Just adding a small piece here for anyone who wants to comment.

As you may have seen on the news page I've had a terrible 2006 and have in the course of the last few months lost both of my parents and an aunt who I was very close to. This comes to all of us I guess at some point in our lives but to have these losses so close to each other isn't easy to cope with and I'm afraid, for a while at least, I will have to concentrate on myself and my family and will have no time for this site.

I hope to return here at some point in the future but time will tell when. In the meantime I may also, for the first time in years, have some cathartic time with some of my old Who videos and DVDs and let the Doctor do some healing...

Thanks for your understanding and please feel free to post *appropriate* messages here - it helps immensely to hear from you so please bear that in mind if you're not sure whether to post of not.

Thanks

Roger

Published @ 10:12 AM (UK local time)

I will unavoidably be away for some weeks from this point on and in my absence please look here for details of the latest press articles and features from our correspondent the ever wonderful ?hil.

Do comment on what's going on as well and I'll try to pop in occasionally to comment and see how it's all going. :-)

Enjoy the ongoing adventures of the Doctor and Rose...

Roger

Published @ 10:17 PM (UK local time)

I am indeed away this weekend, strange you might think given the new series is starting, but after a few traumatic months I need to get away from things so I'm off to the high Alps for some fresh air and snow!

I'll catch up with everything via my DVD recorder when I get back but in the meantime tell me what you thought of 'New Earth' and have a read a daily report of what's in the UK press by clicking on "comment" below.

Have a lovely Easter one and all :-)

Published @ 5:05 PM (UK local time)

The title might sound dramatic but it's pretty accurate - a number of cuttings on this site will shortly be removed.

News International, owners of The Sun, The News of The World, The Times and The Sunday Times in the UK, have requested that all cuttings from their newspapers be removed.

Throughout our discussions News International have been polite and constructive but their position has remained unchanged and although we would argue that our use of these items is in the spirit of fair dealing/fair practice we do not have access to the lawyers that NI do. We therefore respect their decision and note that we have no option but to comply with their wishes. Some may find this particularly ironic given the help we have given to journalists from The Sun in particular in the past - we, however, couldn't possibly comment.

Please note that this position contrasts with that of some other organisations who have clearly understood the fact that the site is totally non-profit making and run as a resource for researchers, TV historians and other interested parties. The archive is a valued resource for a number of serious researchers and it's credentials are clear, however we have no choice but to comply with News International's wishes.

Over the next few weeks you will find links to cuttings from these newspapers will no longer work, however the listings will remain so that some description of the articles in question is available to assist research - this may help interested parties to find alternative copies although they will very probably have to buy them unless they have a paper copy (see details below).

We apologise for this unfortunate development but hope that you are aware that it is not one we have made ourselves. We hope that you still find plenty of interest on the site and please note that you still have a small amount of time to view the articles in question before they disappear from the record. Please be aware that all cuttings in question remain in the personal archive of our webmaster and he will be happy to provide researchers with dates and appropriate details at no charge if they contact me and please continue to send cuttings in to us from all newspapers.

If you don't want to contact us all is not lost though - we propose to open a forum for the discussion of these and other difficult to access articles and cuttings - look out for this in the near future. You can also buy copies of many archived articles from most News International/News Corporation websites, most are from the mid 1980s onwards. Unfortunately earlier cuttings will now be far more difficult to find, and therefore to research, as a result of the action we are compelled to take.

Please spread the word about this on forums etc. The more people who know the better, and the fewer will be surprised and upset when these cuttings start to disappear.

Published @ 11:08 AM (UK local time)

Many of you will have noticed that I've been away for a while and the site hasn't been updated.

This was due to a double bereavement in my family (my mum and aunt) and it hit me quite hard and meant that the least of my concerns for a while was this site I'm afraid.

Anyway, things are getting back to something like normality now although things are still difficult for my father who is ill. I am having to devote a lot of time to him but I will try to update whenever I can, please bear with me and be understanding if I don't/can't update at times or answer your correspondence.

Lastly, please look above for details of a development that is being forced on us.

Published @ 10:53 AM (UK local time)

Well here we go again - on the brink of another era in the life of Who and it's all looking very good to me.

I've been impressed by the publicity and the trailers, my only reservation has been that they might have given too much away before the episode but that's probably necessary in the modern TV landscape.

As you may have noticed on our STOP PRESS page the press are today full of articles and features on the Christmas special - Doctor Who really is big news these days.

I'm off now, to wrap presents and wait for Santa to deliver the kids pressies... I believe he might even have a radio controlled Dalek in his great big bag - boy they're going to have fun tomorrow and so am I, especially when 7pm comes around.

A very merry Christmas to you all and especial thanks to all our correspondents, supporters and friends.

Published @ 9:00 PM (UK local time)

I haven't written for a while but today seems a good opportunity what with the announcement of the Christmas double issue of the Radio Times.

You might have noticed the news elsewhere here and/or seen some of the images that are now propagating on the web - the best of which in our opinion currently is to be seen on the excellent UNIT News site.

