The Scottish Sunday Post – Sunday 20th July, 2003

By Douglas McNaughton – Dr Who Appreciation Society.

Dr Who hasn’t been seen on our screens for a few years but it’s one of those shows that just won’t lie down.

It’ll be 40 years in November since it first appeared on our screens, with eight actors playing the part of The Doctor. The ninth is Richard E Grant, who will provide the voice for a special animated episode, it was revealed last week. Choosing a big name like Grant shows the BBC see the show as an ongoing concept rather than a dead one.

Doctor Who has become a bit like Tarzan, Sherlock Holmes or James Bond, where lots of different actors have played the part but everybody recognises the character and the concept of the series. So it’s really much more than just an old TV show.

There’s far more going on now, in terms of new products, than when The Doctor was regularly on TV. He exists in books, comics, CD’s, DVD’s and now through the internet as well.

The webcast – a programme transmitted through the internet on to a user’s computer screen – was made by BBC last month. It was from a script written several years ago by the late Douglas Adams, of Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy fame, for Tom Baker, which was never made.

The BBC got Paul McGann, who played The Doctor in the American movie version in 1996, to do an audio drama of it and then put it on the website, where it’s been a huge success. That led to the casting of Richard E. Grant for the latest webcast which will be shown online in November.

For people my age (33) Dr Who is a nostalgia thing and a bit like supporting a favourite football team. If it grabs you at the right age you stay loyal to it for the rest of your life. You never quite let go and in a way it never quite lets you go.

Fondly remembered

What is great is that more and more young people are seeing it on digital TV channel UK Gold and then discovering there are years of stories they can watch. Some are also buying the new novels and then finding out it was also a TV series.

So it’s nice that something that was always meant to be a family show can still be so popular.

And it’s fondly remembered by casual viewers too – at a Dr Who convention in Edinburgh last month, as I was wrestling various Daleks into taxis, the drivers all told me what a great programme it was and all of them asked, “When are they bringing it back then?”

I think the success lay in the flexibility of the format, where it could go anywhere and do anything. That made it appealing. It stimulated the imagination and that’s why people still remember it.

It’s a social thing too. In our branch of the Appreciation Society, around a dozen fans meet every Monday night to discuss the latest books or DVD’s, to gossip about the actors, but really just to get together and have a laugh.

We recently held a convention where we limited attendance to 40 people, but we sold out weeks before the event and had to turn many people away.

Dr Who could come back tomorrow with a new actor, keeping only the title and the Tardis, and the makers could go anywhere with it. That’s why it was such a brilliant idea and why it still lives on.

To see a larger scanned copy of the actual article, just click on the image below:

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At the moment I’m putting the finishing touches on the REG Temple Online Store. Initially the store will have only a handful of products and will have the REG Temple logo as the main design feature – but this should change fairly quickly as I begin to add more designs and resize the Temple logo to suit other products (It could be as soon as a week or two to get a full range of products – especially the way I’ve been beavering away). I should be able to announce in the next day or so that the store is open for business – so stay tuned!

Jolie sifted through some REG clippings tonight and found an old one on Ian McKellen’s 60th birthday party held in 1999. REG is mentioned only briefly but the piccy’s quite nice. You can read that one here.

SueW. sent me some pics of Richard and Olivia at a special preview of the new “Titanic – The Artefact Exhibition” at the Science Museum London. You can check them out here.

Denise informs me that there is now a website set up for Bright Young Things. A trailer for the film is not yet available.

Finally, Jolie tells me that there’s an exclusive on Richard in the latest issue of the UK SFX magazine (think it’s issue #107, dated August 2003). She adds that unfortunately the magazine’s website still shows the previous issue.

Meanwhile, here’s the link to another Doctor Who snippet: http://www.planetwho.co.uk

Thanks once again guys!

The Guardian Unlimited – Saturday 19th July, 2003

By Matthew Beard.

They are crumbling monuments to a bygone age. And they are being given a chance to be saved from ruin by that most modern invention – a Big Brother-style television show.

In a project with English Heritage, the BBC is to run 10 one-hour programmes dedicated to old buildings, in which viewers will be asked to vote for the one that most deserves to be saved. Each will be championed by a celebrity, and the winning structure will benefit from the proceeds of the 30p telephone calls.

Restoration has been devised by the BBC in association with Endemol, producers of the Channel 4 shows Big Brother and Great Estates . The programmes on BBC2 and BBC4, starting on 8 August, will be supported by radio discussions and online voting. The buildings range from the humblest of Scottish crofts to grand castles, and include unusual structures such as a wooden sanatorium and the world’s oldest Methodist chapel.

The corporation hopes to repeat the success of its Great Britons series combining history and celebrity, which was won by Sir Winston Churchill.

