The latest edition of Doctor Who Magazine has been published today, and as a new exhibition on Target books opens at the Cartoon Museum in London takes look back at the history of Doctor Who book cover art. The first regular artist on the range, Chris Achilleos, tells the magazine on how he established a new visual style for Doctor Who:
Target book fan and modern-day Doctor Who writer Mark Gatiss has much affection for the artwork:

Also inside the issue:

• PRODUCTION NOTES: Doctor Who’s executive producer Brian Minchin tells DWM about the operation to reveal the identity of the Doctor's new companion...
• WHO WANTS TO LIVE FOREVER? DWM investigates what it is to be immortal in the Doctor Who universe.
• NIGHT TO REMEMBER: Ahead of a very special Fact of Fiction next issue on The Day of the Doctor, DWM looks back at the most unexpected Doctor Who story of all time
• GATEWAY TO THE UNIVERSE: The Fourth Doctor, Romana, Adric and K9 try to find a way out of E-Space in this month’s Fact of Fiction on 1981's Warriors' Gate...
• BACK IN THE SISTERHOOD: We ask Clare Higgins, High Priestess of the Sisterhood of Karn, if Ohila could be the Doctor’s mother?
• THE WITCH IS FAMILIAR... in the third part of our brand-new comic strip adventure, Witch Hunt, written by Jacqueline Rayner and illustrated by Martin Geraghty.
• DRESS FOR THE OCCASION: Jacqueline Rayner talks about the challenges of dressing her boys up as the Doctor, in her column, Relative Dimensions.
• DOCTOR, I MARRIED HIM! An increasing number of couple are incorporating Doctor Who into the most important day of their lives. But why? DWM investigates...
• FISHY BUSINESS: There’s something fishy going on under Venice, as the Time Team watch The Vampires of Venice...
• COMING SOON: DWM previews all the latest Doctor Who CD and book releases.
• DREAM WORLD: Russell T Davies returns to BBC Wales with his production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream...

PLUS! All the latest official news, reviews, competitions and The DWM Crossword

Doctor Who: Heaven Sent, has been nominated for a 2016 Hugo Award.

The episode, shown last year, written by Steven Moffat and directed by Rachel Talalay , starred Peter Capaldi in an highly aclaimed, almost single handed, performance.

Doctor Who is competing against Universal's Grimm, Marvel Television's Jessica Jones, DHX Media's My Little Pony and Kripke Enterprises's Supernatural to win the prestigious award for Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form).

Six Doctor Who episodes have previously won a Hugo Award, including The Doctor's Wife, The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang and The Waters of Mars. Last year the episode Listen was nominated, but lost out in the final voting.

The winners of the 2016 Hugo will be announced on Saturday, August 20, at the MidAmeriCon II Hugo Awards Ceremony held in Kansas City, Missouri.

Doctor Who Adventures issue 14 is released this week

In the magazine

• SKY MANOR
The Doctor ends up playing detective in a country house high up in the clouds. The trouble is, he’s being chased by an angry group of gorillas and the country house is about to come crashing out of the sky and down to earth! You’ll go ape with this latest offering from Kieron Moore, Russ Leach and John Burns!
• MISSY NEEDS YOU!
Missy is looking for a sidekick/slave/dogsbody! Have you got what it takes to serve the craziest Time Lord in history?
• OSGOOD’S RESEARCH LAB
Unleash your inner fan with some cool Doctor badges!
• UNIT ALIEN ARCHIVES
This month you get to access UNIT’s archive on the one and only River Song!
• STRAX’S HOLIDAY SNAPS!
Strax has just taken a vacation on Gallifrey and he’s eager to show you his latest holiday snaps!
• THE PATERNOSTER GANG INVESTIGATES
The Paternoster Gang investigate the Dangerous Dilemma of the Dream Doorway, in a chilling story brought to you by Rik Hoskin!

Doctor Who Adventures #14 4 comes with a free make a monster kit and is on sale 28th April 2016, price £3.99

Doctor Who alumni have taken to twitter to welcome the new companion to the World of Doctor Who.

It was announced on Saturday that actress Pearl Mackie will join Peter Capaldi in the next series of Doctor Who, due to be screened in 2017.

Congratulations came from many past companions, in whose footsteps Mackie will follow.

