Doctor Who Magazine: Issue 574

Wednesday, 2 February 2022 - Reported by Marcus

In this month's Doctor Who Magazine, Colin Baker, Bonnie Langford and Russell T Davies reveal the next chapter for the sixth Doctor

Highlights of the new issue include:

An exclusive preview of Mind of the Hodiac (Russell T Davies’ first Doctor Who script) ahead of its Big Finish release, with contributions from Colin Baker, Bonnie Langford, Russell, Scott Handcock and Emily Cook.
The first installment of a two-part interview with Doctor Who’s outgoing executive producer Matt Strevens.
Visual effects designer Ben Pickles describes his contributions to the Thirteenth Doctor’s era.
Zodiak VFX’s Tamsie Thomas and Myfanwy Harris talk about their award-winning work on Doctor Who.
A tribute to Doctor Who director Michael Ferguson, who passed away in October.
The inside story of how the BBC paved the way for Doctor Who’s long-awaited return in 2005.
Pianist Jess Jurkovic discusses his YouTube project ‘Dudley Simpson IS Doctor Who’.
Collectivity investigates the increasingly sophisticated world of trading cards.
Apocrypha revisits Invasion of the Daleks, a seminal comic strip from 1964’s The Dalek Book.
The Fact of Fiction looks at the 1965 story The Romans.
Public Image analyses the ratings for Eve of the Daleks.
The first part of Hydra’s Gate, a new comic-strip story for the Doctor, Yaz and Dan.
Previews, reviews, news, prize-winning competitions, Time and Space Visualiser, Sufficient Data and more.

Doctor Who Magazine Issue 574 is on sale from panini.co.uk and WH Smith from Thursday 3 February priced £6.99 (UK). Also available as a digital edition from pocketmags.com priced £4.99.

FILTER: - DWM - Sixth Doctor

Season 22 Boxset Announced

Thursday, 20 January 2022 - Reported by Marcus

The BBC has announced that Season 22 of Doctor Who will be available on Blu-ray as the next box-set release.

Season 22 was the first full series starring the Sixth Doctor Colin Baker and companion Peri played by Nicola Bryant

The season saw them face off against a host of classic monsters and villains, including Daleks, Cybermen, Sontarans, Davros (Terry Molloy) and The Master (Anthony Ainley) – as well as introducing a new female nemesis The Rani (Kate O’Mara) and the villainous slug-like Sil (Nabil Shaban).

The season also featured the return of Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor, and his companion Jamie played by Frazer Hines.

With all episodes newly remastered from the best available sources, this Blu-ray box set also contains extensive and exclusive Special Features including:

Brand New Documentaries: Including a Making-Of documentary for The Two Doctors, and a nostalgic trip back for Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant to Season 22’s filming locations.
In Conversation: Not one but THREE insightful feature-length interviews, with Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant and a surprise guest.
Behind The Sofa: New episodes with actors Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant, Terry Molloy, Peter Davison, Janet Fielding, Sarah Sutton, Sylvester McCoy and Wendy Padbury.
Extended Episodes: Including Vengeance On Varos, The Two Doctors (Part One) and Revelation Of The Daleks (Part One).
A Fix With Sontarans: The Doctor and Tegan battle the Sontarans in this special mini-episode.
Updated Special Effects: View Timelash with optional new effects
Exclusive New Audio Commentaries: With Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant, Alexei Sayle & Terry Molloy on Revelation Of The Daleks and Colin Baker, Janet Fielding & Gareth Jenkins on A Fix With Sontarans.
Immersive 5.1 Surround Sound: On Attack Of The Cybermen, Vengeance On Varos and Revelation Of The Daleks.
The Eternal Mystery: A brand new mini-episode of classic Doctor Who.
Studio Footage: Rare behind-the-scenes material from Vengeance On Varos, The Two Doctors, Timelash and Revelation Of The Daleks.
Convention Footage: Featuring actors Colin Baker and Jacqueline Pearce alongside producer John Nathan-Turner.
Rare Gems From The Archives: BBC archive material including The Colin Baker Years, plus content covering the promotion of the season and the controversial hiatus.
Radio Serial: Slipback, a six-part radio adventure.
HD Photo Galleries: Including many previously unseen images.
Info Text: Behind-the-scenes information and trivia on every episode.
Scripts, Costume Designs, Rare BBC Production Files and other rarities from the PDF Archive

The eight-disc box set also includes hours of special features previously released on DVD.

