Repeats Next Week

From this weeks BBC entertainment Article, Dated 9th November.

Repeat treat for Dr Who fans

"Doctor" Jon Petrwee in another colour adventure, The Day of the Daleks

Cult TV character Doctor Who is to rematerialise on TV - repeats of the long-running sci-fi series are to be screened on BBC Two.

The Tuesday evening re-runs, starting on 16 November, will begin with the first episode of the Spearhead From Space adventure from 1970 starring the third Doctor, Jon Pertwee.

Fourth Doctor Tom Baker is presenting a BBC theme night

The first colour episode of the series was also Pertwee's first appearance in the role.

However, he is not seen "regenerating" from his previous form, played by Patrick Troughton. Instead he merely emerges from the Tardis with his new look.

The repeat run follows the Doctor Who theme night on BBC Two this Saturday to be introduced by the fourth Doctor, Tom Baker.

It features a 30-minute documentary about the time traveller's galactic foes, including the Daleks, The Master and the Cybermen.

Paul McGann played the Doctor in a 1996 TV movie

There is also a 40-minute programme about the phenomenon of the Doctor and a special set of comedy sketches.

There are also two short films looking at the scientific reality of the the sci-fi concepts featuted in Doctor Who, such as time ravel and the Doctor's larger-than-life time machine, the Tardis (Time and Relative Dimension in Space).

It is 10 years since Doctor Who - in the shape of Sylvester McCoy - was finally exterminated by BBC executives after 26 years.

A campaign to bring back the Doctor has persisted and books and videos featuring the Time Lord are still big sellers.

A 1996 TV film starring Paul McGann was well received in the UK, but failed to take off in the US.

There is still talk of a new feature film being made about the Doctor and names thrown up on his fans' websites and in fanzines have included Cry Freedom's Denzel Washington, Star Trek veteran Patrick Stewart and former Monty Python star John Cleese.

Shopping director Paul Anderson and Russell T Davies - the man behind Channel 4's Queer As Folk - have also been linked to new projects.

Doctor Who Night with Tom Baker-Article

 Doctor Who returns

The BBC is celebrating the history of Dr Who

Cult TV timelord Dr Who is returning for the first time in more than three years with an entire evening of programmes being screened in his honour.

David Walliams and Mark Gatiss bring comedy to the night

On Saturday 13 November, BBC Two will devote more than two hours of its peak-time schedule to the Doctor, his adversaries, assistants, and much more.

The celebration will be presented by the fourth, and oldest living Doctor, Tom Baker.

Highlights of the evening include a Dr Who documentary, a look at the some of the best-loved monsters and a scientific examination of the reality behind the intergalactic fiction.

There will also be a special set of three, theme night comedy sketches, written by and starring Mark Gatiss, creator of the hit comedy series The League of Gentlemen.

Theme night producer Mike Wadding says he hopes Dr Who fans will find the evening a real treat.

EastEnders regular Louise Jameson played Leela

"Dr Who has such a huge following in the UK and throughout the rest of the world. One theme night simply isn't enough to cram in everything about the Doctor and his adventures - but we've lined up some real treats."

When the image of the police box set among the rubble of a junkyard first appeared on British TV in 1963, few people could have imagined the impact it would have on generations of children and adults.

Seven TV doctors later, the entire saga has spawned an army of fanatics worldwide.

The phenomenon of this enduring appeal is examined in the theme night's documentary programme The Doctors.

Many of the actors and actresses who played the timelord and his assistants have been specially interviewed, along with the series' writers, to give a rare insight into the world of Dr Who. There will also be plenty of archive footage for fans to revel in.

The Daleks: The original, and perhaps the best, monsters

Tom Baker, who also plays a key role in the documentary, says his time as the Doctor, from 1974 to 1981, will remain the highpoint of his career.

"To be a hero simultaneously in 68 countries was an extraordinary happy accident. The fan mail keeps roaring in and people on scaffolding put their thumbs up and say 'Hello there Doctor' - it's still very nice," he says.

It's long been argued that one of the Doctor's first encounters with an alien race, in the shape of the Daleks, helped secure the public's interest.

