Fans in Germany have started a petition to help get the newly-started german Netflix to dub and release the classic series of Doctor Who.

The petition, started by Andrè Schott, reads:


To this day there are only Seasons 22 to 26 and the TV Movie available with a German dub. German DVD distributer Pandastorm Pictures is going to release those seasons in boxed sets, starting this November. Der Siebte Doktor Volume 1 (Season 24) can be pre-ordered from Amazon Germany.

American broadcaster Retro TV will air third Doctor adventure The Mind of Evil in colour next month, the first television channel in the world to do so since the late 1970s!

With the original transmission tapes long-sinced erased, by the beginning of the 1980s only black and white prints of the episodes were still held by the BBC, meaning that the story has only been available to broadcasters around the world since then in that format. However, 2013 saw the story prepared for release on DVD with a newly colourised episode one by Stuart Humphryes (aka Babelcolour) and Peter Crocker, and colour-recovered episodes two to six by Richard Russell. Premiered at the British Film Institute in March last year, the story has since been shown a number of select locations, and made available on DVD and streaming services such as Hulu; Retro's broadcast will mark the first time the story can be enjoyed in colour on broadcast television once more.

Stuart Humphryes told us:
More details about the colourisation process for episode one can be read via the Babelcolour website.

Episode One airs on Retro from 8:30pm on the 15th October.

After receiving recent reports that the DVD of The Two Doctors no longer includes A Fix With Sontarans as an extra, we checked with BBC Worldwide over the status of the story's release and they have verified:


At the time of writing, online retailers such as the BBC Shop and Amazon still list the extra; purchasers of the story should verify which version they are buying as retailers may hold either version in stock at present.

Silva Screen have announced that a double LP version of the soundtrack from Ghost Light, the final recorded story from the series' original run. (Re)Released on CD last year, the soundtrack is presented more closely to the original broadcast. Composer Mark Ayres says:
The soundtrack is due out on the 13th October, and can be purchased from Silva Screen's website.

German DVD distributor Pandastorm Pictures announced today the upcoming plans for DVD releases of the classic series in a newsletter sent out to fans. As previously reported the first volume of seventh Doctor stories includes the complete Season 24 on four discs, all the bonus features of the UK DVD's and will be released on 28th November 2015.

Additionally, Pandastorm Pictures is going to release the following sets:


According to the newsletter there are currently rights issues that need to be resolved before the TV Movie can be released.

There are no German dubs to any other episodes available, so further releases are unlikely. However, the distributor has told fans that it would consider dubbing more classic episodes if the DVD's are going to sell extremely well.

Der Siebte Doktor Volume 1 can be pre-ordered from Amazon Germany.

It was fifty years ago today, on Saturday 12 September 1964, that first season of Doctor Who came to a close with the final episode of The Reign of Terror - Prisoners of Conciergerie.

Apart from one week's absence due to extended coverage of the Wimbledon tennis championships, the series has run continuously since it launched on that dark day in November when the world was still reeling from the death of President John F Kennedy. Forty-two episodes have been screened across 8 stories, which took our heroes from the temples of the Aztec empire to the twin star system of the Sense Sphere, from the dawn of human history to the petrified remains of Skaro, and from the Himalayas of Cathay to the jungles of Marinus. On their journey they met historical characters such as Marco Polo, Kublai Khan and Robespierre, as well as beings from beyond the stars.

The series has become a ratings success. From a quiet beginning with just 4.4 million viewers watching the debut show, the arrival of the Daleks has brought a surge in interest in the series, reaching a peak of 10.4 million watching in the winter months. As spring turned into summer ratings have declined, but are still very acceptable, with 6.4 million watching the final episode of the season.

The series is also gaining attention abroad, with sales in progress for Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Although the series went off air on 12th September, production has continued with two more stories being recorded up until the end of the current cast's contracts on 24 October 1964. The break in transmission has been agreed by Chief of Programmes Donald Baverstock, to enable the production team to pause and take stock and for the BBC to decide if it actually wants Doctor Who to continue...

...For the prospects for the series beyond 1964 are far from assured. The BBC is still unconvinced the series has a long term future. It has many enemies in the upper echelons of the Corporation, men and women who see science fiction as childish rubbish and who feel licence payers would be better served by a good Dickens. Then there is the problem that the initial cast contracts had been for one year. Any new contracts would need to be negotiated with the actors agents, with a substantial pay increase likely be demanded given the success of the show. Head of Drama Sydney Newman argues that any new contracts should be open ended, but this will require a vote of faith from Baverstock, a commitment that the show would continue for the foreseeable future, a commitment he is unable to give.

As 1964 progresses, the lack of clarity on the programmes future restricts the options of the production team. Doctor Who may not continue past those first 52 episodes - if it is to continue there is a desire to shake up the cast. In the summer, Head of Series Donald Wilson outlines the problems in a memo in which he said a decision must be taken by 7th July.
By the end of July no decision has yet been taken. The start of the second series has been put back to 31 October, allowing a 6 week break in transmission. Barbara has now been saved, but Susan will still be leaving the series at the end of the year (Carole Ann Ford had been increasingly disillusioned with the way Susan had developed, with the character becoming far less alien than original envisaged, and was keen to move on).

