Matt Smith - Excited to be in 3D

23rd November sees the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who, Matt Smith's penultimate episiode as the time travelling hero, is to be shown in cinemas simultaneously with the episode shown on BBC One. Tickets went on sale on Friday 25th October, and the special screenings have completely SOLD OUT!.

Screenings will take place in 216 cinemas across the UK at the same time as the special will air on BBC One on Saturday November 23. If, like me, you are one of thousands not lucky enough to get a ticket from one of the many participating cinemas, will miss out on seeing  Matt Smith as the Doctor and his chin in glorious 3D, and will just have to make do with our flat screens at home.

 Grinning, he said: "My chin is in 3D. I think it's about time. Frankly I think it's exciting. I think this show was born for 3D. The TARDIS in 3D looks brilliant." 

While Matt's thrilled by his chin, former Doctor David Tennant, who reprises his role in the special, says the script is what excites him. 

"I think what works with this is the script is very story led, rather than fill it with things that make people 'oh it's a special anniversary lovely birthday thing'.

 There will also be cinema screenings across the world with fans in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, Germany and Canada having the chance to enjoy the special on the big screen. In addition to the cinema screenings, the special will also be played to the 20,000 fans who will gather at London's ExCel for an official celebration event, which will feature appearances from Matt Smith, and former Doctors Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and Tom Baker.

Happy Birthday Doctor!

Today, 28th October is the birthday of outgoing Doctor, Matthew Robert Smith; who turns 31 today

Happy Birthday, Matt!

Matthew Robert "Matt" Smith (born 28 October 1982) is an English actor and director. He is best known for his role as the eleventh incarnation of the Doctor in the British television series Doctor Who, for which he received a BAFTA Award nomination in 2011.

Smith initially aspired to be a professional footballer, but spondylosis forced him out of the sport. After joining the National Youth Theatre and studying Drama and Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia, he became an actor in 2003, performing in plays like Murder in the Cathedral, Fresh Kills, The History Boys and On the Shore of the Wide World in London theatres. Extending his repertoire into West End theatre, he has since performed in the stage adaptation of Swimming with Sharks with Christian Slater, followed a year later by a critically acclaimed performance as Henry in That Face.

Before his role in Doctor Who, Smith's first television role came in 2006 as Jim Taylor in the BBC adaptations of Philip Pullman's The Ruby in the Smoke and The Shadow in the North while his first major role in television came as Danny in the 2007 BBC series Party Animals. Smith, who was announced as the eleventh incarnation of the Doctor in January 2009, is the youngest person to play the character in the British television series. On 1 June 2013, it was announced that Matt Smith would leave the series and the eleventh Doctor would regenerate in the 2013 Christmas special.

Doctor Who 50th biopic new pictures

BBC America has released three new images from An Adventure in Space and Time.


David Bradley as William Hartnell





 Filming with David Bradley, Jemma Powell and Jamie Glover as Jacqueline Hill and William Russell who played Susan's teachers Barbara and Ian.

  
David Bradley as William Hartnell with Claudio Grant as Carole Ann Ford as Susan

The Day of the Doctor: TV and cinema screenings

Thousands of Doctor Who fans will be able to enjoy the option of seeing the 50th anniversary episode in cinemas around the world. The Day of the Doctor will be shown in 3D on the big screen, in  cinemas throughout the UK, Ireland, the US, Canada, Germany and Russia.

The cinema screenings will take place the same time as the UK TV broadcast on BBC One on 23rd November 2013, giving fans another unique opportunity to be part of a truly global celebration for the iconic British drama series.

216 VUE, Cineworld, Odeon, BFI and Picturehouse cinemas in the UK and Ireland have already confirmed their participation, with tickets for the anniversary screening set to go on sale this Friday October 25th at 9am. Locations include London, Birmingham, Belfast, Dublin, Liverpool, Cardiff and Edinburgh.

 Internationally, German, Russian, American* and Canadian* fans will be able to gather in cinemas to enjoy the simulcast release with approximately 30 cinemas in Germany and up to 50 theatres debuting the episode in Russia. The celebrations will cross time (and space) zones travelling over the equator to New Zealand and Australia where fans will have a choice of 106 cinemas across both countries to view the episode in 3D on the big screen on the 24th November, following the simulcast TV broadcast earlier in the morning.