I love the cover, although a very kind person over on the Outpost Gallifrey forum was good enough to suggest that our image of the TARDIS with the lamppost would have been better. It's very flattering to get that kind of comment and I'm pleased people like it, some of you (members of our mailing list and friends of the site) might even be seeing a far larger 'exclusive' version as a little festive pressie so look out for that.

As has been noted elsewhere this is one of the rare occasions that a single programme has featured on the Radio Times Christmas edition cover and we should be justifiably proud of that fact. It reflects the amazing success of the programme since it's rebirth earlier this year and I suspect none of us 'old' fans would or could have predicted the level of that success or the esteem in which the programme is now so obviously held in by the BBC.

It's a very different climate to the one we endured from the mid to late 80s and thereafter and all the more amazing for those of us who remember that period.

Having seen an all too brief glimpse of David Tennant in the Children in Need special earlier this month (did you enjoy it? We did!) we have the Christmas Special to look forward to and then, some three months later, the second series. As if all this weren't enough we have a guaranteed Christmas special in 2006 and a third series in 2007. It's becoming a somewhat hackneyed phrase but we truly have never had it so good.

Enjoy it!

P.S. Don't forget the Christmas Radio Times is on sale from the 6th of December.

Published @ 2:51 PM (UK local time)

It's good to be back - I hope you haven't missed us too much!

The last year was full of surprises not the least of which was the stunning success of the series and the very positive way in which the BBC promoted it and have viewed it since it's reincarnation. Confirmation of the latter came hot on the heels of the first episode with the news that the series had been commissioned for a further year with a Christmas special also commissioned - news of a third season and second special followed later.

We have no once again been surprised by news that a Doctor Who 'spin-off' called Torchwood has been commissioned by BBC 3 for 2006. This will star none other than Captain Jack himself, John Barrowman, but will be aimed more strictly at an adult audience than Doctor Who is.

This sounds like a great idea although I suspect the adult themes of the show might prove to be contentious, particularly if children are tempted into staying up late to see what the spin off is like. It does seem a shame that younger fans of Doctor Who will effectively be shut out from this new show but as an adult fan of the series the possibilities are exciting - especially, for me, given the news that Sapphire and Steele writer PJ Hammond is to write at least one episode.

As with all of these projects the jury is out until we see the finished article but if the brilliance of the first season of Doctor Who is anything to go by we have a lot to look forward to and the prospect of 27 45+ minute episodes set in the Doctor Who universe in 2006 is certainly exciting me! :-)

Goodbye Ronnie

On a final sadder note, and unrelated to Doctor Who, I'd just like to briefly mention my sadness at the death of Ronnie Barker the week before last. I well remember The Two Ronnies being a staple of Saturday night viewing in the 1970s along with a certain other programme (no prizes for guessing which one!) and I have very fond memories of watching it with my family along with Ronnie's other great shows Porridge and Open all Hours. He was one of the greats of British comedy and my thoughts are with his family at this difficult time. His name, however, will live on and the laughs will go on for many, many years to come as people watch re-runs and DVDs of his wonderful work.

Published @ 6:09 PM (UK local time)

It feels rather like last year again now that filming of the second series has started - anyone else got a sense of deja vu?

The press were in there quickly and you'll see on our New Series page that they've been printing a fair few photos and articles. In fact I rather get the impression we'll be seeing just as much, if not more, in the press as we did last year now the series is a major hit and there's a new Doctor on the horizon in the form of David Tennant.

Unlike the very private Christopher Eccleston, Tennant seems more than happy to promote the series and we've already seen a number of press and magazine interviews with him. He is also talking in terms of being in the role for a number of years, I believe he's signed up for the second and third season already and, given the go ahead for more, I'd guess he'll be sticking around for a while longer. Again this contrasts with Eccleston who burned very brightly for a year and then left the role but let's remember that he was the public face of the new series and we should thank him for being such a big part of launching the show so successfully back into the public's consciousness.

David Tennant has suggested that following Chris will be a big challenge and I'm sure it will be but I'm also sure that David is well able to fill the Eccleston boots and will be a great hit with everyone.

Oh, and I like the new costume too!

Here's to the second season :-)

Published @ 4:16 PM (UK local time)

Well, I can get rid of them actually because there are too many other things going on but I have been experiencing something like a post season hangover for the last week and a half. However, I'm consoling myself with the happy thought that it's only six months to the Christmas special and then another season early next year - fantastic!

It's been quiet round here eh? We've been taking a break for a little while just to recharge our batteries after what was, at least for me, the best season of Doctor Who for a very long time.

A return to business as usual soon though and a chance for us to catch up with things.

First of all the season guide needs to be updated with all those missing photographs, we also need to add the last of the DVD covers for the first season.

After that there are a number of things to get on with, we desperately need to prioritise the Radio Times coverage of the series so that's going to start appearing ASAP.

In addition we have a completely new project to ready for the site, I can't say much about this yet but it's something that's involved (and involving) co-operation with BBC Online and will, as they say, bring a new dimension to The Cuttings Archive.

All that and I haven't even dared to consider the large pile of newspaper cuttings from the last few months - that's going to be a biggie!

Since the season ended I've grabbed the odd moment to myslef and have managed to watch some of the excellent BBC Audio Collection Doctor Who Reconstructed release of the Patrick Troughton classic, "Power of the Daleks", which I highly recommend (for sale at Amazon - see link to the right of this page). I've also been 'forced' by my daughter to re-watch a couple of recent episodes - and they're just as good as I remember them!

Oh by the way, I thoroughly enjoyed "Bad Wolf" and "The Parting of the Ways" - how about you?

And what about that David Tennant eh?

Published @ 1:05 PM (UK local time)

"The Empty Child" aired last weekend in the UK and all I can say to those of you in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and other countries, who have yet to see this episode, is that I kind of envy you!

That might seem like a strange thing to say but I genuinely think that when you sit down to watch this episode you will, in my opinion, be about to watch one of the best slices of Doctor Who ever. You'll also be in the fortunate position at the end, as those of us in the UK are now, of being able to look forward to the second part of the story which, unless something goes radically wrong, promises to be just as good an episode as the first.

Having seen the episode I know quite how superb it is but you lucky people have it all to come, some of you also have other potential classics like "Dalek" and "Father's Day" to look forward to as well - you are lucky! :-)

Anticipation is one of the wonderful things about watching a series like this, sometimes you're disappointed and sometimes an episode/story surpasses your expectations. The former happened to me with "The Long Game", which admittedly had a hard job given it was following "Dalek" and after watching it again a few days ago I have to admit my initial disappointment was slightly unfounded. Although a bit of a pot boiler it's a good little episode, with lots of great moments and a script that hangs together reasonably well. In fact it's strong enough to beat many of the 80s stories it resembles into a cocked hat. But in relation to the quality of the rest of this season it was a disappointment for me at the time it aired. Thank goodness 'modern technology' allows such episodes to be recessed as recordings - a luxury not available to many viewers of the 'classic' series.

Conversely there are some episodes that don't disappoint no matter how much they are anticipated; "Dalek" was a case in point, "Father's Day" another and now they are joined, and perhaps surpassed, by "The Empty Child".

This is a risky thing to say, given how some fans jump on anyone disagreeing with their strongly held beliefs, but I feel able at this point in the season to go so far as to say that I think we've rarely, if ever, seen a season of Doctor Who as strongly written and as well conceived as this one.

In my opinion you would have to go back to seasons Thirteen and Fourteen (starring Tom Baker) from 1975 to 1977 to find anything as consistently good as this - the golden age of Who for many including myself. I certainly haven't seen anything approaching the quality of "The Empty Child", "Dalek" and "Father's Day" since "The Talons of Weng Chiang" aired from February to April 1977. Yes there has been great stuff since, "City of Death" and "Caves of Androzani" come to mind, but certainly not seasons that come anywhere near to this one in consistently producing brilliant stories and where even the weaker stories would wipe the floor with many so called classics from other eras, particularly the latter years of the 'classic' series.

It's always difficult and somewhat controversial to compare episodes across eras and it has been quite difficult to do so thus far given that this series is radically different in a number of ways to those preceding it. However with The Empty Child comparison seems easier, not least because it's a two parter (effectively the equivalent of a 'classic' series four parter) and in some ways it's quite a traditional tale.

So, from the point of view, and in the humble opinion, of this viewer the story knocks spots off pretty much anything I care to compare it with apart from out and out classics like "Weng Chiang" and my favourite classic series opening episode "Web of Fear" One (starring Patrick Troughton).

Given a choice between "Empty Child" and "Androzani" or "City of Death", I'd watch "Empty Child" - don't even mention anything from the last years of the show (and I include 'classics' like "Curse of Fenric"). Time will tell whether it settles down into a position in my personal league table that's higher than "Weng Chiang", and all those other classics from seasons Thirteen and Fourteen and earlier, but I think it stands a pretty good chance of doing so. It might even end up beating "The Web of Fear" One in my own personal league table as the best opening episode in the series' history.

Am I being controversial?

Published @ 1:36 PM (UK local time)

It's been a while since I last blogged - how time flies!

In that time those of us lucky enough to be in the UK have seen "Dalek" and "The Long Game" and are now eagerly awaiting "Father's Day" (penned by the lovely Paul Cornell).

Perhaps I haven't blogged because in the first instance I was so bowled over by the brilliance that was "Dalek". This story had everything for me, from a monster on the rampage to some superb scenes between Eccleston and the "Dalek" and a denouement we never thought we'd see. Certainly it took me a few days to come down from the ceiling as it were and stop saying "WOW" every time I thought about it. "Dalek" was the best story I've seen since I sat down to watch "The Talons of Weng Chiang" back in 1977 - it's a long time to wait but so very good to see such brilliance on screen once again under the title of Doctor Who and being watched by millions.

On the other hand perhaps I didn't blog after this weeks offering, "The Long Game", because I was positively underwhelmed by it. The story reminded me of a pretty average 80s tale and seemed like something of a step backwards to me after the preceding six episodes, all of which I've thoroughly enjoyed. Having said that there were great elements to the story and many good moments, it just didn't seem to hang together properly though. So for me the 'least good' episode so far.