A specially shot announcement trailer has debuted on the Doctor Who YouTube channel, written by new series contributor Pete McTighe (Kerblam! and Praxeus) and featuring Nicola Bryant back as Peri.

The Eternal Mystery | The Collection: Season 22 Announcement Trailer

The box-set can be pre-ordered on Amazon

FILTER: - Blu-ray/DVD - Season 22 - Sixth Doctor

From the Doctors... to all doctors

Thursday, 23 April 2020 - Reported by Marcus

From the Doctors... to all doctors. A thank you to the NHS and all frontline workers.

As seen on the BBC One programme The Big Night In

The Doctors Say Thank You | #TheBigNightIn

FILTER: - Eighth Doctor - Eleventh Doctor - Fifth Doctor - Fourth Doctor - Seventh Doctor - Sixth Doctor - Tenth Doctor - Thirteenth Doctor - Twelfth Doctor

Big Finish: Cry of the Vultriss

Wednesday, 15 April 2020 - Reported by Chuck Foster

Big Finish have released the next in their regular range of Doctor Who adventures, featuring Colin Baker aa the Doctor:

Cry of the Vultriss, with writer Darren Jones, Jo Burke, Nicholas Briggs, Miranda Raison, Colin Baker, Lisa Greenwood, Caroline Lawrie, Daniel Norford (Credit: Big Finish)

(view alternative cast photo)

The Sixth Doctor is back and travelling with companions Philippa ‘Flip’ Jackson and Constance Clarke in a brand new full-cast audio drama, Doctor Who: Cry of the Vultriss, released today.

Part political drama, part disaster epic, Doctor Who: Cry of the Vultriss sees The Doctor, Constance and Flip crash-land on an alien planet. While the TARDIS begins to repair itself they set off to discover the cause of the crash, but very quickly become embroiled in the on-going political crisis of the Vultriss – the bird-like species which rules the planet.

If that wasn’t enough for the Doctor to deal with, a group of alien ambassadors arrive – the Ice Warriors. And he discovers the Vultriss are hiding a centuries old secret that may have terrible consequences for the galaxy.

Cry of the Vultriss (Credit: Big Finish)

(view clean cover)

Cry of the Vultriss
Starring Colin Baker as the Doctor
with Lisa Greenwood as Flip and Miranda Raison as Constance
Written by Darren Jones

Violently ejected from the Space-Time Vortex, the TARDIS crash lands on the remote planet of Cygia-Rema, a mountainous world ruled by the bird-like Vultriss. Their newly crowned Queen Skye is expecting first contact with alien ambassadors – Ice Warriors – and the sudden arrival of the Doctor, Flip and Mrs Constance Clarke causes confusion.

However, Skye is no ordinary ruler, she is the Fabled One gifted with the deadly power of ‘The Cry’. The queen who will enable the Vultriss to fly once again – at any cost.

Actor Colin Baker commented:

The Doctor suffers a bit from ‘species guilt’ in this one. The Time Lords have been responsible for the initial problem that created the rift in space they're trying to close. It always adds a layer of interest to a story when we go back to the ghastly Time Lords, who arguably could be seen as the biggest villains of the whole lot.

Listen to the Trailer

Doctor Who: Cry of the Vultriss is now available to purchase on CD, or as a digital download from Big Finish.

FILTER: - Audio - Big Finish - Sixth Doctor

The Unofficial DR WHO Annual 1987

Monday, 18 November 2019 - Reported by Marcus

The Unofficial DR WHO Annual 1987 has now materialised and is ready to order.

Earlier this year, Terraqueous Distributors transport fans back to the 70s with the release of The Unofficial DR WHO Annual 1972, as 'World Distributors' elected not to bring one out for that year, creating a gap in many peoples collections. 34 years ago 'World Distributors' ended their run of Doctor Who annuals. So this time Terraqueous Distributors are taking us back to the 80's. The Unofficial DR WHO Annual 1987, is another bumper edition at 122 pages. and contains 11 stories, 2 comic strips, 10 features, 4 games, and more.

The annual also includes celebrity contributions from Frazer Hines, Alister Pearson, and David J Howe.

We are so proud and honoured to have our heroes, take part in the annual - although this time we also have a villian gracing the pages. Sil, is quite possibly the greatest villian the sixth Doctor has ever faced. And thanks to the kindness of Keith Barnfather, and Sil's creator Philip Martin, Sil has a couple of pages dedicated to him.

