Radio Doctor Who

For more information...

2009-07-05T18:58:00.002+01:00

So some of you might be wondering what's going on with the blog at the moment and stuff, for more information just click here and you will be redirected to Combom's site, which was the main victim of Thomas's copying.

I myself was certainly not a fan of this blog, and will probably not update it, I might just leave it alone to never be updated again, but will not be deleting it as I want the posts to be proof.

Thomas, let's say, was a strange person for many reasons. some of them include; Having Multiple Identities (posting on his cbox as chris, mike, john, phil etc.), and another being that he wanted to meet up with some of the regular visitors on Combom's site. Most of them being under age, which is well, yeah....

So that is all, and just to make it clear, Radio Doctor Who will no longer be copying/stealing news posts, let alone, even post news anymore.

And if you make contact with Thomas again, just be careful and don't give out personal details, as he requests...

Sylar

Hi There! :)

2009-07-05T16:18:00.001+01:00

My name is sylar, thomas actually fell for my trick and hes no longer part of the site, I am the new owner. I might do what shouldve been done a long time ago, remove the site. But should I? Does he deserve that? You decide! Just comment on the cbox!! Byeee

(After all he always copied posts)

DW S3 on Watch

2009-07-05T15:55:00.001+01:00

On Saturday 11th of July UKTV Watch has a Doctor Who weekend, which incorporates the start of a repeat showing of series 3, which will be on every Saturday at 8pm (+1 9pm), taking us into October!

Saturdays at 8pm - PLUS Doctor Who Weekend from Saturday 11th July
This month Watch dedicates a whole weekend to Doctor Who, Britain’s iconic Timelord, complete with back-to-back episodes that culminates in the start of series three.

Series three starts when a young medical student’s life takes an unexpected turn when the hospital she works in is transported to the moon. She is plunged her into a battle with a gang of bureaucratic stormtroopers called the Judoon and her first meeting with the Doctor… a meeting that will change Martha Jones’ life forever.

With a new companion in tow, the Doctor embarks on a new set of adventures, including a brush with Shakespeare in Elizabethan England, and a trip back to 1930s New York, where an old foe has been busy reconstituting its army for a showdown at the top of the Empire State Building.

http://lifetheuniverseandcombom.blogspot.com/
http://uktv.co.uk/watch/homepage/sid/6833
http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Series_3_%28Doctor_Who%29

TW Children of Earth preview by the Circuit

2009-07-05T14:17:00.001+01:00

TW Children of Earth Countdown 1 day to go

2009-07-05T14:12:00.002+01:00

If you didn’t know already, the new series of Torchwood kicks off on BBC One TOMORROW NIGHT at 9PM, and here’s our penultimate countdown to celebrate its anticipated return!

2010 Annuals and StoryBook Covers released

2009-07-04T20:35:00.003+01:00

The final covers for the official Doctor Who annual and storybook for 2010 have been released.

The annual, which will be published on 6th August 2009, is listed as being the perfect gift for any budding Time Lord, and is packed with exclusive comics, stories, features and activities.

Meanwhile, the latest storybook - like previous years - contains eight stunning new illustrated Tenth Doctor adventures, and will be available to buy from 1st August 2009. Full details (including stories, authors and artists information etc…) will be released closer to the book’s publication.

DW Scripts

2009-07-04T20:33:00.001+01:00

The Following are links to DW Scripts

http://www.thewriterstale.com/scr.html
http://leethomson.myzen.co.uk/Doctor_Who/
http://homepages.bw.edu/~jcurtis/Scripts/scripts_project.htm
http://lifetheuniverseandcombom.blogspot.com/

TW Children of Earth Countdown

2009-07-04T10:57:00.001+01:00

We’re so excited about the third series of Torchwood, Children of Earth - which starts Monday on BBC One at 9PM - that we’ve been posting our very own countdown videos all week to mark the return of the team onto our screens.

TW The Dead Line

2009-07-04T10:50:00.002+01:00

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TW Blog

2009-07-04T10:44:00.002+01:00

With the transmission of the three Torchwood Radio plays now complete, the BBC has published a blog, written by producer Kate McAll, looking at how the series was created.

The blog looks at how the programme was cast and how the series was put together. It features several pictures from the recording session.

All three of the Torchwood Plays can be heard on the BBC iPlayer and, for the first time, listeners in the United Kingdom can download permanent copies of the programmes as MP3 files.

Download TW The Dead Line Unrestricted International Version

2009-07-03T16:05:00.002+01:00

It appears the download for Torchwood The Dead Line works for the UK and Europe, but not for all the USA (some people are having issues)! Whats more the BBC download is only open for a week, so here is a download for every country, and its there forever (I hope

Its a .rar mp3 file. If you can't deal with a rar file, google for the free download!

Who can't access the BBC MP3 files, and what country are you in?

http://lifetheuniverseandcombom.blogspot.com/
http://www.filefactory.com/file/aha683a/n/TWdeadline_rar

TW- The Dead Line BBC R4 Drama Full Report/synopsis

2009-07-03T15:06:00.002+01:00

At 2.15 today, BBC Radio 4 transmitted Torchwood The Dead Line Audio Drama by Phil Ford. It is a play, starring the cast, NOT just a reading of a story!

Spoiler warning - An abbreviated synopsis of the story follows, you may like to stop reading now.

Ianto Jones makes a phone call, he says Jack Harkness is dying. Jack is in a Cardiff hospital, he has something Gwen calls worse than death!

Time flashes back - A Cardiff hospital starts being inundated with patients who have fallen into coma-like trances, Torchwood start to investigate, and it seems to be caused by recieving a strange phonecall.

They work out the number that has called all the people in a coma, 2059, Jack calls it, but its dead, then it calls him back! Jack answers the phone and falls into a coma.

Back to today - Gwen calls Rhys and warns him not to answer the phone. Ianto stays with Jack in hospital, Rhys helps Gwen.

They find where the calls originate from, Maddock House, now standing empty. Rhys breaks in, there is a terrible smell inside, athough the building is disconnected, the phones start ringing. They find a rotting dead body, the origin of the smell!

In hospital Ianto is telling Jack how he feels about him, but it doesnt do anything, Jack doesn't move.

Gwen and Rhys investage further, they find the owner of Maddock House, Mr Turner, he takes them to a private nursing home, full of people in comas. These people all fell into comas in Maddock House. Turner blames a thunder-storm in 1976 for all this, the house was struck by lightning, it made the lightbulbs blow, but the phones rang, and it all started! This date also marked the end of a national drought.

It appears its an organic computer-style virus, that attacks peoples brains, spread by the telephone system. The virus starts calling all phones, trying to spread further, but Gwen and Rhys stop it, Jack comes round and its all over.

Typed as I listened, yeah I can do better, as can you (and I invite you to), but its just a synopsis! I will have this episode as an MP3 for download shortly :)

http://lifetheuniverseandcombom.blogspot.com/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00lg4vz

Creation of the Daleks Documentary

2009-07-03T14:03:00.001+01:00

Creation of the Dalek
by mrphive

Who Cares- Doctor in Distress Single 1985 single with Video!

2009-07-03T14:01:00.001+01:00

DW Theme By Delia Derbyshire and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop

2009-07-03T14:00:00.001+01:00

TW The Dead Line On BBC R4 Today

2009-07-03T10:20:00.004+01:00

Don’t forget that the final Torchwood radio story, The Dead Line by Phil Ford, will be on BBC Radio 4 later this afternoon.

When a Cardiff hospital is inundated with patients who have fallen into coma-like trances, Torchwood move in to investigate. But the trances appear to have been triggered by phone calls, all received on retro phones and made from a number that hadn’t been active for over 30 years…

Determined to find out who has been calling the unfortunate victims, Jack rings the mysterious number, but the line is dead. But then it calls Jack back.

The Dead Line, which is the third pre-series audio play to have aired this week, will transmit at 2:15PM on BBC Radio 4 this afternoon. To listen to it again afterwards, head over to the BBC’s iPlayer service. It’ll also be available to buy on CD, along with yesterday’s episode, Golden Age, from 8th July 2009.

More news Of Confirmation of a DW Movie

2009-07-03T10:20:00.002+01:00

Plans for a new Doctor Who movie featuring the Tenth Doctor will be unveiled at the end of the month, various sources have claimed.

According to the reports, Russell T Davies and David Tennant are expected to confirm the breaking news when they attend the San Diego Comic-Con on Sunday 26th July 2009, where they’ll be taking part in a Q&A session. Some would say that that’s the perfect time to make the big announcement…

Rumours of a possible movie have been circulating for years now, but they were recently brought to light again when it was confirmed that BBC Films are currently developing a script for a big screen adventure. The speculation was given more fuel earlier this year when ‘Doctor Who - The Movie’ appeared on Russell’s agency portfolio, but it was later removed when fans discovered the update (news leaked too soon perhaps?). As well as that, the outgoing showrunner has promised that some big news that’s ‘worth the wait’ will be confirmed in due course…

So, is the Doctor heading to the big screen? Only time will tell…

Hundreds of Photos from Filming TW Children of Earth

2009-07-03T10:16:00.001+01:00

With the show about to show next week, here are 500+ photographs from the filming of Torchwood Children Of Earth.

Thanx to Alun.Vega for these fantastic photographs.

http://lifetheuniverseandcombom.blogspot.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alun_vega/sets/72157606984557285/

TW Children of Earth Countdown 3 Days to go

2009-07-03T10:15:00.001+01:00

TW golden Age

2009-07-03T10:12:00.002+01:00

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Download TW Golden Age Unrestricted international Version

2009-07-02T16:10:00.001+01:00

t appears the download for Torchwood Golden Age works for the UK and Europe, but not for all the USA (some people are having issues)! Whats more the BBC download is only open for a week, so here is a download for every country, and its there forever (I hope :) )

Its a .rar mp3 file. If you can't deal with a rar file, google for the free download!

Who can't access the BBC MP3 files, and what country are you in?

I will put the other Torchwood audio, transmitted tomorrow, for download too (now I am aware of the international problems

http://www.filefactory.com/file/aha2gd8/n/TWGolden_Age_rar
lifetheuniverseandcombom.blogspot.com

TW Golden age BBC R4 Drama Full report/synopsis

2009-07-02T15:27:00.001+01:00

At 2.15 today, BBC Radio 4 transmitted Torchwood Golden Age Audio Drama by James Goss. It is a play, starring the cast, NOT just a reading of a story!

Spoiler warning - An abbreviated synopsis of the story follows, you may like to stop reading now.

The Torchwood team go to India and find a steam-train unloading high-tec equipment, that are addressed to Captain Jack Harness, much to Jacks surprise!

They witness hundreds of people disappear in Deli and Jack finds Torchwood India, a building he closed down in 1924. It now it appears to be an colonial club which is strangely stuck in the past, as is its young and beautiful owner, Eleanor, the Duchess - who is an old flame of Jacks, and hasn't aged a day!

After talking with the Duchess, they agree to split up to search the club (Scooby Doo anyone?) looking for the source of an energy field they detect. The people in the club claim its residual radiation from alien artifacts that has kept them looking young, but the residents can't leave the club, or they die of old age!

Gwen and Ianto are overpowered and chloreformed, the club still has one piece of alien technology, a time store, it preserves life inside while time outside moves on. The dissapering people are being used to feed the time store, the further away they get from 1924, the more power they need, and its starting to need a lot of people!

Gwen and Ianto are to be used to feed the time store, but escape, meanwhile Jack learns they intend to put the whole world back to 1924, and use all the people as fuel for the machine, so Jack starts closing the time store down, and everyone who is in its world, dies. The club is gone forever.

Typed as I listened, the last one is on tomorrow afternoon at the same time! I will have this episode as an MP3 for download shortly :) IMHO this is a better show than yesterdays Asylum BTW!

http://lifetheuniverseandcombom.blogspot.com/

Is a DW Movie about to be Announced

2009-07-02T15:25:00.002+01:00

Forums are alive with wild speculation about a Doctor Who movie, but its just that - speculation!

Many fans are expecting official news of a movie to come at this months San Diego Comic Con. Russell T Davies and David Tennant are to be there, along with executive producer Julie Gardner and director Euros Lyn, and even John Barrowman will show up!

Back in April, Tennant told the Sunday Times he had been offered a sci-fi project he was unable to discuss. Could this be a hint at a big-screen adventure?

At the end of May the BBC said ...Doctor Who may be heading for the big screen after a spokeswoman for BBC Films confirmed that 'a script is in development.

The Daily Express recently quoted well-placed show insiders (ahem) as saying that while Tennant may be handing over the Time Lord mantle to Matt Smith on the small screen, he will return to the role for the planned movie.

SPECULATION is continuing to materialise, in true TARDIS style, that a new Doctor Who movie starring David Tennant is soon to be announced.

Many fans are expecting the news to come at this month's San Diego Comic Con.

David Tennant and Doctor Who lead writer and executive producer Russell T Davies will be at the massive sci-fi convention on July 26, along with executive producer Julie Gardner and director Euros Lyn

Tennant is to appear in three remaining TV specials before his character regenerates into the 11th Doctor Matt Smith, with Steven Moffat taking over from Davies as showrunner.

But it's widely thought that 38-year-old Tennant would return to the role for the big screen.

Long-gestating plans for a movie adaptation of the hit sci-fi series have gained credence over the past few months.

Back in April, Tennant told the Sunday Times he had been offered a sci-fi project he was unable to discuss. It could be seen as a hint at a big-screen adventure.

Then, when it was announced at the end of May that Tennant would be appearing in two episodes of the new series of The Sarah Jane Adventures, which begins in September, the BBC added: "Meanwhile, Doctor Who may be heading for the big screen after a spokeswoman for BBC Films confirmed that 'a script is in development'.

"BBC entertainment correspondent Lizo Mzimba said there were no guarantees a film would be made and that, if the project went into full production, a release would be a long time away."

A month later, a further clue came in Doctor Who Magazine, in an article in which Russell T Davies announced that a new animated Doctor Who story would be broadcast in the autumn on the BBC's Red Button service and on Children's BBC.

The adventure, called Dreamland and consisting of seven six-minute episodes, will feature an animated version of Tennant along with the actor's voice. Georgia Moffett will return, but not as the Doctor's daughter this time - she will be playing a new character called Cassie Rice.

In the magazine article, Russell T Davies added: "With the Doctor's appearance in the Sarah Jane Adventures as Special Project 1, and the Dreamland animation as Special Project 2, it would be nice to round things off for Doctor Who in 2009 with a Special Project 3, don't you think?

"Well, keep watching. We're working on it. News as and when, but I can promise, it's worth waiting for."

The Daily Express recently quoted "well-placed show insiders" saying that while Tennant may be handing over the Time Lord mantle to Matt Smith on the small screen, he will return to the role for the planned movie.

An insider told the newspaper: "The script is still in the early stages but David wants to be in the film. There have already been discussions and David needs to feel the story is right but right now things are looking very positive.

"Potentially, it's the perfect scenario for him. He understandably wants to go off and do different roles but he still loves Doctor Who. If the film takes off and there's demand for more, he can continue to play the Doctor occasionally without having the pressure of the relentless schedule that the TV series demands.

Doctor Who last appeared in cinemas when the late Peter Cushing played the character in Dr. Who and the Daleks, released in 1965, and Daleks' Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D. released in 1966. Both were big-budget retellings of the first two Dalek serials on TV.

Paul McGann starred as the Time Lord in a 1996 TV movie, the only small-screen appearance of the Eighth Doctor.

The insider added: "It's certainly feasible that David could be the Doctor on film while Matt does the series. As all fans know, as it's Doctor Who, David's story can easily be set in a different time to Matt's. That's one of the great things about the show - anything can happen."

Further rumours have arisen with the news that Tennant and Davies will be at San Diego Comic Con.

"Time to announce a film?", suggested the Doctor Who fansite Kasterborous (named after the constellation in which the Time Lord's planet Gallifrey was located) amid the online speculation that has been simmering these past few months.

Torchwood will also be at Comic Con, with star John Barrowman joining Davies, Gardner and Lyn on a panel later the same day.

So will it happen? Well a movie has a lot of pre-production, so for a summer 2011 movie, it would be starting around now, lets wait and see

http://blogs.coventrytelegraph.net/thegeekfiles/2009/07/-speculation-is-continuing-to.html
http://lifetheuniverseandcombom.blogspot.com/

Download TW Asylum Unrestricted international version

2009-07-02T15:23:00.002+01:00

It appears the download for Torchwood Asylum here works for the UK and Europe, but not for the USA (no doubt some USA person will now tell me he can get them OK, but at least some are having issues)! Whats more the BBC download is only open for a week, so here is a download for every country, and its there forever (I hope :) )

Its a .rar mp3 file. If you can't deal with a rar file, google for the free download!

Who can't access the BBC MP3 files, and what country are you in?

I will put the other 2 Torchwood audios, transmitted today and tomorrow, for download too (now I am aware of the international problems) :)

http://www.filefactory.com/file/aha1353/n/TWAsylum_rar
http://lifetheuniverseandcombom.blogspot.com/

TW Golden age on BBC R4 Today

2009-07-02T11:04:00.001+01:00

As if there wasn’t already enough to get us excited for Series 3, the second Torchwood radio play, Golden Age, will play out on BBC Radio 4 later today.

In today’s episode, which is written by James Goss, the Torchwood team are led to Delhi on the trail of a dangerous energy field, but as the field grows, they witness the simultaneous disappearance of hundreds of people, and Jack discovers that the field centres on an old colonial mansion, Torchwood India…

Not only is he shocked to find out that Torchwood India is still going strong after he shut it down himself over 80 years ago, but he is even more surprised to find that its members, including his old flame the Duchess, haven’t aged a single day…

Don’t miss Golden Age at 2:15PM on BBC Radio 4 this afternoon. After it’s aired, you’ll be able to listen to it again via the BBC’s iPlayer service. Golden Age will be available to purchase on CD from 8th July 2009.

TW Children of Earth Countdown 4 days to Go

2009-07-02T11:03:00.001+01:00

Listen to/download TW Radio Play Asylum

2009-07-02T10:58:00.003+01:00

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

or you download in MP3 format here http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/torchwood/download/

http://lifetheuniverseandcombom.blogspot.com/

TW Children of Earth BBC HD Trailer

2009-07-01T16:40:00.002+01:00

TW Asylum BBC Radio 4 afternoon Play Full synopsis/report

2009-07-01T15:09:00.003+01:00

At 2.15 today, BBC Radio 4 transmitted Torchwood Asylum Audio Drama by Anita Sullivan. It is a play, starring the cast, NOT just a reading of a story!

