Lee Evans cast in Doctor Who

Actor and comedian Lee Evans has been cast as "a Professor" in one of the forthcoming special episodes of Doctor Who, four of which will be broadcast during 2009 and into New Year 2010. Evans confirmed his casting during this afternoon's studio recording of tomorrow's edition of BBC One chat show Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, saying that he had been approached a few days beforehand and was delighted to be working on the series.

Evans has worked as both a stand-up comic and an actor, appearing in several Hollywood movies. His films include Mouse Hunt, There's Something About Mary and The Fifth Element. On stage, he appeared in the 2004-05 London run of The Producers, as Leo Bloom.

Thanks to gallifreyone.com

Life On Mars actor John Simm hurt in serious car crash (but avoids waking up in 1973)

Life On Mars star John Simm - who plays a detective involved in a near fatal car crash and wakes up in 1973 - has revealed he is lucky to be alive after walking free from a serious car accident.

The actor was driving to watch his beloved football team Manchester United play Chelsea at Old Trafford, in Manchester, when he had the accident on the M1 motorway.

He injured hurt his wrist and although sporting a heavily bandaged hand, says he is lucky that it was not fatal.

Asked if he would be watching Manchester United in the Carling Cup semi-final against Derby County, he told BBC Radio Five yesterday: 'No not tonight, no chance.'

'I was actually travelling up to see them play last week, the Man Utd versus Chelsea game last Sunday when I was involved in a car accident, so I never made it.

'It was on the M1 and that's why my hand is in this bandage.'

'I'm OK but I was very lucky to walk away from it. I'm fine now.'

John, 38, played the role of Sam Tyler in the BBC smash hit show Life On Mars, who wakes up dazed and confused in the year 1973 after being involved in a car crash in 2006.

Daily Mail online for full article

Eighth Doctor - Season 3

Big Finish Productions are to release the third series of the Eighth Doctor adventures as a series of downloads every Saturday from 7th March 2009.

The full-cast audio Adventures feature Paul McGann as the Doctor travelling with his companion Lucie, played by Sheridan Smith. Each 30-minute episode will be available on Saturday night, with the complete two-part story subsequently available on CD. There will be eight stories produced over a 16-week period. There will be a bonus ninth adventure which will be released as a Christmas special in December 2009, entitled Death in Blackpool.

The season will see the Doctor and Lucie facing some new foes and a number of favourite and iconic Doctor Who monsters, including the Krynoids (killer plants from the 1976 TV story The Seeds of Doom), the Wirrn (deadly insects from the 1975 tale The Ark in Space) and the Giant Spiders of Metebelis III (from the 1974 Jon Pertwee story Planet of the Spiders).

Titles:
3.1 Orbis (March 2009)
3.2 Hothouse (April 2009)
3.3 The Beast of Orlok (May 2009)
3.4 Wirrn Dawn (June 2009)
3.5 The Scapegoat (July 2009)
3.6 The Cannibalists (August 2009)
3.7 The Eight Truths (September 2009)
3.8 Worldwide Wed (October 2009)

SPECIAL OFFER - New 8th Doctor Adventures - Season 3

Price: £60.00 Save nearly £28.00 by purchasing all eight releases of the third season of The New Eighth Doctor Adventures.

Happy Birthday Tom!!

Yesterday was Tom Baker's 75th Birthday. Born Thomas Stewert Baker on 20th January 1934.

Baker was born in Liverpool, son of Mary Jane (née Fleming), a cleaner, and John Stewart Baker, a sailor rarely at home. Baker was raised monk and remained for six years. He left after losing his faith. He did his National Service in the Royal Army Medical Corps from 1955 until 1957. At the same time he took up acting as a hobby.

In 1971, Baker got his first break with the role of Rasputin in the film Nicholas and Alexandra. He also appeared nude in Pier Paolo Pasolini's version of Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales (I Racconti di Canterbury), in 1972, as a younger husband of the Wife of Bath.

In 1974, 40-year-old Baker took on the role of the Doctor when Jon Pertwee left. He was cast because of his performance in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad. Baker was working on a construction site at the time. He was dubbed "Boiler Suit Tom" by the media, as he had been supplied for a press conference with some old studio set clothes to replace his modest garments.

As the Doctor, his eccentric dress and speech — particularly his long scarf and jelly babies — made him immediately recognisable. Baker played the Doctor for seven consecutive seasons, the longest-serving actor in the part on-screen. Baker suggested many aspects of the Doctor's personality. The scarf came by accident: James Acheson, the costume designer, had provided more wool than necessary to the knitter, Begonia Pope, who knitted all she was given; Baker suggested he wear the ridiculously long scarf.

In October, 1980, the BBC announced just before the serial Full Circle that Baker was leaving at the end of the 1981 season. Baker's departure was based partly on his feeling that he could not develop his role further, and partly on the new producer, John Nathan-Turner's dislike of Baker's portrayal. Baker's last regular appearance as the Doctor was on 21 March 1981 at the conclusion of the story Logopolis.

