Today marks the 25th Anniversary of Doctor Who News

It was on the 30th of May 1996 when Canadian fan Shannon Patrick Sullivan made the following announcement on the rec.arts.drwho newsgroup:

Sullivan remained editor of the page until late 1999 when due to constraints on his time he passed the page on to Mark Phippen of Logopolis.com. The following year, the page merged with the news coverage on another popular fansite – Outpost Gallifrey, edited by Shaun Lyon

Outpost Gallifrey was then the home of The Doctor Who News Page for most of the following decade, through some of the most extraordinary times in the show’s history as it returned to television and became an enormous international success.

Since 2009, when Lyon decided to close Outpost Gallifrey, the News Page has continued as an independent venture, retitled Doctor Who News and run by some of the team who’d assisted Lyon in the site’s later years on his website.

We hope that we have always done our best to maintain the high editorial standards of factual and reliable reporting set by Sullivan, Phippen, Lyon and everybody else who has contributed over the past quarter of a century.

Thank you to you all – and here’s to the next 25 years!

Doctor Who News is looking for volunteers to join the editorial team.

We are looking for

• News contributors
To write engaging accurate news items about Doctor Who and the people who work on it.
If you are interested in joining the News team then please write up a news story that we have missed and send it to the address below.
• Reviewers
To write informative reviews on Doctor Who products, including Big Finish Audio Adventures, Titan Comics, and Doctor Who Merchandise.
If you are interested in joining the team of reviewers please submit a review on a Doctor Who related item of your choice and send it to the address below.
• Event Compilers
To help keep the listings in Doctor Who Events accurate and up to date.
If you are interested in helping please send your details to the address below.
• Guide Compilers
To write character biographies and People Biographies for the Doctor Who Guide.
If you are interested in helping please send your details to the address below.
• TWIDW Compilers
To help keep This Week in Doctor Who as the most accurate source of Doctor Who listings.
If you are interested in helping please send your details to the address below stating the areas you could help cover.

Candidates should be able to make a long-term commitment to the site.

Please send enquiries to submissions@doctorwhonews.net

Doctor Who News is looking for volunteers to help maintain the various sections of the website.

We are looking for people who are able to offer a real commitment to the site and who have sound editorial judgment. Some knowledge of internet publishing would be useful.

We are looking for people to write up news items for the website. This includes stories based on press releases as well as originating material. We are also looking for people interested in keeping our events guide up to date.

We are also looking for people to contribute to the News In Time and Space site.

If you are interested in helping out please send a brief summary of what you believe can bring to the site to applications@newsintimeandspace.com

Doctor Who returns to television screens around the world this weekend, and Doctor Who News will be here to bring you all the latest updates on the new series and well as information from the show's 52 year history.

Immediately after the UK broadcast of The Magician's Apprentice, we will release a review of the episode, on Doctor Who Reviews. This will contain spoilers from the episode and should be avoided until after you have managed to watch the episode.
NB: The site already contains over 2000 reviews from episodes throughout the show's history as well as Big Finish Audio adventures and Titan Comics.

We will avoid spoilers from each episode on the News page until Sunday morning, by which time the episode will have been broadcast in the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, as well as in the UK. A full list of the broadcast times can be found on This Week in Doctor Who

We hope to have initial ratings information on Sunday morning, with consolidated figures following a week later. Full ratings information for the whole series can be found in the Doctor Who Guide. The guide also contains a full cast for the series, and this will be updated shortly after transmission to include details of each character in the story.

Doctor Who News can be followed on Facebook and Twitter, Google+, and a mobile version of the site is available for phones and for tablet devices.

To celebrate the tenth anniversary of Doctor Who returning to our screens, Doctor Who News commissioned artist Deborah Taylor to draw a celebratory image involving all the Doctors from 2005 onwards. They are joined by their companions, including one who simply left a message for her "sweetie"...

Competition

We have an 18" by 24" print of the art work available to give away. In order to be in with a chance of winning, answer the following question:
Please send your answer along with your name and address to comp-artwork@doctorwhonews.net with the subject "Fantastic!". The competition is open world-wide, closing date: 14th May 2015. Only one entry per household will be accepted.