Spoiler warning - An abbreviated synopsis of the story follows, you may like to stop reading now.

PC Andy Davidson arrests a soaking wet shoplifter, called Frida. Because of the strange gun found on her, he calls Torchwood. At first they can't get anything out of Frida, she seems to think water is rationed, the team suspect she has come through the rift.

The gun is revelled as an URC, a Universal Remote Control, which replaces money and stops security cameras working. She explains she fell out of the sky, into the river, which explains why she is wet through.

She keeps speaking of Ghosties, and escapes by jumping through a closed glass window, to a 20 foot drop, cutting her arms, but it dosen't make her bleed, it is obvious she isn't human! Frida is heading for her supposed contact in Lundy Street.

PC Andy learns more about Torchwood and what they do (ready for Children of Earth I expect).

Jack Harkness tries to arrest Frida at gunpoint, but she escapes on a motor-cycle, the team suspect she is heading for the river. They catch up with her, Frida is feeling lost, there is no way she can return home. We learn Frida is one of 13 aliens who settled here, in our future, and where helped by Torchwood from the future to come here, so can Torchwood in the future control the rift? But did Torchwood of the future send her here for Fridas welfare, or ours? The mystery remains unanswered.

Typed as I listened, the next one is on tomorrow afternoon at the same time! I hope to have this episode as MP3 for download soon :)

http://lifetheuniverseandcombom.blogspot.com/

TW Radio Plays On R4 Today Starting with Asylum

2009-07-01T14:28:00.001+01:00

Don’t forget that the first of the three new exclusive Torchwood radio plays, Asylum by Anita Sullivan, will be on later this afternoon.

In the story, PC Andy calls in Torchwood after he arrests a teenage shoplifter who he finds carrying a mysterious weapon. Under questioning from Gwen, the girl remembers her name but little else, and when she speaks it’s in a strange mix of English and Scandinavian, but with a Cardiff accent. When the girl’s blood tests come through, the team is faced with a dilemma…

Asylum will be on at 2:15PM today on BBC Radio 4, and after it’s aired, you’ll be able to listen to it again for 7 days via the BBC’s iPlayer service. It’ll also be available to purchase on CD from tomorrow. Enjoy!

Countdown to Children of Earth

2009-07-01T14:27:00.001+01:00

Barrowman Talks to Wales Online

2009-07-01T14:26:00.001+01:00

Barrowman speaks to RT

2009-07-01T14:22:00.001+01:00

The new issue of Radio Times features a special fold out cover of Torchwood promoting Children of Earth which starts next Monday.

Inside is an interview with John Barrowman in which he criticises the BBC for cutting the series to five episodes following its move to BBC1.

Barrowman said "We were the most successful show on BBC3, ever. We moved to BBC2 because the ratings were so good, the ratings were great again and we were beating shows that had been on BBC2 for a long time. The decision was made to go to BBC1, and then we were cut. From 13 episodes down to five.

"The five episodes, the miniseries as I call it, are incredible, I have no doubt about that, but personally, I felt like we were being punished. Other shows move from BBC3 and 2 to 1, and they don't get cut. So why are we? It felt like every time we moved we had to prove ourselves."

A BBC spokesman has denied Torchwood was being "punished", saying they wanted to create an "event" to launch the show on BBC1, with the new series stripped across one week.

SFX interview RTD

2009-07-01T14:21:00.002+01:00

The third series of Torchwood, Children Of Earth, starts airing on Monday on BBC One. In this exclusive Q&A, writer/creator Russell T Davies discusses how the shift to BBC One has changed the series, how the loss of two members has affected the Torchwood team, and talks about Jack's relationship with his daughter...

So Torchwood is returning for a third season that’s only five episodes long – why’s that? When we first heard the news we wondered if John Barrowman was too busy to commit to more.
Oh no, it’s not that - that’s tail wagging dog, that is. If we’d wanted 13 episodes we’d have booked him up for 13 episodes and he would have done 13 episodes. It’s just the shift onto BBC One. I don’t think it was ever likely to get a run of 13 hours on BBC One, I don’t think BBC One could actually afford that any more, Seriously, is there anything that’s 13 hours long? Hmm, Spooks has eight... this isn’t because of cutbacks, that just doesn’t exist on BBC One, apart from the Saturday night shows... does it? Does anything run for 13? Not in the week. And the thought of doing something we’ve never done, which is a five parter, was very exciting.

So you never even started thinking about doing a 13-part season?
No, there were no plans that we then discarded, not at all - there was nothing written, nothing commissioned. It was commissioned at the stage where we would have started thinking of a normal third series, so nothing had to be junked - although there were a couple of scripts in development in series two that were still in development, so we had to politely park those writers. And y’know, who knows, anything could happen in the future: it could go back, the money could appear for BBC One for a longer run, it could go onto BBC Two, it could be back onto BBC Three - we literally don’t know.
Torchwood is so targeted, it’s like an Exocet missile: get the digital audience in, then get the BBC Two audience in, now try BBC One... it’s television for the modern age! (laughs) But that’s where we're very effective. For “Planet Of The Dead” we had the highest-rated BBC HD figures ever, Torchwood is still BBC Three’s highest ever figure, Sarah Jane Adventures is the number one children’s show. These shows are designed to hit specific markets, and you have to shape them to hit those markets, you have to really design them to fit. That's why Doctor Who is what it is, because it goes out at seven o'clock on a Saturday. If it was going on BBC Three at nine o’clock on a Monday it'd be a very, very different show. So they’re all highly designed shows for their timeslot.

How has shifting to BBC One changed the show - have you had to reinvent it to some extent?
Well, it’s not like a reboot; it doesn’t start from scratch at the beginning. At the beginning, Gwen walks into The Hub and there it is, there’s the water tower and all the computers, and there’s not a great long explanation saying, ‘Hello, we are people who live underneath the pavement in Cardiff!’ There is a new character to whom some new things can be explained: Rupesh, played by Rik Makarem. He comes in as a new character, so things would be explained to him anyway, but it’s not done from scratch. It’s not like Gwen sits down at the beginning and says, ‘Hello, I’m Gwen Cooper and three years ago I met these extraordinary people, blah blah blah’. Because Torchwood’s been in Doctor Who as well, and John’s very well known as Captain Jack, way beyond the programme – it’s referenced in his stage shows and his variety shows and things like that. So there’s an assumption that you know what’s going on, and if you don’t, catch up! We just got on with telling a good story really.
But it’s not just a story about Cardiff anymore. There are moments that are about the difference between England and Wales, which we’d never had a chance to express before. They actually go to London in this, which is... I'm not saying that’s exciting for Welsh people, but Welsh people are always quite aware of it. There’s a very funny moment when Gwen crosses the Severn Bridge, saying she’s off into England. I hesitate to say it’s a little bit more real because that’s something people say in science fiction contexts as though they’re criticising the science fiction, and I don’t mean that at all. What’s important is that there are government characters like Mr Frobisher [a civil servant] in it, and it’s very much their story as well. They’re not subplots in it: it’s the story of what the government is doing, and what the Prime Minister’s up to as well.

And as Mr Frobisher you’ve got Peter Capaldi of course, who was in Doctor Who recently.
Yes, Peter Capaldi, who as you can imagine is related to a man from Pompeii 2000 years ago... no, not really! (laughs). Actually when you’ve seen episode five I will run past my theory: it’ll probably be on a podcast commentary or something - I have a theory that there’s something at work there, but that’s just in my spare time. No, we just wanted him on board because he’s brilliant, absolutely brilliant. He’s a middle man, that’s what I love about him, and he finds himself more and more out of his depth... except he rises to it as well. I think that’s the lovely thing about him, that he’s never completely out of his depth, and he’s cleverer than he realised, though more compromised than you might realise at first as well. So it’s a lovely part. And Susan Brown, she plays his loyal secretary. She doesn’t do much through the first three episodes but just keep an eye on her... she’s been working for him faithfully for 30 years and will do anything to defend him. She quietly ticks away at his side and there’s great stuff at the end with her when she comes centre stage. Marvellous!

It sounds like by the end you’ll know a lot more about who Torchwood are, what their responsibilities are, and how they fit into the big picture.
Yes, though I think you know that by the end of episode one, actually! It’s not a long process of doing that - that’s made absolutely clear in episode one, because the most important thing is to get on with the story. You and I could talk about Torchwood and their role, and who are they and how they relate to all these official bodies at great length, but actually we’ve got a story to tell - all of that is probably clear 20 minutes into episode one. Twenty minutes in you get meetings between the government where they’re discussing Torchwood and you get contact between the government and Torchwood, which is very clearly, quickly laid out and defined, and then it can move onwards, then it all starts changing. So it’s not too complicated because the most important thing is the story.

There are two less regulars since the death of Owen and Tosh in season two. Does that change the dynamic? Do the surviving team members become different types of characters with different responsibilities?
Not madly, to be honest. I mean, in the first episode you see the team in need of a doctor and that’s where Dr Rupesh Patanjali, played by Rik Makarem comes in. He’s sort of on their list to recruit because they feel they need someone with knowledge of biology. But y’know, you’ve got Ianto to cover the computer side of things that Tosh used to do, you see Gwen quite happily using the computers too... I’m not saying they’re not missed - there’s a fleeting reference to them. But it’s time to move on. If it had gone out very soon after season two you’d have done a lot more mourning, and there was a Radio Four play that took on the burden of expressing some of the grief. And actually, even if this had been a normal season three starter you don’t spend that long looking back. So no, to be blunt, they work very well as a team of three.
That’s part of the story as well - I’m not saying they’re walking around going, ‘We're very happy with three’, I was talking about that from a writer's point of view. They’re keen to expand and they very rapidly start to find themselves out of their depth. They find a story that’s simply beyond them, that’s worldwide and you have to question then who they are, and what authority do they have, and they quickly discover they have none - except they’ve got more answers than anyone else has. So that’s part of their battle, to be heard and seen and to be trusted.

Two other writers collaborated with you on this five-parter – James Moran, who wrote for season two, and John Fay, who’s a newcomer to Torchwood. Did that help to bring different flavours to the story?
It does, and that’s nice actually. Episode two is written by John, who wrote a series called Mobile for TV. We’ve been trying to get to write for Doctor Who and Torchwood for ages because I love him. He used to write the best episodes of Coronation Street ever - I can hear the science fiction meltdown as soon as I say that - the Richard Hillman episodes and things like that, he’s a properly good writer. Mobile was a borderline fantasy show, where evil assassins were being activated via mobile phones, a really powerful piece of work. Dawn Airey, who was head of ITV, stood up at the time and said, ‘John Fay is the future of ITV drama’. It’s a really odd piece, a thriller, about an ordinary family who find themselves suddenly thrown into a world of hitmen and police and assassins, but with some really eccentric stuff, and I used to sit and watch that and think, ‘That man should be writing Doctor Who, because he’s got a lunacy about him and a boldness’. It’s not a bog-standard thriller: chase chase, shoot shoot. He’s quite wild and he keeps the whole thing on a domestic level at the same time, that they’re ordinary people with wives and husbands and loss and laughter and things like that - lovely writing.
John’s from Liverpool, and there’s a Scouse guard in episode two who only has five lines, and every single one of those lines is hilarious, brilliant, it’s a magical thing, and I sit there thinking, ‘I could never write that, go make every one of those five lines so brilliant’. So he’s very vivid and very much his own man, has his own style, but gets Torchwood as well.
So yes, there’s a story to be told but within that you hand it over to people and go, ‘Off you go, boys’. There was a lot of liaison between us and it wasn’t helped because John delivered episode two and James delivered episode three before I'd written episode one, because I was too busy! So that was odd. But we had constant meetings all the time. We all met, first of all, in St David's Hotel in Cardiff before a word was written and thrashed out the whole thing. It was very unusual, because we had Pete the producer there and Euros the director. I've never done that before on any show, to have the producer and director there at the very beginning of the concept, before a single line of plot is written, and that was fantastic, that’s how television should work. And they were chipping in with the plot as well - there were no boundaries. That was lovely, and I think that’s why it’s been so well made, because they felt part of its creation. Normally the director comes in and picks up the first script, and that’s when their job starts, but to have them there right at the start was gorgeous, I loved that, and the more we can do that the better. So it was just constant liaison between us all, and we had script editors and were emailing each other, all that stuff. A lot of television is written that way - that’s how you work on soaps, basically - so it’s not like we reinvented the wheel. But it’s easier with soaps, you just follow a storyline, whereas a thriller’s much more elliptical and punchy and you've got to hit the right beats and get the characters in the right place, so that was interesting.

Was there a point in those early discussions where you said, “We’re getting a bit carried away here, we need to pull it back a bit?”
No, not really because the point is you start with that in episode one but by the point of episode five we’d decided to push it absolutely as far as you can go. I also think Torchwood still inherits a sort of lunacy from Doctor Who, by being connected to that world.
It always happens, with all science fiction shows, they get so wrapped in their science fiction world and we all get into it so much that by the time you’re two or three seasons in you watch it thinking, ‘Where did we start here?’ I was watching an original Welsh drama on TV recently that was conceived to be about the lives and loves of Welsh people. It was its last episode after 10 years, and it ended up in a hotel with Polish strip club gangster millionaires, and I sat watching thinking, ‘Go back 10 years and wasn't this supposed to be about ordinary families? How has it wandered into this?’ And the same thing happens with science fiction. You can look at Rose Tyler: you start with the story of an ordinary shop girl and you just can’t help it, by the time you’re four years into it she’s walking around with a great big gun fighting Daleks, and that’s the normal progression of science fiction. But you’ve got to watch that you don’t go too far away.
So coming back to Torchwood - and this is what I would have done even if this was a normal series three – the thing is to bring it back and say, ‘Who are they? Where are they from?’, to give Ianto a sister, and Captain Jack’s got a daughter. Once the programme's gone off into the realms of James Marsters as Captain John, that’s fantastic, but you mustn’t take that as your starting point. That’s as far as it can go and once it’s gone that far you’ve got to say, ‘Right, back to the beginning, back to where we started, which was an ordinary policewoman delivering pizza and finding all sorts of extraordinary things going on under her nose’. It’s the first time for me to write Torchwood in three years, so coming back to it that’s where the heartland is, I think, that’s when the fantastical things work, when you’ve got all that around it.

Can you tell us a bit more about Jack’s daughter?
Lucy Cohu - she's a big name, an Emmy winner, she was in a drama about Princess Margaret. She’s amazing, and she’s Captain Jack’s daughter, Alice Carter. You discover that he’s always known she was there. She has her reasons for having nothing to do with him. Nonetheless, he pays her, he subsidises the family - because she’s got a son as well - so he’s been a very good father in that sense. And they just have a very different relationship. What I love about it is Lucy is roughly the same age as John, so you get father and daughter and they’re both the same age. And she’s gonna get older than him, so no wonder you distance yourself from that, because it does your head in!

We gather it’s been a more director-led project than Torchwood normally is. What has Euros Lyn brought to it, does it have a very different look?
Not particularly, it’s just a good, handsome look. Again, we’re not reinventing the wheel. He’s specifically a good director in terms of actors, because directors isn’t all pictures, it’s working with that cast and he’s absolutely beautiful at working with the cast, and he’d never done Torchwood before. Frankly, he is absolutely brilliant and partly we conceived the role of a director on this just to keep him at Upper Boat because he’s a very talented man who’s in a lot of demand. Most long-running shows like this would be directed by two directors - every other six parter I've done has been divided into two blocks of three, so it’s very unusual. The only one that I can think of off the top of my head that's a six-parter that was directed by one man was State Of Play actually, which was done by David Yates who now does the Harry Potter films. I think it’s better if you can have one director all the way through, so we designed the entire thing - like inviting Euros to all the meetings - to keep him on board, to keep him at Upper Boat, frankly, and then with the promise of saying, ‘After that you can do the last two hours of David Tennant’. It’s good policy to keep a very good man on board because he would be offered Dickens on BBC One or the latest ITV thriller - with people like that you have to work hard to keep them. So that was part of the plan as well.

Visually it's not a radically different look, it’s just well shot. I personally don’t like radically different looks to drama because frankly I just want to see what’s going on. We’re never, say, gonna go completely handheld or any of that stuff because it doesn’t need that level of invention, it needs an honesty; it doesn’t need flashiness, it just needs great work with great actors. And Euros is absolutely brilliant to work with and the crew love him, and that really is part of it. Five hours is tough for television and if you have a director that the crew love - and he’s Welsh and he speaks Welsh, and a lot of the crew are Welsh - you’re just ahead of the game, frankly. It’s just a nicer set to work on, and that runs better. Never believe those people who say it’s better on a tough set because it’s not true - y’know, those people from the James Cameron school of shouting and screaming. Fair enough, if you want to do it that way... I'd rather not. Blimey, no thanks!

http://www.sfx.co.uk/page/sfx?entry=russell_t_davies_talks_torchwood

Captains Jacks Daughter

2009-06-30T16:26:00.002+01:00

So far, this is the only photograph of Captain Jack Harkness daughter Alice, played by Lucy Cohu (blown up from a small one in a magazine), I doubt her surname is Harkness! She is rumoured to have a son too, who will be Jacks grandson!

Jack and Alice look the same age, I get older, and you stay the same, says Alice, heartbroken.

lifetheuniverseandcombom.com

More News of the TW Radio Times Special Edition

2009-06-30T15:36:00.002+01:00

The latest issue of Radio Times boasts a stunning gatefold cover for Children of Earth, which features Captain Jack on the front with the tagline “Five episodes… five nights… and one great big explosive story”. The cover folds out to reveal Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones and Rhys Williams standing in the wreckage of the Torchwood Hub.

Inside the magazine, there’s an exclusive preview of the mini-series as well as interviews with the cast and crew, which include some controversial comments made by John Barrowman, picked up by various tabloids and websites today, regarding the BBC’s decision to cut down Series 3 to just 5 episodes.

You can read the full interviews, and check out the tantalizing previews, in the latest issue of Radio Times, out now at the usual price of £1.10. And with just under a week to go until the series officially hits our screens, expect lots more media coverage as we get ever nearer to launch day! 6 days to go!

