Late September will see Hampton Court Palace host the first Radio Times Festival, celebrating some of the biggest shows on television and radio.

The four-day event takes place between the 24th and 27th September, and features a number of talks and presentations including, of course, Doctor Who, represented on the Friday afternoon by Peter Capaldi, Steven Moffat, Brian Minchin, and also Russell T Davies:


Details for these any of the other sessions will be available via the Festival website, with ticket sales commencing from noon today for Radio Times subscribers via phone or the website; general booking starts from 23rd June.

Doctor Who is to form a major part of the new BBC Make it Digital Campaign, heading across the United KIngdom, this summer.

The initiative is a project of BBC Learning and BBC English Regions, with the aim of inspiring a new generation to get creative with coding, programming and digital technology. Over the next three months the tour will travel to 13 locations across the UK beginning in Plymouth Hoe on 27 June. The BBC’s Make it Digital tour is aiming to put digital creativity in the spotlight, and help build the nation’s digital skills through a series of free events across the country.

The event is aiming to inspire audiences to learn about digital using some of the BBC’s best loved brands and live broadcasts, including Doctor Who.

The event offers Doctor Who fans the chance to get to grips with coding by programming The Doctor’s arch enemy, the Daleks, on their quest to retrieve the Orb of Fates. Children are encouraged to become a live Dalek, shoot a Cyberman, then drop the drawbridge, before attempting to tackle the devious Dalek maze as part of the BBC’s Doctor and the Dalek game.

Other brands included in the project include BBC Weather, which uses the variables found in the jet stream to introduce visitors to the basics of coding. Some lucky visitors to the event could also get the chance to present the weather with their BBC local weather presenter. The BBC English Regions Bus will also be present, from where local radio stations will be broadcasting live, as well as offering a behind the scenes peep at how the digital world has revolutionised broadcasting.

Sinead Rocks, Head of BBC Learning, says:The locations the BBC’s Make it Digital tour is visiting are:

• Plymouth – 27 June
• Belfast – 2, 3, & 4 July
• Cambridge – 11 & 12 July
• Bristol – 18 & 19 July
• Sunderland – 25 & 26 July
• Nottingham - 1 & 2 August
• Blackpool – 15 & 16 August
• Bournemouth – 22 & 23 August
• Cardiff – 30 & 31 August
• Hull – 5 & 6 September
• South East/London – 12 & 13 September (TBC)
• Dundee – 19 & 20 September
• Birmingham – 26 & 27 September

BBC Worldwide have announced a new event taking place at the Excel Centre in London over the weekend 13th-15th November 2015:
Events and features during each day include:

• Meet the Cast: Your chance to attend a panel-led session which will get you closer than ever before to cast members from the era of the Twelfth Doctor.
• Meet the Writers: Hear from the experts who create the storylines of your favourite programme, led by Steven Moffat.
• Drama School: Have you ever wanted to know the techniques and secrets that actors learn for the filming of Doctor Who? Then this is for you!
• Latest Film Set Photos: Your chance to have a photo on the real series 9 film set.
• Costumes and Props: The Doctor Who Festival will be home to a selection of costumes and props from the latest series, all for you to enjoy!
• Production Village: Your chance to explore a day in the life of the production team and crew.
• The Fan Challenge: Test your Doctor Who knowledge in the Festival’s specially-themed fan challenges – choose from a traditional team-based competition for adults or an active multiple-choice challenge for younger visitors. Answer incorrectly and you will be eliminated!
• Official Merchandise: A shopping village consisting of only official Doctor Who products including brand new ranges, plus BBC Shop.
• Cosplay Showcase: Cosplayers can showcase their handmade Doctor Who themed outfits during the course of the Festival. Start designing your outfit!
• Photo Opportunities: Is a photo of you and the Doctor missing from your collection? This is your opportunity to purchase an individual photograph of you with the current cast members.

As with the 2013 Doctor Who Celebration, there will be alternative times for certain events, for example "Cybermen" have a theatre session at 10:00am and "Daleks" at 11:15am. In addition, the "Cybermen" sessions will include British Signed Language for those that might require it.

Tickets go on sale tomorrow, 5th June 2015, from 10:00am. Also as with the Celebration there will be a special TARDIS version with additional facilities, including preferential seating, access to the TARDIS lounge, an official t-shirt and souvenir programme.

