The BBC have announced the summer line-up for this year's BBC Proms, which will once again feature performances dedicated to Doctor Who:


The prom is to be performed twice, with "Prom 2" taking place on Saturday 13th July from 7:30pm (tickets start from £14), and "Prom 3" the following Sunday morning at 10:30am (tickets at £12, restricted to maximum of six per booking). Booking for the Proms season opens on the 11th May.

The proms will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3, and also recorded for broadcast on BBC One.

Since the original announcement earlier in the year, the schedule for DVD releases in the United Kingdom has altered slightly, with some titles pushed back further in the year. The stories currently listed are: The Visitation (SE) (6 May), Inferno SE (27 May), The Mind of Evil (3 Jun), Spearhead from Space (Blu-ray, 15 Jul), The Green Death (SE) (5 Aug), The Ice Warriors (26 Aug), Scream of the Shalka (16 Sep), and Terror of the Zygons (30 Sep).

In addition, the British Video Association lists the following titles under the umbrella theme of The Monster Collection, all currently cited for the 8th July: Cybermen, Davros, Silurians, Sontarans, The Daleks and The Master.

The schedule may well change again in the coming months, but BBC Worldwide have confirmed this week that Inferno (full release details here) is still planned for release at the end of next month.

(Eagle-eyed readers will have noticed the absence of the "Regeneration" boxed set from the lists above - as of writing though Amazon and the BBC Shop have it listed for the 10th June, the BVA have listed it as "pulled from schedule". BBC Worldwide have not currently released any further details about the set or its status.)

Series Seven classifications:

The BBFC have now classified episodes for the forthcoming Series Seven Part Two DVD boxed set: The Snowmen (59m51s), The Bells of Saint John (45m24s), The Rings of Akhaten (43m51s), Cold War (41m37s), Hide (44m51s), Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS (44m56s), The Crimson Horror (44m44s), and Nightmare in Silver (44m43s) have been passed, but as of writing the as-yet untitled series finale has yet to be listed. In addition, the 43 minute feature The Companions has also been passed as additional content in the set.

Coming Soon:

Coming Soon trailers have been passed for the Blu-ray edition of Spearhead from Space, and for the animation-enhanced DVD release of The Moonbase - the latter previously listed for release in the United States.

Stamps issued in the UK last month to mark the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who have proved phenomenally successful and today Doctor Who News is pleased to launch a competition that will see one lucky person win framed sets of them, courtesy of Royal Mail.

Each of the 11 TV Doctors was represented on his own first-class stamp, and a five-stamp mini-sheet comprising a first-class stamp of the TARDIS and four second-class stamps of enemies – a Dalek, Cyberman, Ood, and Weeping Angel – was also produced. Royal Mail reportedly received more than three times the usual number of pre-registrations for the first-class set, such was the interest in them.

Various items are still available via the Royal Mail shop, including framed sets of both lots of stamps. Together, the framed commemorative sets would cost £60 (plus postage and packing), but we have one of each up for grabs. Please note that because of the bulky and fragile nature of the prize, this contest is only open to UK residents. To be in with a chance of winning the sets, correctly answer the following question: Please send your answer to stamps-competition@doctorwhonews.net using the subject line "The Doctor gets licked". Your entry should also have your full name and postal address including postcode. In addition, please say where you saw this competition. The contest closes at 11.59pm BST on Wednesday 24th April. One winner will then be chosen at random from all the correct entries received and their prize sent to them by Royal Mail.

UPDATE - 28th April: This competition is now closed. Any entries received after the cut-off point stated above will be disregarded.

Peter Cushing stamp:

Yesterday saw the film and TV actor Peter Cushing, who played Dr Who in the two 1960s Dalek films, achieve a special status by appearing on a UK first-class stamp.

Depicted as Sherlock Holmes, whom he portrayed on both the silver screen and TV, he is part of the Great Britons set, which has been released by Royal Mail.

Cushing also achieved fame among sci-fi fans for his role as the villainous Grand Moff Tarkin in the first Star Wars film to be released, while in the horror world he was synonymous with both the sinister scientist Baron Frankenstein and the vampire-hunter Dr Van Helsing.

The Great Britons set celebrates the 100th or 150th birth anniversaries of distinguished individuals from sport, journalism, music, politics, and the arts. This year is the centenary of Cushing's birth. He died in August 1994 at the age of 81.

The other luminaries honoured in the set are photographer Norman Parkinson, actress Vivien Leigh, prime minister David Lloyd George, cookery writer Elizabeth David, politician John Archer (the first person of African descent to be elected to British public office), composer Benjamin Britten, football manager Bill Shankly, broadcaster Richard Dimbleby, and palaeoanthropologist Mary Leakey.

The Doctor Who-themed comedy stage show Who, Me is to be performed at festivals Down Under to mark the programme's 50th anniversary.