Where Are They Now? - No.10 Richard Franklin

Richard Franklin born 15th January 1936 is best known as Captain Mike Yates during the Jon Pertwee Doctor Who era (1970-1974). Yates was a memeber of U.N.I.T (United Intelligence Task Force now known as UNified Inelligence Taskforce) Today he works as a Theatre Producer.

Yates first appeared in the Third Doctor story Terror of the Autons, the latest in a line of Captains assisting Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewert. He proved more durable than his predecessors, appearing semi-regularly in the programme from 1971 to 1974 alongside the Brigadier and Sergeant Benton. Together with the Doctor and his companions, Yates fought off alien invasions, the machinations of the renegade Time Lord known as the Master, rogue computers and mutated maggots.

Yates was a fairly non-descript character, typical of the British Army officer class, and little is known of him outside of his time with UNIT. He was cool under fire, efficient, and both gave and carried out his orders with a minimum of fuss. He appeared to have a relatively good rapport with his men, although he did remind Benton on occasion that "rank hath its privileges". He was attracted to the Third Doctor's assistant Jo Grant and they may have dated for a time - Jo was dressed up to go on a date with Mike at the start of The Curse of Peladon only to be taken on a trip in the TARDIS by the Doctor.

Yates's fall from grace started when he was brainwashed by the artificial intelligence BOSS in the 1973 serial The Green Death. The brush with ecological disaster apparently made Yates very concerned about the future of the planet, and he was easily recruited by Sir Charles Grover into a conspiracy to reverse time and return Earth to a "golden age" (Invasion of the Dinosaurs). The conspiracy was thwarted by the Doctor, and in return for his past service to UNIT, the Brigadier allowed Yates to take medical leave and then quietly resign (actor Richard Franklin believes the initial plan for this story was to kill off Yates.

His acting credentials include: Crossroads (1969), Blake's 7, Dixon of Dock Green, Catherine Cookson's The Gambling Man. He has also guest-starred in a number of Big Finish Productions audio plays: Professor Bernice Summerfield; Dragon's Wraith, Sapphire & Steel; The Surest Posion, and I, Davros; Innocence.

His theatre acting work includes Peter Dews' production of As You Like It, Same Time Next Year (Prince of Wales Theatre), Macbeth (RSC), Rocky Horror Show (as the Narrator), The Spider's Web (UK Tour for Ian Dickens), Romeo and Juliet (UK Tour with Sean Maguire), The Importance of Being Earnest (English Speaking Theatre, Frankfurt) and many pantomimes. On radio he played Harrison Howell in the BBC Radio 2 production of Kiss Me Kate (1996).

Richard also runs his own theatre company Richard Franklin Productions and has in recent years produced an annual production as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. He has also been an artistic and associate director of a number of theatres. He currently lives in Brighton and is a drama lecturer at the Academy of Creative Training (ACT) and has directed many shows at Brighton's Marlborough Theatre.

He has maintained his contact with Doctor Who and appears regularly at conventions and contributing to video projects for Reeltime Pictures in their spin-off interview and documentary productions. He recreated Captain Mike Yates for the Twentieth Anniversary special The Five Doctors (1983) with Peter Davison and also the Thirtieth Anniversary 3-D Special for Children In Need Dimensions In Time (1993).

Franklin also wrote a novel featuring his Who character, Mike Yates, The Killing Stone, but it has been released only as an audio book, read by the author.

'Doctor Who' fans buy Tardis shed

A couple from Devizes, Wiltshire have converted a Tardis into a garden shed.

Doctor Who fans Philippa Morgan and Declan McSweeney saw the phone box up for auction from Wiltshire Fencing and Landscaping and emerged as the winning bidders, paying £202 for the 10ft tall replica.

"We needed a shed for our allotment and we thought the Tardis would be something a bit different. We were thrilled to bits to get it," Morgan said.

"It's become a talking point, people ask us how the Tardis is and it's fun for children to see it."

The couple plan to hold a "Tardis-warming" party when the weather improves.

By Simon Reynolds, Entertainment Reporter digitalspy.co.uk/

Catherine Tate on the Sunday Night Project

This week's Sunday Night Project (Channel 4, Sunday 18th January at 10pm) features Doctor Who star Catherine Tate as special guest.

It's no surprise to see that her time on Doctor Who comes in for the treatment from overrated stars Justin Lee Collins and laughter vacuum Alan Carr.

Catherine gives Doctor Who the spoof treatment, dressing up as David Tennant (seen here pictureed in The Sun) while Justin Lee Collins dons a bridal gown to play Donna and Alan Carr gets into a girls school uniform to do an "Am I Bovvered?" turn as Tate's popular schoolgirl character Lauren.

This isn't of course the first time a Doctor Who star has appeared on Collins and Carr's show. David Tennant appeared on both their earlier Friday Night Project (as did Billie Piper) and the Sunday Night Project.

If you like your comedy full of vaguely amusing moments and don't mind giving up an entire hour of you life on the off chance two talentless monkeys might make you chuckle, why not tune in?

(Christian Cawley kasterborous.com)