The BFI has released an excerpt from the panel session that it recorded at last month's preview screening of An Adventure In Space and Time.

Director Terry McDonough, actors Sacha Dhawan and David Bradley, William Hartnell's granddaughter and biographer Jessica Carney, and the BBC Two drama's writer Mark Gatiss were the special guests discussing the production with journalist Matthew Sweet - who donned a Menoptra outfit for the drama - following its world première on Tuesday 12th November.

Although not available on the BFI's YouTube channel as yet, the ten-minute extract can be viewed on the organisation's video page.

UPDATE - TUESDAY 10th DECEMBER: The excerpt has now been uploaded to the BFI's YouTube channel:

The special guests for the BFI's final event in its Doctor Who At 50 season were announced today.

Taking place on Sunday 8th December and starting at 3.45pm, it will feature big-screen showings of
The Eleventh Hour and The Name of the Doctor, celebrating the current Doctor's era of the show as it approaches its end.

These will be followed by showrunner Steven Moffat, director Saul Metzstein, and actor Dan Starkey taking to the stage for the question-and-answer session.

Although a sell-out, stand-bys and returns are possible, so keep checking with the BFI.

Curated by Dick Fiddy and Justin Johnson, the year-long season has been phenomenally popular and has scored some impressive successes, including the first public showing of the colour-restored Third Doctor adventure The Mind of Evil, as well as the world première of the drama An Adventure In Space and Time.

UPDATE - MONDAY 9th DECEMBER: Mark Gatiss was a subsequent addition to the guest panel line-up, although this was not made public.

The 50th Anniversary Doctor Who convention, the Celebration is now under way, with the show taking over London's Excel Centre for some three days of panels, signings, and a host of other activities. The BBC have released a taster of the event this morning.



The Graham Norton show on BBC Radio 2 will be broadcast live from the Celebration tomorrow from 10:00am.

Screenwriter Terry Nation was being honoured today with the unveiling of a blue plaque at the house in Wales where he was born.

The event was due to take place at midday at 113 Fairwater Grove West, Llandaff, Cardiff, just a few miles from where Doctor Who is now made.

Organised by the Llandaff Society, its chairman, Geoffrey Barton-Greenwood, told the BBC that he met the Dalek creator while the latter had been visiting friends in the area after his move to Hollywood.

He said: Nation was born in 1930 near fellow writer Roald Dahl, and Barton-Greenwood suggested that he might have been playing with the name of "Dahl" when he came up with "Dalek".
Before he wrote for Doctor Who, Nation was a comedy writer and penned material for, among others, Tony Hancock. The comedian's nephew Tim Hancock, who now looks after the Nation estate, was due to unveil the plaque.

In May 2002, blue Heritage Foundation plaques to the memory of William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, and Jon Pertwee were unveiled at BBC TV Centre in London.

Doctor Who has been honoured with a reception at Buckingham Palace to mark the series' fiftieth anniversary.

The reception was attended by past Doctors Tom Baker and Peter Davison as well as the current incumbent Matt Smith and The War Doctor John Hurt.

Held at the official London residence and principal workplace of the British monarch, the reception was hosted by Sophie, Countess of Wessex, the daughter-in-law of the Queen.

Also attending were current showrunner Steven Moffat, today celebrating his 52nd birthday, and current companion Jenna Coleman. The event was held in the Bow Room of the Palace, which had been decked out with Daleks and a TARDIS in honour of the event.

Former companion Catherine Tate was also invited as well as senior members of BBC management including Director General Lord Hall and Director of Television Danny Cohen.

Also present were children from two Cardiff schools, Gladstone Primary and Mount Stuart Primary, who entered a local competition to design a Tardis for the Queen. One of the winners, Hafza Hassan, 10, had painted a gold-plated time machine with a Union flag door, while Emily Parnce, 11, had included a dog flap for the Queen's corgis and an illuminated crown on the roof.

.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), writer John Richards (ABC1 sitcom Outland, Boxcutters podcast) and actress and singer Petra Elliot.

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 previous episodes are now available at www.splendidchaps.com or at iTunes.

Tickets are now on sale for their Christmas show! To see out this year of Doctor Who, the chaps look at all the Time Lord goodness that didn’t fit into the rest of the year, including not-quite-Doctors Peter Cushing and Richard E Grant, and spin-off K9 & Company. There’ll be special guests, songs from house band The Time Lads and a cardboard Dalek too.

