Doctor Who Magazine celebrates 20 years of the Ninth Doctor, and 20 years since the show’s triumphant return to television.

The latest Special Edition is packed full of all-new content, which has been compiled in co-operation with some of the biggest names from the 2005 series. 

“This is an in-depth look of one of the most remarkable comebacks in television history,” says editor Marcus Hearn. “We’ve got some fantastic exclusives, including interviews with executive producer Mal Young and director Joe Ahearne. And there’s a very special contribution from Russell T Davies, who has written a new story relating to one of the Ninth Doctor’s adventures. The illustrations are by Martin Geraghty, and you can see some of his artwork on the front cover. It might give you a clue about the old foe Russell has revisited!”

Highlights of the new issue include:

• In his first interview for DWM, executive producer Mal Young describes how Doctor Who was finally brought back to the screen.

• In another first for the magazine, Joe Ahearne – who directed more Ninth Doctor episodes than anyone else – takes readers behind the scenes on the 2005 series.

• Christopher Eccleston explains what drew him to the role of the Doctor – and why he’s still coming back to it, 20 years on.

• Interviews with Lloyd Elis (first assistant director), Lee Sheward (stunt co-ordinator) and Lowri Thomas (location manager).

• The cast and crew of the 2005 series chose their favourite moments.

• The making of the renowned Trip of a Lifetime trailer.

• Concept artist Dan Walker reveals his original designs for the Ninth Doctor’s sonic screwdriver.

• Fans share their eyewitness accounts – and photographs – of the 2004 location filming.

• Action figures, radio-controlled Daleks and other merchandise that was available in Toys R Us, Woolworths and elsewhere.

• A guide to the Ninth Doctor’s adventures in the expanded universe.

PLUS

    A new and exclusive short story by Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies!

20 Years of the Ninth Doctor is on sale now, RRP £9.99 from panini.co.uk and selected branches of WH Smith while stocks last. 

It’s also available digitally from pocketmags.com priced £8.99.

Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper are returning to the roles of the Ninth Doctor and Rose Tyler in a brand-new series of full-cast Doctor Who audio dramas from Big Finish

In 2005, Eccleston and Piper took a whole new generation of Doctor Who fans on the trip of a lifetime into time and space.

Twenty years later, the trip continues, as they’re set to star in a brand-new series of twelve, hour-long, full-cast audio adventures, due to be released from August 2025.

The news was announced to a packed hall at the world's premier Doctor Who convention, Gallifrey One in Los Angeles.

Christopher Eccleston said:

Billie Piper added:

Producer Matt Fitton said:

Big Finish listeners can now pre-order Doctor Who – The Ninth Doctor Adventures, starting at £9.99 per story (download to own) or £11.99 (download to own + collector’s edition CD) exclusively from bigfinish.com.

Please note: the collector’s edition CDs are strictly limited to 1,500 copies each and will not be repressed. A complete series multibuy bundle of all twelve releases is also available to pre-order at the discounted price of £102 (download to own) or £126 (download to own + collectors edition CD), again exclusively from the Big Finish website.

The makers of Doctor Who Magazine have announced the latest issue of Chronicles, looking at Season Seven, first broadcast in 1970. 

Editor Marcus Hearn

Chronicles 1970 covers all the stories in Season 7: Spearhead from Space, Doctor Who and the Silurians, The Ambassadors of Death and Inferno, alongside exclusive features, insightful commentary and previously unpublished images.

Highlights include:

• Assistant script editor Robin Squire speaks to DWM for the first time, revealing his contributions to Spearhead from Space and Inferno.

• New interviews with actors Constance Carling (Spearhead from Space), Nigel Johns (Doctor Who and the Silurians) and John Levene (Sergeant Benton).

• Costume designer Christine Rawlins describes inventing a look for the Third Doctor, and the other challenges of Season 7.

• Scene by scene on The Ambassadors of Death with camera operator Mike Minchin.

• Mark Ayres, Peter Crocker and Paul Vanezis explain how the episodes in The Collection: Season 7 were restored for Blu-ray.

• Behind the scenes on the new Nicholas Courtney documentary, Splendid Chap.

• The surprising links between Doctor Who and soap opera Crossroads!

