Doctor Who news
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29 January 2013 at 18:55 #2077
Oh, and just saw this sad news. I never knew he’d played so many parts in Who.
29 January 2013 at 19:13 #2079And finally, for now, 😀 BBC Worldwide has produced a quite lengthy playlist on YouTUbe dedicated the first Doctor. Well worth checking out.
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKEzuOOEQvYNH8ByzLYWR27VQFMjcn2bw
29 January 2013 at 20:12 #2083Anonymous @
It was announced some time ago that David Warner will be appearing Who in the near future but I haven’t seen him show up in any trailers or seen anymore info on who he’s meant to be playing. I’d lay odds he’s going to be playing Doctor One/Hartnell and a bloody good choice he is too…
29 January 2013 at 20:39 #2087@jimthefish He would be great. Have always loved David Warner. However he’s mentioned here as being in the third episode:
http://www.doctorwhonews.net/2012/06/dwn270612211512-david-warner-to-star-in.html
http://guide.doctorwhonews.net/story.php?story=PhantomsoftheHexORTheHiderintheHouseHowever, that episode is written by Gatiss, who has had his head in the first Doctor all year, so doesn’t mean he couldn’t turn up again later as the first. He could well be the first and not know he is! It IS Who after all.
29 January 2013 at 20:47 #2089@craig — thanks for the info. That nixes that thought then. Although the name of Warner’s character is interestingly vague.
Also I never knew that (according to IMDB) that he was offered the part of the Doctor in 1974. That would have been interesting. I realise he played an alternate Doc in BF audio but what if it had been Warner instead of Tom as the fourth Doctor? Would we all be here now, I wonder?
29 January 2013 at 20:54 #2091hmmm…. Warner heh?
Love the actor but my initial feelings are he’d be less ‘fun’ and more dangerous. There’s a real steel to the actor.certainly no jellie babies…. he’d make a better Master or First (slightly crankier).
but its always nice to see the big heavyweights of acting happy to be in Who!
Maybe Terence Stamp for Master?? (I kid, I kid)
29 January 2013 at 21:00 #2093@jimthefish Ha ha, I never checked out IMDB. Yes, that character name is incredibly ambiguous. They really do continue to play with us.
Wouldn’t it be interesting if every episode featured an old, Doctor-like character, from the first to the eighth (I think there are eight episodes – coincidence!!!!)?
I think David Warner would have been a brilliant Doctor (he’s never got the recognition he really deserves), and we’re still here despite the Colin Baker years when they seemed to want us to hate the Doctor. The idea of the character is bigger than any actor and that is the beauty of it.
29 January 2013 at 22:04 #2095Not just David Warner’s character. Have you noticed the name given for James Norton’s character?
29 January 2013 at 23:25 #2097Thanks @craig, for the list of Hartnell clips – if I’m not back on the board for a few days, just assume I’ve been caught in a time loop. Please don’t send out the search party!
Re Davd Warner’s episode – that’s a helluva cast and production team 🙂 (Haven’t found where it lists character names, beyond TBC. tho I did find this on David Warner’s website http://www.davidwarnerfilm.co.uk/ – the most recent video clip – which is recorded interview with him. But the image which is showing when you transfer to the page, before you press play (sorry the technical name escapes me) is what caught my eye. Why Warner’s site should have any more insight than the rest of us I can’t think, and it’s no doubt coincidence, but I immediately thought of @jimthefish and @juniperfish‘s double Doctor theory. (The intereview covers a lot of subjects about current projects, haven’t foound the Dr bit yet)
Wouldn’t it be interesting if every episode featured an old, Doctor-like character, from the first to the eighth (I think there are eight episodes – coincidence!!!!)?
Love it!
Is it Gatiss who’s writing/directing the new docu-drama? That will presumably need actory lookalikes, so there could be a few around 🙂 Anyone know when that’s filming? Can see Moff & co using that to blur who’s filming what, when. (and Who!), dependng on the schedules.
Also intrigued with @haveyoufedthefish‘s turn everything inside out and upside down, and everyything we think we know is wrong theory! So are you saying the Doctor’s essentially been in the equivalent of a “John Smith” chameleon arch sort of thing fro the last 50 years?
