Series nine - BAFTA Cardiff preview

Today is the preview of the opening two-parter for series nine. As far as I understand it, only the first part has been previewed to date, so seeing the second half of the adventure is a real bonus.

The event is being organised by Welsh BAFTA and is being held in the Cineworld cinema in central Cardiff. It’s not the biggest of auditoriums, with only around 450 seats available, and from what I later gathered around 100 of these were reserved for BAFTA members.

Being a run of the mill cinema the seats are un-numbered, so I'm seeing it as a potential bun fight to get the best seats.

With my work pattern these days I have the luxury of being my own boss and can choose when I travel, so I booked myself on the earliest train to Cardiff, without getting penalised by high fares. As a result I touched down in the Welsh capital around half-noon. My hotel was a short walk from the station and after I dumped off my bags and got changed, I found it was an even shorter walk to the cinema.

I was prepared for a queue of excited fan outside, but there was no-one.
Inside I knew T was at the right place as there was a TARDIS parked qt the bottom of the escalators.

The staff were only just getting themselves ready for the day and had no information as to where the queue was or would be starting!
A friendly member of BBC staff came to see me and suggested waiting in the bar area on level 2, a level below where the screening will be happening in roughly five hours.

Unintentionally I was first in the queue!

As the afternoon progressed people arrived in dribs and drabs, with one of my recent clients being second in line! Slowly the bar area was filling up and a number of people who tried to assemble a queue upstairs were quickly slapped down and sent back to the bar to wait.

With an hour or so to go, and no planning or direction for the BBC or BAFTA (both said the other was in charge!) we formed our own queue in the bar, with everyone respectfully forming a line in the order they roughly arrived.

Entry was strictly by guest list, so everyone had to be individually ticked off on THE list before they could enter. In charge of the list was a lovely member of BAFTA staff who seemed to be just as excited to be there as us!

The list had the benefit of slowing down the rush, so it was with ease that myself and some friends just walked to the front row and bagged ourselves the best spot.

Now, as you can see we our view of the screen was point-blank, but I was thinking more about the Q&A session after, for which we will be getting the BEST view.

I was one of only about three people who came in costume, and I took advantage of the chance to get a picture with Natalie, who was not only dressed as Clara, but wearing the same costume as in the big promo picture on the cinema screen!

It took a while for everyone to get seated, but there was a great atmosphere so it didn’t seem as long.

Steven Moffat introduced the episodes, appealing for us all to keep the spoilers to ourselves - something which I advocate - so NO SPOILERS HERE!

I will say the opening adventure is very exciting; the opening section will please a lot of fans of the classic series; at times edge of your seat; often jaw dropping. Now that I knew what the BIG-BIG spoiler is, it’s going to be interesting to see if it is kept until broadcast. I genuinely hope it is.

Once the screening was over, it was time to get the cast and producers out for their Q&A session.

Hosting the evening, as they seem to always do when these things are held in Cardiff, was Jason Mohammad. He appeared in a couple of David Tennant adventures playing a newsreader - something he did as his day-job at the time!

He introduced us to Brian Michin, the producer; Steven Moffat, lead writer; plus Jenna Colman and Peter Capaldi.

Peter just made it to the event in time, having been filming all day on the Christmas special. Jenna and co had been in the audience watching with us the whole time. Looking back, that was a clue.

There was some interesting questioning and some equally interesting answers.

The BBC have posted a couple of good clips on their YouTube channel, which you can watch below.

Peter talked about finding the electric guitar for the episode, which was bought on the Denmark Street.

It’s interesting how a slightly flippant remark by Peter about having David Bowie as a guest star in the next series was picked up by the press who ran with it.

Peter Capaldi: I'd like David Bowie as a guest star - The Guardian

Doctor Who series 9: David Bowie to guest-star - RadioTimes.com

Peter Capaldi would like David Bowie as guest star - BBC News

Once the Q&A was over, they asked us to stay in our seats while they took a group shot of the panel with us as the background.

I wasn’t expecting that, so as we stood up Peter stepped forward and I instinctively put my hand out which he shook! He was greeted by several other fans around him and we took our places for the photo.

If you look closely, thats me between Peter and Jenna!

Suddenly getting to Cardiff early, queuing for five hours and getting front row was WORTH IT!!!

Peter Capaldi & Jenna Coleman at Cardiff screening - in pictures - Wales Online

Ticket BREEZE - Radio Times Festival

Today I heard about a three day event being run by the Radio Times.

Radio Times Festival
24 - 27 September 2015

Taking place in the tranquil surrounding of Hampton Court Palace, the Radio Times Festival is the first such event and has attracted a Stella list of celebrities and powers that be to give a range of talks and seminars.

With the Radio Times' close association with Doctor Who down the years, it goes without saying there are two seminars of particular interest, both on the Friday of the event:

DOCTOR WHO - 2:30-3:30
Doctor Who holds a unique place in British popular culture. Here, the Doctor himself, Peter Capaldi, is joined by creative chief Steven Moffat and executive producer Brain Minchin to talk Time Lords, Daleks and Cybermen. Together, they will reveal the inner workings of the Whoniverse.

RUSSELL T DAVIES - 4:00-5:00
From busting social taboos with dramas such as Queer as Folk to inspiring the reboot of Doctor Who, Russell T Davies is one of Britain's most innovative screenwriters. Here he explains how he made the journey from Swansea schoolboy to one of the leading creative voices in television.

As a subscriber to the Radio Times, I get the chance to book my tickets early, so I went on the website; choose the two events; paid my money; got my email confirmation. That was painless.