The Unofficial Dr Who Annual 1987 is published by Terraqueous Distributors and available from Lulu at the print-on-demand price of £21.64 plus shipping costs. None of the money paid by purchasers goes to the publisher or to any of the contributors.

The Unofficial DR WHO Annual 1972 is also available, but will be retired in January 2020.

Next year, Terraqueous Distributors will be releasing The Unofficial Master Annual. Details on the Terraqueous Distributors FaceBook page:

FILTER: - Fan Productions - Sixth Doctor

Sixth Doctor and Peri return in new audio adventures for 2020

Tuesday, 20 August 2019 - Reported by Chuck Foster

The Sixth Doctor and Peri - Vol 1: Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant (Credit: Big Finish)

Big Finish have announced four new adventures for the Sixth Doctor and Peri for August 2020, set after The Trial of a Time Lord and their audio adventure The Rani Elite.

Producer/Director Scott Handcock said:

Ever since the Sixth Doctor and Peri were reunited in The Widow’s Assassin back in 2014, listeners have wanted a continuation of their post-Trial of a Time Lord adventures together. And so now, to commemorate twenty years of Doctor Who at Big Finish, they’re getting a new collection of stories spanning the cosmos. We travel to nineteenth-century Africa, futuristic Earth colonies and a 1970s film studios plus we meet the ultimate Doctor/companion relationship counsellor in Sigmund Freud!

Nicola Bryant said about her character's return:

Because of the journey that BF have given them, both together and individually, we’ve been lucky enough to expand them into these amazing new people. If everything had stayed in some kind of stasis where we were stuck with exactly what we did on television, then I think the audience might have disappeared. But it just seems that we’ve been given such great journeys, and I love coming back to this Doctor/companion.

This new set of stories will also feature Colin Baker's daughter Rosie in the third adventure.

The Sixth Doctor and Peri - Vol 1 (Credit: Big Finish)

1. The Headless Ones by James Parsons & Andrew Stirling-Brown
When a distress call from an unknown source threatens to rip the TARDIS from the vortex, the Doctor and Peri arrive in nineteenth-century Africa hoping to find the cause of the disturbance. Instead, they meet a British expedition searching for a long lost tribe: the B’lemyae… better known to the locals as ‘the Headless Ones’.

2. Like by Jacqueline Rayner
On the Earth colony world Rusina, the populace strive to be popular. Likes lead to promotion, dislikes lead to demotion – and more recently, something worse. So when the Doctor investigates the truth behind their subscriber-led society, he finds himself about to become very unpopular indeed.

3. The Vanity Trap by Stuart Manning
Myrna Kendal used to be a Hollywood film star. Now she spends her life reminiscing on chat shows but there is always one unfinished film she refuses to talk about… at least until the TARDIS interrupts a TV interview, and the Doctor and Peri’s appearance stirs up long-forgotten memories.

4. Conflict Theory by Nev Fountain
Concerned by the Doctor’s increasing over-protectiveness, Peri presents him with an ultimatum: either they seek counselling or she leaves the TARDIS permanently. Reluctant to lose one of his closest friends, the Doctor seeks out one of the finest psychoanalysts in the universe: Dr Sigmund Freud.

Cast
Colin Baker (The Doctor), Nicola Bryant (Peri Brown), Deirdre Mullins (Amanda Latimer), Hugh Skinner (Lord Oliver Erpingham), Vivienne Acheampong (Siyanda), Javone Prince (Kaylin), Lucy Robinson (Christie), Eilidh Loan (Marconi), Amelia Donkor (Hoffmann), Rachel Atkins (Governor Crompton), Timothy Blore (Sandis-Fernis), Sarah Douglas (Myrna Kendal), Rosie Baker (Carolyn Sue), Stephen Critchlow (Jimmy Garfield), Ryan Forde Iosco (Dr. Karp), David Sibley (Dr. Freud), Raj Ghatak (The Complex), George Naylor (Dodo).

