Kopic's Doctor Who & Torchwood News |
| Who says there's nothing going on in August? - Abilene Reporter-News Posted: 15 Aug 2008 10:50 AM CDT
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| Cops and bombers - guardian.co.uk Posted: 15 Aug 2008 06:24 AM CDT
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| David Lister: The human beings behind the batons - Independent Posted: 15 Aug 2008 06:03 AM CDT
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| My Life on the D-list, True Hollywood Story - Peterborough Examiner Posted: 15 Aug 2008 05:33 AM CDT
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| Pulp Idol 2008 overall winner announced Posted: 15 Aug 2008 05:30 AM CDT The winner of SFX Pulp Idol 2008 has been revealed. It's James McGraw, originally from Stockton-on-Tees, who wrote a short story called "Charlie's Angel", about a modern-day miracle in which a boy is granted the power to play beautiful piano music by a young...  | ||
| Robert Winston:'I do have a very dark side' - Telegraph.co.uk Posted: 15 Aug 2008 05:19 AM CDT
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| TV tips for the week of Aug. 18 - The Canadian Press Posted: 15 Aug 2008 05:16 AM CDT
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| Posted: 15 Aug 2008 01:57 AM CDT By Stuart ManningApril 17:It's a Big Finish strategy meeting. MD Jason Haigh-Ellery announces he has a plan – he always has a plan. With the logistics of gathering the Dark Shadows cast for our second series of releases proving especially complicated this summer, we're now unlikely to record until the end of the year. So, what do I think about us recording some more straightforward dramatic readings to bridge the gap? It's a good idea, and coincidence is on our side, as LA-based actress Kathryn Leigh Scott (Maggie Evans) is going to be in London for a month in May. Taking a leaf from the Doctor Who Companion Chronicles, I suggest we use a second reader. Any ideas? Well, actually... "What about Alec Newman?" I suggest innocently, pretending to sound casual. I'm not, of course. My brain's whirring away – it has to be Alec Newman! For the uninitiated, Alec played vampire Barnabas Collins in the 2004 Dark Shadows pilot produced by Warner Bros, and gave a fantastic performance. Ever since seeing it, I've been trying to think of a way we could involve him in the Big Finish range, and as we'll be recording in London, maybe this could be it. April 18: David Richardson, Big Finish's line producer emails. Alec's interested, subject to seeing some script pages. Yikes! David's not one to waste time. Unfortunately, I am, so I spend the weekend fretting as I fail to come up with a story. Do we have him play Barnabas? Do we go with a completely new character? Eventually, I decide we'll do both – what we need is something that has all the essential qualities of Barnabas, but is a unique personality linked closely with Maggie Evans. Listeners will get a taste of what Alec's Barnabas might have been, within the context of a new story. So no tall order there, then. April 21: So, how will this become a story? Well, if we're using a two-person format, it's a spooky voice talking to Maggie, I reason... A voice whispering away inside her head, trying to scare her. And one that might adopt any number of guises. Of course, that's not really a story, but it's enough for me to write a few pages of dialogue and email them off. I also want to explore Maggie's time at the Windcliff asylum. There's a pivotal period on the original show, where Maggie's trying to recover from her ordeal with Barnabas Collins, and I think there's some mileage to be had there. We can really explore the psychology of being a vampire's victim, and discover what happened to Maggie in that month or so she spent off-screen. All we need now is for Alec to say yes. April 23: And he does! For a moment I'm in total shock, before it sinks in that I need to have two scripts ready within the next two weeks. So, half-enthused, half-panicking, I set to work writing. It's the usual mixture of inspiration, dead ends and frustration, but I'm generally pleased with how it's going. After a few late nights spent with the phantom voice in Maggie's head, I begin to think I'm the one being haunted by it. I'm currently partway through my work on the second series of Dark Shadows, and I have a problem that's stumped me for a while. And one lonely evening, whilst fretting over the resolution of The Ghost Watcher, I realize it's staring me in the face... The bit of series two that's clogging up the story and doesn't really work – it's the ending I'm looking for. Right ending, wrong story. Problem solved! It moves from one script to the other and fixes both of them in the process. May 1: It's all gone wrong. I'm 10 pages into writing the second script and I've hit a wall. My plan from the first meeting was to have Alec play the same character, but set the stories years apart, around Maggie's two trips to the Windcliff Asylum in 1966 and 1970. We'll explore Maggie's changing character, and her reaction to a seemingly unchanging supernatural figure stalking her, I think. On paper, it seems fine, but I soon realize we're just telling the same story twice. I try moving bits around and throwing myself curveballs, but it's hopeless. So, reluctantly I admit defeat and go back to the drawing board. The transposed bit of series two is still good, though. That can stay. So, new story. The asylum stay remains as a plot point, but I decide to relocate the action to Maggie's offscreen return afterwards, and set it largely in the town of Collinsport. In the series, the action was generally restricted to the Collinwood estate, but here's a chance to get under the residents' collective skin and find out what makes a remote fishing village plagued by the supernatural tick. Fear, mostly, but the resilience and fortitude of the denizens seems well worth exploring. But where will