The upcoming Doctor Who Special may be taking place on New Year’s Day, but that doesn’t mean the BBC has forgotten about Christmas altogether!
A new animated short, narrated by Bradley Walsh, sees the Thirteenth Doctor come to Santa’s rescue on Christmas Eve. Check it out below!
And don’t forget that the Doctor Who New Year’s Special will be broadcast on ABC on 2 January at 7:30pm, as well as on iview throughout the day. The trailer is available to view now.
The Thirteenth Doctor, Graham, Ryan and Yaz will be returning to our screens in the 2019 New Year’s Special, followed by a new series in early 2020.
Titled Resolution, the special promises to see our heroes encounter what the Thirteenth Doctor describes as “the most dangerous creature in the universe”. The ABC has confirmed that it will be screening the New Year’s Special on Wednesday 2 January at 7:30pm, with the episode also available on iview from the early hours of the morning, immediately after its broadcast in the UK.
And the Team TARDIS will be back again in 2020, with Series 12 of the programme set to air “early” in the year according to the BBC.
Showrunner Chris Chibnall said “We’re off again! Well we never actually stopped – as Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor and friends have been winning the hearts of families across the nation this autumn, we’ve been busy with a whole new set of action packed adventures for the Thirteenth Doctor. We adore making this show and have been blown away by the response from audiences, so we can’t wait to bring more scares, more monsters and more Bradley Walsh, Mandip Gill and Tosin Cole to BBC One. Brilliant!”
Charlotte Moore, Director of Content added, “We’re delighted that the Doctor and her friends will be returning to thrill audiences in 2020. I know Chris and the whole team are already working on a whole new set of exciting adventures. In the meantime we’ve got a very special episode on New Year’s Day for everyone to enjoy.”
The BBC have announced that Second Doctor serial The Macra Terror, which has been completely missing from the archives since not long after its original broadcast back in 1967, has been animated for release on digital download, DVD and Blu-ray.
The four-part story sees the Doctor (Patrick Troughton), Ben (Michael Craze), Polly (Anneke Wills) and Jamie (Frazer Hines) unravel a mystery on a human colony world in the far future. But while the colony has the vibe of a giant holiday camp, one of their number swears the colony is being terrorised by giant clawed creatures that only come out at night…
While no full episodes of this serial are known to have survived on film, a complete audio recording of all four parts still exists. Now, the episodes have been brought back to life in both colour as well as the original black and white, with the DVD and Blu-ray release set to include special features including an animation gallery, behind-the-scenes film and audio commentary.
Check out the teaser trailer for the story below!
The Macra Terror will be available on digital download, DVD, Blu-ray and special edition Steelbook in the UK on 18 March 2019; an Australian release date is yet to be announced. A special screening will also be held at the BFI Southbank, London on 16 March.
The Macra Terror isn’t the first Second Doctor story to receive the animation treatment, with an animated version of The Power of Daleks released in late 2016. The debut story for Patrick Troughton’s Doctor, it is available on DVD and Blu-ray from the DWCA Shop.
The ABC has confirmed that it will be screening the upcoming Doctor Who New Year’s Special on Wednesday 2 January at 7:30pm.
The episode will also be available on iview from the early hours of the morning, immediately after its broadcast in the UK.
It was announced last month that the special would take place over the New Year rather than the now-traditional Christmas period, ending a run of Christmas specials that had been unbroken since 2005 (with 2009/10 containing both Christmas and New Year’s specials with The End of Time Parts 1 and 2).
The new special has been written by Chris Chibnall and directed by Wayne Yip, with a synopsis as follows:
As the New Year begins, a terrifying evil is stirring from across the centuries of Earth’s history. As the Doctor, Ryan, Graham and Yaz return home, will they be able to overcome the threat to planet Earth?
CHRISTMAS will be late this year – well in the world of Doctor Who at least.
Doctor Who Magazine confirmed this year’s Christmas Special won’t be at Christmas at all but will come to the world on New Year’s Day.
The ABC is yet to announce if that will include us (though of course, that will be 2 January here anyway).
“We don’t have confirmation yet on the broadcast details for the special,” the ABC publicity department spokeswoman said when contacted this morning.
“But I’ll let you know once we do.”
A Doctor Who Christmas Special has been a regular part of the BBC Christmas Day schedule since the series returned in 2005.
