Television and radio host Sir Terry Wogan has died at the age of 77.

Terry Wogan was for many years the face and voice of the BBC. The success of his his Radio Two morning show led to a television contract and for most of the 1980's he presented a live interview show on BBC One three times a week.

Over the years he interviewed many of the stars of Doctor Who, including Jon Pertwee, Peter Davison and Colin Baker.

For over thirty years he hosted the annual charity telethon, Children In Need, which featured many elements based on Doctor Who, including the 1993 Doctor Who/EastEnders mashup Dimensions in Time, the 2007 meeting between the Fifth and Tenth Doctor, Time Crash, and the entire 20th Anniversary story The Five Doctors.

In 1985 twenty stars of the series, past and present appeared on the show to present a donation to the charity raised by proceeds of the BBC exhibition in Blackpool.

Peter Capaldi has made his first journey with the UN Refugee Agency, to witness some of the front-line work the charity is doing in the middle east.

The UNHCR, a United Nations agency mandated to protect and support refugees, is currently helping some of the 630,000 Syrian refugees living in Jordan. The charity took the actor to meet some of the people displaced by the conflict in Syria and to see some of the work being done to support them.

A short film of the actor's experience in the region has been released, along with pictures from the visit. More content from the trip will be released over the next few weeks, including a virtual reality experience.

Updates from the trip can be seen on the Peter Capaldi UNHCR page.

The UNHCR told Doctor Who News how delighted they were to have the support of the Twelfth Doctor.

This week sees two brand new comics from The Tenth Doctor and his continuing adventures with Neanderthals and the Eleventh Doctor who needs to break out of prison...quickly.





Both comics are on sale Wednesday 27th January 2016.

There have been new developments for Doctor Who fans in Germany recently.

• German free-to-air digital channel Einsfestival, part of the ARD group of channels, will start broadcasting Doctor Who on 29th February. The channel will begin with Series 5, airing two episodes each day from Monday to Wednesday, with one additional episode on Thursday. The broadcast time will be 8.15 pm, which is the standart prime time for German channels. Series 6 and 7 will air Wednesdays in March.
  
  The last time Doctor Who aired on a free-to-air channel was in 2008 when commercial channel Pro 7 aired Series 1 and 2 on Sunday afternoons but then cancelled the show because of poor ratings. The show later found its home on the payed-for-channel FOX Germany, which currently airs Series 9. For detailed listings of Germany's and other international broadcasts, visit our This Week in Doctor Who section.
  
  
• After the success of the first German unofficial Doctor Who convention TimeLash last October, the organisers announced that there will be a second event on 15th - 16th October 2016, once again in Kassel, Germany. Tickets went on sale early January on the TimeLash Homepage.
  
  Guests announced so far are Sophie Aldred, Frazer Hines, comedian Toby Hadoke, New Series producer Phil Collinson, writers Robert Shearman, Gareth Roberts and Peter Harness. More guests from the classic and new series are to be announced in the coming weeks.
  
  Today the TimeLash YouTube channel put up a trailer for TimeLash II, featuring clips from the first event.
  
  
  TimeLash trailer on YouTube

The BBC has confirmed that Doctor Who Showrunner Steven Moffat, is to leave the programme after Series 10.

The Corporation confirmed the news on the official Doctor Who Twitter feed, announcing that writer Chris Chibnall will take over in 2017.

Steven Moffat has been the guiding force behind Doctor Who since 2010, casting both Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi in the role of the Doctor. Series Ten will be his sixth series in charge, and the 36th in the show's long history. The 12 part swan song for the producer will be screened in the spring of 2017 meaning that only the 2016 Christmas special, and the new spin off series Class, will be screened this year.

BBC One Controller Charlotte Moore explained the reasons for moving the series back to the spring. The new showrunner, taking over for Series 11, will be Chris Chibnall, best known for his work on Broadchurch. Chibnall has written six episodes of Doctor Who, as well as many episodes of Torchwood, where he was Co-Producer.

Moffat talked about his feelings on leaving the show Charlotte Moore paid tribute to the outgoing showrunner Like his two predecessors Chris Chibnall is a life long fan of the series, even appearing on a BBC One discussion programme about the series in 1986. He talked about his love of the show Polly Hill, BBC controller of drama commissioning, added:

A kickstarter project has been launched to help recreate the 1990's Doctor Who Pinball Table in digital form.

FarSight Studios are looking to add the famous 1992 Doctor Who Pinball Table to their successful Pinball Arcade game for Consoles and Mobile devices.