Wow!
@bluesqueakpip – I did find that one – yes, hmmmm.
Eeek! and we’re not even at the end of Jan yet!
<lies down quietly on the sofa while brain explodes 🙂 >
29 January 2013 at 23:29 #2099And finally @craig
we’re still here despite the Colin Baker years when they seemed to want us to hate the Doctor. The idea of the character is bigger than any actor and that is the beauty of it.
LMAO! Bigger on the inside, huh?
29 January 2013 at 23:59 #2101David Warner does have a striking resemblance to William Hartnell and the first Doctor was rather a Boffin.
Cheers
Janette
30 January 2013 at 00:46 #2103@craig — Quite like your Doctor-archtype characters for each episode. It’s be quite neat if that happens.
Agree also that Warner would have been a great fourth Doctor. @whisht — don’t forget that back in those days Warner would have still have been quite young and so probably not as Hartnell-ish as you would think. Perhaps even slightly more like a cross between Pertwee and Troughton. Possibly his turn in The Man With Two Brains is a slight indication as to how he might have played the Doc back then.
In terms of longevity, I think I just mean that Tom made such an indelible impact in the role at that time that maybe the show wouldn’t have gone on to its current level if instead we’d just had Warner for a few years and then another actor as the Doc. But who knows? Maybe he would have even eclipsed Tom in the role.
30 January 2013 at 03:24 #2105@jimthefish. Agree on Warner. If anyone has ever seen “Morgan:A Suitable Case For Treatment” you will know what I mean. His range is incredible.
30 January 2013 at 07:26 #2107I posted here that the first read-through of the docu-drama was announced by Gatiss as happening yesterday, so I would imagine filming will begin in a couple of weeks.
http://www.thedoctorwhoforum.com/forums/topic/doctor-who-news/#post-207530 January 2013 at 07:45 #2109And then I wake up to this
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-21251726David Bradley is to play Hartnell, another great choice. And filming starts in Feb.
30 January 2013 at 07:47 #2111Yes I woke up to David Bradley being Hartnell in Gatiss’ Who special. Bradley is a great actor so I’m looking forward to it.
30 January 2013 at 10:09 #2113That’s great news. Bradley is an excellent choice. He’s quite gravelly though, so I hope he can get the voice right. I wouldn’t be at all surprised in that case if he shows up in the show itself as the first Doctor.
(I know I’ve banged on about this before but I’d heartily recommend the Beeb’s version of Our Mutual Friend if you haven’t already seen it. It’s a great adaptation and it’s a veritable Who-Alumni fest with Paul McGann, Bradley in fine menacing form and David Morrissey, as well as others who really should have been in the show by now…)
30 January 2013 at 10:51 #2115Bradley’s also an excellent choice because – like Hartnell – he’s best known for his hard guy roles. (As indeed, he played in Dinosaurs on a Space Ship).
But I don’t think Bradley will turn up as the first Doctor during the 2013 series – unless they do some hand wavy stuff about Soloman being a double. I know they recast Colin Baker, but not within the season! I think they’ll cast one actor for the documentary, and one for the surprise appearance of the first Doctor.
Or, given Steven Moffat’s love of things that only become clear at the end of the story, they’ll cast someone who will turn out in the anniversary special to have been the first Doctor all along.
30 January 2013 at 11:02 #2117Hi all.
Just found that bit of news too. Brian Cox too. Very exciting. (And completely agree with @jimthefish re Our Mutual Friend). The BBC report says it’s “one of several” planned progs about Who. (Casting so far announced for the series and the drama-doc looks top-notch; augurs well for the special. And as my suspicious little mind pointed out above, if the filming schedules coincide at all, they can use it as camouflage re who exactly is in what. Or should that be who’s in Who?! <OK – got coat – gone!>
30 January 2013 at 11:11 #2119<runs back again, briefly>
@bluesqueakpip Re not Bradley as no 1 in the series – depends how they featured him (if they did) eg if it was more background or on a scanner or something then I don’t really see a problem; but no, not if he was to be foregrounded.
