Billie Piper and David Tennant Up for a Doctor Who Movie?

Garry: Hey, hey, hey who fans and welcome to the Big Blue Box Podcast. My name's Garry and welcome to episode 429. Hey, hey, hey who fans. Welcome back to another episode. I hope you are keeping well and safe. I hope you've had a cracking few weeks since we were last here and that you've all managed to do something Doctor Who related. Indeed. It's been a minute. As always. It's very, very light on what's happening in the world of Doctor Who right now. There really isn't very much to talk about. So the weekly episodes, as you guys know, are kind of thinned out a little bit at the moment as we, as we cruise through this sort of uncertain time within Doctor Who at the moment. Now that shoot is here, has finished up and we've got the very big cliffhanger with Billy Piper. Is she the Doctor, is she not? Who knows? But I think we're gonna have to wait just a while to find out exactly who that character is going to be. And I've got a story relating to that coming up in this episode. So it is me traveling solo through the vortex for another one. Just wanted to say hello, really, and just to make sure you're good, make sure you're all keeping safe and keep you up to date with a few Doctor Who stories and a nudge for a couple of conventions happening here in the UK next year that. That tickets are available now to book to. To get your. Your 2026 all queued up and ready, ready to rock and roll. So, yeah, it has been a minute. The last one we did episode 428, that was back on back in July. Crikey. So we've done the roundtable in the meantime. So we've, we've spoken to. To the writing team since then. We did, we did a look back on Whooverville 16, the convention that most of us were at, and we got the thoughts of Matt and Harry on Paradise Towers, because it was the first time that I think it was Matt, I think it was the first time that he'd ever seen it and, and Harry had watched it many moons ago and rewatched it wasn't. So, yeah, it was a. It was a really good episode, that one. To look back at that conference and convention. Sorry. And look at Paradise Towers. An interesting story, that one for sure. Yes. But the last episode, the episode that I did, we spoke, or I spoke about the ninth Doctor and Rose. So Chris Eccleston and Billy Piper back at big finish for the ninth Doctor adventures, which was very Cool. And it was cool to wax a little bit about those guys coming back and doing all that. Billy Piper seems to be back quite prominently in the world of Doctor Who recently. And as I said, I've got a story coming up for, for that stuff and she's in another story as well. But in that episode it was also Doctor Who's first ever Emmy nomination. It was for Outstanding Choreography for Scripted Programming. And Mark Gattis dropped a bit of a bit of a savage bomb in an interview at the time, saying that it was risky to use nostalgia when writing for Doctor Who these days, etc. So if you're not listening to that episode, go back and check that one out. But for this episode 429, I've got a little reminder for you for the upcoming Blu Ray set. Some new stories and then yeah, the, the, the conventions that are coming up next year. So as I said, I hope you are all keeping well and safe. Twitter's quite quiet at the moment. There's a few little bits kick and the other socials, Facebook threads, Insta and etc etc and Blue sky, we're on Blue sky, so if you want to chat to us. By the way, we are still very active on the socials, so you can find links to the social accounts on the website, which is bigblueboxpodcast.co.uk come and chat over there with us. We're mainly on bluesky and Twitter. We do post occasionally to Instagram and Facebook, but that's normally just when like there's an announcement or a new episode goes out or a new article from the writing team. Which leads me onto the writing team. So those guys still put out loads of stuff on the blog regularly. So big finish reviews, convention roundups, articles on stuff, editorials. Go and check that stuff out. It's on the website. And going back to chatting with us, we have a very cool Discord server as well, so there's a link to that on the website. Loads of other cool Doctor Who fans all congregate in there and chat. Loads of different stuff. Loads of different things relating to classic who, new Doctor Who conventions, collecting soundtracks, books, the whole shebang. So go and check out the Discord server if you've not done so yet. Really cool place to just come out and hang out and just chat Doctor Who. So go and do that right onto the stories. The the first one is the reminder for the season 13 Blu Ray set that's out this month. I think it's out towards the end of month, around the 20th, 25th something like that, this is going to land. But if you've not pre ordered this yet, go and get your, get your pre orders in. Because sometimes these Blu Ray sets, especially some of the more popular ones like this one, they do