This show will also be raising funds for the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC) and Medecins San Frontieres (MSF).

Space: The Bella Union, upstairs, Melbourne Trades Hall, corner of Lygon and Victoria Streets, Melbourne
Time: Sunday, December 15; doors open from 4:30 PM
Accessibility: This venue is wheelchair accessible; please contact the venue for lift access.
Tickets: $20 (including booking fee)
Bookings: via bellaunion.com.au online, or at the door (subject to availability)
Podcast: not yet available; released 23rd of December, 2013.

The TARDIS is being taken on tour across Wales for a week as part of Doctor Who's 50th-anniversary celebrations.

The special event starts this weekend and will see the phone box appearing overnight at secret locations in eight towns and cities, with the exact spots revealed on the morning of each visit via #TARDIStourWales.

The tour culminates in Cardiff - where the series is made by BBC Cymru Wales - on the day that the special anniversary episode The Day of the Doctor is broadcast.

Brian Minchin, the series' co-executive producer, said: The tour itinerary is as follows:

• Saturday 16th November - Holyhead
• Sunday 17th November - Llandudno
• Monday 18th November - Wrexham
• Tuesday 19th November - Aberystwyth
• Wednesday 20th November - St Davids
• Thursday 21st November - Swansea
• Friday 22nd November - Newport
• Saturday 23rd November - Cardiff

.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 previous episodes are now available at www.splendidchaps.com or at iTunes.

Thanks to the generous support of their listeners in Sydney and beyond, the Splendid Chaps are hitting the road and materialising in Glebe to stop talking about our heroes and instead think about those not-so-splendid chaps (and, er…things?), the monsters and villains of Doctor Who!

Daleks, Sontarans, Cybermen, the Silence, Silurians, Quarks… The Doctor’s monsters sometimes seem to be physical manifestations of humanity’s fears. Is it the creatures we find so terrifying, or what they represent – and what do they represent? The Chaps will celebrate the baddest of the bad, as well as those whose galactic domination has been less than completely successful.

Then there are the less literal, more human monsters: the Master, Davros, Lady Cassandra… Are they all thoroughly evil, or do they have more subtle motivations? What makes a good Doctor Who villain tick? Are they better than inhuman monsters, or is it best when they work hand in hand? They’re often some of the best fun to be had in a story, so let's embrace the dark side!

Ben, John and Petra Elliott will be joined by writer and comedian Alice Fraser (FBi Radio, NewsLab), and actor and presenter Steven “Bajo” O’Donnell (ABC2′s Good Game, ABC3′s Good Game: Spawn Point) to talk about the people and things we love to hate. Plus prizes, surprises, loveliness and a live musical performance of a lost Doctor Who classic tune from Keira “LadyNerd” Daley and Catriona Wimberley!

Space: upstairs, The Roxbury Hotel, 182 St Johns Road, Glebe, Sydney
Time: Saturday, November 30 2013, 5:00 PM
Accessibility: Splendid Chaps regret that this venue is not wheelchair accessible.
Tickets: $25
Bookings: via trybooking.com or at the door (if seats available)
Podcast: TBA.

The National Media Museum in Bradford has finalised details of its free exhibition showcasing Doctor Who fans' devotion to the series over its 50 years.

Following an appeal in the summer for items and stories, hundreds of personal objects were offered by members of the public for Doctor Who and Me: 50 Years of Doctor Who Fans, which explores what it means to be a devotee of the show in its 50th-anniversary year, bringing together items that people around the world have collected, created, drawn, assembled, and bought over the past half-century.

It resulted in hundreds of offers, and exhibition curator Toni Booth said: In addition to a vast array of objects loaned from the public, the exhibition includes fans' stories and experiences relating just how much they love Doctor Who and why, how they have organised themselves, produced fanzines, attended conventions around the world, and now make use of the internet and social media to discuss the programme.