To find participating cinemas chains, head over to DoctorWho.tv. More cinemas will be added to the map as they’re confirmed, so keep checking back.

Paul McGann: "I'm not in the 50th"

  Speaking at the London Film and Comic Con last week, the actor  attempted to put all rumours to bed with a succinct “we’re not in it.”

 Nor are we in the Christmas special let me tell you. I don’t think so anyway! Not unless they are going to shoot it next week.

Big Finish : Doctor Who Anniversary Story

There will be a special announcement from Big Finish regarding their official Doctor Who 50th Anniversary, multi-Doctor story 'The Light at the End' later this week. By way of a prelude to that, they have a special teaser trailer for us.

As you may know, Doctor Who: The Light at the End stars former TV Doctors Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann. The story itself features the first eight incarnations of everyone's favourite Time Lord. It also features that infamous Time Lord, the Master, played by Geoffrey Beevers.

November 23rd 1963 proves to be a significant day in the lives of all eight Doctors…

It's the day that Bob Dovie's life is ripped apart…

It's also a day that sets in motion a catastrophic chain of events which forces the first eight incarnations of the Doctor to fight for their very existence. As a mysterious, insidious chaos unfolds within the TARDIS, the barriers of time break apart…

From suburban England through war-torn alien landscapes and into a deadly, artificial dimension, all these Doctors and their companions must struggle against the power of an unfathomable, alien technology.

From the very beginning, it is clear that the Master is somehow involved. By the end, for the Doctors, there may only be darkness.

The trailer can be found here

Happy Birthday Polly!

Today, 20th October, is the birthday of former Doctor Who companion Anneke Wills, who is 72 years young!

 

Anneke was born on October 1941, in Berkshire. Her parents Anna and Alaric Willys (she later changed her name to Wills) had planned to buy a house in the South of France but World War II ended that idea. Alaric was a gambler whose debts forced Anna to take on a string of jobs while he became a captain in the British army and an absent figure. Anna worked as a companion to a blind aristocrat, gardener, teacher – moving Anneke and her brother Robin around the country several times. Anneke won her first role at the age of 11 while she was living on a houseboat in Bray, Berkshire. The film was called Child’s Play and she gave the £9 fee to her mother. Deciding she wanted to be an actress she then studied drama at the Arts Educational School in London and quickly became one of the busiest actresses of her generation, early roles included an appearance as Roberta in the first TV version of The Railway Children in 1957.

At 17 she began a relationship with Anthony Newley while working on the TV series The Strange World of Gurney Slade. Later, she married Michael Gough, the distinguished actor who played The Celestial Toymaker in Doctor Who. During the Sixties Anneke spent much of her time at the famous Troubadour Coffee Shop and The Establishment, and was part of the so-called Chelsea Set, counting among her close friends many of the leading lights of the Sixties.
 
In 1966, she was offered the role of Polly Wright in Doctor Who. She played Polly from 1966 to 1967 alongside William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton as the Doctor – the first in a long line of glamorous Doctor Who girls. Polly joined the crew of the TARDIS in The War machines and left with Ben Jackson (Michael Craze) in The Faceless Ones.   In 1970 Anneke gave up acting and moved to Norfolk, throwing herself into motherhood and gardening. During this time she travelled to Vietnam and Laos, and spent a lot of time at Poona, India, at the ashram of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. She and her son Jasper visited the ashram many times in the 1970s and early 80s.




The Tenth Planet

Anneke remarried twice and lived in California and in an artists colony on Hornby Island in Canada before returning to the UK in the mid-1990s. She is still involved in the worlds of Doctor Who, being a popular guest at conventions, and being employed by the BBC and Big Finish to record various Doctor Who related audio and DVD projects.

Other television credits include appearances in The Avengers and as Evelyn in Strange Report. However she left the latter series when it was planned to switch filming to Hollywood.

Anneke will be attending the premiere of An Adventure In Space And Time - the drama about the genesis of Doctor Who – on Tuesday 12th November.