The Sixth Doctor and Peri - Vol 1: Cast from The Headless Ones (Credit: Big Finish)

The Sixth Doctor and Peri - Vol 1: Cast from Like (Credit: Big Finish)

The Sixth Doctor and Peri - Vol 1: Cast from The Vanity Trap (Credit: Big Finish)

The Sixth Doctor and Peri - Vol 1: Cast from Conflict Theory (Credit: Big Finish)

FILTER: - Audio - Big Finish - Sixth Doctor

Emissary of the Daleks - Cover Reveal

Monday, 13 May 2019 - Reported by Marcus

Emissary of the Daleks (Credit: Big Finish)

Doctor Who News can exclusively reveal the cover of the upcoming Sixth Doctor release from Big Finish, Emissary of the Daleks

The story, starring Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant is by Andrew Smith, who wrote the TV Fourth Doctor story Full Circle.

Andrew Smith told us about the story.

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.

Emissary of the Daleks is due to be released in August. It can be ordered on the Big Finish Website.

FILTER: - Big Finish - Sixth Doctor

Final Dalek Novelisations Out This Year

Monday, 21 January 2019 - Reported by Marcus

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.

Resurrection of the Daleks (Credit: BBC Books)

Doctor Who: Resurrection of the Daleks

The universe is at war.
Action takes courage…

The TARDIS is ensnared in a time corridor, catapulting it into derelict docklands on 20th century Earth.

The Doctor and his companions, Tegan and Turlough, stumble on a warehouse harbouring fugitives from the future at the far end of the corridor – and are soon under attack from a Dalek assault force.

The Doctor’s oldest enemies have set in motion an intricate and sinister plot to resurrect their race from the ashes of an interstellar war.

For the Daleks’ plans to succeed, they must set free their creator, Davros, from a galactic prison – and force the Doctor to help them achieve total control over time and space.

But the embittered Davros has ideas of his own.

Revelation of the Daleks (Credit: BBC Books)

Doctor Who: Revelation of the Daleks

Beware the hands that heal…

The Doctor and Peri land on the planet Necros to visit the funerary home Tranquil Repose – where the dead are interred and the near-dead placed in suspended animation until such time as their conditions can be cured.

But the Great Healer of Tranquil Repose is far from benign.

Under his command, Daleks guard the catacombs where sickening experiments are conducted on human bodies.

The new life he offers the dying comes at a terrible cost – and the Doctor and Peri are being lured into a trap that will change them forever.

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

FILTER: - BBC Books - Fifth Doctor - Sixth Doctor

Delia Derbyshire honoured with Blue Plaque

Friday, 16 June 2017 - Reported by Marcus

A blue plaque has been unveiled at the childhood home of the woman who realized the original Doctor Who theme music, Delia Derbyshire.

The mark of respect is one of 47 Blue Plaques unveiled as part of BBC Music Day, to commemorate people or places that have influenced the UK’s musical landscape. Those honored include singers, musicians, songwriters, producers, and broadcasters, as well as significant locations that played a major role in the UK's musical heritage.

People commemorated include John Peel and David Bowie, while places getting a plaque include the Brighton venue where Abba won the Eurovision Song Contest.

The final list was selected from BBC Local Radio listeners’ suggestions, as well as those of a committee including music industry experts and BBC representatives.

David Holdsworth, Controller of BBC English Regions, said:

It is hugely prestigious to receive a British Plaque Trust Blue Plaque, as usually only around two are awarded each year. To mark BBC Music Day across BBC Local Radio with 47 blue plaques is a fitting way to commemorate our listeners’ passion and pride for where they live and to celebrate our musical heritage.

The plaque honouring Delia Derbyshire was unveiled by Sixth Doctor Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant who played Peri, who joined BBC Coventry & Warwickshire's Vic Minett to officially perform the ceremony.

Delia Derbyshire's blue plaque unveiled on #BBCMusicDay pic.twitter.com/8WibGs30cX
— BBC Cov Warks (@BBCCovWarks) June 15, 2017

FILTER: - Classic Series - Music - Sixth Doctor

Big Finish main range during 2017

Wednesday, 7 December 2016 - Reported by Chuck Foster

Big Finish have announced details for their main range of Doctor Who adventures over the course of next year.

January sees a new trilogy featuring the fifth Doctor and companions, which as well as Tegan and Nyssa will also see them joined with Adric, as played by Matthew Waterhouse. Having first returned to the Doctor Who fold in 2014's Fifth Doctor Box Set, the character now arrives in the main range, with Matthew commenting:

I took a long time to get around to the idea of doing the audios – and now I just absolutely love it, I think the character's beautifully written. Everything we're doing at Big Finish is stuff that's already in the character, in the stories, they're just being extended a bit. Having said I don't want to do them, now I think “when's next week's one going to arrive?”. This is proper Doctor Who, they're really carefully written, they're witty and funny, they're highly inventive.

