The designer and producer Richard Morris has died. 

Richard Morris designed the 1974 Third Doctor story Invasion of the Dinosaurs.  

His work on the six-part story included offices and meeting rooms in a deserted London and a mocked-up spaceship under the city. He spoke about his experiences with Doctor Who on the DVD Extra People, Power and Puppetry released with the story. 

After training at the Hammersmith School of Art and Building, Morris had a long career with the BBC, joining as an Assistant Designer in 1964, recruited to help service the new channel BBC Two. 

Over the next 40 years, his drama credits included, Dr. Finlay’s Casebook, Middlemarch, The Onedin Line, Secret Army, Angels, The Survivors, Wings, The Venturers, Artists and Models, The Women in White and Noel Coward’s Bon voyage,  He was BAFTA nominated for the designs for When the Boat Comes In.

He worked on many light entertainment shows such as The Royal Variety Performance(1988) at the London Palladium, five series of Bruce Forsyth’s Generation Game, shows for The Two Ronnies (The worm that Turned & By The Sea, Kenny Everett, Terry Wogan, Michael Parkinson, Ken Dodd, Dave Allen, Paul Daniels,

One of his best-loved creations was the set for Acorn Antiques for Victoria Wood, As Seen on TV

Moris also designed Call Up the Stars, Going for Gold, Take Your Pick, Raise the Roof, Beyond Belief with David Frost and Some Mothers Do Have ‘Em 

In 2003 he set up Richard Douglas Productions a joint venture with his friend, Marketing Executive, Doug Pinchin. Together they produced several shows for London's West End including Hey, Old Friends, an 85th Birthday tribute to Stephen Sondheim, performed at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. 

The BBC has released an image showing the cast of the new Doctor Who spin-off, The War Between the Land and the Sea, which entered production today. 

In the series, Ruth Madeley and Colin McFarlane reprise their roles as UNIT’s Shirley Anne Bingham and Torchwood’s General Pierce, alongside the previously announced Russell Tovey, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Jemma Redgrave, and Alexander Devrient.

The first Doctor Who spin-off series between the BBC and Disney+, is created by Doctor Who Showrunner and Executive Producer Russell T Davies, who has written the series with Executive Producer Pete McTighe (A Discovery of Witches, The Pact, Doctor Who).

The five-part series will be directed by Dylan Holmes Williams, director of two Doctor Who Season One episodes – ‘73 Yards’ and ‘Dot and Bubble’.

Tenth Doctor Companion Catherine Tate will host the Doctor Who Proms next Monday. 

The two concerts take place on Monday 26 August at 2.30 pm and 7 pm at the Royal Albert Hall and will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 at 7 pm, and will be shown on BBC TV later in the year

Tate is known for playing the role of Donna Noble in the 2006 Doctor Who Christmas special, 2008’s fourth series, the subsequent 2009-2010 Christmas and New Year's specials, and the 60th-anniversary specials in 2023, and previously appeared as a surprise guest at the 2008 Doctor Who Prom.

Catherine Tate says

The Doctor Who Prom will be conducted by Alastair King and performed by the orchestra that records the Doctor Who soundtrack: the BBC National Orchestra of Wales (BBC NOW), who will be joined by international star soprano Aida Garifullina and singers Shahid Abbas Khan, Hollie Buhagiar, Lucie Jones and Tobias Turley, and the London Philharmonic Choir.

With previous Doctor Who Prom events held in 2008, 2010 and 2013, this year’s Prom will be a brand-new show celebrating the latest adventures of the Doctor and showcasing Murray Gold’s music for the series. The Prom will feature specially arranged pieces from the most recent series starring Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor and Millie Gibson as Ruby Sunday and will also include music from the 60th-anniversary specials, as well as favourites from Murray Gold’s long association composing for the series. Alongside Murray Gold, the Prom will also be featuring Segun Akinola’s music which was specially created for Jodie Whittaker’s Thirteenth Doctor.

Complete with specially edited sequences from the series shown on big screens around the Royal Albert Hall, audiences can expect appearances from monsters old and new and at least a surprise or two!  

The Doctor Who Prom will be available on BBC Sounds for 30 days. It will be audio-described by Timna Fibert and British Sign Language-interpreted. 

The BBC Proms 2024, currently in the fifth week of its eight-week season, continues to see a record-breaking number of ticket sales so far, with tickets still available to purchase. Returns are often available via the Royal Albert Hall website and Box Office and up to 1,000 Promming tickets are released each day for every single Prom, priced at £8 inclusive of booking fees.

Doctor Who Magazine, Issue 607 is out today.

Inside this issue

• The concluding part of our access-all-areas coverage of this year’s apocalyptic season finale. We speak to NCUTI GATWA, MILLLIE GIBSON, RUSSELL T DAVIES, director JAMIE DONOUGHUE, plus Mrs Flood herself – ANITA DOBSON.

• Jodie Whittaker and Mandip Gill talk to DWM about a new series of audio adventures for the Thirteenth Doctor and Yaz.

• Behind the scenes at San Diego Comic-Con with executive producer Julie Gardner.

• Find out all about the making of Madame Tussauds’ stunning Fifteenth Doctor wax figure, with sculptor Stephen Mansfield and set designer Amanda So.

• Russell T Davies shares his experiences of visiting the Madame Tussauds exhibit.

• June Hudson on becoming the victim of the devilish Maestro.

• Bonnie Langford talks to Jacqueline Rayner about Mel’s continuing adventures in print.

• A previously unpublished interview with eighties producer John Nathan-Turner.

• The first of a two-part interview with Seventh Doctor set designer John Asbridge.This issue he talks about his work on Delta and the Bannermen and Dragonfire.

• Find out all about the new mobile game Worlds Apart.

• Discover the links between Pertwee radio drama Paradise of Death and Dennis Potter!

• Join us for a night out at the Gallifrey Cabaret.

• The Fact of Fiction – we examine the Twelfth Doctor’s encounter with Davros in The Magician’s Apprentice…

• Comic strip adventures with the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby.

PLUS!

• Gallifrey Guardian – find out all about the new spin-off series: The War Between the Land and the Sea.PLUS – casting for this year’s Christmas Special, a Star Trek crossover, and forthcoming audio releases!

• Shelf Life: We take a look at the latest audio dramas and the new Fifteenth Doctor Target Books.

• Other Worlds – the essential guide to new stories in Doctor Who’s expanded universe.

• Prizes to be won including the Eighth Doctor’s clash with the Daleks in audio drama The Stuff of Legend.

Doctor Who Magazine Issue 607 is on sale Thursday 15 August  from panini.co.uk and WH Smith priced £7.99 (UK). 

Also available as a digital edition from pocketmags.com priced £6.99.

Doctor Who Magazine has released a new Special Edition: The Missing Doctor Who

This issue reveals the results of the ‘League of Legends’ poll, which asked readers to name the ‘lost ’ episodes they’d most like to watch.

But that’s just the beginning of a journey into the most mysterious corners of the Whoniverse.

Editor Marcus Hearn says

Other highlights include CG reconstructions of sets from The Daleks’ Master Plan and The Space Pirates, and a new insight into the making of The Smugglers.

There are exclusive interviews with Carole AnnFord, Wendy Padbury, Anneke Wills, Macra Terror director John Davies and others. Ths issue is packed with exclusive features and rare photos

Doctor Who Magazine Special Edition: The Missing Doctor Who is on sale Thursday 1 Augus from panini.co.uk and WH Smith priced £9.99 (UK).

Also available as a digital edition from pocketmags.com priced £8.99.

The designer Ken Ledsham has died. 

Ken Ledsham designed three stories for Doctor Who. 

In 1978 he worked on the first story of the Key to Time series, The Ribos Operation creating the ice world where the first segment of the key was hidden. He returned the following year to design the return of the Daleks after a five-year gap in Destiny of the Daleks. His final commission for Doctor Who was on The King's Demons in 1983 designing the court of King John and introducing the robot Kamelion.

Earlier in his career, he had been a design assistant on the Third Doctor story The Time Monster.

Ledsham had a long career with BBC Television working on stories such as Tenko, Blake's 7, When the Boat Comes In, Diana, The House of Elliot, Campion, Bergerac, Secret Army and several episodes of Blake's 7.

He was nominated for a BAFTA for his work on House of Cards, the political series directed by Paul Seed, who had played the Graff Vynda-K in The Ribos Operation. 

The universe of Doctor Who will synchronise with the universe of Star Trek in a new game developed by East Side Games Group, specially designed to mark International Friendship Day.

The meeting between the two beloved sci-fi franchises occurs in a new story specially made that spans galaxies and time in the two mobile games Star Trek: Lower Decks Mobile and Doctor Who: Lost in Time. 

This crossover will be brought to life in a limited-time event in both games starting on August 1st. Fans will be treated to the same thrilling story, experienced from two unique perspectives.

