Viewers in France will get to see the latest adventures of the Doctor and Clara straight after Christmas this year, as France 4 confirm that the series premiere, The Magician's Apprentice, will air on Saturday 26th December at 8:50pm.

The series premieres three months after the UK, with French viewers getting to see the episodes in their native French dub earlier than in recent years - Matt Smith's first series aired from February 2011, Series 6 from May 2012, Series 7 from May 2013 and then Series 8 from March this year (the channel did of course air The Day of the Doctor on the 50th Anniversary!).

En exclusivité en France depuis 2005, France 4 vous fait voyager une nouvelle fois à travers l’espace et le temps avec la 9e saison inédite de la série culte britannique Doctor Who. Après une année fracassante dans la peau du Docteur, Peter Capaldi revient avec, à ses côtés, Jenna Coleman et des invités-vedettes, dont Maisie Williams de Game of Thrones.

Le Docteur et Clara, désormais partenaires, ont construit une relation dynamique d’égal à égal. Le lien qui les unit est plus fort que jamais, et ils ne boudent pas leur plaisir et les émotions que leur procurent le temps et l’espace. Ils sont sur le point d’embarquer pour leurs plus grandes aventures et vont devoir batailler contre des fantômes, les Vikings et le mal ultime... les Daleks.

Avec sa british rock’n’roll attitude, le Docteur est prêt à se dresser contre tout monstre menaçant l’univers. Missy est de retour pour le tourmenter une fois de plus ; les Zygons inspirent la peur en se transformant en clones humains ; et un(e) nouveau(elle) venu(e) évolue sur une vague cosmique…

La 8e saison de Doctor Who, la plus regardée de toutes sur la BBC, a remporté d’élogieuses critiques pour son nouveau tandem. Avec, au programme, un duo traversant des moments de suspense intense, et des épisodes stand-alone impliquant de l’innovation narrative, la série bouscule le prime time et offre un voyage cinématographique à travers le temps.

« Au casting de cette 9e saison, ­ figure un vaste panel d’invités : la magnifique, la drôle, la folle Missy est de retour ; l’exceptionnelle Maisie Williams campe un personnage qui mettra au défi le Docteur de manière inattendue et bien sûr, Osgood reviendra d’entre les morts, mais le Docteur risque bien d’être surpris et ferait mieux de ne pas se ­ fier à sa première fan.

Cette saison sera aussi démente que passionnante : nous allons repousser les frontières avec le plus expérimental de tous les épisodes de la série. J’ai en effet réservé quelque chose de spécial pour le Docteur, mais je ne peux pas vous en dire plus, seulement que c’est du jamais vu dans la série ! » (Steven Moffat, scénariste et producteur exécutif)

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An exclusive in France since 2005, France 4 lets you travel through space and time once again with the unprecedented ninth season of the British cult series Doctor Who. After a sensational year as the Doctor, Peter Capaldi returns with Jenna Coleman at his side, and guest stars including Maisie Williams of Game of Thrones.

The Doctor and Clara have now built a dynamic partnership of equals. The bond between them is stronger than ever, and they do not shun the pleasure and emotions that time and space give them. They are about to embark on their biggest adventure and will have to fight against ghosts, the Vikings and the ultimate evil ... the Daleks.

With his British rock'n'roll attitude, the Doctor is ready to stand up against any monster threatening the universe. Missy is back to torment him again; the Zygons inspire fear by transforming into cloned humans, and a new meeting operates on a cosmic wave.

The eighth season of Doctor Who, the most watched of all on the BBC, has won rave reviews for the new partnership, with the duo in the programme traversing moments of intense suspense and standalone episodes of narrative innovation, and the prime time series offering a cinematic journey through time.

"The cast of this 9th season had a broad range of guests: beautiful, funny mad Missy is back; exceptional Maisie Williams portrays a character who will challenge the Doctor unexpectedly, and of course Osgood will return from the dead - but the Doctor could well be surprised and had better not rely on his first fan.

This season will be crazy and exciting; we will push the boundaries with the most experimental of all episodes of the series. Indeed, I booked something special for the Doctor, but I can't tell you more, just that is is unprecedented in the series!" (Steven Moffat, writer and executive producer)

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French-speaking Doctor Who fans will be able to enjoy The Day of the Doctor and The Time of the Doctor in their native language when a single disc DVD set featuring the two stories is released in France on 1st December 2014.

