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Doctor Who: Lockdown!

From Tardis Wiki, the free Doctor Who reference
This topic might have a better name.

Just Lockdown!, per Thread:117218 and Forum:Doctor Who prefix in titles

Talk about it here.

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Doctor Who: Lockdown! (also styled Doctor Who: LOCKDOWN!, and originally titled Who at Home[1]) was a project founded by Emily Cook from Doctor Who Magazine who proposed the idea to Doctor Who fans as a simulcast watch-along of the show's 50th Anniversary, The Day of the Doctor, worldwide as a way to pass the time in self-isolation due to worldwide outbreak of COVID-19. The story was shown on 21 March 2020. She added that if the concept gained enough popularity, she would arrange more watch-alongs.[2] which did indeed come to pass.

Nature

Minisodes and extras

For the first watch-along, Steven Moffat penned a short introductory skit, Strax Saves the Day, which was released on Twitter. The home-produced video starred Dan Starkey as Strax, represented on screen with a stuffed toy of the character, and featured the voice of Neve McIntosh as Vastra.

For the second watch-along Russell T Davies penned a sequel audio story, Revenge of the Nestene, which was released onto YouTube and depicted the aftermath of the Nestene Consciousness's defeat at the hand of the Ninth Doctor. He also released a previously withheld prequel short story, Doctor Who and the Time War, which was released onto the Doctor Who website and depicted an alternate account to the Eighth Doctor's involvement in the Last Great Time War and the Ninth Doctor's origins. This was the first of a series of COVID-era releases on the Doctor Who website, which soon ceased directly tying in with tweetalongs, but were still ultimately part of the same broad phenomenon, with Paul Cornell's BBC website short story The Shadow Passes tying in directly with his contemporary Lockdown! webcast The Shadow in the Mirror.

Such releases continued with each new watchalong, bringing together established DWU writers, actors and/or characters in a variety of new original content, released alongside each instalment of this event. DWM 554 dubbed the impromptu series "the unexpected ‘Lockdown Season’ of Doctor Who in 2020" in an article penned by Steve O'Brien — although the article concerned itself only with the webcast releases, failing to document Spoof Scenes and How The Monk Got His Habit, it did include the non-narrative webcast Lockdown Long Song | Choir-Only Version.

After a Doctor Who: Lockdown! website was created in late 2020, it introduced a new classification, separating video Minisodes, video Singalongs, and prose Extras. Soon after the website's launch, a page entitled Fan Content was also added. This section of the website encouraged viewers to create their own works inspired by the subject of the current tweetalong, as well as posting them on Twitter within the relevant hashtag. A selection of these fan-generated stories and pieces would then get an official release on the website in the Fan Content section.

The Tweetalong phenomenon

"Doctor Who: Lockdown!" was originally conceived of by Emily Cook as an "umbrella term for online Tweetalongs, where fans could revisit old episodes together, alongside some of the people who wrote, made and starred in them". (REF: The Lockdown Season)

Indeed, many tweetalongs with no official connection to the BBC or other right-holders were organised, beginning as a The Five Doctors watchalong (with the hashtag #GameofRassilon) organised by Ellie Collins ("TardisMonkey") was promoted by Emily Cook but was not directly part of the Lockdown! line, and also saw a small scene with Paul Jerricho as the Castellan being filmed and released for the event.[3] Other watchalongs promoted by Emily Cook included The Three Doctors, organised by Ellie Collins[source needed], (which had two short spoofs starring Jon Culshaw and Katy Manning) and The War Games, organised by Pip Madeley[source needed].

Radio Times organised Torchwood simulcasts with John Barrowman tweeting along[4][5] and Billie-Adora ("Transgirlbillie") organised watchalongs of Class.[6] Big Finish organised a livestream of The Chimes of Midnight (with the hashtag #PlumPudding) with Paul McGann tweeting along.[7] Nor were the tweetalongs the only occasion for the release of new webcast Doctor Who content, with Russell T Davies or even the BBC itself releasing new webcasts not connected with a particular watchalong in an effort to spread awareness of various facets of the crisis.

