Series 32 Breakdown

SFX is reporting on the first half of the 2011 series. Here is the skinny:

Confirmed writers:

Steven Moffat
Mark Gatiss
Neil Gaiman
Matthew Graham

Confirmed directors:

Richard Clark (“Gridlock”, “The Lazarus Experiment”)
Adam Smith (“The Eleventh Hour”, “The Time Of Angels”, “Flesh And Blood”)
Toby Haynes (“The Pandorica Opens”, “The Big Bang”, “A Christmas Carol”)
Julian Simpson (Hustle, Spooks, New Tricks, Hotel Babylon, Superstorm)
Peter Hoar (Spooks, Mistresses, Wire in the Blood)

Rumours and speculation:

In this section we’ll mention stuff that seems to be based on some substantiated facts, rather than just the tabloids making up rubbish

• On the commentary for “The Eleventh Hour” on the series five box set, Steven Moffat teases: “You might think, for instance, that there are things that live inside clouds. That might occur to you. I’m just saying that, kids, as a nod to the future.”
• There may be an episode set in Egypt (go here, then do a text search for Doctor Who) although maybe the “interactive DVD” is for a deluxe edition of “The Pyramids Of Mars” (seems unlikely, though, don’t you think?)
• There may be an episode involving a giant dollhouse
• There is the very tenuous chance that Toby Whithouse may be writing for series six, if you want to read anything into this story.

Episode One (part one of a two-parter):

Written by: Steven Moffat
Directed by: Toby Haynes

Other info: Apparently the episode has a cheesy title (for the moment, anyway) according to this Tweet from Moffat: “Told my son the title of ep 1 of the next run of Dr Who. A pause. ‘I think we can do better, Daddy.’ Then: ‘We need clever. Not cheesy.’”

This story will be set and filmed partly in Utah.

Mark Sheppard (Battlestar Galactica, Medium, Supernatural, Warehouse 13, and a zillion other genre shows) will be guest starring in the opening episodes as revealed in a press release from the ValleyCon 36 convention: “We had just booked Mark’s airline tickets a week ago when less than 12 hours later he got the dream job of any kid who grew up in England-and many kids here too. He landed a huge role in the new Doctor Who but they needed him there the next day. There was no way we were going to stand in the way of that and so Mark took the job but with his deepest apologies. We will try to work out an appearance with him in the future and wish him great luck with Doctor Who!”

Sheppard is to play a character called Canton Everett Delaware III (according to Pop Culture Zoo). The Doctor Who News Page has images of Sheppard and Alex Kingston (River Song) filming in Cardiff Bay on 18 October (clearly not all the US scenes are actually being filmed in the US)

Episode Two (part two of a two-parter):

Written by: Steven Moffat
Directed by: Toby Haynes

Gaiman on the TARDIS set, a pic he posted on his Twitter feed

Episode Three:

Written by: Neil Gaiman
Directed by: Richard Clark
Other info: Rory is definitely in this episode (confirmed on Twitter by Neil himself)

In a column for Doctor Who Magazine, Gaiman described Suranne’s character as “someone who is beautiful, and who bites, and who might just turn out to be an old acquaintance with a new face…”, adding, “it starts in void-space, with something – or someone – we have not seen since [1969 Patrick Troughton story] ‘The War Games’, and a knock on the TARDIS door…”

Moffat has called it “a beautiful poem of an episode” and says that Suranne Jones “will change the way you see Doctor Who forever forever – and that’s a hand-on-heart promise.”

Guest Starring: Suranne Jones (Karen McDonald in Coronation Street) as Idris

Episode Four:

Written by: Mark Gatiss
Directed by: Richard Clark

Guest starring: Daniel Mays (the villainous DCI Jim Keats from the final series of Ashes To Ashes) and Emma Cunniffe (The Lakes) who play the parents of Harry, played by child actor Jamie Oram (info from The Doctor Who News Page).

Episode Five: “Rebel Flesh” (part one of a two-parter):

Written by: Matthew Graham
Directed by: Julian Simpson

Guest Starring: Marshall Lancaster (Buzzer), Sarah Smart (Jennifer Lucas)

Episode Six: “Gangers” (part two of a two parter):

Written by: Matthew Graham
Directed by: Julian Simpson

Guest Starring: Marshall Lancaster (Buzzer), Sarah Smart (Jennifer Lucas)

Steven Moffat describes this two-part story as a “thrilling and terrifying two-parter. The Doctor will face a dilemma the like of which he’s never seen before.”

Episode Seven:

Written by:
Directed by:
Other info: “Game-changing cliffhanger,” says Moffat.

Benedict Cumberbatch as the Master?

The rumor floating around that Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch might be playing the Master in a forthcoming Doctor Who adventure. But Steven Moffat on the other hand danced around the idea by saying: “No, there is no truth to that – unless suddenly there is. I mean, actually, honestly, there are no plans of that kind at all – I don’t guarantee that I’m not lying and I don’t guarantee that I won’t change my mind. So there you go. Hopeless answer.”

We'll keep you up to date.

Utah Driveby Filming

Tardis_Tara on her twitter post left the follow video of a drive by of the filming, in it, it shows Matt Smith in his Doctor Who costume and wearing a coyboy hat. Thanks to Tara and if you don't follow her on twitter you should.

Fez to Return

Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss have confirmed that the Doctor’s beloved fez will also be back in his life at some point in the future!
Speaking to Assignment X about adventures to come, the showrunner promised lots of ”excitement” and “a roller-coaster of thrills and unimaginable joy”, while, more importantly, Gatiss, who has written a Series 6 episode, revealed that the fez will be back! “There will be a return of the fez,” Moffat reaffirmed.