Le Jour du Docteur / L'Heure du Docteur
Date de sortie: 1 décembre 2014 (pre-order)

Le dvd contient les deux épisodes spéciaux:

- Le Jour Du Docteur (76'): l'épisode spécial 50e anniversaire
- L'Heure du Docteur (65'): 800e épisode de la série

Y compris la version originale sous-titrée et la version française.

Edité par francetv distribution.

Ce DVD sera en exclusivité à la Fnac à partir du 5 novembre 2014, puis dans tous les magasins le 1er décembre 2014.

The DVD contains two special episodes:

- The Day Of The Doctor (76 '): 50th anniversary special episode
- The Time of the Doctor (65 '): 800th episode of the series

Including the original subtitled version and the French version.

Edited by FranceTV distribution.

This DVD will be exclusive to Fnac from November 5, 2014, and in all stores on December 1, 2014.

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The First Doctor's TARDIS console built for An Adventure In Space And Time - the forthcoming drama about Doctor Who's genesis - is to get its first public display at next month's Comic Con in Paris, the BBC announced today.

Writer Mark Gatiss will also be at the event, where he will take part in a panel session and will be signing autographs. In addition, clips from Doctor Who episodes Gatiss has written for and appeared in will be shown.

Other Doctor Who attractions at the Comic Con - the fifth to be held in France - will be a screening of Revenge of the Cybermen in French as well as a gallery display marking 50 years of the show.

After appearing at the French Comic Con, which runs from 4th to 7th July and is being held at the Paris-Nord Villepinte Exhibition Centre, the console will be installed at the Doctor Who Experience in Cardiff for the duration of the summer.

The 90-minute drama is due to be broadcast on BBC Two later this year, following a première at the BFI in London.

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France4 are to premiere Series 7 Part 1 over two days from the end of the month.

The 25th May sees the channel kick off with L’Asile des Daleks at 8:45pm, followed by Des dinosaures dans l’espace and La ville de la miséricorde. Then, the 1st June sees the broadcast of L’invasion des cubes, again at 8:45pm, followed by Les anges prennent Manhattan and last year's Christmas Special, La dame de glace.

In addition, the channel will be presenting the mini-story Pond Life on their Studio 4.0 website over the course of 20th-24th May.

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France 4 is to celebrate the arrival of Series 6 to the channel with with a Doctor Who Night to be held on Saturday 19th May.

As well as the first four episodes of the series, The Impossible Astronaut, Day Of The Moon, The Curse of The Black Spot and The Doctor's Wife, the channel will be showing some episodes from the classic series, the Tom Baker stories Genesis of The Daleks and City of Death and the William Hartnell story Edge of Destruction.

Alain Carrazé and Romain Nigita will present a series of reports looking at the Doctor Who phenomenon, investigating the origins of the series, profiling the Doctors and Companions and looking to see what the future holds for the Timelord.

Interviewed during the night will be Russell T Davies, Steven Moffat, Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, Christopher Eccleston, Billie Piper, John Barrowman, Freema Agyeman, Derek Jacobi and Tom Spilsbury as well as fans like François Descraques or Davy Mourier.

A visit to the Doctor Who Experience in London is also included.

The Doctor Who Night is produced by 8 Art Media and filmed partly at the Palais de la Découverte in Paris, and will be presented by Louise Ekland. A full episode listing can be found on This Week in Doctor Who.

(Thanks to Samy Kacimi of TARDIB)

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The third annual French Comic Con kicks off today at the Paris-Nord Villepinte Exhibition Center, and as reported last month will feature a number of Doctor Who related activities, not least being the French debut of opening two episodes of Series Six, The Impossible Astronaut and Day of the Moon.

The two episodes will centre-case the Sunday proceedings featuring the event's Guest of Honour, Steven Moffat; from 11:30am there will be a masterclass by Doctor Who's head writer, followed by episodes themselves from 12:30pm. Afterwards Moffat will feature in a Doctor Who conference (2:30pm), followed by a signing session from 4:00pm.

Selected episodes of Doctor Who written by Moffat will also be screened, with Les Anges Pleureurs (Blink) today at 4:00pm, and La Bibliothèque des Ombres (Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead) tomorrow from 12:30pm.

Saturday is dedicated to Moffat's other successful series, Sherlock, which has also been translated into French. A conference on the dub takes place from midday with Roland Timsit (artistic director) and Gilles Morvan (voice of Sherlock Holmes); this is then followed by a signing session from 1:30pm and then a screening of the first episode, Une Etude en Rose (A Study in Pink) at 2:45pm.


The full Comic Con schedule can be found on their website.