Fundraising and awareness

Doctor Who: Lockdown! minisodes and extras were usually released for free on various online platforms such as YouTube, the official Doctor Who YouTube channel, and the official Doctor Who: Lockdown YouTube channel. As such, they did not constitute charity publications in the conventional sense. However, much like Doctor Who Comic Relief or Children in Need specials, one dimension to their existence was to raise awareness of a charitable cause: the publicity around theLockdown! event was leveraged to encourage Doctor Who fans to donate to the COVID-19 Film and TV Emergency Relief Fund.[8] In addition, the webcast The Best of Days was rewritten late in production to make prominent reference not just to the coronavirus pandemic, but also to the Black Lives Matter movement.[9]

Watchalongs

# Episode Hashtag Featured commentary Date and occasion
1 The Day of the Doctor #SaveTheDay Steven Moffat 21 March 2020
2 Rose #TripofaLifetime
26 March 2020
15th Anniversary
3 Vincent and the Doctor #TheUltimateGinger
4 The Eleventh Hour #FishCustard
Steven Moffat
Matt Smith
Karen Gillan
Arthur Darvill
Adam Smith
3 April 2020
10th Anniversary
5 The Doctor's Wife #BiggerOnTheInside 11 April 2020
6 Heaven Sent #HellOfABird
7 The Stolen Earth / Journey's End #SubwaveNetwork
19 April 2020
Anniversary of Elisabeth Sladen's death
8 Human Nature / The Family of Blood #DoctorOfMine 24 April 2020
9 Dalek #TheMetaltron
Robert Shearman
Nicholas Briggs
Barnaby Edwards
30 April 2020
15th Anniversary
10 The Girl in the Fireplace #Clockdown
Steven Moffat
Russell T Davies
Sophia Myles
6 May 2020
14th Anniversary
11 The Zygon Invasion / The Zygon Inversion #TruthOrConsequences 10 May 2020
12 The Fires of Pompeii #VolcanoDay 17 May 2020
13 Listen #FearIsASuperpower
Steven Moffat
Douglas Mackinnon
20 May 2020
14 An Adventure in Space and Time #London1963
23 May 2020
"Half-birthday" of Doctor Who
15 The Rings of Akhaten #FestivalOfOfferings 26 May 2020
16 The End of the World #BurnBabyBurn
Russell T Davies
30 May 2020
New Earth / Gridlock #NewNewYork
Russell T Davies
Anna Hope
17 Silence in the Library / Forest of the Dead #HelloSweetie
Emily Cook
31 May 2020
- World Enough and Time / The Doctor Falls #BlackHolesAndRevelations 6 June 2020 (Cancelled)
18 Blink #DontBlink Steven Moffat 31 October 2020[10]
19 The Husbands of River Song #HelloSweetie Douglas Mackinnon 7 November 2020[10]
20 TBC 14 November 2020[10]
21 21 November 2020[10]
22 28 November 2020[10]

Associated releases

Stories

Several new short stories and webcasts were released to tie into the watchalongs, or the COVID-19 pandemic in general, some of them on a dedicated Doctor Who: Lockdown YouTube channel.