The theme night's second programme looks at the start of the Daleks, how they were operated and have been mimicked ever since.

The Cybermen: Another favourite adversary

The antics of the Sea Devils, Cybermen, Yeti, Ice Warriors, Sontarans, and others, will also be relived.

And while the methods used by the Doctor to set his enemies packing will be applauded Tom Baker says he was always a reluctant warrior.

"I always tried to play it so that finally the aliens defeated themselves. I never took any great pleasure in defeating anyone. There was a kind of thoughtful dimension to it," he muses.

"The glorious inevitability of my victory made children feel safe. They liked the thrill of being afraid while knowing that they were at no risk."

Great Who conundrums are given a light-hearted review in programme three, Who are you Kidding?

Mary Tamm played Romana from 1978-79

It looks at complex issues such as the feasibilty of time travel, why the Tardis was bigger inside than out and the concept of artificial intelligence, or robots.

And carrying the humour through to the end of the night, Mark Gatiss and friends will present their own merciless take on Dr Who and his die-hard fans in a series of comedy shorts.

Doctor who meets Mr Dickens

 Dr Who meets Mr Dickens

Tom Baker brought his own eccentricity to the role of Dr Who

By BBC News Online's Rebecca Thomas

Former Doctor Who Tom Baker is travelling through time again to take part in a new BBC adapation of the 19th century Dickens classic Nicholas Nickleby.

Baker plays the rumbustious actor Vincent Crummles in an all-star radio version of the story, alongside Anna Massey, Richard Johnson and 27-year-old Oliver Milburn.

Tom Baker's co-stars in Nicholas Nickleby

A self-styled Dickens expert, Baker says he couldn't be happier with his new project - particularly since he gets to play a long-coveted role.

"Dickens is full of all that theatricality from simple times when people could be heroic, ridiculous and strike attitude.

"And, of course, all that pretentiousness and snobbery is right up my street. I was born to play Mr Crummles. Even when I played Macbeth, someone said to me that I would make a great Crummles," Baker booms enthusiastically.

Tom Baker: "I try to see irony in everything"

It's easy to see what he means. From Sherlock Holmes and Rasputin through to Dr Who and Captain Rum in Blackadder II, Baker has excelled at playing larger-than-life characters.

And at six foot three with wild curly hair, grand gestures and an even more majestic voice, it would be hard to imagine him playing much else.

But there has been at least one occasion when he would have liked to have been given the chance.

Tom Baker today: Too friendly to act mean

"I remember once having an argument because someone was doing a play about a child molester and I said 'I'd like to do that'.

"But they said 'No, you can't, you look too friendly. We have to get someone who's balding with shoulders like a Guinness bottle, sweats a lot and looks furtive," he muses.

Still, 65-year-old Baker's not bitter. He professes to relish every project he embarks on. And despite enduring countless bad "Who" jokes, he doesn't regret his time as the fourth, and arguably most popular, man to play the TV timelord.

Tom Baker on the joy of playing Dr Who

"It was simply an amazing time so whatever I have done nothing compares to the joy of that. I was a children's hero, grannies loved me as much as parents and I was welcome in everybody's home," he says.

For seven years, Baker made the part his own, complete with rainbow scarf, floppy hat and jelly babies. It earned him what he calls success on "a colossal scale". Now, almost 20 years on, he still receives fan-mail by the sackful.

Tom Baker and Terence Rigby play Holmes and Watson in Hound of the Baskervilles

But if the young Tom Baker had had his way, the world of interstellar travel would have had to do without him.

Aged just 15, Baker dreamt of epic adventures of quite a different kind and decided to enter an enclosed order of monks.

"The idea was that I wanted to do something extraordinary and heroic, which is what most children want to do," he explains.

"Coming from an intensely Irish, Catholic background, the most extravagent thing I could do was serve God with vows of chastity, obedience and poverty - it's the ultimate annihilation of self."

Tom Baker: "My attempt at sucide was a disaster"

His subservience lasted six years, at which point he was kicked out for confessing to a desire to commit murder - something he later attempted, and failed to accomplish, on the "repulsive" mother of his first wife. Later he turned his despair on himself and tried to kill himself twice.

