Doctor Who Club of Australia

Dazza · Joined: 05 Jul 2005 Posts: 106

Does anyone know when Series 4 is due to commence on the ABC?

According to the TV guide on the ABC website "Wild at Heart" starts on June 21 in the 7:30pm Saturday. Apparently this is a six-part series. Unless this show is moved then Doctor Who wouldn't start in this timeslot until 2 August. According to ezydvd the Voyage of the Damned DVD is released on 1 July with Series 4 Vol 1 DVD scheduled for 7 August......

Am I missing something here?

Theta Sigma · Joined: 26 Jun 2005 Posts: 4463

Voyage of the Damned followed by the 2008 season will commence broadcast on ABC1 on Sunday June 29.

The announcement was made yesterday May 28 on Kylie's 40th birthday.

What a birthday present to Kylie from the ABC.

http://www.tvtonight.com.au/2008/05/airdate-doctor-who.html

montypython · Posted: Thu May 29, 2008 11:21 am Post subject:

Dazza · Joined: 05 Jul 2005 Posts: 106

Sunday....I like it. Hope it does well.

Theta Sigma · Joined: 26 Jun 2005 Posts: 4463

As soon as the new episodes were announced to be shown on ABC1 I sent an email to the ABC thanking them for scheduling a date.

I have gotten a response from Anna Lee of the ABC.

My email simply expressed appreciation on scheduling a date but she responded with the following which included confirming that the episodes after Voyage of the Damned starting with Partners In Crime will indeed be on Sunday 7:30pm from July 6:
"Thank you for your email.

You may not be aware that it is not uncommon for a lapse of many months, before a program which has premiered in the UK is released for international broadcast sale. This can be due to a number of reasons, such as obtaining the copyright releases for the international broadcast of music used in the program.

The good news is that we received the rights to show the Kylie Minogue special episode "Voyage of the Damned" on 1 June and the program has been scheduled for ABC1 to screen on Sunday 29 June at 7.30pm. In the case of the new Doctor Who series, the ABC was able to obtain the rights to screen the 13 part series from 1 July 2008 and the first episode has been scheduled for the following Sunday, 6 July, at 7.30pm.

However as schedules are able to change at short notice, I recommend to check these details closer to the viewing date by visiting the ABC1 TV Guide: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/guide/

I hope you enjoy the new series of Doctor Who. Thank you for writng and for your interest in the ABC.

Kind regards,

Anna Lee
ABC Audience and Consumer Affairs"

Theta Sigma · Joined: 26 Jun 2005 Posts: 4463

The time for Voyage of the Damned on ABC1 on June 29 is now confirmed to be at 7:30pm instead of 8:30pm as previously thought. This is due to its length of 72 minutes (warning the following link includes mentioning the inspiration for the episode and a spoilerish sort of picture from the episode):
http://www.tvtonight.com.au/2008/06/airdate-voyage-of-damned.html

Theta Sigma · Joined: 26 Jun 2005 Posts: 4463

The latest SMH Guide included an article about the new episodes on ABC1. It started by mentioning of course Kylie in Voyage of the Damned but then it says "The ABC will follow Voyage of the Damned with series four of the revamped cult classic, in which Catherine Tate takes over as the doctor's (sic) new assistant."

I really do not think use of the word "cult" was necessary why couldn't it just said "revamped classic" especially since the article did mention that Voyage of the Damned was watched by 13.3 million people in the UK. I mean that is a pretty big number for something that is considered to be a cult.

The issue of Doctor Who having the cult label was something that was addressed by DWM editor Tom Spilsbury in his editorial in DWM 392. He said that it is about time the whole "cult" thing be dropped. Absolutely.

Theta Sigma · Joined: 26 Jun 2005 Posts: 4463

A small article about Kylie in Voyage of the Damned this week was included in the Sydney Sunday Telegraph by Andrew Mercado. However despite blockbuster ratings in the UK he does mention that Kylie does not mean giant ratings in Australia. He also mentioned many fans downloading the episode since its UK broadcast which could harm viewing figures.

If these fans are truly fans then they are under an obligation to see Voyage of the Damned on its official broadcast on Australian television even though they have already seen it. Providing good ratings for the programme is the best way to support it.

montypython · Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 6:57 pm Post subject:

I knew it - Voyage of the Damned is the Guide's Show of the Week this week. Now to be followed by weeks of thumbs ups...

I'm surprised how little publicity the ABC has done for Series Four. I've only seen one preview, whereas in previous years they built up to it for ages (I remember the build-up to Series Two, which took forever!). Wouldn't the ABC want to promote it as much as possible?

The 7:30 Sunday timeslot is, I think, quite a smart move. Instead of competing with movies or AFL, the ABC is up against Big Brother...

Theta Sigma · Joined: 26 Jun 2005 Posts: 4463

TV Tonight has a poll which includes Doctor Who about which show on the question "Which new show will you be coming back to?" The result is as follows and Doctor Who is the winner:
The Nest 4%
Doctor Who 31%
Private Practice 10%
Lipstick Jungle 10%
The Farmer Wants a Wife 8% City Homicide 25%
Mark Loves Sharon 11%

Also Karen Brooks has written a very good article on Doctor Who:
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,23952886-27197,00.html

Dougy · Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 3:15 pm Post subject:

I wonder why they chose to move it to Sunday, not that I mind at all, just seemed strange after three seasons of being on Saturday.