The actor Bernard Horsfall has died at the age of 82.

He appeared in 14 episodes of Doctor Who, alongside the second, third and fourth Doctors.

Born on 20th November 1930 in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, Horsfall had a long career in film and television in the UK, including roles in the feature films On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Gandhi and Braveheart.

He appeared in many classic television dramas including Casualty, Agatha Christie: Poirot, The Bill, The Jewel in the Crown, Juliet Bravo, Minder, When the Boat Comes In, Within These Walls, Jackanory, Elizabeth R, Doomwatch, Out of the Unknown, Softly Softly, Dr. Finlay's Casebook and Z Cars. He also played the respected doctor Philip Martel in the Channel Islands wartime drama Enemy at the Door, which ran for 26 episodes between 1978 and 1980.

Horsfall's first appearance in Doctor Who came in the 1968 story The Mind Robber, where he played Lemuel Gulliver, encountered by the second Doctor in the Land of Fiction.

After a small role as the First Time Lord in the final Troughton story The War Games, Horsfall returned to the series in 1973, playing the Thal Taron in the six-part story Planet of the Daleks, working with the third Doctor to defeat the Daleks on the planet Spiridon.

His final role in Doctor Who is arguably the one he is most famous for, playing Chancellor Goth in the 1976 story The Deadly Assassin. His most famous scene involved a battle with the fourth Doctor inside the Matrix with the climax of episode three showing the Doctor being held underwater by Goth. The sequence prompted complaints from the TV campaigner Mary Whitehouse and was edited from repeat showings.

Horsfall returned to the world of Doctor Who in 2003 when he played Arnold Baynes in the Big Finish audio play Davros.

The actor, who was due to attend the 2013 Gallifrey One convention next month, collapsed and died this morning.

A new publicity picture has been released following yesterday's announcement that Doctor Who will be returning on Saturday 30th March for the first episode of eight in the next part of Series 7.

The image, as seen below, shows Matt Smith and Jenna-Louise Coleman. Although newly released, it appears to hail from a photo shoot last March when Coleman was announced as the new companion.

The cover and contents of the forthcoming two-disc special edition DVD release of The Ark In Space in the UK have been finalised.

All four episodes have been newly remastered, using advances in technology and technique, and are supported by an expanded collection of bonus features.


UPDATE: 11th FEBRUARY: The release date - originally set for 18th February - has been pushed back a week to 25th February.

The BBC have announced that the first of the eight episodes that comprise the second part of Series Seven will premiere on BBC One from Saturday 30th March - back in its 'traditional' Easter weekend slot! Though Doctor Who Magazine had already reported that the series would be on during April, this is the first time the BBC themselves have confirmed the date of a regular series of episodes so far ahead of its intended schedule - normally it is only announced a few weeks beforehand.

The time of broadcast has yet to be confirmed.

Both BBC America and SPACE (Canada) have confirmed that they, too, will launch the second part from the 30th March; no announcements have been made for the series to premiere in the other main countries as yet, though based on recent years they are likely to be close to transmission of the series in the United Kingdom.

UKTV continues its season of classic Doctor Who stories today (20 January) with the broadcast of The Dalek Invasion of Earth at 3:30pm (Australia) and 3:15pm (New Zealand). The six-part adventure is the third of four stories to be screened as part of the channel's celebration of the First Doctor this month.

It follows earlier screenings of An Unearthly Child and The Aztecs and continues with The War Machines next week, on 27 January (AU:4:30pm, NZ:4:15pm).

For New Zealand this is the fourth screening of The Dalek Invasion of Earth, and the second time that it has been broadcast to mark a milestone anniversary. It was first broadcast in November 1988 as part of the Doctor Who 'Silver Jubilee' celebration. New Zealand viewers missed out on seeing the story in the 1960s as it was judged by the NZBC censor to be unsuitable for children. It did however screen on Australian television in 1965-66.