Next up is "Father's Day" and this promises to see the series very much back on form, although I suspect it may prove controversial in some quarters due to it's emotional content.

Then it's "The Empty Child", details of which I've just added to the New Series Episode Guide page and I must say I'm looking forward to it immensely...

Happy viewing and look out for the Big Bad Wolf - and be afraid!

Published @ 5:51 PM (UK local time)

I'm glad to see that fan reaction to last night's episode, "World War III", has been almost universally positive. Sadly this wasn't the case for the preceding part of this two part story, "Aliens of London". I found it difficult to understand what the problem was with "Aliens of London" but each to their own - personally I thoroughly enjoyed both episodes.

I'm also pleased to see that the overnight ratings, which came in this morning, show that this weeks episode scored strongly with 7.3 million viewers. As for ITVs new 'effort' in the same timeslot ("Celebrity Wrestling" - a programme that makes virtually anything else, even on ITV, look like the pinnacle of quality viewing) it bombed with 3.8 million viewers. This despite blanket coverage of this programme in the tabloid press and it's starting half an hour earlier than "Doctor Who" (although that was probably enough time for a great many people to decide their intelligence had been quite insulted enough and to reach for the remote control). Thankfully it seems that quality wins for once and perhaps the lesson is that it pays not to under-estimate your audience - take heed ITV and BBC!

Back to "Doctor Who": The end of "World War III" saw Rose packing her bags ready for a prolonged stay in the TARDIS and for me this episode coupled with the previous four felt very much like the end of the beginning of the series. Taken as a whole I think they can be seen very much as Rose's (and new viewers) introduction to the world of the Doctor - now the trip will really begin in earnest with next weeks episode "Dalek". Already it is being hailed in various Sunday newspapers as the best episode so far, and this from newspapers, like The Telegraph and The Observer, that have been fulsome in their praise of what's been broadcast so far. If "Dalek" really is the best so far I think we're in for one almighty treat at 7pm on Saturday the 30th of April (or, if you're in Canada, on Tuesday the 10th of May). Being a fan of the Daleks myself I really can't wait!

As for the site itself, I've been taking a little breather over the last week or two, hence the slow rate of updates and news stories, but now with batteries recharged I think we will be upping the rate of updates somewhat. First off the New Series Episode Guide will have some welcome addition over the next week or so. We will be continuing to add photographs from each broadcast episode and teasers for upcoming ones. In addition we will be adding some very nice (we think so anyway) DVD covers and disk labels for each broadcast new series episode courtesy of the very talented Ben Ditoy - thanks to Ben for allowing us to add these. I am also currently working on the radio Times listings, articles and covers so expect these very soon on both the Radio Times pages and as an addition to the New Series Episode Guide.

As for newspapers, we should, with a bit of help from a new member of the team here (introductions later), be adding all the newspaper coverage from November 2004 up to just before the new series UK premiere in March 2005. There's an awful lot of this though so bear with me on this whilst our new team member gets his bearings and works out what needs to be done.

That's it for now but please continue to post your comments here - it's always great to hear from people about the site and the series and thanks to everyone who has posted here in the past, I really enjoy reading your comments as I'm sure many other people do too.

Published @ 5:53 PM (UK local time)

You may think that I'm now going to go on about how moving the scene in episode 2 was between The Doctor and Jabe (you know, the one where she tells him she knows who he is). It was indeed moving - an excellent scene in an excellent episode but that's not what I refer to in the above title...

I'm actually talking about this site moving severs and apologies for posting this to those of you who aren't interested but feel free to comment on the wonderful episode 2 instead (and I'll bet episode 3 is even better - sticking my neck out there but we'll see very soon!).

Anyway, as you might have noticed we've had a poor service recently from our old hosts, Easynet (avoid them people, avoid them!) and I made the decision to move weeks ago as a result of some serious service problems. It took Easynet two to three weeks to respond to a request I sent them that our domain (cuttingsarchive.org.uk) be moved to a new host and they then went and did it a couple of days ago without even informing me so I had no time to make contingency plans. To add insult to injury they also messed up the move and this has led to the cuttingsarchive.org.uk being unavailable for some time (and it still is at the time of writing). As a result I have had to spend a lot of time and effort trying to get this sorted out and have been assisted extensively in this by our new, and excellent, hosts SiteHQ who have been brilliant - I can't recommend them highly enough so take note anyone looking for web hosting (and remember who to avoid - Easynet!).

Thankfully we had a couple of alternative domain names ready to use, cuttingsarchive.org and cuttingsarchive.com, so these have been quickly pressed into service and will remain as alternative addresses (URLs) for the site from now on. We hope to get the old address up and running as soon as possible but first we need to unpick the mess that Easynet (spit...) have made of things so bear with us.

Back to Doctor Who now, I thought "The End of the World" was excellent - perhaps the best Who I've seen since "Caves of Androzani" (that's another controversial comment I think!). I'm expecting this weeks (in the UK) episode, "The Unquiet Dead" to be even better and I'd love to hear what everyone thinks after it's broadcast.