Or, given Steven Moffat’s love of things that only become clear at the end of the story, they’ll cast someone who will turn out in the anniversary special to have been the first Doctor all along
Ties in with @haveyoufedthefish ‘s (apologies if mis-credited) similar theory above. Now that IS intriguing idea 🙂
Anyone know what the series plan is, for after the 7th? I’m assuming an 8th runing ino the 50th, but don’t think I’ve seen it anywhere. I’m assuming he rest of 7th will resolve, or at least stabilise, Clara’s existence, then start the set up for the 8th/50th
30 January 2013 at 11:22 #2123Given that the Anniversary is the date of the first ever episode, it could be that they’ve decided that the Anniversary Special is the start of S8. That would explain why they’re filming the Special first.
Or it could just be availability thingies. They can and do film out of order; might be February was when the needed actors were available.
30 January 2013 at 11:50 #2125@bluesqueakpip — I’m sure I read somewhere that after the 8 eps of season 7.5, season 8 proper will start sometime around October-ish, with the anniversary episode being somewhere in the middle of the season proper. Not sure where I got that or if it’s even remotely accurate though….
30 January 2013 at 12:08 #2127Re Bradley – Does this mean that Dr Who is/was/will be the caretaker at Hogwarts…?
🙂
30 January 2013 at 12:16 #2129I understood that series 7 was split over two years to avoid having the 12 month break that they did with Tennant. (the original idea was to occasionally give actors time to do other things due to fears of type casting and to give the writers/producers a refresher) I might well have that wrong though.
Much though I respect DAvid Bradley as an actor and yes he was very memorable in Our Mutual Friend, (one of my favourite TV series too), but I don’t see him a s “Doctor One”. It might simply be because I have always seen him play villians which, given Hartnell’s history might well have influenced the producers to select him. If Doctor One is to appear in the special then surely they would cast him having established that he is Hartnell. I suspect that with different hair/make up and acting he won’t appear to be Solomon. I wonder who will play Barbara, Ian and Susan in the doco drama.
Cheers
Janette
30 January 2013 at 12:21 #2131Agree about Bradley. I don’t think that it would particularly be a problem that he’s already played Solomon. As you say, once he’s in the Hartnell get-up I don’t think there would be any issue or confusion…
30 January 2013 at 13:53 #2135To be honest, I think the break was for accounting purposes. The BBC spent a fortune on the Olympics/Jubilee etc, and they were, I suspect, hugely relieved when it was suggested that S7 could partly air in 2013.
That said, an evil thought’s just occurred to me, regarding the oft-suggested MadTheory that Smith’s Doctor might regenerate at the 50th.
If they do another split series, that means Matt Smith will still be filming for the first part of S8. They won’t have to bring the new Doctor in until they start filming the Special.
Filming for the Christmas Special is usually around August/Sept/November. Now if the Special is ‘the hunt for the Doctor’ and they only need their new Doctor for a couple of scenes… he/she could come in for filming after November 23rd. If they split the two filming blocks, and use the excuse that they’re so busy with anniversary filming.
…hmmm. Y’know, it’s just about do-able. >:)
30 January 2013 at 14:07 #2137It might simply be because I have always seen him play villians which, given Hartnell’s history might well have influenced the producers to select him.
Almost certainly. It means David Bradley will have exactly the same problem in the eyes of modern viewers that William Hartnell did in the 1960’s. Bradley will have to convince modern viewers that he can play the Doctor – just as Hartnell had to convince his audience that he was a crotchety old time traveller.
It’s a brilliant piece of casting – and potentially very good for Bradley’s career, because it’ll show he’s also got a wider range. No wonder he nearly bit Mark Gatiss’s hand off, when he was asked if he was interested.
30 January 2013 at 14:28 #2139@bluesqueakpip — Hasn’t Smith said that he’ll be doing the Christmas Special though? That would suggest that he’s still the Doc post the anniversary special. Of course, that could be just another piece of cunning misdirection.
