Billie Piper is offering fans a chance to win a once in a lifetime opportunity to fly to New York to see her Broadway hit play, Yerma for just £1.

Piper, whose portrayal of a woman driven to the unthinkable by her desperate desire to have a child saw her sweep up six Best Actress Awards, has launched a competition to help raise money for her chosen charity, The Primary Shakespeare Company.

The Primary Shakespeare Company aims to engage, inspire and empower primary school children in the UK from disadvantaged backgrounds using the magic of drama, but face a challenge raising the necessary funds each year to continue their work.

The flights have been donated by Virgin Atlantic and every penny raised from Piper’s Broadway competition will go towards the charity.

The winner will receive two VIP tickets to see ‘Yerma’ in New York, the chance to hang out with Piper and the cast backstage, flights, accommodation and a goodie bag.

Billie Piper's first played the role at the Young Vic in London. The Independent's critic described it as a force that left [him] visibly shaking and The Telegraph warned her devastatingly powerful performance will leave you feeling numb with pity.

Piper picked up six Best Actress awards including the coveted Laurence Olivier Award.

Billie Piper said: Neil Carter, from The Primary Shakespeare Company, added: Tickets are available for a limited time only from Billie Piper’s website

Issue 518 of Doctor Who Magazine has an exclusive interview with Tenth Doctor David Tennant and his sidekick Billie Piper

Over a decade on from their time together in the TARDIS, the couple are back for a series of Big Finish Doctor Who audio adventures featuring the Tenth Doctor and Rose Also in this Issue

• MATT LUCAS
Matt Lucas talks about his new autobiography, which he wrote while playing Nardole in the latest series of Doctor Who.
• CAMILLE CODURI
Camille Coduri, who played Jackie Tyler, tells what it’s like to be reunited with David Tennant and Billie Piper for more Doctor Who audio adventures.
• SYLVESTER McCOY
In the second part of the interview, Seventh Doctor Sylvester McCoy reflects on Doctor Who’s 50th anniversary and looks forward to the show’s future.
• WHITE WITCH OF DEVIL’S END
Meet the people behind a DVD sequel to the classic 1971 story The Dæmons.
• BOX OF DELIGHTS
An interview with Paul Foden, the fan whose home-made TARDIS recently appeared on Channel 4’s Amazing Spaces: Shed of the Year.
• MATILDUS
A brand-new comic strip adventure for the Doctor and Bill in Matildus, written and illustrated by Scott Gray.
• THE TIME TEAM
The Time Team continues its mission to watch every episode of Doctor Who with 2012’s The Rebel Flesh.

PLUS...

Previews, book and audio reviews, news, the Watcher’s column, prize-winning competitions and much, much more!



Doctor Who Magazine 518 is on sale from Thursday 19 October, price £5.99.

David Tennant And Billie Piper are reprising their roles of the Tenth Doctor and his companion Rose Tyler in three Doctor Who audio dramas from Big Finish Productions in arrangement with BBC Worldwide.

David Tennant’s Doctor, portrayed on screen from December 2005 until December 2009, returned in the 50th Anniversary special, The Day of the Doctor, with Matt Smith and Sir John Hurt in 2013, and on audio for Big Finish with Catherine Tate in 2016.

Billie Piper portrayed the Doctor’s much-loved companion Rose in 2005 and 2006, returning for a number of stories in 2008. She also appeared as The Moment – which had taken Rose’s form – in The Day of the Doctor. These new stories will be Billie’s eagerly awaited debut for Big Finish.

Executive producer Jason Haigh-Ellery says: Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor Adventures – Volume 2, will be released in November 2017. It is comprised of three hour-long full cast audio adventures.

The set opens with Attack of the Zaross by John Dorney, in which an alien invasion of Earth isn’t quite what it appears to be – Camille Coduri guest stars as Jackie Tyler.

In the second adventure, Sword of the Chevalier by Guy Adams, the Doctor and Rose arrive in Slough in 1791 and encounter Chevalier D’Eon, an enigmatic ex-spy who has lived his life as a woman. Together they must fend off alien slavers, who have come to Earth to abduct valuable humans.

