The BBC has announced that Stephen Fry and Sir Lenny Henry CBE will both appear in the first episode of the new series of doctor Who.

The TV legends will both be present when the TARDIS lands once more, with Jodie Whittaker reprising her role as the Thirteenth Doctor.

Stephen Fry is best known as the former host of the quiz show QI. His acting roles include a Golden Globe Award–nominated lead performance in the film Wilde, Melchett in the BBC television series Blackadder, the title character in the television series Kingdom, a recurring guest role as Dr Gordon Wyatt on the crime series Bones, and as Gordon Deitrich in the dystopian thriller V for Vendetta.

Lenny Henry is a British stand-up comedian and actor who shot to fame after appearing on the 1975 talent show New Faces. He co-founded the charity Comic Relief.

The two men are armed with a wealth of acting, comedy and writing credentials both are more than equipped to come face to face with the Time Lord and her friends. It is not known if they are playing friend or foe.

Speaking ahead of his Doctor Who appearance Stephen Fry said Sir Lenny Henry CBE added Chris Chibnall, Showrunner said

The Unofficial DR WHO Annual 1987 has now materialised and is ready to order.

Earlier this year, Terraqueous Distributors transport fans back to the 70s with the release of The Unofficial DR WHO Annual 1972, as 'World Distributors' elected not to bring one out for that year, creating a gap in many peoples collections. 34 years ago 'World Distributors' ended their run of Doctor Who annuals. So this time Terraqueous Distributors are taking us back to the 80's. The Unofficial DR WHO Annual 1987, is another bumper edition at 122 pages. and contains 11 stories, 2 comic strips, 10 features, 4 games, and more.

The annual also includes celebrity contributions from Frazer Hines, Alister Pearson, and David J Howe.The Unofficial Dr Who Annual 1987 is published by Terraqueous Distributors and available from Lulu at the print-on-demand price of £21.64 plus shipping costs. None of the money paid by purchasers goes to the publisher or to any of the contributors.

The Unofficial DR WHO Annual 1972 is also available, but will be retired in January 2020.

Next year, Terraqueous Distributors will be releasing The Unofficial Master Annual. Details on the Terraqueous Distributors FaceBook page:

The actor Ian Cullen has died at the age of 80.

Ian Cullen appeared in the first series of Doctor Who, playing Ixta, who took on Ian in mortal combat, in the story The Aztecs.

He later played Nadeyan in the Big Finish production of Dark Eyes. This appearance came 48 years after The Aztecs, the longest gap for any actor in the Doctor Who franchise.

Ian Cullen first trod the boards in a village pantomime at the age of four and has been an actor ever since. He became a household name when he played PC Joe Skinner in "Z Cars" (1962), first appearing in 1969, the character was later promoted to Detective and stayed with the show for 6 years, until he was gunned down in the line of duty in one of TV's biggest shocks in the mid 70s.

Other recurring roles include the classic 60s hospital drama "Emergency-Ward 10" (1957), where he played Warren Kent (1966-67), "When the Boat Comes In" (1976), as Geordie Watson (1977-81) and as Angus Hart, the original lead of the Channel 5 soap opera "Family Affairs" (1997). Ian's character, Angus Hart, was also killed in a shock storyline when the entire Hart family were killed in a boat explosion. He has also guest-starred in many British television series, including "The Bill" (1984), "Blakes 7" (1978) and "Sorry!" (1981).

In 2008 he won a Gold Award for his narration of the feature-length documentary The Destiny of Britain (2007). He is survived by his wife, actress Yvonne Quenet and their three daughters.

The BBC's annual fundraising evening for Children in Need took place yesterday, and by the end of the evening raised £47,886,382 for the charity.

The evening featured a special surprise for Anastasia who, having presented a video about the work done by drame group Hackney Shed to boost confidence for herself and others, was then thrilled as her very own heroine the Doctor arrived on stage to meet her!


Jodie Whittaker, Tosin Cole and Mandip Gill were all on hand to make it a very special evening for Anastasia, with Jodie also presenting her with her very own sonic screwdriver.


You can still donate to Children in Need via their website.

The BBC has revealed the list of Writers and Directors responsible for the upcoming series of Doctor Who.

With the Thirteenth Doctor, played by Jodie Whittaker, returning in the New year, the BBC is starting to ramp up publicity for what will be the 38th series of the programme, the twelfth since it returned in 2005.