tend to go before you know it. So if you've checked Amazon, like the usual places here in the UK would be Amazon, Zavi, hmv, that sort of thing. I'm not sure about the us, but same rule applies if you've gone on there a couple of times, check the stock and it's in stock and you think, oh, it's cool, yeah, I'll pre order it, it's fine. You often find that when you do go to do it, they're gone. So the reason why I say that is because this season is often regarded as one of the best, certainly one of Tom Baker's best runs in the classic era. Often regarded as like peak classic Doctor Who this season. So just because it's got some bangers in there. So from the six stories, like four of them are just absolute, just amazing. So Terror, the Zygons, Planet of Evil, Pyramids of Mars, the Android Invasion, the Brain of Morbius, the Seeds of Doom. So just brilliant, brilliant stories. And myself and Harry from the team, we were at the BFI a couple of weeks ago and we saw the. They did a screening of the Terror of the Zygons, which was amazing as always, to watch classic who in the cinema. And. But what was also cool is that we got some extended trailers for the Blu Ray set and some little treats and messages from Tom Baker. It was amazing. It was so cool. But the special features, and they do get better and better with every set, I'm convinced of it. These look really cool. So Tom Baker is back for a new interview to talk about his thoughts on season 13 and those stories, which looks really good. He put a couple of messages, recorded a few. They played him in the cinema, although he's looking old. Of course he is. He is old these days. Still got that glint in his eye, still got that beaming smile, still have plenty of energy. He looks, he looks and sounds really cool and yeah, he just looks, just looks really cool. It's the other special features they, they've brought back the usual stuff that they do. So behind the sofa, the Matthew Sweet interviewing conversation and the audio commentaries and so on. The mix that we heard in the cinema for Terror of Zygons was a new 5.1 mix. It sounds really, really cool. Really cool. And I'm pretty sure they've done that for Pyramids of Mars as well. And there's a new feature called Worlds within and it's a look into the. The actor Ian Martyr who played Harry Sullivan. That looks really cool. Quite emotional one I think that one. And return to 13, which is Philip Hinchcliffe goes back to the locations where they filmed some of the season 13 stories and he gets reunited with some of the old cast and crew as well. And Graham Harper sits down with Matthew Sweet to talk about his life and career on Doctor Who, etc. So just a reminder, get your pre order in. This looks like a very, very, very cool box set, this one. And a really popular series of Doctors. I'd hate for you to to miss out on this one. I think it'd be a great set. See, as I said, you can order it in the usual places here in the UK. I'm not sure about the US I'm assuming Amazon.com and some other places. So get that order in. Onto some news. Old Colin Baker has weighed in on the Billy Piper slash Rose thing that we saw at the finale to season 15, which was. Had everybody scratching their heads. Had everybody. And yeah, it was just a weird thing to witness. I think we can all agree. Very shocking. Like what. What are they doing? What. What is all this about? Who knows? So Colin Baker was in, was interviewed on, is interviewed on the Oxford Mail recently and of course because it's an actor from Doctor Who. The conversation of Doctor Who is always front and center. So they asked him what he thought about what's going on with Rose and Billy Piper. His first response was it's a load of old malarkey. That was his first response. And he goes on to say that he hasn't got a clue but he believes that Billy Piper's inclusion was meant to be sort of open ended and leaving people wondering what's. What's going on. He goes on to say that I think they didn't know what to say so they just did that. I think there will be something involving Billy Piper but she's not to the Doctor Who can she be? She's someone else. It's like me being the master. Well, I could be, I suppose. And so I think Colin's basically saying that they were kind of. They didn't really know what they were doing because everything behind the scenes with the show was so up in the air. I'm. There's this would go one of two ways. Who fans. Number one, what Colin's saying and what we've all suspected is true that because everything was so up in the air with Disney and budgets and shooty and everything, they really didn't have a plan going into the next series, into 16, so they just threw this in there, left it open ended as Colin is saying, and then they'll just address it when they get back to making the show. And I'm sure Russell's got some thoughts around how they do that. The other way to do it is that Russell D. Davis is going to be interviewed at some point and he will say that