The independent developer has over 25 years of experience, developing video games on consoles, phones and tablets. For the last ten years, the company has been developing modern videogame recreations of classic pinball tables. The Pinball Arcade is currently available on a wide variety of platforms: the iPhone, iPad, Android, Kindle Fire, Ouya, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, Play Station 4, PS Vita and Steam for PC and Mac, with the Nintendo Wii U version being released very soon.

The Doctor Who pinball table was originally released by Williams/Bally in 1992. It is considered one of the best designed licensed tables in pinball history. The gameplay is based around the various seven incarnations of the Doctor and each Doctor affects the rules of the playfield differently. The player must "collect" all Doctors throughout the game. After collecting a Doctor, rule changes are applied.

The Kickstarter project will allow the developers to secure the licences for the Doctor Who game, a cost of $72,000 or around £50,000. The development costs will then be met by FarSight Studios. Previous projects have raised money to recreate games based on The Addams Family, Twilight Zone, Star Trek: The Next Generation and Terminator 2: Judgement Day

For full details see the projects Kickstarter page.

David Tennant has joined BBC Director General Tony Hall and RSC Artistic Director, Greg Doran for the launch of the 2016 Shakespeare Festival, marking 400 years since the death of the playwright.

The month long season begins on Shakespeare's birthday, 23rd April, when Tennant will host a special celebration of Shakespeare's words and his enduring influence on all performance art forms - from opera to jazz, dance to musicals. The BBC Two programme will include appearances from Dame Judi Dench, ENO, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Ian Bostridge, Joseph Fiennes and Akala.

Later in the month BBC One will screen a new production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, adapted by former Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies. The production, filmed at the Doctor Who studios in Cardiff, is described as funny, exciting and with as much attitude as any theatrical interpretation. The cast includes includes Maxine Peake as Titania, Matt Lucas as Bottom, John Hannah as Theseus, Elaine Paige as Mistress Quince, Javone Prince as Snug, Nonso Anozie as Oberon, Hiran Abeysekera as Puck, Richard Wilson as Starveling and Bernard Cribbins as Snout.

Also as part of the season, BBC Two will screen the final part of The Hollow Crown: The Wars of the Roses. The production concludes the cycle of Shakespeare’s History plays on BBC Two, and will include three new adaptations - Henry VI (in 2 parts) and Richard III. Stars include Hugh Bonneville, Benedict Cumberbatch, Judi Dench, Michael Gambon, Keeley Hawes, Sophie Okonedo and Tom Sturridge.

The Hollow Crown is a Neal Street co-production with Carnival/NBC Universal and Thirteen for BBC Two. In the US, the series will be transmitted on PBS by Great Performances, produced by Thirteen Productions LLC for WNET.

Doctor Who Director Rachel Talalay has been talking about the series and how it is perceived by the TV Industry.

Talalay has written a blog inspired by the recent controversy over the Oscar nominations and their lack of diversity. In the article the director talks about award nominations, and how they are skewed to favour traditional type dramas. The director disputes the implication that Doctor Who's long history means it is not new and fresh. Rachel Talalay directed the final two episodes of both Series 8 and Series 9, including the one man episode Heaven Sent where Peter Capaldi performed solo for the majority of the story She also paid tribute to members of the production team Finally the director paid tribute to the mastermind of the series Full Blog at racheltalalay.tumblr.com

Wednesday sees the publication of the omnibus edition of the Doctor Who Comic Strip Prisoners of Time.

Prisoners of Time was originally a 12-issue comic book series, produced by IDW to mark Doctor Who's 50th anniversary.

The 12 issues were released monthly during 2013, each issue featuring a different Doctor, leading to the final, multi-Doctor issue in December.



Buy on Amazon.co.uk

Buy on Amazon.com

Doctor Who Series Nine has been voted the Best Reviewed TV Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror Series of 2015 on the review site Rotten Tomatoes.

The Annual Golden Tomato Awards are awarded to the series with the highest ratings, based on reviews submitted to the site. The 2015 Series scored an average rating of 4.5/5 and received a remarkable 100% positive rating from approved critics.

The series beat Game of Thrones; Season 5 which came second. Marvel's Daredevil came third with Ash Vs Evil Dead and Hannibal taking fourth and fifth places respectivally.

Doctor Who Series 9 was also voted as fourth in the Best Returning TV Shows Category, with Fargo Season 2 taking top spot.