Hidden Message in the TW Radio times Image

2009-06-30T15:34:00.003+01:00

Heres a section of one of the Radio Times Torchwood Children Of Earth photographs, can you spot the hidden message? Its pretty easy really, the aliens are called the 456, and you can clearly see 456 in the picture!

http://lifetheuniverseandcombom.blogspot.com/

TW Children of Earth Radio Times Scan (30/06/09)

2009-06-30T12:42:00.006+01:00

http://lifetheuniverseandcombom.blogspot.com/
http://blogtorwho.blogspot.com/

Another RTD Interview

2009-06-30T12:39:00.005+01:00

NJ.com has an interview with Russell T Davies, which has a very interesting paragraph.

In conjunction with tomorrow's American debut of "Doctor Who: The Next Doctor," the first of five "Doctor Who" specials that will conclude the tenure of both star David Tennant and producer Russell T. Davies (you can read my review here), I spoke with Davies about saying goodbye to the character he helped resurrect, and about the upcoming miniseries "Torchwood: Children of Earth," which BBC America will be airing July 20-24.
Davies called me as I was finishing up the third episode of "Children of Earth" -- an exciting, epic story in which Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) and his team deal with alien invaders who can make our world's children do whatever they want -- and so our discussion begins with that.
What was the impetus behind telling this particular "Torchwood" story?

The main impetus came because in Britain, we were shifting channels. We'd been on a smaller channel as a sci-fi cult show, but this is moving it onto BBC1. It's the main primetime channel, so we needed to do something bit. Also, although I created "Torchwood," I'd been away from it for a while. I wanted to do something new, a different type of storytelling, to give it a big kick and stretch myself as well. So all of that thinking led to a new format. They've been doing this (miniseries) format quite a bit in Britain, where you'll do five shows in five nights. It's a new form of storytelling that I loved, and when the offer came to make "Torchwood" part of this five nights a week thing, I jumped at it. I loved it.

So do you think, if BBC orders another series, you'll stick with this format?

I think it's hard to revert to the previous format having done this, but if BBC1 says, "We want to do 13 weeks like before," of course we're going to do 13 weeks. We can do all sorts of things. The six-part weekly thriller is another standard British format that we haven't tried yet. That's what's nice in this digital world: the platforms change, the digital tier gives you new options, and "Torchwood"s been at the forefront of it, since we started on a digital channel.

"Children of Earth" seems more epic, both in its scope and in the production values, than anything you did in the first two series.

Glad you said so. That was the aim. "Epic" was one of the keywords that we used. And it's quite important for newcomers to the show to know they can watch it from scratch. We're going to give them this big huge story where they can understand everything important in the first five minutes and go from there. I love telling stories about scale, and it's a big international story. But at the same time, even if you make things epic, no matter how big the threat is, you've got to have great characters, great actors at the center of it, so everything works on a personal level. So we've got John Barrowman doing wonderful work as Captain Jack, Eve (Myles) as Gwen Cooper, and everyone.

But when you're making an event, five nights a week, it would be wrong to tell a small, detailed domestic story. It's a brilliant production team, because we didn't have any increase in budget. It just looks like we did because they simply worked like dogs. The cast have worked hard, and it's made by people who love this, and with real passion. And the end result shines through.

You said before that you love stories about scale, which anyone watching your version of "Doctor Who" would already know. Every year, it seemed like the finales got bigger and bigger. Is one of the reasons you're leaving that you realized you couldn't top yourself anymore?

There's always further to go. I don't just increase things in scale because I'm mad. With "Doctor Who," every year the finale got bigger, and every year the rating got bigger. We were adding, like, 2 million viewers every year. That's been a great joy, and part of the whole game of "Doctor Who" is that the public joins in, word spreads, and more people watch. Increasing the scale of the program has literally paid off. If the viewers had been deserting the show, I would have done something different. When we get to David Tennant's finale, you will not believe the scale of it. But it's all about the acting in the end. Wait till you see David Tennant in his last episode, and John Barrowman in his last episode of "Children of Earth."

I'm unclear on the timing of this: were these five specials always designed to end David Tennant's time in the role, or did that happen after you started doing them?

No, we always knew they were going to be his last specials. It was his choice. When Steven Moffat took over the show, of course David wondered if he should be continuing, because of course Steven will be the most brilliant showrunner in the world.

It's funny, we've now all moved on, for the most part. We all feel that we've done the right thing. There's not one moment where we'd want to use a TARDIS to go back in and do over again. It's been good, it's been healthy, no regrets. If the handover had gone wrong, I would have felt terrible. We've protected the show, and kept it enshrined for the people in the UK.

I've only seen two of the specials so far, but there's this recurring theme about The Doctor not wanting to take on a new companion because of what happened in "Journey's End."

Poor Donna Noble.

You're a bastard, by the way.

Ha ha ha! He just called me a bastard. Ha ha ha ha!

Well, is there a specific character arc to these specials?

It's what I love about "Doctor Who." It's 46 years old, and now in my final year, we discover there's still a brand new way of telling the stories, which is The Doctor traveling on his own, which was done only once in the old years, Tom Baker with "The Deadly Asssassin." it gives us a chance for him to have a different companion every time. In "Planet of the Dead," we have Michelle Ryan, and in "The Waters of Mars," we've got Lindsey Duncan as the companion; she's almost 60 years old, quite a brilliant actress, a different way than we've gone previously. In the finale, it's Bernie Cribbens, who played Donna Noble's grandfather.

The bigger picture is why The Doctor's traveling alone -- because he's heartbroken, because he loses too much in the end (each time). This is an arc over these last few specials, gradually, especially in "Waters of Mars," which comes up in November, we discover that he travels with a human because he needs a human. He's too powerful, and without that (human with him), he can become a dangerous man. Donna pointed that out to him in her very first story, "The Runaway Bride." That is a story we're telling. We're sort of all heading towards series 5 and the new Doctor and the new companion, played by Karen Gillan. I think it's a nice set-up for her, in that The Doctor needs a companion and we're going to understand why.

Given what you said before about the lack of regrets, I'm guessing the answer's no, but are there any stories you wanted to tell with this series that you didn't get to?

Not really. Obviously, because I knew almost two years ago that I was leaving, I started thinking about stories. Other dramas I wanted to tell. Every now and then an idea will come into my head, though. I think there's a very good "Doctor Who" story to be told about Twitter, about the idea of communicating in 140 characters. There's a story somewhere, but I wouldn't be surprised if someone on the (new writing) team is thinking of that. They don't need me anymore. And I cannot tell you how much I'm looking forward to being a viewer. Other than the movie (1996's American-produced "Doctor Who" pilot), the last time I got a chance to sit down and watch a brand new series was 21 years ago. So I'm dying!

So have you asked Steven not to tell you anything about what he's doing?

I can't help overhearing little things. I already know far too much. And one or two things he had to check with me to make sure we could overlap material. What I do know is so exciting.

I want to go back to when you took over the franchise. What was the mandate you had in mind for yourself?

Simply, the one very clear thing I wanted to do at the beginning was to get a new audience, and a permanent audience. Because of "Doctor Who"'s long history -- he ran on BBC1 for so many years -- I knew we would get some old viewers who remembered the character fondly, but that simply wasn't enough for me. The BBC is funded by the public in Britain. So we're making a very expensive show, paid for by the public, so I thought I had a duty to spend that money well, and get as many of the public watching as possible, This wasn't a time to make a niche show, and that's so foften what British science fiction is. I knew it had to be lifted out into the mainstream. There was no precedent for that ever happening in Britain.

I wanted children watching. I thought if you're going to bring back this character, you want him to appeal to children; you want a child who, in 40 years time, will be me, bringing the character back again. It deserves the status of being like Robin Hood or Merlin or James Bond -- those rare British cultural figures who just run and run. I worried that, if I'd fumbled it on this reusrrection, it would have been fumbled for a few decades.

And we got lucky in the timing, If we'd been five years later, we would never have been able to afford the program I wanted to make. I wanted it to be expensive. I'm not saying all good television is expensive, because I've worked on some of the cheapest shows in trhe world. But the ambition, and the big picture, and the epic intimacy demanded that. And then all of this was theory, and none of us knew if it would work, but we got on air, and it worked, and it's been wonderful.

And all of that money is very clearly there on the screen, where the original series always looked so incredibly cheap: lots of stories with only one or two settings and minimal movement, where you're all over the place with the action and the special effects.

I so respect those old production teams because having made the show, I can't imagine how they made it on 1/10th of the budget that I had. And they made something I loved all my life. They found different ways of launching themselves into children's memories.

Was Christopher Eccleston always only going to do it for a year?

That was always the plan, and then the plan got fumbled because the newspapers found out about it. Can you imagine what a shock that regeneration would have been if they hadn't known? We got better at that over the years, found ways to keep other secrets. Nonetheless, Chris Eccleston is just a blazing comet of talent, and we are lucky to have had him for even a short time. I'm so grateful to have had him.

And then you got David Tennant, who many people insist is the best Doctor ever.

We cast Chris, and we thought, "Brilliant, but what the hell do we do next? Surely, there's no one who can be on a par with Chris." And the gods were smiling with us when we found David. Just to see him do this, at the same time he's doing "Hamlet" at the Royal Shakespeare Company, I'm so lucky just to have caught hold of that man for a short while.

Was it a coincidence or by design that all of the major companions during your run were women?

It's by design, to be honest. The show has had male companions in the past, and there have been times when he's had three or four companions at the same time, but if you strip the show down to its essentials, it's one man, and one woman. I don't think I would have been happy if it was just two men in the TARDIS. In the year 2009, still, there aren't enough lead roles for women, anyway. At the same time, we introduced Captain Jack, who was a companion for a time before we put him in "Torchwood."

There was that moment where you revealed that Jack would eventually live so long that he'd become the Face of Boe. Was this something you planned all along with the character?

It wasn't exactly planned. I did spend a long time thinking about Jack's immortality, and one day it occured to me there was another immortal character on the show. It made me laugh. To be honest, on the screen, it's couched in terms that are not absolute gospel. There are these spin-off books and comic books, and every now and then I'll see a script for one where they say definitively that he's the Face of Boe, and I always stop those from being printed. I have my own personal theories, but the moment it became very true or very false, the joke dies.

In general, though, how much long-term planning was there in the series? You got a lot of mileage out of cutting off The Doctor's hand in "The Christmas Invasion," for instance.

I did, didn't I? It's hard to say. Some things are planned. There was never a rigid plan that I followed for five years and never deviated. But the important thing is, I was thinking about "Doctor Who" more than I should have every day. Even the strongest fan of "Doctor Who" will think about "Doctor Who" a lot, then go on to their regular job, and I was thinking about "Doctor Who" all day, every day.

It's like having a great big play shop, I would introduce things like The Doctor having his hand cut off, and I realized I could bring it back in "Torchwood." What you don't notice are the things I introduce that I don't bring back. It's a more ruthless process than it is whimsical. Actually, it's very diligent about what makes sense, and I'm very careful about not losing an audience. If their enjoyment depends on them emorizing a bit of dialogue for 40 episodes earlier, you're in trouble. But we cut his hand off in a special that aired on Christmas, that almost ten million people in Britain watched at the time, and I thought they'd remember that. I can't say that I ever knew that three years later it would end up saving his lfie, but the potential was there. I know my own mind and it's always prodding the idea and finding ways to push it forward. If "plan" means having everything constantly in flux, then that is what we had.

In terms of an idea that you introduced and didn't bring back, it's implied at the end of "Journey's End" that Martha and Mickey are going to join "Torchwood," but they're not in "Children of Earth."

That was genuinely a potential idea. We did actually investigate that, and we did plan to use Martha and Mickey, and then Freema (Agyeman) was cast in "Law & Order: UK," and she was absolutely fantastic in it, and this was before we could confirm the commission of "Torchwood," and it's 13 episodes a year instead of five besides, so lovely, lovely Freema has got a job for life, so of course she went and did that. We're friends, we're in constant contact, and we were able to adapt, so we brought in Cush Jumbo as Lois Habiba, who's kind of the Martha figure. She doesn't act like a Martha clone at all, she's much more innocent and out of her depth. It's plate spinning, it's like that, you just keep things spinning. It was a possible plan, didn't work out, but if there's a "Torchwood" 4, and Freema's available, maybe we could use her again.

Getting back to the idea of scale, one of my favorite "Doctor Who" episodes that you wrote was sort of the opposite of that: "Midnight," which was this low-budget but extremely creepy story with The Doctor stuck on the train with the woman who kept repeating everything and the paranoid passengers.

You'd be surprised by how not low-budget that is. That set is four walls, and a very robust set, and we had to book a whole cast every day for two weeks, because they had to be there all the time. Actors are normally split up, and that was very actor-intensive. We didn't do it to be cheap, but I thought with the great big epic arias at the end of that series, it was time to be more intimate right beforehand. I thought of that idea as I was coming to the end of my time on "Doctor Who." That idea had been in my head itching away -- "What if you spoke to someone who repeats everything you've said for the whole episode?" -- and I had to do that episode before I left. I had to see if it worked. And it worked. That's a great big token of the freedom that the BBC gives us. On a great big popular expensive show, they allowed me to experiment.

If you had to pick a moment, or several moments, from your tenure that you're especially proud of -- that exemplify what you were trying to do with "Doctor Who" -- what would you pick?

The problem is, there's hundreds of them. Because I was so stepped in the show, it's very interesting to go back to the very first episode -- and to be blunt, we hit the ground running with it. That episode is the template for everything we did since. It has the companion being as strong as The Doctor, it brings back an old monster. It's in modern-day urban London. The companion's family is important, the emotion is at the forefront, but there's comedy and chase scenes. Normally, you look at episode one of a long-running series and it seems ancient, and I'm very proud of it because I look at it, all your favorite (kinds of) moments are in episode one.

But there are so many. It ranges from Lesley Sharp in "Midnight" giving the most brilliant performance with David Tennant, to when we won the BAFTA Award. When they played the clips of the nominees for Best Drama in this big posh ceremony, those clips are very often people crying in the rain about serious issues -- Iraq war, or illness, or drug addiction, because that's what usually wins awards -- and in the middle of all this, the "Doctor Who" clip played of thousands of Daleks flying through the air, and then we won the award! It just showed that a program that is so much fun and has so many children watching and so much fantasy, to win a big proper televiison award like that was genuinely wonderful.

Can you go back and watch episodes that you wrote and produced and appreciate them as a "Doctor Who" fan? Or are you too occupied thinking of how the sausage got made?

I don't know if this is good or bad, but I've always been able to sit and watch my own stuff and enjoy it. Sometimes, I'll sit down and I'll just catch an episode by chance. I caught the Shakespeare episode ("The Shakespeare Code") by chance the other night and I thought it was magnificent. I really, really can watch it as a viewer. I always cultivated that in my head, you have to train yourself to watch it as brand-new, so you can see its faults and its strengths, so I've always been good at it. So I can watch it on repeats. I still love them. And thankfully, I love watching the old show as much as I did. I can still watch the old classics from the 70s and be as happy as I was when I was a kid.

And its really looking like the Waters of Mars may be broadcast in November, not on Halloween as I have predictod, but a lot can happen before then :)

http://lifetheuniverseandcombom.blogspot.com/
http://www.nj.com/entertainment/tv/index.ssf/2009/06/russell_t_davies_talks_doctor.html

New Australian Tw Trailer

2009-06-30T12:39:00.002+01:00

Filming SJA yesterday at the International gallery (29/06/09)

2009-06-30T12:35:00.003+01:00

Alun.Vega for these great photographs.

Digital Spy TW Spoilers

2009-06-30T12:32:00.005+01:00

Digital Spy have 10 teasers/spoilers for Torchwood Children Of Earth online, but some are just hints.

The third series of Torchwood finally airs on BBC One next week as an explosive, five-consecutive-days event broadcast. To celebrate, we're going Torchwood-crazy this week on Tube Talk - as well as hints on what to expect from Children Of Earth, we'll also be bringing you exclusive interviews with the returning cast. (If you're not a fan of Torchwood, you may want to deflect your allegiance from Tube Talk to our downmarket sister blog Soap Scoop for this week only).

To kick off Torchwood Week, we present ten tantalising teasers (don't you just love alliteration?) about the first episode, which airs next Monday at 9pm.

1. Children Of Earth has a slightly terrifying premise: all of the children in the world stop dead at exactly the same moment and begin uttering the message "We are coming." All of them. And all in English, too.

2. The "we" is revealed to be an alien race dubbed The 456, not heard from in over 40 years.

3. In addition to the children, there is one other person reciting the message - a psychiatric patient named Timothy White. What connection does this have to an incident in Scotland in 1965?

4. Captain Jack and Ianto are referred to as "a couple" on more than one occasion.

5. As the episode begins, Rhys is looking at new houses for him and Gwen. But by the end of the episode, she has a very large secret she needs to share with him.

6. Both Owen and Tosh make appearances.

7. We meet Ianto's sister, nephew and niece. How will he respond to confirmed sightings of him on a dinner date with a man?

8. We also meet Captain Jack's.... daughter. Yes, daughter.

9. By the end of the episode, both Jack and Gwen have something inside them. Both items will change their worlds forever.

10. The ending to the first episode is probably one of the most compelling cliffhangers the Whoniverse has ever seen.

Expanding some further, warning spoilers...

05) Could this be Gwens pregnancy?

09) Gwen has a baby inside her, but what about Jack? Something from the 456? Or perhaps its Ianto (sorry :) )

10) Torchwood Cardiff explodes.

http://lifetheuniverseandcombom.blogspot.com/
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/a162535/ten-torchwood-teasers.html

RTD Interview

2009-06-30T12:29:00.002+01:00

Outgoing showrunner Russell T Davies has given an interview to BBC Radio Four's Front Row.

He talked about Doctor Who, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures.

The programme can be heard on the BBC iPlayer for the next six days.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00l9s0x/Front_Row_29_06_2009/

TW Children of Earth BBC One Trailer 2 International version

2009-06-29T20:52:00.001+01:00

Second Torchwood trailer airs on BBC One

2009-06-29T19:43:00.008+01:00

A second trailer for the third series of Torchwood, Children of Earth, has aired on BBC One!

The latest preview is a slightly reworked version of the first, but still just as epic and with lots of new clips and dialogue from the mini-series, which kicks off on BBC One at 9:00PM on Monday 6th July.

You can see the trailer below:

I hope to have an international version soon if not tomorrow at the latest

TW Children of Earth First Review (Spoilers)

2009-06-29T11:05:00.003+01:00

Digital Spy have the first review of the first three episodes of Torchwood Children of Earth...

It contains spoilers, so beware.