Alec fit in? It makes sense to have him play a new arrival, to give us an outsider's view of Collinsport, and I remember Kathryn telling me a while back that she'd like to do a more romantic story, which gives me a starting point. And then I get a flash of an image – all movie poster style – a man in a long coat, walking through a misty night, holding out a hand with a glowing orb in it. I have no idea who he is or what he's holding, but I suddenly have enough to start writing again. May 10: The scripts are nearly finished, and with bleary eyes, they go off to David to distribute to the cast. They're not the two stories I set out to write, but I'm pleased with them. Clothes of Sand is an abstract, dreamlike tale – later in the studio, Alec describes it as a "waking consciousness" – whereas The Ghost Watcher is a much more linear story, with a wistful edge. The Ghost Watcher is a very late title change – the scripts go out called The Day of the Dead, which I put in without really thinking, based on one line of dialogue in the pre-titles. Good title, but there's no day! There are some dead, but they're out only at night. And Night of the Dead has more than a hint of George A. Romero about it. So, The Ghost Watcher it is. Done. May 15: Alec calls me to check the arrangements for tomorrow's recording. He immediately seems a nice guy, and very enthusiastic, telling me how much he's looking forward to tomorrow. "I know a bit about Dark Shadows," he says conspiratorially. "Yeah?" I reply. "I was in a pilot of it," he confides. I wonder where this is going. "I played Barnabas," he reveals modestly, and I detect more than a little pride. May 16: Studio days are always over so quickly. Pages pile up on the floor as the takes are called and all the things you wished you'd thought to put in the script swim before your eyes with devastating clarity. But, for once, I'm enjoying the ride. Both Alec and Kathryn are fantastic, and it's there, whispering to us in the control room, through the speakers - exactly the voice I heard in my head when I was writing. No wonder Maggie's scared.  | ||
| AWARDS PHONE VOTING 'CON' REVEALED - UK Express Posted: 15 Aug 2008 01:51 AM CDT
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| Awards phone voting 'con' revealed - Western Telegraph Posted: 15 Aug 2008 01:50 AM CDT
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| Beijing Olympics: British presenters fail to impress - Telegraph.co.uk Posted: 14 Aug 2008 11:26 PM CDT
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| Doctor Who: The Stageplays are coming! Posted: 14 Aug 2008 11:09 PM CDT Everyone here at Big Finish is very excited about the new series of Doctor Who Stageplays. All of us have been hard at work on the studio recording, in post production or pulling together more extras than you can poke a stick at.  | ||
| Iwasa-Madge scores win in world junior debut - Milton Canadian Champion Posted: 14 Aug 2008 11:08 PM CDT
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| Watch out for classic icons - The Sun Posted: 14 Aug 2008 10:25 PM CDT
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| Barrowman wants 'Torchwood' sex toys Posted: 14 Aug 2008 10:13 PM CDT John Barrowman jokes that he wants to launch a range of Torchwood sex toys.  | ||
| Get Outside! Hiking Forest Lakes - TheDenverChannel.com Posted: 14 Aug 2008 09:01 PM CDT
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| Lichtenstein's Memory to Make London Premiere in the Fall - Playbill.com Posted: 14 Aug 2008 08:33 PM CDT
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| Duic broke ban on trading, OSC says - Financial Post Posted: 14 Aug 2008 05:55 PM CDT
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| New limited edition Dr Who figures selling for £1000 on eBay - Glasgow Daily Record Posted: 14 Aug 2008 04:36 PM CDT
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| Barrowman wants 'Torchwood' sex toys - Digital Spy Posted: 14 Aug 2008 04:22 PM CDT
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| Griffin proves Life on the D-list is good - Telegraph-Journal Posted: 14 Aug 2008 04:13 PM CDT
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| Who'll Give Me £1000? - Glasgow Daily Record Posted: 14 Aug 2008 04:07 PM CDT
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| Shotts move into the cup knockout stage - Hamilton Advertiser news Posted: 14 Aug 2008 03:26 PM CDT
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| City’s theatre-goers get chance of play preview - Press and Journal Posted: 14 Aug 2008 02:38 PM CDT
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| Hamilton Southeastern High School Honor Roll - Indianapolis Star Posted: 14 Aug 2008 01:02 PM CDT
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| Torchwood Season Three Revealed Posted: 14 Aug 2008 01:00 PM CDT Set for broadcast on BBC One in Spring 2009, Russell T Davies has revealed that the third series will be titled 'Torchwood: Children Of Earth'.  | ||
| The Olympic sport of politics - Socialist Worker Online Posted: 14 Aug 2008 12:16 PM CDT
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| Choke On These Bands… - ChartAttack Posted: 14 Aug 2008 03:56 AM CDT
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| Hoops look for third-straight win - FC Dallas Posted: 14 Aug 2008 03:39 AM CDT
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| Shakespeare Owes David Tennant A Debt - Anglophenia Posted: 14 Aug 2008 02:19 AM CDT
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| Torchwood Hits The Big Time? - io9 Posted: 14 Aug 2008 01:47 AM CDT
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| End of era for Wolfmother - The Age Posted: 14 Aug 2008 01:11 AM CDT
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| Posted: 13 Aug 2008 01:00 PM CDT Executive Producer on Collinson's Series Four suggestions.  |
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