UKTV is showing stories every Sunday throughout the year in the lead-up to Doctor Who's 50th Anniversary in November, focusing on a Doctor a month. February is dedicated to the Second Doctor, featuring The Tomb of the Cybermen (3rd), The Dominators (10th), The Mind Robber (17th), and The Seeds of Death (24th).

All up-and-coming broadcasts from both 20th and 21st Century series of Doctor Who can be found via UKTV's Doctor Who sections for Australia and New Zealand.

UKTV continues its season of classic Doctor Who stories today (13th) with the broadcast of The Aztecs at 4:30pm (Australia) and 4:20pm (New Zealand).The four-part adventure forms part of the channel's celebration of the First Doctor this month, which kicked off last weekend with An Unearthly Child and continues with The Dalek Invasion of Earth next week (AU:3:30pm, NZ:3:15pm), rounding off with The War Machines on the 27th (AU:4:30pm, NZ:4:20pm).

The channel is showing stories every Sunday throughout the year in the lead-up to Doctor Who's 50th Anniversary in November, focussing on a Doctor a month. February is, as one might then expect, dedicated to the Second Doctor, featuring The Tomb of the Cybermen (3rd), The Dominators (10th), The Mind Robber (17th), and The Seeds of Death (24th).

All up-and-coming broadcasts from both 20th and 21st Century series of Doctor Who can be found via UKTV's Doctor Who sections for Australia and New Zealand.

The cover artwork for the special edition releases of The Ark in Space and The Aztecs on DVD have been unveiled by designer Lee Binding via the Tea Lady Design Facebook page:


The Ark in Space is due to be released in the United Kingdom on 18th February, with The Aztecs following three weeks later on the 11th March; in the United States, both Ark and Aztecs are due out on the 12th March.

The Snowmen has given BBC America record ratings, with the Christmas Day special being watched by 1.434 million people either live or within seven days.

This was a rise of 54 per cent on the BBC America ratings for last year's Christmas episode, making it the channel's second most-popular programme, beaten only by Asylum of the Daleks, which garnered 1.555 million viewers in September.

Perry Simon, BBC America's general manager, said:According to TV By The Numbers, it was the 70th most-watched programme on cable on the day and 17th in its transmission slot.

Doctor Who has also been voted TV Guide cover of 2012, having made the front last month as last year's Fan Favorite.

Doctor Who: The Snowmen had a final official audience of 9.87 million viewers, according to figures released by the BBC.

The consolidated figure includes those who recorded the programme and watched it within seven days, and is a substantial increase on the initial overnight figure. It makes Doctor Who the fourth most-watched programme of Christmas Day, edging ahead of the Christmas Strictly Come Dancing, which beat Doctor Who in the overnights but lost out in the final figures.

Top of the list was EastEnders, with 11.3 million watching, followed by Call the Midwife, which overtook Doctor Who in the final figures, and The Royle Family.

Coronation Street was the highest-rated programme on ITV1, just failing to reach the heights of The Snowmen and coming fifth in the Top Ten list. Figures do not include the +1 channels, which will bring Coronation Street back above Doctor Who in the weekly BARB figures. Doctor Who also achieved a greater number of viewers than Downton Abbey, ITV1's flagship drama.

The viewing figures are lower than in recent years, where Doctor Who was transmitted in a later timeslot, but higher than the 2005 and 2006 Christmas specials.



Overall in 2012 Doctor Who had an average rating of 8.28 million viewers, higher than last year's figure of 7.75 million.

The BBC also reports that, so far, over 1.46 million have accessed the episode on BBC iPlayer.

The BBC have made some of the press preview Q&A for The Snowmen that took place on the 18th December available to watch online; the session features Matt Smith, Jenna-Louise Coleman and Steven Moffat interviewed by TV reviewer Boyd Hilton, and then taking questions from the audience, including where the idea of Clara came from, a new-look TARDIS, and how long Matt is going to stay as the Doctor!

A full transcript of the Q&A has also been made available by Ian Wylie.