Bloody Torchwood! They've kept us waiting ages for their new adventures following the emotional overload of the brilliant second season. But now that the hankies have dried and Owen and Tosh are but distant memories, is Torchwood: Children Of Earth worth the upgrade to BBC One? Well, we've seen the first three episodes and it's highly impressive. Read on for our spoiler-light verdict...

The amazing opening episode 'Day One' hits the ground running, beginning with a mysterious event in 1965 Scotland before zapping forward to the present day and some possessed children. With the move to BBC One hopefully bringing in a broader audience, Russell T Davies's script economically and seamlessly manages to re-establish the show's trio of surviving regular characters for new viewers without alienating the existing fans. In particular, Jack and Ianto's hospital-based introduction - involving a very nasty hitchhiker blended with some light-hearted banter - is a delight to watch. Twin Peaks fans should keep their eyes peeled for a damn fine in-joke involving an estate agent too.

Evoking the great Quatermass adventures, the episode generates a terrific amount of suspense with the impending arrival of an alien entity on Earth. Just what are they, what do they want and why are they using the world's children, in a sequence of chilling scenes, to announce their intentions? Possible answers gradually emerge, although the second episode does shift the main focus towards the British government's devious exploits and a fight for survival for the Torchwood crew. Liz May Brice is compelling as the uber-mean bitch baddie who makes it her mission to scrap Jack. For a ruthless assassin, she certainly sets the pulse racing!

Creating believable and appealing supporting characters has been RTD's forte in recent years, and 'Children Of Earth' doesn't disappoint. A young NHS Doctor called Rupesh is a seemingly harmless addition, eager to please Captain Jack; a troubled man with a highly disturbed past called Timothy White, played by the ever dependable Paul Copley, generates plenty of pathos; and a Home Office PA called Lois stumbles across something very shocking indeed on her computer - a blank page of all things! All these characters are cleverly interwoven into the plot, although they might not all be what they seem.

At times, 'Day Two' does pale in comparison to the opening instalment, which bears one of the most explosive and ingenious cliffhangers in the history of the Whoniverse. But while the foot is taken off the gas and the various plot threads are not balanced well enough, the episode does allow us some precious time with Deputy Andy, Gwen's bloke Rhys, Ianto's family and someone very precious to Captain Jack - thankfully not his wooden brother Gray.
The fiery arrival of an alien visitor in 'Day Three' is expertly handled by director Euros Lyn. It's a lesson in establishing and sustaining suspense, as we are given quick flashes of what creature is lurking in the mist, accompanied by some horrific sound effects. The power of imagination really takes a horrifying grip while we wait for the grand reveal... which never comes! Well, not until the BBC lets us get our grubby little mitts on 'Day Four'.

Packed full of sparkling lines ("Have you gone bender?"), stunning twists, deep emotions dealing with Jack's immortality and some corking action sequences involving Ianto and a JCB, Torchwood: Children Of Earth is an exciting, funny and creepy enterprise over its first three episodes. It's not perfect, though, as the second and third episodes don't fully capitalise on the masterpiece that is 'Day One'. Despite many inspired moments, there is the nagging feeling that the plot is being stretched too much to fill time when we'd rather devour a Deep Pan than a Thin Crust.

Overall, the shortened third season of Torchwood looks like it's hurtling towards a thrilling final two hours. There's certainly an epic, global feel to the plot - bolstered by the appearance of a familiar American newsreader - and this feels like real event television and deserves to be a success. Just wait until you see the jaw-dropping revelation at the end of 'Day Three'. Someone's been a naughty boy...

It appears we learn Jack not only has a Daughter, but a grandson too!

http://lifetheuniverseandcombom.blogspot.com/
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/cult/a162087/how-good-is-the-new-torchwood-find-out.html

TW on Radio

2009-06-29T11:03:00.001+01:00

Torchwood comes to BBC Radio Four this week with a specially commissioned series of three plays occupying the long running Afternoon Play slot.

Starring John Barrowman, Eve Myles and Gareth David-Lloydthe 45 minute plays will be transmitted at 2.15pm on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Once transmitted they can be downloaded from the BBC iPlayer for a period of 1 week.

Asylum Wednesday 1 July 2009
When PC Andy arrests a teenager for shoplifting, he thinks it is going to be a routine case. Then he sees the weapon she is carrying and decides to call in the Torchwood team.
By Anita Sullivan.

Golden Age Thursday 2 July 2009
The Torchwood team are led to Delhi on the trail of a dangerous energy field.
By James Goss.

The Dead Line Friday 3 July 2009
When a Cardiff hospital is inundated with patients who have fallen into coma – like trances, Torchwood move in to investigate.
By Phil Ford.

Tennant Denies 11 Doctors to appear Rumor

2009-06-29T11:02:00.002+01:00

David Tennant has responded to the recent tabloid rumours which claimed that all of the Doctors, including Matt Smith, will be coming together for a special Children in Need mini-episode later this year.

The Scottish actor, who will next month be attending this year’s San Diego Comic-Con alongside Doctor Who’s outgoing showrunner, Russell T Davies, told The Chicago Tribune that he hasn’t been told anything about the proposed charity sketch.

“Ooooh, that sounds like a good tabloid wheeze!” he said. “It’s not something I’ve heard anything about, and I would have thought they’d be in touch. But that’d be quite a curious way to introduce Matt Smith. I’d have thought they’d wait until his first story. Not anything I’ve heard about yet.”

He went on to talk about his last day on the Doctor Who set, and how he felt when he recorded his final ever scene in role as the Time Lord…

“I’m all finished. Three or four weeks ago, I filmed my last scene, so it’s over. Still a long time to go before they’re all broadcast, though, so I’m still clinging on for a bit!”

He added: “But yeah, it’s done. It was very emotional, very exciting. We managed to go out with some of the best scripts I had in four years, so it was a real treat.”

David Tennant’s last ever Doctor Who story, a two-parter, will air on BBC One at the end of the year.

Download On-outside-it looked like old Fashioned Police Box

2009-06-26T21:08:00.002+01:00

Now you can now download On the Outside it Looked Like an Old Fashioned Police Box as a MP3 file and play it at your leisure :)

http://lifetheuniverseandcombom.blogspot.com/
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?jqijtnbkylu

The UK is getting hotter & The Temperature is rising

2009-06-26T10:42:00.004+01:00

Is it hot enough for everyone? It hit 20 degrees in the UK yesterday, and it looks like the weather is here to stay (OK, some cloud too, but still heat!). Yesterday evening it was 24 degrees while driving :)

http://lifetheuniverseandcombom.blogspot.com/

TW Children of Earth BBC One Trailer

2009-06-26T10:40:00.002+01:00

TW Children of Earth Up Close preview International . version

2009-06-26T10:36:00.002+01:00

TW Children of Earth UP Close Preview

2009-06-25T20:04:00.004+01:00

DWM 410 Details

2009-06-25T20:04:00.002+01:00

The 410th issue of Doctor Who Magazine, which features an exclusive interview with the Series 5 companion, Karen Gillan, was released in the UK today at the usual price of £3.99 (a bargain if you ask us!).

As well as the interview, in which Gillan talks about her audition, working with David Tennant and what she’s most looking forward to about filming with Matt Smith, the July edition also includes Russell’s latest Production Notes entry, and the outgoing showrunner reveals what happened on his last day at the Who studios.

Also inside, Doctor Who’s executive producer for the last six years, Julie Gardner, talks about leaving the series and how the show has changed and developed since 2003, and the Watcher proudly presents everything you ever wanted to know about Tom Baker’s incarnation of the Time Lord, as his ultimate guide to the Doctors continues!

Meanwhile, with dinosaurs on the rampage and the Skith’s plans well advanced, could this be the final battle for Doctor and Majenta? All the answers are revealed in this month’s comic strip, The Age of Ice by Dan McDaid, with art by Martin Geraghty.

Plus, DWM chats exclusively to Chameleon Circuit, the new band that’s taking the music world by storm, and there’s all the latest news, previews, reviews, competitions and more!

Children of Earth TX Update

2009-06-25T20:03:00.002+01:00

The BBC Press Office has been updated with the finalised scheduling information for the transmission of Torchwood: Children of Earth!

As was already confirmed, the first episode of the mini-series, Day One, will air on BBC One, and simultaneously on BBC HD, at 9:00PM on Monday 6th July.

The remaining four installments will transmit at the same time - 9:00PM to 10:00PM - each night (Day Two on Tuesday 7th July, Day Three on Wednesday 8th July, Day Four on Thursday 9th July and Day Five on Friday 10th July).

That means our live Discussions for each episode will be opening at 10:00PM each night for you to share your inital thoughts about the story as it develops across the week.

And with just 11 days to go until the return of Jack, Ianto and Gwen, expect trailers to start airing across BBC wavelengths imminently!

TW Children of Earth BBC One Trailer

2009-06-25T20:01:00.004+01:00

Load on TW Children of Earth promo Images

2009-06-25T11:04:00.003+01:00

The Radio Times and The Medusa Cascade have a lot of promotional Torchwood Children Of Earth Photographs online.

You can see them below: via the links

http://the-medusa-cascade.com/gallery/index.php?cat=129
http://www.radiotimes.com/content/features/galleries/torchwood-children-of-earth/01/

Scans Of TW in RT (27/06/ 03/07)

2009-06-24T20:10:00.003+01:00

Note, these are provided for our friends in countries the Radio Times isn't available in :)

Next week has a Torchwood Children Of Earth special in the Radio Times, I should have scans online on Tuseday :)

http://lifetheuniverseandcombom.blogspot.com/

TW Children Of Earth TX Times Confirmed

2009-06-24T20:04:00.003+01:00

Torchwood Children Of Earth finally has a transmission time, posted on many BBC sites! As expected it will be transmitted Monday-Friday at 9-10pm on BBC1 on the 6th-10th July!

Torchwood – Children Of Earth:
Day One Ep 1/5

Monday 6 July
9.00-10.00pm BBC ONE

Captain Jack Harkness, Gwen Cooper and Ianto Jones (John Barrowman, Eve Myles and Gareth David-Lloyd) return for a new adventure in Torchwood – Children Of Earth, a five-part series for BBC One.

An ordinary day becomes one of terror, as every single child in the world stops. A message is sent to all the governments of Earth: "We are coming." But, as a trap closes around Captain Jack, the sins of the past are returning and long-forgotten events from 1965 threaten to reveal an awful truth.

Torchwood is forced underground as the government takes swift and brutal action. As members of the team are hunted down, Britain risks becoming a rogue state. Meanwhile, the mysterious and powerful 456 draws ever-closer.

Captain Jack, Gwen and Ianto are helpless as events escalate to such a degree that mankind faces the end of civilisation itself.

Torchwood – Children Of Earth:
Day Two Ep 2/5

Tuesday 7 July
9.00-10.00pm BBC ONE

As the new Torchwood adventure continues, the team is forced underground when the government takes swift and brutal action. With members of the team being hunted down, only Lois holds the key to Torchwood's salvation. But she is helpless as her superiors make plans for the mysterious Floor 13.

Torchwood – Children Of Earth:
Day Three Ep 3/5

Wednesday 8 July
9.00-10.00pm BBC ONE

The eyes of the world turn to Britain, as the 456 announce: "We are here," as the new Torchwood adventure continues. As a pillar of fire descends upon London, the members of Torchwood must battle to protect their own families as the fight gets personal. But will Clem's memories destroy everything?

Torchwood – Children Of Earth:
Day Four Ep 4/5

Thursday 9 July
9.00-10.00pm BBC ONE

Torchwood finally learns the truth about the events of 1965, as the adventure continues. But Britain is in danger of becoming a rogue state, and everything now pivots around John Frobisher, as the Ambassador of the 456 destroys its old allegiances and reveals its true intent.

Torchwood – Children Of Earth:
Day Five Ep 5/5

Friday 10 July
9.00-10.00pm BBC ONE

Torchwood is defenceless and Gwen Cooper stands alone, as the final sanction begins, in the last part of the new Torchwood adventure.

As violence erupts and the world descends into anarchy, an ordinary housing estate becomes a battleground, where the future of the human race will be decided.

John Barrowman plays Captain Jack Harkness; Eve Myles plays Gwen Cooper; and Gareth David-Lloyd plays Ianto Jones. Torchwood also stars Kai Owen as Rhys Williams; Paul Copley (Coronation Street, The Bill) as Clem; Liz May Brice (Bad Girls, The Bill) as Johnson; Peter Capaldi (Doctor Who, Skins) as John Frobisher; Lucy Cohu (Forgiven) as Alice Carter; Nicholas Farrell (Casualty 1909) as Brian Green; Susan Brown (Brideshead Revisited) as Bridget Spears; and Cush Jumbo (Harley Street) as Lois Habiba.

http://lifetheuniverseandcombom.blogspot.com/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/proginfo/tv/2009/wk27/unplaced.shtml#unplaced_torchwood

RT Confirms UK TX Times for TW Children of Earth

2009-06-24T10:01:00.004+01:00

This week’s issue of Radio Times, which includes a feature on the three upcoming Torchwood radio plays, has confirmed that Series 3, Children of Earth, will start airing on BBC One from Monday 6th July at 9:00PM!

While we already knew from the BBC Press Office that it would air at some point between 4th-10th July (television Week 27), the 5-part series still remains as “unplaced” on the BBC schedule.

However, it still remains to be seen whether or not the four other installments of the series will be shown at the same time every night, or if the BBC have decided to shift it about the schedule in favour of its other dramas, such as Hotel Babylon, which currently occupies BBC One’s 9:00PM timelost for Friday 10th July

Torchwood: Children of Earth Broadcasting TX Update

2009-06-24T09:53:00.003+01:00

A roundup of news for the broadcast of Torchwood: Children of Earth around the world.

United Kingdom (BBC1, 6th-10th July)
BBC Press Pack

The Radio Times website has now listed Torchwood as being broadcast from Monday 6th July from 9:00pm, and will be broadcast over consecutive nights.
The Guardian used Children of Earth's broadcast as the basis for an article on the role of the story-arc in science fiction.
The Examiner reports on the soundtrack for Children of Earth to be released in the UK on 7th July.
Press Pack coverage from io9, who also commented on the UK broadcast of Children of Earth ahead of the US broadcast (and spoilers revealed in the BBC Week 27 Information. Other articles on broadcast date from C21Media, Brand Republic, Rapid Talent, SF Crow's Nest, Coventry Telegraph, and Fantasy France.

United States (BBC America, 20th-24th July)

BBC America have provided an Inside Look video for the series. Details on the series that they produced were covered by Pop Culture Zoo
SF Universe carry an interview with John Barrowman; they also have an article of fun facts' about Torchwood. Another interview with John Barrowman from the Chicago Tribune, whilst Eve Myles was the subject of Wired.

Canada (SPACE, 20th-24th July)

Channel Canada report that the SPACE channel will broadcast the five-part series on consecutive days from the 20th July, and will be followed on the Saturday by the Canadian premiere of Planet of the Dead.

Australia (UKTV, date unknown)
Trailer 1 Trailer 2

http://www.youtube.com/v/5EGfQ6y5DhA&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1

http://www.youtube.com/v/enSjozL01lI&hl=en&fs=1&

More News on all 11th Doctors to Reunite in a special

2009-06-23T16:02:00.001+01:00

According to The Mirror today, all eleven incarnations of the Doctor will unite in a special scene written exclusively for Children in Need 2009.

The report claims that the mini-episode, which will air in November as part of the BBC One’s appeal night for the charity, will see Matt Smith make his television debut as the Eleventh Doctor, alongside David Tennant (#10), Christopher Eccleston (#9), Paul McGann (#8), Sylvestor McCoy (#7), Colin Baker (#6), Peter Davison (#5) and Tom Baker (#4). The first three Doctors, William Hartnell, Partick Troughton and Jon Pertwee, will be included by using original shots from their tenures as the Time Lord and superimposing them onto the new footage.

“This is a momentous episode for all Doctor Who fans,” a source told the newspaper. ”Never before have all the Doctors been in the same room, let alone in the same show.”

They added: “The script has already been started and it’s classic Doctor Who - really witty and very sharp. Viewers will see the Time Lords regenerating and emerging one by one from the TARDIS, each with their own quirky opening line.”

It’s thought that the Tenth Doctor will call on his previous and future incarnations to help him track down a special piece of time travel apparatus.

Filming for the 15-minute sketch is said to begin in September. As always with these tabloid rumours, take the news with a pinch of salt until there’s any official word about it from the BBC!

DWM 410 Cover and Details

2009-06-23T16:01:00.002+01:00

The cover for the 410th issue of Doctor Who Magazine has been unveiled, and, naturally, the cover star for July is the new Series 5 companion - Karen Gillan (looking particularly fetching in a green jacket!)

Inside the issue, which is out this coming Thursday (25th June 2009), there’s an exclusive interview with the Scottish actress, who shares her initial thoughts about being cast as the iconic role, and how she’s preparing herself for the filming of the new series!

Also inside, there’s a preview of Series 3 of Torchwood, Children of Earth, and the chance to win a copy of this year’s Doctor Who Easter special, Planet of the Dead, on Blu-ray.

A more detailed press release will be issued alongside the magazine’s release later this week, so we’ll keep you updated!

All 11 Timelords to Unite for a special (spoiler)

2009-06-23T15:58:00.002+01:00

The Mirror has an interesting story today, but is it rumour or real? They claim all eleven Doctors are to be reunited! They aren't known for getting insider information correct though!

They claim a 15 minute one off special starts filming in September for Children In Need, to be transmitted in November, and will feature all living Doctors, and the three we have sadly lost in archive footage!

If you remember Russell T Davies did say there was one more project he wanted David Tennant to be part of here, so could this be it I wonder? It would be great, but I remain unconvinced ATM! Wasn't this rumour around when Nine became Ten?

A one-off special of Doctor Who is set to bring all 11 incarnations of the Time Lord together for the first time.

The episode will see new Doctor Matt Smith, 26, make his debut, joining David Tennant, Christopher Eccleston and old favourites including Tom Baker, Peter Davison and Sylvester McCoy.

The 15-minute show, which starts filming in September, will be shown in November as part of BBC1’s Children in Need appeal.

The stars have waived their fees for the show, in which the 10th doctor, played by Tennant, gets some help from the others to carry out a mission.

The three deceased Time Lords – William Hartnell, Jon Pertwee and Patrick Troughton – will be included by using images from their original shows, stretching from 1966 to 1974.

A source said: “This is a momentous episode for all Doctor Who fans. Never before have all the Doctors been in the same room, let alone in the same show.

