Widget Section Not Showing.

I am developing a new theme using a template which i have used many times before on which the widgets display, however on this particular theme the widgets aren’t showing up. I have checked the source and they are not there so it isn’t a css problem. I can go to the widget menu in the admin section and add new widgets to them, so i assume the functions are set up right.
Has there been any changes in the way that you write the code to display the widgets in recent versions?

Also, this is pretty urgent.