Steven Moffat appears courtesy of a partnership with BBC Worldwide, France 4 and France Television Distribution.

(with thanks to Aurélie Demonchaux/Beans on Toast)

Related Articles: Comic Con France to premiere Series Six (31 May 2011)

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The third annual French Comic Con takes place at the Paris-Nord Villepinte Exhibition Center between the 30th June and 3rd July, during which the two opening episodes of Series Six, The Impossible Astronaut and Day of the Moon, will make their French debut.

The two episodes form part of a series of events taking place around special Guest of Honour, Doctor Who's head writer Steven Moffat; timings have yet to be confirmed, but include:

• a public Masterclass on his work as a scriptwriter
• a public meeting on Doctor Who
• a signing session
• the screening of the French premiere of the first two episodes of Series Six
• a screening of A Study In Pink, the first episode of Moffat's other creation, Sherlock

Moffat appears courtesy of a partnership with BBC Worldwide, France 4 and France Television Distribution.

(with thanks to Aurélie Demonchaux/Beans on Toast)

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This weekend saw the finale of Doctor Who broadcast on France 4, with Le Pandorica s'ouvre achieving 340,000 viewers, a further improvement on last week's episodes and achieving a share of 1.5% of the total audience.

Danse avec les stars continued to top the ratings on TF1, with 5.12m tuning in (24.7%); France 2 this week broadcast Champs-Elysées, which was watched by 3.75m viewers (17.5%). A full breakdown can be found at Premiere.

With the fifth series now completed in France, here is a summary of the ratings over the five weeks:

Le Prisonnier Zéro, La bêtes des bas-fonds, La victoire des Daleks	453,000	2%
Le labyrinthe des Anges (1+2), Les Vampires de Venise	374,000	1.7%
Le Seigneur des Rêves, La révolte des intra-terrestres (1+2)	295 000	1.3%
Vincent et le Docteur, Le colocataire	303,000	1.4%
La Pandorica s'ouvre (1+2)	340,000	1.5%

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France 4 have released the trailer for the series finale this coming Saturday, La Pandorica s'ouvre parts one and two, which airs from 8:35pm (local time).

SOIREE DR WHO, fin de la saison 5 ce samedi 13 mars 2011 sur France 4, via YouTube.

In a bumper evening of Doctor Who, the finale is followed by repeats of La bête des bas-fonds and La victoire des Daleks, then back to the start of series three with La Loi des Judoons and Peines d'amour Gagnées.


You can follow France 4 via their Facebook page and Twitter feed.

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The penultimate week of Doctor Who on France 4 saw Vincent et le Docteur and Le colocataire watched by 303,000 viewers, an improvement on last week and achieving a share of 1.4% of the total audience.

Danse avec les stars topped the ratings as always on TF1, though lost half a million viewers in total (4.80m, 23.6% share), probably to the successful Le plus grand cabaret du monde on France 2 (4.48m, 21%). A full breakdown can be found at Premiere.

Next week sees the finale of Series Five:

Le Pandorica s'ouvre (1/2)
Les amis de Doctor Who lui envoient un message d’alerte : le Pandorica, qui est supposé abriter l’être le plus redouté du cosmos, est en train de s’ouvrir. Que contient-il réellement et Doctor Who va-t-il pouvoir y faire face ?

Le Pandorica s'ouvre (2/2)
Doctor Who est parti, le TARDIS a été détruit et l’Univers est en train de s’écrouler. Seul espoir restant : une petite fille qui continue de rêver des étoiles.

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France Télévisions Distribution have announced the release of new editions of Series 1, 2, 3 of Doctor Who on DVD, plus the release of Series 4 and the Specials. These will all be released on 15th June exclusively at French retail chain FNAC.

The press release is below (in French and translated into English):

