News Broadcasting
BBC begins filming fourth season of ‘Dr. Who’
MUMBAI: BBC has announced that the fourth season of Doctor Who has started filming, with Catherine Tate joining the drama series as The Doctor’s brand new companion Donna Noble.
The season will kick off in the UK on BBC One next year. In India the show airs on BBC Entertainment which is being carried by Tata Sky.
Tate is reprising her role as Donna, the runaway bride who featured in last year’s Doctor Who Christmas special. The start of the new series will see Donna tracking down the Time Lord during an alien emergency in modern-day London.
The couple are destined to experience a series of wonderful adventures throughout the new series including meeting one of Doctor Who’s most popular aliens, The Ood, in a brand new episode, Planet Of The Ood.
Donna and The Doctor – David Tennant – will also be travelling through time for an encounter with the legendary murder mystery novelist, Agatha Christie.
Agatha Christie will be played by Jekyll star Fenella Woolgar and The Good Life actress Felicity Kendal will star as Lady Clemency Eddison.
Doctor Who’s executive producer and head writer, Russell T Davies says, “Visiting Agatha Christie has been on my wish-list for ages now and, for the Doctor, it’s a real meeting of minds! Viewers can expect many more ambitious storylines and a whole host of guest stars in 2008.”
Agatha Christie’s grandson Mathew Prichard says, “What a brilliant idea that Agatha Christie and Doctor Who should meet! Two characters whose contribution to British entertainment is absolutely unrivalled.
“As far as I know my grandmother, Agatha Christie, never saw Doctor Who, but I am sure she would have been intrigued, excited and above all flattered by all this attention in 2007.”
Tate says, “I am delighted to be returning to Doctor Who. I had a blast last Christmas and look forward to travelling again through time and space with that nice man from Gallifrey.”
Freema Agyeman who has played Martha Jones, The Doctor’s companion throughout the critically acclaimed third series, will return to the show to join The Doctor and Donna mid-series.
News Broadcasting
Times Network to air JVC Exit Poll across 5 regions on April 29
Four-hour broadcast spans states and Puducherry with data-led analysis
MUMBAI: Times Network is set to roll out what it calls one of its most expansive election programming efforts yet, culminating in the JVC Exit Poll on 29 April, with a multi-hour broadcast spanning key poll-bound regions.
The exit poll will air across Times Now and Times Now Navbharat, beginning at 5pm and 4pm respectively. Co-powered by Vedanta and Jindal Stainless, the programming aims to combine on-ground reportage with data-driven projections across West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and Puducherry.
The network has deployed over 50 journalists across these regions, gathering voter sentiment and local insights in the run-up to polling. The effort builds on its ongoing election formats such as Election Yatra and Election Premier League, which have tracked campaign narratives and community-level issues.
In parallel, Times Now Navbharat has focused on constituency-level reporting in West Bengal through its Jan Gan ka Mann series, capturing voter opinions across diverse segments.
The coverage has also featured interviews with prominent political leaders. Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Congress leaders Ramesh Chennithala and V D Satheesan have appeared on the network’s election specials. From Tamil Nadu, voices including deputy chief minister Udhayanidhi Stalin, DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran, BJP leader K Annamalai and NTK’s Seeman have also featured in discussions.
On the day of the exit poll, the network’s primetime anchors, including Navika Kumar, Zakka Jacob and Sumit Awasthi, will lead the coverage. They will be joined by a panel of political analysts, psephologists and senior journalists offering real-time insights and interpretation of trends.
The programming will integrate grassroots reportage with analytics from the JVC Exit Poll, aiming to give viewers an early sense of electoral outcomes ahead of the official results on 4 May.
With its combined English and Hindi broadcast reach, Times Network is positioning this effort as a comprehensive look at voter sentiment, blending field reporting, data and debate to decode what could lie ahead when the final mandate is revealed.
