Doctor Who News have a number of prizes courtesy of BBC Books and BBC Audio available to win in competitions, as detailed below! In order to enter, please send your answer along with your name, address and where you saw the competition to the respective email address - please note whether the competition is worldwide or UK only. Only one entry per household will be accepted.

The closing date for all competitions will be Sunday 6th September.

BBC America have now confirmed that they will broadcast the premiere of the next series of Doctor Who, The Magician's Apprentice at 9:00pm Eastern time (8:00pm Central) on Saturday 19th September.


BBC America is the first to announce a time for the episode, which sits in its now traditional evening prime-time slot on the channel; the BBC One premiere itself is unlikely to be confirmed until a couple of weeks before transmission, but is expected to be broadcast either before or after the channel's other big Saturday evening show, Strictly Come Dancing.

Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat is one of a number of Hollywood stars and TV professionals to write to the British Prime Minister in defence of the BBC.

The Corporation is currently the subject of a review of its scope and purpose in the period leading up to its charter renewal in 2016. The new Conservative government has many Members of Parliament who think the BBC does too much and should reduce in size, concentrating on public service output and ceasing to supply popular entertainment and drama. It's a view held by many of the BBC's commercial rivals.

The BBC is funded by a licence fee of £145 per year, levied on all households owing Televisions, in the United Kingdom. Last week the Corporation was told to take on the cost of supplying free TV Licences to those over 75, a move which will cost it over £500 million.

The government has appointed eight people to work on the renewal of the BBC's royal charter, many of whom have previously called for the licence fee to be cut and to consider charging for website output.

The Director General, Lord Hall on Tuesday defended the BBC saying the government must not meddle with the BBC's creative output and that it is one of this country's most precious assets.

The letter, which is also signed by many stars of stage and screen including David Attenborough, Brian Cox, Richard Curtis, Judi Dench, JK Rowling and Daniel Craig is a statement of support for the Corporation and for its long term future.

Doctor Who features prominently in the annual BBC Annual Review, published today.

Lord Hall, Director General of the BBC and the Chairman of BBC Worldwide, the Corporations commercial arm, singled out Doctor Who as one of the success stories for BBC Worldwide, which allows audiences in the UK to enjoy investment in programmes at a higher level than the licence fee alone can provide. Series 8 of Doctor Who, which was seen in the UK by an average consolidated audience of 7.4m, has now aired in over 70 other countries, and achieved record ratings on BBC America and Space channel in Canada.

Doctor Who is one of the BBC's best selling brands, along with Top Gear, Orphan Black and Life Hall and Series 8 has been licensed to 189 territories in the year

One stand out achievement listed in the report is Doctor Who: The World Tour which took place last summer. The report highlights new licensing deals for core BBC brands including a Doctor Who partnership with LEGO.

The report highlights that the launch of series eight on BBC America delivered the show’s highest ratings to date for the channel, up 19.7% versus prior series, with an average of 2.2m viewers each week. Meanwhile licensing sales on the title returned year-on-year growth in North America.

Doctor Who remains the number one TV brand on Tumblr and ranks among Twitter’s top five most-tweeted about original dramas.

The Wand Company’s new Twelfth Doctor’s Sonic Screwdriver Universal Remote Control to be seen for the first time at San Diego Comic-Con 2015

The Wand Company have revealed that a limited edition of their latest Sonic Screwdriver will be on sale exclusively on the BBC America Booth at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, prior to general release.



The Twelfth Doctor’s Sonic Screwdriver Remote Control is a brand new, hero prop replica which is a recreation of the Sonic Screwdriver used by Peter Capaldi in Series 8 of Doctor Who. A limited run of 168 laser-etched numbered Sonics will be available exclusively to purchase on the BBC America booth (#4129) for the first time at San Diego Comic-Con (8th-12th July 2015) prior to general sale from 7th September from BBCShop.com

The new Twelfth Doctor’s Sonic Screwdriver is a fully functioning gesture-based universal remote control which can control your TV and other home entertainment equipment. Learning the gestures and programming the Sonic Screwdriver is easy, and the intuitive gestures allow the user to become the Doctor. Flick it open and the clasps extend with a satisfying clunk; press the grip mounted button for instant light and sound action or use the Any-TV-Off function just for fun!

The Twelfth Sonic has been made in direct response to the huge number of requests that The Wand Company received from fans all over the world asking for an extending version of their famous Eleventh Doctor’s Sonic Screwdriver.

Chris Barnardo, co-founder of The Wand Company says Jason Easy, Senior Licensing Manager at BBC Worldwide, said, Product details

• 1:1 scale replica of the Series 8 Sonic Screwdriver hero prop
• Highly authentic flick-to-extend action
• Grip-mounted action button
• Press and hold button to make Sonic buzz and tip light in FX Mode
• Any-TV-off function that turns off any television at the press of a button, without having to program the Sonic first
• Stores up to 39 remote control commands
• Customisable personal lock code
• Ivory-coloured handle with subtle fleck
• Redesigned copper-plated handle end
• Gallifreyan stand for vertical presentation
• 12 new secret Morse-coded Twelfth Doctor phrases
• 12 different sonic screwdriver sound effects

This month's audio books from BBC Audio feature the adaptation of Target novel The Massacre by John Lucarotti, and a boxed set release of the three original audio series to feature Tom Baker's return as the Doctor.



Novelisation adaptions for the rest of the year are currently scheduled as: Doctor Who and The Ark in Space (16th July), The Two Doctors (3rd September), The Curse of Fenric (5th November), and K9 and Company (3rd December).

This month's audio books from BBC Audio feature the adaptation of Target novel The Massacre by John Lucarotti, and a boxed set release of the three original audio series to feature Tom Baker's return as the Doctor.



Novelisation adaptions for the rest of the year are currently scheduled as: Doctor Who and The Ark in Space (16th July), The Two Doctors (3rd September), The Curse of Fenric (5th November), and K9 and Company (3rd December).

This month sees two audio books released by BBC Audio on the 21st May, the adaptation of one of the final 20th Century Doctor Who stories to come out in print, 1979's Season 17 adventure City of Death (published on the same day in the UK), and an adaptation of the BBC Book Last of the Gaderene by Mark Gatiss, originally published in 2000 and again in 2013 as part of the 50th Anniversary collection.



Novelisation adaptions for the rest of the year are currently scheduled as: The Massacre (11th June), Doctor Who and The Ark in Space (16th July), The Two Doctors (3rd September), The Curse of Fenric (5th November), and K9 and Company (3rd December).




The next 'old' novel adaptation to be published will be Paul Cornell's Human Nature on 20th August.

Hot on the heels of yesterday's teaser, the BBC have released a further photo featuring the newest monster to grace Doctor Who, seen alongside director Ed Bazalgette as filming for Block Three continues at Cosmeston Medieval Village over the next few weeks.

Details and photos of the production team's re-dressing of the village for the series can be found via Penarth News.

The BBC have released a new promotional image for Series Nine, featuring a monster from the third block, currently filming in South Wales: