Many new products have been announced in Germany  recently.

• German DVD distributer Pandastorm Pictures announced at the Doctor Who convention TimeLash III on the last weekend of October a limited boxed set featuring all of the 7th Doctor stories, including new bonus features and the never-before-on-DVD released and newly remastered Silver Nemesis Extended edition. This longer cut of the Season 25 story has previously only been released on VHS in the UK.
  The set will be called Siebter Doktor - Special Collector's Edition and presented in a valuable hardcover book in coffee table format. The set is limited to 1,000 copies, each with an impressed number. Script editor Andrew Cartmel has written over 52 pages of production notes on each story, which can be found in the English language as well as in a German translation. The 17 region-free DVD's contain all adventures in English and German audio as well as English and German subtitles and over 24 hours of bonus material. Anther new bonus feature will be the BBC America special Doctor Who Revisited – The Seventh Doctor and an exclusive new interview with Andrew Cartmel. Product shipment is scheduled for the second week of December. This boxed set can only be ordered from Pandastorm's own shop.


• German books and audio publisher Bastei Luebbe also announced a new project at the convention. In cooperation with Big Finish they are going to release German translations of Doctor Who audio plays, with the German dubbing actors known from TV also speaking the parts on audio. The first batch of releases will be the 10th Doctor adventures featuring Donna Noble as the companion. 27th April 2018 will see the release of Die Zeitdiebe by Jenny Colgan, Technophobie by Matt Fitton and Eiskalte Rache by Matt Fitton. All stories will be released on CD and Download. You can pre-order on the publisher's website.
  
  
• Bastei Luebbe will also release four new novels. Scheduled for next year are:
  

  • Eleventh Doctor story Totenwinter (Dead of Winter) by James Goss (26th January 2018)
  • Eleventh Doctor story Der weinende Engel (Touched by an Angel) by Jonathan Morris (29th March 2018) 
  • Eleventh Doctor story Dunkle Gezeiten (The Coming of the Terraphiles) by Michael Moorcock (25th May 2018)
  • Third Doctor story Der Neunte Schlüssel (The Last of the Gadarene) by Mark Gatiss (27th July 2018)

  All novels will also be available in audio book format.
  
  

One of the most prolific contributors to Doctor Who, Composer Dudley Simpson has died at the age of 95.

Dudley Simpson worked on at least 290 episodes of Doctor Who, writing the score to over 60 stories. His music provided the soundtrack to the majority of the adventures of the first four Doctors as well as contributing some of the most iconic TV Theme tunes, writing the title music for Blake's 7 and The Tomorrow People.

Dudley Simpson was born in Australia on the 4th October 1922. He served in World War II before studying orchestration and composition at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. He worked for the Borovansky Ballet Company, the predecessor to the Australian Ballet, before moving to the UK, where after a season as guest conductor at Covent Garden, he became Principal Conductor of the Royal Opera House orchestra for three years.

He first wrote music for television in 1961, working on a BBC drama called Jack's Horrible Luck, directed by Gerard Glaister. It was his work on the drama Moonstrike which brought him to the attention of Doctor Who's Associate producer Mervyn Pinfield, who recruited him to write the music for the First Doctor story Planet of Giants.

Over the next 15 years, he would contribute more to Doctor Who than almost any other person. His role call is incredible. Following Planet of Giants he wrote the score to The Crusade; The Chase; The Celestial Toymaker; The Underwater Menace; The Evil of the Daleks; The Ice Warriors; Fury From the Deep; The Seeds of Death; The Space Pirates; The War Games; Spearhead From Space; The Ambassadors of Death; Terror of the Autons; The Mind of Evil; The Claws of Axos; Colony In Space; The Dæmons; Day of the Daleks; The Curse of Peladon; The Three Doctors; Carnival Of Monsters; Frontier In Space; Planet of the Daleks; The Green Death; The Time Warrior; Invasion of the Dinosaurs; The Monster of Peladon; Planet of the Spiders; Robot; The Ark In Space; The Sontaran Experiment; Genesis of the Daleks; Planet of Evil; Pyramids of Mars; The Android Invasion; The Brain of Morbius; The Masque of Mandragora; The Hand Of Fear; The Deadly Assassin; The Face of Evil; The Robots of Death; The Talons of Weng-Chiang; Horror of Fang Rock; The Invisible Enemy; Image of the Fendahl; The Sun Makers; Underworld; The Invasion of Time; The Ribos Operation; The Pirate Planet; The Stones of Blood; The Androids of Tara; The Power of Kroll; The Armageddon Factor; Destiny of the Daleks; City of Death; The Creature from the Pit; Nightmare of Eden; and The Horns of Nimon.

