With Moff’s first Christmas special’s pre-production gearing up for a delayed August shoot, the details are starting to come forth and it seems we have the confirmation of the Big Guest Stars:
It’s been confirmed that the BAFTA-winning Sir Michael Gambon and Welsh star Katherine Jenkins are playing major roles in the 2010 Doctor Who Christmas Special.

So, after 11(+) weeks witnessing a story arc laid down by the THE GRAND MOFF, Lord King Master of all He Surveys, we have his delicious fruits laid bare for all to see with the first episode of the series 5 finale, The Pandorica Opens. It’s certainly fair to say that this has been the most talked about series arc since Bad Wolf, and despite the excellence of that series 1 finale, I think we were all hoping for a somewhat more meaty and satisfying conclusion this year.

First up, let’s get the obvious preconceptions out of the way.  I think James Cordon is shit.  He’s a shit comedien and a shit celebrity and I want him to cock off.  Gareth Roberts is also shit.  He has written among the worse Doctor Who scripts since the new series began and he actually ended Planet of the Dead with The Doctor suggesting that the army might be a wise career choice.  However, I didn’t go into this episode being entirely pessimistic, mainly because it’s impossible to not look forward to something with Matt Smith in it but also partly because the idea behind the episodes looked pretty good.

After Simon Nye’s storming success with Amy’s Choice, Moff’s other new writer taken from the sitcom stable – Richard Curtis, no less – gets a crack tonight with Vincent and the Doctor, which all previews point to being excellent.  Why don’t you tell us what you reckon and we’ll take it from there, shall we?

Episode sevens occupy a curious place in a typical series of New Who.  That is to say, the criminally underrated Long Game aside, they’re always a load of fucking shit.  Or, at least, a lot of people perceive them that way.  They represent that worrying and slightly odd period mid series when the head writer isn’t taking the main writing duties and you’re in the hands of a string of ‘others’, so it’s always a nervous time and the unseemly gap between the first and second two-parters of the series are nearly always a bit rubbish.  Last week Vampires of Venice was probably one of the most successful episodes to occupy the screaming mid-series void and now we have Amy’s Choice, an episode that could easily be regarded as one of the best single episodes New Who has had.

We’re quite behind the pace on this one, but the recent announcement of a Doctor Who stage show has been getting the Internet into a bit of a kerfuffle.   The jist after the jump, then.

I’m willing to put my neck on the line say this is definitely the weirdest New Who news you’re likely to hear this year.  Just let that sink in for moment (unless, you know, you’ve read this days ago – we’re nothing if not devastatingly current.)

For a start, I still find it slightly strange that SJA even exists.  I mean, in telly terms it’s very successful and acclaimed and all that but it still feels weird having this RTD spin-off still hanging around.  Does Moffat have any creative control or is it entirely out of his hands?  Are they going to make any effort at all to co-ordinate with one another?  Of course, a lot of that is answered with this news, but it still feels a little off.

For those of you with a passing interest in The Beautiful Game will know that today’s FA Cup semi final between Aston Villa and Chelsea is kicking off at the odd time of 5pm.  So, just late enough to cross into Doctor Who‘s territory, then.  Shamefully, I’ll be chosing the football over Who (I’M GOING TO WEMBLEY, actually) but I suspect anyone in the same position as me will be time-shifting Who, so the overall ratings should take no major hit.

This weeks episode certainly looks like a cracker, and if you want to whet your stupid appetite then you could do much worse than having a look at these preview clips.  The words “feel”, “like”, “McCoy” and “era” leap instantly to mind, which certainly bodes well for our Scouse in Chief.  Be sure to talk incessantly about what you thought of the episode in the comments, and we’ll have a review up for you at some point during the week.

By the way, by reading this post you have automatically agreed to its Terms & Conditions, stating that Chealsea are cunts and Aston Villa are the greatest football team the world has ever seen.  Just so you know, like.

In 2007, Seb and I hosted a gathering round at our flat to watch Utopia. We all knew that some shit was going to go down, but we weren’t entirely sure of the details, so when Derek Jacobi awoke as The Master we all went a little bit nuts. It’s probably the most exciting thing I’ve seen on TV in my adult life and a large part of that was down to the fact we’d made it an event by all gathering together to watch it. However, in the cold light of day, and even three years after the original transmission my opinion of the episode remains the same. All this is basically a roundabout way of saying that I’m fairly sure my opinion of something isn’t swayed by external influences. If it’s brilliant, then it’s brilliant, no matter what surroundings it’s witnessed in. Despite the fact that The Eleventh Hour was once again an event and opinions of it could easily be swayed for that reason, it’s still brilliant and it always will be.  Long, long after Moffat is succeeded by Chris Chibnal or some such prick.

It’s been a bloody busy old weekend, which is perhaps not in the least bit surprising given our current proximity to the new series.  So, let’s have a bit of a summary of what we’ve seen turn up on Jonathan Ross and the BBC’s Doctor Who website.  It’s all quite good.