Doctor Who Christmas Special

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Some news about the Christmas Doctor Who Special . . .

The BBC has confirmed veteran actor Michael Gambon (Professor Dumbledor of Harry Potter Fame) and opera diva Katherine Jenkins will guest star in the 2010 Doctor Who Christmas special.

The Christmas episode will be set on a Victorian planet (some filming scheduled today until the 23rd July at The Coal Exchange in Cardiff) and loosely follows the Christmas Carol story with some extra twists and turns. Apparently there is a Yeti which will be making an appearance and the story will feature a 'Doctor' of christmas past, though which one is being maintained a tightly-guarded secret.

Production starts today (Monday 12 July) on the 2010 Doctor Who BBC One Christmas Special in which the thrilling adventures of the Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith) and newlyweds Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) and Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill) will continue in a fun-filled and heartfelt festive story.

In the grand tradition of Doctor Who Christmas specials, this year the show has once again attracted stellar guest stars as veteran actor Michael Gambon (Harry Potter, The Singing Detective) and opera diva Katherine Jenkins, in her first acting role, join the Time Lord for what might be his most Christmassy adventure yet!

Arriving on set for her first day of filming, Katherine Jenkins said: "I'm over the moon to be involved in the Doctor Who Christmas Special – I can't quite believe it as it's a part of the family tradition at the Jenkins household. I heard the news that I got the role on my 30th birthday and it was the best birthday present ever!"

About the series, lead writer and executive producer, Steven Moffat, commented: "Oh, we're going for broke with this one. It's all your favourite Christmas movies at once, in an hour, with monsters and the Doctor and a honeymoon and – oh, you'll see. I've honestly never been so excited about writing anything. I was laughing madly as I typed along to Christmas songs in April. My neighbours loved it so much they all moved away and set up a website demanding my execution. But I'm fairly sure they did it ironically."

The Christmas special follows on from Matt Smith's first series as The Doctor, which attracted huge critical acclaim for Smith, his companion, Gillan, and lead writer Moffat, from press and legions of fans alike.

Filming on the Christmas special will continue until August 2010.

The Big Bang reviews

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That episode was most entertaining and did wrap up the season with a big bang. It starts as the universe is gone with only a remnant of Earth left at it’s core. The Doctor is locked within the best prison ever built, Amy is gone and River is trapped in a dying TARDIS. Can the Universe be restored?


It starts with the young Amelia saying a prayer to Santa, similar to the first episode of this series. A quick shift in gear and some discussions about the stars not really existing at all except in Amelia's imagination and artwork. Amelia finds some mysterious notes directed to her, which instructs her to see the Pandorica exhibit at the National Museum. So she does, and and finds another note telling her to stick around. One sees some Dalek artifact displays by-the-way in the museum. Anywhoos, when everyone’s left the museum, the most amazing thing happens. The Pandorica opens and out comes ... the older (current?) Amy! wait, what?


Cut back 1894 years, to 102 AD. Rory is talking to Amy’s corpse when the Doctor appears, tells Rory to get him out of the Pandorica, and then disappears and reappears multiple times. What the heck is going on? So after Rory helps the Doctor out, the Doctor puts Amy in the Pandorica, where it will revive her in 1894 years time. Aaaah, right. After Rory saying he won’t go with the Doctor to the future, there’s another jump cut back to 1996. Amy discovers that Rory is probably dead, after protecting the Pandorica all those years. Random Dalek encounter, and the Doctor jumps into action and hides the Amys behind the Pandorica, when suddenly the Dalek gets shot. By who - yep - plastic Rory who ditched his centurion garb for the museum security uniform - he's still alive after all this time !



The plot after this takes quite a few crazy tuns. After time travelling various times using River's time vortex manipulator timey-wimey thingy, he meets his dying self who passes along a message. Then he rescues River, who is stuck on a time loop in the TARDIS (smart machine is trying to save itself and occupant. The random Dalek shoots the Doctor after the rescue and he travels back in the past to meet himself and give a warning, and then River kills the Dalek while Amy and Rory check on the Doctor. His corpse is gone. He wasn’t really dead at all, apparently, and was using them as a diversion so he could get to work to effect the second Big Bang happen to recreate the universe.















After lots of discussion, he lifts off in the Pandorica into the TARDIS, and is starting to be wiped from existence. The Doctor then travels through to the past several times and finishes with meeting young Amy and tucking her in bed. The Doctor now enters the quickly closing crack and is popped from existence. The scene now shifts to Amy and Rory's wedding, where suddenly, several things assist her memory of the Doctor. She now quite amazingly imagines him back into existence. Not sure how this really happens but we're certain fans liked it anyways.

The episode ends with Amy and Rory joining the Doctor in the TARDIS, there is a call from the Queen and then they prepare to investigate an issue with a Sphinx (?) on the Orient Express in Space.

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The Big Bang Teasers

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Who but Whovians loves teasers. As we are rapidly approaching the series finale this weekend, here is some episode teasers for The Big Bang . . .


¤ The TARDIS does explode in an epic shower, but be prepared for a twist.

¤ The "Future Doctor" thing from 'Flesh and Stone' does happen, and has been confirmed by people who have seen the scripts. Matt stated that his call sheet throughout shooting the previous 12 episodes included additional scenes for the finale. "When we were doing Flesh & Stone, I'd get to the end of the day and realise that I'd got to do this extra sequence that I had no idea about. All I know is I've got to be quite concerned about Amy."

¤ The Pandorica has a rather useful feature, in that it keeps you very well preserved and alive forever. This particular feature is important in developing a strategy to bring Amy back.