• The life and career of writer Malcolm Hulke.

• Tributes to Jon Pertwee, Caroline John and Nicholas Courtney.

• Special effects and production techniques.

• Target novelisations, TV Comic strips and the Doctor Who annual.

• … and much more!

Doctor Who: Chronicles 1970 is on sale Thursday 13 February, RRP £12.99 from panini.co.uk and selected branches of WH Smith while stocks last. 

It’s also available digitally from pocketmags.com priced £11.99.

Today marks fifty years since we first became acquainted with the fourth Doctor as played by Tom Baker.

Baker had briefly appeared the previous summer in the final episode of Planet of the Spiders but 28th December 1974 is when the fourth Doctor had his first adventure Robot. 

The episode was broadcast on BBC 1 at 5.35 pm following the Shari Lewis Show and the News and preceding Bruce Forsyth and the Generation Game. It had 10.8 million viewers. 

Baker would go on to play the Doctor in 173 episodes over 7 years, plus a notable return in the 2013 anniversary story The Day of the Doctor. He is the longest-serving Doctor to date.

To mark the anniversary Radio Times has produced a special digital bookazine edited by Stuart Manning, Tom Baker: 50 Years in Time and Space

The bookazine is free to download from www.radiotimes.com/tom-baker-bookazine/

In addition, Big Finish have released a special full-cast audio anniversary adventure, The Curse of Time. Starring Tom Baker, along with Sadie Miller (as Sarah Jane Smith) and Christopher Naylor (as Harry Sullivan), the story picks up at the end of Season 12, with the Doctor and his companions returning to Earth after the events of Revenge of the Cybermen. 

Doctor Who – The Fourth Doctor Adventures: The Curse of Time is now available to purchase for just £15.99 (collector's edition double CD with slipcase + download) or £12.99 (download only), exclusively from bigfinish.com

No Doctor I'm the Doctor! | Doctor Who | Robot

The First Doctor story The Savages has been animated and will be released next year.

The four-part series, first broadcast between May and June 1966, will return as an animated series to be released on DVD, Blu-ray and a limited-edition Blu-ray Steelbook next spring.

With the original master recording lost, as many of these television episodes where historically wiped after transmission, the BBC Studios Home Entertainment teams worked with original audio recordings and soundtracks of all four episodes and a team of animators to bring back to fans this long-lost story arc.

In this early story, the Doctor (William Hartnell) and his travelling companions, Steven (Peter Purves) and Dodo (Jackie Lane), arrive on an unnamed planet where they encounter two distinct people - the Elders and the Savages. They soon discover the Elders are the evil ones, draining the primitive Savages for their life source to remain young and powerful forever. This story marks the final appearance of Purves as Steven.

This three-disc release will include all four 25-minutes animated episodes in colour and black and white, as well as exclusive bonus features.

Paul Hembury, Executive Producer commented:

The story is available for pre-order on Amazon

THE SAVAGES RETURNS

In addition, BBC Studios Home Entertainment will release the new colourisation of The War Games. Originally aired in 1969, The War Games marked the end of an era for the Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton), following him and his companions Zoe and Jamie as they land in a battlefield that appears to be a World War I military zone – but all is not as it seems. They soon discover that soldiers from different historical periods have been abducted and are being manipulated in a cruel game. As they work to uncover the mystery behind the War Lord and his twisted experiments, the Doctor faces one of his most difficult challenges.

For the first time, these original episodes have been meticulously colourised and enhanced with updated visual effects edited into a new, 90-minute feature-length experience to appeal to today’s modern audiences. With updated sound and a new score, this newly updated version of The War Games offers both fans and newcomers even more ways to watch the much-loved classic story. This title will be released on DVD, Blu-ray and limited-edition Blu-ray Steelbook and will air on BBC will air on 23 December 2024 on BBC Four and BBC iPlayer.

This year's Doctor Who festive special, Joy to the World, will be broadcast on BBC1 on Christmas Day at 5:10pm. Written by Steven Moffat, the episode features Ncuti Gatwa in his second Christmas outting, and also introduces Joy, played by Nicola Coughlan.

Other guest stars for the episode include Steph de Whalley as Anita, Jonathan Aris as Melnak, Joel Fry as Trev, Peter Benedict as Basil, Julia Watson as Hilda, and Niamh Marie Smith as Sylvia.