Doctor Who en DVD : rééditions et exclusivité le 15 juin	Doctor Who on DVD: exclusive re-issues on 15th June
France Télévisions Distribution s’est associé à la FNAC pour monter une exclusivité sur les coffrets DVD de la série culte britannique « Doctor Who ».	France Télévisions Distribution have partnered with FNAC to produce exclusive DVD sets of British cult series "Doctor Who".
Les coffrets 4 DVD des saisons 1, 2, 3 réuniront chacun 13 épisodes de 45 minutes et seront réédités dans un nouveau packaging. Ils seront disponibles en exclusivité dans les magasins FNAC à partir du 15 juin.	4 DVD boxed sets of Series 1, 2 and 3 will each contain 13 episodes of 45 minutes, and will be re-issued in new packaging. They will be available exclusively from 15th June
Le coffret 4 DVD de la saison 3 comprendra également le Christmas Special 2006 « Le mariage de Noel » avec Catherine Tate (60 minutes).	The 4 DVD boxed set of Series 3 will also include the 2006 Christmas Special The Runaway Bride with Catherine Tate (60 minutes).
La saison 4, quant à elle inédite en DVD, sera également disponible le 15 juin dans un coffret 4 DVD et reprendra le fameux Christmas Special 2007 avec en guest star Kylie Minogue dans « Une croisière autour de la Terre » (72 minutes).	The exclusive DVD of Series 4 will also be available on 15th June in a 4 DVD boxed set and includes the famous 2007 Christmas Special with guest star Kylie Minogue in Voyage of the Damned (72 minutes)
Les coffrets des 4 saisons comprendront tous la version française et la version originale sous-titrée.	The boxes will contain the French version of all four series, and the original with subtitles.
Enfin, un coffret de 2 DVD réunira 5 épisodes spéciaux. Ces épisodes longs (4 x 60 minutes et 1 x 75 minutes) rendent hommage au comédien principal des saisons 2 à 4, David Tennant, qui a quitté la série et introduisent le nouveau Doctor Who. Dans le casting se trouvent deux guests exceptionnels : Timothy Dalton et Michelle Ryan (Merlin, Bionic Woman).	Finally a 2 DVD boxed set contains 5 episodes. These extended episodes (4 x 60 minutes, 1 x 75 minutes) pays tribute to the main actor of series 2-4, David Tennant, who leaves the series and introduces a new Doctor Who. In the cast are two outstanding guests: Timothy Dalton and Michelle Ryan (Merlin, Bionic Woman)
Ces 5 coffrets DVD seront donc en vente exclusivement à la FNAC au prix de 24,99 euros pour les coffrets 4 DVD et 19,99 euros pour le coffret 2 DVD.	The five DVD sets will be for sale exclusively at FNAC, priced at 24.99 euros for the 4 DVD sets and 19.99 euros for the 2 DVD set.

You can follow France Télévisions Distribution on Facebook.

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France 4 have released a new trailer for this Saturday's episodes, Vincent et le Docteur and Le colocataire; they will be broadcast from 8:35pm (local time).

Doctor who saison 5 tous les samedis à 20h35, via YouTube.

A repeat of Le Prisonnier Zéro will follow the two new episodes at 10:05pm.


You can follow France 4 via their Facebook page and Twitter feed.

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Series Five of Doctor Who continued on France 4 on Saturday, featuring Le Seigneur des Rêves and La révolte des intra-terrestres (1+2). The shows achieved 295,000 viewers, a drop of 80,000 since the previous week. This was also reflected in the audience share, down to 1.3% of the total audience.

This week's audience figures for Saturday can be viewed at Premiere, which showed Doctor Who second-from-bottom in the ratings for the thirteen listed channels - Danse avec les stars on TF1 continued to dominate the evening, with some 5.385 million viewers (25.6%) of the audience.

 

Next week will see just two episodes broadcast:

Vincent et le Docteur
Le TARDIS remonte le temps. En Provence, seul un peintre solitaire semble se rendre compte du danger qui se cache dans les champs de blé et de tournesols. Doctor Who et Amy unissent leurs forces à celles de Van Gogh pour combattre un puissant extra-terrestre, mais parviendront-ils à le vaincre?

Le colocataire
Dans une maison sur Aickman Road, les visiteurs qui montent l’escalier pour se rendre à l’étage ne redescendent jamais… Afin de résoudre le mystère, Doctor Who doit se faire passer pour un être humain comme un autre et partager l’appartement de Craig Owens.

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France 4 have released a new trailer for this Saturday's episodes, Le Seigneur des Rêves and La révolte des intra-terrestres (1+2); they will be broadcast from 8:35pm (local time).

Doctor who saison 5 tous les samedis à 20h35, via YouTube.

You can follow France 4 via their Facebook page and Twitter feed.

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Series Five of Doctor Who continued on France 4 on Saturday, featuring Le labyrinthe des Anges (1+2) and Les Vampires de Venise. The shows achieved 375,000 viewers, 2% of the total viewing audience at that time (8:35pm onwards). Whilst this is a drop in the total viewers from last week (453,000), the audience share has remained the same.

The evening also saw a repeat of Torchwood: Les Enfants de la Terre on NRJ 12 in the same time slot - the five episodes achieved a rating of 219,000 viewers (1%).

