Doctor Who - Rise of the Planet of the Daleks

It's finally here! It's the dalek story!

Synopsis

The TARDIS falls out of The Doctor's control in mid flight, hurtling through space. The Doctor and Kara land on an unknown planet, which the Doctor seems to recognize. Above the planet is a station owned by a group of Thal scientists examining the planet. 

As the Doctor tries to find his missing ship the Daleks begin their own mission to resurrect their recruitment armies. 

The Daleks have returned to Spiridon to resurrect the lost army of Daleks that the Doctor thought he had destroyed back in his third incarnation. 

The Thal expedition group prepare an attack against the Daleks, but all is not safe on board. Something strange is happening to the TARDIS...

Returning to Spiridon.

For those who have never watched 'Planet of the Daleks' Spiridon was a inhospitable jungle planet where the vegetation is hungry and extremely dangerous. The Doctor visited Spiridon before in his Third incarnation and joined an alliance with a group of Thals patrolling the area, they had been sent to Spiridon to destroy a team of daleks who were researching the Spiridons (the native life form of the planet) and their ability to become invisible. The Daleks wanted the Spiridon's power of invisibility.

Little did the Thal party know there was an army of ten thousand daleks and that the daleks were preparing a bacteria bomb to destroy all life on Spiridon, The Doctor with the help of his Thal friends and companion Jo Grant managed to encase the Dalek army in a prison of ice, from an eruption of liquid ice from the ice volcano.

This was all about going back to Spiridon and revisiting the roots in which 'Planet of the Daleks' left off, hence the title 'Rise of the Planet of the Daleks'. It was great fun to do that, as I am a big fan of that particular Dalek story, one of the Dalek's greatest hits really.


Writers Notes

Who wouldn't want to do a Dalek story? They are one of the main icons of the series and you can't have Doctor Who without them. They are my favourite monster in Doctor Who and for many people the best Monster / Enemy.

Why revert back to Dalek stories of the past? I'm basically looking back at old Dalek stories from the 70's stories like : Planet of the Daleks, Death to the Daleks, Genesis of the Daleks and can remember thinking... what happens afterwards? Where can the continuity go from here? And I thought about this carefully and considered all my options and thought that it may be a good idea to revisit some old dalek stories but put a twist on them as a sort of continuation, what happens next kind of thing.

Of course that meant we had to reference to 'Planet of the Daleks' and there a lot of good Dalek background to be absorbed whilst watching that story. It's very insightful experience to have the basis of a story already there and then to go 'okay what happens next' and using my creative contentions to work that out.

It will interesting to see what response it gets when it comes out, because fans love the original and some people out there who are not familiar with my work on YouTube but have watched 'Planet of the Daleks' may see this as something quite bold and refreshing so we'll have to see.

DANIEL BURY, 20th MARCH 2015.

Technical Details


Written By : Daniel Bury (with Jamie Harrison)

Directed By : Daniel Bury

Episode : 12 out of 13

Air Date : Friday the 27th of March 2015

Sound Design : Jon Danson

Music By : Jon Danson and the SFX Library
Duration: 35 mins approx.

ISBN : DWS1EP10-1-78181-323

Production Code: F27Mar15

Doctor Who - Collateral

Synopsis

George is a young boy who likes to solve mysteries, such as the mystery of the monster living in his bedroom, the mystery of the absent father, and the mystery of the strange man in the white suit at the bottom of the garden.

At St John's Children's Hospital something greatly disturbing is happening, something which dares to question the fabric of reality... but what's that in the mirror? or the corner of your eye? What's that footstep following, never passing by? perhaps its something waiting until we're all dead... out they'll come the monster from underneath the bed!


Writers Notes


Christopher Cribb: "Coming up with a story idea is never easy. I think it's down to knowing what you think makes a story good and what doesn't and then relaying that in your script. In the case of 'Collateral' it was interesting because it's a doctor who story where the doctor is one of the undermined characters in it.  He's hardly in it at all. The main character in 'Collateral' is George and his story. I thought that was very important that Steve and I made sure that the listener's focus was on George at all times. 


It was a lot of fun to write for George, for a one off he's a very interesting and complicated boy to write into a story based on what we've come up with. I think what me and Steve tried to do in a deliberate attempt to diverge from the more scary aspects of the threat in the story 'the monster' was to add in light humour and make the listener want to laugh with George rather then laugh at him.

