Former Doctor Who Showrunner Russell T Davies has been awarded a Lifetime Achievement award at the Edinburgh International Television Festival.

The writer, whose hits include Queer As Folk, Casanova and Cucumber as well as being the man who brought Doctor Who back to BBC One, used his speech to defend the BBC which he said was being treated with contempt by the current UK Government. Davies went on to say how important it was to tell the young people watching that working in Television was great fun and that it was a brilliant industry. At the TV festival, BBC One was named channel of the year.

Several Doctor Who alumni have been mentioned in the Queen's Birthday Honours list.

The awards are presented by HM Queen Elizabeth on the recomendation of the British Prime Minister Theresa May.

Former Doctor Who producer Philip Hinchcliffe has been honoured with an award for outstanding contribution to the programme, presented by the Doctor Who Appreciation Society, or DWAS.

Hinchcliffe was the producer of Doctor Who from 1975-1977, one of its most fondly remembered periods. He was producer while the DWAS was being formed by a group of students, anxious to discuss and celebrate their favourite programme.

Presenting the award at the DWAS convention, The Capitol, being held in Crawley, one of the founder members of the society, Jeremy Bentham spoke of the support the fledgling organisation had received from the Hinchcliffe and the BBC. That support helped enable the group to grow from a small college based club, to become a national society approved by the BBC. The group had been invited to visit the production office to meet the team and to discusses the series. A mention in the Radio Times in the listing for Masque of Mandragora, brought huge numbers of new membership applications.

Accepting the award Philip Hinchcliffe said.Script writer Bob Baker was also presented with an award for outstanding contribution to Doctor Who for his work on the series, in particular his creation of K-9, who celebrates his 40th Anniversary later this year.

Big Finish Productions have won the award for the Best Online/non Broadcast drama in the 2017 BBC Radio Drama Awards.

The team won for Absent Friends, the first part of the Eighth Doctor series Doom Coalition 3, releaed in October 2016.

The awards, which have been running since 2012, celebrate the range, originality and quality of audio drama on air and online and recognise the creativity of actors, writers, producers, sound designers and others who work in the genre. Big Finish previously won the award in 2014 for another Eighth Doctor story Dark Eyes.

The winners were announced this evening, at a special ceremony hosted by Sir Lenny Henry and Director of BBC Radio and Music Bob Shennan in the Radio Theatre at BBC Broadcasting House, London.

Vincent and the Doctor actor Bill Nighy was presented with the Special Award for Services to Radio Drama by Amelia Bullmore, recognising his tremendous contribution to audio drama over his career. Memorable highlights span from playing Sam Gamgee in The Lord Of The Rings in the 1980s to his regular appearances now as the actor-turned-detective Charles Paris, with appearances also in Cigarettes And Chocolate by Anthony Minghella, Private Lives with Helena Bonham Carter along with untiring support for the genre in general.

Bob Shennan, BBC Director of Radio, said:

Three Big Finish Audio plays have been nominated as Best Online/non Broadcast drama in the 2017 BBC Radio Drama Awards.

Absent Friends, the first part of the Eighth Doctor play Doom Coalition 3, Death and the Queen. the third story in the Tenth Doctor range and Torchwood: More Than This are all nominated.

The awards, which have been running since 2012, celebrate the range, originality and quality of audio drama on air and online and recognise the creativity of actors, writers, producers, sound designers and others who work in the genre. Big Finsh previously won the award in 2014 for their play Dark Eyes.

Also nominated in the Online category is Baker's End from Bafflegab Productions, the first part of a new audio series written by Paul Magrs and starring Tom Baker as himself, alongside Katy Manning and Susan Jameson.

David Tennant is nominated as Best Actor, for his performance in BBC Radio 4's Look Back in Anger.

The nominations are judged by a team of industry experts including actress Alison Steadman, journalist Baz Bamigboye, and producer Piers Plowright. Finalists will be announced in a ceremony at the BBC Radio Theatre in London on 29 January 2017, hosted by Sir Lenny Henry.

The Doctor Who production team have won the BAFTA Cymru award for Special and Visual Effects, Titles and Graphics for their work on the Series Nine opener The Magician's Apprentice

The Special Effects on the episode were supplied by Real SFX, led by Danny Hargreaves, while the Visual Effects were supplied by Milk VFX. Both teams have previously won a BAFTA Cymru award for their work on the 50th anniversary special The Day of the Doctor.

The BAFTA Cymru awards honour excellence in broadcasting and production within film and television in Wales. The winners were announced on Sunday, at a ceremony hosted by BBC Radio 1 presenter, Huw Stephens, at St David’s Hall, Cardiff.

Doctor Who: Heaven Sent, has lost out in the 2016 Hugo Awards where the award for Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form) went to the final episode of Marvel Television's Jessica Jones.

Heaven Sent, shown last year, was written by Steven Moffat and directed by Rachel Talalay , starred Peter Capaldi in an highly acclaimed, almost single handed, performance.

Six Doctor Who episodes have previously won a Hugo Award, The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances, The Girl in the Fireplace, Blink, The Waters of Mars, The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang and The Doctor's Wife. Last year the episode Listen was also nominated and lost out in the final voting.

On Twitter Heaven Sent Director Rachel Talalay thanked the fans for their support for the episode.

As reported at the weekend, Doctor Who's lead writer Steven Moffat also received a doctorate today from the University of the West of Scotland.

Doctor Who's lead writer Steven Moffat is to receive an honorary doctorate from the University of the West of Scotland.

Professor Craig Mahoney, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of UWS, said:

The graduation ceremony takes place at Thomas Coats Memorial Baptist Church in Moffat's home town of Paisley on Tuesday 5th July. The writer said:

The nominations for this year's TV Choice Awards have been announced, and sees Doctor Who's Peter Capaldi nominated for Best Actor. He faces Tom Hiddleston (The Night Manager), Cillian Murphy (Peaky Blinders) and Jim Carter (Downton Abbey) for the award, which will be announced at the ceremony taking place at the Dorchester on Park Lane, London, on Monday 5th September.

Doctor Who itself is nominated for Best Family Drama, alongside Call The Midwife, Casualty and The Durrells, an award it won four years running between 2010 and 2013. The show also received an Outstanding Achievement Award in 2013 for its 50th Anniversary.

Voting for the awards can be made via the TV Choice website until 8th July.