this was all intentional all along. This was all part of the plan. Everything was, you know, very intentional. So we'll wait to see on that. But anyway, Colin goes on to say, I suppose she could be a look alike but they could come up with anything. And that's the joy of the series, you can do anything with it. So if they choose to do it, they could. And he was then asked finally who he would like to see in the role of the Doctor and he just goes on to say, I think it would be quite nice if it was somebody completely different. I guess he means not Billy Piper. And then he says that he'd pick his daughter Rosie. He thinks she'd be very good, which is quite sweet. And moving on to someone else involved with the show, albeit not so much anymore. But Steven Moffat, previous showrunner, of course, he was interviewed on the Radio Times. The conversation drifted into Doctor Who, as it always does, and his thoughts on this was in terms of Billy Piper coming back. He says, I genuinely don't have any insider information. But they have hedged their bets. They've not said she's the Doctor. So I'd, I don't know, I don't even know if they know, exclamation mark. So a couple of people involved in the show who are essentially saying, yeah, you, you would think that we would know. We, we. I don't know if that's genuine or not. They obviously couldn't say even if they did. But they're saying they don't know and they also agree, I think in a nutshell that it's just bonkers. They're saying that the Bib doesn't even know, Russell doesn't even know. It's just an open ended, an open ended thing. Billy Piper has been interviewed about this a couple of times. The last time that this subject was brought up was at Super Con in Florida a few months ago in July and she said that her appearance on the show was a last minute development and, but she's remaining tight lipped on what she thinks is going to happen moving forward. But she does think it was a really cool ending to the season, which of course she would say that. So I think we can all agree, I think we're all, maybe not every single one of us, but I think the majority of us are all in the same boat as Colin and Steven. Really. We kind of think that. Yeah, it's a bit weird. It was a bit of a, bit of a weird thing, bit of a head scratcher. But the Bieb and Russell, those guys didn't really know what to do moving forward because of the uncertainty of everything. So we'll just throw that in there, get everybody talking about who for ages until it comes back, you know, and then they'll address it then. So thank you very much, Digital Spy, for those interview snippets, etc. Let's carry on with Billy Piper for a second. Billy Piper and David Tennant were at the recent LA Comic Con and they were doing a panel together. Of course, it was 99 about Dr. Who, as you would imagine, and the conversation was around predominantly those two wanting to appear in a TV movie of Doctor Who. I say a TV movie. That's incorrect. A full feature film of Doctor the reason why I say TV movies because I've been listening to the soundtrack to the TV movie a lot recently. I love that I've said it on, on, on this podcast and on social media a few times. The Regardless of your thoughts on the McGann TV movie, the soundtrack is underrated. Love it. Anyway, L.A. comic Con is a weird one. You'd think that that would be a huge convention, but I think it often gets overshadowed by obviously the the daddy of all conventions in San Diego, just called Comic Con and some other conventions over in the US have really picked up steam in the last few years. What's some other popular ones would be. So WonderCon's a really big one nowadays. New York Comic Cons are big. And there's one called Heroes Con, which has grown steadily over the last few years that's got a really good mix. So I hear of going back to the old roots of comic cons, where it's actually about comic books. So a massive amount of comic book traders and all that stuff, but a good mix of celebs and photo shoots and merch and all that jazz. So LA comicom. Yeah, you don't really hear a massive amount. I could be wrong on that. I just, I often just hear about the the San Diego one and the other ones a bit more. But sorry, digressed. David Tennant Billy Piper on a panel hosted by Tiffany Babb. And she basically said to them, could you see a Doctor Who movie being a thing, and if so, would you come back and reprise your roles to do that? Billie Piper didn't hesitate. She just went straight in with a firm yes, no question. And then David Tennant said, sure. And then the two of them started to lean into that a little bit and talk about that. So Billy Piper then said, I was always pitching for that. She said, where's the film, question mark. And then David Tennant said, yes, where's the movie? And then the pair of them had a. Had a bit of a giggle and said, you know, we're the ones to do it, I think. And then Billie Piper went on to say that she really enjoyed seeing Doctor