This Christmas, as well as the now traditional festive outtings for Strictly Come Dancing, Call The Midwife, Eastenders and Mrs Brown's Boys, BBC1 also sees the return of Wallace and Gromit with Vengeance Most Fowl, and the final episode of Gavin and Stacey (the highest rated Christmas programme in recent years!).

Doctor Who will be up against the film North by Northwest on BBC2, Bullseye on ITV1, The Piano: Christmas on Channel 4, and The Greatest Comedy Classics on Channel 5. 

Joy to the World will also be available on BBC iPlayer, and around the world on Disney+ where available.

Other Doctor Who related broadcasts in the Christmas week include:

• Doctor Who: The War Games in Colour, BBC4, 23 December at 9:00pm
• Doctor Who at the Proms 2024, BBC2, Christmas Eve at 4:10pm

Today marks the 61st Anniversary of the launch of Doctor Who on 23rd November 1963

To mark the birthday BBC Studios are inviting you to a watch party featuring the Series 1, Season 40 story, Boom alongside story writer Steven Moffat who will live-tweet the event on x. 

The story will be screened on the Doctor Who YouTube channel at 7 pm GMT / 2 pm EST. 

In addition, fans can expect a day full of exclusive content and announcements, giveaways, as well as a brand-new series of New to Who, hosted by Tyrell Charles

You can follow all the Doctor Who Day activities on the Doctor Who official website and channels:

Official Website /  YouTube / Instagram / X  / TikTok

Doctor Who Magazine Issue 610 is available now. 

Inside this issue

• PHILIP HINCHCLIFFE – THE ULTIMATE INTERVIEW! The man behind Fourth Doctor classics such as Genesis of the Daleks, Terror of the Zygons, The Seeds of Doom and Robots of Death reflects on his career – sharing his views on what makes essential Doctor Who – and reacts to episodes of this year’s series.

• Showrunners RUSSELL T DAVIES, STEVEN MOFFAT, CHRIS CHIBNALL and the TV Movie’s producer PHILIP SEGAL talk about Hinchcliffe Who and how it inspired them.

• As the first series of Blake’s 7 arrives on Blu-ray, we examine how it crossed over with Doctor Who.

• John Kane – who played the loveable Tommy in 1974’s Planet of the Spiders – gives a rare interview about his part in the series.

• The Fact of Fiction – delving into the detail of Tenth Doctor story The Doctor’s Daughter.

• This Month In… 1967. How Carry On actor Bernard Bresslaw became an Ice Warrior!

• Comic strip action with the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby.

Regular features

• Gallifrey Guardian – full details of the new Dalek partwork launching next year, plus the latest book news.

• Shelf Life – including a review of the Season 25 Blu-ray boxset, plus books, action figures and audio releases.

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

• Prizes to be won including Blake’s 7 on Blu-ray! 

Doctor Who Magazine Issue 610 is on sale from panini.co.uk and WH Smith priced £7.99 (UK). 

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

The latest publication in the Black Archive series looks at the Twelfth Doctor story Under the Lake / Before the Flood.

A base under siege, a time travel paradox, and ghosts! With these elements in place, Toby Whitehouse’s Under the Lake and Before the Flood (2015) tread familiar ground for fans of Doctor Who while also moving in bold new directions, both in terms of story-telling and character representation.

This two-part story sees Peter Capaldi’s 12th doctor break the fourth wall, speaking directly to the audience. His lecture on “the bootstrap paradox” serves to set up the central puzzle of these episodes while insisting that it remain unsolved. Meanwhile, actress Sophie Stone’s portrayal of Cass challenges traditional representational tropes surrounding disabled people. Simultaneously, this character asks us to think further about how we understand disability in, and through, science fiction.

The book is written by Ryan C. Parrey, PhD is Senior Lecturer in Disability Studies and director of the Disability Studies program at Eastern Washington University near Spokane, Washington, USA. and Kevin S. Decker, PhD is Professor of Philosophy at Eastern Washington University.

Under the Lake / Before the Flood is available now in paperback and electronic formats, direct from Obverse Books and from selected online retailers.

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.