These tales, and more, Baker recounts with eye-watering candour in his autobiography, Who the Hell is Tom Baker?

Baker's subversive new book for children

The book has sold well since it was published in 1997 and reveals Baker as both a talented writer and literary wit.

It's an achievement he hopes to repeat with his new children's book The Boy Who Kicked Pigs.

It's described as a comic fantasy about an evil little boy who hates everyone around him and eventually comes to a sticky end. But despite its subversiveness Baker believes it will appeal.

Tom Baker: His new book will either make you laugh or sick

"I got the idea from the poor slimy well of my mind. You can't write a novel about happiness. When you think about fiction, happiness is death to the ratings," he says.

He goes on: "But I think it's rather funny because, you see, the death of the wicked can be very consoling."

Stay tuned: Baker has teamed up with Reeves and Mortimer

And talking of death, Baker will be jesting alongside comedy duo Reeves and Mortimer in a remake of the 1960s kitsch classic Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased).

Baker plays a greeter at Heaven's gates but, as the consummate eccentric explains, he managed to bring his own brand of levity to the role.

"I try to reassure people and bring them to terms with being dead. I thought it was a very nice part and I played it very sincerely and sweetly but people kept falling around with laughter - so maybe it's going to be a great success."

Nicholas Nickleby will run every weekday on BBC Radio 4 from 25 October to 3 December.

The Boy Who Kicked Pigs is realeased on 1 November.

Rowan Atkinson,Comedy special 9th Doctor :From BBC News.

 Blackadder star Rowan Atkinson is to be the ninth incarnation of cult sci-fi time-traveller Dr Who in a one-off comedy special.

The actor will be behind the controls of the Tardis in a special show for the BBC's Comic Relief charity night on 12 March.

Atkinson, best-known for his bumbling Mr Bean and cunning Blackadder roles, will be joined by Ab Fab actress Julia Sawalha as his sidekick and Jonathan Pryce as arch-foe The Master.

The long-running BBC show, about the adventures of a time-travelling eccentric, was axed in 1989.

Rowan Atkinson as the cunning Blackadder

It was briefly reprised in 1996 in an American co-production starring Paul McGann.

The feature-length adventure was critically panned, and the Doctor has been on ice ever since.

The revival has been welcomed by fans of the original. Doctor Who Appreciation Society spokesman Andrew Eaton said: "I think Rowan Atkinson will make a great Doctor, and anything that keeps the programme in the public eye is good news."

A Comic Relief spokeswoman said: "We have never had so many odd calls since the Rowan Atkinson special was revealed."

Tom Baker was Dr Who's fourth incarnation

The tongue-in-cheek revival is the latest in a glittering line of one-off specials for Comic Relief.

Previously, the TV special has included spoof detective drama Prime Cracker, starring Robbie Coltrane and Helen Mirren, and Blackadder: The Cavalier Years.

In another Comic Relief special, comedy star Victoria Wood took over as editor of the BBC's listings magazine Radio Times for the edition published this week.

She dressed in a power suit and a red nose for the cover to mark her stint in the editor's chair.

Comic Relief's Red Nose Day runs from 1900 on BBC One on Friday 12 March.

Daleks Win the Millenium Stamp

 Entertainment

Daleks get stamp of approval

Exterminating into the next millennium

The Daleks have exterminated all known opposition to gain the right to appear on Britain's millennium stamps.

Doctor Who's deadly adversaries had been battling it out with soap character Ena Sharples, formerly from ITV show Coronation Street, for the fourth and final position on a series of stamps on great entertainers.

Now the Royal Mail has decided to opt for the Daleks rather than Ena, who was played by Violet Carson for 20 years from 1960.

"To represent TV as a national institution there was a wealth of wonderful material to choose from and the decision was an extremely tough one," said Royal Mail design director Barry Robinson.

The other three stamps in the series are expected to feature England footballer Bobby Moore holding the World Cup aloft, Charlie Chaplin and Queen rock legend Freddie Mercury.

The Royal Mail is issuing a set of four stamps each month during 1999, to mark British achievements during the past 1,000 years.