The series peaked in 2007 when Kylie Minogue joined the Tenth Doctor in Voyage of the Damned watched by 13.3 million viewers. The 2017 Christmas special, Twice Upon A Time, marking the regeneration from Peter Capaldi to Jodie Whittaker as The Doctor, was watched by 7.92 million.
The New Year’s Day episode marks the end of Jodie Whittaker’s first season as the Doctor. The only other recent New Year’s Day Who screening second part of The End of Time in 2010 which attracted 12.27 million viewers.
The official synopsis for the special is as follows:
As the New Year begins, a terrifying evil is stirring from across the centuries of Earth’s history. As the Doctor, Ryan, Graham and Yaz return home, will they be able to overcome the threat to planet Earth?
The episode has been written by Chris Chibnall and directed by Wayne Yip.
Drawing inspiration from the Thirteenth Doctor’s outfit and reveal video, BBC Studios have launched a new campaign encouraging Doctor Who fans to get behind Jodie Whittaker as the role model we’ve all been waiting for!
#RaiseYourHoods recognises the Thirteenth Doctor’s hood as a symbol of strength, empowerment and solidarity. It doesn’t matter who you are, how you identify or where you come from – raising your hood makes you a supporter and creates an all-inclusive moment to celebrate everyone.
To support the campaign, simply take a selfie of you raising your hood for awesome people that you know and love. Then post your pic on the social media site of your choice, saying who you are raising your hood for and why they are awesome.
Finally, nominate a friend to take the challenge and add #RaiseYourHoods and #ItsAboutTime to support the cause. To link it back to Doctor Who, also include #ABCTV, #DoctorWho and tag @abctv.
The BBC has released its most extensive trailer for Series 11 of Doctor Who yet, showcasing the Thirteenth Doctor in action in an array of sci-fi settings – with her new companions by her side.
The trailer comes just a couple of weeks after a specially shot “release date” trailer surfaced, which shows our hero standing in the middle of large dome while glass shatters around her – including the particularly high ceiling…
The ABC has meanwhile confirmed that the new series will air on its main channel from 5:55pm, starting on Monday 8 October, with Whovians at 7:30pm on ABC Comedy. Each episode will also be on iview immediately after it finishes airing in the UK.
THE excitement is ramping up to eleven (or is that 13?) as the countdown continues to the new series with the synopsis for episodes one and two and a new image released this week.
The new image features the whole TARDIS team in suitable action poses while the supporting BBC press release offers up some brief comments from Chibnall, Whittaker and Bradley Walsh (who we’re of course all about to know better as Graham O’Brien).
It also reiterates that the first episode will be called The Woman Who Fell To Earth while the second is The Ghost Monument.
It is now less than a month until the new Doctor hits Australian screens (big and small) on Monday, 8 October.
“Finally – Jodie Whittaker’s Thirteenth Doctor is about to crash land on to the nation’s screens,” Chibnall said via the latest release.
“It’s thrilling to think, in the next few weeks and months, there will be children encountering Jodie’s Doctor in the next few weeks who’ve never seen the show before. She’ll be forever their Doctor: you never forget your first.
“Alongside Jodie, we have a delightful ensemble of new characters for the audience to fall in love with, led by the incomparable Bradley Walsh.”
The synopsis for Episode One – The Woman Who Fell To Earth is as follows:
We don’t get aliens in Sheffield. In a South Yorkshire city, Ryan Sinclair, Yasmin Khan and Graham O’Brien are about to have their lives changed forever, as a mysterious woman, unable to remember her own name, falls from the night sky. Can they believe a word she says? And can she help solve the strange events taking place across the city?
Guest starring Sharon D Clarke, Johnny Dixon and Samuel Oatley. Written by Chris Chibnall and directed by Jamie Childs.
We have also learned the name of the second episode: The Ghost Monument (which will also star veteran British actor Art Malik). The synopsis follows:
Still reeling from their first encounter, can the Doctor and her new friends stay alive long enough, in a hostile alien environment , to solve the mystery of Desolation? And just who are Angstrom and Epzo?
Guest starring Shaun Dooley, Susan Lynch and Art Malik. Written by Chris Chibnall and directed by Mark Tonderai.
Chibnall went on to describe what we could all expect from the new series.
“You can expect emotion, you can expect action and adventure and monsters and far off planets and huge alien vistas,” he said
“You can expect a lot of humour, a lot of warmth and some great characters.