This year sees three new writers joining the show.

• Nina Metivier
Co-creator of the Netflix series The A-List and a writer on the series Dixi. Previously served as a script editor on Doctor Who.
• Maxine Alderton
Writer for Emmerdale and CBBC's The Worst Witch
• Charlene James
Worked on Sky Atlantic's The Discovery Of Witches. Awarded the Alfred Fagon Award, for best new play at the National Theatre for Cuttin' It,

Also making their debut in 2020 and joining the series are four new directors.

• Nida Manzoor
Worked on Enterprise
• Emma Sullivan
A graduate of the National Film and Television School. Her short film AFTER TOMORROW, was nominated for a Palme d’Or at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival
• Jamie Magnus Stone
Studied at the National Film and Television School. Nominated for a BAFTA for his short film Orbit Ever After.
• Lee Haven Jones
Studied at RADA. Lead director on the ITV series The Bay.

In addition, three writers return from Series 11:

• Vinay Patel
(Demons of The Punjab)
• Ed Hime
(It Takes You Away)
• Pete McTighe
(Kerblam!)

Doctor Who showrunner Chris Chibnall saidJodie Whittaker, Mandip Gill, Bradley Walsh and Tosin Cole will all be reprising their roles as the Thirteenth Doctor and her friends, alongside an exciting host of soon to be announced guest artists.

The series will be back on TV screens in early 2020.

In this month’s Doctor Whi Magazine, thirty-two Dalek stories battle for supremacy in the epic Twitter contest. Which is the fans’ favourite?  

Highlights of this issue include:  

• A 16-page celebration of the Daleks, including the results of DWM’s online tournament.
• An exclusive Series 12 update.
• Writer and director Pete McTighe goes behind the scenes on The Promise, his new trailer for the Season 26 Blu-ray box set.
• Sophie Aldred discusses her on-screen return as Ace.
• Production designer Arwel Jones gives DWM a tour of the Thirteenth Doctor’s TARDIS.
• The first part of an exclusive interview with former script editor Andrew Cartmel.
• A preview of Tiny Rebel’s final Doctor Who: Infinity games.
• The Fact of Fiction explores the 1973 story Carnival of Monsters.
• The answers to last issue’s fiendishly difficult quiz about the first 40 years of DWM.
• Part Three of Mistress of Chaos, a new comic-strip adventure featuring the Thirteenth Doctor and her friends.
• The Blogs of Doom, audio and book reviews, previews, news, prize-winning competitions and much more.

  

On sale from Thursday 14 November 2019 £5.99 (UK)

BBC Books to launch The World Cup of Terrance Dicks social Media tournament on Monday 18 November 2019

BBC Books is to publish a hardback collection of Target novelisations by the late Terrance Dicks next year – and they want Doctor Who fans to help with the selection.

The commemorative single-volume Collected Works of the late Terrance Dicks 2ill be published in 2020. The lavish hardback will include some of the Doctor Who writer's most popular titles from the Target range, a list to which he contributed over 60 books.

So how do you choose the best? How does The Abominable Snowmen rate against Genesis of the Daleks? How do you leave out The Planet of the Spiders to make room for The Auton Invasion? What about The Three Doctors? With so many to choose from, BBC Books is seeking some expert advice from the fans.

On Monday 18 November BBC Books will be offering Doctor Who fans the chance to vote on social media for their favourite works by Terrance Dicks, to be included in the collection.

The World Cup of Terrance Dicks will take place over five days on the Doctor Who BBC Books Twitter account(@DWBBCBooks), where 64 of Terrance’s Doctor Who novelisations will be sorted into 16 groups of 4, and each day fan votes will get us closer to a final winner.

The book will then be based around the 10 novels that make to the top of the tournament. Fans can keep track of the tournament through the hashtag #TerranceDicksWorldCup

Doctor Who: The Edge Of Time, the feature-length Doctor Who VR videogame, launches worldwide on November 12th

Publisher PlayStack and Developer Maze Theory are have released the Launch Trailer for  the game, which Is available for PlayStation VR, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and HTC Vive Cosmos, with  Oculus Quest coming later this year.

Players will visit Victorian London, escape from a space-stranded cruiser and explore an Egyptian temple as they operate the TARDIS across the Doctor Who universe, under guidance from The Doctor herself, played by Jodie Whittaker. 