We used other characters like The Doctor and Dad and Mum to show how George reacts to other people and vice versa. It's very much like the Capaldi doctor's interaction with child characters like Courtney or Neve in Series 8.  It's that kind of interaction we wanted to not exactly coy because there's not much point to that, but more relate to.


We decided quite early on that we were going to have the children's hospital in it, and it was going to have a creepy monster in it. 


We rather intentionally wanted to create an impulse in the listener providing the power of suggestion into the concept of cultural anxieties and nightmares... what better to do than 'The Monster under the bed' it's a classic story that lots of children believe or the boogy man or whatever.


I think either we've done our idea any justice, we'll have to see when the story airs. But I for one am very proud of it."

CHRISTOPHER CRIBB, 16th of MARCH 2015.

Stephen Hynes: "Chris and I always had brief ten minute discussions every day about concepts for potential stories. Stuff like story concepts, story propositions not plots but just ideas; things that would get our brains in gear.

The idea or should I say ideas that eventually became 'Collateral' were a concept from me and a proposition from Chris. Chris had the idea of the curios little boy very much like if not exactly like 'Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time'. My idea was a ghost story and it was set in a children's hospital and it was based on the reading of Robert Westall's - 'The Scarecrows' and 'The Turn of the Screw' by Henry James and I remember thinking 'Oh yeah! that's a good idea'. 

Trouble was neither of these ideas had enough story in them to succeed on their own, they'd be fine as short stories but we realised that by combining both ideas together we could have Chris's balance of comedy and my balance of Horror'. That's why we work so well together, we both have ideas and we're good at compromising. 

I know there will some people out there who won't like the story. It's inevitable. If everyone liked the same concepts that me and Chris like it would be very boring. I personally like it when people are confused or don't get the concept, because then it leaves things open for debate and people can talk about it. I personally like the sort of drama's with a strange plot that no one quite gets and go 'Oh no it's too confusing I don't like it'. those are the ones that sort of drive my influences forward and I think any thing that I write would eventually revert back to that... but not without Chris's help.

STEPHEN HYNES, 16th of MARCH 2015

Technical Details


Written By : Christopher Cribb & Stephen Hynes

Directed By : Daniel Bury

Episode : 11 out of 13

Air Date : Friday the 20th of March 2015

Sound Design : Colin Jackson

Music By : Helen Fitzgerald    

Duration: 30 mins approx

ISBN : DWS1EP10-1-78180-323

Production Code: F20Mar15

Alex Brooker & Annabel Giles Discuss The Truth About Tinky Winky - The Chase.

Alex Brooker and Annabel Giles discuss their performance 

and their encounter with the man who played Tinky Winky!

Neil, Matthew & Fern's Aftershow Celebrations - The Chase

Following the show, during the aftermath of recording. Fern Britton, Matthew Hoggard and Neil Morrissey celebrate after beating The Beast and contributing to charity.

COMING UP ON THE CHASE!

The Chase : Specials

EPISODE : 16 out of 16.
TRANSMISSION : 28th of March 2015.
TIME : Anytime after 10am.
WEEK : Week 10, 23rd - 29th of March 2015.
CHANNEL : DANBURY Productions
PUBLISHED : 10th of March 2015.
PRODUCTION CODE : Sa29Mar15

• Series 3 Episodes will resume to fill the spaces of the Series which still have yet to be completed.

Bradley Walsh hosts a celebrity edition of the hit quiz show, where four well known celebrities, have to try and work together as a team to win thousands of pounds for their chosen charities.
And out run the ruthless quiz genius that is The Chaser.

Tonight's celebrities are : Actor Dominic Cooper, TV Presenter Natalie Pinkham, Model Danielle Lineker and Actor Adam Woodyatt.

Doctor Who - A British Day Out

Synopsis

The Doctor finally agrees to take Kara on a well earned holiday to Brighton. However, their holiday is interrupted when a mysterious green light comes down from space.

The Ghoul has come to earth and it intends to consume all of Brighton and everything in its path. But not on The Doctor's watch...

Writers Notes

This is something I wanted to do since the series started and something Kara has wanted The Doctor to do for her for a while. Take her on a nice British holiday and I thought, what better place to set the scene than Brighton. But of course, it's not going to be a lovely holiday as its Doctor Who.

So that meant coming up with a Monster. Coming with a monster for this story was easy, developing the story really wasn't. It was a challenge but I feel I got something which I'm happy with and I hope you enjoy as well. It's a simplistic plot, but into that simplicity I put in all this mysteriousness to add interest in the story telling, it wasn't easy having to wrap everything up because everything escalates quite quickly in this story.

