With exactly a month to go now to Doctor Who's 50th anniversary, the BFI today announced the final screenings in its year-long celebration of the programme.

It will be showing the anniversary episode The Day of the Doctor in 3D on Saturday 23rd November as part of the global simulcast and cinema screenings worldwide. The time is yet to be confirmed by the BBC. Tickets will go on sale to BFI members from Friday 25th October (9am online and 11.30am by phone and in person) and to non-members from Saturday 26th October from 11.30am. They can be bought via this link. (It should be noted that the start time of 7pm given by the BFI is for guidance only. According to the BFI, the exact start time will be given 10 days before the screening.)

Justin Johnson, the programmer of the BFI's Doctor Who At 50 strand, said: Then, just over a fortnight later, on Sunday 8th December at 3.45pm, it will mark the Eleventh Doctor's era by showing The Eleventh Hour and The Name of the Doctor. The guest panel for that event is yet to be announced.

Johnson, who curated the season with Dick Fiddy, commented on its culmination by telling Doctor Who News: Tickets to the Eleventh Doctor screenings on 8th December will be allocated by ballot via the members' section, which BFI Champions can enter from Monday 4th November, and Cinema Members from Tuesday 5th November. The ballot will close on Friday 8th November and will be run over the weekend of 9th and 10th November, with all entrants being notified on Monday 11th November as to whether or not they have been successful. All tickets reserved for Champions and Cinema Members via the ballot will be held for claiming by them until 8.30pm on Friday 15th November, and any that are unclaimed by then will be released for public sale on Saturday 16th November.

As has been the case with all previous events in the season, it will undoubtedly sell out to Champions and Cinema Members, but returns and stand-bys will be a strong possibility, so keep checking with the BFI.

UPDATE - 26th OCTOBER: The BFI was forced to suspend ticket sales for The Day of the Doctor yesterday because of "an issue with card payments". Sales reopened for members today at 9am (online) and 11.30am (phone), and will reopen tomorrow to non-members.

BBC America have released some new images to promote the forthcoming drama An Adventure in Space and Time, featuring the filming of iconic scenes from the early days of the series - a mysterious Doctor Foreman in a junkyard, two teachers discovering the secret of the police box, and an encounter with what would become the most memorable adversary to appear in the series!

A trailer celebrating 50 years of Doctor Who has premiered on BBC One this evening and is now available to watch online.

The BBC has announced that it will be broadcasting a trailer to celebrate 50 years of Doctor Who. It will go out on BBC One at 8.20pm on Saturday 19 October just after Strictly Come Dancing and just before Atlantis. The announcement was made along with artwork featuring all eleven Doctors.


The BBC has issued a press release, which you can read below.

BBC America has released a set of five pictures promoting the forthcoming BBC Two drama An Adventure In Space And Time.

Written by Mark Gatiss and directed by Terry McDonough, the 90-minute production tells the story of the genesis of Doctor Who and stars David Bradley as William Hartnell, Claudia Grant as Carole Ann Ford, Jemma Powell as Jacqueline Hill, Jamie Glover as William Russell, Sacha Dhawan as Waris Hussein, Jessica Raine as Verity Lambert, and Brian Cox as Sydney Newman.


A date for its broadcast is yet to be confirmed, but it will premiere at the BFI on Tuesday 12th November.

Following the issue of the gold and silver Doctor Who 50th annniversary coins earlier this year, New Zealand Mint has now released a set of ½ ounce 999 Fine Silver coins featuring all eleven Doctors.

Each Doctor is depicted alongside one of his adversaries, including Daleks, Cybermen, the Master, Davros, Omega, Slitheen, Ood, and a Weeping Angel.

The limited edition set of 11 coins comes packaged in a 3D replica of the Doctor’s fob watch. 3,000 of these sets will be issued worldwide.

The coins are also available to purchase separately, limited to 1,000 of each Doctor.

As with New Zealand Mint’s earlier issues, these coins are legal tender for $1 in the Pacific island nation of Niue.

Simon Harding (NZ Mint chief executive):

There are not many television shows which boast a 50 year history. To be able to celebrate that evolution in such a unique way, as this silver coin set does, is something Doctor Who fans will love. 