But, as we’ve seen in the past, keeping a new Doctor under wraps is pretty bloody difficult these days, especially in the anniversary year I would have thought. But I do quite like the ‘hunt for the Doctor’ idea.
Still, stranger things and all that…
30 January 2013 at 14:50 #2141Hasn’t Smith said that he’ll be doing the Christmas Special though? That would suggest that he’s still the Doc post the anniversary special. Of course, that could be just another piece of cunning misdirection.
Smith has said that, and he might well be even if he has regenerated. We’ve already seen holograms (emergency protocols), we’ve seen the Doctor leaving other people recordings (the Tenth). And then there’s flashbacks.
Or, given that this is a time traveller we’re talking about, actual visits to the Eleventh’s timeline.
And it’s been very, very carefully established that River can pilot the TARDIS. Without the Doctor. In fact, better than the Doctor.
From a career point of view, if you did want a surprise regeneration, you’d need to try and keep Matt Smith employed until very shortly before November 23rd. Otherwise, he’s losing months of work at a moment where he’s likely to be at his most sought-after – an available ‘A’ list actor.
30 January 2013 at 15:06 #2143re Matt keeping busy – I think that’s a given. He’s said being the Doctor can be like a full time job when you include all the promo stuff, which will be even more this year. My personal opinion is that it will depend on what else he’s offered from elsewhere. I think Moffat will have a contingency episode or 2 up his sleeve if that happens (which may or may not be Trenzalor and the ultmate question). Meanwhile he’ll keep on with plan A.
I think it also depends whether Moff intends to continue after 50th as well. Which presumably also depends on other work offers. If he plans to leave I suspect he would write Matt out also to leave a clean(ish) sheet for the next person. You could see why it would make sense. OTOH if he’s still bubbling with Who-ish ideas and doesn’t use them all up in the next 10 months…
Re keeping things under wraps – The PR team seem to have managed the impossible in getting the press to sit on the stories from the preview screenings. And they certainly pulled a surprise with JLC’s 1st appearance in Asylum. Must be a nightmare when you have fans/trolls stalking the filming days and nights with cameras, scouring cast lists, epi titles etc etc desperate for any sort of clue. Hence my thinking that having all these potential Drs and various stories going about, surprisingly, the 50th year might be the one year they could pull off bringing in a new Dr under the radar. Introduce in Nov, Matt does Xmas special (or both do), swap after the Xmas special.
Not saying that’s what I’d like, just speculating 🙂
🙂
30 January 2013 at 17:42 #2149It’s an interesting idea and I imagine that it might yet be what happens. Despite my really, really not wanting Matt to go, the anniversary show is the ideal time for a regeneration and part of me would quite like to be blindsided by an unexpected new Doctor.
However, I just can’t see them being able to pull it off. They were only able to keep Matt’s casting secret for a relatively short time and certainly not while there was any actual filming going on. And I suspect that the only way they were able to keep JLC under wraps in Asylum was because all her stuff was essentially filmed on her own in a separate studio. If she’d been on-set and interacting with the others then it would have been all over the interwebs. And I also suspect that the minute someone shows up on set wearing anything remotely Doctorish this year then speculation would be rife.
However, maybe they will actually do something in a similar vein to JLC. Introduce a new Doctor but have him ‘stuck’ somewhere — and only interacting with the others via a screen or hologram a la Hartnell in The Three Doctors and with his first proper story maybe the Christmas Special or something like that.
But I also suspect that Moffatt’s emphasis for the anniversary episode will be on the past rather than rattling on with the future (although of course there will undoubtedly be an element of that). I still think it will be more likely that we’ll see past Doctors rather than new ones.
It could be both, of course. Maybe we’ll get a multi-Doctor story where Matt is essentially cast in the role of a ‘past’, returning Doctor flung into the adventure of a future self. That seems like exactly the sort of thing Moffatt would try to pull off.
30 January 2013 at 18:04 #2151So… new theory #523: We’ve all been inside the head of a new Doctor, during the regeneration process, experiencing his thoughts/memories of his last 11 regenerations (ie our last 50 years) as they run through his mind. Maybe it’s part of TL regen process, like downloading prog of last incarnations. In fact it’s only been a few hours in his time. He wakes up* fully regenerated at the end of the 50th. To a collective WTF???!!! from fandom.
