February 2004

Pyramids of Mars is officially out on DVD in the UK on Monday but pre-ordered copies are already being delivered.

While producer Russell T. Davies continues to work on the new Doctor Who series, another of his productions has been shipped to America: the USA Network has remade Touching Evil, a 1997 ITV serial that Davies wrote scripts for, with Bruce Willis serving as the executive producer for this new show. In an interesting twist, one of the producers of the new version is Antony Root, who was script editor on Doctor Who in the early 1980's. The US version of "Touching Evil" will be out in March.

Russell Hunter, the Scottish born actor best known to Doctor Who fans as Commander Uvanov in the classic serial "The Robots of Death," died today, February 26, from complications due to leukemia. Born in Glasgow in 1925, Russell Hunter was a shipyard apprentice before taking up acting, appearing in the very first Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1947. His best-known role was his character Lonely in the TV thriller series "Callan" opposite Edward Woodward; he also appeared in "Casualty," "Ace of Wands," "A Touch of Frost," "Up Pompeii," "Sweeney Todd" and "Born and Bred" (his last TV role, last June). Hunter reprised his Doctor Who role as Uvanov the past two years for Magic Bullet Productions' series of audio spinoff adventures, "Kaldor City". Hunter, who is survived by his wife, actress Una MacLean, was 79. (Thanks to Ben Morris; some details from Scotland Today; photo courtesy Magic Bullet Productions)

The Axis of Evil, the latest installment of Big Finish's Bernice Summerfield audio series (featuring the further adventures of the former Virgin Doctor Who: The New Adventures novel companion) by Paul Cornell, is out... but they've pulled a fast one. Indeed, "The Axis of Evil" isn't actually the story's title, as Big Finish have managed to keep hidden the real title - it gives away an important clue about the story. SPOILER WARNING... highlight the following text for details, and remember, you have been warned!!! The actual title of the serial is Death and the Daleks, not "The Axis of Evil," and features the true masters of the Fifth Axis, the dreaded Daleks. The back cover blurb reads as follows: "The Braxiatel Collection has been occupied by the Fifth Axis. Who seem to be led by a figure from Bernice's past. Behind him lies the evil time travelling power of the Daleks. As Bernice's friends rise up to end the occupation, Bernice embarks on a desperate rescue mission, to somewhere she last went long ago. Braxiatel confronts his destiny, Jason risks all for his love and lives are shattered and lost as the battle of the Braxiatel reaches it's epic conclusion. Our heroes will live free or die..." (Thanks to Matt Gaynor at The Asylum)

The editors of the long-out-of-print charity anthology Walking In Eternity have announced that they have an additional 100 copies of the book to sell. The copies "are the readers edition, which has page 308 missing but we supply the missing page as a loose-leaf sheet and are a bargain at only 5 pounds plus p&p;!" says editor Jay Eales. The book was published to benefit the Foundation for the Study of Infant Death and features contributions by both fans and professional Doctor Who authors. Additionally, some rare illustration is available by comics artist Mike Collins. Visit the website for details.

Out on March 4 is Issue 341 of Doctor Who Magazine, featuring part two of the interview with Lalla Ward; the first of Russell T. Davies' production diaries on the new series; Daniel O'Mahony's coda to "Accidental Tourist"; part four of the comic strip "Bad Blood"; Andrew Pixley's Archive Extras focuses on "The Ultimate Adventure"; plus information on the new series writers and, as Outpost Gallifrey has learned, word of an important discovery from the show's first season that has been rumored about for the past several weeks. Meanwhile, out March 18 is The Complete First Doctor, the sixth in their series of special editions focusing on a particular era of the show, including photographs and reviews and an afterword by Verity Lambert. Covers for both are below.

 

BBC Kids, which airs Doctor Who across Canada, has announced a slight change in their broadcast schedule. "Due to a technical issue, our current weekday broadcast of 'Kinda' (on February 20th & 23rd) and 'The Visitation' (on February 24th & 25th) were pre-empted. Both stories will be included in the next weekday run of episodes. Our weekend showings of the Davison years remain uninterrupted. Both stories will run on their regularly scheduled weekend dates: 'Kinda' (all four episodes) on Saturday, February 28th at 1:00am & 3:30am 'The Visitation' (all four episodes) on Sunday, February 29th at 1:00am & 3:30am".

