper title is linked to that publications website, where available a link to the online version of the article is provided. (Some of these websites may require registration.)

Saturday March 12

Newspapers:

• The Times - a number of articles and features including a cartoon on page 2 and details of an interview with Billie Piper in the following Saturdays edition, a photo from "Rose" on the webwatch page and an article pyscho-anyalysing why we like Dr Who (because the Daleks look like upturned laundry baskets, apparently!)
• The Mirror - comment by Bill Burrows on Eccleston's northern accent and a small piece about Daleks in TV Land.
• The Guardian - a brief mention of Doctor Who in an article about the return of another old favourite, The Two Ronnies, titled: "Two Ronnies back on TV".
• The Telegraph - very positive article about the new series and the classic series, titled: " Everyone has a favourite Doctor Who as a matter of accident of birth, not of taste" by Sam Leith.

Sunday March 13

Newspapers:

• Sunday Herald (Scotland) - article titled "Carry on Doctor".
• The Independent - article titled "Doctor Who: Be afraid, be slightly afraid".
• The Observer - a number of articles including a large piece titled: "Focus: the Welsh resurgence From chapel to Church ..." which mentioned the series.
• The Sunday Mirror - included an article on Chrisopher Eccleston's new "girlfriend" Siwan Morris.
• Scotland on Sunday - interview with Christopher Eccleston titled "What the Doctor Ordered".
• Wales on Sunday - a number of articles including a main article titled: "Chris is just what the Doctor ordered".

In addition to the above most Sunday newspapers included television listings for the following week with details of the upcoming Doctor Who Night on BBC2 (19th March) included in these.

Monday March 14

Newspapers:

• The Guardian - a couple of Doctor Who related articles, first of all a piece titled: "Jelly babies all round: Baker is Doctor who tops them all" and secondly "Casanova charms BBC3 viewers" on the success of the first episode of Russell T Davies (Doctor Who producer/writer) new drama on BBC3.
• The Independent - article with comments from production designer Edward Thomas, writer Mark Gatiss and Christopher Eccleston titled "Another dimension".

Tuesday March 15

Newspapers:

• The Guardian - feature titled: "What to say about... ... Doctor Who" by Matt Keating.

 

Many thanks to all those who have sent in information over the last few days, in particular ?hil and Chris.

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14 March 2005 :: Posters appear all over UK

In the last few days BBC advertising posters have appeared all over the UK.

Two examples of these are included below, click on an image to view a larger version:

 

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11 March 2005 :: Who Special @ 5pm BBC1 26th March

Whilst looking at the lovely new BBC Doctor Who website tonight our intrepid webmaster noticed an important piece of news that appears to have been missed by everyone.

On the Doctor Who Confidential page the small text to right of the page ends with the following:

"We are also producing a half hour special Doctor Who - A New Dimension which airs on BBC 1 at 5.00pm on Saturday 26th March before the first episode of Doctor Who."

So, unless this is a mistake it looks as if the debut episode of the series will be preceded by a special half hour programme earlier in the evening. It will also, of course, be immediately followed by the first 45 minute episode of Doctor Who Confidential on BBC3 (further details below).

 

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11 March 2005 :: Doctor Who Confidential more details

The BBC Doctor Who website has published more details, including episode titles for the BBC3 companion series Doctor Who Confidential.

The site explains what the series is all about:

"Doctor Who Confidential is a 13-part, 30 minute series going behind the scenes of the new Doctor Who.

It will follow the production team, writers, and cast as they bring the UK's favourite Time Lord back to our screens.

Focusing on the 'human' element of the new Doctor's world, Doctor Who Confidential will give a taste of the excitement and the energy that surrounds the new series.

Narrated by Simon Pegg, Doctor Who Confidential includes behind the scenes filming, interviews with cast, including Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper, creator Russell T Davies and the other writers, as well as the rest of the creative team. It will also contain interviews with past Doctors."

See the BBC's Doctor Who Confidential page for episode details.

 

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11 March 2005 :: More BBC Press Releases

Following their release of the Doctor Who Presspack on the 10th (see below) the BBC Press Office website have released information and PDF format press releases for weeks 12 and 13 onto their "Programme Information" Network TV and Radio pages.

Details of are available here.

Brief details below:

From the Week 13 Network TV page:

A Time Lord for the 21st century

Doctor Who
Easter Saturday 26 March BBC ONE and BBC THREE

The Tardis is poised for take-off as a brand-new Time Lord for the 21st century breathes life into a new series of Doctor Who. Acclaimed actor Christopher Eccleston plays The Doctor in the new, 13-part series and Billie Piper, who made her acting debut in the critically-acclaimed Canterbury Tales - The Miller's Tale, stars alongside Eccleston as The Doctor's companion, Rose Tyler.

Travelling through time and space, The Doctor and Rose come face to face with a number of new and exciting monsters - as well as battling with The Doctor's arch-enemy: the Daleks! The series, which promises to surprise and entertain a new generation, also features Penelope Wilton, Noel Clarke, Annette Badland, Camille Coduri, John Barrowman, Richard Wilson, Simon Pegg, Zoe Wanamaker and acclaimed theatre, film and television actor Simon Callow. Doctor Who Confidential on BBC THREE goes behind the scenes of the new series.

From the Week 12 Network Radio page:

How Who dunnit
Find out how the BBC is bringing back the nation's favourite time traveller, Doctor Who, in a special documentary featuring behind-the-scenes exclusives

Project – Who?
Tuesday 22 March BBC Radio 2

 

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