“Four great new friends for you to meet as they go through past, present and future and meet some incredible people from history and go and battle on alien planets and fight threats closer to home.
It’s really a whole array of different stories. Ten individual stories that show off the range of the Thirteenth Doctor and her friends but also of the show as a whole. I hope you can expect everything you’ve ever loved about Doctor Who.
“More than anything, it’s hopefully incredibly entertaining and I think this series has something for absolutely everyone. If you’ve seen Doctor Who before I hope we’re going to be giving you all the stuff you love. If you’ve never seen it before, this is the place to start and I think you’re in for a rollicking ride.”
Asked to describe the new series in a sentence Bradley Walsh proved less than succinct.
“This new dawn for Doctor Who will be ground breaking and exciting and fantastic and unpredictable and beautiful and timeless,” he said.
“I’m telling you now, this is going to be so brilliant. Jodie is fantastic! She works so hard and is so enthusiastic. She leads from the front and she’ll trailblaze for a lot of other shows. The new series of Doctor Who in a sentence is forward thinking, innovative, bold and brave.”
Whittaker herself was asked what the themes of the series would be.
“Friendship and loyalty and survival. All things that are very human, interlaced with things that are very far from human and familiar. It’s a very inclusive world,” she nominated.
“When I watch TV and film I want to feel engrossed and excited, particularly in this world and genre. Doctor Who in itself is its own genre. I suppose you want it to feel like a roller coaster ride!”
Less than 24 hours after the reveal that Doctor Who’s eleventh series will begin on 7 October – or 8 October for those of us in the land Down Under – Sharmill Films has confirmed there will be cinema screenings of the episode all over Australia.
According to the official cinema poster, the first episode of the series – titled The Woman Who Fell to Earth – will be in cinemas on 8 October, the day of its Australian television broadcast. Participating cinemas are listed on the Sharmill Films website, with tickets on sale now – simply check the list for your nearest cinema, go to that cinema’s website and search for “Doctor Who” to see what time the episode will be screening near you.
The DWCA will also be organising gatherings to attend screenings in the vicinity of our various local groups – including the chance to chat about the episode over dinner afterwards – so please check our event calendar in the lead-up to the screening day to see what’s happening near you.
In other news, Whovians host Rove McManus has announced that the beloved Doctor Who panel show will be back with a new series, to be broadcast on ABC Comedy on Monday nights beginning 8 October. McManus specifies that Doctor Who itself will be shown on ABC’s main channel, with Whovians to follow on ABC Comedy.
There is no word yet on how the new series will affect the ABC’s traditional Monday night line-up of news and current affairs programming, but as soon as we have a screening time we will let you know.
After months of fevered speculation, the BBC has finally confirmed the date that Doctor Who’s eleventh series will land in the UK – Sunday 7 October.
Announcing the news, the BBC noted that this year marks a brand new era with a new showrunner, a new Doctor, new friends and a whole host of new monsters – so it’s only fitting that the new Time Lord will land in a new time zone on BBC One.
“New Doctor, new home!” Chibnall said. “Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor is about to burst into Sunday nights – and make the end of the weekend so much more exciting. Get everybody’s homework done, sort out your Monday clothes, then grab some special Sunday night popcorn, and settle down with all of the family for Sunday night adventures across space and time. (Also, move the sofa away from the wall so parents can hide behind it during the scary bits). The Thirteenth Doctor is falling from the sky and it’s going to be a blast.”
Charlotte Moore, Director of BBC Content, added, “With Chris Chibnall at the helm and Jodie Whittaker’s arrival as the new Doctor we are heralding a brand new era for the show and so it feels only right to give it a new home on Sunday nights at the heart of BBC One’s Autumn schedule.”
The first episode of the new series, titled The Woman Who Fell to Earth, has been written by Chibnall himself and will presumably pick up where we last saw the Doctor, falling from the TARDIS at the end of Twice Upon a Time. Subsequent episodes will be written by a host of new writing talent for the show, including Malorie Blackman, Vinay Patel, Pete McTighe, Joy Wilkinson and Ed Hime.
At the time of writing, the ABC has indicated that the series will begin on 8 October (Australian time) on ABC and iview. Will this mean a primetime Monday night timeslot going forward? We’ll report further details as soon as we know!