His one appearance in the series came in 1977 when he played the Conductor in Episode 4 of The Talons of Weng-Chiang.

Simpson's last commission for the series would be for the lost story, Shada. With the advent of a new producer, John Nathan Turner, who wanted a fresh sound for the programme, his services were dispensed with.

Dudley Simpson's work on Doctor Who brought him to the attention of other TV producers and in the 1970's his talent could be heard providing the soundtrack to many much-loved series. He wrote the music to The Brothers, the 1972 drama that dominated the ratings on Sunday evenings and introduced Colin Baker to the country. He wrote the theme to The Tomorrow People, the ITV Science Fiction series for children. And he wrote the spectacular theme to Terry Nation's Blake's 7 and provided incidental music for 50 out of the 52 episodes made.

Other series included Moonbase 3, The Ascent of Man, Target, A Little Princess, Paul Temple, Lorna Doone, Kidnapped, Curtain of Fear, Triton, The Man Outside, A Pin to See the Peepshow, Microbes and Men, Madame Bovary, North & South, Katy, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, The Legend of King Arthur, Stalky & Co, Dombey & Son, Goodbye Mr. Chips, The Diary of Anne Frank, Super Gran and several plays in the BBC Television Shakespeare series.

Dudley Simpson retired in the 1990's and returned to his native Australia. He returned to the UK in 2013 to help celebrate Doctor Who's 50th Anniversary

Dudley Simpson died on Saturday 4th November in Australia.

Candy Jar Books have announced the launch of a website dedicated to the character of Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart.

Head of publishing, Shaun Russell, said:
The site has been designed by Richard Young of North East Design Consultants:
Candy Jar’s Publishing Coordinator, Lauren Thomas, added:
Editorial Co-ordinator, Will Rees, said:

The site will continue to be developed, with updated on upcoming books in the series added in due course. Alongside this, information about The Lucy Wilson Mysteries, a separate series about the Brigadier’s granddaughter, is also available.


The Lethbridge-Stewart website can be found here.

---

To celebrate the launch of the website, Candy Jar Books is offering readers a chance to win a one-of-a-kind Lethbridge-Stewart original painting created by Richard Young. To enter the competition, just visit the new website and enter Candy’s Jar poll to vote for your favourite book, short story and cover design, and then you will automatically be entered into the prize draw.

Doctor Who News is looking for volunteers to join the editorial team.

We are looking for

• News contributors
To write engaging accurate news items about Doctor Who and the people who work on it.
If you are interested in joining the News team then please write up a news story that we have missed and send it to the address below.
• Reviewers
To write informative reviews on Doctor Who products, including Big Finish Audio Adventures, Titan Comics, and Doctor Who Merchandise.
If you are interested in joining the team of reviewers please submit a review on a Doctor Who related item of your choice and send it to the address below.
• Event Compilers
To help keep the listings in Doctor Who Events accurate and up to date.
If you are interested in helping please send your details to the address below.
• Guide Compilers
To write character biographies and People Biographies for the Doctor Who Guide.
If you are interested in helping please send your details to the address below.
• TWIDW Compilers
To help keep This Week in Doctor Who as the most accurate source of Doctor Who listings.
If you are interested in helping please send your details to the address below stating the areas you could help cover.

Candidates should be able to make a long-term commitment to the site.

Please send enquiries to submissions@doctorwhonews.net

One of the great pioneering Television Directors of her generation, Paddy Russell, has died at the age of 89.

Patricia Russell, known to all as Paddy, had a long and distinguished career as one of the first female Directors in British television. She trained as an actor attending the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Before long she realised that she was more at home behind the scenes moving to become a stage manager.

In the 1950's Television was crying out for theatre staff to work in the new medium and Russell was recruited as a production assistant, working with the famed director Rudolph Cartier. Acting as the director's eyes and ears on the studio floor, Russell worked on some of the most innovative and pioneering dramas of the day including the Quatermass science-fiction serials as well as the 1954 adaptation of George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four starring Peter Cushing.

In 1963 she became a director herself, directing many episodes of the soap opera Compact. Over the next twenty years, she worked on many of the best known classic television series.