Wouldn’t need to be a lot of screen time. And if Matt’s doing the Xmas one (could be 1 last memory!), they then have a few months eg from Nov, to film the new series and get max PR for the new Dr. And as you say there could be a lot of “doctorish” looking figures about the studios this year, and at various times. Hiding a new one in plain sight. Oldest trick in the Moff Big Book of Devious Tricks.
*not “it was all a dream” scenario – it all did happen, we just didn’t witness it in the way we thought (as memories, rather than as it happened, like watching a video recording). It explains the big doomy offscreen voices as well 🙂 (and any inconsistencies throughout the entire series!)
Now that would be audacious!
30 January 2013 at 18:58 #2153Hmmm, Matt might be looking at how Tennant’s career has panned out after leaving – I’m thinking of those Virgin adverts, a pilot for a US tv series which wasn’t picked up and making a couple of duff films.
I think it’s called the ‘Caruso curse’….
30 January 2013 at 19:11 #2155Thought this was pretty cool. Sacha Dhawan got to meet the man he will be playing in the new docu-drama, director Warris Hussein.
It also says Hussein was at the read-through yesterday and he got a round of applause when he was introduced. Intriguingly it also says:
He laughs and goes on to mention several other Doctor Who luminaries who also got applause – but we cannot reveal their names at this stage!
Who might also have been there? Lambert and Newman are sadly dead, as is Jacqueline Hill. So I’m guessing Carole Ann Ford and William Russell were also there, helping with the details.
30 January 2013 at 19:34 #2157Bugger David Warner(1) – Jessica Raine as Verity Lambert.
*faints*
(Tennant has done fine – no shortage of RSC work, and a couple of excellent TV dramas)
(1) I know. He’s excellent.
30 January 2013 at 21:11 #2159@chickenelly – I take it you’re a TV girl? As @IAmNotAFishIAmAFreeMan said, there’s been no problem with Tennant’s career post Who. RSC, West End, lead in some pretty good short telly, and soon to play Richard II (RSC, again). I should have such a career…
Keep in mind that the real reason he was after a US series was the money. A successful run in one of those and you can set up your own damn Shakespeare company. 🙂
30 January 2013 at 21:35 #2161Rather depressingly I just checked out the Telegraph’s story about the casting of Bradley and a woefully large number of the comments are still banging on about RTD and his gay agenda. Jeez, they’re not letting that one go any time soon, are they? It’s only been, what, three years since Moffatt took over now…
30 January 2013 at 22:00 #2165@jimthefish – I had to go and look at the Telegraph comments after you said that!
Some Telegraph readers live in a dimension quite opposite to my own.
Quoth someone there:
As long as they do not introduce more homosexuality and cross species lesbianism into the show
and there was me thinking as long as we get more of Jenny and Vastra and a return of Captain Jack for the 50th! 🙂
30 January 2013 at 22:57 #2179A week ago, some may have noticed some links on the Guardian about a toy fair for 2013 held a week or so ago (just after Christmas the toy business likes to pitch what it will be selling to us saps next year).
Some interesting stuff here (I love the Union Flag Dalek), but for this anniversary year the “hype board” seemed a little sparse.
Announced were:
– Series 7 Pt 2 (8 episodes / spring 2013)
– 50th Anniversary Special (1 x 60 min)
– An Adventure in Space and Time (1x90min)
– Doctor Who Revisited (11 x 25 mins)The duration of the 50th special (at 60mins) would be a disappointment as some confusion seems to have surrounded it and the docu-drama (I agree – great casting).
Post the anniversary -zilch announcement (which would fit into any amount of speculation). I can’t help thinking looking at filming schedules that this year will see the anniversary and Christmas special, with the next series filming for next year. Sad, but I guess the budget cuts are biting at the BBC.
