Fantom Publishing has announced it is to publish I Am Usually Referred To As The Master, the first-ever biography of Roger Delgado, best known to millions as the original Master in Doctor Who.

Before joining Doctor Who, Delgado was a hugely in-demand character actor, appearing in shows such as The Saint, The Avengers and Quatermass II amongst many others, and making an appearance in the Hammer Horror film franchise. He died aged only 55, but left a legacy of work for fans to continue enjoying.

Author Marcus K Harmes explains Notoriously private, very little has been written about Delgado’s life over the years, and Harmes has researched extensively to look into his home life and formative years. With previously unseen photographic material, and brand new interviews with his colleagues and friends, I Am Usually Referred To As The Master, is a warm and affection look at the life of a much-loved star. Roger Delgado’s biography is now available in Hardback priced £19.99 exclusively from Fantom Publishing until it’s trade publication in 2018.

Jodie Whittaker is one of BBC Radio 6 Music’s Three Wise Women who are taking to the airwaves to bear her gifts of wit, wonder and wisdom.

Whittaker will host the programme on Christmas Eve with Beth Ditto taking over on Christmas Day and Sharon Horgan on Boxing Day.

Whittaker will look after BBC 6 Music from 6pm to 2am, including presenting her very own show which will feature the music that has inspired her, as well as looking back across the past year and ahead to 2018.

The Wise Women will also be selecting their favourite 6 Music programming from the archive, with a mixture of shows from Iggy Pop to The First Time with…, and live music to documentaries.

BBC Radio 6 Music is available worldwide on the BBC iPlayer.

Silva Screen Records has announced the the soundtrack release of Murray Gold's music from Doctor Who Series 9 will be released early in 2018

The long-awaited release will be a 4 disc set.

Disc 1 will contain cues from The Magician's Apprentice, The Witch's Familiar, Under The Lake, Before The Flood, The Girl Who Died and The Woman Who Lived

Disc 2 will contain cues from The Zygon Invasion, The Zygon Inversion, Sleep No More, Face The Raven and Hell Bent.

Disc 3 will contain the score from the Series standout episode - Heaven Sent

Disc 4 will contain the score to the 2015 Christmas Special - The Husbands Of River Song

As with the Series 8 release, the first run of CDs will contain an additional booklet collecting Stuart Manning's retro poster designs for each episode.

A reminder that Jo Whiley’s Access All Areas Doctor Who Special, airs at 8pm tonight on BBC Radio 2.

The programme features an interview with Peter Capaldi as he films his last appearance as the Twelfth Doctor. Jo Whiley also catches up with the stars of the series on the set including Pearl Mackie, David Bradley, Exec Producer Steven Moffat. Plus, she hears from outgoing companion, Matt Lucas, and digs into the BBC Doctor Who archive.

There will be stories from behind the scenes including how Matt approaches being recognised by fans, the radical ways in which Pearl’s life has changed, Pele’s reaction to signing a Brazil shirt for the Doctor and how Doctor Who has always been with Peter Capaldi – from dressing up as a Dalek as a child, to karaoke singalongs to The Killers all in the name of getting into character.

Plus, Radio 2 listeners will find out which member of the team has a penchant for Chas and Dave!

The programme can be heard at 2000 GMT on BBC Radio 2, which is available worldwide on the BBC iPlayer. After transmission, it will be available to listen again for one month

Willy Phantom, 21st December 2017

This week sees the release in the third of Titan's Torchwood Comic Series

Torchwood #3

Writer: John Barrowman, Carole Barrowman
Artist: Neil Edwards
Cover A: Wellington Diaz Cover B: Will Brooks

Willy Phantom, 20th December 2017

BBC Worldwide Americas has released a new Doctor Who Effect for Facebook Camera Effects Platform giving users the ability to experience regeneration for the first time using Augmented Reality

Users can access the effect, created by VFX studio The Mill, through the Facebook app’s camera feature - just days before the on-screen metamorphosis of Twelfth Doctor Peter Capaldi into Thirteenth Doctor Jodie Whittaker during the 2017 Christmas Special, Doctor Who: Twice Upon a Time.

Everyone using the effect will experience the excitement of a regeneration first-hand as they are enveloped in the distinctive golden glow that accompanies the unique process, which allows an alien Time Lord to change into a new body. Users can be part of this iconic moment, that has accompanied each Doctor’s regeneration since the BBC series began in 1963. The Doctor Who camera effect is available worldwide and users can share their experience with friends via Facebook Stories, posting it on their Facebook page, or saving it to share elsewhere.