 Crafted with countless references to the show and its 55-year history, Doctor Who: The Edge Of Time combines action, horror and sci-fi, equipping players with the Sonic Screwdriver to solve mind-bending puzzles, escape treacherous environments and come face-to-face with classic Doctor Who monsters, all within virtual reality for the first time ever. Escape from Weeping Angels, face off against brand-new monsters and pilot a Dalek shell to harness its’ fearsome weaponry in a thrilling and immersive single-player adventure!

Features

• Become Part Of Doctor Who - a thrilling single-player adventure developed by Sony London alumni (VR Worlds, The London Heist, Blood and Truth), Doctor Who: The Edge Of Time  will immerse players in Doctor Who like never before as they travel across space and time to save reality. 
• Wield The Sonic Screwdriver - With exhilarating moment-to-moment gameplay, wield the Sonic Screwdriver to solve fiendish puzzles and traverse a dangerous universe full of challenges, enemies and wonder.
• Stunning Cinematic Visuals - From the Dalekanium of a Dalek’s shell, to the stone-cold terror of a Weeping Angel, experience stunning visuals that bring the show to life!  
• Doctor Who Talent - Featuring Jodie Whittaker as the voice of The Doctor and Nicholas Briggs as the voice of the Daleks, in a story written by Gavin Collinson - Digital Producer for Doctor Who and author
• Oculus Quest Support - experience the next level of immersion with Oculus Quest, as you explore the Doctor Who universe without boundaries in untethered virtual reality

David Bradley, Jemma Powell, Jamie Glover and Claudia Grant return as the original, yet slightly different, TARDIS team in the fourth volume of audio drama series, The First Doctor Adventures, due for release in March 2020.

And this time they’ll be facing the Doctor’s greatest foe – the Daleks.

Doctor Who – The First Doctor Adventures Volume Four is available for pre-order now at £24.99 on collector’s edition CD or £19.99 on download.

Actor David Bradley expressed his delight at battling the Daleks Script Editor John Dorney adds The First Doctor Adventures Volume Four contains two stories – one historical and one set in the future:

• Return to Skaro by Andrew Smith
A new plan to return to Earth actually returns the TARDIS to another place its crew have recently visited - Skaro, home world of the Daleks. But it is some time after their previous visit. The Thals have moved on with developing their species... Yet the shadow of the Dalek city always looms large over them. Venturing into the abandoned metropolis, the Doctor and his friends discover the Daleks aren’t as dead as they might have thought... and it isn’t only their enemies who have secrets.
• Last of the Romanovs by Jonathan Barnes
The TARDIS lands on Earth near to an eerie and familiar house... with the only witness a regal man watching from inside through a broken window. Leaving the ship the crew immediately find themselves in trouble - because they have landed in Ekaterinburg early in the twentieth century. The man inside the house is Nicholas, the last Tsar of Russia, imprisoned with his family... and one of the most notorious crimes in history is just about to happen.

Doctor Who – The First Doctor Adventures Volume Four is available for pre-order now at £24.99 on collector’s edition CD or £19.99 on download.

Doctor Who: At Childhood’s End, the first novel from Sophie Aldred who played the Seventh Doctor’s companion Ace, is to be published 6th February 2020.

Once, a girl called Ace travelled the universe with the Doctor – until, in the wake of a terrible tragedy they parted company. Decades later, she is known as Dorothy McShane, the reclusive millionaire philanthropist who heads global organisation A Charitable Earth.

Dorothy is haunted by terrible nightmares, vivid dreams that begin just as scores of young runaways are vanishing from the dark alleyways of London. Could the disappearances be linked to sightings of sinister creatures lurking in the city shadows? Why has an alien satellite entered a secret orbit around the Moon?

Investigating the satellite with Ryan, Graham and Yaz, the Doctor is thrown together with Ace once more. Together they must unravel a malevolent plot that will cost thousands of lives. But can the Doctor atone for her past incarnation’s behaviour – and how much must Ace sacrifice to win victory not only for herself, but for the Earth? Past or future, which path do you choose?

Sophie Aldred said Doctor Who: At Childhood’s End by Sophie Aldred is published by BBC Books on 6th February 2020. RRP £16.99.

It will also be available as an audiobook in CD and digital download narrated by Sophie Aldred.