Rachael Hammond (BBC Worldwide ANZ’s Senior Licensing Executive, Consumer Products): 

To celebrate 50 years is a remarkable achievement for a television show and these 11 silver coins provide a worthy memento of Doctor Who’s enduring popularity.

The coins are now available to order from New Zealand Mint.

A party is to be held at Buckingham Palace next month to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who, it has been revealed.

In what is arguably the biggest honour that could be bestowed on the show in its very special year, the Countess of Wessex - who is believed to be something of an admirer of the programme - will host the reception on Monday 18th November as the countdown to Doctor Who's golden milestone reaches its final few days. The guest list has been kept under wraps, but people involved with the show both in front of and behind the cameras over the years are expected to be on it.

The show enjoys a strong royal connection, with the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall visiting its studios in Roath Lock in the summer. Original producer Verity Lambert was awarded an OBE in the 2002 New Year Honours List for services to film and TV production, while Russell T Davies - the producer credited with Doctor Who's successful revival in the 21st century - was awarded an OBE in the 2008 Birthday Honours List for services to drama.

Buckingham Palace has featured and been referenced in the programme, with the Doctor averting its demolition by the starship Titanic in Voyage of the Damned, while in the later story Planet of the Dead the Doctor stated that he had parked the TARDIS in its grounds with the full approval of the Queen. (In alternate timelines, the starship Titanic did destroy the Palace [Turn Left], and it was the home of the Holy Roman Emperor Winston Churchill in The Wedding of River Song.) It is to be presumed that the current royals are either unaware of or were highly amused by the implication in Tooth And Claw that they are werewolves!

UPDATE - 20th OCTOBER: The event has now been published on the Royal Diary web page.

Back in July BBC Worldwide announced its intention to take the broadcast of the 50th Anniversary special, The Day of The Doctor, worldwide. Tonight, it was announced that so far some 75 countries have signed up to make the broadcast a global phenomenon, which as well as the USA (BBC America), Canada (SPACE) and Australia (ABC), also includes places in Europe that currently show the series, such as Germany (FOX) and Finland (YLE), and worldwide through the BBC Entertainment channel. Other networks are expected to be announced in due course.

In addition, over 200 cinemas around the United Kingdom are set to simulcast the episode, many of which will broadcast the adventure in 3D - which will also be available for compatible television sets through the BBC's HD Red Button service.

Tim Davie, chief executive of BBC Worldwide, said:

Brendan Dahill, Controller ABC1 said:

Writer and executive producer Steven Moffat said:



Though the premiere date of 23rd November is embedded in every Doctor Who fan's mind, the actual time of broadcast has yet to be confirmed; however, ABC have announced that their prime-time repeat broadcast of The Day of The Doctor will be on the Sunday at 7:30pm AEDT. Meanwhile, PRIME in New Zealand have reported that they will show the episode within 24 hours of its broadcast in the UK (the episode's usual PG censor rating means it unfortunately cannot be shown on the terrestrial channel in the early morning).

The award-winning Derek Landy has been named today as the author of the tenth and penultimate short story in Puffin Books' e-range celebrating Doctor Who's 50th anniversary.

The Mystery Of The Haunted Cottage, featuring the Tenth Doctor and Martha, will be published globally on Wednesday 23rd October.
An extract can be read via The Guardian's website.

Landy, who has penned the Skulduggery Pleasant series of children's books, commented: Landy's first book, Skulduggery Pleasant, won the Bord Gais Energy Irish Book of the Decade Award as well as the Red House Children's Book Award, while his second, Playing With Fire, won an Irish Book Award for Children's Book of the Year.

The author and title of the series' final instalment, to feature the Eleventh Doctor, will be announced on Tuesday 5th November. It will be published on Thursday 21st November alongside a paperback anthology of all 11 stories - to be called Eleven Doctors, Eleven Stories and which can be pre-ordered here - plus an audio collection.

AudioGo's ongoing celebration of 50 Years of Doctor Who reaches its penultimate adventure in October with the Tenth Doctor and Donna embroiled with Death's Deal. Meanwhile the Sixth Doctor's trial continues in the second part of the Target novelisations of The Trial of a Time Lord, whilst Louise Jameson takes listeners on a trip into the BBC Radio Archive to find Lost Treasures.


All eight of the Doctor Who at the BBC series of CDs are also to be released in a boxed set: