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Mark of the Rani DVD

BBC Worldwide and 2Entertain have announced the forthcoming DVD release of the 1985 Doctor Who adventure The Mark of the Rani.   The date announced for release is 4th September 2006.

The story, originally broadcast on 2nd and 9th February 1985, stars Colin Baker as the Doctor with Nicola Bryant as his companion, Peri. 

The DVD will contain both episodes of the story, along with a fabulous array of extras:

• Commentary by Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant and Kate O'Mara
• Lords and Luddites: A 40-minute documentary, featuring comments from Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant, Kate O'Mara, writers Pip and Jane Baker, actor Gary Cady, script editor Eric Saward and composer Jonathan Gibbs
• Playing with Time: A 9-minute interview with composer Jonathan Gibbs
• Now and Then: A look at the Blists Hill Victorian Museum used as the main filming location for this adventure
• Blue Peter: An 11-minute feature on the history of Ironbridge Gorge
• Saturday Superstore: Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant appear on the BBC children's show, and receive a phone call from an old friend...
• Deleted and extended scenes
• Photo gallery, PDFs of the 1985 Doctor Who Annual and Radio Times listings for this story
• Isolated music score for the whole story by Jonathan Gibbs, and an alternate music score for episode one by composer John Lewis

The BBC Episode Guide for Mark of the Rani
 

Series 2: Volume 3 DVD cover unveiled
From the BBC website

2Entertain have released the cover image to the third vanilla DVD release of the 2006 series of Doctor Who.

The DVD will include the spectacular two-part adventure Rise of the Cybermen / The Age of Steel as well as the creepy 1950s tale The Idiot's Lantern.

This DVD is scheduled to be released on 10 July 2006 (although release dates are subject to change).

Two more DVD volumes, containing the remaining episodes from the 2006 season, will be released in subsequent months. A bumper season box-set (complete with The Christmas Invasion and lots of bonus features) will hit the shops sometime before the end of the year.
 

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Doctor Who: Quick Reads Release
From the BBC website

A new Doctor Who book has just been released as part of the nationwide Quick Reads Initiative. I am a Dalek, by Gareth Roberts, is a fast-paced 10th Doctor/Rose adventure that reveals what happens when an archaeological dig on present day Earth discovers a dormant Dalek...

The Quick Reads series of books have been specially designed to appeal to people who either don't have much time to devote to reading or who have perhaps never been bitten by the reading bug.

Other authors who have contributed to the Quick Reads series include Joanna Trollope, Minnette Walters, Andy McNab, Richard Branson, Ruth Rendell and John Bird.

The BBC's RaW campaign has a special section dedicated to the new Quick Reads books. If you'd like to listen to I am a Dalek's author Gareth Roberts reading the first chapter of his book, click the link below and then click the 'launch the RaW reader' link.


 

BAFTA award for Doctor Who model-maker Mike Tucker
From the BBC website
 

On Friday 19 May, the BAFTA Television Craft Awards (rewarding outstanding work by behind-the-scenes experts rather than actors, writers, etc) were given out at a ceremony in London.

Mike Tucker, the man responsible for Doctor Who's impressive model effects (including the destruction of Big Ben in Aliens of London), was part of the team that won the BAFTA for Best Visual Effects (alongside colleagues Red Vision and Gareth Edwards) for their work on the BBC One drama/documentary Hiroshima.
 

The Impossible Planet Press Release

This week's Programme Information from the BBC Press Office previews the episode The Impossible Planet with an interview with Will Thorp, guest starring as Toby in both this episode and the second-half airing the following week, "The Satan Pit".

'Former Casualty and Strictly Come Dancing star Will Thorp is drawn to the dark side in the second, two-part story of this season's Doctor Who. In The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit he plays Toby, an archaeologist in a team of space explorers from Earth trapped on a planet in the orbit of a Black Hole.

After leaving Casualty's Holby General, and honing his dancing skills on Strictly Come Dancing, Bristol-born Will could hardly believe his luck when he received a couple of scripts from Doctor Who executive producer and lead writer Russell T Davies and producer Phil Collinson. It didn't take much for him to decide to accept the part. '

"I would have said 'yes' to it whatever [the part] was," says Will. "It was the fact that it was Doctor Who! I read the script and it was a fantastic part, especially as I had previously been playing a regular role of a cheeky chappy - he's an intense, moody guy. To be sent a couple of scripts doesn't happen that often, and certainly not for something like that. I feel really lucky to have got the role."

Read the press release
 

Roger Lloyd-Pack Interview online

Roger Lloyd-Pack is interviewed on his role on Rise of the Cybermen and Age of Steel. 

"I was delighted, of course. What I didn't take into account was quite what a deal the Cybermen were," he said.

"I hadn't realised how much they had captured people's imaginations and that they had such an iconic place themselves within the Doctor Who framework... so the attention it’s received has been really rather amazing."

Read the interview
 

Series Two DVD Release

The DVD for Series two, starring David Tennant as the Doctor and Billie Piper as his companion, Rose, is now available for pre-order from the BBC Shop, where you can see the cover art for the release.
 

Hand of Fear DVD

BBC Worldwide and 2Entertain have announced the release date for Hand of fear as 31st July.

Originally broadcast between 2nd October and 23rd October 1976, the Hand of Fear stars Tom Baker as the Doctor with Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith.

Extras include:

• Commentary by Tom Baker (the Doctor), Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith), Judith Paris (Eldrad), Bob Baker (Co-writer), Philip Hinchcliffe (Producer).
• Changing Times: A 50-minute documentary charting the special relationship between the Doctor and his companion Sarah Jane Smith.
• Swap Shop: A very rare clip of Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen's appearance on the first ever edition of Noel Edmonds' Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, shown in October 1976.
• PDFs of the 1977 Doctor Who Annual and the Radio Times listings for The Hand of Fear.
• Photo gallery, continuity announcements, information text subtitles and an Easter Egg

The BBC Episode Guide for The Hand of Fear
 

Jessica Atkins Q&A

CBBC interviewed Jessica Atkins who played the young Reinette in The Girl in the Fireplace.

"I'm a really big Doctor Who fan. It's a good programme because sometimes on TV you can predict what's going to happen after every take, but Doctor Who draws you in - you forget how it's being filmed.."

Read the interview
 

Billie Autobiography Plans

Publishers Hodder & Stoughton have announced that they have signed up Billie Piper to write her autobiography; the 23 year old actress/singer is rumoured to be receiving a six figure sum for her life (so far) story.

Says Billie: ""I'm hoping the book will be honest, funny, insightful and, above all, life-affirming...  This is a chance for me to talk openly about other areas of my life. Things that people won't know. Things that I'm hoping lots of people can relate to and maybe even be inspired by."

Read more at CBBC
 

Girl in the Fireplace Tardisode now online

See the Tardisode for Girl in the Fireplace or Text TARDIS to 81010 to get this on your phone.

Watch Now

Church given star's Doctor script

Doctor Who star David Tennant has donated his personal script from episode one of the current BBC series to an Edinburgh book sale.

Read the article at BBC News
 

K9 Gets Spin Off

Doctor Who's robotic dog K9 is to get its own TV spin-off featuring a mixture of live action and computer animation. 

Read the article at BBC News
 

New Members of Torchwood Team

Two more cast members have been confirmed for the forthcoming Doctor Who spin-off series Torchwood. First up is Burn Gorman, who will play Torchwood's resident medic Owen Harper. Burn was most recently seen in the hugely successful adaptation of Charles Dickens' Bleak House, in which he played Guppy.

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