Rob Lloyd originally staged the show - which sees the programme put on trial - to full houses at the Melbourne Fringe Festival in 2011. He subsequently had similar sell-out success at the 2011 Armageddon Cultural Expo in Melbourne, the 2012 Adelaide Fringe Festival, and the 2012 Melbourne International Comedy Festival, as well as both the Whovention: Gold convention in Sydney and Lords of Time convention in Melbourne this year. Now he is to perform it not only in Australia but New Zealand as well.

Lloyd describes the production as "a show about obsession and its many faces", with himself (Fan Number One) investigating whether the TV programme is guilty of inciting in him a debilitating obsession or whether it has shaped him into a well-rounded, mentally-sound member of society.

It starts in Australia at the Sydney Comedy Festival (30th April to 4th May), then transfers to Auckland for the New Zealand International Comedy Festival (7th to 11th May), before returning to Australia for the Perth International Comedy Festival (15th to 18th May).

Based on these final figures, Akhaten was the second highest rating drama of the day (after Downton Abbey), the top-rating ABC program of the day and the ninth highest rating program of the day overall (this compares to it being the tenth highest rating program based on its overnight figures of 727,000 viewers). These ratings do not include regional viewers.

This weekend's adventure for the Doctor and Clara will be Hide, written by Neil Cross and directed by Jamie Payne. The episode will premiere on BBC One in the United Kingdom on Saturday at the later time of 6:45pm.


This week sees a change of schedule on BBC One, with The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins! swapping places with The Voice to follow Doctor Who at 7:30pm. The later scheduling of Hide straddles the end of You've Been Framed and the start of the second audition show of Britain's Got Talent at 7:00pm on ITV. BBC Two has the tail end of Flog It! followed by World Championship Snooker at 7:00pm, Channel 4 finishes off Come Dine With Me followed by the News at 7:00pm and Grand Designs at 7:20pm. Channel 5, meanwhile, continues its Saturday evening film offering with Cahill, United States Marshall.



Internationally, Hide will be broadcast in the United States and Canada on BBC America and SPACE respectively at 8:00pm ET on the 20th April, and then on the 21st it can be seen in Australia via ABC at 7:30pm, Poland via BBC Entertainment at 6:00pm, and South Africa via BBC Entertainment at 7:00pm. Meanwhile, New Zealand viewers will see The Rings of Akhaten this Thursday on PRIME at 7:30pm.

See This Week in Doctor Who for more details on scheduling and repeats.

Final ratings data for the week ending 7th April 2013 released by the Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board, or BARB, gives Doctor Who: The Rings of Akhaten a final rating of 7.45 million viewers.

The final rating includes all those who record the programme and watch it within a week. It does not include the BBC Three repeat, where around 300,000 watched. Nor does it include those watching on iPlayer where over 1.7 million people have accessed the episode so far.

Doctor Who was the sixth highest rated show on BBC One for the week, where the top rated programme was Jonathan Creek with 8.75 million watching.

A full ratings chart will be available later in the week.

Full Ratings Data

Cold War had an Appreciation Index, or AI score, of 84.

The Appreciation Index or AI is a measure of how much the audience enjoyed the programme. The score, out of a hundred, is compiled by a specially selected panel of around 5,000 people who go online and rate and comment on programmes.

The score is identical to last week's Doctor Who and scored higher than most of Saturday's output. The highest scoring programmes of the day were Casulty with 88, Walking Through History with 85 and Dad's Army with 89.

Music heard in the first episode of Doctor Who is to be made exclusively available on vinyl as part of this year's Record Store Day.

Three Guitars Mood 2 is the song that introduces the Doctor's granddaughter Susan, who is listening to it on a hand-held transistor radio when the audience first sees her. It is attributed by her to John Smith And The Common Men, and they are the title artists of a three-track EP, Sounds From The Inferno, which is being released on Saturday 20th April on the Hysterion Records label.

The back cover of the 7-inch EP includes a guide to the hand movements performed to the song by Susan.

The B-side has the tracks Latin Gear and The Eyelash, which are two pieces of music heard in The Inferno nightclub in the season 3 closing story The War Machines.

Hysterion Records' Ronnie Shame said: The EP - or extended play - is a numbered limited edition of 1,000 copies and will only be available from independent record shops. Copies will be sold on a first-come first-served basis and cannot be pre-ordered or bought online. A list of retailers taking part in Record Store Day is available here.

Three Guitars Mood 2 was actually composed by Nelson and Raymond, performed by The Arthur Nelson Group, and originally released on the Conroy label, while The Eyelash and Latin Gear were composed by Johnny Hawksworth and included on the album The Mood Modern, brought out on the Keith Prowse Music label.

Cold War has debuted in Australia, averaging 728,000 viewers in the five major capital cities. It was the ABC's top-rating drama of the day and the tenth highest rating program of the day overall. These ratings do not include regional or time-shifted viewers.