Doctor Who was the fourth most popular show on the BBC iPlayer in 2018, according to figures released by the corporation.

Jodie Whittaker's debut The Woman Who Fell to Earth had nearly four million requests on the online platform.

The most popular show of the year was Bodyguard, with the first episode becoming BBC iPlayer’s biggest ever programme, with 10.8 million requests across the year. All six episodes of the drama appear in iPlayer’s top ten programmes of the year. Hit Killing Eve came a close second with 9.2m requests for episode one, followed by global thriller McMafia, with 4.7m requests.

Overall in 2018 3.6 billion programmes were requested on iPlayer throughout the year.

1	Bodyguard	Episode 1	10,842,000
2	Killing Eve	Nice Face	9,235,000
3	McMafia	Episode 1	4,741,000
4	Doctor Who	The Woman Who Fell to Earth	3,965,000
5	Keeping Faith	Episode 1	3,927,000
6	The Cry	Episode 1	3,496,000
7	Dynasties	Chimpanzee	3,447,000
8	Our Girl	Nigeria, Belize & Bangladesh Tours - Episode 1	3,422,000
9	Bing	Show	3,177,000
10	MOTD Live	Sweden v England	3,153,000

Obverse books have released the latest in their series of Black Archive books, looking in detail at the making of the Tenth Doctor Doctor Who story Love & Monsters.

The 2006 story was the first "Doctor Lite" story and recieved a mixed reaction when first shown. In the Black Archive Niki Haringsma investigates the background of the story. To order visit Obverse Books.

Tenth Doctor David Tennant has launched a new podcast which sees the actor interviewing some famous faces.

David Tennant Does a Podcast With... will see the actor talk to stars such as fellow actor Ian McKellen, Mad Men actor Jon Hamm and the current Doctor, Jodie Whittaker.

The series begins with Tennant talking to his fellow Broadchurch star, Olivia Colman, currently winning rave reviews for her performance as the last Stuart Queen, Anne, in the film The Favourite.

The podcast is available on iTunes

BBC Books is to publish novelisations of the only two classic Doctor Who stories never to have been released.

The fifth Doctor story Resurrection of the Daleks and the sixth Doctor story Revelation of the Daleks will both be released later this year priced £12.99.

The release comes after the success of the new-era Target novelisations in 2018, which included books by Russell T Davies and Steven Moffat.

The two Doctor Who adventure will be novelised by the original scriptwriter Eric Saward, one of the series longest-serving script editors. These novels are the only two classic-era Doctor Who adventures yet to be novelised, and their publication more than three decades after their first TV transmission will fill a long-held gap in fans’ collections the world over.

Albert DePetrillo, Publishing Director at BBC Books, acquired world rights in both titles from the author directly. Each book will be published as a £12.99 hardback in 2019, with paperback editions, as part of the Target range, to follow in 2020.

Of the two novelisations, Eric Saward says “’Resurrecting’ these tales may turn out to be a greater ‘Revelation’ than you’d expect!”

Eric Saward has written for both radio and television, script edited Doctor Who for five years and also written four original stories for the show. During this time he also novelised four scripts and wrote the first ever Doctor Who radio serial. Recently he has completed a graphic novel based around the adventures of Lytton.

Doctor Who: Resurrection of the Daleks will publish on 18 July 2019 in hardback priced £12.99
Doctor Who: Revelation of the Daleks will publish on 14 November 2019 in hardback priced £12.99

The Doctor Who Appreciation Society has released The Celestial Toyroom Annual 2019.

This is the third CT annual and on this occasion, concentrates on the era of the First Doctor, which follows on from the Heritage Plaque placed at Ealing Studios in October 2018 to honour William Hartnell.

The annual runs to over 100 pages and feature items on every first Doctor story featuring Hartnell, from over 30 contributors.

The book can be downloaded free-of-charge from the Society’s website at dwasonline.co.uk and a hardback version will be able to buy in a limited run to support a charity.

Doctor Who: Resolution had an official rating of 7.13 million viewers, according to figures released by the Broadcasting Research Audience Board, BARB.

6.95 million watched the episode on a conventional TV set. However the BARB 4-Screen Dashboard shows that an additional 73,000 watched on their PC, 54,000 watched on a Tablet device and 44,000 watched on a smartphone These figures make Doctor Who the 14th most watched programme of the week ending 6th January.

Top for the week was the New Year Fireworks on BBC One getting 12.27 million watching.

The final rating is the lowest consolidated rating for a Christmas/New Year special since the series returned in 2005.

Resolution had an Appreciation Index score of 80

The soundtrack to The Daleks’ Master Plan, first seen in 1965, is to be released on Vinyl for the first time.

The release, from Demon Music Group, follows the recent popularity of similar releases of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and League of Gentlemen

The Daleks’ Master Plan, is a narrated full-cast TV soundtrack adventure. Starring William Hartnell as the First Doctor, in a battle against his archenemies, the Daleks.

