Veteran comedian Ken Dodd has been knighted in the Queen's New Year's Honours list.

The Liverpool legend is best known for his sixty-year-long career as a music hall style entertainer but has made a few forays into drama, one notable appearance playing the Tollmaster in the 1987 Seventh Doctor story Delta and the Bannermen.

The comedian has been a staple of the British Comedy circuit since the 1950's, and still, at the age of 89, continues to tour the UK with his Happiness Show.

He has had 19 UK Top 40 hits including the song Tears, which topped the UK charts for five weeks in 1965 and remains one of the UK's biggest selling singles of all time.

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Also Honoured

The actor Tim Pigott-Smith, who is made an OBE.
Tim Pigott-Smith acted in two Doctor Who stories. He played Captain Harker in the Third Doctor story The Claws of Axos, returning in 1976 in the Fourth Doctor story The Masque of Mandragora, where he played Marco. His most well known Television role was as Ronald Merrick in ITV series The Jewel in the Crown. He has had a long and distinguished Radio and Stage career.

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The actress Helen McCrory, who is made an OBE.
Helen McCrory played Rosanna in the Tenth Doctor story The Vampires of Venice. On film she portrayed Cherie Blair the 2006 film The Queen and portrayed Narcissa Malfoy in the final three Harry Potter films. She also plays Polly Gray in Peaky Blinders.

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The actor Clive Rowe who is made an MBE.
Clive Rowe played Morvin Van Hoff in the 2007 Christmas special Voyage of the Damned. He is best known for his role as Norman Ellington in BBC Children's drama The Story of Tracy Beaker and has appeared in Disney show The Evermore Chronicles.

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The cartoonist Peter Brookes who is made an CBE.
Peter Brookes was the main artist producing covers for the Target range of Doctor Who books in the mid 1970's. His most well know covers include The Green Death and Planet of the Spiders. He has worked for Radio Times, The New Statesman and The Spectator. He has recently worked on a notable series of cartoons known as the "Westminster Academy", which depicted Nick Clegg as a public school fag to a red cheeked David Cameron, who was portrayed as a prefect dressed in a Eton suit. He depicted leader of the opposition Ed Miliband and shadow chancellor Ed Balls as Wallace and Gromit

Delia Derbyshire is to be honoured in her hometown of Coventry by having a road named after her.

The creation of Derbyshire Way will pay tribute to the musician, who will forever be remembered for her work in realising the original Doctor Who Theme Music, written in 1963 by Ron Grainer.

Delia Derbyshire is considered one of the most important and influential pioneers of electronic music in the United Kingdom, who inspired acts from The Beatles to The Chemical Brothers. Her contribution to Doctor Who came when she was working for the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and was asked to turn Grainer's score into an electronic theme for the new science fiction series. Aided by Dick Mills, Derbyshire created the iconic theme music by creating each note separately by cutting, splicing, speeding up, and slowing down recordings of a single plucked string, white noise, and the output of test-tone oscillators. The notes were then edited together on quarter-inch tape. Mixing was done by starting several tape machines simultaneously and mixing the outputs together.

Derbyshire, who died in 2001, will now give her name to Derbyshire Way, part of a new housing estate in the city of her birth. The recognition follows a campaign led by the Coventry Music Museum, which features a permanent display dedicated to her work.

Museum Director Pete Chambers spoke about her legacy The project was supported by councillors Linda Bigham and Gary Ridley who said Next May, the Coventry Music Museum will host a celebration of what would have been Derbyshire's 80th Birthday.

John Barrowman has recently spoken about the obstacles preventing Torchwood's return to television.

Oh lordy. pic.twitter.com/Ba936I4PZ3

— Jamie (@typicalmadness_) September 11, 2016

Speaking at the Wizard World Chicago Comic Con Barrowman mentioned Doctor Who's current lead writer and executive producer Steven Moffat as the reason Torchwood would not be back, to which Moffat has clarified that he is not one of those obstacles:

Actor Ralf Little has released a video categorically denying he will be taking part in the next series of Doctor Who.