Range editor Alan Barnes said:

It's been great to at last bring Adric into the monthly range – well, before his tragic death, at least! Andrew Smith wrote the character's introductory story on TV, so I was determined to get Andrew to write his re-introduction. Andrew's The Star Men, full of far-out cosmic science, is the first story of the trilogy, in which an astronomical base at the fringes of Earth's galaxy finds itself on the frontline of a war with an unimaginably alien force...

Matthew added:

Adric's quite heroic in this, and a young woman finds him rather hot because she's a bit brainy like he is: there's some genuine, character work going on with a great concept and there's some really nice moments between him and a young woman called Autumn (played by Sophie Wu).

The characters continue their journeys over the next two months, with Alan adding:

Phil Mulryne's The Contingency Club comes next, in which the TARDIS lands inside the most exclusive gentlemen's club in all of Victorian London – a club where all the waiters are identical clones! The final instalment of the trilogy is Zaltys by Matthew J Elliott, which brings the TARDIS to a world just hours from catastrophe, while Tegan is stranded in space... where she comes face to face with a very particular sort of horror, one she thought existed only in nightmares...

Additional cast members include Sue Holderness (Only Fools And Horses) in The Star Men, Philip Jackson (Inspector Japp in ITV's Poirot) and Clive Merrison (The Tomb of the Cybermen, Paradise Towers) in The Contingency Club, and Rebecca Root (Boy Meets Girl), Niamh Cusack (Heartbeat), Philip Franks (The Darling Buds of May, Heartbeat) and Carol Sloman – daughter of Doctor Who writer Robert Sloman - in Zaltys. The trilogy has covers from designer Tom Webster.

The Contingency Club (Credit: Big Finish)

April sees a change in style for the regular range, as Big Finish embarks on the first of three special two-disc collections of two stories. The first stars Peter Davison as the fifth Doctor in Alien Heart by Steve Cole, and Dalek Soul by Guy Adams. This is followed in May by Colin Baker's sixth Doctor starring in Vortex Ice by Jonathan Morris, and Cortex Fire by Ian Potter, and then in June Sylvester McCoy brings the trilogy to a close with Shadow Planet by AK Benedict and World Apart by Scott Handcock.

Alan commmented:

The double-bills in April to June came about because, er... well, we all quite liked the idea of double-bills, really! Each consists of two two-part adventures, each by a different author, one on each of the two discs; each, hopefully, has a very different style and tone to its companion piece – there should be a nice contrast between the two. Alien Heart is about a species of weird spider-like monsters linked to the systematic destruction of planets, and Dalek Soul is a particularly bleak piece set on the Dalek-occupied world of Mojoxalli.

May features Lisa Greenwood as Flip – hurrah! – reunited with the sixth Doctor, in two adventures set before her (apparent) exit in Scavenger. Vortex Ice is a brain-scrambling conundrum of a story set in a diamond mine; then Cortex Fire, like its title sort-of suggests, is about an epidemic of spontaneous human combustion on a distant planet. Finally, in June, there's the return of the seventh Doctor and Ace in Shadow Planet/World Apart. The first has them at a far-out therapy centre, getting some very alternative medicine; then the second the TARDIS travellers are found marooned somewhere very inhospitable indeed...

Looking a little further into 2017, July sees the award-winning John Dorney back writing for the main range with The High Price of Parking starring the seventh Doctor, Mel and Ace. August's title has yet to be confirmed, but September will see two releases, with Matthew J Elliott's The Silurian Candidate for the seventh Doctor and Eddie Robson's Time in Office featuring the fifth Doctor, Tegan and another Doctor's one-time companion. The end of the year sees a full trilogy of adventures featuring the sixth Doctor, Constance and Flip, following on from this month's release, Quicksilver.

The main range can be bought individually, or subscribed to in both six- and 12-episode runs, at money-saving prices as well as special exclusives such as PDF scripts, extended extras and up to four Doctor Who - Subscriber Short Trips a year. Full details can be found via the Big Finish website.

FILTER: - Audio - Big Finish - Fifth Doctor - Merchandise - Seventh Doctor - Sixth Doctor

Previous 10 Stories