Karen Gillan to attend Convention in June

Starfury Events have announced that actress Karen Gillan (Amy Pond) is to attend their event, Return to the 11th Hour, later this year. The convention takes place from 28 to 30 June at the Hilton Metropole Hotel Birmingham, with Gillan appearing on the final day.

More guests are to be announced and you can find more details and buy tickets on the website here.

Last year, Starfury organised the brilliant conventions: The 11th Hour with Matt Smith (review here) and Midnight with David Tennant and Billie Piper.

Source: Blogtor Who

David Tennant: project updates, appearances, interview

• Comedy World Cup

The filming dates for Comedy World Cup have been released, plus the link to apply for tickets

Full details here

Pictures of 'David Tennant' from the Comedy World Cup advert which aired during the Paralympics broadcast last night are here

Source: David Tennant on Twitter

Reviews of today's pilot recording are here and here

Source: David_Tennant (twitter)  

• Lords of Time convention

With the news of the filming dates for Comedy World Cup confirmed, it means that David Tennant must be attending the Lords Of Time convention on Sunday 9th September as he is recording two episodes of Comedy World Cup on Saturday 8th.
Source: David Tennant on Twitter 

The organisers of the Lords Of Time Convention (taking place on Sunday 9th September) have added a link to order David Tennant's autograph for those people who can not attend . An autograph costs £25. 
 Source: David Tennant on Twitter 

• The Spies of Warsaw trailer

The BBC America trailer for Dramaville, which includes clips of The Spies Of Warsaw, is now on YouTube 

Source: David Tennant on Twitter

• Diary dates:

Sun 2 Sep -  David Tennant hosts the pilot of Comedy World Cup at RADA Studios in London.
Mon 3 Sep - Episode 14 of Tree Fu Tom (One For All) premières on CBeebies at 5.25pm.
Tues 4 Sep - 
Episode 15 of Tree Fu Tom (Treefle Tom) premières on CBeebies at 5.25pm.
Wed 5 Sep - Episode 16 of Tree Fu Tom (The Great Journey) premières on CBeebies at 5.25pm.
Thurs 6 Sep - The David Tennant read On Her Majesty's Secret Service audiobook is released.
Thurs 6 Sep - Episode 17 of Tree Fu Tom (Not So Fast) premières on CBeebies at 5.25pm.
Fri 7 Sep - Episode 18 of Tree Fu Tom (Hovering Humblebugs) premières on CBeebies at 5.25pm.
Sat 8 Sep - At 1.30pm David records episode one of Comedy World Cup at Teddington Studios and at 5pm he records episode two.
Sunday 9th Sept -  David Tennant will attend the Lords Of Time Fan Convention in Birmingham.
Source: David Tennant On Twitter

• INTERVIEW: Doctor Who's David Tennant Loves Spying and Shakespeare

The BBC veteran and Olivier Award winner spills all about his new miniseries, Spies of Warsaw, coming to the States, and why he worships the works of the Bard.

David Tennant is one of the British stage's most popular actors, having won awards and acclaim for his performances in such shows as Hamlet and Much Ado About Nothing. Stateside, he is best known for his portrayal of the title character on the classic series Doctor Who -- and will reportedly take part in the series' upcoming 50th anniversary special next year -- and his work as Bartemous Crouch, Jr. in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Currently, Tennant is focusing on movies and television, and recently filmed BBC America's two-part period miniseries, Spies of Warsaw, in which he plays Colonel Jean-Francois Mercier, a somewhat dashing, somewhat vulnerable, somewhat tough spy. TheaterMania recently spoke to Tennant about the miniseries, his hopes of doing theater in the U.S., and why he loves Shakespeare.

THEATERMANIA: How did you like playing this character in Spies of Warsaw?

DAVID TENNANT: It was great. He's the hero of the piece, but he is very much his own man. He's very much the military man following the orders of his superiors until he decides that's not the course of action he's willing to follow and then he becomes a rebel, so that's an interesting character plot to follow.

TM: He sounds a little bit like James Bond? Is he?

DT: When the script first came in, it was pitched to me as the French James Bond, with all that that entails. And as with Bond, he's a bit of a womanizer. Part of the reason for that is that he is quite damaged and quite introspective and isn't willing to share his life with anybody, so he has a succession of brief and uninvested love affairs.

TM: So you are going back and forth now between television and theater. Was that always the career plan?

DT: Yeah, that's the dream (laughs). It's working out so far.

TM Would you consider doing any theater in the US?

DT: I'd love to, yes.

TM: You are really enamored of Shakespeare's work, aren't you?

DT: I am on the board of the Royal Shakespeare Company and a huge part of what they do is education and outreach -- partly just to educate an audience for themselves but also just to teach that sort of language so kids can appreciate it. I think Shakespeare is one of those things that you get very excited about when you do it and when you love it and when you feel like you own that language. Often it's a difficult thing to teach to kids because it can feel like a slow and a difficult thing, but it can be really inspiring!

TM: What Shakespeare play best characterizes life currently?

DT: I don't think there's just one. I think what's extraordinary about Shakespeare is just every one of his plays seems to be eternally relevant. Maybe The Taming of the Shrew or The Merchant of Venice are a bit harder to spin these days, but certainly something like Hamlet feels like it was written yesterday and, something like Measure for Measure has extraordinary questions about how we feel about fidelity and sex. I mean, it's a very modern play.

TM: Which is easier for you to do, Shakespeare or modern plays?

DT: Sometimes it's easier to do Shakespeare than more modern stuff because you have the rhythm of it and because when the language is really good, really juicy, it's much easier to get behind it and join it up in your head. The hardest plays to learn are badly written ones, so actually Shakespeare is not as hard to learn as some scripts.

Source: Theater Mania

Karen Gillan: Doctor Who convention, new TV project, movie news

Karen Gillan to attend Official Doctor Who Convention 

BBC Worldwide confirmed today that Karen Gillan will be joining her co-stars Matt Smith and Arthur Darvill at the Official Doctor Who Convention taking place on the 24th and 25th March at Cardiff’s Millennium Centre. 

The Amy Pond actress said: “I'm really looking forward to the Convention and meeting all of the wonderful Doctor Who fans!”  

Karen Gillan joins a full contingent of professionals ready to give fans an unrivalled glimpse into the behind-the-scenes world of Doctor Who. Everyone from the Production Designer Michael Pickwoad, responsible for the show's visuals to Casting Director Andy Pryor revealing what it takes to find a Doctor will be gathering in one place to celebrate the creativity (and elbow grease!) that goes into the series. The Convention brings the makers of the Doctor Who together for a full day, in-depth event designed to reveal the inner workings of the series. On the main stage live pyrotechnic demonstrations will thrill attendees, while in detailed prosthetics masterclasses fans will see a monster made flesh in front of their eyes. Throughout these sessions the secrets of their craft will be revealed by masters of the trade including Danny Hargreaves, SFX Supervisor and Neill Gorton co-director of Millennium FX, Europe’s leading supplier of cutting edge prosthetics, animatronics and special make-up FX. 

Source: Blogtor Who

Also reported by Doctor Who News 

Official Convention Website: Doctor Who Convention

 

Karen Gillan, Stephen Fry for Dickens, Wilde, Coward 'In Love' series  

Karen Gillan and Stephen Fry are among the stars who will feature in Sky Arts' series of programmes celebrating the works of Charles Dickens, Oscar Wilde and Noel Coward. The In Love With series, which will air in February and March, will feature stars of stage and screen performing readings of the authors and playwrights' finest works. 

Doctor Who's Gillan - who will tackle the voiceover from Brief Encounter - Patricia Hodge, Celia Imrie, Robert Sheehan and Sheila Hancock will appear in the Noel Coward show. 

Read more at Digital Spy

 

Cash plea for star Karen’s debut film 

North businesses are being offered a chance to back glamorous Inverness-born Doctor Who girl Karen Gillan in her first big-screen venture. Flame-haired Miss Gillan, who plays the doctor’s sidekick, Amy Pond, will take the lead in Not Another Happy Ending, billed as a “charming romantic comedy”. Miss Gillan, who is due to leave Doctor Who during the next series, will star alongside up-and-coming Scottish star Emun Elliot. 

Film producer Claire Mundell said: “Emun and Karen are two of the hottest Scottish stars in a generation. Source: The Press and Journal