¤ Having lived in the house with the crack which happens to leak a field of time energy has had an important and special effect on the development of her brain.

¤ Robot Rory (or Auton) is responsible for releasing the Doctor from the Pandorica. Amy takes his seat inside the Pandorica while the Doctor goes off to find the right "fuel" to bring her back to life, leaving Rory to guard the cube for quite some time. This gives rise to the legend of "The Lone Centurion" which is ocassionally spotted throughout time guarding the cube.

¤ Rory doesn't stay an Auton forever though, and it is reported that he does eventually make his way back as a human.

¤ There is a wedding at the end of the episode (use your imagination).

¤ Strong indications that Omega makes an appearence near the episode's end. Rumour has it that Omega is played by Jason Isaacs (Lucius Malfoy of Harry Potter fame).

¤ When asked about River Song, Matt comments: "There is a a scene near the end of the episode where River Song and The Doctor have a little chat about the exact nature of their relationship"

And one last thing -
¤ Filming on Christmas Special starts on July 12. It's the "most Christmassy special there'll ever be" with an equally special cast list.

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Lastly -

You know that crack in time and space . . . well NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope located it about 11,000 light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius.


That is all - transmission end.

The Big Bang Trailers

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The Big Bang
18:05, Saturday 26 June, BBC One

The Doctor is gone, the TARDIS has been destroyed, and the universe is collapsing. The only hope for all reality is a little girl who still believes in stars.

The Big Bang is a dramatic finale to the Eleventh Doctor's first incredible series. Find out more about it now.

nuff said already - let's watch the preview trailers . . .

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We trust that you have your priorities correct and will be ditching any responsibilities you may think you have to glue yourself to the telly when this airs in less than four days.

Your own TARDIS

Time Travelling Tardis Among Doctor Who Props for Sale at Bonhams

Bonhams are to sell the TARDIS used to transport Christopher Eccleston as the ninth incarnation of Doctor Who in the Entertainment Memorabilia auction on 23rd June 2010 at Bonhams, Knightsbridge.

The TARDIS was created for the programme in 2005 and is expected to fetch £8,000-12,000. A more affordable miniature TARDIS model created for exhibition purposes and measuring 5ft high is also on offer, with an estimate of £300-400.

Some of the oldest Doctor Who props ever to appear at auction will also go under the hammer. Daleks from the sci-fi programme always prove popular with bidders, and this sale includes the two of the oldest examples to come to auction. Lot 126 is believed to be the earliest surviving Dalek – it first appeared in 'Dr. Who And The Daleks', 1964 and 'The Chase', 1965 and is estimated at £2,000-3,000. Lot 128 featured in 'The Evil of the Daleks', 1967 and is also expected to fetch £2,000-3,000.

A Cyberman helmet from 'Moonbase and The Tomb of the Cybermen', 1967 is estimated to sell for £3,000-4,000.

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You may recall a large auction earlier this year (February) where Bonhams had a great number of Doctor Who items of interest -

In a packed saleroom 163 lots from the BBC archive of Doctor Who memorabilia were sold this afternoon at Bonhams, Knightsbridge, many selling for three, four or five times their pre-sale estimate. The sale achieved a total of £253,158 with 100% of lots sold. As the world's longest running science fiction television programme, Doctor Who has attracted a cult following. The sale saw fans and collectors entering bidding wars in an attempt to acquire authentic, screen-used props. Competition was fierce and the top lot was an Imperial Dalek (Mk 1) which achieved an estimate-busting price of £20,400 (estimate £2,500-3,500). A second Imperial Dalek (Mk 2) made an equally impressive £15,600 – both going to telephone bidders. Cybermen, who featured regularly in the Classic series proved very popular with the most expensive achieving £9,600 – nearly five times its pre-sale estimate of £1,800-2,500. Two versions of the Malus from 'The Awakening' episode were also bought for high prices. Lot 114 – a large Malus mask went for £3,000 and the Malus miniature made £1,920. David Tennant was a highly popular Doctor with more than 10 million people tuning in to see his last adventure over Christmas. A pale blue shirt worn by him in various episodes was snapped up for £1,260 – nearly five times the pre-sale estimate. Several items from Voyage of the Damned – the 2007 Christmas special in which Kylie Minogue starred as his assistant, Astrid Peth, were also on offer. Astrid's waitress outfit was bought for £3,120. Stephanie Connell, Entertainment Memorabilia Specialist at Bonhams, comments: "This is a fantastic result proving what an iconic show Doctor Who is. Collectors for both the new and classic series were out in force today – demonstrating the continuing popularity of both series - and Bonhams are delighted to have held such a high profile sale."
Bonhams
Bonhams, founded in 1793, is one of the world's oldest and largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques. The present company was formed by the merger in November 2001 of Bonhams & Brooks and Phillips Son and Neale UK. In August 2002, the company acquired Butterfields, the principal firm of auctioneers on the West Coast of America. Today, Bonhams offers more sales than any of its rivals, through two major salerooms in London: New Bond Street, and Knightsbridge, and a further five throughout the UK. Sales are also held in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Carmel, New York and Boston in the USA; Toronto, Canada; and France, Monaco, Hong Kong, Australia and Dubai. Bonhams has a worldwide network of offices and regional representatives in 25 countries offering sales advice and valuation services in 57 specialist areas. By the end of 2009, Bonhams had become UK market leaders in ten key specialist collecting areas.For a full listing of upcoming sales, plus details of Bonhams specialist departments, go to www.bonhams.com (February 2010).