This Easter a college in Manchester is offering a crash course in the history of Doctor Who.

Historian Michael Herbert will be teaching an 11 week evening class on the history of the television programme, starting on 14 April 2015, at Aquinas College , Stockport.

This course will look at the creation of Doctor Who by BBC’s head of drama, Sydney Newman, and producer Verity Lambert, in the early months of 1963. The course will then follow its history over the following five decades, including the Twelve Doctors from William Hartnell to Peter Capaldi; the many companions from Susan to Clara; and the role of producers and script editors in the programme such as Verity Lambert, Terrance Dicks, Barry Letts, John Nathan Turner, Andrew Cartmel and Russell T Davies.

The course will examine why Doctor Who was taken off air in 1989 and how, it returned in 2005 to critical acclaim and is now watched by millions, both in Britain and abroad. Each week the course will view a number of classic episodes from each Doctor’s era.

The course will be led by historian Michael Herbert who watched the first episode, aged 8. His pamphlet “Doctor Who and the Communist” : the television career of Malcolm Hulke was published by Five Leaves Press in January 2015.

Herbert said For more information or to book places on the course, please contact Sheila Lahan at Aquinas College.

Titan have released a sneak peek at the covers and information for Doctor Who: The Ninth Doctor #2 - in stores April 8, 2015

The BBC has confirmed that filming has started on block 2 of the next series of Doctor Who, and that Hettie MacDonald will be returning to the directors chair for the session.

MacDonald previously directed the Weeping Angels’ debut in the 2007 story Blink.

Filming for the new series started in Cardiff in January and the Doctor and Clara will be back in the Autumn.

Titan Comics is set for a full Doctor Who takeover of London Super Comic Con on March 14 & 15 with the launch of the new Ninth Doctor mini series as well as a Doctor Who panel and signings.

An exclusive London Super Comic Con cover, featuring the Ninth Doctor, will be available from the Forbidden Planet Titan Comics booth.

A Doctor Who Comics Panel is planned on Saturday 14th March from 1.30-2.30pm, featuring writer Cavan Scott (Doctor Who: Ninth Doctor comics series), writer Al Ewing (Doctor Who: Eleventh Doctor comics series), Rachael Smith (Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor humour strip), Colin Bell (Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor humour strip), Mark Ellerby (Doctor Who: The Eleventh Doctor humour strip), Doctor Who comics editor Andrew James and Titan Comics senior editor Steve White who will reveal exclusive secrets from this year’s Tenth, Eleventh and Twelfth Doctor comic story lines and show never-before-seen art and concept designs.

Every person who attends the panel will receive a special Doctor Who Comics poster and the chance to win Doctor Who merchandise.

In addition from 2.45pm Cavan Scott (Doctor Who: Ninth Doctor comics series) and artist Christian Ward will be signing copies of an exclusive Forbidden Planet/LSCC variant of Doctor Who: The Ninth Doctor issue #1. You can pre-order a signed copy from Forbidden Planet.

Figures showing the Live+7 performance of the Doctor Who Christmas Special Last Christmas are now available.

The LIve+7 figure is calculated by the BBC to try to get an accurate estimate of the total unique audience for an episode of a programme. Unlike official BARB figures the Live+7 uses data to include those who watched one of the broadcast repeats of the episode and those who watched the episode on iPlayer all within 7 days of the original transmission.

Overall the episode had a audience of 9.62 million who watched either on the day of broadcast or within the following 7 days. Of that 6.29 million watched on Christmas Day, 0.53 million watched the repeat on BBC Three, 1.97 million watched a timeshifted recording while 0.83 million watched on iPlayer.

Big Finish have announced that Kate Stewart and her UNIT team from the Doctor Who Television series will be starring in a brand new series of audio dramas

The deal with BBC Worldwide gives Big Finish the right to use a character from the revived series of Doctor Who for the first time.

Kate is the daughter of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, and Head of Scientific Research at the Unified Intelligence Taskforce, which investigates and confronts alien attacks on the planet Earth. The role is portrayed by Jemma Redgrave (Dracula, Frankie, Cold Blood) who has appeared opposite Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi on television, and returns for the audio series.