As we reported yesterday, the Dalek Tin is indeed being discontinued; however, according to BBCi, both Power of the Daleks and Evil of the Daleks will be released individually on CD on August 2.

A quick piece of gossip from Gallifrey 2004: apparently Bill Baggs of BBV recently negotiated with the BBC over the rights to the Autons, the plastic invaders from the Doctor Who serials "Spearhead from Space" and "Terror of the Autons". The BBC apparently negotiated rights with Baggs (who produced three Auton films) in order to procure them for an upcoming project... perhaps the new series itself? Stay tuned!

Portal To Infinity by Keith Bradbury, an unauthorized "review guide" to the original Doctor Who series previously covered on OG, is now in release.

According to Tenth Planet, the recent BBC limited edition audio Dalek Tin - which included "The Power of the Daleks," "The Evil of the Daleks" and "My Life as a Dalek" all on CD - has now been deleted by the BBC Radio Collection. The individual releases (at least the first two) will likely be available individually in the future, but not as this boxed edition.

The UK casting newsletter PCR (Professional Casting Review) today contains the following information: the casting director on the new Doctor Who series is Andy Pryor, whose casting credits include "Long Time Dead," "Beautiful Thing," "Trainspotting TV: The Long Firm," "Cutting It," "Linda Green" and "In a Land of Plenty," among others. The PCR article also mentions that shooting for the series "is anticipated for late spring" meaning that the production is a bit further along than previously believed. OG speculates that, because of this, an announcement of a new Doctor is probably due within the next month or two.

The MP3 CD release of The Daleks' Master Plan will be out in March in Australia & New Zealand (thanks to Liam McNicholas)

The sixth audio in BBV's Faction Paradox series, A Labyrinth of Histories by Lawrence Miles, has apparently been released in the UK (despite no update to BBV's website noting such!) The audio is the latest in the spinoff series featuring the "time-travelling voodoo cult" originally created by Miles in the BBC Books Eighth Doctor novel series. The cover illustration is at right; click for a larger version. (Thanks to Lars Pearson)

Phil Collinson, formerly a producer on "Born and Bred," "Linda Green" and the paranorma drama "Sea of Souls" currently airing on BBC1, is the new producer of the forthcoming Doctor Who series, joining Russell T. Davies, Mal Young and Julie Gardner. "I am delighted to be joining the team bringing back such an iconic and exciting series," Phil told Doctor Who Magazine. "I'm going to relish terrifying a whole new generation and putting such a well-loved character back on our TV screens where he belongs." In the latest issue of DWM, Russell T Davies notes that 13 episodes will be made, and he will be writing seven of them; the other six writers will be announced in only a few short weeks in issue 341 of DWM -- Outpost Gallifrey has been asked not to reveal them, though we do know the list (and that one original writer had a change of heart and decided not to submit a script after all.) He also notes that "Rose is only the first of the companions we've got planned," suggesting more companions will be added to the mix. Russell noted that he will be writing a regular column for the magazine starting with issue 341.

Several (likely erroneous) reports online have insinuated that magician Paul Daniels will be the next Doctor. Says an article at people.co.uk, "TV chiefs have already talked to Daniels, 65, famous for his catchphrase 'You'll like it; not a lot, but you'll like it.' A source said: 'Paul may seem an extraordinary choice, but he would make a very entertaining Time Lord. He may even be able to use his magic to defeat enemies like the Daleks and Cybermen.'" The article also mentions the names Shane Richie, Stephen Fry and Eddie Izzard. As usual, we'd advise you to take this with a grain of salt.

