The Doctor Returns In 'The Bells Of St John’s' On March 30th

Doctor Who is to return to BBC One on 30 March in a modern day urban thriller announced today as 'The Bells of St John', as the first official image is revealed giving fans a sneak peak at what to expect from the epic new series.

 

Written by Steven Moffat, 'The Bells of St John' will mark the official introduction of the Doctor's newest companion, Clara Oswald, played by Jenna-Louise Coleman.  Having already made two appearances last year, the opening episode will be the first time fans get to see the Clara that will accompany the Doctor across the series' eight adventures. 

Set in London against the backdrop of new and old iconic landmarks, The Shard and Westminster Bridge, 'The Bells of St John' will also establish a new nemesis, the Spoonheads, who will battle the Doctor as he discovers something sinister is lurking in the Wi-Fi.

Steven Moffat, executive producer and lead writer, said:

"It's the 50th year of Doctor Who and look what's going on! We're up in the sky and under the sea! We're running round the rings of an alien world and then a haunted house. There's new Cybermen, new Ice Warriors and a never before attempted journey to the centre of the TARDIS. And in the finale, the Doctor's greatest secret will at last be revealed!  If this wasn't already our most exciting year it would be anyway!" 

Featuring a movie a week from a ghost story to an underwater siege to a period drama, the new series will also introduce new monsters, as well as bringing back fan favourites the Ice Warriors and Cybermen.

Meanwhile the series' stellar list of guest stars include: Celia Imrie; Warwick Davis, Jessica Raine; Dougray Scott and Tamzin Outhwaite, as well as for the first time on screen together, mother and daughter Dame Diana Rigg and Rachael Stirling.

And just in case you missed it, don’t forget to check out the thrilling preview to Doctor Who in 2013!

Source: BBC

 There’s been a lot of mystery surrounding the future of Jenna-Louise Coleman’s character in Doctor Who over the last six months. Many believe that she’s short term and won’t be around after the 2013 anniversary special. The rumour has it that her story is a short one and will culminate all too quickly.

But if you read the Evening Standard newspaper and are inclined to believe them, then it looks like Coleman will not only be in the 2013 Christmas special but also  series eight of Doctor Who as well, which would be marvellous as we’re only just getting to know her and eleven episode with her character seems somehow too short.

“Jenna-Louise’s multiple Clara Oswin Oswalds have been confirmed for the 2013 Christmas special and series eight. She has just found out that this year she will have a three-month break from filming Doctor Who when Matt Smith goes to America to star in Ryan Gosling’s directorial debut How to Catch a Monster and was immediately on the phone to her agent, keen to start setting up meetings to find something to fill the slot.”

The article printed also mentions a planned three month gap in filming in order for Matt Smith to go off and film with Ryan Gosling in Hollywood before coming back to the Doctor Who fold. As we’ve previously mentioned on Kasterborous, rather than Smith’s call to movies meaning his immediate end to being involved with Doctor Who it could just mean that the filming blocks are shifted around to support his workload and therefore keep him in the role of the eleventh Doctor for a few more years at least.

(Via The Gallifrey Times)

Ausralian fans preview animated The Tenth Planet

Australian fans attending Whovention: Gold this weekend were fortunate enough to see a world premiere preview of the animated fourth episode of the forthcoming The Tenth Planet DVD.

 To rounds of very enthusiastic applause, a warm and appreciative crowd saw clips from the animated episode, during panels hosted by Dan Hall (Pup Ltd and commissioning editor of the Doctor Who DVD range) and Austen Atkinson of Australian based animation company Planet 55 Studios. During the panels a number of animated clips were shown, including the famous William Hartnell regeneration scene (see images below) and other behind the scenes material. Video from the animated episode will be available next week on doctorwho.tv.  Fans reacted very positively to the material, as well as to queries from Dan Hall as to whether more missing episodes should be subject to similar animation in the future. Mr Hall noted however that while the existing business model for BBC Worldwide DVD releases did not currently allow more than two episodes a release to be animated that future options for allowing the release of more animated material may become more feasible at some later stage.

 

Source: DoctorWho.net

Doctor Who Dalek designer Ray Cusick dies after illness

 

R.I.P.  1928- 2013

The designer of the Daleks from the BBC's Doctor Who has died aged 84 after a short illness, his daughter has said.

Former BBC designer Ray Cusick died of heart failure in his sleep on Thursday, Claire Heawood added.

The Daleks became the iconic villains in cult science fiction series Doctor Who, which is due to mark its 50th anniversary with events this year.

Mr Cusick, from Horsham, West Sussex, leaves two daughters and seven grandchildren, his family said.

Source: BBC

'Doctor Who' Steven Moffat on 50th: 'There's more than one 60-minute film'

Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat has claimed that he is "very busy" planning for the show's 50th anniversary.

The sci-fi drama's head writer insisted that fans will get more than just the rumoured hour-long special in November.

"[There's] a lot of different things going on," Moffat said in an interview conducted at the Gallifrey 2013 convention in Los Angeles. "Don't believe the nonsense about one 60-minute film, that is complete nonsense."

Moffat added that he is excited to shoot in 3D for the first time, but did admit that utilising the technology presents some "logistical problems".

"I think it poses every kind of logistical problem!" he laughed. "You can imagine it takes much longer to shoot, every CGI shot has to be done twice… it's a proper old headache.

"But wouldn't it be awful if some other show was the first one to be 3D - it's got to be Doctor Who, hasn't it?"

An Adventure In Time And Space Filming update

Behind the scenes images have appeared online from the forthcoming Doctor Who 50th anniversary docu-drama 'An Adventure In Time And Space' starring David Bradley as William Hartnell. The images show in costume are Jamie Glover as William Russell (Ian), Jemma Powell as Jacqueline Hill (Barbara) and Claudia Grant as Carole Ann Ford (Susan). As can be seen here, the original (replica likely) console looks fantastic.

Cast:

David Bradley as William Hartnell (The first Doctor)
Brian Cox as Sydney Newman (BBC head of drama)
Jessica Raine as Verity Lambert (Doctor Who’s first producer)
Sacha Dhawan as Waris Hussein (Doctor Who’s first director)
Lesley Manville as Heather Hartnell (William’s wife)
Reece Shearsmith as Patrick Troughton (The second Doctor)
Jeff Rawle as Mervyn Pinfield (Doctor Who’s associate producer)
Andrew Woodall as Rex Tucker (BBC producer)
Ian Hallard as Richard Martin (Doctor Who director)
Jamie Glover as William Russell (companion Ian)
Jemma Powell as Jacqueline Hill (companion Barbara)
Claudia Grant as Carole Ann Ford (the Doctor’s granddaughter Susan)
Sarah Winter as Delia Derbyshire (musician at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop)
William Russell (the original Ian Chesterton) as Harry
Reece Pockney as Alan

'Doctor Who': Sue Perkins subject of female Doctor campaign

After the media frenzy that was this article that re cast Doctor Who with all Female Doctors from 1963 to the present day we found that there was a LOT of love for the idea of Sue Perkins being the Doctor.

We thought we would start a campaign to make this happen. It is not so far fetched as you may imagine. There has been a female Doctor in a BBC licenced story before.

Doctor Who Unbound: Exile was an officially licenced audio drama by BigFinish with female actress Arabella Weir as the Doctor. This audio is now 10 years old. We would love to see Bigfinish restart the Unbound Series and this time have fan favourite possible female Doctor Sue Perkins take the role.

Scifind knows that Sue is a bit of a fan girl with scifi. When she realised her name was taken for a Block in 2000AD she couldn’t contain herself.

Source: scifind.com