Sunday 28th April sees the broadcast of two four-part Tom Baker stories, The Robots of Death (1977) and City of Death (1979) on Australian and New Zealand television. The two stories, screened back-to-back, are the 17th and 18th instalments in the 50th Anniversary season of Doctor Who stories on the UKTV channel.

The stories are scheduled in New Zealand at 2:30pm and 4:10pm, and in Australia at 2:30pm and 4:30pm respectively. New Zealand has an additional screening on Monday 29th April at 2:20am and 4:00am.

The Robots of Death was first broadcast in Australia in 1978 and in New Zealand in 1979. Both countries saw City of Death in 1980.


The UKTV billing describes the stories as follows:

The Robots of Death The Fourth Doctor & Leela land in the cargo hopper of a sandminer, whose crew are being murdered one by one. Suspicion falls on the two visitors, but they are freed by Poul.
City of Death The Fourth Doctor & Romana sense that someone is tampering with time. Who is the mysterious Count Scarlioni? & how many copies of the Mona Lisa did da Vinci paint?

UKTV is showing stories throughout the year in the lead-up to the anniversary in November. The Robots of Death and City of Death are the last in a set of six stories featuring Tom Baker's Doctor broadcast during April.

Next month showcases Peter Davison's Doctor, with six of his stories scheduled: Kinda (5 May), Earthshock and Snakedance (12 May), Frontios and Resurrection of the Daleks (19 May), The Caves of Androzani (26 May).

Up-and-coming broadcasts from both 20th and 21st Century series of Doctor Who can be found via UKTV's Doctor Who sections for Australia and New Zealand.

.As previously reported, Splendid Chaps is a year-long performance/podcast project to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who hosted by comedian Ben McKenzie (Dungeon Crawl, Melbourne Museum Comedy Tour) and writer John Richards (ABC1 sitcom Outland, Boxcutters podcast)

Described by its creators as part intellectual panel discussion, part nerdy Tonight Show, Splendid Chaps is a combination of analysis, enthusiasm and irreverence. The first episode went to number 1 on the iTunes TV & Film Podcast chart in Australia, and to number 4 in the UK.  The podcasts to the first few episodes are now available at www.splendidchaps.com or at  iTunes.

Tickets are now on sale for their 5th Doctor show!
On Sunday May 19 they’ll be celebrating the era of the 5th Doctor, the cricket-and-celery-loving Peter Davison, and exploring the notion of Fear in Doctor Who. When is Doctor Who scary, and why? Guests will include comedian Tegan Higginbotham (from comedy duo Watson and The Comedy Channel’s Whatever Happened To That Guy?) and horror author Narrelle M Harris. That’s at The Public Bar, 238 Victoria Street, North Melbourne, at 5pm.

Splendid Chaps: A Year Of Doctor Who: "Five: Fear"

Space: The Public Bar, 238 Victoria Street, North Melbourne
Time: Saturday 19 May 2013, 5 PM
Accessibility: This venue is wheelchair accessible.
Tickets: All tickets $15 (plus booking fee where applicable)
Bookings: via trybooking.com, or buy tickets at the door (subject to availability)
Podcast: not yet available, released 23 May 2013.

Based on these final figures, Cold War was the top-rating ABC program of the day and the ninth highest rating program of the day overall (this compares to it being the tenth highest rating program based on its overnight figures of 728,000 viewers). These ratings do not include regional viewers.

Hide has debuted in Australia, averaging 648,000 viewers in the five major capital cities. It was the ABC's top-rating drama of the day and the tenth highest rating program of the day overall. These ratings do not include regional or time-shifted viewers.

Sunday 21st April sees the broadcast of two four-part Tom Baker stories, Pyramids of Mars (1975) and The Hand of Fear (1976), on Australian and New Zealand television. The two stories, screened back-to-back, are the 15th and 16th instalments in the 50th Anniversary season of Doctor Who stories on the UKTV channel.

The stories are scheduled in New Zealand at 2:15pm and 4:00pm, and in Australia at 2:30pm and 4:30pm respectively. New Zealand has additional screenings on Monday 22nd April at 2:20am and 4:05am.

The two stories were both first broadcast in Australia in 1978. New Zealand also saw Pyramids of Mars in 1978, but The Hand of Fear first screened in 1979.

The UKTV billing describes the stories as follows:
UKTV is showing stories throughout the year in the lead-up to the anniversary in November. Pyramids of Mars and The Hand of Fear are the third and fourth in a set of six stories featuring Tom Baker's Doctor broadcast during April.

The schedule of upcoming stories includes: The Robots of Death and City of Death (28th April), Kinda (5 May), Earthshock and Snakedance (12 May), Frontios and Resurrection of the Daleks (19 May), The Caves of Androzani (26 May).

Up-and-coming broadcasts from both 20th and 21st Century series of Doctor Who can be found via UKTV's Doctor Who sections for Australia and New Zealand.

The Doctor Who-themed comedy stage show Who, Me is to be performed at festivals Down Under to mark the programme's 50th anniversary.

Rob Lloyd originally staged the show - which sees the programme put on trial - to full houses at the Melbourne Fringe Festival in 2011. He subsequently had similar sell-out success at the 2011 Armageddon Cultural Expo in Melbourne, the 2012 Adelaide Fringe Festival, and the 2012 Melbourne International Comedy Festival, as well as both the Whovention: Gold convention in Sydney and Lords of Time convention in Melbourne this year. Now he is to perform it not only in Australia but New Zealand as well.

Lloyd describes the production as "a show about obsession and its many faces", with himself (Fan Number One) investigating whether the TV programme is guilty of inciting in him a debilitating obsession or whether it has shaped him into a well-rounded, mentally-sound member of society.

It starts in Australia at the Sydney Comedy Festival (30th April to 4th May), then transfers to Auckland for the New Zealand International Comedy Festival (7th to 11th May), before returning to Australia for the Perth International Comedy Festival (15th to 18th May).

Based on these final figures, Akhaten was the second highest rating drama of the day (after Downton Abbey), the top-rating ABC program of the day and the ninth highest rating program of the day overall (this compares to it being the tenth highest rating program based on its overnight figures of 727,000 viewers). These ratings do not include regional viewers.

Cold War has debuted in Australia, averaging 728,000 viewers in the five major capital cities. It was the ABC's top-rating drama of the day and the tenth highest rating program of the day overall. These ratings do not include regional or time-shifted viewers.

Sunday 14th April sees the broadcast of the six-part 1975 Tom Baker story Genesis of the Daleks on Australian and New Zealand television. The story is the 14th instalment in the 50th Anniversary season of Doctor Who stories on the UKTV channel.

The story is scheduled in New Zealand at 3:25pm and in Australia at 3:30pm . New Zealand has an additional screening on Monday 15th April at 3:20am.

Genesis of the Daleks was first broadcast in Australia in 1977. New Zealand viewers didn't get to see the story for another decade - it was first screened by TVNZ in 1987.

UKTV is showing stories throughout the year in the lead-up to the anniversary in November. Genesis of the Daleks is the second in a set of six stories featuring Tom Baker's Doctor broadcast during April.

The rest of the month's schedule includes: Pyramids of Mars and The Hand of Fear (both 21st April), and The Robots of Death and City of Death (both 28th April).

Up-and-coming broadcasts from both 20th and 21st Century series of Doctor Who can be found via UKTV's Doctor Who sections  for Australia and New Zealand.