“It’s been a logistical nightmare getting all the actors together and available for shooting on the same days.

“But the script has already been started and it’s classic Doctor Who – really witty and very sharp.

“Viewers will see the Time Lords regenerating and emerging one by one from the Tardis, each with their own quirky opening line.

“David Tennant is the central character in the episode. He’s trying to hunt down some special time travel apparatus.

“What he’s actually lost has not yet been decided, but the idea is for all the other Doctors to club together to help David find it.

“The actors who are no longer with us, William, Jon and Patrick, will make special cameo appearances, with footage from original shows being flashed up on screen.

“It’s a really exciting project – and all for a good cause.”

Rose Tyler, the Doctor’s assistant recently played by Billie Piper, is not thought to feature in the one-off BBC1 programme.

This is not the first Doctor Who special. Three years ago, Piper and Tennant filmed a show in Barcelona for Children in Need, while the first festive special aired on Christmas Day 2005.

Nor is it the first time all the Doctors have featured in a show – in 1983, the five Doctors to date were reunited for a Children in Need special called The Five Doctors. In 1993 the Children in Need special Dimensions in Time reunited Doctors three to seven.

A BBC spokesman said last night: “Nothing has been finalised yet, although there is discussion of a Children in Need Doctor Who special. It is too early to say what.”

WILLIAM HARTNELL

1963-1966

Loved the role because of the affection kids had for the Doctor and personally suggested Troughton as a replacement.

PATRICK TROUGHTON

1966 -1969

Chosen because of his reputation as a character actor. Died in 1987.

JON PERTWEE

1970-1974

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Had a fancy fashion sense, James Bond-like gadgets and a vintage car nicknamed Bessie.

TOM BAKER

1974-1981

Played the Doctor for the longest time. Famous for his long scarf and mop of curly hair.

PETER DAVISON

1981-1984

Becoming the Doctor aged 29, Davison has since said he believes he was too young to play the character.

COLIN BAKER

1984-1986

Baker returned the Doctor to his more crotchety alien roots.

Sylvester McCoy

1987-1989

His clown-like approach began to annoy fans.

Paul McGann

1996

Starred in the Doctor Who television movie.

CHRISTOPHER ECCLESTONE

2005

Quit after just one series as he feared becoming typecast.

DAVID TENNANT

2005-2009

A huge fan, he already had roles in radio and cartoon episodes and was a candidate to be the ninth Doctor.

MATT SMITH

2009-?

At 26, the youngest Time Lord. He was one of the first to audition after Tennant quit.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs/news/2009/06/23/doctor-who-exclusive-all-11-timelords-to-unite-for-mission-115875-21463519/
http://lifetheuniverseandcombom.blogspot.com/

Filming SJA series 3 yesterday (21/05/09)

2009-06-23T15:55:00.003+01:00

Today they returned to the International Gallery, this time for filming the Sarah Jane Adventures Series 3. Sadly, all filming was inside so all that is available are these!

Thanx go to Alun.Vega for these great photographs!
http://lifetheuniverseandcombom.blogspot.com/

348 Uses For the Sonic Screwdriver

2009-06-23T15:53:00.002+01:00

Mark Gatiss Presents Doctor Who Documentary

2009-06-23T15:51:00.002+01:00

Written and presented by Mark Gatiss, 'On The Outside It Looked Like An Old Fashioned Police Box' is a special one-off radio documentary looking at the Doctor Who novelisations published by Target in the 1970s, 80s and 90s.

Before the dawn of Home Video and whilst DVDs were still a laughable feature on Tomorrow's World, the only way viewers could have anything approaching a full 'copy' of a Doctor Who adventure would be to get hold of a Target novelisation. These were often penned by the show's script writers and boasted striking and stylised covers. They proved immensely popular and the series ran for around twenty years, gathering millions of readers for whom the books offered the only way to catch up with the Doctor's early exploits.

Mark Gatiss is already familiar as the writer of The Unquiet Dead and The Idiot's Lantern and he starred as Richard Lazarus in series 3's The Lazarus Experiment. But it was Mark's knowledge and enthusiasm as a fan of Doctor Who which proved invaluable for this examination of yesteryear's must-reads. He's joined by - amongst others - Executive Producer Russell T. Davies and script editor Gary Russell who recall their affection for the Target range which ultimately expanded to a library of over 150 titles.

On The Outside It Looked Like An Old Fashioned Police Box was produced by Simon Hollis and is available in the UK on BBC iPlayer for a limited period of time.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00l59rk/On_the_Outside_it_Looked_Like_an_Old_Fashioned_Police_Box

TW Children Of Earth wallpaper

2009-06-20T11:38:00.002+01:00

Recently I talked about some Torchwood Children of Earth Wallpaper would be released soon, here is some;

http://virunee.deviantart.com/art/Torchwood-Children-of-Earth-112079164
http://www.bbcamerica.com/content/262/torchwood-extras.jsp
http://lifetheuniverseandcombom.blogspot.com/

TW Children Of Earth Promo Images

2009-06-20T11:36:00.002+01:00

Fanpop have some Torchwood Children Of Earth Promo Pictures, you can see them here.

http://www.fanpop.com/spots/torchwood/images/6457167

Target On Radio 4

2009-06-20T11:31:00.002+01:00

In a new documentary, Mark Gatiss explores the history of the Target book range for BBC Radio Four.

In the days before domestic video players and multi channel Television, the only way for fans to relive Doctor Who episodes, or catch up with stories they had missed, was through the hugely popular Doctor Who novelisations, published throughout the 70's and 80's.

Gatiss, a self confessed Doctor Who fan, who has written and stared in the revived series, presents On the Outside it Looked Like an Old Fashioned Police Box. The documentary features some of the best excerpts from the books and interviews with publishers, house writers, illustrators and the actors whose adventures the books depicted.

The programme is on Radio Four on Tuesday 23rd June at 1130 BST. Radio Four can be heard across the UK and around the world via the BBC iPlayer. Once broadcast the programme will be availabe to listen again for seven days.

DW The time Of My Life

2009-06-18T19:17:00.002+01:00

TW Children of Earth Images

2009-06-18T18:42:00.002+01:00

These are from the Torchwood Children Of Earth Press Pack, they aren't that big, and I'm expecting higher resolution wallpapers soon, but until then, you may find use for these!

TW Children of Earth TV Listings Descriptions

2009-06-18T18:40:00.002+01:00

Reading the TV Listings for Torchwood Children Of Earth, here are the descriptions;

BTW The episodes are one each evening, and will be called Day 1 through to Day 5, rather then individual titles.

Day 1.
An ordinary day becomes one of terror, as every single child in the world stops. A message is sent to all the governments of Earth We are coming. But, as a trap closes around Captain Jack, the sins of the past are returning and long-forgotten events from 1965 threaten to reveal an awful truth. Torchwood is forced underground as the government takes swift and brutal action. As members of the team are hunted down, Britain risks becoming a rogue state. Meanwhile, the mysterious and powerful 456 draws ever-closer.

Day 2.
With members of the team being hunted down, only Lois holds the key to Torchwoods salvation. But she is helpless as her superiors make plans for the mysterious Floor 13.

Day 3.
As a pillar of fire descends upon London, the members of Torchwood must battle to protect their own families as the fight gets personal. But will Clems memories destroy everything?

Day 4.
Torchwood finally learns the truth about the events of 1965. But Britain is in danger of becoming a rogue state, and everything now pivots around John Frobisher, as the Ambassador of the 456 destroys its old allegiances and reveals its true intent.

Day 5.
Torchwood is defenceless and Gwen Cooper stands alone, as the final sanction begins. As violence erupts and the world descends into anarchy, an ordinary housing estate becomes a battleground, where the future of the human race will be decided.

http://lifetheuniverseandcombom.blogspot.com/

TW S1 Bloopers

2009-06-18T18:39:00.001+01:00

DW & the Daleks @ The national Coal Mining Museum

2009-06-18T16:51:00.002+01:00

Second Children of Earth trailer airs in Australia

2009-06-18T14:28:00.001+01:00

Hot off the heels of yesterday’s Australian trailer for Children of Earth, a second teaser for the series has aired Down Under!

The latest trail is a chilling preview of Gwen’s speech, rumoured to be from episode 5. In the speech, she talks about the mysteries surrounding the Doctor. You can check it out below:

Confirmed TW Children of Earth Gets a UK TX(Transmission) Date

2009-06-18T14:17:00.004+01:00

EP 1

Captain Jack Harkness, Gwen Cooper and Ianto Jones (John Barrowman, Eve Myles and Gareth David-Lloyd) return for a new adventure in Torchwood – Children Of Earth, a five-part series for BBC One.

An ordinary day becomes one of terror, as every single child in the world stops. A message is sent to all the governments of Earth: "We are coming." But, as a trap closes around Captain Jack, the sins of the past are returning and long-forgotten events from 1965 threaten to reveal an awful truth.

Torchwood is forced underground as the government takes swift and brutal action. As members of the team are hunted down, Britain risks becoming a rogue state. Meanwhile, the mysterious and powerful 456 draws ever-closer.

Captain Jack, Gwen and Ianto are helpless as events escalate to such a degree that mankind faces the end of civilisation itself.

John Barrowman plays Captain Jack Harkness; Eve Myles plays Gwen Cooper; and Gareth David-Lloyd plays Ianto Jones. Torchwood also stars Kai Owen as Rhys Williams; Peter Capaldi (Doctor Who, Skins) as John Frobisher; Paul Copley (Coronation Street, The Bill) as Clem; Liz May Brice (Bad Girls, The Bill) as Johnson, Lucy Cohu (Forgiven) as Alice Carter; Nicholas Farrell (Casualty 1909) as Brian Green; Susan Brown (Brideshead Revisited) as Bridget Spears; and Cush Jumbo (Harley Street) as Lois Habiba.

EP 2

As the new Torchwood adventure continues, the team is forced underground when the government takes swift and brutal action. With members of the team being hunted down, only Lois holds the key to Torchwood's salvation. But she is helpless as her superiors make plans for the mysterious Floor 13.

John Barrowman plays Captain Jack Harkness; Eve Myles plays Gwen Cooper; Gareth David-Lloyd plays Ianto Jones; and Cush Jumbo (Harley Street) plays Lois Habiba. Torchwood also stars Kai Owen as Rhys Williams; Peter Capaldi (Doctor Who, Skins) as John Frobisher; Paul Copley (Coronation Street, The Bill) as Clem; Liz May Brice (Bad Girls, The Bill) as Johnson, Lucy Cohu (Forgiven) as Alice Carter; Nicholas Farrell (Casualty 1909) as Brian Green; and Susan Brown (Brideshead Revisited) as Bridget Spears.

EP 3

The eyes of the world turn to Britain, as the 456 announce: "We are here," as the new Torchwood adventure continues. As a pillar of fire descends upon London, the members of Torchwood must battle to protect their own families as the fight gets personal. But will Clem's memories destroy everything?

John Barrowman plays Captain Jack Harkness; Eve Myles plays Gwen Cooper; and Gareth David-Lloyd plays Ianto Jones. Torchwood also stars Kai Owen as Rhys Williams; Peter Capaldi (Doctor Who, Skins) as John Frobisher; Paul Copley (Coronation Street, The Bill) as Clem; Liz May Brice (Bad Girls, The Bill) as Johnson; Lucy Cohu (Forgiven) as Alice Carter; Nicholas Farrell (Casualty 1909) as Brian Green; Susan Brown (Brideshead Revisited) as Bridget Spears; and Cush Jumbo (Harley Street) as Lois Habiba.

EP 4

Torchwood finally learns the truth about the events of 1965, as the adventure continues. But Britain is in danger of becoming a rogue state, and everything now pivots around John Frobisher, as the Ambassador of the 456 destroys its old allegiances and reveals its true intent.

John Barrowman plays Captain Jack Harkness; Eve Myles plays Gwen Cooper; Gareth David-Lloyd plays Ianto Jones; and Peter Capaldi (Doctor Who, Skins) plays John Frobisher. Torchwood also stars Kai Owen as Rhys Williams; Paul Copley (Coronation Street, The Bill) as Clem; Liz May Brice (Bad Girls, The Bill) as Johnson, Lucy Cohu (Forgiven) as Alice Carter; Nicholas Farrell (Casualty 1909) as Brian Green; Susan Brown (Brideshead Revisited) as Bridget Spears; and Cush Jumbo (Harley Street) as Lois Habiba.

EP 5

Torchwood is defenceless and Gwen Cooper stands alone, as the final sanction begins, in the last part of the new Torchwood adventure.

As violence erupts and the world descends into anarchy, an ordinary housing estate becomes a battleground, where the future of the human race will be decided.

John Barrowman plays Captain Jack Harkness; Eve Myles plays Gwen Cooper; and Gareth David-Lloyd plays Ianto Jones. Torchwood also stars Kai Owen as Rhys Williams; Paul Copley (Coronation Street, The Bill) as Clem; Liz May Brice (Bad Girls, The Bill) as Johnson; Peter Capaldi (Doctor Who, Skins) as John Frobisher; Lucy Cohu (Forgiven) as Alice Carter; Nicholas Farrell (Casualty 1909) as Brian Green; Susan Brown (Brideshead Revisited) as Bridget Spears; and Cush Jumbo (Harley Street) as Lois Habiba.

All dates and times to be confirmed by BBC One

http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/proginfo/tv/2009/wk27/unplaced.shtml#unplaced_torchwood1

The BBC Press Office have released details for week 27, and confirms that Torchwood: Children of Earth will be broadcast during that week - 4th-10th July. The show is currently listed as "unplaced", meaning that the exact time and days have yet to be finalised.
Captain Jack Harkness, Gwen Cooper and Ianto Jones (John Barrowman, Eve Myles and Gareth David-Lloyd) return for a new adventure in Torchwood – Children Of Earth, a five-part series for BBC One.

An ordinary day becomes one of terror, as every single child in the world stops. A message is sent to all the governments of Earth: "We are coming." But, as a trap closes around Captain Jack, the sins of the past are returning and long-forgotten events from 1965 threaten to reveal an awful truth.

Torchwood is forced underground as the government takes swift and brutal action. As members of the team are hunted down, Britain risks becoming a rogue state. Meanwhile, the mysterious and powerful 456 draws ever-closer.

Captain Jack, Gwen and Ianto are helpless as events escalate to such a degree that mankind faces the end of civilisation itself.

John Barrowman plays Captain Jack Harkness; Eve Myles plays Gwen Cooper; and Gareth David-Lloyd plays Ianto Jones. Torchwood also stars Kai Owen as Rhys Williams; Peter Capaldi (Doctor Who, Skins) as John Frobisher; Paul Copley (Coronation Street, The Bill) as Clem; Liz May Brice (Bad Girls, The Bill) as Johnson, Lucy Cohu (Forgiven) as Alice Carter; Nicholas Farrell (Casualty 1909) as Brian Green; Susan Brown (Brideshead Revisited) as Bridget Spears; and Cush Jumbo (Harley Street) as Lois Habiba.

Today the BBC announced the week Torchwood Children Of Earth is to be shown in the UK, 4th-10th July. Despite the BBC having previously stated this was to be a UK-USA simultaneous transmission, this now appears to be shown 2 weeks in the UK before the USA!

The US advertises Torchwood Children Of Earth is to be shown 20th-25th July in the USA, while it is on 6th-10th July in the UK.

The press release about UK transmission for week 27 is here. Despite no actual time shown, it is still expected to be on BBC1 at 9pm Monday-Friday.

http://lifetheuniverseandcombom.blogspot.com/

New Children of Earth promotional images released

2009-06-18T09:20:00.003+01:00

Tennant and Davis to attend SDCC(San Diego Comic Con) plus more details about the convention times and dates

2009-06-17T18:20:00.005+01:00

Just announced: Special guests at this year's San Diego Comic-Con include new series creator Russell T. Davies and the show's lead actor, David Tennant. They will join former executive producer Julie Gardner and director Euros Lyn on a special panel on Saturday, 26 July, 10:00 am - 11:00 am.

Doctor Who spinoff Torchwood is also returning to Comic-Con, with star John Barrowman appearing on a panel also featuring Davies, Gardner and Lyn. Sharing space at that panel will be the new BBC America series, Being Human. Creator and writer Toby Whithouse plus lead actors Russell Tovey, Lenora Crichlow and Aidan Turner, talk about the inspiration for the show and what it's like to play three twenty-somethings with secret double-lives – as a werewolf, a vampire and a ghost.

Fans can visit the BBC America booth (#3629) to capture their own photograph alongside part of the Doctor Who set as well as purchase exclusive merchandise including David Tennant figures.

Also featured will be exclusive previews of the upcoming Doctor Who specials and the final episode of Torchwood: Children of Earth.

Read more at the IGN website and the Action Figure Insider website.

It has been confirmed that Tenth Doctor actor David Tennant and Doctor Who’s outgoing showrunner Russell T Davies will be attending this year’s Comic-Con event in San Diego!

They’ll be taking part in a Q&A session alongside executive producer Julie Gardner and Euros Lyn, the director of several Who episodes including Tennant’s final two-parter, on Sunday 26th July 2009 between 10:00AM-11:00AM PT.

According to BBC America’s press release, the panel will be answering questions from audience members and there will be exclusive never-before-seen clips from Tennant’s remaining 3 specials. Fans attending the event will also have a chance to have their very own picture taken alongside part of a Doctor Who set!

Meanwhile, in the afternoon, between 2:15PM-3:45PM PT, John Barrowman, who plays Captain Jack in Torchwood, will be participating in a Q&A session with Torchwood creator Russell T Davies, its executive producer Julie Gardner, and director Euros Lyn. The panel will be discussing the third series of the Doctor Who spin off, Children of Earth.

IGN

BBC America has announced their Comic Con panels, and it includes a very big "get" – David Tennant appearing at the Doctor Who panel. This is of course the final year Tennant is playing The Doctor, in four specials that will end with him passing the torch to new Doctor, Matt Smith.

Tennant will appear alongside writer/executive producer Russell T. Davies at this year's Comic-Con in San Diego. They will take part in a Doctor Who panel along with executive producer Julie Gardner and director Euros Lyn, Sunday July 26, 10:00-11:00am

Doctor Who spinoff Torchwood is also returning to Comic-Con, with star John Barrowman ("Jack Harkness") appearing on a panel also featuring Davies, Gardner and Lyn. Sharing space at that panel will be the new BBC America series, Being Human. Creator and writer, Toby Whithouse, plus lead actors Russell Tovey, Lenora Crichlow and Aidan Turner, talk about the inspiration for the show and what it's like to play three twenty-somethings with secret double-lives – as a werewolf, a vampire and a ghost.