Finally, in Cold Vengeance by Matt Fitton, the TARDIS arrives on Coldstar, a vast frozen food asteroid in deep space. But there is something sinister defrosting in the network of storage units… the Doctor’s old enemies the Ice Warriors! Nicholas Briggs plays Ice Lord Hasskor and Warrior Slaan.

Nicholas Briggs, who is the Voice of the Daleks on TV and for Big Finish, said Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor Adventures – Volume 2 is produced by David Richardson who said Special Preview of the Tenth Doctor and Rose

Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor Adventures – Volume 2 will be available in both a Limited Edition Deluxe box set, and as three individual vanilla releases.

Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor Adventures – Volume 1, starring David Tennant and Catherine Tate, is currently available on CD and download. For the next 24 hours it will be available at half price from the Big Finish website.

Billie Piper is to star at the National Theatre in London in a new play about press intrusion and phone hacking.

The play Great Britain, written by Richard Bean and directed by Nicholas Hytner, opens on 30th June, with Piper playing the ambitious young news editor of a tabloid newspaper. The opening was delayed on legal advice due to an ongoing court case which has now been concluded. It will run on London's South Bank until 23rd August.

The play also features Robert Glenister.

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A new trailer for the upcoming ABC sitcom Selfie, starring Karen Gillan, has been released.

Selfie sees Gillan play a vain, social media-obsessed airhead, Eliza Dooley, forced to learn humility from a marketing consultant. The show is described as a modern update to My Fair Lady.


Selfie will debut in the US on ABC later this year on Tuesdays at 8pm.

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ITV have released a trailer for the new series Chasing Shadows, which stars Alex Kingston and Noel Clarke.

Kingston playes Ruth Hattersley in the drama, who is described as "maternal, but not mumsy", while Clarke plays DI Prior. The show also stars Reece Shearsmith, who played Patrick Troughton in An Adventure In Space And Time.

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Sophie Okonedo, who played Liz 10 in The Beast Below, has won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her portrayal of Ruth in the play A Raisin in the Sun.

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Dolore Whiteman, who played Aunt Vanessa in the Doctor Who story Logopolis, has died at her home in Australia. Whiteman was the mother of Tracey Wilson and Jodie Wilson who both appeared as the vocalist backing singers in Delta and the Bannermen.
(with thanks to Stephen Griffiths)

As one of the highest rated shows on television today, and with four (or five!) new Doctors under its belt, it's perhaps hard to imagine a time when Doctor Who was simply one of the thousands of series that had once flourished but ultimately been consigned to the great script book in the sky. But in the mid 2000s this was how the series was regarded by many, and the brave effort by the BBC to bring it back exactly nine years ago was very much a gamble - how would the 'old-school' fans receive it, and what would a 'modern' audience make of a time-traveller in a police box?

Of course, Doctor Who did have an advantage in that it was a show that was still remembered outside of its core fan base, the general public at large were aware of "Dr Who", his iconic TARDIS, and the Daleks. This helped to lend a sense of curiosity at what the new face behind the show, celebrated writer Russell T Davies, would do with the Doctor, who would be played by an established television and film actor in the form of Christopher Eccleston, not to mention the inclusion of the press-attraction of former teenage pop-star turned actress Billie Piper.

A teaser trailer on New Year's Day 2005 formally introduced the return to the general public, but it wasn't until March when the promotional gears were turned up to maximum with a host of trailers ("Do you want to come with me?") and programmes to build up interest in a way not witnessed again until the 50th Anniversary last year.

The three principal names appeared on a variety of news and magazine programmes in the lead-up to the premiere: Christopher Eccleston was a guest on the ever Who-friendly Blue Peter on the 21st March, and then came face-to-face with 'himself' on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross on the 25th; Billie Piper appeared on Parkinson on the 19th; and Russell "TV" Davies appeared on the Breakfast couch on the 11th, on BBC2 Wales's On Show on the 17th, and with Phil and Fern on This Morning on the 23rd. The press preview on the 8th March was covered widely in the media, and led to recorded interviews with the stars popping up on Breakfast and GMTV during that week. Special programmes during the period included: Matthew Sweet looking forward with a little trepidation on how the show's return would fit in culturally on The Culture Show on the 17th; Ian Rankin, Bonnie Greer and Professor John Carey discussing the series' merits on Newsnight Review on the 18th; and BBC Radio 2 presenting Project: Who? on the 22nd. Doctor Who wasn't the only programme on the way - Doctor Who Confidential was also to premiere at the weekend on BBC Three, and executive producer Mark Cossey chatted to Rufus Hound on the channel's Destination Three about what to expect from the behind-the-scenes series.


Then, suddenly, it's the 26th March. As the early evening inexorably approaches, appetites are whetted with a special preview (and countdown) in A New Dimension, an excruciating wait through Graham Norton's Strictly Dance Fever ... and then, at 7:00pm, the BBC One "Tap Dogs" ident commences, with the announcement fans have been waiting over fifteen years for:

45 minutes later and an unprecedented ten million viewers - and 43.2% of the audience - have watched Rose run to the TARDIS and off into adventures with the Doctor; the final figure rose to 10.81m (44.8%) and achieved seventh place in the TV charts, only beaten by the soap juggernauts Coronation Street and EastEnders. A week later, a further series has been commissioned (not to mention a new Doctor on the cards!), and the longevity of a modern Doctor Who is assured ...

The BBC has taken to Twitter to warn people to avoid tweets claiming to be from either Peter Capaldi or Jenna Coleman, as neither actor has a Twitter account. In a tweet sent out from the official Doctor Who account last week, it said:
Meanwhile, Coleman has been talking about her life in travel, including her earliest holiday memory (Cornwall) and her favourite destination in Britain (Derbyshire). She says her best holiday was in The Maldives. "I went after finishing series seven of Doctor Who. I had to pinch myself because it was so picturesque. Especially because I'd gone in January, from grey London skies and concrete to all this colour and sea. It took about five days to settle in. We arrived by seaplane and barely saw anyone else the whole time. We did a catamaran trip where the hotel took us out with a picnic and snorkelling gear to a strip of sand in the middle of the ocean and left us there. You couldn't see anything else except the horizon and water. We were totally stranded." Her worst travel experience was "Christmas Eve at London Euston railway station, trying to get home to Blackpool. Everybody turns into animals. Humans stop being humans." [The Independent, 1 Feb 2014]

Tomorrow's episode of ITV drama Midsomer Murders sees an End of Time reunion of sorts take place, with Bernard Cribbins, Jacqueline King and June Whitfield among the guest cast caught up in the goings-on of The Flying Club, when an airfield owner is murdered. Cribbins plays veteran mechanic Duggie Wingate, Whitfield portrays Molly Darnley, a former Air Transport Auxiliary member with a dark secret, and King is Laura Wilding - the mother of resident pathologist Kate. Chatting about the episode last week, Cribbins said that Whitfield's character would be a love interest for Wingate. The two-hour episode airs from 8pm. [ITV Press Centre]

Paul McGann and Sophie Aldred will be among the star guests at sci-fi convention The SF Ball in Bournemouth later this week. The event takes place from Friday 7th to Sunday 9th February and Aldred, who filmed a number of her Doctor Who stories in the county, spoke of her fond memories of the place. "It was always a delight. I love Dorset and it was great to be filming there," she said, adding: "I remember having a barbecue on the sand at Lulworth Cove. Somebody had managed to wire up lights on an extension cable. We had a disco. Then we would go for walks off along Durdle Door. I remember watching shooting stars one night. It was wonderful." Aldred also said how much she enjoyed meeting the show's fans. "They are incredibly bright people. Doctor Who attracts really brilliant, brainy people," she said. (NB: McGann will only be at the event on the Friday and Saturday.) [Dorset Echo, 3 Feb 2014]

Sylvester McCoy and Karen Gillan join the guests taking part in the Sci-Fi Expo in Irving, Texas, at the weekend. Organised by Dallas Comic Con, the event will be held at the Irving Convention Center on Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th February, with Gillan there on Saturday only. [TheForce.net, 30 Jan 2014]

If you miss her then, Gillan will be on the Wizard World Comic Con Tour later this year, appearing at Philadelphia Comic Con from Thursday 19th to Sunday 22nd June, Chicago Comic Con from Thursday 21st to Sunday 24th August, and Austin Comic Con from Thursday 2nd to Saturday 4th October. [Wizard World]

Staying with the Stateside theme, Broadchurch creator Chris Chibnall has spoken about David Tennant's American accent in Gracepoint - the US remake of the ITV crime drama. Tennant played Det Insp Alec Hardy in the British original and is portraying Det Emmett Carver in the US version, and Chibnall said of the actor's accent: "I've heard it's fantastic." [Radio Times, 30 Jan 2014]

Meanwhile, Broadchurch co-star Olivia Colman has been talking of the agonies of keeping a tight lid on the plot of the second series after enduring similar tongue-holding for the first one. "Now it’s all starting again, it's awful - there's no end to the secret keeping."
[Radio Times, 30 Jan 2014]

Colin Baker had a jovial dig at the BBC over the gender of the Doctor, saying: "There should [be a female Doctor]. It won't happen because they are too timid but there should be. First female Doctor? I will have a sex change and do it. I am in touch with my feminine side." [Radio Times, 29 Jan 2014]

Brian Cox is to return as Broughty Ferry burger-seller and failed politican Bob Servant for a second - shorter - TV series of the comedy Bob Servant Independent. Filming begins in May, with Bob and his long-suffering campaign manager Frank (played by Jonathan Watson) left to pick up their lives after a by-election disaster. Cox joked: "Doing Bob Servant was the worst experience of my long career, working with no-hoper talents like [series writer] Neil Forsyth and the rest of them. But these things are sent to try us and occasionally we must fly the flag for the afflicted. One has to be generous at my great age so I am happy to endorse the new series of Bob Servant. For no-hopers they're awffy nice people. I remember when I used to make movies!" The show follows in the footsteps of the Bob Servant books and radio series, with last year's TV series comprising six episodes. The second series, consisting of three episodes, will air later this year on BBC Four and BBC Two Scotland. [BBC Media Centre, 3 Feb 2014]

Following the announcement of the opening of a musical version of Back To The Future in the West End next year, speculation has been rife over who will land the plum role of Marty McFly, with Arthur Darvill being given odds of 16/1 by Paddy Power. [The Independent, 2 Feb 2014]

Billie Piper caused a stir at the Project Arts Centre in Dublin last week when she dropped by to give her support to friend Ben Power on the opening night of his play A Tender Thing. The actress is filming forthcoming psychosexual horror TV series Penny Dreadful in the area, playing Irish immigrant Brona Croft. The programme - also starring Timothy Dalton - is due to start airing on Showtime in May. [Irish Independent, 1 Feb 2014]

Alex Kingston reprises the role of Dinah Lance in an episode of Arrow, the series based on the DC Comics character Green Arrow. Entitled Heir To The Demon, the episode - which also features a character called Nyssa! - is due to air on The CW tomorrow at 8pm ET. A preview clip including Kingston is available to watch below:


And Kingston is being reunited with Sir Kenneth Branagh for a radio production of Antony and Cleopatra. The duo - who are playing the eponymous roles - starred together in Macbeth last year at Manchester International Festival, and Branagh said he was "excited to be reunited with Alex Kingston after our hugely rewarding partnership in Macbeth on stage. To play another pair of Shakespeare's great couples is a privilege." It is due to air on Radio 3 on Sunday 20th April. [The Stage, 29 Jan 2014]

Jessica Raine will be appearing as new recruit Det Con Georgia Trotman in the second series of BBC Two's police corruption drama Line of Duty, which starts on Wednesday 12th February at 9pm. She said that what worried her most was her style of running. "What I was most concerned about was not running like a girl in a police vest. I practised that a few times," she said, adding that having watched playbacks she reckoned she did OK. [Radio Times, 30 Jan 2014]

Meanwhile, Raine and David Walliams were among those pictured at the Radio Times Cover Party. [Radio Times, 29 Jan 2014]

Robert Webb is to replace Stephen Mangan as Bertie Wooster in Perfect Nonsense at The Duke of York's Theatre in London from Monday 7th April. [The Stage, 3 Feb 2014]

Matt Smith (The Eleventh Doctor) and Karen Gillan (Amy Pond) are both heading down under for a special tour around the country next March. The Hub Productions' Whoniverse: The Doctor is in event will see them live on stage talking about the phenomenon of Doctor Who and their lives as the Doctor and his companion. There will also be merchandise as well as rare collectibles available to purchase from dealers. Limited autographs and professional photographs will be available with the guests. The tour dates are as follows:

>>> SYDNEY MARCH 1st 2014
>>> PERTH MARCH 2nd 2014
>>> ADELAIDE MARCH 8th 2014
>>> MELBOURNE MARCH 9th 2014


Additional guests as well as venues and ticket info will be announced mid-January from the Hub's website.