Her first encounter with Doctor Who came in 1966 when she became the first female Director to work on the show. She helmed the First Doctor story The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve. One advantage the newish Director had when faced with the notoriously irascible William Hartnell was the fact that for the majority of the story he was not playing The Doctor, but another character, The Abbot of Amboise. She told Doctor Who Magazine It was eight years later that Russell returned to the show working on the six-part Jon Pertwee story Invasion of the Dinosaurs. It was a story fraught with technical difficulties in the attempt to bring dinosaurs to London using the primitive methods available in the early 1970's. While not always successful it was a story Russell was very proud of. Two more stories followed, both staring the Fourth Doctor, Tom Baker. In 1975 she directed the fan favourite Pyramids of Mars, followed in 1977 by the Horror of Fang Rock. She had a prickly relationship with the lead actor whom she found increasingly difficult to work with. During her long career Paddy Russell also worked on The Newcomers, Little Women, Fathers and Sons, The Moonstone, My Old Man, Z Cars, Within These Walls, 3-2-1 and Emmerdale

Paddy Russell died earlier this week.

Actor and writer Nicholas Pegg has been dismissed from Doctor Who Magazine after he concealed a crude message in the last issue of the magazine.

Pegg was the writer behind The Watcher feature. The last issue contained a coded message, containing an obscenity aimed at his employers BBC Worldwide and Panini, who publish the magazine. The last sentence included the clue, "If you look hard enough there is always something hidden in plain sight."

BBC Worldwide told The Daily Mirror As well as writing for the magazine, Pegg has been one of the main Dalek operators since Doctor Who returned in 2005, performing in 14 episodes of Doctor Who. He has also written extensively on Doctor Who as well as penning stories for Big Finish.

A three-DVD special release featuring material based on the much loved Third Doctor story The Dæmons, is to be released on 13th November.

The three Disc release from Reeltime Pictures contains two unique productions and features stars including Jon Pertwee and Damaris Hayman reprising her role as Olive Hawthorn from the 1971 story.

Disc One is a brand-new drama production White Witch of Devil's End starring Damaris Hayman.

Disc Two is the long-awaited DVD release of the classic documentary Return to Devil's End.

Filmed around the village of Aldbourne in 1992, this marvellous production stars Jon Pertwee, Nicholas Courtney, Richard Franklin, John Levene and The Dæmons director, Christopher Barry.

Nicholas Briggs takes the cast and director on a trip around the locations, deftly gleaning stories and anecdotes about filming the classic Doctor Who series in 1971. Including interviews with villagers and rare archive film and photos. This documentary has been praised as one of the best behind-the-scenes look at the making of Doctor Who ever produced.

Both discs are packed with bonus features, and the third bonus disc contains video of conventions held in Aldbourne to celebrate one of Doctor Who's most fondly remembered stories.

• Disc 1: White Witch of Devil s End
- Drama, Weaving Magic - The Making of ... ,The Scriveners - The writers tell their story, Linzi s Tune - Theme Music singer Linzi Gold Tells her story (inc. music video)
• Disc 2: Return to Devil s End
- Documentary, Recording the Return - Home video of the shoot, Reporting the White Witch - Damaris Hayman & David Simeon interview, Morris Men - A profile of the Headington Quarry Morris Dancers, who featured in The Daemons
• Disc 3: The Daemons Revisited
- Conventions at The Daemons location of Aldbourne village

Koch Media Presents The Daemons of Devil's End on 3-Disc DVD from 13th November 2017. It is available to pre-order on Amazon.

The Doctor Who Appreciation Society, (DWAS) is offering two items for sale to raise money for charity.

This week sees the release of the final 2 parts of Titan's DOCTOR WHO event for 2017 - Lost Dimension.

The Lost Dimension Part 7

Writer: Emma Beeby
Artist: Carlos Reno, Rafael Dantas, Ivan Rodriguez
Cover A: Klebs Jr Cover B: Photo

The Lost Dimension Part 8

Writer: George Mann, Cavan Scott
Artist: Mariano Laclaustra
Cover A: Alex Ronald Cover B: Photo

River Song as played by Alex Kingston, is to meet the Fourth Doctor, played by Tom Baker, in a new set of audio adventures released by Big Finish.

Series Four of The Diary of River Song, to be released in August 2018, will see the archaeologist encounter Doctor Number Four, in a set of new adventures alongside the longest serving Doctor.

Meanwhile Series Three of the Diary of River Song will released in January 2018, and will feature the Fifth Doctor, as played by Peter Davison, battling against the most evil midwife in Doctor Who history, Madame Kovarian, played by Frances Barber.

This box set will contain four hour-long adventures where the Doctor’s wife, archaeologist, crack shot with an intoxicating kiss and time traveler will have to face the demons of her past, present, and future. A fifth series is planned for release in January 2019