Category: News

Mark Gatiss to play Dracula

Following the success of Big Finish’s dramatisation of Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus, writer Jonathan Barnes (The Somnambulist, The Judgement of Sherlock Holmes) and producer/director Scott Handcock (The Confessions of Dorian Gray) have reunited to bring another classic gothic horror to life on audio.

Mark Gatiss will star as Count Dracula,  in a brand new full-cast dramatisation of famous Bram Stoker creation.

Gatiss said:

“It’s a part I’ve always wanted to play, I’ve been rehearsing for forty-eight years. You may be able to tell that in the relish and bloodied glee in which I approach this role!”

Scott Handcock added:

We started talking about tackling Dracula not long after finishing work on Frankenstein and I always knew I wanted Mark to be my Count. Thankfully, he didn’t disappoint. From the instant the project was mooted, through to recording and beyond, he’s been nothing short of incredibly enthusiastic. He has such a distinctive voice, and brings a real sense of dread and brooding menace to proceedings.

Mark Gatiss is well-known horror aficionado, whom hosted the brilliant ‘A History of horror’ series,  for the BBC. He brought touches of his passion in to projects such as The Leauge of gentleman, Sherlock and of course his work on Doctor Who, both the main show and Big Finish.

Joining Mark Gatiss for this production are Deirdre Mullins (Man Down, The Frankenstein Chronicles) and Joseph Kloska (Pete Versus Life) as Mina and Jonathan Harker; Nigel Betts (You, Me & Them, Boy Meets Girl) as Abraham Van Helsing; Rupert Young (Merlin, The White Queen) as John Seward; and David Menkin (Zero Dark Thirty, Thunderbirds Are Go) as Quincey P. Morris.
Also lending their vocal talents are Alex Jordan as Arthur Holmwood; Rosanna Miles as Lucy Westenra; Ian Hallard as Renfield; Elizabeth Morton as Mary Westenra; Edward Petherbridge as Mr Swales; and Katy Manning as Sister Agatha.

Dracula will be released in May 2016 – 119 years after the story’s original publication – spanning three hours on three CDs, with a bonus fourth CD comprising interviews with the cast and crew, plus a suite of James Dunlop’s score for the production. The four-disc set is available to pre-order now at a discounted price of £20 (CD) or £15 (download).

I can’t wait.

Matt Murdoch will cameo in Jessica Jones

With Just under a month to go until we’re all binge watching Jessica Jones on Netflix, news has broke that Matt Murdoch will appear in the latest Marvel/Netflix collabration.

According to friend of Bad Wilf, Jon Schnepp Daredevil will definitely be making an appearance in Jessica Jones. We knew one day they would eventually meet, but I wasn’t sure if they would do it so soon, though. Schnepp says:

“You’re definitely gonna see Matt Murdock in Jessica Jones. That’s a fact. He’s in it. I don’t know how they interact, but he’s in the series.”

All four of the Netflix/Marvel series take place in the same corner of Hells kitchen and Daredevil was a huge hit for Netflix back in March, they’d be crazy not include him in some way.

Check out Jon Schnepp talking about it in the video below.
 

Jessica Jones is available on Netflix from the 20th of November.

Record crowds join the stars at MCM London Comic Con

Record numbers of visitors flocked to Britain’s leading pop culture event MCM London Comic Con this weekend. The three day show saw 130,560 pass through the doors of Excel London, eclipsing the record-breaking 122,600 attendees at May’s Comic Con and the 110,200 at last October’s event.

 

Essentially this cements MCM London Comic Con’s position as the third largest Comic Con on the planet — just behind illustrious US rivals in New York and San Diego. To add some UK context it’s also around 10,000 more people than attended both the Man United v Man City and Sunderland vs Newcastle matches this weekend — two of premier league football’s biggest derby matches.

 

Visitors to MCM London Comic Con enjoyed a whole host of sci-fi, film, television, comic book, videogame, anime, manga and cosplay content. Featured panels and Q&As included Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss on Sherlock and Doctor Who; Alan Tudyk and Nolan North on new comedy Con Man; Noah Wyle on Librarians; Charlie Higson on Jekyll and Hyde; and Gareth Evans on his acclaimed martial arts movie The Raid.

