One of the most intreguing 'what-ifs' of the modern era of Doctor Who, could be solved with the publication of a new book from Obverse Books.

Doctor Who's 50th Anniversary was marked by the television story The Day of The Doctor, which starred David Tennant and Matt Smith and the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors, but also featured John Hurt as the War Doctor, the missing incarnation of the Doctor.

What is not so well known is that the original hope of the producers was to reunite the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors with their Ninth incarnation played by Christopher Eccleston

Eccleston declined to feature in the story, but not before scripts were written by showrunner Steven Moffat. Excerpts from these scripts are now to be released as part of a new charity book.

The Second Target for Tommy is a charity book designed to raise money for Tommy Donbavand, a writer who having overcome throat cancer, developed a tumor in his lung. As a result, he continues to be unable to do the school visits which previously generated much of the income needed to support his family.

As well as including the draft script for the Christopher Eccleston scene in Doctor Who’s 50th Anniversary Special, Day of the Doctor, the book will feature stories from over two dozen writers.

Every penny of profit raised will go to support Donbavand while he works on making a full recovery.

The book is a sequel to A Target for Tommy, released in August 2016

More about Donbavand's battle with Cancer can be found on his blogTommy vs Cancer

The new book can be ordered from Obverse Books.

Colin Baker becomes the 'current' Doctor again on British airwaves today as BBC Radio 4 Extra begin a new run of Big Finish adventures on the radio, Saturdays at 6:00pm (repeated midnight). The Crimes of Thomas Brewster kicks off the run, broadcast in two parts over the next couple of weeks. The story also features Maggie Stables as the sixth Doctor's long-time audio companion Evelyn and guest stars David Troughton as Raymond Gallagher.

This weekend also sees a repeat of the 50th Anniversary programme Who Made Who, which was presented by Tracy Ann Oberman and featured a variety of interviews and special documentaries, plus the mockumentary from 2004, Whatever Happened to Susan Foreman?, which starred Jane Asher as the titular character whose life is examined some years after being left on Earth... The three hour programme follows on after Doctor Who at 7:00pm (and is also on at 9:00am this morning).


Both The Crimes of Thomas Brewster and Who Made Who should be available to listen to over the next 29 days via the BBC iPlayer.

One of the Dalek props, used in the 2013 drama based on the creation of Doctor Who, An Adventure In Space And Time, it to go up for auction next month.

The Prop Store Entertainment Memorabilia live auction, will be held on the 23rd of September at the BFI IMAX in London. A free preview exhibition will also take place in the run up to the auction, opening on the 9th September to the public and showcasing over 250 pieces of the collection on offer.

The Dalek, which has a guide price of £4,000 - £6,000, was based on the original Dalek design by Raymond Cusick, first seen in 1963. Also up for auction is a shooting script from the docu-drama.

Other sci-fi items in the auction include Leonard Nimoy’s Spock Costume from Star Trek, a Stormtrooper Helmet from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes back and Christopher Reeve’s Superman Tunic. Two of the least expensive lots in the sale are a helmet worn by the Knights of the Round Table from Monty Python and the Holy Grail estimated at £200 - £300, and a lot of Quad Posters from Blade Runner’s original 1982 release, estimated to sell for £200.

Prospective bidders can register for the auction now by visiting the auction website.

Monday marks the 50th Anniversary of the first screening of Doctor Who in Australia.

Although New Zealand first saw the series in September 1964, the series didn't reach Australia until 1965. The series had been purchased from the BBC in March 1964 and initially planned for premiere in May. However the Australian Film Censorship Board (AFCB) classified the series' first thirteen episodes 'A', meaning they were only suitable for an adult audience, thus preventing the ABC from showing the series in the 6:30pm Sunday timeslot they'd intended to use.

The series was therefore first screened in Perth, capital of Western Australia, by ABC station, ABW-2 on Tuesday 12 January 1965.

It was the days before satellite links, so the 16mm film print of the story had to be flown around the country for broadcasts to the different states. Sydney was the second city to screen the series, three days later on January 15th along with various New South Wales Country stations and the Australian Capital Territory. This was followed by screenings on 22nd January for Brisbane and Toowoomba in Queensland. The series reached Victoria on 20th February when Melbourne and various Victorian country stations screened the series. On the 4th March it was back in Queensland in Townsville before flying South to Adelaide where it was screened on 15th March. On the 18th March it was transmitted from Rockhampton before crossing the Bass Strait for broadcast on 11th June to viewers in Hobart and Launceston.

