It was Forty years ago today, on Saturday 8th October 1977, that we first met the Doctor's 'Tin' Dog, when K-9 made his debut appearance in Doctor Who.

K-9 was the invention of writers Bob Baker and Dave Martin, who created the character for their fourth Doctor story The Invisible Enemy. Although originally intended to appear in that one story, the character was retained after producer Graham Williams saw its potential appeal to younger fans of the series.

K-9 was voiced by John Leeson, who had been contracted to provide the voice of the Nucleus for the story and was also asked to voice the robot Dog. Apart from Season 17, when the character was voiced by David Brierley, Leason has voiced the character ever since.

Making the character a permanent member of the crew was not without its problems for the production team. The radio controlled model was prone to operational problems in the studio and Directors found it difficult to compose a shot comprising the lanky frame of Tom Baker and the squat shape of K-9. However, the character did prove popular with the audience and rapidly became an icon of the series,

A new improved model was introduced at the start of season 16, with improved electronics, but the character still had its limits, being written out of some stories altogether.

When John Nathan Turner took over as the producer in 1980, he decided to have the character written out, and at the end of the story Warrior's Gate, K-9 finally left the Doctor. Just a year later the character was back, alongside former companion Elisabeth Sladen, in a one-off adventure K-9 and Company. The first television spin-off from the main series of Doctor Who.

K-9 made a final classic series appearance in the twentieth-anniversary story The Five Doctors.

It was in 2006 that the character returned to the screen in the revamped version of Doctor Who in a story by Toby Whithouse. School Reunion also brought Sarah Jane Smith, in the person of Elisabeth Sladen back into Doctor Who, an appearance that would lead to the commissioning of The Sarah Jane Adventures, also featuring the Robot Dog.

In 2010 an Australian produced series, featuring a redesigned K-9, was broadcast, consisting of 26, 30-minute episodes. The series was produced independently of the BBC, so no BBC owned characters could appear. The series was shown on Channel 10 in Australia and Channel 5 in the UK.

Forty years after his first appearance, K-9's character is still in production, with original co-creator Bob Baker, along with Paul Tams working on a feature film, K9: TimeQuake which will feature the robot dog up against classic Doctor Who villain Omega.

The actor Trevor Martin, the first actor to play The Doctor on stage, has died at the age of 87.

Trevor Martin first appeared in Doctor Who in 1969, playing a Time Lord in the final Second Doctor story The War Games.

However, he is best remembered for playing The Doctor in a stage play based on the series, Doctor Who and the Daleks in the Seven Keys to Doomsday, which ran in London's Adelphi Theatre for four weeks at the end of 1974.

The play, by Terrance Dicks, was set just after the regeneration of the Third Doctor, with Martin playing an alternate version of the Fourth Doctor, who made his TV debut in the form of Tom Baker, during the run of the play.

The Doctor's companions were played by Wendy Padbury and James Matthews. In 2008 the play was adapted for Audio by Big Finish with Martin once more taking the lead role.

Away from Doctor Who Trevor Martin was a regular face on British Television, first appearing in the play Tomorrow Mr. Tompion! And About Time Too! in 1958. Appearances followed in Three Golden Nobles, Orlando, Jackanory, The Tragedy of King Richard II, Z Cars, Armchair Thriller, Inspector Morse, Coronation Street and The Bill.

An interview with Trevor Martin is due to be released on October 16th as part of the Myth Makers series.

The latest season of adventures from the long-running fan-written fiction series, The Doctor Who Project (TDWP), is currently in production.

The unofficial series features the Tenth Doctor and companion Hannah Redfoot as they travel through all of time and space in seven new adventures.

Season 41 begins with The Throne of Peladon by James P. Quick, the first part of a two-part adventure which sees the Doctor and Hannah return to Peladon in the year 4,100, where political machinations could once again rip the planet apart. Then, they encounter a boy soprano with a voice of gold who never grows old, land on a planet where the ghost of the Great One returns, confront an alien scientist bent on changing time, and the Doctor falls ill to a mysterious disease.