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Other Australian appearances include Billie Piper (Rose Tyler), who will be touring with Oz Comic-Con in Adelaide and Perth throughout March and April 2014. Tickets can be purchased from the Official Oz Comic-Con site.

Also travelling to Australia and New Zealand is Fifth Doctor Peter Davison to host the Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular.

The BBC and BBC America have released a number of new publicity images to promote the forthcoming The Day of The Doctor; this batch includes images of Matt Smith, David Tennant and John Hurt as the Doctor, with Jenna Coleman as Clara, Billie Piper as Rose, and Ingrid Oliver as Osgood.

The Radio Times has revealed that David Tennant received more votes than any other Doctor combined, achieving a 56% share in their 50th Anniversary poll. The current incumbent of the TARDIS, Matt Smith came in second with 16%, whilst perennial classic favourite Tom Baker took the bronze with 10% of the votes.

Meanwhile, the poll for the Doctor's favourite sidekick revealed that the Tenth Doctor's companion Rose Tyler, as played by Billie Piper, also came out on top with a quarter of voters considering her the best. A much closer competition to those of the Doctor, his (first) best friend Sarah Jane Smith (aka Elisabeth Sladen) achieved 15% of the share to take second place, with bronze this time going to another 21st Century TARDIS occupant, Donna Noble (Catherine Tate), who received 12% of the votes.

Tim Glanfield, Editor for RadioTimes.com Editor, said:


The complete results are below:

Best Doctor		Best Companion
56.1%	David Tennant	25.09%	Rose Tyler (Billie Piper)
15.93%	Matt Smith	15.42%	Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen)
10.05%	Tom Baker	12.32%	Donna Noble (Catherine Tate)
6.59%	Christopher Eccleston	9.09%	River Song (Alex Kingston)
2.86%	Patrick Troughton	4.79%	Amy Pond (Karen Gillan)
2.38%	Jon Pertwee	4.1%	Jamie McCrimmon (Frazer Hines)
1.59%	Peter Davison	3.49%	Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman)
1.36%	Sylvester McCoy	3.09%	Ace (Sophie Aldred)
1.35%	Paul McGann	2.65%	Clara Oswald (Jenna-Louise Coleman)
0.9%	William Hartnell	2.54%	Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman)
0.88%	Colin Baker	2.39%	Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart (Nicholas Courtney)
		15.03%	(Others)

There were a total of 21,384 valid votes cast in the two polls on the Radio Times website during October and November 2013.

Radio Times DiscoverTV

Radio Times DiscoverTV is a new app designed to provide recommendations to daily television and radio, enabling users to discover new favourite programmes be they on TV, catch-up, or on-demand. The app is free to download and provides a 14 days customisable schedule for TV and radio listings, by provider and location, with basic programme information. A premium service with enhanced features is also available, with a 30 day free trial included.

As part of the launch, the app will be used to promote the twelve collectible Doctor Who Radio Times covers out next Tuesday to celebrate the 50th Anniversary. Three of the covers will be revealed within the app on Saturday, Sunday and Monday leading to all twelve being made available this coming Tuesday - the publication day of the print magazine itself.

The app is currently only available to iPad users (optimised for iOS7), with the intention to roll out to other platforms in due course.

The BBC have released a number of new publicity photos to promote the forthcoming 50th Anniversary adventure The Day of the Doctor. Images feature Matt Smith, David Tennant and John Hurt as the Doctor, with Jenna Coleman as Clara and Billie Piper as Rose, and featuring Joanna Page as Elizabeth and Jemma Redgrave as Kate.

The Night of The Doctor

Some publicity images are also available for the minisode, The Night of The Doctor. (Note: these images are currently hidden by default for those who have yet to see the episode and its revelations.)