Why can't all events with headline names like this be as easy to book?


UPDATE
An extra seminar has been added to the programme. I may as well book for this too!

THE SCIENTIFIC SECRETS OF DR WHO - 5:30-6:30
Join Simon Guerrier and Dr Marek Kukula, authors of The Scientific Secrets of Doctor Who, as they explore the possibilities of time travel, life on other planets, artificial intelligence, parallel universes and more. Using clips from the acclaimed series, they will show how science has inspired Doctor Who, and how, on occasion, it has come remarkably close to predicting future discoveries.

Danny Pink goes Barking!

In a pseudo warm-up to next weekend’s big Gallifrey One convention, today I trekked out to Barking for Tenth Planet Event’s first signing session of 2015.

Barking Signing - 7th February 2015

To be honest the guest list was a little light on interest, with Jasmine Breaks, the little girl in Remembrance Of The Daleks; Clem So, the go-to Chinese actor seen in Pond Life, The Angels Take Manhatten, The Day Of The Doctor and notably as a clockwork droid in Deep Breath; and Gregory De Polnay, D84 in The Robots Of Death.


There were also a couple of non-Who also-ran guests who appeared in the likes of Grange Hill and Z Cars, but for me the main draw was Brian Miller, Barney the tramp in Deep Breath and husband to the late, great Elizabeth Sladen.


However, with less than a week to go, the organisers added a surprise guest, Samuel Anderson - Danny Pink himself!

It was a cold morning, and I got there in good time to get the signatures in my book I was after, though sadly Gregory De Polnay was a no-show due to ill health. Hopefully he'll come on a future session.

Samuel came across very well and was interacting with the fans without any reservations, engaging with one and all.

He was happy to sign anything put in front of him including a wonderful portrait done by a fan, who gave him a copy to keep - which Samuel asked him to sign!

Deep Breath - Leicester Square screening

After all the anticipation of the day, and having seen the episode already in Cardiff, now it is finally time to watch it in a simultaneous broadcast on tv and at cinemas up and down the UK.

The excitement and buzz in the cinema was amazing. Everyone was on the edge of their seats waiting for the show to start.

On the big screen of the Leicester Square Odeon, where so many blockbuster films have had their premiers, there was a slideshow reminder of the world tour Peter Capaldi, Jenna Coleman and Steven Moffat have just completed.

I was at the Cardiff screening on the 7th of August, which formed the first stop on their seven cities over twelve day global tour.

From Cardiff they had rushed down to the BFI for the London leg, before flying to Seoul in South Korea for their screening two days later on the 9th of August.

They then took in Sydney on the 12th of August for the Australian stop-off, prior to heading to the United States and New York for the 14th August.

They then took in South America with Mexico City on the 17th August, followed the next day by the final stop in Rio De Janerio.

It must have been a gruelling trip but an incredible commitment on the part of the BBC to back the launch of the Twelfth Doctor to this extent.

From the look of the photos in the slideshow they had a great time and enjoyed every minute of it.

It wasn’t long before the lights went down and the episode started to the rapturous appreciation of the audience.

I had specially booked to come to THIS screening, as it was due to be followed by a question and answer session with Peter, Jenna and Steven. This would be broadcast live to the other cinemas around the UK showing the episode - but here is would be LIVE!

There was a bit of a gap between the episode and the Q&A, during which some Cybermen marched up and down the aisles, scaring the children.

I had managed to nab some seats within the first five or six rows of the stalls, which meant our view for the Q&A was second to none.

Peter, Jenna and Steven made their entrance in dramatic style. The Odeon Leicester Square is one of the few London cinemas which still has its Wurlitza organ at the front of the screen. This rises up on a platform through a trap door - and it was on this that the trio rose ethereally to the applause of everyone in the cinema.

The Q&A was hosted by Zoe Ball, who almost precisely a year ago hosted Doctor Who Live: The Next Doctor, when Peter Capaldi was revealed to the waiting fans at BBC Elstree, barely a mile from where I live.
She had also hosted the disastrous Doctor Who After Show Party at the BFI where things didn’t entirely go to plan.

Luckily this was more organised and we enjoyed a good half hour of conversation with the stars with questions submitted by members of the audience from across the UK.

All in all its been an awesome month to launch the latest Doctor, and by the looks of things the role is in safe hands.
I look forward to seeing what the rest of his first season has to bring us.

Doctor Who Live: The Next Doctor

Since early June when Matt Smith revealed he was leaving Doctor Who, there has been endless rumour and counter-rumour as to who will be taking over in the role.

Personally I find all this idle speculation pointless and frankly distracting so I have chosen not to mention any of this ‘news’ as I see it transient and facile.
My blogs are by their very nature costume focused, but I allow myself to digress and cover events I have attended dressed in the costumes I have made.

Well, a news story broke last night which from what I gather first appeared on the Metro website (see right). It caused a storm of internet gossip and the posting was soon strangely missing.

It appears a supposed pilot for an ‘Entertainment’ show being recorded this coming Sunday at BBC Elstree (which is barely a mile from where I live) is a thinly veiled cover for a studio-based reveal of the actor taking over the role from the Christmas episode.



The information about the show encouraged people to come in costume, and since I have swung myself a ticket, I can hardly fail to oblige!

The Radio Times for 4th August lists a repeat of an edition of Celebrity Mastermind, which has been described as a disposable repeat, merely a placeholder for the screening.

It’s being broadcast live, as well as seen simultaneously on BBC America so we’ll all get to see what transpires as it happens.

Check back soon though as I’ll give you the inside story on the recording of the show.