Writers for the rest of the season include Hamish Crawford, Ian Manning, J.E. Remy, Matthew James (Ghost Ship, The Snow Maiden), Richard Hoover (Where There’s Thunder), and Nick Krohn. Season 41 continues with The Secret of Peladon (Sep 30), Palimpsest (Oct 7), Web of Insanity (Oct 14), Dolce Music Della Morte (Oct 21), Rights and Responsibilities (Oct 28) and Moondust (Nov 4).

Stories are available free to readers in PDF format.

For more information visit The Doctor Who Project website.

Candy Jar have announced '48 Crash, a Lethbridge-Stewart short story to tie in with the Radio One's 50th Annversary weekend:

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• It is also possible to pre-order a preview copy of the new Lethbridge-Stewart spin-off, The Lucy Wilson Mysteries, announced last month. The book is due to be released widely in early 2018, but limited copies are available now via the Candy Jar website.
• Candy Jar Books is also offering an exciting new opportunity for aspiring writers. Launched at the Candy Jar Book Festival in Cardiff this year, the Candy Jar Lethbridge-Stewart Short Story Competition invites writers to submit a short story based on the Doctor Who character Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. More details about how to submit can be found at the Candy Jar Books Festival website.

Time Shadows: Anniversary Edition is an expanded edition of the unofficial, unauthorized Doctor Who short-story anthology for charity from Pseudoscope Publishing.

All sales proceeds will be donated to LimbForge, a nonprofit that provides tools and training for clinicians to quickly provide patients with high-quality and cost-effective 3D printed prosthetics.

The anthology, which has raised over USD $950 for LimbForge to date, features all televised Doctors, across 25 stories, including a five-part framing story with the Twelfth Doctor and Clara. New features include 12 illustrations from some of Doctor Who fandom's best artists, as well as revealing author interviews.

The anthology is edited by Matt Grady with Samuel Gibb with a foreword by Gary Russell.

The anthology features stories by Violet Addison, John Anderson, David Black, Andrew Blair, Simon Blake, Christopher Colley, John Davies, Abel Diaz, R.P. Fox, Stephen Hatcher, Chris Heffernan, Ian Howden, Pete Kempshall, J.R. Loflin, Kevin Mason, Roger McCoy, David McLain, Christopher Olsen, John Peel, Stuart Roth, Dale Smith, David N. Smith, and Nick Walters.

It contains illustrations by Simon A. Brett, Paul Cowan, Carolyn Edwards, Jon Wesley Huff and Michael Leis.

In addition artist Paul Cowan will be auctioning off his original hand-drawn Time Shadows illustrations for charity.



Ordering information for Time Shadows: Anniversary Edition and details about the artwork auction are available from Pseudoscope Publishing

A new Doctor Who game, Doctor Who Infinity, is to be released for PC and mobile platforms worldwide, in Spring 2018.

The game is produced by Tiny Rebel Games Ltd, the team behind the popular game Doctor Who Legacy, under official license from BBC Worldwide. The new game is being funded as a joint effort between the Welsh Government’s Media Investment Budget and British game publisher/developer Double Eleven Limited.

It is being developed in close collaboration with Seed Studio along with a broad team of UK-based talent including well-known Doctor Who actors, writers, and artists. Cardiff-based award-winning audio designer and composer Stafford Bawler will be providing audio direction for the game. Doctor Who Infinity will be released both on PC and on major mobile platforms.

Susan Cummings, of Tiny Rebel Games, is the executive producer on Doctor Who Infinity. Doctor Who Infinity builds on the addictive puzzle gameplay of Doctor Who: Legacy to immerse players in comic book style puzzle adventures. Each story-based adventure has its own unique art style and author. To bring these original stories to life, Tiny Rebel Games has recruited an incredible team of major British Doctor Who writers and internationally renowned UK-based comic book artists to illustrate the stories.

