New Executive Producer Announced

Brian Minchin has been announced as the new executive producer of Doctor Who, taking over from Caroline Skinner, who has returned to BBC Drama in London.

Brian has said this on his appointment:

I'm thrilled and excited to be joining Steven Moffat on a show that has meant so much to me over the years. I've watched in awe as Steven has taken Doctor Who to wild and imaginative places and I can't wait to get started on many more adventures with the Doctor.

Steven Moffat has said:

When I first took over Doctor Who, Brian was there as script editor, and in the most difficult time of a new Doctor and a new era was completely brilliant. We lost him to producing The Sarah Jane Adventures at the end of our first run. Rising talent keeps rising, is how I comforted myself back then - but now I am beyond happy that Brian has risen all the way back to Doctor Who in his new role of executive producer. I look forward to getting hopelessly lost in space and time with him.

Head of Drama Faith Penhale added:

I've no doubt Doctor Who will enjoy a very exciting time with Brian at the helm working alongside Steven. Since joining BBC Wales in 2005, he's proved he has a fantastic eye for story and a sharp awareness of what makes a drama like Doctor Who unmissable.

Brian is no stranger to the world of Who having been script editor on the programme and also has been producing The Sarah Jane Adventures and the last 2 series of Torchwood.

Caroline Skinner - Leaving

The BBC have announced that executive producer Caroline Skinner will be leaving Doctor Who at the conclusion of series 7. Caroline has said:

It has been an honour to have been a part of Doctor Who, and a privilege to have worked with Steven Moffat and Matt Smith on this extraordinary show. I have hugely enjoyed my time in BBC Wales and would like to thank Faith Penhale, and our wonderful production team for their unending commitment and brilliance. I will miss them all enormously, but I'm leaving Doctor Who in fine form, with the new series starting at Easter and the fantastic plans for the 50th Anniversary already underway. I am delighted to be now returning to BBC Drama Production in London as an executive producer, and the new opportunities and projects that will bring.

The Head of Drama at BBC Wales, Faith Penhale, will take over the executive position in time for the anniversary special. She says:

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Caroline for her contribution to Doctor Who since taking on the role in 2011, on behalf of both the BBC and the show. She leaves the show in good shape - there's a brilliant new series starting on Easter Saturday that will see the official arrival of the Doctor's new companion! And the 50th Anniversary plans are on track to deliver audiences an unmissable event! I wish her all the very best for the future.

Ice Warriors for Series 7

Executive Producer Caroline Skinner has revealed in a magazine interview, that everyone's favourite Martians will indeed be returning to the series.

We’ve got the most fantastic episode by Mark Gatiss, where we are bringing back the Ice Warrior… on a submarine! It’s a really wonderful kind of ‘bunker’ episode, and a classic monster which Mark has brought his own inimitable twist to.
We wanted to bring them back because they’re wonderful! In the mix of stories that we were planning for this year it felt as if doing something very bold with a monster that hadn’t been seen for a while would be really cool. Mark is an enormous fan of the Ice Warrior stories and came up with the idea. The sense of a monster of that scale and that size trapped in a really small, contained environment such as a submarine was a really brilliant story to be able to tell. And obviously we’ve had a huge amount of fun going back to the traditional designs and recreating them, bringing the Ice Warriors back to life again.
They were such a beautiful original design, and are genuinely really scary in terms of what they look like as they’re coming towards you in that armour. Letting a huge Ice Warrior loose at the heart of a classic Hunt For Red October style submarine movie was exactly the kind of story that the Doctor should get mixed up in.
They’ve got really scary voices as well. I spent quite a lot of time on set trying to hiss like an Ice Warrior...”

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Ask the Execs

American Premiere

Asylum of the Daleks will receive its American premiere on Saturday 25th August in New York City. Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and producer Caroline Skinner will be attending the event

Asylum of the Daleks

A pic from producer Caroline Skinner at tonight's BFI screening of Asylum of the Daleks.

BFI Tonight

The BFI in London hosts the premiere of Asylum of the Daleks tonight, which will be followed by a Q&A session with the main actors and producers. Like always the audience will be sworn to secrecy over the content of the episode, but some information will become available when the Q&A session is over.