30 January 2013 at 23:22 #2197I fear you might be right about the scheduling but if that’s the case then it’s rather a poor show for the 50th anniversary year. I would have expected to see at least some of Season 8 this year. It might also make sense if they’re planning to bring in a new Doctor after the anniversary special.
31 January 2013 at 03:02 #2221I get the feeling that both Matt and Moffat are really enjoying Who and neither are ready to pass on the baton yet but that may just be wishful thinking.
Cheers
Janette
31 January 2013 at 07:10 #2225I get the feeling that both Matt and Moffat are really enjoying Who and neither are ready to pass on the baton yet but that may just be wishful thinking.
I agree, and I don’t want them to go at all, but if they wanted to go out on a high that’d be the one to do it. Depends if Moff has got new ideas re what to do with the character and the show after this year.
I still think my new (composite – put together from bits of old theories ) theory about everything being the next Doctor’s memories is the perfect re-set. Retcons everything perfectly without changing or undervaluing any of the canon. And you can take him absolutely anywhere/when you want to after that.
<goes off to ponder if theory can be bent around it all being in 11’s head…>
31 January 2013 at 07:10 #2227I get the feeling that both Matt and Moffat are really enjoying Who and neither are ready to pass on the baton yet but that may just be wishful thinking.
I agree, and I don’t want them to go at all, but if they wanted to go out on a high that’d be the one to do it. Depends if Moff has got new ideas re what to do with the character and the show after this year.
I still think my new (composite – put together from bits of old theories ) theory about everything being the next Doctor’s memories is the perfect re-set. Retcons everything perfectly without changing or undervaluing any of the canon. And you can take him absolutely anywhere/when you want to after that.
<goes off to ponder if theory can be bent around it all being in 11’s head…>
7 February 2013 at 12:51 #2457Hmmm…
Looks like Matt Smith has got a lot of work on next year. And not Doctor Who work. A movie and his directorial debut. Any conclusions to be drawn?
7 February 2013 at 17:13 #2463Interesting and kinds of chimes with a nagging feeling I’ve been having of late. I suspect all this Christmas special chat is a blind and that we’ll have a new Doctor by then. The question is will season 7.5 end on regeneration cliffhanger or will that be in the anniversary special?
The only other option is a hiatus year, which I can’t see happening. I don’t think you could even get away with three or four specials. Getting the time off to play Hamlet could fit in specials but not a directorial gig and a Hollywood movie. Nope, I suspect Eleven’s time is almost at an end… sniff…
Unless, of course, Moffatt is aiming to end the series at the 50th and set it up for a movie version…
7 February 2013 at 17:38 #2467@jimthefish I just read Matt has already done the directorial debut and the movie is being shot during his “hiatus” as the Americans call it. Still… Hmmm…
Also today, we get a sneak peek of David Bradley as Hartnell.
One day, I shall come back… twitpic.com/c1fvcc
— Mark Gatiss (@Markgatiss) February 6, 2013
7 February 2013 at 18:52 #2471@craig and @jimthefish. If Matt goes, does Moffat go? After Tintin, maybe Hollywood beckons him as well.
7 February 2013 at 20:52 #2477Depends whether he’s got new ideas for a new Doctor.
8 February 2013 at 02:07 #2481I’m going to keep hoping that Matt won’t go. I would be happy to give up a year of Who in order to keep him on. There are so many good actors but it takes something very special to be the Doctor. Though of course there is always John Noble.
Cheers
Janette
8 February 2013 at 17:17 #2483Possibly. All the same that still sounds like a heavy schedule to me. I think I’ll be increasingly surprised if Matt is still in the role by the end of the year. Will be incredibly happy to be proved wrong though. And I’m not sure the Beeb would want Who completely off our screens for an entire year. Still, you never know. Maybe Moffatt will want to give the show a final ending at 50.
@blenkinsopthebrave – Maybe we will in fact see a new showrunner too. Perhaps that’s why they’re being so cagey in terms of publicity at the moment. Once season 7.5 is out of the way maybe we’ll be getting big announcements of that sort. New Doc. New showrunner. My money would be on Gatiss getting the gig. Still, just remember ABC — Anyone But Chibnall….
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