Kevin Jorge, Head of Games at BBC says

The player will experience the story of a mysterious space-time ripple that throws the Doctor onboard Star Trek: Lower Deck’s U.S.S. Cerritos, while Lieutenant Brad Boimler and Ensign Beckett Mariner find themselves thrust into the enigmatic Doctor Who universe. With the ripple disrupting the very fabric of reality, the Doctor must join forces with the resourceful crew of the Cerritos, while Boimler and Mariner team up with the legendary River Song. Together, they race against time to repair the ripple and set things right.

Doug Rosen, SVP, Games and Emerging Media at Paramount says

Download the games today and prepare for the ultimate sci-fi crossover event of the summer!

The BBC have announced that Russell Tovey and Gugu Mbatha-Raw will lead Cast of a new Doctor Who Spin-Off Series The War Between The Land And The Sea

The new series, produced for the BBC and Disney+, was announced at San Diego Comic-Con

The series is created by Doctor Who Showrunner and Executive Producer Russell T Davies, who has written the series with Pete McTighe (A Discovery of Witches, The Pact, Doctor Who).

The series will see the return of UNIT alumni Jemma Redgrave (Doctor Who, Grantchester) who will reprise her role as Kate Lethbridge-Stewart and Alexander Devrient (Doctor Who, Ted Lasso) as Colonel Ibrahim.

Russell T Davies, Showrunner, Writer and Executive Producer said:

Lindsay Salt, Director of Drama, BBC said

Filming begins next month and will be directed by Dylan Holmes-Williams, director of two ‘Doctor Who’ Season One episodes 73 Yards and Dot and Bubble. 

The actress Ysanne Churchman has died at the age of 99.

Ysanne Churchman worked on 11 episodes of Doctor Who providing the voice of Alpha Centauri, the hermaphrodite hexapod who appeared alongside Jon Pertwee's third Doctor in the two Peladon stories in the early 1970s. She returned to the character in 2017 alongside the Twelfth Doctor Peter Capaldi in Empress of Mars.

Ysanne Churchman was best known as one of the earliest soap stars, playing Grace Archer in the BBC Radio series The Archers. She made history in 1955 when 20 million people tuned in as her character was killed in a fire, a spoiler to draw the audience away from the launch on the UK's second television channel, ITV. 

Born in Sutton Coldfield in the English Midlands, Churchman was a performer by the age of 13 with regular appearances in BBC Radio's Children's Hour.  

Radio was her main medium but she regularly appeared on British Television in series such as Z-Cars, Crossroads, The Railway Children, Sherlock Holmes and Softly Softly. 

Churchman was married to BBC engineer Tony Pilgrim from 1951 until he died in 2015.

She died on the 4th July, 2024. 

Issue 606 of Doctor Who Magazine is released today. 

Inside this issue

• Behind the scenes on this year’s season finale with NCUTI GATWA, BONNIE LANGFORD, JEMMA REDGRAVE, YASMIN FINNEY, RUSSELL T DAVIES and many more!

• Join GABRIEL WOOLF as he records the voice of Sutekh for The Legend of Ruby Sunday and Empire of Death and remembers his role in 1975’s Pyramids of Mars. Plus! We talk to James Burge – the hand of Sutekh…

• Script to Screen: creating the bird-like alien Chuldur for Regency episode Rogue.

• We discuss the more unsettling aspects of Finetime with CALLIE COOKE and TOM RHYS HARRIES – alias Dot and Bubble’s Lindy and Ricky.

• Russell T Davies runs into Louis Theroux at the BBC and the conversation quickly turns to Doctor Who.

• What If…? We journey down the roads never taken during the Fourth Doctor’s era…

• The Time and Space Visualiser takes us back to 1982 to look at a formative Doctor Who publication…

• A tribute to WILLIAM RUSSELL. We reflect on the important role his character, Ian Chesterton, played in the series; take a look at his wider career; and share the memories of those who worked with him including CAROLE ANN FORD, MAUREEN O’BRIEN and PETER PURVES.

• Loose Ends drops in on Graham O’Brien’s companion support group, where they’re bidding a touching farewell to their most senior member…

• The Fact of Fiction – a detailed analysis of 1965’s The Space Museum.

• The latest instalment of our comic strip featuring the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby.

PLUS!

• Gallifrey Guardian – all the latest news, including details of the Eighth Doctor live on stage!

• Reviewed: audio dramas, books, games and models!

• Other Worlds – the essential guide to new stories in Doctor Who’s expanded universe.

• Win Blu-rays, books and audio releases!

Doctor Who Magazine Issue 606 is on sale Thursday 18 July from panini.co.uk and WH Smith priced £7.99 (UK). 

Also available as a digital edition from pocketmags.com priced £6.99.