It's with great sadness that Chris Benjamin has just asked me to announce the death of his oldest and dearest friend, actor #StephenThorne He leant his magnificent voice to many productions, and those who knew him, know what a gentle man he was. Many thoughts to his family. RIP

No! Sho! Blo! The Judoon are storming back into Doctor Who in full force, and the streets of Gloucester aren’t safe. If anyone has anything to hide, confess now. The Judoon are taking no prisoners, and will stop at nothing to fulfil their mission! The whole team on Doctor Who are delighted and scared in equal measure to welcome them back: one of many treats we’ve got in store for viewers next series. And we’re over the moon (with Judoon), to be welcoming the wondrous Neil Stuke as guest star. We can’t wait to show you what happens when his path crosses with the Thirteenth Doctor.

All the stories this year have been outstanding and we would like to thank all those that entered, but there can be only one winner. Megan has written a wonderful story that took us all by surprise. Her instinct for characterisation is refreshingly different. In particular, we liked the way she portrayed the burgeoning friendship of the Brig, Sally, Anne and Bill. We look forward to working with her in the future.

This year the level of entries was particularly high, both in number and quality. And, although these stories are not part of the Lethbridge-Stewart canon, the entrants didn’t let that stop them exploring their imaginations! Shaun and I split the entries in half; he picked five finalists and I picked four. Our two top picks then went to Keren Williams, so she could pick the winner of the two. I’m delighted that Keren picked Megan’s story, as it’s a touching little tale and it’s always nice to have another female voice brought to the Lethbridge-Stewart range. Which, of course, Megan will as part of her prize for winning the competition.

The inspiration for Gone Fishin’ came as much from Thoreau – 'simplify, simplify' – as it did from the desire to give some of the HAVOC crew a well-deserved break. I'm pleased the premise worked as well as it did.

With the success of The HAVOC Files 2: Special Edition earlier this year, it was a forgone conclusion that we’d do a special edition reprint of The HAVOC Files 3. As with the previous release, we decided to look at it as an opportunity to revise a few of the stories, fixing continuity errors and the like, as well as bringing to print two short stories only previously available digitally.

This time around we decided to replace The Lost Skin part two (available as part of the larger whole in The Lost Skin novella) with Steven Walton’s The Case of the Missing Fairy. This was originally released digitally for Christmas 2017. Steven is taking the opportunity to expand it somewhat for the print edition. Joining it will be another previous Christmas free story; this time A Funny Turn by Alyson Leeds. Alyson is a solid writer, who wrote last year’s highly popular Fear of the Web. A Funny Turn is set during the earlier days of Lethbridge-Stewart’s career, and sees him being targeted by the Great Intelligence in a rather unique way.

It saddens me enormously to say that Tommy passed away in hospital this morning. My kind, funny, courageous, ridiculous friend is no longer with us.

I know he’d want me to say a big thank you to everyone who has been reading his blog, offering support, good vibes, prayers, and well-wishes. He appreciated it all, and there were times in the last year or so that I think the outpouring of love and support helped carry him through the harder times. He was immensely grateful for it, and everyone who knew and loved him is, too.

I was delighted when John Ainsworth asked me to write a Dalek story for Colin and Nicola for the monthly range. It seemed like a natural successor to my last monthly range script, Hour of the Cybermen, which had Ol’ Sixie pitched against his other arch enemies from way back.

I was given a wide brief, any setting I liked, and I went for an off-Earth story which has its basis in a tactic of the Persian Empire. They would conquer a territory then put a plenipotentiary or emissary in place as its ruler. The population would be treated relatively well, on condition that there were no attempts at rebellion. If there were, the Persians would return and be totally merciless in not just quelling the rebellion but taking cruel revenge on the population. It was a very successful tactic in keeping conquered cities in line. So I envisaged a world taken over by the Daleks with one of these emissaries in charge. An emissary with the principle objective of ensuring there’s no dissent. Because if there is, the Dalek reprisal will be terrible. And what would the Doctor and Peri do, coming into this setup? Would the Doctor want - or be able - to quell his usual instinct to foment rebellion and overturn Dalek rule?

I’d written Daleks before, for the War Doctor range, and found them great fun to do. This was my first time telling a standalone Dalek story of this length, and again it was a treat. It’s just not possible to write ‘Exterminate!’ without smiling. Even more of a treat is writing for Colin. I’ve written four or five stories for him now, and I just love his Doctor and what he does with him in the studio. To get to write for him and Nicola again, my first Sixie and Peri adventure since The First Sontarans in 2012, was the icing on the writing cake.

The Daleks are iconic of course, and were a highlight of my Doctor Who viewing as a child. I particularly remember 9-year- old me’s excited anticipation of their return in Day of the Daleks after an absence of many years. That remains one of my top favourite Doctor Who stories. It’s also one that, like Emissary, features a representative of the Daleks, the Controller, running a totalitarian state in their name. Which provides a satisfying if tenuous link to my story, while also setting a precedent for the use of this tactic by the Daleks.

I was thrilled to be invited to illustrate the cover for the Lethbridge-Stewart novel On His Majesty’s National Service. This allowed me to depart from my usual cartoony art style seen on the Lucy Wilson books and work in a style influenced by some of my childhood favourite comics, Battle picture weekly and Commando. I really enjoyed working on the piece which involved a little research into the Korean War and particularly the Hungarian army. I hope regular readers enjoy the explosive cover art and my rendition of a young moustache less Lethbridge-Stewart.

We knew we wanted a Commando-style cover, and it took us a while to remember we had an artist who has done some work featuring military characters over the years. Although Steve is primarily known for his Beano work (as evidenced by the style of the Lucy Wilson covers), he can turn his hand to many different styles. As usual, I consulted the author, asked him what he wanted, and we then sent these suggestions to Steve.

I wanted both Lethbridge-Stewart and Hooper on the cover, as well as two Korean characters, with Lethbridge-Stewart and Hooper in Hungarian uniforms, just to further tease the audience and make them wonder why... And, I’m glad to say, the final result is pretty much exactly what I’d imagined. I’ve been lucky to have some great covers over the years, and this is easily right up there with them.