Audience figures for Saturday can be viewed at Premiere, which shows that Danse avec les stars on TF1 was once again the highest show on French television that day.


The first three episodes of Series Five - Le Prisonnier Zéro, La bêtes des bas-fonds and La victoire des Daleks - are repeated on Tuesday evening, from 10:00pm (local time).

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France 4 have released a new trailer for this Saturday's episodes, Le labyrinthe des Anges (1+2) and Les Vampires de Venise; they will be broadcast from 8:35pm (local time).

Doctor who saison 5 tous les samedis à 20h35, via YouTube.

You can also follow France 4 via their Facebook page and Twitter feed.

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Matt Smith debuted as the Doctor in France last night, with the first three episodes of Series Five broadcast on France 4

Le Prisonnier Zéro, La bêtes des bas-fonds and La victoire des Daleks were shown together during the evening and achieved a rating of 453,000 viewers, representing 2% of the audience watching television in France (viewing figures for the evening as a whole may be seen via Ozap).

Series Five has started off well, gaining more viewers than David Tennant's swansong, La Prophétie de Noël, which achieved 416,000 viewers over Christmas Day (but was pipped to the post by La Conquête de Mars with 504,000 viewers in October).

French viewing for the rest of the month consists of Le labyrinthe des Anges (pts 1+2) and Les Vampires de Venise next weekend, and Le Seigneur des Rêves and La révolte des intra-terrestres (pts 1+2) on the 26th.

France 4 trailer for Matt Smith's first series (via YouTube)

(we leave our readers to enjoy translating the French titles!)

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The French Doctor Who fansite Beans on Toast have published an exclusive audio interview with David Manet, the former French voice of the Doctor.

Entitled "The End of an Era", the Belgian voice artist - who portrayed the Doctor's voice throughout his Ninth and Tenth incarnations - talks candidly about his interpretation of the role, and also of his career in dubbing.

In a translated extract below, Manet talks of his best memory of dubbing Doctor Who:

What I remember is the pleasure of working on Doctor Who, the surprises that came in the scripts and the quality of this show. I enjoyed working on the series with David [Macaluso, artistic director]. At times, it was exhausting - really - and sometimes it was frustrating because we couldn't quite match the original performance. Because Doctor Who is very British, in the way it is made, its spirit, language and energy. So, as a voice actor, you do get frustrated when you think "this is not quite as good as it could be". In a dub, there's bound to be a big part of betrayal of the original. But what I'll remember the most is what a pleasure it has been. I regret that I could not continue to dub Doctor Who, even if I think Marc [Weiss, voice of the Eleventh Doctor] is doing an excellent job, but I'd have continued - very gladly - for one more year of Doctor Who!

The full interview was recorded in Belgium on the 1st February, and is available to listen to in French from the Beans on Toast website, alongside photos of Manet receiving some special gifts to thank him for his work at the end of the interview.

You can also read an interview with the actor from 2009 on site here.

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Matt Smith's first full series as The Doctor comes to France 4 next month when the channel begins showing the 31st series of the show, starting with Le Prisonnier Zéro (The Eleventh Hour) on February 12, at 8:35 PM.

Viewers in France got to see the end of the Tenth Doctor last Christmas day when France 4 showed La Prophétie de Noël.

The series will continue with Épisode 2 — La Bête des bas-fonds and Épisode 3 — La Victoire des Daleks.

In addition French-speaking Doctor Who fansite Beans On Toast has revealed that series 4 of Doctor Who will be released on DVD in French.

The news has been confirmed by France Television Distristribution, the DVD editor in charge of the DVD releases of the first three series in France. French-speaking fans have been campaigning for a DVD release of the series with Beans on Toast launching an online petition in August 2010.

Series 1, 2 and 3 are also to be re-released on DVD, and this time, the series 3 boxset will include the original English version with French subtitles. The current DVD edition only offers the French dub.

For discussion on this news see the Beans On Toast Forum.

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While many viewers in the English speaking world will be enjoying Matt Smith's first Christmas special as The Doctor this year, viewers in France will be bidding farewell to the Tenth Doctor when France 4 broadcasts both parts of The End of Time this Christmas Day.

Docteur Who : La Prophétie de Noël will be broadcast at 8.35. The title translates as The Christmas Prophecy.

The story was dubbed into French last March with David Manet making his swan song as the voice of the Tenth Doctor. A full cast list can be found here.

Update 19th December: readers in France may watch previews for parts one and two from the France4 website.

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