The 30 listed buildings will be championed by, among others, the BBC stalwarts Kate Adie, Kirsty Wark and Martin Bell. The former Conservative minister Michael Portillo will speak on behalf of a linoleum factory in Kirkcaldy, Scotland; the actor Richard E Grant hopes to save a Manchester swimming baths; and the television personality Ulrika Jonsson will lend her support to a coffin factory in Birmingham. Griff Rhys Jones will be the narrator.

Tributes will be paid to the buildings by people who remember them before they fell from grace, including an octogenarian former swimming champion and a retired performer who longs to sing again in a Glasgow music hall.

The buildings were identified by English Heritage and its sister organisations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Each was selected on the basis of dire need and that it could not be rescued by existing grants alone.

The producers of the series said they hoped the winner of the competition would not be the most expensive restoration project. Funds raised from the phone-in and donations would then benefit other buildings further down the list.

The BBC fund will trigger grant aid from the lottery and national heritage bodies. Simon Thurley, chief executive of English Heritage, said the series would help fill an estimated shortfall of £400m on the cost of repairing listed buildings. He said: “The cream of the nation’s architectural inheritance is being squandered through neglect and lack of awareness. We welcome the BBC’s commitment to raising the profile of these important historic buildings.”

Yesterday English Heritage published its Buildings at Risk Register. It points the finger at local authorities which are responsible for one in five of the endangered buildings. Another 98 historic buildings were added to the endangered list of 1,500 in the past year.

Jane Root, the BBC2 controller, said: “On average every day in the UK one historic building or monument is lost or destroyed. Yet we know there is a real appetite for Britain’s heritage – on a typical weekend more people visit historic buildings and monuments than go to football matches.”

Prized buildings in need of repair:

Kinloch Castle, Rhum: Built between 1897 and 1901 by George Bullough, it hosted summer parties for 13 years. It has the last surviving example of an orchestrion, a sound system. Backed by Arabella Weir.

Harperly PoW Camp, Co Durham: Built 1943 to house low-risk prisoners. It is the first Second World War camp to gain ancient monument status. The buildings are mostly prefabs. Backed by Michael Wood.

Wilton’s Music Hall, east London: Built in 1853, then rebuilt in 1858. It belongs to the first generation of giant pub halls that began to appear in London in the 1850s, thriving until 1870. Backed by Rory Bremner.

Crescent Arts Centre, Belfast: Built 1873. A ladies’ collegiate school founded by Margaret Byers, pioneer of women’s education in Ireland. Half of the building is deemed unsafe. Backed by Antony Gormley.

The list in full:

1. Burra Croft , Shetland Islands (c.1830)
2. Kinloch Castle , Rhum (1897-1901)
3. Mavisbank , Edinburgh (1723-1736)
4. Lino Works , Kirkcaldy (1875)
5. Britannia Music Hall, Glasgow (1833)
6. TB Sanatorium, Aberdeen (1900)
7. Arnos Vale Cemetery , Bristol (c1840)
8. Poltimore House , Devon (late 16th century)
9. Whitfield Tabernacle , Kingswood, near Bristol (1741)
10. Ravensworth Castle, Gateshead (14th century)
11. Harperly PoW Camp , Co Durham (1943)
12. The Sham Castle at Wentworth Castle, Stainsborough, near Barnsley (1727-1730)
13. Victoria Baths , Manchester (1903-1906)
14. Bank Hall , Bretherton (1608)
15. Brackenhill Tower , Carlisle (1580)
16. Cromford Mill , Cromford, Derbyshire (1771)
17. Bethesda Chapel , Stoke-on-Trent (1819)
18. Newman Bros coffin factory , Birmingham (1892)
19. Llanelly House , Llanelli (1714)
20. Faenol Old Hall , Gwynedd (16th century)
21. Amlwch Port and Parys Mountain , Anglesey (from 1748)
22. Greyfriars Tower , King’s Lynn (founded 1230s)
23. Coalhouse Fort , East Tilbury (1860)
24. Moulton Windmill , Moulton (1820s)
25. Wiltons Music Hall , east London (1853)
26. Broomfield House , Enfield (16th century)
27. Darnley Mausoleum , Cobham, Kent (1783-1786)
28. Herdmans Mill , Strabane (1853)
29. Lissan House , Cookstown (1620)
30. Crescent Arts Centre , Belfast (1873)

REG and Joan attended a glamorous party at renowned Indian restaurant Yatra in London where there was a fitting showcase of stunning pieces of diamond jewelry designed by celebrities. To read more, click here.

I’ve emailed REG to see if he designed a piece (and if he did I’ll try and track down a pic for everyone to see). Thanks to Jolie for the news snippet.