Last month BBC News Online readers backed the idea of the Daleks appearing on Britain's stamps, with other readers suggesting Eric Morecambe and John Lennon.

Missing Episode Found!

 Earlier this week, the BBC had a exciting announcement. Read on...

Missing Dr Who found William Hartnell: The first Doctor is the star of The Lion Doctor Who fans will soon have another episode to add to their collection - a long-lost instalment of the science fiction show has been discovered in New Zealand. The black-and-white 16mm film is the first to be found for seven years. It is the opening episode of a series of four called The Crusade, and features the first Doctor, William Hartnell. The film surfaced last week after the president of the New Zealand Dr Who Fan Club, Paul Scoones, and fellow fan Neil Lambess were told of its possible existence. Mr Scoones said it was "the ultimate dream of any Dr Who fan. It's been like having a book with missing chapters". 'Could be more in New Zealand' The episode, The Lion, had been sent to the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation in 1967, but its whereabouts since then had been a mystery. The Day of The Daleks: Many earlier episodes remain missing "It means there could be more in New Zealand and people are completely unaware of what they have," said Scoones. It was bought by collector Bruce Grenville at a collectors' fair during the summer, who then started showing it as part of his mobile movie-screening business. The film is now with the BBC in London, which will restore the episode and release it on video. But Mr Grenville will be able to keep the original print. Many tapes still missing But the search for missing episodes is by no means over - 109 out of a total 470 Dr Who programmes have vanished. In the 1960s broadcasters did not realise the potential value of vintage television, and the BBC and other broadcasters frequently wiped tapes containing what would now be considered priceless programming. In September the British Film Institute asked television buffs to check their attics for tapes of old TV shows. The discovery of The Lion does not even complete the whole story of The Crusade - the second and fourth episodes of the tale are still missing. Steve Cole, of the corporation's commercial arm BBC Worldwide, said: "The search for old episodes has been going on for some time now. "Tapes that were sent out to foreign broadcasters were often dumped when it was considered they weren't commercially viable. With the introduction of colour, it was thought nobody would want to watch black and white programmes. "We will now be viewing the programme and deciding in what form we will be releasing it on video."

See also: 14 Sep 98 | Entertainment Are the Beatles hiding in your attic? 21 Nov 98 | Entertainment Dr Who back on the BBC 15 Jan 99 | Entertainment Will the Daleks win? Internet links: Doctor Who: Official BBC site The Doctor Who News Page British Film Institute Doctor Who Appreciation Society

Daleks VS stamps:BBC Online Article

 Will the Daleks win?

A vision of things to come?

The Daleks are battling it out with Coronation Street's Ena Sharples over who is to appear on a special selection of stamps to mark the coming of the millennium.

Dr Who's deadly enemies may have the edge over the former soap opera character in popularity - but objections have been raised over the stamp's design - so it is literally back to the Dalek drawing board for the Royal Mail.

John Pertwee as Dr Who in The Day of the Daleks

Altogether there are 12 categories of stamps, one for each month, all celebrating famous or historical figures from the past 1,000 years.

Ena and the Daleks are vying for the fourth and final position in the entertainment category which will be released in June.

Designs for both images are by artist Justin Mortimer, who produced a controversial portrait of the Queen last year.

Charlie Chaplin, who was born in London in 1889, will feature on a stamp

The only living people who can appear on stamps are members of the royal family. Violet Carson, who played the character of Ena Sharples, died in 1983, aged 85. She was a cult figure on the Granada TV's long-running soap and the TV company are said to be happy with her as a choice.

So far only one image in the entertainment category has been definitely confirmed - the silent movie star Charlie Chaplin.

Freddie Mercury is in the running for a place on a Royal Mail stamp

Another stamp will feature someone from the world of football, although exactly which famous figure has not yet been decided. One of the favourites is Bobby Moore, Captain of England's 1966 World Cup winning team.

The remaining stamp will celebrate Live Aid, the landmark charity event of the 1980s. It is likely to feature the face of Freddie Mercury, the former lead singer of the band Queen.

A Royal Mail spokesperson said that the final decision will be made in the next couple of months.