Producer Caroline Skinner is tweeting via the Official Twitter feed

BFI Preview Screening

The BFI have announced that Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, Arthur Darvill, Caroline Skinner and Steven Moffat will attend the preview screening of Asylum of the Daleks on Tuesday 14th August. After the screening there will be a Q&A session chaired by Richard Bacon.

An Adventure in Time and Space

The BBC have confirmed that a docudrama about the beginning of Doctor Who will be produced to celebrate the 50th anniversary. Written by Mark Gatiss the 90 minute special will be shown on BBC2 next year.

Mark Gatiss said:

This is the story of how an unlikely set of brilliant people created a true Television original. And how an actor - William Hartnell - stereotyped in hard-man roles became a hero to millions of children. I've wanted to tell this story this for more years than I can remember! To make it happen for 'Doctor Who's 50th birthday is quite simply a dream come true.

Executive Producers Caroline Skinner & Steven Moffat added:

The story of Doctor Who is the story of television - so it's fitting in the anniversary year that we make our most important journey back in time to see how the TARDIS was launched.

Asylum of the Daleks

At last the first confirmed title to series seven. Asylum of the Daleks will open the series and will be previewed at the BFI on Tuesday 14th August and will be followed by a Q&A session featuring Steven Moffat and other cast and crew. Tickets go on sale 10th July, more info here.

As previously posted the episode will also be shown at the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival 23-25th August.

Executive Producer Caroline Skinner via the Official site was quoted as saying:

This is an epic Dalek adventure that kicks off the new series in explosive style! If you think you know all there is to know about the Daleks, think again...

Daleks

Brand Manager Edward Russell & Producer Caroline Skinner with a Dalek at the BBC Roath Lock studios.

3D Episode

Executive producer Caroline Skinner said at the Offcial Doctor Who convention that a 3D episode of Doctor Who was not out of the question. It is also said that the Daleks will appear in episode one of series 7.

Series 7 # 2

Executive Producer Caroline Skinner has said in the latest edition of DWM:

"Once I'm finally on the plane into Heathrow I re-read Steven's scary, thrill-ride of an opening episode. There I am, gasping and laughing away to myself, and kinda wishing planes had sofas - because if there'd been a sofa on this one, I would've hidden behind it."

Series 7 Production Round Up

Executive Producer Caroline Skinner on being asked if all the scripts had been written.

"No, if only. But we’ve got a lot of them and the ones that are written are really, really epic and very exciting. (The opening episode) is indeed written by Steven and it’s going to blow everybody’s mind."

BBC Controller Danny Cohen said this on Richard Bacon's Radio show.

"The Doctor Who team are writing away. There are more episodes next year. We've got some big events coming up in the near future. So, stay tuned! I always try and keep things close to my chest with Doctor Who because there's such interest in it, and I think it's right that Steven Moffat and the team are the people that bring the news on Doctor Who to the audience rather than me."

Writer Toby Whithouse had this to say about his episode.

"My episode is in a genre I’ve never written before — frankly, no one has written in that genre for quite a while now. But I absolutely love it. Steven gives me a one-line pitch, and then I’ll go away and put together a story and so on. And he gave me a great one-line pitch for this, so I’m really excited about it.
Doctor Who is always a joy to write. It never gets boring, it never gets dull, it never gets routine. It’s an incredibly difficult show to write because it’s remarkably complex, but it also has to have such momentum and pace. And within that there has to be room for character and humour and so on. It’s always a huge challenge but always extraordinary fun. That’s why I keep going back."

New Exec Producer Announced

The BBC have confirmed the appointment of a new executive producer for Doctor Who. Caroline Skinner, she will start work immediately, working alongside Piers Wenger on the Christmas special.

Steven Moffat had this to say:

The exec joining me on Doctor Who is Caroline Skinner - fresh from the wonderful Five Days, and still finishing up on a brand new show called The Fades (a fantasy horror series, written by Jack Thorne - I've seen episode 1, and it's BRILLIANT.) Somewhere between me laughing in a basement and choosing planets to invade, and Marcus Wilson raising armies, there has to be a Prime Minister actually running the whole thing. That's the job Piers Wenger and Beth Willis have been doing so wonderfully for the last few years. Now that Piers is off to movie land, that's the furnace Caroline will be walking into.