Big Finish producers Jason Haigh-Ellery, Gary Russell and John Ainsworth had some interesting comments about future developments in the Big Finish range at the recent Gallifrey convention. On the Doctor Who front: the Gallifrey audio series will start being released at the end of March, with one release per month, and a sequel miniseries is being planned (that might feature a two-Romana story). Russell said he was keen on doing a story featuring the Toymaker (if Michael Gough could be persuaded to reprise the role), a Rani story (if Pip & Jane Baker could be persuaded to write it), another Dalek-less Davros story, and a third story featuring Nimrod and the Forge (which would likely be later in their current 2004-2007 contractual run). Tegan will not appear as Janet Fielding does not have an interest in reprising the role. The seventh, forthcoming Unbound serial is apparently a sequel to one of the first six, though this is not definite. Bernice Summerfield will likely not be appearing in the regular Doctor Who range anymore, as the Seventh Doctor and Ace now have Hex along. Sylvester McCoy noted that he would continue to do the audious "until he couldn't see the pages anymore" and Paul McGann is also quite happy to continue in the role as long as the scripts are good. Two additional forthcoming stories in the range were mentioned, likely the August & September 2004 stories: Medicinal Purposes featuring the Sixth Doctor and Evelyn, a historical set in Scotland with the grave diggers who invented the modern autopsy, and Dead Man's Hand with the Seventh Doctor, Ace and Hex, set in the American Wild West and featuring Wild Bill Hickok; additionally, a Colin Baker / Bonnie Langford story will be out later this fall, which would be grittier and more serious than the two previous Mel adventures.

On the book front, details on the authors featured in the May 2004 Short Trips: Life Science edited by John Binns were featured in the most recent DWM, which include "The Changes" by Gareth Wigmore, "The End" by Alexander Leithes, "The Age of Ambition" by Andrew Campbell, "A Star is Reborn" by Richard Salter, "Mortal Thoughts" by Trevor Baxendale, "Sea Change" by Kate Orman, "Jonah" by Todd Green, "Observation" by Ian Farrington, "The Reproductive Cycle" by Matthew Griffiths, "Syntax" by David Bailey, "A Rose by any other name" by Jim Mortimore, "Sight Unseen" by John Seavey, "Land Land" by Jonathan Morris, "Northern Sights" by Mark Stevens, and "The Destroyers" by Steve Lyons. The next one, Short Trips: Repercussions edited by Gary Russell is out in June, while Short Trips: Monsters edited by Ian Farrington is out in August.

In other developments, Big Finish will shortly be announcing a new audio series based on Sapphire and Steel, as contracts have been signed with the estate of PJ Hammond, and a series based on the adventures of Luther Arkwright (a ten-part miniseries from the 1980's written by Bryan Talbot). Big Finish is also keen to do audios based on Ultraviolet and will be doing five one-off original SF/fantasy audio "pilots," one of which may develop into another continuing series. Their Bernice Summerfield line will also continue, with a single-volume collection of three novellas due out this summer (with stories told from three different perspectives, one Bernice, one Jason and one Adrian); also, one of the two original audio shorts from the long out of print "Buried Treasures" will appear as an extra on an upcoming Benny audio release. (Thanks to the OG Forum members who reported these developments.)

Due to the advanced production of the new series, BBCi have been asked to postpone new webcasts for the foreseeable future. "The Scream of the Shalka" is therefore the last webcast produced by BBCi until things change, which may not be likely while the series is going. However, BBCi comments that "the reasons for this are all Very Good, one of them is Terribly Exciting... and we hope they'll become apparent in the next few weeks." BBCi's producers are currently looking at possible ways to continue the loose ends from "Shalka" in an e-book written by Paul Cornell, but nothing has yet been confirmed. Meanwhile, BBCi's e-book adaptations of out-of-print books continues with The Sands of Time by Justin Richards, which debuts in early April on BBCi.

The Green Death, the final story of season 10 and the last to feature Katy Manning as Jo Grant, will be the next DVD release in the UK after "Pyramids of Mars," likely out May 10. The DVD includes commentary from Manning, Terrance Dicks and Barry Letts, as well as interviews with effects designer Colin Mapson, writer Robert Sloman and actor Stewart Bevan (Clifford Jones), as well as "Global Conspiracy", a featurette described as "Man Alive's original 70's environmental reporter, Terry Scanlon, revisits Llanfairfach thirty years on, where troubles seem to be resurfacing..." A short piece called "What Katy Did Next" which was announced as an extra by the British Board of Film Classification will not be on the disc due to space issues (not rights issues as we originally mentioned; the disc producers asked for 45 minutes of extras and the Restoration Team was forced to leave off 10 minutes including this and an easter egg compilation of continuity announcements; hopefully they can be included on a future disc.) The release will be a single disc.