BBC America also notes that the UK comedy The Mighty Boosh, which will be airing its three seasons on Adult Swim, will also have a Comic-Con panel, Friday, July 24, 4:45-5:45pm, with creators-stars Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding, along with actors Michael Fielding, Rich Fulcher and Dave Brown appearing.

Below is BBC AMERICA's Comic-Con Panel and Signing Schedule:

Friday, July 24
4:45-5:45pm The Mighty Boosh: creators-stars Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding along with actors Michael Fielding, Rich Fulcher and Dave Brown will be on stage to discuss the magical, bizarre and exciting world of The Boosh, currently airing on Adult Swim and released on DVD by the BBC two days before the convention begins. The San Jose Mercury News describes the show as "an acid-trip fantasy-comedy [that] is seriously deranged and seriously funny." Room 6A

3:30-4:30pm The Mighty Boosh signing in the Autograph Area.

Saturday, July 25
3:00-4:00pm Being Human: creator Toby Whithouse and actors Russell Tovey, Lenora Crichlow and Aidan Turner signing at the BBC AMERICA booth (#3629).

7:30-10:00pm Torchwood/Doctor Who: Key talent from both shows introduce the last episode of the five part series Torchwood: Children of Earth and an advance viewing of Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead, the first of four specials starring David Tennant. Room 6A

Sunday, July 26
10:00-11:00am Doctor Who: actor David Tennant, writer/executive producer Russell T Davies, director Euros Lyn and executive producer Julie Gardner discuss their creative process and experiences working on BBC AMERICA's Doctor Who with exclusive clips and a Q&A session. Ballroom 20

2:15-3:45pm Being Human/Torchwood: Being Human creator Toby Whithouse and cast members Russell Tovey, Lenora Crichlow and Aidan Turner, are on stage to give an inside look at BBC AMERICA's U.S. premiere sci-fi drama about the lives of three twenty-somethings and their secret double-lives – as a werewolf, a vampire and a ghost. Following that actor John Barrowman, creator/writer/executive producer Russell T Davies, executive producer Julie Gardner and director Euros Lyn talk about the making of the epic five-night television event Torchwood: Children of Earth as well as take questions from the fans. Room 6BCF

Action figure insider

New York, NY – June 17, 2009 – In support of BBC AMERICA’s U.S. premiere of four Doctor Who Specials, the Doctor himself, David Tennant, will appear alongside writer/executive producer Russell T Davies at this year’s Comic-Con in San Diego. They will take part in a Doctor Who panel along with executive producer Julie Gardner and director Euros Lyn, Sunday July 26, 10:00-11:00am PT.

David will travel to Comic-Con, fresh from the Doctor Who set, having shot his final scenes as the tenth Time Lord. He and fellow panelists will discuss the latest incarnation of television’s longest running science fiction series and take questions from the floor. There will also be exclusive sneak peeks from the upcoming specials.

Fans can visit the BBC AMERICA booth (#3629) to capture their own photograph alongside part of the Doctor Who set – as well as purchase exclusive merchandise including David Tennant figures.

Fans of BBC AMERICA’s highest rated show ever, Torchwood,which will have just completed the five-part special, Children of Earth, will get to chat with the stars and makers of the show first-hand. Just 48 hours after the last episode, the show makes a return visit to Comic-Con with a panel featuring star John Barrowman, writer/executive producer Russell T Davies, executive producer Julie Gardner and director Euros Lyn, Sunday July 26, 2:15-3:45pm PT.

As part of the same panel, Sunday July 26, 2:15-3:45pm PT, catch the talent from BBC AMERICA’s most buzzed about new sci fi drama, Being Human. Creator and writer, Toby Whithouse, plus lead actors Russell Tovey, Lenora Crichlow and Aidan Turner,talk about the inspiration for the show and what it’s like to play three twenty-somethings with secret double-lives – as a werewolf, a vampire and a ghost. All four panelists will be signing exclusively at the BBC AMERICA booth, Saturday July 25, 3:00-4:00pm PT.

Cult comedy favorite and BAFTA-nominated, The Mighty Boosh, comes to Comic-Con for the first time to celebrate the airing of all three seasons on Adult Swim, and the BBC’s DVD release, just two days before the convention begins. Inspired by the Perrier Comedy Award-winning live comedy show, creators-stars Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding, along with actors Michael Fielding, Rich Fulcher and Dave Brown,will be on stage to discuss the magical, bizarre and exciting world of The Boosh, Friday, July 24, 4:45-5:45pm. The hit UK comedy series follows crazy zookeepers Howard Moon and Vince Noir and was described by The San Jose Mercury News as “an acid-trip fantasy-comedy [that] is seriously deranged and seriously funny.”

Fans can also catch exclusive BBC AMERICA screenings during the convention with back to back episodes of Doctor Who and Torchwood. Key talent from both shows introduce the last episode of the five part series Torchwood: Children of Earth and a U.S. premiere viewing of Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead, the first of four specials starring David Tennant.

Underground Toys (#3949) will be selling their entire Doctor Who and Torchwood lines of toys and novelty items. In addition, this year they will once again introduce new limited edition Comic-Con action figures that have never been seen before.

BBC AMERICA Comic-Con Panel and Signing Schedule

Friday, July 24

4:45-5:45pm The Mighty Boosh: creators-stars Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding along with actors Michael Fielding, Rich Fulcher and Dave Brown will be on stage to discuss the magical, bizarre and exciting world of The Boosh, currently airing on Adult Swim and released on DVD by the BBC two days before the convention begins. The San Jose Mercury News describes the show as “an acid-trip fantasy-comedy [that] is seriously deranged and seriously funny.” Room 6A

3:30-4:30pm The Mighty Boosh signing in the Autograph Area.

Saturday, July 25

3:00-4:00pm Being Human: creator Toby Whithouse and actors Russell Tovey, Lenora Crichlow and Aidan Turner signing at the BBC AMERICA booth (#3629).

7:30-10:00pm Torchwood/Doctor Who: Key talent from both shows introduce the last episode of the five part series Torchwood: Children of Earth and an advance viewing of Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead, the first of four specials starring David Tennant. Room 6A

Sunday, July 26

10:00-11:00am Doctor Who: actor David Tennant, writer/executive producer Russell T Davies, director Euros Lyn and executive producer Julie Gardner discuss their creative process and experiences working on BBC AMERICA’s Doctor Who with exclusive clips and a Q&A session. Ballroom 20

2:15-3:45pm Being Human/Torchwood: Being Human creator Toby Whithouse and cast members Russell Tovey, Lenora Crichlow and Aidan Turner, are on stage to give an inside look at BBC AMERICA’s U.S. premiere sci-fi drama about the lives of three twenty-somethings and their secret double-lives – as a werewolf, a vampire and a ghost. Following that actor John Barrowman, creator/writer/executive producer Russell T Davies, executive producer Julie Gardner and director Euros Lyn talk about the making of the epic five-night television event Torchwood: Children of Earth as well as take questions from the fans. Room 6BCF

TW Children of Earth BBC America Promo trailer

2009-06-17T18:17:00.001+01:00

More Sun News

2009-06-17T11:08:00.001+01:00

FORMER James Bond star Timothy Dalton goes from meeting Dr No to Doctor Who.
Timothy, 63, is set to appear with current Timelord David Tennant and co-star John Simm in this year's Christmas special.

He plays a judge who puts the Doctor on trial in an intergalactic trial - and will scare the Living Daylights out of him.

David, 38, will give up his tenancy in the starring role and hand over the reins to rising star Matt Smith, 26, at the end of this year.

TV Biz reckons arch-enemy The Master - a role which Simm, 38, has bleached his hair for - will be the one to see off the Doctor in his current human form.

Comic Catherine Tate, 41, will return for her third Christmas special as Donna Noble.

The Shakespearean actress first appeared in the Christmas Day 2007 episode called The Runaway Bride.

Sources say Donna WILL get married in this year's special.

We wonder Who will give her away

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/2484796/Who-to-a-kill.html

DW Why You don't believe everything you read in IMDB

2009-06-17T11:07:00.001+01:00

Theres a lot of people quoting IMDB as source as to who is in Doctor Who season 5, but here is why you shouldn't.

Click here. Its Doctor Who season 5, complete with the Gillian Anderson as The Rani.
Now scroll to the bottom and find the update button.
And click on it.
Now enter your Registration details, its free.
And then you can enter whatever you like into Doctor Who season 5 (or anywhere)!

Thats why no-one should ever trust IMDB with unproven facts!

http://lifetheuniverseandcombom.blogspot.com/

Australian Children of Earth Trailer

2009-06-17T11:06:00.005+01:00

As shown on UKTV an Australian Channel

TW To air in the UK on 6th July

2009-06-16T17:16:00.003+01:00

Keeping track of when your favourite shows are back on the air is a difficult - and often quite stressful - chore. But worry no more! Tube Talk is here to help. Welcome to the Premiere List Page (the PLP, to its friends), your one-stop shop for all the latest premiere dates!

Programme Season Premiere date Time Network
CSI: Miami 7 End Jun TBC TBC Five
Damages 2 Sat, Jul 18 10pm Hallmark
Everybody HC 4 End Jul TBC TBC Fiver
Make Me A SM 2 Mon, Jul 13 TBC Living
Numb3rs 4 Early Jul TBC TBC Five USA
One Tree Hill 6 Mon, Jul 6 10pm E4
Private Practic 2 Thu, Jun 25 9pm Living
Reaper 2 Thu, Jul 2 10pm E4
The Office USA 4 Jun TBC TBC ITV2
The Wire 3 Mon, Jun 22 11.20pm BBC Two
Torchwood 3 Mon, Jul 6 9pm BBC One
True Blood 1 Fri, Jul 17 10pm FX
Ugly Betty 3 Wed, Jun 24 TBC Channel 4

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/tubetalk/plp/

More News on Leaked Photos

2009-06-16T14:45:00.001+01:00

A picture taken on the set of David Tennant’s last Doctor Who episode has been leaked online by an ‘anonymous source’.

The picture depicts three of the cast members who will be appearing in the anticipated story, which will mark the end of Tennant’s tenure as the Tenth incarnation of the Time Lord.

And if there’s ever been a news story worthy of a spoiler tag, this is it! To protect the contents of the image for any of our visitors who’d prefer to remain spoiler-free, we’ve uploaded the image onto a separate page, and if you want to check it out, you can do so by clicking HERE. Please be aware that it does reveal an awful lot about the storyline of the Tenth Doctor’s last ever adventure, so don’t say we didn’t warn you!

As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts and theories, so feel free to have your say by leaving a comment on this story. However, we can’t guarantee that the posts will be spoiler-free, so we highly recommend avoiding the comments if you haven’t seen the picture!

A big thanks to everyone who emailed us with the tip!

Analysis of the Barrel Photo

2009-06-16T10:47:00.004+01:00

Here is the photograph from last night, if you study it closely, its more then just 8 old barrels, I have cleaned the picture up, and drawn around where they are hiding too. So what do you think?

Could it be him, her, them, him, or them? OK maybe not, but who is it?

http://lifetheuniverseandcombom.blogspot.com/

Analysis of the Three Timelords photos

2009-06-16T10:44:00.002+01:00

Fanatical For Who has a breakdown of the Three Time Lords photograph, (you can see the original here).

Its worth a read, as I am in 2 minds about its authenticity ATM

admit it. I get obsessed. It doesn't take much for me to do so, a picture, a word, someones face who I know but can't remember their name, and I am off to hunt it down, find it out, make sense of it.

So of course when the 'Three TimeLord' picture was posted (thanks i09) I just couldn't get my head away from it. Studied, watched tv, rested my injured body, all while this swirled in the back of my mind - Is it a fake? Is Timothy Dalton really in Who.. Why does John Simm have blonde hair for this?

Sad thing is I am not sure I have answered any questions. Instead I think i have slowly been spiraling into madness.

Steps to madness:

1. Ascertain whether Timothy Dalton's head is pasted on from another picture.
Search Timothy Dalton pictures..not many sites to chose from. See same pictures over and over. Can not find one that at all matches the picture in question.
The more you look at him the more your not sure its actually Dalton. Looks more and more like Dalton and Patrick Stewart love child for some bizarre reason.
Come to horrible conclusion you have proved nothing.. lack of evidence does not mean picture is tru blu or a fake.
Two pictures of interest in looking for Dalton pictures. Dalton Master & JokerBond

2. Pixel comparison
Enlarge picture to ridicules size and see if you can tell if someone did any pasting, blending and what not.
Realize that your software is not professional picture analyzing software and if it is a fake probably made with something better then you use.
notice inconsistencies that one min make you feel like "yep is fake" and next like its a terrible cell phone picture.

3. Look over faces and background
Despise the fact you can not make the background more clear and actually read whats behind them
DT's face either is covered with bruises (real or fake) or for some reason the picture taking/pasting has totally mangled his face.
Begin to accept that DT definitely has beady eyes. John Simm isn't much better.
Overall in the madness of staring at pixels and comparing pictures I find myself just throwing my hands and saying..if its real HURRAY and if not.. Good darn fake! I still remain dubious, a little excited if its true, but dubious non-the-less.

http://lifetheuniverseandcombom.blogspot.com/
http://fanaticalwhovian.blogspot.com/2009/06/spiral-into-madness-aka-picture.html

More Guest Stars in DW Finale (Spoilers)

2009-06-16T10:39:00.003+01:00

Who is David Tennant standing next to in this photo? The answer reveals a lot about the storyline of Tennant's final adventure as the time-traveling eccentric in Doctor Who, and its impact on the show's mythos. Major, huge spoilers below.

No, really. This is a massive spoiler. Are you sure you're down with that? Okay then.

Yes, that's John Simm, probably returning as the Master, the Doctor's arch nemesis and fellow Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. And on the other side of Tennant? Timothy Dalton, having a view to a kill as some kind of Time Lord dignitary, complete with Gallifreyan bathrobe and medallion. It's been rumored for ages that Simm was coming back for Tennant's finale. And it's also been rumored that Dalton will be showing up, playing the Chancellor of the High Council of Time Lords. This picture, which appears to show Tennant, Simm and Dalton clowning around between takes, seems to clinch both of those rumors.

I have to say, if the Master causes Tennant's Doctor to regenerate into Matt Smith, then it's going to be the third time this has happened. The Master polished off Tom Baker's Doctor (in "Logopolis") and Sylvester McCoy's Doctor (in the can't-believe-it's-canon TV movie.) You'd think after someone killed you three times, you might start getting a bit stroppy. That's almost a quarter of the Doctor's lives, right there.

And then separately, there's this intriguing picture of one of the episode's sets. What do you think those odd-looking canisters are?

IO9 have a very interesting photograph online, ensure you have clicked on it and examined it at full size.

It shows Timothy Dalton, David Tennant, and John Simm, all supposed to be on set between takes of the Doctor Who finale, to be transmitted during the Christmas Holidays, the photograph is called Three Time Lords.

If this is genuine it looks like Dalton may be playing the Doctors father as rumoured, and Simm is appearing as rumoured also! If you notice there are objects around the three figures, I believe these are due to the compression, so all that remains to be asked is are these genuine, or a clever fake, I've seen good quality fakes before, and I know people who can achieve this quality, but who knows? There is this photograph too...

http://lifetheuniverseandcombom.blogspot.com/
http://io9.com/5291509/your-first-look-at-doctor-whos-next-big-guest-stars

TW Children Of Earth official Soundtrack (OST) Confirmed Details plus Analysis of Soundtrack

2009-06-16T10:29:00.005+01:00

Silva Screen Records have released the cover and further details regarding the release of the Children of Earth Original Television Soundtrack.

The score, which will be available to purchase from July 7th 2009, contains 40 pieces of incidential music, composed by Ben Foster, which will be heard throughout the programme’s third series.

The complete list of track listings for the CD have also been unveiled.

1. The First Sacrifice

21. The World Looks to the Skies
2. What's Occuring? 22. Jack's Secret
3. Jack's Daughter 23. Clem Remembers
4. Diplomatic Cars 24. Judgement Day
5. We Are Coming 25. Requiem for the Fallen
6. Thames House 26. The Ballad of Ianto Jones
7. Double Crossed 27. The Final Day
8. Countdown to Destruction 28. Calm Before the Storm
9. The Crater 29. Phase Two Has Begun
10. Torchwood Hunted 30. Requisition 31
11. Gwen's Baby 31. Here Comes Torchwood
12. On The Run 32. He Was a Good Man
13. Jack in a Box 33. The Children of the Earth
14. Ianto Jones 34. Breaking the Connection
15. Tractor Attack 35. Fighting Back
16. Resurrection 36. Run for Your Lives
17. Clement MacDonald 37. Sacrifice and Salvation
18. Something's Coming 38. Redemption
19. Eye Spy 39. I Can Run Forever
20. Trust Nobody 40. Next Time on Torchwood

Play.com have a track list for the forthcoming Torchwood Children of Earth Soundtrack, and it has some very interesting titles, I'll ignore the less obvious/pointless ones;

3 - Jacks Daughter - We where told we would find more out about Jack, so how about this?
7 - Double Crossed - They are double crossed, you can't be serious? (actually they are!)
9 - The Crater - Probably after the destruction of the Cardiff Torchwood hub (yes it really happens, right at the end of part 1!)
10 - Gwens Baby - Eve Myles is pregnant in real life, and finds she is in the story too.
15 - Tractor Attack - Attacked by a man on a tractor? Get orff my laaaaand!
22 - Jack's Secret - Jack has another secret, how many can one man have?
25 - Requiem for the Fallen - See below
26 - The Ballad of Ianto Jones - There are serious rumours Ianto dies, could this be proof?
32 - He Was a Good Man - Ditto

And remember, there are my opinion based on titles and known facts/rumours, they may not all be true!

http://www.play.com/Music/MP3-Download-Album/4-/10595737/Torchwood-Children-of-the-Earth/Product.html
http://lifetheuniverseandcombom.blogspot.com/

Primeval Canceled after 3rd series

2009-06-15T19:45:00.002+01:00

Science fiction drama series Primeval has been axed after three very successful series, ITV has confirmed.

Primeval was produced in retaliation to the popularity of BBCs Doctor Who, the question is will ITV attempt another show to take on Doctor Who?

Science fiction drama series Primeval has been axed after "three very successful series", ITV has confirmed.