The Doctor Who Guide, part of Doctor Who News, has recently been updated to include details of every Doctor Who episode ever shown.

The guide now contains full cast and crew lists, with each episode checked against transmitted credit lists and official BBC paperwork to include every actor, including extras, known to have appeared in the programme. Details of original transmission times and ratings are available, complete with a list of every known UK repeat of the show.

The guide also includes details of Torchwood, The Sarah Jane Adventures and K-9 as well as a comprehensive guide to the many factual TV and Radio programmes dedicated to Doctor Who.

Over the coming year we hope to expand the guide to include descriptions for each character to have appeared in the series. We welcome submissions of a short biography about each role to the site. Simply pick a character from the main index for which the description in missing, and write a short guide to that character. Data should be verified and the text should be original. A name credit will be given to each submitted entry used on the site. Send submissions to guide@doctorwhonews.net

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A reminder that Doctor Who News and the Doctor Who Guide is available as a iPhone/iPad App.

The free app gives users access to the complete archive of Doctor Who News stories, dating back to 1997, via the search option on the main news page.

The App is available free from the iTunes store.

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An ad-free version of the app is also available for a small charge.

Doctor Who News is now available on the updated iPhone/iPad App.

The revised version of the free app gives users access to the complete archive of Doctor Who News stories, dating back to 1997, via the search option on the main news page. The next release, due at the end of the month will allow searches on the reviews page.

As well as updated news, with push alerts for every new news story published, the App includes a complete guide to every Doctor Who story ever broadcast as well as information on the various spin-off series and documentaries based on the show.

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The App is available free from the iTunes store.

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An add free version of the app is also available for a small charge.

Back in November, Doctor Who was awarded the Guinness World record for the largest ever simulcast for a television episode, officially reported as 94 countries. Though a number of those fall within the reach of BBC Worldwide's Entertainment and HD channels, there are still a wide variety of television channels around the world that broadcast the show!

Originally launched in 1998 by Benjamin Francis Elliott, This Week in Doctor Who continues to report on where Doctor Who and its related programmes are shown; however, whilst we are aware of many international broadcasts, there are certainly other non-English channels that we have yet to catalogue. Also, even though we do cover a number of worldwide channels through their online listings, these don't always provide much detail on which episodes are actually being shown (or in some cases are misleading).

We would like to hear from any of our international readers (i.e. outside of the United Kingdom) who are able to assist in reporting on what is actually being broadcast in their countries, whether these include advertising, are cut, subtitled, dubbed, etc., and also local coverage of the show in the media which isn't always available online. In addition, we would like to know about general Doctor Who news within those countries, and welcome anyone who might wish to write articles for Doctor Who News itself.

If you are interested in contributing to This Week in Doctor Who and Doctor Who News then please contact us via our applications address, letting us know which country you are from and what's happening Doctor Who-wise locally.

Thanks for any help you can provide.
The Doctor Who News Team

We would also like to increase our pool of reviewers for Doctor Who (and other series) related publications, audio, and other merchandise; if you might be interested in writing reviews then please let us know at the above email address.

We are looking for new volunteers to assist with the Doctor Who News and News in Time and Space websites, taking on responsibility for reporting news items and/or writing reviews of related merchandise. Reporters from any country are welcome, but we are especially interested in those from outside the main five (UK, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) who will be able to provide 'regional' news or details on events that is not necessarily available or obvious to English-speaking countries.

In addition we are also interested in hearing from anyone who is able to assist in compiling our broadcasting schedules for This Week in Doctor Who, updating with when Doctor Who or related shows are on air in their regions.

As well as current items, there is a wealth of legacy data that is still being incorporated into our Guide and This Week in Doctor Who, and if you are able to help in updating entries such as cast/crew biographies, broadcasts etc. we'd also like to hear from you.

If you are interested in becoming part of the team please do drop us a line outlining what you can help out with to applications@newsintimeandspace.com.