# Title Featuring Tweetalong Author Release date
1 Strax Saves the Day Strax, Vastra The Day of the Doctor Steven Moffat 21 March 2020
2 Things She Thought While Falling Thirteenth Doctor N/A Chris Chibnall 25 March 2020
3 Message from the Doctor
4 Doctor Who and the Time War Eighth Doctor, Ninth Doctor Rose Russell T Davies 26 March 2020
5 Revenge of the Nestene Nestene Consciousness
6 Incoming Message Yvonne Hartman N/A
7 Press Play Thirteenth Doctor, Susan N/A Pete McTighe 1 April 2020
8 The Raggedy Doctor by Amelia Pond Amelia Pond The Eleventh Hour Steven Moffat 3 April 2020
9 The Terror of the Umpty Ums The Doctor N/A 7 April 2020
10 United we stand, 2m apart Thirteenth Doctor N/A Chris Chibnall 8 April 2020
11 Rory's Story Rory, Amy The Doctor's Wife Neil Gaiman 11 April 2020
12 The Shadow Passes Thirteenth Doctor, Yaz, Ryan, Graham N/A Paul Cornell 15 April 2020
13 Farewell, Sarah Jane Jo, Ace, Gita, Luke, Clyde, Rani, Mr Smith The Stolen Earth/Journey's End Russell T Davies 19 April 2020
14 The Simple Things Thirteenth Doctor, Graham, Yaz, Ryan N/A Joy Wilkinson 22 April 2020
15 Shadow of a Doubt Bernice Summerfield, Daughter of Mine Human Nature/The Family of Blood Paul Cornell 24 April 2020
16 The Shadow in the Mirror Thirteenth Doctor, Daughter of Mine
17 Sven and the Scarf Sven Dalek Andrew Ireland 30 April 2020
18 Dalek: Spoof Scenes Ninth Doctor, Rose Robert Shearman
19 Pompadour SS Madame de Pompadour The Girl in the Fireplace Steven Moffat 6 May 2020
20 The Zygon Isolation Osgood, Osgood The Zygon Invasion/The Zygon Inversion Peter Harness 10 May 2020
21 How The Monk Got His Habit The Monk 11 May 2020
22 The Descendants of Pompeii Lobus Caecilius's descendants The Fires of Pompeii James Moran 17 May 2020
23 Listen Twelfth Doctor Listen Steven Moffat 20 May 2020
24 Fear Is a Superpower Danny Pink, Clara James Peaty
25 Doctors Assemble! The Doctors An Adventure in Space and Time James Goss 23 May 2020
26 The Secret of Novice Hame Hame, Tenth Doctor New Earth/Gridlock Russell T Davies 30 May 2020
27 The Best of Days Bill, Nardole World Enough and Time/The Doctor Falls Steven Moffat 7 June 2020
28 Sally Sparrow and the Weeping Angel Sally Sparrow, Weeping Angels Blink Steven Moffat 2 November 2020

The Fan Gallery

Starting with the tweetalong of The Husbands of River Song, the Doctor Who: Lockdown! website also included a section entitled "The Fan Gallery". It published stories and artwork submitted privately to, and reviewed by, the Lockdown! team by fans, in contrast to the extras of previous tweetalongs, which usually featured the contribution of one or more crewmember associated with the original story.

# Title Featuring Tweetalong Author Release date
1 Nardole's Very Bad Day Nardole The Husbands of River Song E.J. Robinson 7 November 2020
2 The Search for the Surgeon Nardole, Twelfth Doctor Andrew Hsieh
3 Expectations Thirteenth Doctor Philip Scholes
4 A Night on Darillium River Song Harry T. Jones
5 Halfway Through The Night River Song, Twelfth Doctor Samuel Johnstone
6 The Final Night River Song, Eleventh Doctor Ben Greenland

Documentary features

# Title Subject Released by Release date
1 Vincent and the Doctor's Gallery A collection of fan art YouTube 30 March 2020
2 BBC News | Friday 3 April 2020 Doctor Who: Lockdown! BBC News; YouTube 3 April 2020
3 The Long Song: Fan Cover | How To Get Involved... #LockdownLongSong YouTube 14 April 2020
4 Tests for the Mechanism of Heaven Sent's Confession Dial Early screen tests for Heaven Sent
5 Heaven Sent Previsualizations
6 The Doctors Say Thank You Thanking the NHS 25 April 2020
7 An A-Z of Impressions with Jon Culshaw! Jon Culshaw's impressions 19 May 2020
8 Lockdown Long Song | Choir-Only Version The Long Song 26 May 2020
9 Doctor Who: Lockdown! | Tweetalong Trailers Mega Mix Doctor Who: Lockdown! Tweetalongs 8 June 2020
10 Doctor Who: LOCKDOWN | Lockdown Long Song (with the Doctor's Rings of Akhaten Speech) The Long Song 12 June 2020

Doctor Who: Blackout

Originally, the episodes World Enough and Time and The Doctor Falls were scheduled to be shown as the 'finale' of the watchalongs. However, due to events concerning the death of George Floyd, they were pulled due to their content being considered by the fanbase to be badly timed. In their place, fans used the hashtag #DoctorWhoBlackout while watching The Ghost Monument, The Haunting of Villa Diodati, Thin Ice, and Knock Knock. Although the event was not officially organised, it did receive some support from organisers of Lockdown.

Footnotes

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