Who in the cinema and said that the. The recent screenings that they did for the series, 15 finales and so on. She said that. She said, I loved it that people went to see the last Doctor Who episode in the cinema. She said, I just love that I would love the Doctor Who experience on the big screen. She says that they're sort of like films anyway, but, yeah, I'd do that, wouldn't you? And then Davidson says, yeah, for sure, we're available. And then another little laugh and so on. So that's got people talking, of course. You know, you've even got. Some people saw two different social posts, one on threads, one on Twitter two days ago, where it was very, very clickbaity, but the titles were basically new Doctor Who movie coming. You know, whatever. It's like, hold on, there is no Doctor Who film announced or that's going to star Billy Piper and Davidson, anything like that. This is just those two having a bit of a laugh, but at the same time thinking, actually, that could be kind of cool. And, yeah, it's always an interesting one. The whole turning a TV series into a feature film, in my opinion, it's always a. It's always a strange beast, because Billy Piper makes a pretty good point here in that I think what she's saying is because the show, especially in the last few years, has been a lot more cinematic in its delivery and its visual style and everything. It's. She's right. It is kind of like a film anyway, which I think why it works so well. Going to see. Going to see at the cinema. So I think, you know, would you want to put all of that sort of time and additional budget that goes into making a film to, you know, to do that for the sake of it, just to Make a film. Because I think the best example of that is probably what we're going to see next year with the Mandalorian and Grogu film from the Mandalorian series over with the, in the Lucasfilm camp with the, with Star wars again, a show that's very, very cinematic. Essentially just a bunch of mini films, you know, a bit like Doctor Who. Is it going to work as a film? Who knows? Should it have stuck as a TV show? Who knows? We don't know. Personally, I think having a TV film of Dr. Who would be a great sort of gap filler while they're sorting out all of the stuff that's going on with the main show. Because although we've got some spin offs coming, the War Between Land and the Seas dropping next year, we still don't really know what's going on with the main show. So having a film drop in the next year or two, because I think again, could be wrong on this. But I think the, the past, the probability of the main Doctor Who show coming back within the next three years even is kind of tight. So, yeah, I know it takes a long time to make a film, of course, I'm not naive to that. But you know, if the, the main show is going to be a few years off, that could be cool, who knows? But yeah, David Tennant and Billy Piper, they're up for it. So Russell, I know you listen, Pete McTighe, all you guys, I know you listen to the show regularly. So let's get that happening, shall we? Let's get the old film in motion. So that's the main Doctor Who news that's been kicking around. I wasn't lying when I said that it's thin on the ground at the moment. It has been for a little while and I think it will continue to do so. So thank God for the classic Blu Ray sets that have that drop a couple of times a year and the conventions that still roll and you know, thank God for that stuff. And big finish of course. Just thank God for those guys still putting out Doctor Who content regularly and giving us stuff while there's, while sod all is happening with the main show. Gonna finish on a couple of bits happening for conventions next year. But before I do that, I've got some brand, a brand new Doctor Who thing. If you're into comic books. There's a brand new story from Titan dropping next month. It's called the Prison Paradox. It's written by Dan Watters with art by Sammy Cavella, who's a new Artist to the Doctor Who stuff over at Titan. And it's a four issue miniseries and it's set during the same time frame as series 15 that's just been and gone stars the Doctor and Belinda and they find themselves trapped aboard a prison space station called the the Panoptopolis, which is heavily monitored by the Shadow Proclamation. The reason why is because it houses some pretty, pretty bad wrong un's essentially. And there's an interesting character called the Warden who looks to be again, a bit of a wrong and a bit of a bad dude. And the Doctor and Belinda need to obviously escape, but they can't do that by themselves. So they go into cahoots by the looks of it, with some of the inmates at this prison space station. And one of the things that's caught people eye, people's eye is the returning characters from the TV show. So there's a character called Annie. You might have heard her in some, some other about her in some, some other comic books about Doctor Who. She's basically a parasitic Adipose from Partners