Doctor Who: Blast from the Past Schedule

The entry forms for the ‘Blast from the Past’ special project have now been checked, and the list of stories to be reviewed is available below. Thank you to everyone who entered their chosen stories of the latest Doctors. ‘Blast from the Past’ will begin in January 2011 with the review of the 1996 TV Movie.

Eighth Doctor – The TV Movie
Ninth Doctor – The Unquiet Dead
Tenth Doctor – The Waters of Mars
Eleventh Doctor – Flesh and Stone

Doctor Who: Blast from the Past Returns

One of the first special projects to appear on this blog was ‘Blast from the Past’, where one story from each of the seven classic Doctors’ eras was thoroughly reviewed during a single week on this blog.

In January 2011, ‘Blast from the Past’ will return to this blog so that a story from the Eighth, Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Doctors’ eras will be reviewed. The Eighth Doctor story will be the 1996 TV Movie, but the stories of the three new Doctors can be chosen by you on the new ‘Blast from the Past’ section.

The form will only take a few seconds to complete, and will hopefully mean that at least one of your chosen stories is reviewed.

A Matter of Time: Paul McGann

(14/11/1959)

DESCRIPTION: Paul McGann played the character of the Eighth Doctor in the TV Movie, which originally aired on 14th May 1996.

FACT: His tenure as the Doctor is considered to be either the longest or shortest, depending on whether the non-television stories are included as canon.

Billy Connolly Almost Cast as the Eighth Doctor

Billy Connolly has revealed that he was almost cast as the Eighth Doctor in the Doctor Who TV Movie, which was originally broadcast in May 1996. Eventually the role went to Paul McGann, who proved to be a very popular choice for the lead role, despite the story being a disappointment for many fans.

Connolly commented: “It was brought up in a meeting, apparently, but nobody told me until after they decided against it. If I had done it, he would have been angrier, a much angrier Doctor Who. I would have loved it. I'd have taken it.”

Doctor Who Star Karen Gillan Awarded 'Ultimate UK TV Actress'

It has been reported by OK Magazine that Karen Gillan was awarded the Ultimate UK TV Actress prize for her role as Amy Pond in Doctor Who, at a ceremony for the Ultimate Women of the Year Awards 2010 in London.

Another winner at the awards was Sheridan Smith, who was awarded the Ultimate Theatre Star prize, and previously played the character of Lucie Miller in a number of the Eighth Doctor audio adventures. Smith has also appeared as a companion in the popular BBC detective drama Jonathan Creek.

Doctor Who – The TV Movie DVD Release Confirmed for North America

The DVD company 2|Entertain have revealed that the Paul McGann 1996 TV Movie will finally be released in North American on 8th February 2011. The rights to release the story outside the UK were obtained by 2|entertain in August this year.

The story was released in the UK as part of the Revisitations box set this month, but will be released in North America as a single story on two discs, containing the same extras as the UK version. It has also been confirmed that the Third Doctor story ‘The Mutants’ will be released in North America on the same day.

Paul McGann's New Doctor Who Costume

A photo of a brand new costume for Paul McGann’s Eighth Doctor has been revealed online, and shows him wearing a black leather jacket with a brown man bag and a new sonic screwdriver. The most notable change is his hair style, which has gone from being a mass of curls to relatively scruffy short hair.

The new appearance of the Eighth Doctor will supposedly be seen on the upcoming audio adventures featuring his incarnation, as Paul McGann did not want to keep wearing his wig for the cover photo shoots.