Christmas Special Detail & More

The guys over at www.kasterborous.com turned us on to this interview with Doctor Who Executive Producer Piers Wenger has revealed that the 2010 Christmas special, A Christmas Carol, is not set on Earth…

The wide-ranging interview which mainly covers the Doctor Who filming in Utah Wenger reveals that the Christmas special – which guest stars Sir Michael Gambon and Katherine Jenkins – isn’t quite what we might be expecting:

It kind of riffs on the Dickens story. There’s no one called Scrooge in it and it’s not set on Earth, but there are familiar archetypes from that story within it that will please fans of Dickens’s original.

Wenger also reveals that in 2011, Doctor Who will feel very US-centric

This year, it’s all about America, it’s all about taking the show out to the States and seeing what Doctor Who will feel like set in America and in some very iconographic parts of the American landscape.

The team left the UK on Saturday and is traveling out to Utah, to Mojave, where they’re filming some scenes. There are scenes set in New York and San Francisco.

It is Doctor Who’s love letter to the States.

The Christmas special should air on Christmas day, stay tuned for the time.

Utah Filming

The Utah Governor's Office of Economic Development has confirmed that principal photography for the previously announced US filming will take place in Utah from November 17 to November 19. The state's Motion Picture Incentive Fund has authorized a filming rebate of up to $30,000 for location filming in the state. The exact location of filming has not been revealed, and fans are not being encouraged to attend filming; a BBC representative told a member of the Utah Film Commission in a private email that he "feels that it would be doing the production a disservice to have fans of the show watching it being filmed as certain story arcs and plot lines could be exposed prematurely and be spread over the internet."

Filming in America

The sixth series of Doctor Who will open with a two-parter set in the US, the BBC has announced. Scenes will be filmed in the Utah desert for a story set in the late '60s in which the Doctor, Amy and Rory find themselves on a secret summons to the Oval Office. The episodes have been written by new series boss Steven Moffat and co-produced with BBC America.
Production starts in Cardiff this month with Matt Smith and Karen Gillen. Alex Kingston will reprises her role as River Song.
Moffat said: "The Doctor has visited every weird and wonderful planet you can imagine, so he was bound get round to America eventually.
"And of course every Doctor Who fan will be jumping up and down and saying he's been in America before. But not for real, not on location - and not with a story like this one."
It has been announced previously that series six has been split into two blocks, with the first airing on BBC One in spring 2011 and the second block showing in autumn 2011.

No Daleks Next Year!

Steven Moffat has given a strong hint that The Daleks will not be appearing in the next series of Doctor Who.

Speaking at the Edinburgh TV Festival, the Who showrunner admitted that there are currently no plans for the famous aliens to reappear, although work on the 2011 series is not yet complete.

He said: "There will be a Dalek story when we've got a good idea for a Dalek story. [When that happens], there will be lots of different kinds of Daleks."
source: digitalspy

Doctor Who in Two Parts

From theescapist.com:

2011 will have the same amount of Doctor Who, but it will be more evenly spread out throughout the year.

If you're a big fan of the new Doctor Who, you'll be familiar with the dry months between the end of one season and the start of the next. Sure there's the Christmas special, but that's just a tiny drop in an otherwise Doctor Who-less few months. But next year will be different, as show boss Steven Moffat has decided to split the season into two parts.

Speaking at the Edinburgh TV Festival in Scotland today, Moffat said that he felt the show needed a big event in the middle of the season. He said that a Doctor Who season was 13 episodes long, which was enough for two seasons of most BBC shows, so rather than show them all at once, it would be split into two blocks, one shown in the spring as usual, and the second shown in the fall. He added that the spring series would "build to an Earth-shattering climax," calling it a "gamechanging" event for the character. In a BBC press release, Moffat also said that the split series meant that fans would be treated to twice as many season premiers and twice as many finales.

It sounds like the loose story arcs of previous series might not be quite so loose when the show resumes next year. When you've only got seven episodes - which is how long the blocks will be - and you're building to some big event, it doesn't leave a much time for a lot of side stories.

Series 32 Writing News

The guys at denofgeek.com interviewed Steven Moffat and here is what he said about writing for the new series of Doctor Who:

It’s been said if all this goes to plan, that there’s going to be more Sherlock. How does that fit with balancing your own workload? Are you keen to write more of these? Have you worked out how many episodes of Doctor Who you’re writing for next year?

I’m doing the Christmas special plus five, so it’s the same. Six again.

Six, including the Christmas special?

Yeah. I’m basically following what Russell did. Having worked out the sums and worked out how he does it, I thought that’s a perfect way of doing it.

But there is no way of balancing this. The last year has been extraordinary. I’ve had about four days off, and that includes Christmas day. I work every weekend, I get up early in the morning, I go to bed late at night. There is no way of balancing it.

It’s extraordinary, but it’s great fun too! Great fun, so long as it doesn’t kill me.

Read the whole interview here.

Series 32 A Go (2011)

Doctor Who's Executive Producer Piers Wenger has confirmed the series has been commissioned for a 32nd series, due to be shown in 2011.
Speaking at the press launch for the 2010 series, Wenger confirmed Matt Smith will return next year in his second series as The Doctor as well as appearing in a Christmas Special at the end of this year.
Shooting on the current series wraps this weekend giving the cast a break before returning to work on the Special and the 2011 series in early July.