The actress made her debut wearing a Prince T-Shirt, which many fans took to be a tribute to the artist who died last week. However Doctor Who brand manager, Edward Russell, confirmed that the sequence was filmed over a week ago and the costumn was just a weird coincidence.

Mackie is currenltly starring in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time in London's West End Congratulations also followed from Doctor Who actors Ingrid Oliver and Joivan Wade as well as casting director Andy Prior. Meanwhile comic book artist Blair Shedd was quick to capture the character of Bill.

The actress herself tweeted about her excitement at winning the role.

I'm so excited to be the next companion on Doctor Who! Can't wait to join the family! Thank you for all the lovely messages!

— Pearl Mackie (@Pearlie_mack) April 23, 2016

Titan Comics this week release the fourth volumes of both the Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor by Nick Abadzis and Eleonora Carlini, Elena Casagrande and Doctor Who: The Eleventh Doctor by writers Si Spurrier & Rob Williams, with art by Simon Fraser and Warren Pleece.




Both volumes are available from Wednesday 27th April

The BBC has released the first interview with the new Doctor Who companion, Pearl Mackie.



The casting was announced on BBC One, during half time of the FA Cup Semi-Final, with 5.3 million viewers watching at the time.

Pearl Mackie has been named as the new Doctor Who Companion, Bill.

The BBC released the details in a specially shot trailer shown on BBC One this evening, and released on the official Facebook and Twitter pages.

The actress is currently starring in London's West End, at the Gielgud Theatre, in a production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

Mackie comes from Brixton in South London. She trained as an actor at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, graduating in 2010.

Since drama school she has worked across Theatre, Film, Television and Radio appearing at the RSC, The Park Theatre, The Finborough, for the BBC and on London’s West End.

On joining the cast in her first major television role, Pearl Mackie said: Peter Capaldi said: Steven Moffat, Lead Writer and Executive Producer adds: Charlotte Moore, Acting Director of Television said: Brian Minchin, Executive Producer adds: Filming for the next series of the show, the 36th in its long history, begins soon, with the next episode due to be screened at Christmas, followed by a full twelve-part series in 2017.

Canadian broadcaster SPACE have announced that they will be also be revealing who will play the new companion in Doctor Who tomorrow afternoon, during a re-run of the last three episodes of the previous series on the channel (which saw the departure of the Doctor's former fellow time-traveller Clara).

The three episodes will be shown twice, from 10:00am and 1:20pm - with the broadcasts scheduled in Eastern Daylight Time this places the end of Hell Bent at about the same time as half-time during the F.A. Cup game in the United Kingdom, meaning that the announcement will be very close to the latter's!

As reported in February, BBC Books are to republish a number of Doctor Who novelisations that were originally part of the Target range.

To tie in with their release on the 28th April, the Cartoon Museum in London is to hold an exhibition featuring original artwork from the range:


The exhibition will run between the 28th April and 11th May.

To celebrate the revived interest in what was an essential part of Doctor Who fan reading in the 1970s, 80s and 90s, Telos have announced that they will be re-publishing an updated version of David J Howe and Tim Neal's guide to the entire range, also on the 28th April:

David J Howe told us:
The book is available to pre-order from the Telos website.


Forbidden Planet in London will also be holding a book signing on the 23rd April between 1:00pm-2:00pm, featuring the authors Terrance Dicks, Eric Saward, and cover illustrator Chris Achilleos.

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Meanwhile, as well as their literary form, the Target novelisations continue to be released as audiobooks, read by well-known personalities in the Doctor Who world; coming up in the next few months are Death To The Daleks (written by Terrance Dicks and read by Jon Culshaw), The Invasion (Ian Marter, David Troughton), The King's Demons (Terence Dudley, Mark Strickson), The Claws of Axos (Terrance Dicks) and The Sontaran Experiment (Ian Marter).

The BBC have announced that they plan to reveal who will playing the latest sidekick to join Peter Capaldi in the TARDIS in Doctor Who this coming Saturday, 23rd April, during the half-time interval of the F.A. Cup Semi-Final match between Everton and Manchester United that will be shown live on BBC One from 4:50pm.

With kick-off due at 5:15pm this is likely to feature just after 6:00pm.