Bill Nighy, long noted as a choice of new producer Russell T. Davies to play the Doctor, is apparently not interested, Nighy's wife Diana Quick stated after a performance of her play "After Mrs. Rochester" at the Richmond Theatre recently. Quick -- who starred as Prime in BBCi's "The Scream of the Shalka" -- was quoted by our correspondent as Nighy having been offered the role of the Doctor, but turned it down. Nighy also delivered a cryptic acceptance speech at the Evening Standard Film Awards on February 5; picking up the gong for Best Comedy Performance (for playing an ageing rocker in Love Actually), Nighy pointed out that recently he's played both a vampire and a zombie before noting: 'I've reached that difficult age where I can only play men from different dimensions.' Although it was recently announced that he has been cast as Slartibartfast in the Hammer & Tong film adaptation of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, could he also have been hinting at something dearer to our hearts? While this is second-hand information, OG felt it reliable enough to report as things are indeed progressing behind the scenes. (Thanks to Trevor Dobbin, Jim Sangster)

Paul McGann spoke to SFX Magazine about the forthcoming new series. He said he doubted he would be asked to reprise the role, but said that he would be happy to appear in any regeneration, should that be the direction that the producers want to take. When asked for the name of an actor he thought should be in the role, McGann mentioned David Warner, because he was quite happy with the actor's work.

Terrance Dicks, Matthew Waterhouse and Peter Moffatt recently were in studio recording commentary on "State of Decay" for DVD, though no release has yet been planned.

Mad Norwegian has confirmed that Mags L. Halliday ("History 101") will write the fourth Faction Paradox novel, due out in December 2004. Warring States takes place in China, 1900, and concerns Cousin Octavia (the Faction Paradox member responsible for the fall of the Thirteen-Day Republic, as told in The Book of the War ). Meanwhile, the second book, Of the City of the Saved by Philip Purser-Hallard is now due out in late April, delayed a month due to production schedules. The cover blurb for the book (based on the cult favorites created in the BBC Eighth Doctor novel series) is as follows: "We all remember Resurrection Day. Even now, three centuries later, we cannot forget that awakening: our bewilderment, our terror and our joy. Each of us had experienced death, imagining ourselves bound for oblivion, Heaven or Nirvana, according to taste. Instead, we found, each member of the many human species û from tool-wielding australopithecines to posthuman philosopher-gods û had been harvested, gathered here by the FoundersÆ unfathomable technologies. Reborn in our countless immortal bodies, we were given the freedom of the City of the Saved. A single conurbation as broad as a spiral galaxy, she has been our sanctuary from the ravages of the War. That monstrous conflict between inhuman cultures cannot touch us here: we live our afterlives beyond the end of time, in perfect safety. We may be certain, therefore, that these rumours of a murder (the brutal stabbing of a City Councillor, no less!) are nothing more than lurid fabrications. The supposition that the murder weapon is missing, or that it could have been û as hysterical conjecture has claimed û a "potent weapon", capable of injuring a Citizen within the haven of the City, is equally absurd. The idea that a guerrilla war has already begun in one of our less harmonious enclaves need not be dignified with refutation. Please go about your business, Citizens, as normal. We are perfectly safe, here in the City. Humanity has never been safer." Also, author Lars Pearson will return with a fourth installment of his I, Who series later in the year; "I, Who 4" is scheduled for October 2004 release, co-written with Arnold T. Blumberg this time, and will again cover the BBC Doctor Who novels and Big Finish audios as well as the various anthologies recently published. Finally, the second edition of A History of the Universe by Lance Parkin has been moved up to November 2004 instead of December.

Peter Davison has returned as "Dangerous Davies" in a new series of the comedy drama "The Last Detective," which debuted on February 13 on ITV.

Big Finish has released cover details and information on three forthcoming audios: March's The Twilight Kingdom by Will Shindler, the final Eighth Doctor & Charley audio of this current batch, with guest star Michael Keating ("Blake's 7"); April's The Axis of Insanity by Simon Furman, with guests Garrick Hagon (Biggs in "Star Wars") and Roy North ("Basil Brush"); and a new confirmation, July's The Roof of the World by Adrian Rigelsford, with guest star Edward de Souza (who played Marc Cory in the Doctor Who serial "Mission to the Unknown"). Details on each are below; click on each thumbnail graphic for a larger version. Meanwhile, producer John Ainsworth told the Outpost Gallifrey forum today that an additional "Doctor Who Unbound" installment will be happening, and will be out this November; and that the dates of release of the Gallifrey series will be announced soon. (Thanks to Big Finish, John Ainsworth)