Big Finish series producer David Richardson says Executive producer Jason Haigh-Ellery added Executive producer Nick Briggs says The first box set release, due in November, comprises four hours of adventure, in which Kate and her team confront an alien invasion by the Nestene Consciousness and its army of plastic Autons. Three additional box sets will be available at six monthly intervals.

Two archive interviews are to be released on DVD and are available from Galaxy 4.

An interview with Tom Baker, conducted in 1989, was originally available on Video Cassette, published by Reeltime Pictures. It is released on DVD for the first time. Also available is a brand new title, an interview with Anthony Ainley from April 2000.

Both are released on 27th February.

Next Wednesday, February 11th, ​sees the release of Doctor Who: The Eleventh Doctor #8, uniting writer Al Ewing (2000AD, Judge Dedd) and artist Warren Pleece (2000AD, Vertigo comics)​.

A Bedford charity is raising money for the homeless, by organising a Doctor Who Convention, with a special discount for readers of Doctor Who News.

Bedford Who Charity Con is being held on Saturday 11th April, to raise funds for Bedford Foodbank, who provide emergency food for local people in crisis. The organisers do not make money from the event; once costs are covered, all the money raised goes to the Foodbank.

Confirmed guests – subject to work commitments – are Nicola Bryant, Sophie Aldred, Anneke Wills, John Leeson, Terry Molloy, Mike Tucker, Paul Cornell, and Doctor Who’s choreographer Ailsa Berk, who will be leading an Alien Movement Workshop. As choreographer, Berk is responsible for teaching movement to the actors playing the aliens. If you want to learn how to stomp like Cybermen, lollop like scarecrows, lurch like Other Dave when he’s possessed by the Vashta Nerada, or frighten the neighbours by adopting the pose of a Weeping Angel, then this is for you. There’ll also be on stage interviews with the guests, who’ll also be signing autographs and BAFTA award-winning Mike Tucker will be doing a presentation on the special effects in Doctor Who. Plus there’ll be the chance to mingle with the Daleks and other aliens.

Prices are £40 for adults, £20 for those aged 14-18 and £12 for under 14s. Family tickets are available. If you tell the organisers you read about the convention on Doctor Who News you'll receive a 10% discount on these prices.

You can order tickets from the convention website

BBC Worldwide and Titan have announced a new UK based Doctor Who Comic will be launched later this month

The comic, featuring the Tenth, Eleventh and Twelfth Doctors in every issue, will be available from 26th February with three on-going stories in the first issue, bringing to the UK the set of stories that have previously not been available in the country. A new issue will be released every four weeks

Join the Tenth Doctor as he deals with the aftermath of Donna Noble’s heart-breaking farewell. The Doctor feels he may never again have another companion, but maybe an adventure with some psychic aliens, a New York laundrette operator and the Mexican Day of the Dead festival can help change his mind.

Then, while Amy and Rory are away, the Eleventh Doctor will play. Experience a time-twisting adventure as he hurtles down a collision course into a terrifying cosmic threat. Can the Doctor save the day once more with a grieving young woman, a 70s’ musician, and an amnesiac alien? Find out in this issue!

Finally, Peter Capaldi’s Twelfth Doctor and Clara Oswald set off on a brand new adventure in the TARDIS. The Doctor is off to his most challenging destination yet. Whether he’s battling a fearsome, millennia-old entity on a freshly-terraformed planet or fighting the forces of an ancient alien, expect shocks, surprises and time-shaking revelations.

Every issue features respected writers and artists, including Eisner Award-winning Nick Abadzis (Laika), fan-favourite Elena Casagrande (Angel, Star Trek), Al Ewing (Loki: Agent of Asgard) and Rob Williams (Trifecta), Simon Fraser (Grindhouse), Eagle award-winning writer Robbie Morrison (The Authority, 2000AD) and Dave Taylor (Batman: Death By Design, 2000AD).

And every issue comes with an original humour strip and competitions. In issue one, readers can win a set of the Tenth, Eleventh and Twelfth Doctor Vinyl figures. The first issue will also feature an exclusive code to download comic strip characters into the Doctor Who Legacy free-to-play game.

Nicholas Brett, Director of UK Publishing, BBC Worldwide, said:Issue one of BBC Doctor Who Comicwill be available on the 26th February and will be available every four weeks in supermarkets, WH Smiths and independent newsagents. Every issue is 84 pages and retails at £3.99.