The actor is best known for playing Antony Royle in BBC Comedy The Royle Family . He also played Jonny Keogh in the first six series of Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps. Other roles include the young George Harrison at the Royal Court Theatre, for which he was nominated for an Olivier Award and the title character in Billy Liar.

Little voiced the character of Guy Fawkes in the 2011 Doctor Who online game The Gunpowder Plot

Doctor Who is currently in production in Cardiff with Series 10, the 36th in the series history, expected to be screened in the spring of 2017.

Channel 4's Head of Drama Piers Wenger is due to return to the BBC this Autumn as its new Controller of BBC Drama Commissioning. Before joining Channel 4 in 2012, Wenger was Head of Drama for BBC Wales and one of the executive producers of Doctor Who to introduce the third Doctor of the modern series, Matt Smith, alongside fellow executive producers Beth Willis and the (then) new lead writer Steven Moffat.

On his new role, Wenger said:
BBC Controller of TV Channels and iPlayer, Charlotte Moore, said:

Willis, who followed Wenger to Channel 4 as his deputy, will succeed him as Head of Drama at Channel 4 upon her return from maternity leave.

Actress Penelope Wilton has been created a Dame in the 2016 Queen's Birthday honours list.

Wilton played Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North, and sometime Prime Minister, in four episodes of Doctor Who. She is best known for playing Isobel Crawley in the ITV period drama, Downton Abbey and for playing Ann Bryce in the 1980's situation comedy Ever Decreasing Circles.

Wilton has had a long career on the stage and screen receiving six Olivier Award nominations for West End appearances. Her film roles include parts in The French Lieutenant's Woman, Cry Freedom, Iris, Calendar Girls, Shaun of the Dead, Pride and Prejudice, Woody Allen's Match Point and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.

Wilton is made a Dame Commander Of The Order Of The British Empire in the honours list, which is published today to mark the official 90th birthday of the monarch.

The citation reads
Also honoured is actor Brian Blessed who is made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to the Arts and charity, and Janet Ellis who is made a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to charity and broadcasting.

The awards are made by Queen Elizabeth on the recommendation of the Prime Minister.

Bonnie Langford has been named as Best Newcomer in the 2016 British Soap Awards.

Langford has been playing Carmel Kazemi in the BBC continuing drama EastEnders since May 2015. Although she has been performing for over 45 years, this was her first role in a soap opera, making her elgible for the newcomer award.

Bonnie Langford is best known to Doctor Who fans for playing Melanie Bush alongside the Sixth and Seventh Doctors in 20 episodes of Doctor Who in the 1980's, as well as reprising the role for Big Finish.

The actor Burt Kwouk has died, aged 85.

Born in Manchester, raised in Hong Kong, and eventually graduating from Bowdoin College in the United States, the internationally travelled Burt Kwouk returned to the United Kingdom in 1954 and was soon an actor in great demand owing to his oriental appearance.

On television he worked on a range of ITC productions including The Avengers, The Saint, The Champions and Danger Man; he was a co-star in The Sentimental Agent, playing Chin Sung in 12 of its 13 episodes. He also provided English narration for both The Water Margin and Monkey. On film his first big break was in Inn Of The Sixth Happiness. He later appeared in two of the Sean Connery run of James Bond, Goldfinger and You Only Live Twice, plus the independent film starring David Niven and Peter Sellers, Casino Royale. However, it was alongside Sellers that Kwouk was to achieve 'immortality', playing the kung-fu servant Cato whose ambushes against Inspector Clouseau became key scenes to look forward to!