If the series is to continue, the issue with the artists' contracts needs to be addressed. Producer Verity Lambert urgently needs to know if the programme has a future. On Thursday 6th August she has sends a memo to the Serials Department organiser.
In response, Doctor Who is granted an extension of just four weeks, taking it to the end of January. Lambert prepares a discussion document on Tuesday 11 August setting out the stark options now facing Doctor Who, given its future was so uncertain.
Baverstock's assistant John Muir sent him a memo summarising the options available.
On Thursday 14 August Baverstock meets with Lambert and finally agrees to renew Doctor Who for a further thirteen weeks, with a possibility of an additional thirteen after that. He is clear, however, that artist costs must not increase.

Now that Lambert has permission to continue she can begin negotiations with the principle agents. William Hartnell as the main character was the most important to secure. He dismisses the offer of a three month extension at the same money. He wants a rise of 25 guineas an episode taking his weekly pay to 250 guineas (£262) and he wants a contract of six months' duration. William Russell will accept the three month contact, but wants the same pay as Hartnell (he was currently on 150 guineas per week). Jacqueline Hill will also accept a three month contract but wants 200 guineas per episode, a rise of 95 guineas. Faced with such demands Lambert contacts Baverstock for advice.
In the end that commitment is given, Hartnell receives his 250 guineas an episode and Russell and Hill are both offered a rise of between 10 and 25 guineas an episode.

Doctor Who is now confirmed until the summer of 1965. New adventures await the crew, with a new companion joining the team later in the year. A new studio home has been won, freeing the team from the confines of the outdated Lime Grove complex and giving them a semi-permanent home at the BBC's Riverside studios in Hammersmith.

One year is complete, but the adventure continues...

The classic series writer Jane Baker has died.

Jane Baker, along with her husband and writing partner Pip, was one of the best known writers from the mid 80's era of Doctor Who, writing eleven episodes for the series. Together they created the Rani, a female Time Lord scientist who was brought to life so vividly by the late Kate O'Mara, as well a creating the companion Mel.

Pip and Jane Baker began writing together in the 1960's working on the films The Painted Smile, The Break, The Night of the Big Heat and Captain Nemo and the Underwater City. On Television they worked on the children's thriller Circus as well as episodes of Z-Cars and Space 1999.

In 1985 they were commissioned by producer John Nathan Turner to write for the first full series of the Sixth Doctor, Colin Baker, producing the story Mark of the Rani. The story was well received and the couple returned the following year to pen Terror of the Vervoids the third segment of the Trial of a Time Lord Season, envisaged as a whodunnit in space.

Later that year the couple were called into rescue the series following the departure of the then Script editor Eric Saward, following a disagreement with Nathan Turner. Saward had withdrawn his script for the final episode of the season leaving the Bakers to come up with an alternative ending, without access to anything already written, and without creating anything which needed a new set to be built. They had just three days to come up with a script capable of concluding a season they had very little part in conceiving. Jane Baker later described to Doctor Who Magazine the period as challenging rather than exciting, but rated the script produced as one of her favourites.

After the transmission of the season, Phi and Jane Baker found themselves defending their scripts on the BBC's feedback programme Open Air, facing criticism from some fans including future script writer Chris Chibnall. It was an experience Jane found perplexing. "We were presented with four young men, who seemed to say on the one hand it was to complicated and on the other it was too simple".

The Bakers returned to Doctor Who at the start of the next season, introducing the seventh Doctor in Time and the Rani, a script which brought back their most enduring creation The Rani.

In the early 1990's they created the children's programme Watt on Earth which ran for 24 episodes on BBC One.

Tributes to Jane Baker have been led by Colin Baker, who posted on twitter

The Horror Channel has announced an additional seventeen Doctor Who stories are to be added to its line-up from October:


Horror Channel broadcasts can be found via This Week in Doctor Who.

German DVD distributor Pandastorm have announced the release of the DVD boxed set Siebter Doctor Volume 1 (Seventh Doctor Volume 1).

The set contains the complete Season 24, featuring Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor, and includes all special features that were present on the single story DVD releases in the UK. According to the website of Pandastorm's distribution partner wvg the discs will run for approximately 350 minutes plus 328 minutes of bonus features. Audio and subtitles will be in English and German.

The description for the DVDs reads as follows:


The DVD boxed set will be released on 28th November 2014 and can be pre-ordered from Amazon Germany.

The director Michael Kerrigan has died at the age of 61

Michael Kerrigan directed the 1989 Doctor Who story Battlefield

Although this was his only encounter with Doctor Who itself, in 2008 he directed four episodes of The Sarah Jane Adventures, The Day of the Clown and Secrets of the Stars, becoming one of a select group who have worked on both the original and the new franchises of Doctor Who.

He had a wide range of credits on British television, working on a number of well known dramas, including Coronation Street, Captain Mack, The Basil Brush Show, The Famous Five, The Courtroom, The Bill, Mr. Majeika, Knights of God, Henry's Leg, No 73 and The Baker Street Boys.