UK: Thousands flock to London exhibition celebrating 50 years of tv series Doctor Who
Record ID:
837389
UK: Thousands flock to London exhibition celebrating 50 years of tv series Doctor Who
- Title: UK: Thousands flock to London exhibition celebrating 50 years of tv series Doctor Who
- Date: 22nd November 2013
- Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (NOVEMBER 22, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF DOCTOR WHO WRITER, STEVEN MOFFAT, DOCTOR WHO ACTRESS, JENNA COLEMAN, AND DOCTOR WHO ACTOR, MATT SMITH, POSING FOR PHOTOGRAPHS COLEMAN TALKING TO REPORTER (SOUNDBITE) (DOCTOR WHO ACTRESS, JENNA COLEMAN, SAYING: "It's a show that five-year-olds can watch and a show that a 70-year-old will watch and still be kind of current in that you can't get older and you can still travel anywhere in the world and I think a family show that you can sit down and all of the family enjoy it on so many levels." COLEMAN TALKING TO MEDIA SMITH TALKING TO MEDIA MOFFAT TALKING TO MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (English) DOCTOR WHO WRITER, STEVEN MOFFAT, SAYING: "There's a weird bubble you disappear into when you make a TV show - all you think about is getting it made. It sort of doesn't occur to you until about five minutes before curtain up that you're actually going to put it on television. I don't think I really believe it yet. We're one day from transmission in 94 countries; I still can't quite believe we're going to have this huge security leak where we let everybody see it in the world. It feels wrong." VARIOUS OF SMITH BEING INTERVIEWED BY LITTLE GIRL (SOUNDBITE) (English) DOCTOR WHO ACTOR, MATT SMITH, SAYING: "I think ultimately the sort of very basic principle that it is about a sort of endearing but quite crazed alien and that you can go anywhere in time and space and you can explore any genre and you're not really bound by any logic and I think that allows for a great scope of storytelling and I think, at its heart, it's quite simple really."
- Embargoed: 7th December 2013 12:00
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- Location: United Kingdom
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- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: Entertainment
- Reuters ID: LVAAM9HNPIS06DZCMC8SMO2CHKL1
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- Story Text: Doctor Who superstars Matt Smith and Jenna Coleman join writer Steven Moffat to celebrate the 50th anniversary of television's longest-running science-fiction series as thousands of avid fans descend on East London.
East London played host on Friday (November 22) for thousands of fans of the hit sci-fi series, Doctor Who, to celebrate 50 years since its first episode, which began on the BBC in 1963.
The world's longest running science fiction drama began celebrations for its half century of entertaining children and adults alike by welcoming fans to the ExCeL centre in the east of the British capital.
The centre is hosting three days of an exhibition charting the Time Lord's rise from obscurity and confusion after a late broadcast due to extended news coverage of the death of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, into a national institution in the UK and a global fascination with the series.
Fans from all over the world attended the first day of the exhibition on Friday, the international popularity which Danish fan Daniel said was explained by the show's winning formula.
"I think a lot of sci-fi shows take themselves too seriously and get too caught up in their own continuity and it creates errors," he told Reuters Television.
"With Doctor Who you can just sort of hand-wave it and that allows that freedom to really explore all these concepts and really explore what it means to be human," he added.
Doctor Who fan Michael Franks said he had seen the very first episode, and being able to look back on the last 50 years now was an incredible feeling given how things have changed since then.
"It's actually incredible, but the strangest thing is that I'm now holding things which would have been in the programme as unbelievable devices," he said
Young fan Rory said he'd watched the series all his life.
"I've been watching Doctor Who since I was three and I've collected it ever since," he said.
"I like everything basically," he told Reuters.
Cast and crew from every era of Doctor Who were due to take part in the weekend, from Carole Ann Ford and William Russell, who starred alongside William Hartnell in the very first episode An Unearthly Child, through to current Doctor Matt Smith and his companion Jenna Coleman.
Visitors were also able to enjoy behind-the-scenes demonstrations and workshops, costumes and props.
Speaking at the exhibition, Coleman said the show's trans-generational appeal was its most unique selling point.
"It's a show that five-year-olds can watch and a show that a 70-year-old will watch and still be current in that you can't get older and you can still travel anywhere in the world and I think a family show that you can sit down and all of the family enjoy it on so many levels," she said.
Doctor Who writer Steven Moffat takes the show count to 790 instalments, and said that the pressure of carrying the Doctor over the 50 year threshold had still not sunk in.
"There's a weird bubble you disappear into when you make a TV show - all you think about is getting it made. It doesn't occur to you until about five minutes before curtain up that you're actually going to put it on television," he said.
"I don't think I really believe it yet. We're one day from transmission in 94 countries; I still can't quite believe we're going to have this huge security leak where we let everybody see it in the world. It feels wrong," he added.
Peter Capaldi is due to take the mantle of the 12th Doctor, after Matt Smith, who has played the role since 2010, said in June he would be bowing out in this year's Christmas special.
Smith told Reuters Television the heart of the concept of Doctor Who allowed it to span the sort of appeal that justified the global interest in it.
"I think ultimately the sort of very basic principle that it's about an endearing but quite crazed alien and that you can go anywhere in time and space and you're not really bound by any logic. I think that allows for a great scope of storytelling," he said.
Saturday (November 23) will see special episode "Day of the Doctor" screened simultaneously in 94 countries, including 1,500 cinemas, which show insiders suggest could see between 300 and 400 million people tuning in at the same time to watch.
The exhibition was put together by BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC, and runs from November 22-24. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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