In the meantime well done to Australia - the ABC Network has bought the series and apparently broadcasts may start in May.

Canada is now enjoying (or not in the case of "Mike from Canada"!) the new series and they're only a week or two behind the UK. Let's hope the ratings are good and CBC commit to more.

A series guide with photos and cuttings incorporated is well on the way to completion and would have been up already if this nonsense with Easynet hadn't come up so bear with me and I'll have it done very soon. (As always these things take longer than planned though - have you noticed that?!)

All the best to everyone and enjoy the new series.

Published @ 1:40 PM (UK local time)

It's all on the New Series page - the unexpected news that Christopher Eccleston has decided to leave the role of The Doctor.

I was saying to a friend earlier that I think I now know how supporters of Liverpool felt when Wayne Rooney left for Manchester United (sorry non-UK people that analogy might not travel!)- however, as I also point out on the New Series page there are a great many positive things happening and I think it's useful to remember these at the moment:

• the series is back and has been met with almost universal acclaim the initial ratings were very high (highs of over 10 million)
• The BBC have commissioned a second series and a Christmas special (when it looks likely Eccleston will regenerate)
• Billie Piper will continue to play companion Rose Tyler
• If David Tennant is, as has been suggested by official sources, likely to be next in the role we are once again looking at having a great acting talent playing The Doctor - he has been excellent in everything we've seen him in including Russell T Davies' brilliant Casanova

Published @ 12:18 PM (UK local time)

I'm writing this on what I feel may be a new dawn for Doctor Who - after more than 15 years of waiting for a new BBC Doctor Who series, that series will materialise on the TV sets of the UK later today. It will doubtless also materialise on the computers of many fans around the globe in a very short space of time after the episode airs but that's another story!

For many of us the wait has been long and frustrating at times, particularly in the years after 1996 and before the announcement of the new series when many of us lost hope of any new series. Now we are about to come out of a very long tunnel and into the blazing light and there may be a lot of new people joining us to bask in that light.

The series we see later today may be very different from the one we saw all those years ago but from what I have seen and have been told in the last few months this series will, at it's heart, truly be Doctor Who. It will carry the essence of what we now call the 'classic' series and will, I hope, bring that essence to a new generation of fans.

Over the coming days and weeks new features and pages will be added to The Cuttings Archive covering the new series, including a guide to the new series that will include related articles and listings as well as photographs from each episode. We will be updating the site with listings and articles on a weekly rolling basis and will keep you informed of developments and stories in the press and media.

The clock is ticking (quite literally on our home page as you may have noticed) and the journey is about to begin - the TARDIS is coming home to BBC ONE on Saturdays.

Stand by for the trip of a lifetime and enjoy the thrills to come.

Published @ 11:35 AM (UK local time)

There we go, the circle is almost complete - today saw a brand new edition of the Radio Times complete with a TARDIS gatefold cover (opens up to reveal Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper in the TARDIS interior) - it's just like old times....

Over the last few days and weeks we've seen, heard and read about Doctor Who just about everywhere. Last night saw the return of the Doctor to Blue Peter with a new season preview, a tradition that goes back to the 1960s - it's just like old times again...

In many ways this moment feels like we're going back to the golden era of the show but there's just so much more information and hype everywhere - that's the modern world and media - it's not quite like old times then!

Saturday sees the broadcast of the first new Doctor Who in almost nine years, and the first BBC produced series in just over 15 years. The fans little secret, our little secret, which is already part way out of the bag given wall to wall trailers on the Beeb, will be well and truly blown and hopefully thousands of school playgrounds the length and breadth of Britain will echo to the sound of kids shouting "EXTERMINATE - EXTERMINATE" (at least after the Dalek episode is shown in a few weeks time).

I look forward to it, I hope you do too!

Published @ 1:40 PM (UK local time)

I was meaning to 'blog' a couple of days ago and do a one week on from the press launch type comment but I was very pleasantly waylaid part way through the week.

What by? I hear you all shout, well perhaps not but I'll tell you anyway. I was waylaid by two to three days of childish excitement and glee after seeing one of the best trailers, if not the best, that it's been my privilege to see. Some of you may be aware of what I'm referring to but to others it may come as a surprise to learn that the trailer in question, all 50 seconds of it, was for the new series of Doctor Who. (There's also a very similar 30 second version but it was the 50 that I saw first.) As you may see from the stills published on our New Series page the visuals were extremely impressive, although any glimpses given of actual scenes were fleeting, but for me the finest aspect of the trailer lay in it's script and most particularly in the words that Christopher Eccleston spoke (I suspect written by Russell T Davies) and in the brilliant way he delivered those lines.

There's a magic about Doctor Who that drew many of us in as kids and has rarely let us go since, or has drawn us back in years later - perhaps as a result of seeing these trailers. It's not easy to define and perhaps much of it rests on nostalgia but even when some eras of the programme haven't lived up to our recollections of the show's past we've always had that past to fall back on. Hence, I suspect, all the arguments over the rights and wrongs of the 80s and whether Pertwee is overrated.

There are times when the show is quite frankly risible and times when it so overflowing with that magic that it could make that inner child weep with joy. Many fans talk about those 'Doctor Who' moments and there are many; Patrick Troughton's "there are some corners of the universe..." in "The Moonbase" and Tom Baker's "Homo Sapiens..." speech in "The Ark in Space" are a couple that come to mind. For me those moments became far and few between later in the classic series' life but I know people who would swear that there were many even then, so the magic is all in the eye of the beholder.

Why hark on about this? Well, in the 50 odd seconds of that trailer I had one big magic moment and it looks as if a lot of other people did too. Just read the words that Eccleston spoke:

"Do you want to come with me?
'Cos if you do - I should warn you
You're going to see all sorts of things
Ghosts from the past
Aliens from the future
The day the Earth dies in a ball of flame.
It won't be quiet, it won't be safe and it won't be calm
But I tell you what it will be-
The Trip Of A Lifetime"

Those words cut right to the heart of Doctor Who and show why it's so different to Star Trek and so many other Sci-Fi series, particularly for children. There's magic at the heart of Who, here's a character who can go anywhere in time and space, see anything, save worlds, destroy worlds - fight for the dispossessed and downtrodden. The Doctor interferes, he has no prime directive, he lives on his wits and intelligence and really does screw up badly sometimes - but he's also funny and strange, he's an alien and perhaps even mildly scary at times.

However what's most pertinent is something that Russell T Davies has mentioned a number of times recently - no child (or adult for that matter) can really really imagine walking out the door and finding themselves in a Star Ship - it's way into the future and the people in those series are trained in a military fashion (and all wear funny uniforms and often speak lots of jargon that's crucial to the 'plot'). With the Doctor it's different, like the wardrobe in The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe or the clock and door in Tom's Midnight Garden the TARDIS could be just around the next corner and is a window into another world of adventures and danger, there could be a man with a Mancunian accent waiting inside; and when you meet him he really might say "Do you want to come with me?".

We are now about to embark on that "Trip Of A Lifetime" and I can't think of anyone better to go with than Christopher Eccleston's Doctor. I have a feeling that there may be a lot of children about to embark too and for them it's all new, it's all strange and there are no pre-conceptions - they will watch in wide eyed awe with no adult cynicism to spoil the trip. Rather like I used to do all those years ago - I just hope I can recapture that feeling and if the trailer is anything to go by I think it might just be possible.

Published @ 10:11 PM (UK local time)

I thought I'd write a quick message now that things have cooled down somewhat - I don't know about you but that was what I call a serious blitz of publicity and it 'aint over yet!

Every morning I drive past a billboard poster site and often stop at the traffic lights just below it. If I have time before the lights change I can glance up and see the faces of the Doctor and Rose staring down on me with the legend "DOCTOR WHO SATURDAYS AT 7PM" below (it's the one in the first poster picture on the New Series page). Yes, it really is happening, the series is coming back very, very soon after all the years of waiting.

It's great to see how hard the BBC are working to promote Doctor Who at the moment and is a sign of how much they believe in the show. Let's hope that come the 26th the ratings prove that they were right and our faith in Russell T Davies, Christopher Eccleston, Billie Piper and all the rest of the crew is justified. I think it will be for most of us although inevitably there will be some loud fan voices that scream their dislike of the series. However, we're not important believe it or not, it's the reaction of the general audience that counts and that'll be what makes or breaks this production.

As you may have seen on the New Series page there's a lot going on and we're running to keep up with it all - the piles of press cuttings are growing but we will have a cuttings update in the near future.

Don't forget that today is Tuesday and for those of us in the UK that means new listings magazines and this week the Radio Times has yet more series coverage and the promise of a special edition next week. Doctor Who is mentioned on the cover, there's more on page 19, mentions of the Dalek film that's being shown on Saturday, listings for the Doctor Who night on Saturday the 19th, a radio front page and of course radio listings for a number of Who related programmes including the first part of Project Who, Tuesday on BBC Radio 2. There are mentions of the show and listings in other listings magazines too, including Total TV, TV & Satellite Week, TV Quick and TV Times. If you think that's a lot just wait until next week - then we'll have the special Radio Times Issue (with Who cover) and a lot more - phew it's exhausting even thinking about it!

If you can't keep up with it all check out our New Series page for a downloadable plain text calendar of Doctor Who related programmes on radio and television.

Now I must get back to collating articles and getting very excited... it's like being a kid all over again... :-)

Roger

Published @ 2:35 PM (UK local time)

Today has been quite a ride so far for all of us and a rather thrilling one to boot.

Sit back and think about it - the press launch is happening right now, the trailers have started and frankly things are never going to be quite the same again.

We're excited and we hope you are all excited by what is happening - Doctor Who is right back in the public consciousness in the UK and increasingly so. This is probably the first time this has really been the case, at least so positively, since the early 1980s. Tomorrow we expect more press articles on the series and expect this to be the case throughout the lead up to the 26th - by the way it is 7pm on the 26th, that's the air date for "Rose".