 

Comic Con also hosted panels by cast and crew from zombie phenomenon The Walking Dead, hit sci-fi series Humans, historical fantasy Da Vinci’s Demons, re-imagined classic Thunderbirds Are Go, Dark Age epic Beowulf: Return to the Shieldlands; upcoming horror drama Outcast and CBBC sci-fi show Eve, not to mention screenings of Amazon Original’s The Man in the High Castle and Mr. Robot.

 

Other special guests meeting fans at the show included Arrow‘s Cynthia Addai-Robinson; The Flash’s Candice Patton; Breaking Bad‘s RJ Mitte; Game of Thrones’ Ian McElhinney, Ian Beattie and Eugene Simon; Continuum‘s Victor Webster; Warehouse 13‘s Saul Rubinek; Under The Dome‘s Alexander Koch and Colin Ford; Doctor Who‘s Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy; Red Dwarf’s Robert Llewellyn and Danny John-Jules; Adventure Time’s Jessica DiCicco and Anime Guest of Honour Shigeto Koyama (Big Hero 6, Kill la Kill).

 

Meanwhile, the Comic Village was home to more than 200 talented comic book artists and writers including Bob Layton, John McCrea and Tony Lee; Vidfest’s gathering of online video talent featured The Yogscast, Rooster Teeth and The Hillywood Show amongst many others; and the games zone played host to publishers such as Ubisoft, Bandai Namco, Koei Tecmo, NisA Europe and Rising Star Games, as well the MCM eSports Arena.

 

For more information on the MCM Expo, look here.

Watch our MCM Interview with RJ Mitte here.

David Tennant and Catherine Tate reprising their roles for Big Finish.

Audio production company, Big Finish announced today that both David Tennant and Catherine Tate will be reprising their roles as The Tenth Doctor and Donna Noble for a new series of audio adventures.
Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor Adventures will be released in May 2016 and is comprised of three full cast audio adventures.

The series opens with Doctor Who – The Tenth Doctor Adventures: Technophobia by Matt Fitton, which is set in a London slightly in the future, where mankind is gradually losing its ability to use everyday technology. Could there be an evil force at work?

In Doctor Who – The Tenth Doctor Adventures: Time Reaver by Jenny T Colgan the Doctor and Donna arrive on Calibris – ‘An entirely mechanical planet. Catch, hitch, fuel, fix, buy, pretty much any kind of transportation in existence.’ It’s also a world full of scoundrels, where a deadly black market has opened up in a device known only as the Time Reaver.

Finally, in Doctor Who – The Tenth Doctor Adventures: Death and the Queen by James Goss, Donna is swept along in a fairytale romance and meets the man of her dreams in the beautiful land of Goritania. What can possibly go wrong? And why has the Doctor never heard of Goritania?

Find out more details at www.bigfinish.com

 

Is Miles Moreals in the new Spider-Man movie?

When it was announced that Sony and Marvel would be working together to bring Spider-Man into the MCU. As we know Tom Holland was ultimately cast as Peter Parker, but many fans had hoped Andrew Garfield would return and die heroically as Peter Parker, paving way for Miles Moreales to take over. 

In an interview with Yahoo, the new Spider-Man director Jon Watts was asked if there had been any thoughts about Miles taking over the mantle. What’s interesting is that he hinted that Miles may still be in the film:

“I can’t talk about that, because, you know, that will reveal too much. We’re still writing the story…we haven’t finished all the way through the story yet, so who knows.”

I admit, that isn’t much to go on. But I do suspect that we’ll see Miles pop up at some point. By the time the planned Spider-Man trilogy ends most of the current Marvel actors will be at the end of their contracts and looking to move on. The introduction of Miles Moreales would allow them to refresh the brand without having to completely reboot.

Sean Pertwee talks about playing the Third Doctor 

Doctor Who fans have long debated and demanded that Sean Pertwee pick up his dad’s cape, jump in Bessie and play his dad’s incarnation of The Doctor. Last Halloween we got a glimpse of it when he went to a party dressed in an improvised third Doctor costume. 

 
After that, a fan mocked up a very realistic image of Sean in the role.

  

Well, speaking to the radio times the question of playing the Doctor came up. 

Pertwee Jr. said:

“It would be an honour, but I think I would be completely terrified,“ he explained. “They’re large boots to fill. My dad would have absolutely split his sides if I did that, I’m laughing just thinking of his reaction.”