Among the objects on display are the following:

• A model TARDIS made in 1978/9 by then schoolboy Mike Tucker for his own amateur movie - he went on to become a visual effects assistant on the show during the classic era and model unit supervisor when the programme returned

• Rare, original artefacts provided by David J Howe and Colin Young, including the Servo Robot prop from the 1968 adventure The Wheel in Space, artwork from Doctor Who annuals and Target novels (including art by David McAllister and Andrew Skilleter), and authentic 1970s Palitoy and Louis Marx toys
• Some of fan modelling pioneer Julian Vince's originals, including his first Dalek
• Several full-size replicas from the show, including K-9, Daleks, the TARDIS, Cybermen, and various monster masks
• A very rare 1960s Dalek Oracle board game
• A newly-uncovered poster of Tom Baker and scarf demonstrating semaphore
• A postcard from the BBC sent to a young fan in 1975 outlining the instructions to knit a Tom Baker scarf - the resulting scarf, knitted by the fan's mum, is also on display
• Memorabilia from the Longleat 20th-anniversary event, including tickets and a programme
• 1970s/80s collector cards from Typhoo Tea and Weetabix
• An original script from Dragonfire

In a change to the original plan, the display will now run from Saturday 23rd November to Sunday 9th February, and the museum - which also has free entry - has organised a launch party for Friday 22nd November to mark both the exhibition and the show's 50th anniversary. Starting at 7.30pm and open to all, this free event will give people the chance to have a preview of the exhibition and will also have entertainment in the form of performance poetry from Rod Tame, music, and a flash open-mic event for attendees. There is no need to book for the party - just turn up.

Anyone wanting to take part in the open-mic event, in which they can read some of their fan fiction or perform a song or a poem - basically, anything family-friendly that has been inspired by Doctor Who - must let the museum know by e-mailing Sophie Loftus at sophie.loftus@nationalmediamuseum.org.uk by no later than Sunday 17th November. Names will be selected at random and people notified in advance if they have a slot. The open-mic pieces should last no more than three minutes.

Members of the BBC's Radiophonic Workshop will be performing live at the weekend to mark Doctor Who's 50th anniversary.

Fresh from their recent appearance at Portmeirion's Festival No 6, Dick Mills, Paddy Kingsland, Peter Howell, Roger Limb, and Mark Ayres will be performing a 75-minute set at the London Electronic Arts Festival in Shoreditch on Saturday 9th November at 2pm.

The Radiophonic Workshop's most famous piece of work was undoubtedly the Doctor Who theme, realised by Delia Derbyshire from a composition by Ron Grainer, and the Workshop also created countless special sounds for the series during its classic era.

The concert, at the Shoreditch Electric Light Station in Coronet Street, will not only include music ranging from Doctor Who to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, it will also feature archive video from Doctor Who and many other programmes for which the Workshop provided sound design and music. It will be a 5.1 surround sound show and will feature The Doctor Who Suite - part of which will bring Derbyshire's original 1963 theme together with Howell's 1980 reimagining of it in one 15-minute presentation.

It coincides with the start of a comprehensive reissue programme of the entire Radiophonic Workshop back catalogue. These will initially be on 180g audiophile vinyl in restored original artwork and audio remastered from original tapes by Ayres, and will be issued on the Music On Vinyl label, to be followed by digital and CD releases and a new compilation of Radiophonic material from the vaults.

BBC Radiophonic Music and BBC Radiophonic Workshop will be rereleased on Monday 25th November, with the former available to pre-order here and the latter here. BBC Radiophonic Music - originally put out in 1968 as a specialist demonstration library disc for BBC drama producers - was released commercially in 1971. BBC Radiophonic Workshop was originally released in 1975 and was a compilation of the Workshop's output to date. Both showcase the dawning of processed sound, treated sounds, and sound design.

They will be followed in the new year by the albums 4th Dimension and Through A Glass Darkly.

In addition, Kingsland, Limb, Mills, Howell, and Ayres are working with White Noise's David Vorhaus on a new album of Radiophonic material set for release next year on a major label. This will feature collaborations with a number of key figures in contemporary electronica, all of whom have been influenced by the Workshop down the years.

The Workshop will also be putting out very limited issues of rare and unreleased tracks from the archives, including some rare Doctor Who moments and a remixed and reimagined version of the original Doctor Who theme realised by Derbyshire. This has been produced from her original tapes and will be the first stereo version of the track to appear.

A 2,500-word Workshop retrospective by Joe Muggs is due to be published in The Observer on Sunday 24th November.

The Radiophonic Workshop was formed in 1958 and was based in BBC studios at Maida Vale in London. It closed in 1998 but during its lifetime had an inestimable influence on musicians and sound engineers, and was described by electronic dance music publication Mixmag in 1997 as "the unsung heroes of electronica". On 17th May 2009, Radiophonic Workshop musicians played live for the first time when they gave a concert at the Camden Roundhouse as part of the Short Circuit festival.