The only fly in the ointment has been the leaking of the first episode and we'd like to say here that we feel very sorry that the carefully laid publicity plans of the production team and all those working to bring the series back at the BBC have been spoilt by what has happened. However, we have noted that the reaction of most fans who have seen the episode is on the whole positive and it is still the case that the vast majority of people will sit down on the 26th for their first taste of Doctor Who in many years.

We wish everyone the best of luck and enjoy the ride!

P.S. More cuttings very soon...

Published @ 10:00 PM (UK local time)

Hi all - it's been a little while since I posted but this post accompanies pretty major updates to both the cuttings and to the New Series News page. Where to begin, where to begin...

Cuttings

Details of these are in full on the main page suffice to say here that the update is big, very big - perhaps the biggest single update we've had. Lots of goodies in there including some very rare cuttings from the early 1970s as well as a lot of new series news related stuff.

Our next update should take place within the week and will see the new series related cuttings brought right up to date (apart from anything that's still on the newsstands that is). This effectively clears the decks for the flood of articles and news we expect after the press launch in Cardiff on the 8th of March - and on that subject:

New Series News

We've added a lot of news to the New Series News page over the weekend, partly in order to catch up with things (news updates have been a bit slow from us over the last month and a half) and partly because there's exciting news to tell.

This includes details of the lovely Doctor Who Confidential logo as well as some details of what's in the show. Additionally we have news of an exciting radio documentary narrated by Patrick Stewart (Captain Picard in Star Trek The Next Generation), new series BBC books and much more.

Most excitingly we can confirm, from independent sources, that the most likely date for the premiere of the series is the 26th of March (probably at 6.45 or 7pm). Do be aware though that until there is an official announcement made this may still change. We also have full details of the events leading up to the premiere; these include, the press launch, dates for the first tv and radio trails as well as major interviews (radio, press etc.), appearances and photo shoots that Chris and Billie will be involved in. There's much more so do take a look.

The Future

As mentioned above we are effectively clearing the decks for what we anticipate will be a lot of press coverage following on from the 8th (effectively the week starting the 5th of March). This will lead directly into the series and we have plans for covering it on a weekly basis in a unique way, but more on that later. All we can say for now is that we will be unveiling new pages, features and information and a rolling programme of weekly updates very soon.

These are exciting times and I anticipate we are all about to experience a big change in Doctor Who and fandom in particular.

Even if the series is not an enormous success in critical and ratings terms there are liable to be numbers of new fans attracted to the show and consequently surfing the net for Doctor Who sites and getting involved as fans. However, judging by the glowing review that Q Magazine has just published (see our News Page), where they describe the series as "must see TV for everyone", there may well be a very positive reaction to this series in the press and elsewhere - in fact it might just be some of the best Doctor Who we have ever seen.

This means that an awful lot of people will be appearing, some as fans and some, gasp, as normal interested members of the public; they will be viewing this and other websites for the first time, many of the new arrivals may well be younger than we have been used to here and elsewhere so for a start let's be welcoming and kind to them wherever we meet them.

It's also very probably the case that they will, at least initially, know very little about the classic series so we'll all have to do a lot of explaining - no problem here! :-)

So, we may be on the brink of something big - let's sit back and enjoy the trip!

(We'll be back very soon though with lots more.)

Roger :-)

Published @ 12:30 AM (UK local time)

Well what do you think of the new publicity image on the New Series News page?

I think it's very impressive and I prefer the colours on this one to the promotional postcard they released back in October (although I do like that one too but not as much).

Very nice - let's hope this is the first of many!

Roger :-)

Published @ 11:53 PM (UK local time)

Well, there I was just about to change channels to avoid the Vicar of Dibley and what should come on but a trailer for the new series - I have to admit it was very exciting to actually see this on BBC 1 and in a primetime slot. There's more on this on the New Series News page and your comments and thoughts on this are welcome here.

There have been a few brief mentions of the series already in press previews for 2005 but nothing of any significance to our knowledge - if you do spot anything please do tell us. We'll try to collate these for the site soon.

Now that normal service has resumed we'll have the promised update for you very soon and in the meantime we'd like to wish you all a very happy new year.

As an endnote please note that we've added links on our main page to websites where you can make donations for the victims of the Asian Tsunami Disaster - if you haven't already please consider taking a moment to donate.

Published @ 2:10 PM (UK local time)

A belated Merry Christmas to you all.

Sorry the comments and updates have been very quiet for the last 3/4 weeks but I had to make an emergency dash to the other end of the UK (the far north of Scotland) as a result of illness in the family then I promptly got the flu when I returned home. I'm thankfully now slowly recuperating.

The update is actually almost there so should be ready very early in the new year - just a word though to those who seem to think these things are pulled together at the 'drop of a hat'. Whilst we appreciate any requests for more material to be placed on the site are heartfelt it all takes a lot of time (and that comes from my/our spare time) so do have a bit of patience and perhaps realise that praise goes down far better than badgering and hectoring us (in fact the latter is far more likely to slow things down and stop your requested items from appearing for a while).