“Doctor Who was a huge thing in my life, but the thing is my father was just an actor. I was surrounded by extrodinary people all my life. The people he was interested in weren’t actors, they were artists, pirates, smugglers, butchers, florists, whatever. My recollection of being brought up by my dad was in Ibiza, so I remember this idyllic bohemian lifestyle.”

Read the full interview here. 

John Hurt returns as The War Doctor for Big Finish

Big Finish announced today that John Hurt will reprise his role as The War Doctor for a series of audios.

The adventures of The War Doctor will be told over four box sets, each containing three linked hour-long episodes. The first is titled ‘Only The Monstrous’ and is written and directed by Nicholas Briggs.

“The story of the Doctor who refuses to call himself the Doctor in order to do the unthinkable upon the ultimate battlefield — all of space and time — was irresistible to me,” says Nicholas. “Such a deeply disturbing and engaging character created by the formidable talents of writer Steven Moffat and actor John Hurt. It’s such a privilege to be working on this.”

The cast of The War Doctor also includes Jacqueline Pearce, who plays Time Lord Cardinal Ollistra — an arch manipulator who is waging the Time War against the Daleks. Jacqueline starred in The Two Doctors as Chessene and she is known to many science fiction fans for her role as Servalan in the cult classic Blake’s 7.

Only The Monstrous will be released in December 2015 and will be followed in February 2016 by the second volume, Infernal Devices, which is written by John Dorney, Phil Mulryne and Matt Fitton. Volumes Three and Four are currently in pre-production.

In addition to The War Doctor, November 2017 also sees a prequel box set to the saga, Doctor Who: The Eighth Doctor — The Time War, which will follow the early stages of the Time War from the Eighth Doctor’s perspective. Paul McGann stars, alongside characters first introduced in the War Doctor box sets.

If you only listen to one podcast with John Hurt, listen to the one he did with Big Finish. If you listen to two podcasts with John Hurt, then listen to my podcast with John Hurt.

Lethal Weapon TV series in development 

A Lethal Weapon reboot has spent years in potential development. Now, FOX and Warner bros are partnering up to bring us a TV adaptation.

Here’s the synopsis:

Texan cop and former Navy SEAL Martin Riggs who, following the loss of his wife and baby, moves to Los Angeles to start anew. There, he gets partnered with LAPD detective Roger Murtaugh who, having recently suffered a heart attack, must avoid any stress in his life.

Richard Donner and Shane Black aren’t involved and Gibson and Glover are too old for this shit. 

Doctor Who spin-off in development 

Breaking News, not content with their 3 hit shows set in a school (Waterloo Road, Big School, Bad Education). The BBC announced today that they’re making a Doctor Who spin-off set in a school.
Class will consist of 8 x 45-minute episodes and will be written by Young Adult author Patrick Ness (Chaos Walking trilogy and A Monster Calls). Class is a Young Adult (teenager) series set in the contemporary Coal Hill school, in London.
Current Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat, will act as executive producer on Class.

He said:

“No one has documented the dark and exhilarating world of the teenager like Patrick Ness, and now we’re bringing his brilliant story-telling into Doctor Who. This is growing up in modern Britain – but with monsters!”

Ness added:

“I’m astounded and thrilled to be entering the Doctor Who universe, which is as vast as time and space itself. There’s so much room there for all kinds of amazing stories, and to work with Steven Moffat and Brian Minchin to find a place to tell one of my own has been an absolute joy. I can’t wait for people to meet the heroes of Class, to meet the all-new villains and aliens, to remember that the horrors of the darkest corners of existence are just about on par with having to pass your A-levels.”

Class is expected to air towards the end of 2016.

David Tennant and Catherine Tate heading to Big Finish?

You may or may not be aware that the audio production company Big Finish have recently secured the rights to use modern Doctor Who characters, in their audio adventures. Kate Lethbridge-Stewart is getting a Spin-Off, as is River Song, Churchill and most recently, Torchwood. 

But currently, they haven’t used any new Doctors. Well, according to well-known fan site Blogtor Who that’s about to change. They’ve reported that both David Tennant and Catherine Tate are going to reprise their roles as The Doctor and Donna in 2016.

Until Big Finish confirm, this should be treated as a rumour. They haven’t posted anything on their site yet. Check out the full story here.