In 1982 he took on the role of the Mandarin leader Lin Futo in Four to Doomsday, acting alongside a fresh-faced Time Lord Peter Davison in his first filmed story. He was to later return to Doctor Who as Doctor Hayashi, again alongside Davison, in the Big Finish adventure Loups-Garoux

Other television roles included Major Yamauchi in the prisoner-of-war drama series Tenko, Mr Lee in Howard's Way, Philip Chen in Noble House, and Peter Lo-Ching in The House of Elliot; in film he played Mr Chen in Empire of the Sun, General Lu Soong in Air America and Fu King in I Bought A Vampire Motorcycle. He became a regular on the Harry Hill show between 1997 and 2000, provided voiceovers for Japanese spoof betting show Banzai between 2001 and 2004, and then settled into the role of Entwistle in the BBC's long-running Last of the Summer Wine between 2002 and 2010.

In 2011 he received an OBE for services to drama.


A statement issued by his agent said: "Beloved actor Burt Kwouk has sadly passed peacefully away. The family will be having a private funeral but there will be a memorial at a later date."


Herbert Kwouk, OBE. 18th July 1930 - 24th May 2016

Thirty years ago today we lost one of the great writers of Doctor Who, when Robert Holmes died at the tragically early age of 60.

It is difficult to exaggerate the impact of Robert Holmes on the series. He wrote 72 episodes, spread across 18 stories as well as being Script Editor throughout the first half of the Tom Baker era.

He introduced Jo Grant and Sarah Jane Smith, The Master and The Valeyard, The Autons and The Sontarans. He was the mastermind who named Gallifrey and then reinvented the Time Lords giving them Borousa and Rassilon. He devised The Key to Time and The Matrix, The White and Black Guardians. He imposed the 12-regeneration limit for Time Lords.

His characters were exquisitely written. Whether petty bureaucrats or megalomaniacs, they lived and breathed thanks to Holmes. Characters such as Sabalom Glitz, Henry Gordon Jago, George Litefoot, Sharaz Jek, Irongron and Pletrac.

Robert Holmes wrote the story voted Best Story of all time in the 2009 DWM readers survey, The Caves of Androzani.

Writing in 2008, Russell T Davies paid tribute to Holmes' legacy,

The actor Gareth Thomas has died at the age of 71.

Gareth Thomas played Ed Morgan in the 2006 Torchwood story Ghost Machine. He also appeared in a 2001 Big Finish production, Storm Warning.

However Thomas was best known for playing the eponymous hero of the 1970's science fiction series Blake's 7.

Thomas played Roj Blake, leader of a disparate band of rebels, pitted against a corrupt federation, in the series conceived by Doctor Who writer, and Dalek creator, Terry Nation. The series ran on BBC One from 1978-1981, with Thomas taking the lead role for the first two series. When Thomas decided not to renew his contract for series 3, the character of Blake was killed off. The ghost of Blake was present throughout the remaining series and Thomas returned twice, once at the end of series 3 and once for the climatic final episode, Blake.

Gareth Thomas was born in Wales in 1945. He trained at RADA and made his TV debut in a 1965 production of Romeo and Juliet.

A steady succession of TV roles followed, including parts in Coronation Street, Z-Cars, Harriet's Back in Town, Sutherland's Law, Edward VII, Jackanory and How Green Was My Valley where he played Rev. Gruffydd. In 1972 he was nominated for a BAFTA for his performance in the BBC Play for Today, Stocker's Copper. He played Adam Brake in the 1977 children's series Children of the Stones, and Shem in the ITV series Star Maidens.

Following his role as Blake, Thomas played Philip Denny in the 1983 version of A.J. Cronin's The Citadel and took the lead in the BBC One drama Morgan's Boy, about a Welsh hill farmer who finds himself looking after a teenage boy, a performance which won him his second BAFTA nomination.

He appeared in By the Sword Divided and Knights of God and had a regular role in the ITV series London's Burning. In 1998 he took on the role of Nathaniel Clegghorn in Heartbeat.

In 2012, Thomas returned to the role for which he was best known, playing Roj Blake in the Big Finish Production, Blake's 7: The Liberator Chronicles.

Gareth Thomas died Wednesday 13th April. He is survived by his wife Linda.