DANIEL BURY, 8th of March 2015

Technical Details

Written By : Daniel Bury 
Directed By : Daniel Bury
Episode : 10 out of 13
Air Date : Friday the 13th of March 2015
Sound Design : Steve Foxsten

Music By : Alex Cannon and the SFX Library 
Duration: 30 mins approx
ISBN : DWS1EP10-1-78179-323
Production Code: F13Mar15

DOCTOR WHO : EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW - Writers Notes

I caught up with Rob Ellis, the writer of Episode 9 of the audio adventure series 'Return to the Planet of the Dinosaurs' looking back on his thoughts into writing this story.

This is what he had to say.

1. How versatile was the story in your mind?

Answer: The storyline idea was actually pretty solid when I wrote it. I knew what the template for the story was so it was just working out what I could do with it. I knew I was using dinosaurs and that time was being interfered with, and so I asked myself “how could I get dinosaurs into modern day London and link it with time interference” and I very quickly got the idea of having time portals (time fissures) appear over the city which they would come through, and so then I had to figure out how time was being messed about with and why, and that’s when I got the idea for the rogue Time Lord plot. So really the plot details just all fell into place once I understood the basic plan of the story.

2. What stories inspired you when developing the story?

Answer: ‘Invasion of the Dinosaurs’, a story which I really enjoy, was a big influence in the writing. In many ways the atmosphere at the beginning is very similar: the Doctor and companion arrive on Earth to find it desolate and abandoned and dinosaurs roaming around, and time being messed with, and whilst the plots for both are completely different, the foundations from that story are there. At the same time, where the time fissures are concerned, there are elements of the ITV sci-fi series ‘Primeval’ in there, in which anomalies open and prehistoric creatures come through and terrorise modern day. There’s also some of ‘The Five Doctors’ in there as well, as at the end with the rogue Time Lord Leddinon wanting to become the ultimate ruler of time and immortal, is in some ways similar to President Borusa who wants Rassilon’s gift of immortality to live forever, and has gone power-mad and insane.

3. What’s your favourite kind of story that you like to enjoy?

Answer: Definitely the more ‘traditional’ types of stories. Stories which are ‘base under siege’ with monsters is a very clichéd format in Doctor Who these days but it’s a strong foundation that works.

4. Why dinosaurs?

Answer: They’re just interesting and great creatures to use as monsters, as well as a fascinating subject in general. As mentioned earlier, ‘Primeval’ was a big inspiration as the whole concept of the show is time portals, called anomalies, and prehistoric creatures coming through from all sorts of different times and places and so I tried to put in as many different species as I could where possible, and I was happy with the end result.

5. In this episode you introduce to us a new rouge time lord, how did you come up with the development for this character?

Answer: Well, I knew that I wanted time fissures to be the reason the dinosaurs were in central London, brought on by the time disturbance, and I just had the thought of “what if a rogue Time Lord was behind this?” and so I pretty much developed the character and his back-story from that. The name though, Leddinon, I was never all that happy with. It’s OK, but I tried to think of famous Time Lord names like Borusa, Rassilon, Kelner, Romana and just tried to work with those. ‘Leddinon’ has definitely grown on me since seeing it more and more in the script, but when making it up it was literally experimenting with various syllables and seeing how they sounded together.

6. How does your episode relate to other episodes that have gone on in the series so far?

Answer: I think it relates to previous episodes in terms of the types of characters used. Group Captain Gilmore is one of the main characters in this story and, continuity wise, the second time we’ve seen him, which is similar in a way to the first story ‘Being Human’ where the Doctor meets up with Jago and Litefoot again and has to explain his regeneration and so forth, so I think the nostalgia aspect of it is what relates best.

7. Do you see your rouge time lord making a return in a later Audio Adventures story?

Answer: Too soon to say, really. I mean, he was vaporised at the end of the episode but I like the idea of him. I think there is a potential story out there somewhere for him to be resurrected, but for the foreseeable future I would doubt it.

8. Did you enjoy your experience? Would you want to write more stories for later series?

Answer: I did enjoy the experience. Dan was easy to communicate with as if ever I had any problems or queries I could just message him and he’d answer then as best as he could. My favourite part was writing the script once I knew exactly what was going to happen so I rarely got stuck, and then of course the anticipation of hearing the final episode once the script was submitted was exciting. I would certainly write more stories if I could if I was asked.