The vinyl will be released on 15th February 2019 and is now available for pre-order. RRP £99.99.

Ben Stanley, Head of Product & Marketing, Demon Music Group, said
The release comes in two editions.

• Standard edition: 7LP x 12” Heavyweight Translucent Blue
• Amazon exclusive edition (limited to 1000 units): 7LP x 12” Heavyweight Splatter Vinyl

In this classic 12 part ‘lost’ adventure, first shown on TV from October 1965 to January 1966, the Daleks threaten to destroy the fabric of time itself. In their quest to control the Solar System, they have taken possession of the devastating Time Destructor. Determined to stop them, the Doctor steals the core of the weapon before he and his friends are pursued across time and space by his ruthless, powerful nemeses.

From the eerie sonics of Ron Grainer & Delia Derbyshire’s original theme tune and the familiar ‘wheezing, groaning’ of the TARDIS, to soundscapes illustrating the jungles of Kembel and alien spacecraft, the story is brought to life by the unique sounds produced by the BBC’s Radiophonic Workshop .

Written by Terry Nation and Dennis Spooner, this is the longest single Doctor Who adventure ever made for television. Linking narration is provided by Peter Purves (Steven) and the cast includes Kevin Stoney as Mavic Chen, Nicholas Courtney as Bret Vyon, Jean Marsh as Sara Kingdom and Peter Butterworth as the Meddling Monk. The film recordings of all but three episodes of this story are lost from the BBC archives.

The prelude episode Mission to the Unknown is presented on its own single-sided disc with a unique Dalek (exclusive edition) or TARDIS (standard edition) etched reverse.

In a climactic audio battle the Eighth Doctor (Paul McGann) takes on the War Master (Derek Jacobi) in The War Master: The Rage of the Time Lords, coming out in July 2019 from Big Finish Productions.

Sir Derek Jacobi reprises the role of the War Master opposite Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor in the third series of The War Master audio adventures made in association with BBC Studios.

In The War Master: The Rage of the Time Lords, four new stories explore the Master’s exploits in the Time War.

1. The Survivor by Tim Foley
2. The Coney Island Chameleon by David Llewellyn
3. The Missing Link by Tim Foley
4. Darkness and Light by David Llewellyn

With all of space and time in chaos, the Master plots his most audacious project yet. Only one other Time Lord has ever been able to stop him. But where is that Time Lord when the universe needs him?

This new series of adventures take the Master into darker terrain as he gathers his forces against the Daleks in one of his most nefarious schemes to date. Will the Doctor stop him? Will he want to? Or has the Master’s deadly scheme proved too great to be controlled…

Producer and director Scott Handcock told us more The War Master: The Rage of the Time Lords is being released in the 20th anniversary year of Doctor Who on audio, and it showcases some of the best qualities of the format. One of the greatest delights for Big Finish is being able to further explore and add to the mythology of characters such as the Eighth Doctor and the Master.

Series three, The War Master: Rage of the Time Lords will materialise in July 2019 written by Tim Foley and David Llewellyn. Series four, The War Master: Anti-Genesis written by Nicholas Briggs and Alan Barnes, will complete the saga in December 2019.

The first two series in The War Master range – Only the Good and The Master of Callous – are available from Big Finish Productions each at £35 on CD or £30 on download, while series three and four are available for pre-order now each at £23 on CD or £20 on download.

The latest edition of the fan magazine Whotopia: Number 33 is available now.

In the magazine

• The second life of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
• Adventures in time and space: rewatching Doctor Who
• When you say nothing at all
• A faction paradox primer
• Mel bush: more than screams and carrot juice
• Column: who you build 6
• Column: Master who 6
• Talkin’ about regeneration
• Column: the audio archives
• Column: the curate’s egg: lost in the dark
• Column: the black archives
• Doctor Who has lost her way

Whotopia Issue 33 is available to download free in PDF format as well as to purchase in hardcopy print version.

The actor W. Morgan Sheppard has died at the age of 86.

William Morgan Sheppard appeared in the 2011 Eleventh Doctor story The Impossible Astronaut / Day of the Moon playing the older version of ex-FBI agent Canton Everett Delaware III, who accompanied the Eleventh Doctor during the latter's visit to the United States of America in 1969. The younger version of the character was played by his son Mark Sheppard.

William Morgan Sheppard was born in London and trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He spent 12 years as an associate artist with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Sheppard has a strong connection with Science fiction, appearing in both Star Trek The Next Generation and Star Trek: Voyager as well as the films Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country and the 2009 reboot Star Trek.

He appeared in two roles in Babylon 5. His best known role was probably Blank Reg in the comedy Max Headroom. In the films Gettysburg and Gods and Generals he played the Confederate general Isaac Trimble.

As well as Doctor Who he appeared alongside his son in the television series NCIS.

William Morgan Sheppard died on Sunday in Los Angeles, California. He is survived by his wife and children.