Starring Ben Miller, Douglas Henshall, and ex-S Club 7 star Hannah Spearritt, the show followed a group of scientists studying prehistoric creatures.

"High quality drama remains a key part of the ITV schedule, although our current focus is on post-watershed production," ITV said in a statement.
The show had an average audiences of about five million this year.
The figure was down from around six million for the first two series.

Earlier this year, ITV announced 600 job cuts and says it is now aiming to cut a further £40m in 2010.

Primeval may have suffered because of the big-budget computer effects needed to generate its fantastical creatures.

Website Total Sci-Fi said it had been told by a source that Primeval's production team were "devastated" but that they had "every intention of keeping Primeval alive in other ways".

http://lifetheuniverseandcombom.blogspot.com/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8100579.stm

TW Children of Earth BBC Press Information

2009-06-15T16:06:00.003+01:00

Captain Jack Harkness, Gwen Cooper and Ianto Jones return for a brand-new adventure in Torchwood – Children Of Earth, a new five-part series for BBC One.

An ordinary day becomes a world of terror, as every single child in the world stops. A message is sent to all the governments of Earth: "We are coming".

But as a trap closes around Captain Jack, sins of the past are returning, as long-forgotten events from 1965 threaten to reveal an awful truth.

Torchwood are forced underground, as the government takes swift and brutal action. With members of the team being hunted down, Britain risks becoming a rogue state, with the mysterious and powerful 456 drawing ever closer.

Captain Jack (John Barrowman), Gwen (Eve Myles) and Ianto (Gareth David-Lloyd) are helpless, as events escalate until humankind faces the end of civilisation itself.

Due to the popularity of the series, Torchwood has made a swift move from BBC Three to BBC Two, with the new instalment, Torchwood – Children Of Earth, finding itself on BBC One.

In one epic story, told over five episodes, the new series promises to be Torchwood's greatest adrenalin-fuelled, high-octane adventure to date. As they battle against the odds, do they stand a chance of saving humankind?

Torchwood – Children Of Earth is executive produced by Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner. The producer is Peter Bennett.

Torchwood – Children Of Earth is written by Russell T Davies, John Fay (Mobile, Clocking Off, Coronation Street) and James Moran (Doctor Who, Torchwood) and directed by Euros Lyn (best director in Bafta Cymru TV Awards, Doctor Who, George Gently).

Torchwood – Children Of Earth is a BBC Wales for BBC Drama production.

Cast list
Torchwood:

Captain Jack Harkness – John Barrowman
Gwen Cooper – Eve Myles
Ianto Jones – Gareth David-Lloyd
Rhys Williams – Kai Owen

Additional cast:

John Frobisher – Peter Capaldi
Clem – Paul Copley
Bridget Spears – Susan Brown
Lois Habiba – Cush Jumbo
Johnson – Liz May Brice
Mr Dekker – Ian Gelder
Brian Green PM – Nicholas Farrell
Alice Carter – Lucy Cohu

Production team:
Lead writer (episode 1, 3 and 5): Russell T Davies

Writers: John Fay (episodes 2 and 4) and James Moran (episode 3)

Directed by Euros Lyn

Produced by Peter Bennett

Executive producers: Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner

RTD Interview

How did you come up with the concept for this new series?

"It was a story I'd had in mind for ages – I'm just glad the BBC gave me a canvas big enough to tell the tale!

"But underneath the sci-fi and the aliens there's something very relevant to the world, I hope, the way we sit in the West and watch footage of atrocities in different countries and imagine it's all so far away, and so impossible here – which is a nice, comfy lie we tell ourselves. That was the heart of it.

"I wanted to tell a story in which civilisation snaps, in which we turn on ourselves, in which nothing is safe. Plenty of people live like that on this planet. In this story, it's Britain's turn!"

Torchwood – Children Of Earth feels very epic. Did you enjoy writing the one storyline over five episodes?

"I loved it, because it was a huge challenge. Lots of thrillers are written by just one writer, but we had three, across five episodes – which meant a lot of emailing and late-night phonecalls! But we really worked as a team, all locked in one room, to thrash out the storyline and create the characters, and that's my favourite way of working.

"We also had the producer and director inside the Writer's Room, right from the very start, which is a very unusual way of working in this country, but with huge results – it meant we were all focused, we all knew the tone and the ambition of the piece and we all aimed in the same direction."

The children of Earth are key to this storyline. Do you think using children is scarier than the actual alien?

"They just touch a nerve. A threat to our children gets a primal reaction out of all of us. But beyond that, I think we can be scared of our kids, too.That they can seem unknowable, unreachable – that's why a gang of young hoodies can seem more unnerving than an adult gang of thugs."

Do people need to know the back story to Torchwood to be able to enjoy this new series?

"No, not at all – there are fleeting references to the past but, from the moment it starts, we're telling a brand-new story. It's been deliberately written so that no-one will be lost – and, at the same time, the faithful viewer will discover so much more about the members of the Torchwood team! There are plenty of rewards for the long-term fan!"

The 456 is Torchwood's most fierce threat to date. How do you think the team deal with the situation?

"This whole story tears Torchwood down and then watches them rebuild, but always questioning them, asking what sort of heroes they are, how far will they go? And what's the difference between a freedom fighter and a terrorist?

"At the same time, we get to know Jack, Gwen and Ianto more intimately than we ever have before – exploring their families, their history, their hopes and loves and their failings, too.

"As the alien threat gets bigger, so Torchwood's humanity is exposed, and threatened, and celebrated, too. And their lives are on the line – none of them are safe!"

Tell us more about the 456.

"The size of this story, and the scale of it – spread across more than 40 years of history – means that we needed something bigger, a threat with real intelligence, a race with different protocols and standards.

"Some of my favourite material comes from episode three, where we have to see the government engage in genuine diplomatic relations with an alien species. You watch those scenes thinking: 'That's what it would really be like!'"

There are some fantastic guest stars in this series. What do you think they add to the series?

"Just pure class! It's a joy, an absolute joy, to work with actors of this calibre.Writing's easy, compared to the task of standing there, saying this stuff, in a whacking great close-up!

"But we've got great new talent like Cush Jumbo, as Lois – the innocent secretary who discovers state secrets on her computer – and wonderful stars such as Peter Capaldi, who makes his character of John Frobisher so detailed and so nuanced, and so heartbreaking in the end.

"Add to that Susan Brown, as Bridget Spears – keep an eye on her, she's a slow burner – and Nicholas Farrell as the most clever and manipulative Prime Minister you could imagine. And then there's Liz May Brice as a truly ruthless assassin!

"We've also got Paul Copley as Clem, a character holding so many secrets from the past – Paul's simply astonishing to work with.

"And then the greatest enigma of the whole series is Lucy Cohu, playing Alice, who's no less than Captain Jack's daughter… What a mix! It's the best cast I could have imagined!"

The relationship between Captain Jack and Ianto has developed. Was that something you'd be planning for a while?

"Not planning, as such, it just grew naturally out of the scripts and performances from John and Gareth. And it's such a rich area – the sheer will-they-or-won't-they tension of two men getting closer.

"But, again, you can come to Torchwood as a new viewer and follow their relationship from the start – you won't get lost! And it's honestly a pleasure to write for two such fine actors – they make the whole process a delight."

You recreate scenes of devastation in the middle of Cardiff Bay. Did you watch the filming of that?

"Oh, I stay away from filming, it terrifies me – far too much like hard work! But I did pop down to the Bay to see some of the devastation – and, as ever, a lot of it is plain old camera trickery! By choosing the right angles, and by adding beautiful FX shots, we were able to make the damage look a lot worse than it is. You can go down to Cardiff Bay today, and it isn't even scratched!"

Character Bio
Captain jack

As the future of the human race hangs in the balance, Torchwood faces death and destruction and battles to protect the human race. After the potentially apocalyptic encounter, will Torchwood and the human race ever be the same again?

"Anybody who loves science fiction or a good drama will fall in love with Torchwood," says John. "It's action-packed, it's sexy, it's exciting, it's an emotional roller-coaster and you just want to sit back and get ready for the ride of your life."

Torchwood are a team of people who are fighting for the best interest of humanity; they are no strangers to the daily threat alien forces pose to the safety of the Earth. But, this time, they must fight with every ounce of instinct and energy they have to survive.

Of the new format to this year's series, John Barrowman, who plays lead character Captain Jack Harkness, says: "It's changed in the respect that in series one we were crawling, series two we were walking and now series three we're running.

"We know what Torchwood is and we know what it's about – it's full of drama and action.

"This storyline is one of the darker Torchwood storylines. Every time you turn a corner you don't know what's going to happen. And when you watch episode one you're going to want to see two, and when you've seen two you'll want to see three. You're just going to want more and more and more.

"You'll learn a lot about the characters in ways that you've never known them before. If you like relationships then you're going to see the difference in Jack and Ianto's relationship and Gwen and Rhys's – but you're also going to see the similarities.

"The characters have evolved in ways because we're learning new things about them. It makes it really interesting for us to play as actors, and for the audience every episode will bring a new revelation."

The new show format is also something John thinks will prove entertaining to the audience.

"I think the one storyline works perfectly for this series – it's epic, it is pacy."

The series will also reveal that one of the Torchwood team is hiding a dark secret – a potential catalyst for even more action-packed drama.

"One of the team is hiding a secret that will be a revelation to a lot of people – not only to the viewers watching but to the team itself. It will be very uncomfortable for the characters. And people watching it will question why they did it. Will they be able to understand why they did it?

"But, as in all things with science fiction, as a series, we can touch on subjects that are not touched upon in a number of other dramas."

The new threat faced by the team takes on a sinister theme using the children of Earth as a conduit.

"Anything that involves children doing stuff they are not supposed to be doing is creepy," says John. "I let my parents watch episode one and two with me, and watched their reaction. Normally they would get up during a show and have a drink or go to the bathroom, but they didn't move. My mum and dad – who are my biggest critics – were glued to the screen.

"We finished watching it and the following morning my dad turned to me and said: 'When are we watching three?' If they don't like something I do then they will say it. They absolutely loved this."

Eve Myles
gwen cooper
Eve Myles landed her dream role in 2006 when she was given the part of feisty Gwen Cooper in Torchwood, which Russell T Davies created especially for her.

"I was so excited when I got the scripts," says Eve. "It's a five-hour, psychological, action-packed thriller. With a movie, you're looking at maybe 90 minutes of action but, with this new series of Torchwood, we've got five hours.

"It's an event. It's not just the third series where everybody is used to what Torchwood is – this series will actually terrify people.

"The pace increases from the word go. The first episode is an establisher and, by the second episode, you don't know what the hell has hit you. The third, the fourth and the fifth go at such a pace."

For Eve, the new series and the single storyline across all five episodes felt like the right evolution for Torchwood as it makes its debut on BBC One.

"We've tipped the series on its head and given people a whole new format. It's a completely different style of Torchwood, and is exactly what we should have done. It feels brand new all over again. It's exciting and it's positive."

Of Gwen's role in the team she says: "Gwen is still the heart and emotion of Torchwood, but also realises the responsibility she has as a member of the team. Everybody's got to lose something to gain something, and as harsh as Gwen comes across sometimes, if she wasn't, people would die.

"She's got a huge responsibility on her shoulders. A few years ago she was working as a young policewoman in Cardiff. A couple of years later here she is saving the world with Captain Jack. One way or another something's got to give."

Viewers will see Gwen forge a close relationship with Clem, played by Paul Copley – the survivor of a horrific ordeal who is still haunted by his past.

The scenes she filmed with him proved to be a major highlight for the actress from Ystradgynlais.

"He's absolutely fantastic. I was completely overwhelmed – he's so right for the character. Gwen inevitably becomes his guardian because that's what Gwen does – she's Torchwood's social worker. She's a social worker that can run and fight and stand in her own corner and win.

"With Clem she has this incredible desire to protect him. She's his protector and he's the key to what's going on."

In contrast to the tender moments of some of the scenes she filmed, there was still plenty of high-octane action for Eve – a self-confessed adrenalin junkie.

Of the action-packed scenes, she says: "It's the best part of the job for me. It's the only job where you can really push yourself.

"We've got the most amazing team – you know you're in safe hands. You go through things a thousand times before it ever happens. In rehearsals you don't have the pyrotechnics, you don't have the explosions – so, when you actually do the take you get the realness of it, it's all genuine.

"It's real shock, fear – every kind of emotion you can think of that would come if you really were caught up in that. I'm an adrenalin junkie so it's the perfect job for me."

But for Eve, the adrenalin-fuelled action is on the back burner as she is five months pregnant.

Having just completed filming for the new BBC One drama Framed, in which she stars opposite Trevor Eve, she is now taking time out to concentrate on her pregnancy.

"I'm not working now until the baby is born. I've worked continuously recently but now it's my time to concentrate on the baby."

Gareth david Lyod
Ianto Jones

In Torchwood – Children Of Earth, the quiet coffee maker finds himself out of his comfort zone. But it doesn't take him long to find his stride and he is soon right at the heart of the action.

"I absolutely loved filming this series – there are so many scenes that are memorable," says Gareth David-Lloyd, who plays Ianto. "But the one that does come to mind is crawling through the wreckage after a huge explosion.

"We filmed it in a quarry and used real pyrotechnics. It was really hot and I had to climb up the side of this quarry. It was the first time in my career I felt like a proper action hero.

"It's one big adrenalin rush after another. I enjoyed it more than ever as I had the chance to be a bigger part of the action."

"I found the five-episode storyline effective – there's one emotional journey throughout. I think people will be more scared by this new series. There's a real seriousness to what's going on."

Although the format of the series has changed, the impact and effect of Torchwood remains the same.

"There's just as much human drama as there is sci-fi in this series," says Gareth.

"I can't wait to see the entire series. It has this race against time element to it. As each episode goes by, the pace increases and it gets faster and faster – like a roller coaster – and it's a real adrenalin ride."

As the series has developed, so has the character of Ianto Jones: "I think Ianto has changed quite a lot since the series first began because of everything that's happened to him.

"He lost everything he loved at one point, and then realised that all that was left for him was Torchwood and Jack – they had to replace the hole in his life. He's learnt to be less guarded and be more like himself – a bit more content with himself as a person."

The relationship between Captain Jack and Ianto also undergoes a transformation, with the two growing ever closer.

"It was nice to film those elements of the series. As it panned out across previous series, the relationship between Jack and Ianto has been quite organic. So it was nice that we get to the stage in series three where they are going through all the usual couple difficulties. I think the way it's been done is extremely real."

The alien threat facing the future of humanity, the 456, is nothing the team has ever encountered before. And hidden beneath the reality of the situation is the fact that one of the team is hiding a dark secret.

"I think every character goes through the process of thinking about giving up. We're lucky they don't all think about giving up at the same time! The good thing about the team is that they've got each other to pull them out of the darkness."

However fierce the alien threat, Torchwood has the additional threat of being targeted themselves – a threat that throws the team into chaos.

"I think Torchwood copes really well under threat and by episode three they're up and running again – proving how resilient they are. I think that's what makes them such a good team. They've been together for so long that they know each other inside out."

Kai Owen
rhys williams

In Torchwood – Children Of Earth, Rhys Williams, played by Kai Owen, finds himself well and truly thrown in at the deep end, on the run with wife, Gwen, as government hit squads hunt them down.

Rhys is the ordinary guy in the street. He's the normal person's eyes and ears, and says what he thinks about the situations Torchwood find themselves in, bringing the reality back to them. It makes Torchwood real.

"It's fast moving – it's non-stop, no holds barred from the get-go and it gets faster and faster, building to a massive climax. It's got a lot of heart, it's sexy, it's classy. And even though it's a bit extraordinary at times it's very real. I think it has something for everybody," says Rhys.

"It's very different to the previous series. I loved the story arc. We were very used to there being different stories spread across 13 episodes – with the only constant thing being the characters. I was very excited about the scripts for this new series – even more so as Russell had written some of them.

"Every episode gets better and better. The story is so strong that people who watch the first episode will have to watch the other four."

Over the years, Rhys has become fully aware of the dangerous underworld that Torchwood inhabits. But sometimes, as Kai admits, Rhys would probably rather not actually be so involved: "I think he'd rather not get involved if he had the choice, to be honest.

"He doesn't run away from it – he's seen so many things. He's very brave and fully aware of what Gwen does and what she comes across. He also knows that she's absolutely fantastic at her job.

"Rhys wants Gwen safe. If he was sitting at home knowing that the government wanted to wipe Torchwood out, then he'd want to be with Gwen.

"I think he's happy to be more involved in this series because he knows he can keep an eye on her. But he wants to go home to his mam, really, and have a cup of tea."

Being surrounded by so many out of the ordinary events, Rhys has naturally become more aware of what's going on around him.

In this new series, his instincts kick in and he starts to put the pieces of the puzzle together at an early stage: "He's very aware of the weird happenings and what's going on around him. When Gwen phones him he knows something is up with the kids and that this is a job for 'my Gwen'. He's a lot more interested in it now. And he comes up with his own theories about what's going on with the children."

As the new series arrives on screen, Kai thinks Torchwood – Children Of Earth won't disappoint: "I think the whole concept of the series is its strength – the whole idea and concept of the five episodes, the strength of the story, Russell [T Davies], Euros [Lyn], the continuous crew and the guest cast.

"You've got the fantastic John, Eve and Gareth running the show as the lead team. It's very strong and it's very exciting."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2009/06_june/15/torchwood.shtml

DW Battlefield Rehearsals

2009-06-15T10:52:00.001+01:00

Battlefield the Rehearsal
by mrphive

TW Children of Earth (Day 1) Plot Synopsis of what Happens (Warning Spoilers

2009-06-14T16:11:00.005+01:00

Warning - This is a MAJOR spoiler, not just a hint of what will happen, but a synopsis of all of episode one, read at your own risk...

...Scotland, 1965. Kids are being driven on a bus to the middle of nowhere, and when they get off, they all walk into a bright light and disappear. All except one...

ASSIVE SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT. DO NOT CLICK IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW ABOUT THE FIRST EPISODE OF THE THIRD SEASON OF TORCHWOOD.

I warn you now, I’m pulling everything here from memory. So it may not be exact, and some scenes will be out of sequence but it’s the general gist. I admit I am a Jack/Ianto fangirl, so there’s quite a bit of emphasis on that...

First scene we see, Scotland, 1965. Kids are being driven on a bus to the middle of nowhere, and when they get off, they all walk into a bright light and disappear. All except one.