Ken Skates AM, Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Infrastructure in Wales says Lee Hutchinson, managing director of Double Eleven Limited added Doctor Who: Legacy, released in 2013, quickly became one of most popular Doctor Who games of all time with over 2.5 million players and broadly spans the history of Doctor Who with every Doctor, hundreds of allies, companions, and monsters and includes extended universe content from Big Finish, Titan Comics, and BBC Books. Still popular four years later, the game continues to add new content weekly and is well over 120 hours of gameplay.

With a soft launch in early Spring, Doctor Who Infinity will be live globally on PC, iTunes, and Google Play in late Spring 2018.

You can follow news about the game via the website and on Facebook, or Twitter.

Issue 517 of Doctor Who Magazine celebrates 30 years of the Seventh Doctor with Sylvester Mccoy.

Thirty years after he first appeared as the Seventh Doctor, Sylvester McCoy reflects on the role that changed his life... ALSO INSIDE THIS ISSUE…

• DEBORAH WATLING TRIBUTE
DWM remembers the late Deborah Watling, who played the Second Doctor's companion Victoria from 1967 to 1968, with contributions from Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant and Frazer Hines.
• VICTORIA'S SECRETS
A previously unpublished interview with Deborah Watling from 1990.
• VICTOR PEMBERTON TRIBUTE
Remembering the late Doctor Who writer and story editor Victor Pemberton.
• GAIL BENNETT
An interview with original American Doctor Who superfan Gail Bennett.
• FURY FROM THE DEEP
This month's Fact of Fiction explores 1968's Fury from the Deep, the last story to feature Deborah Watling as Victoria Waterfield.
• THE PARLIAMENT OF FEAR
Part Three of the brand-new comic strip adventure, The Parliament of Fear, featuring the Doctor and Bill; written by Scott Gray and illustrated by Mike Collins.
• DOMINIC GLYNN
The composer recalls writing and recording the score for 1989's Survival.
• THE TIME TEAM
The Time Team continues its mission to watch every episode of Doctor Who with 2012's The Doctor's Wife.

PLUS! Previews, book and audio reviews, news, the Watcher's column, prize-winning competitions and much, much more.

Issue number: 517 - Price: £5.99 (US $11.99)- On Sale: Thursday 21 September 2017

Koch Media have released the third in their collection of interviews from Reeltime Pictures with stars from Doctor Who, this time focussing on the fourth Doctor, Tom Baker's era.

Two unofficial books about the visual effects work of twentieth century Doctor Who, previously only available to a mainly UK fanbase and via various offline avenues, have now been made available to purchase worldwide online.

The books were written by Steve Cambden, who worked on the show as one of K9's operators. The first, The Doctor's Affect (1999), chronicles how he achieved his dream as a teenager to work on the series, with in-depth accounts of the recording of Destiny of the Daleks, Nightmare of Eden, The Horns of Nimon, Shada, Meglos, Full Circle and State of Decay, plus exclusive behind-the-scenes photographs and a comprehensive account of K9’s creation.

The second, The Doctor’s Effects, features interviews with many of the visual effects and design legends who worked on Doctor Who throughout the 'classic era', covering over a hundred productions including stories such as The Daleks, The Tomb of the Cybermen, The Sea Devils, Genesis of the Daleks, Terror of the Zygons, The Awakening and The Trial of a Timelord. The book includes many previously unseen photographs and includes interviews with Bernard Wilkie, Jack Kine, John Friedlander, Ian Scoones, Mat Irvine and Ray Cusick.


The online initiative has been organised by Steve's long-term friend Simon Meade, of The Ark in Space Facebook group and Twitter feed:

Full details about the books - which will be personally signed - and how to purchase them can be found via the sevenzero.net website.

Candy Jar Books have announced the titles for its fifth series of Lethbridge-Stewart novels:


The New Unusual, A Very Private Haunting and The Man from Yesterday are all available for individual pre-order, or as a discounted bundle. They are also available as part of the yearly subscription offer. Full details from the Candy Jar website.

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Candy Jar Books will be at the Cardiff ComicCon this Saturday and Sunday if people want to visit say 'hello'!