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.

May will see the release by AudioGo of the next encounter for the Doctor in their ongoing 50th Anniversary series Destiny of the Doctor, this month reaching his fifth incarnation. Meanwhile, the latest audio adaption of the Target novelisations takes listeners on a trip to Peladon with the Third Doctor. Plus, readers also enter our competitions to be in with a chance to win copies.



In addition, AudioGo have also released an audio adaptation of the latest adventure for the Eleventh Doctor, Plague of the Cybermen:

The BBC have finally confirmed that the Regeneration set that has been listed on Internet sites such as the BBC Shop and Amazon will indeed be released in June.

As the title implied, this release deals with the Doctor's regenerations, and will be presented as a limited edition, "coffee-table" book which will include six DVDs covering the adventures associated with the change of actor - and includes the premiere of the newly animation-enhanced The Tenth Planet on DVD.

The full list of stories are: The Tenth Planet, The War Games, Planet of the Spiders, Logopolis The Caves of Androzani, Time and the Rani, Doctor Who: The Movie, Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways, and The End of Time.

Regeneration will now be released on 24th June and not 10th as originally scheduled.

Big Finish have released details on a special Companion Chronicle for the 50th Anniversary:

Actors Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton, and Janet Fielding will join director Graeme Harper and Radiophonic Workshop composer Roger Limb as the special guests at the BFI Southbank big-screen showing of The Caves of Androzani next month.

The four-part story is being shown on Saturday 4th May to mark the Fifth Doctor's era, as part of the BFI's Doctor Who At 50 season.

The adventure saw the Doctor regenerate into his sixth incarnation, played by Colin Baker, and today the BFI revealed that the story picked to mark the Sixth Doctor's era will be The Two Doctors, to be shown on Saturday 15th June at 2pm.

The three-part adventure, written by Robert Holmes, co-starred Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor and was first broadcast in 1985, pitting both Doctors against the Sontarans. It also saw the return of Frazer Hines as Second Doctor companion Jamie. Location filming was carried out in Spain.

BFI Champions and members are entitled to priority booking for the event, whose guests will be announced nearer the time, but because of the overwhelming popularity of the Doctor Who At 50 season a ballot system will be in operation once again for tickets. Two ballots are being run - one each for Champions and members - via e-mail to memberballot@bfi.org.uk. Champions can enter from Monday 6th May, while members can enter from Tuesday 7th May. Champions can enter both ballots.

The ballots will close on Friday 10th May and will be run over the weekend of 11th and 12th May, with all entrants being notified on Monday 13th May as to their success or failure. Any tickets that have been reserved for Champions and members through the ballot will be held until 8.30pm on Friday 17th May, and those left unclaimed will be released for public sale on Saturday 18th May.

However, on Wednesday 15th May the official Doctor Who Facebook page will have a small number of tickets set aside for purchase by members of the public, whereby people will have to correctly answer a question to be in with a chance of booking.

Although all the celebratory screenings have been immediate sell-outs, returns and stand-bys are a strong possibility, so if all else fails do keep checking with the BFI!

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 BBC have announced the summer line-up for this year's BBC Proms, which will once again feature performances dedicated to Doctor Who:


The prom is to be performed twice, with "Prom 2" taking place on Saturday 13th July from 7:30pm (tickets start from £14), and "Prom 3" the following Sunday morning at 10:30am (tickets at £12, restricted to maximum of six per booking). Booking for the Proms season opens on the 11th May.

The proms will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3, and also recorded for broadcast on BBC One.

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.

The writer of the fourth in the Puffin Books series of e-books has been revealed to be Philip Reeve, the award-winning author of Mortal Engines, Here Lies Arthur, and GOBLINS.


Philip Reeve was born in Brighton and worked in a book shop for many years before becoming a full-time illustrator and then turning to writing. His first novel, Mortal Engines, won the Nestlé Smarties Gold Award (2002), the Blue Peter Book of the Year Award, and was shortlisted for both the Branford Boase Award and the Whitbread Children's Book Award. He has since won many more awards and accolades for his works including the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize in 2006 and the Los Angeles Times Book Award for A Darkling Plain and the 2008 CILIP Carnegie Medal for Here Lies Arthur. His most recent titles are GOBLINS (2012) which was shortlisted for the Roald Dahl Funny Prize and its sequel GOBLINS VS DWARVES (2013). He lives in Dartmoor, England with his wife and son, Sam. For further information and to explore the author’s own curious world visit his website.

Reeve commented:

A video of the author will be released on YouTube by BBC Worldwide later in the month, with the book itself coming out on the 23rd April. An extract from the book can be read via the Guardian.

Sunday 7th April sees the broadcast of the four-part 1975 Tom Baker story The Ark in Space on Australian and New Zealand television. The story is the 13th instalment in the 50th Anniversary season of Doctor Who stories on the UKTV channel.

The story is scheduled in Australia at 3:30pm and in New Zealand at 4:00pm. New Zealand has an additional screening on Monday 8th April at 3:55am.

The Ark in Space was first broadcast in Australia in 1976. New Zealand got to see it in 1978.

The UKTV billing describes the story as follows:

The TARDIS arrives on a deactivated space station Nerva otherwise known as the Ark. The Doctor, Sarah & Harry find the last survivors of the human race in suspended animation.

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

The rest of the month's schedule includes: Genesis of the Daleks (14th April), Pyramids of Mars and The Hand of Fear (21st April), and The Robots of Death and City of Death (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.