Sergei Kuharsky, EVP Franchise and Digital Enterprises, BBC Worldwide Americas said To experience the effect follow the Facebook Link

Willy Phantom, 19th December 2017

This year sees Doctor Who premiere at 5:30pm on BBC1, with competition for the time slot coming in the form of Emmerdale on ITV and The Morecambe and Wise 1977 Christmas Show on BBC2: if you feel a little deja-vu it's understandable as these were up against Doctor Who last year - and Channel 4 is even showing the same film, Home Alone, on Channel 4!

In fact, looking at this year's Christmas line-up in the evening, you might think you are watching last year, as there is little difference between this year's and last year's offerings on the main two UK channels - both BBC1 and ITV's evening line-up is nigh-on identical apart from broadcast time, with just the 9:00pm ITV drama slot being Jenna Coleman's Victoria this time around.

The bookies' favourite is also familiar, with Strictly Come Dancing once again taking the top slot; however, second place belongs firmly to the departure of Peter Capaldi, with Doctor Who at 4/1. Bake Off is also in the 'mix', though this time at prime-time on Channel 4.

            BBC1                        ITV                           Channel 4
 3:00  24/1 The Queen
 3:10  66/1 Cinderella             66/1 The Prisoner of Azkaban
 4:45  50/1 The Highway Rat
 5:50                              25/1 Emmerdale
 5:15       BBC News
 5:30   4/1 Doctor Who
 6:30   3/4 Strictly Come Dancing
 6:50                                   ITV News
 7:00                              12/1 For The Love of Dogs
 7:40   6/1 Call The Midwife                                     20/1 The Great Christmas Bake Off
 8:00                              21/1 Coronation Street
 9:00   14/1 Eastenders            12/1 Victoria
10:00    7/1 Mrs Brown's Boys
10:35   33/1 French and Saunders

Predict The Ratings Competition

With Christmas just around the corner it can mean only one (other) thing - it's time for our annual Predict the Ratings competition! This year readers have the chance to win the latest series of adventures featuring the Doctor, Pearl and Nardole, and culminating in two Doctors' final swansongs!


The ratings and positions for 2015 and 2016 are presented here for comparison - recent years have seen a decline in television viewing over Christmas Day across all channels, with none of the programmes achieving the heady heights of several years ago.

To enter our competition, please send the following details to comp-xmasratings@doctorwhonews.net:

• Your name and preferred email address
• Your country of entry (full details will be requested only if you are the winner)
• Your guess at the final viewing figure to the nearest 10,000 (eg.9.99m)
• Your guess at the final position in the chart (eg. 1st) - this will only be used in the event of a tie-break

Terms and Conditions:

• The competition closes at 08:00 GMT, 26th December 2017.
• Only one entry will be accepted per person.
• The competition is open worldwide.
• BARB final figures are expected in early 2018 we will contact the winner once they have been published
• The prize is a copy of The Complete Tenth Series and Twice Upon A Time releases on DVD or Bluray; we will confirm the format with the winner at time of notification.

Twice Around The World

Doctor Who has its debut in the United Kingdom on BBC1 at 5:30pm ... but will also be seen in the Middle East at the same time as, with previous years, BBC First simulcast the episode. This will be closely followed by ABC in Australia making it available online via iView immediately after its UK broadcast, and will then be shown in Australian cinemas in the afternoon (01:00 GMT). North America get to see it next, with both BBC America in the United States and SPACE in Canada showing the episode at 9:00pm EST (02:00 GMT).

Boxing Day broadcasts include Prime in New Zealand and ABC in Australia at 7:30pm local time (06:30 and 08:30 GMT respectively), and in the afternoon the episode will be shown on the big screen in Denmark. Viewers in Finland will be able to watch Twice Upon A Time on YLE2 in the evening on the Wednesday, and a British signed version airs in the early hours of Saturday morning on BBC2.

Heading into the new year, and FOX in Germany will be showing the episode dubbed into German on the 10th January, and Sony SciFi in Russia will show it on the 13th. It is expected that RAI4 in Italy and France4 in France will broadcast it in their native languages later in the Spring.

You can keep up with Doctor Who around the world via This Week in Doctor Who