Showing posts with label sixth doctor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sixth doctor. Show all posts

Wednesday, 4 February 2015

COLIN BAKER GETS TO SAY GOODBYE

Way back in 1986, for reasons beyond his control, Colin Baker was effectively 'fired' from the lead role in Doctor Who. He was made the fall guy. At the time, angry and annoyed, he refused to come back in 1987 to record a regeneration story, and so as a result the Sixth Doctor never had a final adventure as performed by Colin Baker, until now...
September 2015 sees the release of a very special story from Big Finish, as The Last Adventure at last provides a heroic exit for Colin Baker’s much-loved Time Lord...
Says David Richardson, Big Finish producer, ‘I spoke to Colin not long after Matt Smith’s final outing, The Time of the Doctor, was broadcast on television. I felt very strongly that regeneration stories, and each Doctor’s final end, are very important to Doctor Who fans And so I asked Colin if he might finally consider doing the Sixth Doctor’s final story with us. To my huge delight, he said yes.’
Colin Baker was very open to the idea, saying he owes it to Big Finish as they were responsible for giving him the opportunity to re-address the bad press his Doctor often gets. 'At Big Finish the Sixth Doctor has lived and breathed anew and developed in a way that I am extremely happy with. I never actually filmed a regeneration, and left poor Sylvester floundering around in my empty clothing with a blond wig on, I have resolutely maintained the lie that I am still the Doctor and all the rest are imposters because I never regenerated!'
The Last Adventure will be released in a lavish book-sized box set which will contain special photography, illustrations and behind the scenes interviews, as well as four hour-long episodes. The stories are connected by the presence of Michael Jayston as the Valeyard, the entity that exists between the Doctor’s twelfth and final regeneration.

Thursday, 6 November 2014

THE HISTORY COLLECTION

Original Cover Art
More Doctor Who novel reprints are on the horizon. Following the Doctors Collection of 2013 and the Monster Collection of 2014, BBC Books are set up to release the History Collection in February 2015. So far four books have been added to the banner, two of which were previously published by Virgin Books in the mid-1990s and have been out of print for over fifteen years.

These two novels are Paul Cornell's Human Nature (originally published in 1995), voted best ever Doctor Who novel by the readers of Doctor Who Magazine. This novel holds a unique place in Doctor Who prose history as the only novel to be adapted into a TV story. It was adapted by Paul Cornell in 2007 for the third series of the revived show. Originally it featured the Seventh Doctor and Bernice Summerfield, a companion created exclusively for the Virgin Books New Adventures series, and has since had a long and successful life in her own series of audio dramas produced by Big Finish. Which brings us nicely to the second reprint...

Gareth Roberts' The English Way of Death has been highly regarded since its initial publication in 1996, perfectly capturing the tone and style of season seventeen. The rights to the story have recently been purchased by Big Finish and an audio adaptation is due for release next year.

Original Cover Art
Two books previously published by BBC Books in the early-2000s finish off the History Collection. The first is the Third Doctor novel, Amorality Tale by David Bishop (originally published in 2002), which stands as the only original novel thus far to be set during season eleven and feature Sarah Jane Smith as companion.

The fourth, and currently final, novel being reprinted in the 2001 Sixth Doctor book, The Shadow in the Glass, which is another off-TV meeting between the Sixth Doctor and the Brigadier and sees them travelling back to World War II and an adventure with Adolf Hitler. This book was written by then BBC Books' editor Justin Richards and his predecessor, Steven Cole.

Tuesday, 12 March 2013

DOCTOR WHO POINTLESS CELEBRITIES SPECIAL

The Doctor Who special of Pointless Celebrities has been confirmed for Saturday March 23 at 6pm on BBC One, just one week before the Doctor returns in the new run of episodes.

Image - Copyright BBC

The one-off edition will see four pairs of Doctor Who stars face off against each other as they try to win the Pointless Trophy. Bernard Cribbins and Jacqueline King are the 'noble team', Andrew Hayden-Smith (replacing Colin Baker who was taking part in I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here at the time of filming) and Nicola Bryant form the 'sixth Doctor' team with Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred making up the team of the 'seventh Doctor'. Finally, the 'companion' team consists of Frazer Hines and Louise Jameson whilst K-9 (John Leeson and Mat Irvine) will be on hand to assist hosts Alexander Armstrong and Richard Osman.

Osman, a fan of Doctor Who, recently spoke to Doctor Who Magazine regarding our favourite Time Lord:

"Doctor Who's got everything hasn't it? It's got amazing stories. It's got a sort of soap opera behind the scenes of who's going to be the next Doctor. It's got great writers and an intelligence and a humanity behind it. Doctor Who has brought nothing but good things into the world."

Doctor Who returns to BBC One on 30 March.