If, however, you have specific skills (Photoshop/Coding etc.) and would like to help out please do contact us and offer your practical suggestions - we're always more than happy to have a few more helping hands onboard.

In the meantime have a great Hogmanay and we'll see you in 2005... the year Doctor Who returns!

Roger :-)

Published @ 3:27 PM (UK local time)

We've just published some interesting news on the New Series News page and this includes details from a new BBC press release on their winter 2005 highlights. These, of course, include details of the new Doctor Who series.

On other fronts we continue to work our way through the mountain of cuttings for the next update. These include many fascinating newspaper items from the 1970s as well as all the latest press on the new series. There are close on to 100 cuttings so please bear with us as we ready this massive update.

Thanks for tuning in.

Roger :-)

Published @ 4:45 PM (UK local time)

Hello - almost at the end of the week and no update as yet but that's because there are so many cuttings being readied that it's taking quite a while.

On a rough count the total is nudging 90 and heading for the 100 mark, probably the largest update ever here but do correct me if I'm wrong! :-)

It includes a wide range of items covering Doctor Who from the 1960's up to last week. Many cuttings cover the new series but quite a few are from earlier eras and these include some very interesting, and rare, articles from the early 1970s.

A lot of these older cuttings have required a fair amount of restoration and cleanup work much of which has been very time consuming indeed. This will take at least another day and then it'll be a matter of building pages, writing details and adding all of these these to the site.

All very much worth waiting for I think!

Right, it's back to the grind for me...

Roger :-)

Published @ 5:14 PM (UK local time)

There are a number of new news stories on our New Series News page today you might want to comment on here including recent press reports, information in the new DWM, Doctor Who Confidential and the appointment of Mal Young's successor.

Meanwhile we're scanning a lot of recent articles and readying them for an update next week - it's gonna be a biggie!

Published @ 10:17 PM (UK local time)

I decided to start to tackle the ever growing pile of newspaper and magazine cuttings on my desk over the weekend - it's BIG!

So, in between watching the odd episode from the Lost in Time DVD and doing all the other 'life' things you have to do I started the scanning. It's a big job as a result of the sudden recent 'splurge' of articles, including one in Sunday's Observer (UK) - a full broadsheet page interview with Russell T Davies.

I'll continue to scan over the next few days until I'm happy that the pile is down to a manageable size again (it never disappears) and then I intend to switch my attention to Season 7 Radio Times coverage. Yes, I'm pleased to mention that this much neglected core area of The Cuttings Archive is due to be updated. I'd love to get all seasons done before the debut of the new series here in the UK next March (it increasingly looks like it'll be a Saturday in the third or fourth week of March) but I have my doubts about whether that'll be possible - we'll see.

I can also confirm that the Lost in Time DVD is every bit as good as I thought it would be although I haven't managed to get beyond the first disc yet! Isn't Day of Armageddon great? A while back I knew about some people who had managed to get their hands on VHS copies of the episode but I really couldn't see the point. After all it was coming out on DVD and you can now see it in a high-quality format, beautifully restored by the ever wonderful Restoration Team, and with an excellent commentary by Peter Purvis, Raymond Cusick and Kevin Stoney.

They have some interesting things to say and Peter is great at asking questions and reminding Kevin and Ray of little facts about the story and this era in general. They also say some interesting things about the new series and in particular the design of the new Daleks, given Cusick is the original designer of the Daleks you can't get much more authoritative than him on the subject! Gary Russell and Julian Glover also provide an excellent commentary on The Wheel of Fortune, my only regret with these commentaries is that time and budgets didn't stretch to their being more; I'd love to have heard Peter, Kevin and Ray commenting on Counter Plot and Escape Switch as well but that's a minor quibble and it's a brilliant package!

It just proves that it's worth waiting for good things sometimes and the anticipation makes it all the more enjoyable too. Now I'm off to watch Escape Switch and The Final Test and then it'll be some wonderful Troughton episodes later on...

Roger :-)

Published @ 8:30 AM (UK local time)

I've got slightly behind this week as a result of a complete idiot crashing into my car (a cherished Mini no less!) on Tuesday so please bear with me as I catch up with things. For those who are bothered I'm fine and the car will be fine (perhaps even better) once it's been fixed - there was a witness and the other person has accepted it was is fault. LOL, he was a bit shocked when he heard how much repairs would be though!

Anyway, I'll now stick to Doctor Who for the rest of these comments (I'm tempted to mention recent world events but I think that's best avoided here). So, as you may have noticed on the New Series News page I've added some (although I say it myself) fantastic high-quality scans of the BBC promotional postcard featuring Billie Piper and Christopher Eccleston. I believe these are probably by far the best copies available online - another first for The Cuttings Archive.

There are also details of a couple of recent articles on the series, one of which, in The Sun, seems directly drawn from online comment about the new series logo - careless talk?

I should add some new cuttings in the next week or so, so look out for these.

All the very best

Roger :-)

Published @ 11:55 PM (UK local time)