Back to present day Cardiff and we see Gwen getting cash from a machine. She looks over to a mother telling her son off because he won’t move. The mother thinks he’s playing up, but Gwen looks over somewhere else, and a girl is doing the same thing.

Cut to lots more children not moving, in particular some children crossing the road. Rhys is in a van waiting at the crossing, he is not happy.

Cut to a house with a mother and her two kids. The kids are not moving.

Cut to another house and we see a man leaving for work (who we later find out is Mr. Frosbier) and his two daughters are not moving.

Cut to a mother talking to her son Stephen, and he is not moving.

All of a sudden the children start moving again, and act as though nothing happened.

Next we see a hospital and a man is flat-lining on a table. A doctor tries to defibulate him, but unfortunately the man dies, and the doctor has to go out to tell the people who brought him in the sad news. It’s Jack and Ianto and they act very sad indeed, and when the doctor asks how they know him, Jack tells him they live next door. The doctor automatically assumes they are a couple, and say he must have been a lucky man to have neighbours like him. Jack asks if they can see the body for sentimental reasons, and the doctor agrees.

They are given time alone with the body and set to work straight away opening the body up with a fancy laser thing.
Ianto: He said ‘People like you’. He thinks we’re a couple.
Jack: If that’s what we are is there a problem?
Ianto: ...no.

They get back to work and as Jack is pulling something nasty out of the body, the doctor bursts back in. Oopsie. Jack and Ianto don’t seem concerned and they put the something nasty in a Tupperware box. Apparently it’s a hitchhiker and it’s a rather nice thing to have in your body as it releases endorphins. The body is sealed up again with the same laser doohickey and it’s as though there was never a cut.

We see the man with two daughters from earlier and a young black girl going into a building. The man is Mr. Frosbier and the girl is Lois Habbiba and it’s Lois’ first day on the job. She and the other receptionist have been flooded with a lot of phone calls. A man in a military uniform goes into Mr. Frosbier’s office and sits down.

Jack and Ianto make their way back to the car and the doctor peruses, because he wants to know more. Jack and Ianto basically ignore him and climb into the SUV, and the doctor introduces himself as Rupesh Patanjali. He knows they’re Torchwood. He tells them that bodies have mysteriously vanished from the morgue, and that none of them have been white, with one black man, one Asian and three Chinese men.

Jack and Ianto tell him that it’s not their thing and drive away to Rupesh’s annoyance.

Gwen is in the hub when Jack and Ianto arrive back, and she tells them that there has been 11 traffic accidents that morning. All involving children and all as 8:40 am. At the same time, the military man is telling Mr. Frosbier the same thing.

Ianto find out that there has also been several traffic accidents in France with the same circumstances happening at 9:40am. But as France is an hour ahead it happened at exactly the same time.

As Ianto investigates and the military man reveals information, we find out that every single child in the whole world stopped at exactly the same time. Even in America, while most children are asleep, there are reports coming in.

The military man reveals to Mr. Frosbier that they are the only ones with the technology to gather all that information. Well, them and Torchwood.

In the meantime, Jack is trying to get through to Mr. Frosbier on the phone, but Lois tells him she can only take a message. She types up the memo on the computer, but when she types in the word Torchwood, a flag pops up. Hmm, curious. She uses the username and password the other secretary gave her and accesses the hidden files. Extraterrestrial activity? Seriously?

Back to the hub, and Ianto tells Jack that he was right, ‘he’ is outside. We find out that ‘he’ is Dr. Rupesh, and he’s looking for them. We find out that Jack intended this all along as he wanted to employ him as a doctor. Jack and Ianto keep finishing each other’s sentences and Gwen says they’re like twins, and that they’re bastards, because that’s exactly what they did when they recruited her. Gwen then volunteers to interview him and goes out to see him.

Jack and Ianto have a little conversation.
Ianto: Even she’s referring to us as a couple.
Jack: I don’t get the problem. I hate the word couple. (walks away)
Ianto: (looking a little sad) Yeah, me too.

Gwen and Rupesh chat. Rupesh knows all about aliens since moving to Cardiff 18 months ago, and says that every since people found out about aliens, the suicide rate has doubled. A devout Christian woman wrote a note that basically said ‘Science has won’. She felt insignificant and small with the size of the universe.

Gwen tells him that really, it means they’re all part of something bigger, but then across the road, she sees another child has stopped. So have several others. She runs over as she phones Jack and Ianto and tells them what’s going on.

We see playgrounds and children everywhere just standing still. All in the same moment, they all open their mouths and begin screaming, all at the same time, which is 10:30. It is very creepy.

Adults cover their ears and/or try and shake the children out of it. Ianto videos some children and Jack, Gwen and Rupesh help one of the mothers try and shake her child out of it.

Every child stops screaming at exactly the same moment.

Instead, the open their mouths and say ‘We. We. We. We. We.’ There is an inhuman undertone to the words.

The adults are creeped out.

‘We are. We are. We are.’

Even more creeped out.

‘We are coming. We are coming. We are coming.’

Cut to another scene and we see an older man standing on some grass doing the same thing as all the children.

Then the children snap out of it and go back to playing as though nothing ever happened. They also want to know why Ianto is recording them. The man snaps out of it too.

Further investigations are made in the hub, and we find out that every single child in the world was saying the words in English, no matter what their nationality. Gwen, however, finds a video of the older man, and they all decide this needs to be investigated, so she drives to England and the psychiatric hospital he lives in.

Rhys phones her as she’s driving and he’s viewing a lovely house. It looks like they want to buy it. He mentions that 8:40 is before school and that 10:30 is break time. He says this means everything is set on British time, and Gwen agrees, saying he’s getting too smart for his own good.

Uh oh, the end of the Severn Bridge. Good luck Gwen you’re entering England!

Jack and Ianto are outside sitting on the steps and talking.
Jack: We need a child.
Ianto: (Gives Jack a ‘YOU DON’T MEAN...’ look.)
They need to get a child so they can figure out what’s going on. Jack knows where he can get a child and goes to leave.
Ianto: Where are you going?
Jack: Who’s doing the couple thing now?
Incidentally, Ianto also knows where he can get a child.

This post is getting too big, so I have to cut it up into sections. Next part soon!

A man comes in to talk to Mr. Frosiber, and basically tells him ‘they are back.’

He takes him down to a room. Apparently something called the 456 contacted them once before, and they have again, at the same time all the children stopped and spoke in unison. It seems that this is not a good thing at all, and the Prime Minister needs to know.

We see the lady from earlier with the son named Stephen at the door. Surprisingly it’s Jack! She’s not happy to see him but Stephen is, and runs into his arms calling him Uncle Jack. Stephen tells Jack that he was possessed by an alien and used to talk, much to his mother’s disgust.

Ianto drives up to a council estate and it cut to the inside of a house. Its the lady from earlier with her two children, and when Ianto walks in, we find out she’s his sister, and that they are his niece and nephew.

It’s obvious that Ianto doesn’t see them very often as his sister calls him a stranger, and the kids don’t seem bothered that he’s there. The girl is playing a video game and the boy is in his room. Ianto offers the girl ten pounds and she takes it without looking at him, and the boy runs downstairs and takes a fiver from Ianto, although he says hello and runs straight back to his room.

Ianto says he missed Mika’s (the girl’s) birthday and that he’d like to take her out. Rhiannon says no, not after what happened today. Drat, plan foiled. Rhiannon asks Ianto if he’s been keeping things from her, saying ‘You’ve been seen...”

Back to Jack. And he and the lady, who we find out is called Alice, are talking. She says Jack’s never around, but he says it’s because she asked him to stay away. He’d see her every day if he could.

Alice: But it’s hard, Dad. (SHOCK HORROR) I look older than you and one day you’ll be standing at my funeral like you did mum’s.
This is why she doesn’t want him to see Stephen. She doesn’t want him to see Jack stay the same while he grows old. Jack says they can make things work and that he can take Stephen out. Alice is too clever and knows what Jack wants and calls him a bastard, Plan also foiled, and he leaves.

Gwen has found the mysterious man and talking to the nurses, we find out that he was found homeless aged 11 in Scotland. He’s been in institutions ever since, and they don’t know his real name, poor man.

Back to Ianto and Rhiannon, and they are sitting at the kitchen table, talking. I shall type the conversation as I remember, as it was wonderful. It’s not exactly right, I warn you.
Rhiannon: You’ve gone bent!
Ianto: ...pardon?
Rhiannon: One of my mates went to have a meal at that posh French place and she saw you there.
Ianto: So?
Rhiannon: With another man!
Ianto: So?
Rhiannon: So?
Ianto: You and Tina have lunch together all the time.
Rhiannon: Not up town we don’t. She said he was gorgeous. Like an escort! There was no way a woman was getting her feet under the table there.
Ianto: (silence)
Rhiannon: You don’t tell me anything. After dad died, you just went, and I felt like I’d done something wrong.
Ianto: You didn’t do anything wrong it’s just... work.
Rhiannon: You can tell me.
Ianto: Well yeah. It’s true.
Rhiannon: It doesn’t matter. Is he nice? Do you like him? That’s what we care about.
Ianto: It’s not... men. It’s him. Only him. And I don’t know what it’s going to be, or what it is, so I’m not broadcasting it.
Rhiannon: I promise, I promise I won’t tell anyone.
Ianto: Thank you.
Rhainnon’s husband walks in and sees Ianto: HELLO GAY BOY!

It seems to be in good nature though as he hugs Ianto in greeting. He asks if the fancy car outside is Ianto’s and he says it is. Husband says he should be careful, but Ianto says it’s fine, and that it’s triple locked.

We hear a car alarm. Uh oh.

Rushing outside, and the SUV is nicked! A hilarious scene happens where everyone is yelling and throwing bricks as the car drives past with someone mooning out of it. Ianto has to go back to the hub car-less.

Frosbier tells the Prime Minister all, and the prime Minister says that he wants nothing to do with it, his name is to be on nothing, it’s all in Frosbier’s hands

Gwen is interviewing the man, and he denies all knowledge until she tells him she’s seen aliens. He sniffs her hand and for some reason, can tell she’s telling the truth. So he tells her, and we find out that he’s the boy that escaped all those years ago. And he knows that whatever took the other children, they are coming back, he can smell it.

Gwen shuts off the security camera as it’s worrying him, and she gains his trust. He tells her his real name, which is Clement MacDonald, and that he was taken from the Holly Tree.

Oh, and that he can smell Gwen is pregnant. Oops.

Jack has gone to the hospital to see if he can get a child from the children’s ward, and we find out from Rupesh that another Chinese man has died of suspicious circumstances. Jack goes to inspect the body and BAM, Rupesh shoots him! We find out he is a plant working for the government to get into Torchwood, and a lady turns up on the scene. Jack wakes up and they shoot him again, and she uses the special tool from earlier to open his belly.

Ianto is back at the hub, and Gwen is on her way back. She phones him and tells him to search Clement MacDonald and Holly Tree. He finds the information needed. He tells her he lost the car but she’s too distracted to care.

When he does, an alert flags up in the government. Uh oh, Torchwood know too much. They need to be disposed of.

Back to Jack, and his belly is being closed up again. Rupesh knows that he has to disappear now as Jack will hunt him down. The lady tells him he is not simply going to vanish, and he runs for it, but she shoots him in the back.

When Jack next wakes up, Rupesh is on the floor next to him, dead.

http://merboo.livejournal.com/114622.html
http://lifetheuniverseandcombom.blogspot.com/

From Kingdom to queen-Jean Marsh in DW

2009-06-14T15:39:00.002+01:00

Doctor Who Royalty Jean marsh
by mrphive

Postcard Given Out at last Nights BFI TW Children of earth screening (12/06/09)

2009-06-14T15:32:00.003+01:00

Thanx go to Alun.Vega for sharing These Photographs

Gallifrey Base and the DWFuture

2009-06-14T15:30:00.002+01:00

With our impending closure at Outpost Gallifrey and the Doctor Who Forum, we wanted to share some recent developments in the online world of fandom...

Today is the grand opening of Gallifrey Base, the de facto successor to the Doctor Who Forum. While a brand new community in its own right, Gallifrey Base is created and administered by Steve Hill, who has served as DWF's senior forum administrator for the past several years, and features many of the recent staff members of our Forum here. Everything that made the DWF so successful with many users -- new and classic episode discussions, DVD discussions, the "Enlightenment" section, the 'real world' discussion sections, and so forth -- are duplicated in Gallifrey Base... with the added bonus of a "fresh start" to everything. As of August 1, the doctorwhoforum.com URL will redirect from our own Forum to the new Gallifrey Base forum.

(Please note: if you're trying to get to Gallifrey Base and are unsuccessful - due to DNS switchover, the way the Internet looks things up - then CLICK HERE instead for the next 24 hours or so. Likewise, if Gallifrey Base sends you an "Activation Required" email and your links don't work, click here to confirm. Again, these issues are natural for new sites and will be sorted out automatically within the next 12 hours or so...)

Also getting ready for opening is the newest incarnation of The Doctor Who News Page, which will be affiliated with Gallifrey Base. The entire current news team at the News Page here at Outpost Gallifrey has moved over to a blog-style news page which will also be adding some new team members and will be kept up to date with all the latest. Benjamin Elliott's popular "This Week in Doctor Who" column will continue there as well, and some new features are being installed, including aggregate RSS feeds from other popular Doctor Who news sites, to keep you fully updated on the worlds of Doctor Who, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures. As soon as the new News Page is ready for launch, within the next few weeks, doctorwhonews.com will point there (it currently points to the news page here).

Gallifrey Base is also subsuming a very popular part of the Outpost Gallifrey archive that was discontinued some time ago, but is being resumed and will be fully updated shortly after launch: the entire contents of OG's Doctor Who Episode Guide, complete with its library of indexed and searchable database (actors, crew members, and so forth). Many have relied heavily on the Episode Guide in the past, and we're happy to announce that the Gallifrey Base team has decided to include this as part of their website... and it will be fully public (i.e. no forum registration required).

Meanwhile, as previously announced, on August 1 the entire gallifreyone.com website will consist of the webspace for the Gallifrey One conventions, our popular North American Doctor Who conventions every February here in Los Angeles. Gallifrey Base will assume the role of the convention's official discussion board (with a thread in GB's conventions section) alongside our sister convention, ChicagoTARDIS, as well as discussions on many other worldwide convention events. Look for updates to the Gallifrey 2010 convention -- featuring Peter Davison as our first announced guest -- very soon.

Finally... now that the dust has settled over the announcement of the closure of Outpost Gallifrey and, most especially, the Doctor Who Forum, we are delighted that not only has Gallifrey Base been started, but many people have started some new and fun communities and sites, and some other long time discussion forum have received an influx of new members. We encourage everyone to try both Gallifrey Base and the new Doctor Who News Page, as well as some of the other sites with forum communities that Outpost Gallifrey heartily recommends, as follows:

Doctor Who Online, a long-time friendly rival of Outpost Gallifrey, with its own thriving community featuring many special guests

Kasterborous, with a fantastic magazine-like news section and a pleasant forum community

Outpost Doctor Who, a brand new community begun by DWF members that's already going strong

Planet Kembel, formerly the Ian Levine Doctor Who Discussion Forum

Outpost Wrinkly, a small community of friendly DWF folks

The Leisure Hive, a new community of fans created from the DWF adult section (and still adults only, please!)

The Big Finish Forums, an official discussion site for the Big Finish Doctor Who audios

The Whoniverse, a nice information resource with its own discussion forum

There are many others, but these are a good start and all great places to find vast numbers of fellow fans online.

We will have more information for you before the official close of this site and forum, as our community moves on to new adventures!

Freema talks Martha, marriage and Karen Gillan!

2009-06-13T19:59:00.002+01:00

Freema Agyeman has addressed the recent rumours regarding Martha’s return in David Tennant’s last episode, as well as the reports that suggested the character will be getting married in the story too.

Speaking to DigitalSpy recently, the actress, who played the Doctor’s fiesty companion in Series 3 and 4 of the programme, commented on the tabloid speculation, but was careful not to let any potential spoilers slip.

“You know I can’t confirm or deny anything,” she teased. “There’s always things put out there - some true, some not, and some things that never get out until the day you’re seeing it, which is rare. I will say… just watch!”

When asked about what she thought of Karen Gillan being cast as the new companion in Series 5, she said: “I think she looks great! She’s rocking the Rose look, she’s got the Catherine hair, she’s Scottish like David… we love her! She’s part of the family now.”

She added: “I know there are going to be children and adults out there who will always associate me with Martha Jones, and that’s absolutely fine. Actually, I welcome it, because [the show] changed my life, and it’ll never be something that I’ll think I need to brush off.”

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid20170988001?bctid=26159155001

Photos From the TW Children of Earth Preview at The British Film Institute (BFI) (12/06/09)

2009-06-13T19:46:00.004+01:00

Hare are some photographs from the Q&A yesterday at he launch of Torchwood Children Of Earth at the British Film Institute.

Thanx to Alun.Vega for these photographs

http://lifetheuniverseandcombom.blogspot.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alun_vega/

Lies about So called "BBC Insiders or Unnamed Source"

2009-06-13T19:44:00.002+01:00

There have been many stories in the press that quote the source as A BBC Insider or An Unnamed Source, this is the way the press says I made it up, I read it on a forum or even Someone told me in the pub, but what it really means is I'm a liar!

At the moment the press are talking about yesterdays Torchwood Children Of Earth screening, followed by a Russell T Davies Q&A. They are claiming Davis said the Daleks are in Matt Smiths premier episode, but since then I have heard from two separate sources that Davis never talked about Doctor Who, and to add to this Davis has nothing to do with Doctor Who series 5, so why would he be announcing about it?

Unless its in a BBC press release, or comes from someone in the Doctor Who production team, we need to take it with a large pinch of salt. It is a shame that being a journalist means you have to make things up, instead of reporting facts!

Additional, 3 quotes about last night at the BFI;
constellationscorpio: as far as I'm aware there was absolutely no mention of Daleks, retro-TARDISes, or anything like it.

unknownj: he said nothing about Doctor Who. I don't know where those idiot rumours are coming from, but they certainly didn't come out of anything RTD said last night.

cybus: i promise, RTD DID NOT talk about matt smith nor dalek.

Thanx to the above 3 for the quotes :)

http://lifetheuniverseandcombom.blogspot.com/

DW Past and Future King, Writing Battlefield

2009-06-13T19:42:00.001+01:00

Battlefield the writing
by mrphive