Full details and ticket purchases can be made via the Doctor Who Festival website.

Titan Comics has released the first six pages from issue #1 of Doctor Who: Four Doctors, the Summer event coming this August.

The weekly event, running through August and September 2015, stars the Tenth, Eleventh and Twelfth Doctors and their comics companion, as well as the War Doctor, in a special adventure written by Paul Cornell and illustrated by Neil Edwards.

The first issue is released Wednesday August 12, supported by the global Doctor Who Comics Day on Saturday August 15.

The e​vent follows straight on from the issue #15 conclusions of Year One, with the second years of the Tenth, Eleventh and Twelfth Doctors beginning after the event's finale.

To keep up to date visit DoctorWhoComicsDay.com or follow Doctor Who Comics Day on Facebook or Twitter.

BBC Worldwide have announced that Peter Capaldi will be making his debut appearance at the San Diego Comic-Con. The actor will feature on a Doctor Who panel on the 9th July, alongside co-star Jenna Coleman, Missy/Master actress Michelle Gomez, lead writer Steven Moffat and fellow executive producer Brian Minchin.

Capaldi says of his appearance:

There will be a special event taking place in the Planetarium at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich on the 5th June to tie in with the publication of The Scientific Secrets of Doctor Who from BBC Books:

Titan Magazines has announced a Twelfth Doctor Sonic Screwdriver competition exclusively inside Doctor Who Comic UK #4, on sale now.

Partnering with The Wand Company, FOUR lucky winners will be amongst the first in the world to receive the brand-new Twelfth Doctor Sonic Screwdriver, which will be seen for the first time at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con on the 8th July on the BBC Booth.

The universal remote gives Doctor Who fans what they have been asking for: a gesture-based metal replica Sonic Screwdriver with Any-TV-Off function and fabulous sonic light and sound FX!

Highlights include:

• 12 authentic sonic sounds, as well as 12 secret Morse coded catch phrases to decipher.
• TV-off function that turns off any television at the press of a button – without having to program the Sonic first.
• New extending action with spring-loaded clasps.
• Soft-touch leather patterned grip material with grip-located action button.
• Die-cast metal construction with a redesigned, hand-polished copper-plated handle.

The brand-new hero prop replica is a superb recreation of the Sonic Screwdriver used by Peter Capaldi in Series 8. Compatible with almost all audio-visual home entertainment devices, perfect for both play and display, the Twelfth Doctor’s Sonic Screwdriver is a must-have piece for any Doctor Who fan, cosplayer or collector!

Also in this issue of Doctor Who Comic, three Doctors in on-going adventures. This month: the Twelfth Doctor discovers more about the cult of Kali; the Eleventh Doctor takes part in a murder mystery; and the Tenth Doctor introduces Gabby to the wonders of time and space exploration.

Doctor Who Comic UK is available from supermarkets, WH Smiths and independent newsagents. Or order online

The BBC have confirmed that the weekend launch of the Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular, due to be held at the SSE Arena in Wembley, is expected to go ahead, despite the discovery of an unexploded World War II bomb in the area.

The BBC told Doctor Who News The area around the SSE arena is currently closed by the police, with Army bomb disposal experts currently trying to defuse the 50 Kg explosive, thought to have been dropped by German bombers in the early 1940's.

The SSE arena has advised people to follow Brent Borough Metropolitan Police Service for updates.

The concert is due to play three shows at Wembley this weekend, before heading around the UK with dates at Cardiff, Birmingham, Leeds, Newcastle and Glasgow.

There will be a special event taking place in London tomorrow to tie in with the publication of the new novel City of Death from BBC Books:

Doctor Who News can exclusively reveal the photo covers for the Titan Comics summer event, announced yesterday.

The 5 part series will feature the Tenth , Eleventh and Twelfth Doctors, alongside the War Doctor as portrayed by John Hurt, who graces the cover of issue 1 of the series. Week 2's cover stars David Tennant, week 3's Matt Smith, with Peter Capaldi on the front of issue 4.

The story is written by Paul Cornell and illustrated by Neil Edwards, will be published weekly starting Wednesday August 12