Many ABC stations had not been opened by January 1965, 10 opened in 1965 and a further 14 in 1966. The staggered launch dates of the stations that opened after 1965 meant that viewers in the country were introduced to Doctor Who well into the run, and often part way through a story. Some areas did not even have an ABC transmitter, so missed out altogether.

The Model Unit have been nominated alongside Real SFX for a Royal Television Society Craft & Design Award in the Special Effects category for their work on The Day of the Doctor.

A number of people who have worked on the production of Doctor Who over the years have also been nominated for their work on other programmes. These are listed below.

Costume Design – Drama
Edward K Gibbon - The Honourable Woman

Costume Design – Entertainment & Non Drama
Annie Hardinge - Rev. – Series 3

Effects – Special
Colin Gorry - The Smoke
Paul Kelly - Da Vinci's Demons

Graphic Design – Programme Content Sequences
Peter Anderson Studio - Sherlock – Series 3

Make Up Design – Drama
Davy Jones - In The Flesh – Series 2

Photography – Drama
Neville Kidd - Sherlock – His Last Vow

Editing – Drama
Iain Erskine - Tommy Cooper: Not Like That, Like This
Jamie Pearson - Happy Valley
Philip Kloss - Stop At Nothing: The Lance Armstrong Story

The full list of nominations in the shortlist for the Craft & Design Awards 2013/2014 can be found at rts.org.uk. The winners will be announced at a ceremony, hosted by Jennifer Saunders, on Monday 1 December 2014 at the London Hilton Park Lane.

Peter Davison has released some deleted scenes from The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot on YouTube.

Davison commented on the video:


He added on Twitter:

The drama based on the birth of Doctor Who, An Adventure in Space and Time, has been nomionated of an International Emmy Award.

Nominations for the 2014 International Emmy Awards were announced today by the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences at a Press Conference at the Mipcom convention in Cannes.

An Adventure In Space And Time was written by Mark Gatiss and directed by Terry McDonough.

The drama has previously been nominated for a BAFTA award and a Critics Choice award, but lost out in both cases. The 42nd International Emmy Awards will take place November 24, 2014 at the New York Hilton Hotel.

Doctor Who Magazine has confirmed that a limited edition 50th Anniversary DVD/Blu-ray box set will be released in the autumn.

6,000 Blu-rays and 4,000 DVDs will be released of the set, which was first rumoured in February, when the BBFC cleared several extras for inclusion on the discs. As well as the 50th Anniversary special, The Day of the Doctor, the disc set will include the episodes The Name of the Doctor and Matt Smith's final story as The Doctor, The Time of the Doctor.

Also included will be the docu-drama on the creation of Doctor Who, An Adventure in Space & Time, available on Blu-ray in the UK for the first time, and the Peter Davison-directed spoof The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot. Other extras include a large number of documentaries shown around the period of the show's 50th Anniversary as well as some behind-the-scenes material.

The set is due for release in the UK on September 8th.

The Doctor Who Appreciation Society (DWAS) is to honour one of the founders of Doctor Who, Verity Lambert, with a special event held at the Riverside Studios in London.

Remembering Verity Lambert will mark the unveiling of a Blue Heritage plaque commemorating the work of one of the most significant and influential figures to work in British Television. The plaque will be on display at Riverside Studios until the venue closes for development in the autumn, when it will be placed into storage and then permanently mounted at the new Riverside media centre when completed.

To celebrate the unveiling of the plaque, DWAS will be showing, by special arrangement with BBC Worldwide, the BAFTA award winning drama An Adventure in Space and Time, in high definition at Riverside’s cinema, on the evening of 23rd July, starting at 7pm. This will be followed by an interview with Lambert’s friend and long time colleague, and the Director of the first Doctor Who story, Waris Hussein.

Tickets for the screening are available free-of-charge directly from DWAS, details on the society's website, and will be distributed on a first-come first-served basis, with a special allocation reserved for DWAS members.

To raise the funds for the plaque, DWAS will be hosting an auction via its eBay site, which will give Doctor Who fans the opportunity to bid for some collectable items donated by friends and fans.

The "alternative" 50th Anniversary special for Doctor Who, The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot, is to receive an official release on DVD, its co-star Colin Baker revealed at the DWAS convention Myth Makers this afternoon. The actor reported that it would appear on an as-yet unscheduled special set featuring former Doctor Matt Smith.

No other details of what the overall set will comprise are available at present, though it is likely to be released both on DVD and Blu-ray format later this year.


The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot tells the tale of the attempts of 'classic' Doctors Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and Peter Davison (who also wrote and directed the piece) to appear in the 50th Anniversary adventure, and their various encounters and mishaps along the way!