in Crime. You've seen the Adipose dudes and most notably the Slythin is back. So there's a pirate looking Slitheen character called Felik, he's got an eye patch on, looks like a mean badass Slitheen. All heavily wanted characters throughout the galaxy, etc, and it looks like they are teaming up with the Doctor and Belinda to either escape the space station prison completely or to take down the Warden or both. Who knows, but could be a cool little comic book run there. So this launches on November 5th, so go and pick that up if possible, head over to your local comic book shop, support your local comic book shop if you can. Otherwise you'll be able to order online from Forbidden Planet and the rest of them, etc. So yeah, the prison Paradox. Bit of a good old sort of prison breakout story coming November 5th. Now onto some conventions that are dropping next year. The first One is Whooverville 17. So me and most of the big blue box team were at Whooverville 16 recently. Last month I think it was. And it was a great convention. We spoke about it on the roundtable recently. Go and check that out for a bit more of a deep dive into that. But it was a great convention for Doctor Who. Really, really cool. It feels like these days conventions are just this massive big machine, very impersonal and it's just a you, you can tell whenever I go to things like Showmasters, London Film and Comic Con or an mcm, you know, those kind of big events. Although it's cool. Don't get me wrong. Although it's cool, I feel like I'm. I'm just part of the big money making machine. That's what it feels like when I'm there. I feel like, you know, I'm there to spend as much money as possible and it's just, yeah, it's just not very a personal experience if you like the big sort of spectacle of all that stuff and you love being around thousands and thousands of people and all that stuff. Don't get me wrong, it is cool on one hand than fair play. However, a convention like Whooverville is way smaller, way more personal, way more. Everything's just slowed down just a wee bit, if that makes sense. They still have some very cool guests, some great merch. They've got a whole room, a couple of rooms dedicated to all the merch and stuff. They still do autographs and the photos and all that jazz. It's just a bit more balanced, feels a lot more intimate, you know, because you're, you're amongst of course other very cool who fans but the people that are there, the guests, you just have a little bit more time to interact with them. And of course, you know, you often bump into people who are staying at the same hotels as you are as hu fans. So the night before Whooverville 16 were in the. They do it at a really cool venue in Derby called the Quad and they've got a, they've got a cafe slash bar there and we were doing the, the Doctor Who quiz the night before and there was also a really cool group doing impersonations. I can't remember the name of the little ensemble but they were really, really cool. And anyway we're sitting there and then, and then you're chatting to one, you know, an actor from the show. So talking to the guy who played Garry in the Interstellar song contest, he was there and you bump into him and you know, just like it's nothing. And then the following night, the night after the convention, you're in the Premier Inn bar and you're chatting to Matthew Waterhouse and some other people as well as who fans. So it's a lot more sort of bang for your buck in terms of quality time with people. And yeah, so me and the team were at 16, they've already announced Whooverville 17. They did that at the end of the day of the. The one. So this is a one day by the way. And Stephen who runs it, he basically said, yep, we'll be back next year. 17 years ago. And now they've just announced tickets so you can get your ticket for next year and it's happening on the 5th of September 2026 again at the Quad in Derby. And I would say if you've not been to a Doctor Who convention for a while, check out Whoville 16. It's very, very cool. Or if you've, if you regularly attend those big ones and you're thinking of going to one of the smaller, quieter ones, then 100% check this out. It's a thoroughly worthwhile weekend. Although it's a one day, it's worth going up on the Friday to do the official entertainment stuff that they do the night before and then stay over on the Saturday night as well. After you've been to the convention you can decompress a little bit, you know, go to the bar, grab some food and just chat Doctor Who all weekend with like minded people and then bugger off home on the Sunday so you can make a weekend of it even though it's a one day. So I'll put a link in the show notes to book your ticket. If you're in the UK or even if you're not, come over if you're in Europe somewhere, you fancy a weekend in the uk, you want to do a Doctor Who thing then, then, then come and check that out as well. So that's Whooverville 16, tickets for that. And then lastly the, the Doctor Who Appreciation Society do a yearly convention called the Capitol. Next year's one is to celebrate 50 years of the DWAS. So that is on. This is a two day event, this one. So this is on Saturday the 9th and Sunday the 10th of May next year and some guests have been announced for that one already. Colin Baker, Paul McGann, Katie Manning, Mark Ayers who does all of the audio production and restoration and some composition stuff, especially on the Blu Ray box sets. Robert Shearman, Dean Hollingsworth, Mickey Lewis, loads of really cool people. And between now and May next year they'll probably announce a whole raft of other guests who are going to attend. This is just the initial announcement lineup. They'll add plenty to that. So Whooverville 17, there'll be at least two or three of the Big Blue Box team at that one for Whooverville the Capitol this weekend. I'm pretty sure that we're all going to this one. So this is down in Gatwick near London and it's at the Crowne Plaza and let's have a look. Yeah, so 50 years 9th and 10th of May, London, Gatwick, so you can get your Tickets for this one, of course, already. And we went to a DWAS event earlier on this year again, me and the team. It was called Capitol Cutaway. It was in London. It was a really, really cool event, that one. Nice and smoothly organized, really nice day, some great guests, really good panels and. And that was a good one. So this should be that times 100 over the weekend. So two conventions there in the UK. I highly, highly recommend checking those out, especially if you've not been to a WHO convention in a while or you've never been to one and you're just like, you know what? I'd love to go and catch up with WHO fans, see some people from the show, you know, bag a little bit of merch perhaps and just have a very cool laid back weekend or a single day at Whooverville and do that. So the reason why I mentioned these now is one again, the tickets are on sale. Although these conventions are next year, there's a possibility that they sell out and they often do. With the Capitol Cutaway event that happened last year, those tickets sold out with a month to go or a few weeks to go. So this one might do the same. Same for Whooverville, who knows? So if you want to check them out next year, do that. And also these things tend to sort of come around really quickly. Oftentimes you will, and I've done it myself. Where in. In our Discord or in our WhatsApp group for the team. Somebody will say, hope to see you at whatever event this weekend. I'm really excited. And then initially you're like, oh cool. And then you. The thought very quickly gets followed up by, oh crap, I've not booked my ticket for that one. Then you have to scramble and so on. So these things tend to come around relatively quickly. And because these guys don't have a massive marketing campaign, obviously they can't. They can't do billboard posters and radio ads and all that stuff. The budget's not there for that. So these things in the background cruise along and then before you know it, they're here. So anyway, the Capitol and Whooverville 17 next year, some very, very cool conventions to get your teeth stuck into. And I think we'll stop it there for episode 429. It. Thank you. Thank you very much for coming back and listening to another episode of the Big Blue Box. That was episode 429. It's been cool to, albeit by myself to talk through some recent news for Doctor Who. It sounds weird, but me just talking into a microphone in an empty room, it's actually quite, quite nice to do because all the thoughts and in my head about these things and stuff that I read just stays in my head. So it's nice to to get this stuff out. Some really cool news. Little snippets there going on. As I mentioned, it is quite light and quite dry out there at the minute for Doctor Who, but we have got a couple of bits trickling through so remember to get your pre order in for the season 13 box set, the Blu Ray set, if you've not done that yet because that might go out of stock. It's a really popular season that one. Let me know your thoughts on if you would love to see a proper feature film for Doctor Who. I don't mean just a TV episode that they put in the cinema. I mean a proper made for cinema film starring Billy Piper and David Tennant. Could be cool. Let me know your thoughts on that and the comic books landing for the for the Next Titan Series November 5th and also get your tickets booked for the upcoming convention as well. You can listen this episode on all the podcast apps, make sure you're following and subscribing and you can listen online over at the website bigblueboxpodcast.co.uk and you can read the articles and reviews, everything from the writing team over there. Plus there are links to go off to the socials and the Discord server. So connect with us and chat Doctor Who over on whatever channel you feel like. Until next time for episode 430. My name's Garry and remember: Aaaaaaallons-y!