The 50th Anniversary season of classic Doctor Who stories on UKTV in Australia and New Zealand continues.

February is dedicated to a celebration of Patrick Troughton's Doctor, commencing with his earliest complete story, The Tomb of the Cybermen.

The four-part story is broadcast on Sunday 3rd February at 4:15pm (New Zealand) and 4:30pm (Australia). New Zealand has a second screening for The Tomb of the Cybermen on Monday 4th February at 4:00am.

The 1967 story was first broadcast in Australia in 1968. New Zealand viewers saw it in 1970.

UKTV is showing stories every Sunday throughout the year in the lead-up to the anniversary in November.

The Tomb of the Cybermen is the first of four stories to be aired as part of the channel's celebration of the second Doctor this month, and is followed by The Dominators (10th February), The Mind Robber (17th), and The Seeds of Death (24th).

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 Splendid Chaps podcast is now available on its website.  As previously reported, to celebrate 50 years of Doctor Who,  John Richards (creator/writer of the ABC1 sitcom Outland, Boxcutters podcast) and Ben McKenzie (Channel 31′s Planet Nerd, Dungeon Crawl, ‘patron saint of geek comedy’ – T-Squat magazine) have joined forces to host a year-long performance/podcast project, entitled "Splendid Chaps", in Melbourne, Australia.
Each month, from January to November 2013, John and Ben will record a live Doctor Who panel discussion – one for each of the eleven Doctors – with a different theme, special guests, musical and comedy performances and loveliness. These will also be edited into podcast episodes, released on the 23rd of each month.

The highlight of the first podcast, featuring the first doctor, includes Alexandra Tynan (nee Sandra Reid) talking about her designs for the Cybermen, in both The Tenth Planet and The Moonbase, and also the filming of the first doctor's regeneration scene. The podcast is also available at iTunes.

UKTV continues its season of classic Doctor Who stories today (20 January) with the broadcast of The Dalek Invasion of Earth at 3:30pm (Australia) and 3:15pm (New Zealand). The six-part adventure is the third of four stories to be screened as part of the channel's celebration of the First Doctor this month.

It follows earlier screenings of An Unearthly Child and The Aztecs and continues with The War Machines next week, on 27 January (AU:4:30pm, NZ:4:15pm).

For New Zealand this is the fourth screening of The Dalek Invasion of Earth, and the second time that it has been broadcast to mark a milestone anniversary. It was first broadcast in November 1988 as part of the Doctor Who 'Silver Jubilee' celebration. New Zealand viewers missed out on seeing the story in the 1960s as it was judged by the NZBC censor to be unsuitable for children. It did however screen on Australian television in 1965-66.

UKTV is showing stories every Sunday throughout the year in the lead-up to Doctor Who's 50th Anniversary in November, focusing on a Doctor a month. February is dedicated to the Second Doctor, featuring The Tomb of the Cybermen (3rd), The Dominators (10th), The Mind Robber (17th), and The Seeds of Death (24th).

All 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.

UKTV continues its season of classic Doctor Who stories today (13th) with the broadcast of The Aztecs at 4:30pm (Australia) and 4:20pm (New Zealand).The four-part adventure forms part of the channel's celebration of the First Doctor this month, which kicked off last weekend with An Unearthly Child and continues with The Dalek Invasion of Earth next week (AU:3:30pm, NZ:3:15pm), rounding off with The War Machines on the 27th (AU:4:30pm, NZ:4:20pm).

The channel is showing stories every Sunday throughout the year in the lead-up to Doctor Who's 50th Anniversary in November, focussing on a Doctor a month. February is, as one might then expect, dedicated to the Second Doctor, featuring The Tomb of the Cybermen (3rd), The Dominators (10th), The Mind Robber (17th), and The Seeds of Death (24th).

All 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.

United Kingdom:

Wimbledon Studios in Deer Park Road, London, is being used for the forthcoming docudrama An Adventure In Space And Time, it has been revealed. Written by Mark Gatiss for BBC Two, the 90-minute special will detail the genesis of Doctor Who as part of the celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the series. The casting for the programme, which will be shown in November, is still to be announced. [Wimbledon Guardian, 10 Jan 2013]

Still in the capital, a wooden police box is to be built at Kensington Palace to bolster the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's security. The box, measuring 1.6 metres square, will be dark blue and will have a glazed door. It will stand on the lawn on the south side, between the Grade I-listed building's high perimeter brick wall and iron railings. [Evening Standard, 3 Jan 2013]

Australia:

Ex-patriate fan Michael Lauder, originally from north Kent and now living in Melbourne, Victoria, has been talking about the thrill of building two Daleks for his personal collection, using his carpentry knowledge and learning new skills along the way, having discovered the Project Dalek forum. He said: "You never get over the thrill of having a Dalek of your own in your house." His Daleks form part of the Invasion exhibition, which is at the Warrnambool Art Gallery until Monday 28th January. [ABC South West Victoria, 7 Jan 2013]

A cleric is looking to sell his prized collection of Doctor Who videos and magazines. Father Paul Kelly, of Maryborough, Queensland, said: "I've collected them since 1983 and they're in boxes in my carport and I have made a New Year's resolution to clear my clutter." [The Gympie Times, 5 Jan 2013]

USA:

A Doctor Who club is being set up at River East Public Library in Illinois. The first meeting will be held on Tuesday 29th January at 7pm. [NorthWest Herald, 6 Jan 2013]

California-based technology expert Greg Kumparak has built a miniature TARDIS that enables an augmented reality app on his smartphone to create the illusion that the model of the police box really is bigger on the inside than on the outside. Buoyed by the positive reaction to it on Twitter and YouTube, he said: "The feedback has been resoundingly positive so far, almost shockingly so, really. Doctor Who fans might be some of the nicest people on the internet." [BBC News, 24 Dec 2012]

To celebrate 50 years of Doctor Who,  John Richards (creator/writer of the ABC1 sitcom Outland, Boxcutters podcast) and Ben McKenzie (Channel 31′s Planet Nerd, Dungeon Crawl, ‘patron saint of geek comedy’ – T-Squat magazine) have joined forces to host a year-long performance/podcast project, entitled "Splendid Chaps", in Melbourne, Australia.

Each month from January to November 2013 John and Ben will record a live Doctor Who panel discussion – one for each of the eleven Doctors – with a different theme, special guests, musical and comedy performances and loveliness. These will also be edited into podcast episodes, released on the 23rd of each month.

The first event on 13 January will discuss the first doctor and features special guest Alexandra Tynan (nee Sandra Reid), the woman who designed the Cybermen back in 1966. She’ll be joined by writer and filmmaker Lee Zachariah (ABC2′s The Bazura Project, Hell Is For Hyphenates podcast); broadcaster and host of 3RRR FM’s LiveWire, Nerida Haycock; announcer Petra Elliot and Ben and John as hosts. The musical guest (singing a Who-related number) will be comedian and cabaret artiste Geraldine Quinn.

The forum will be held on Sunday 13 January 2012 at 5pm at the Annexe, Bella Union, Trades Hall, corner of Victoria and Lygon Streets, Melbourne.  Tickets will be available at the door (subject to availability) or on the web.

The Snowmen has debuted in Australia, averaging 697,000 viewers in the five major capital cities. It came second in its time-slot, was the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's top-rating drama of the day and the twelfth highest rating programme of the day overall.  These ratings do not include regional or time-shifted viewers.

The National Institute of Dramatic Art in Australia is to run another range of courses during December and January using Doctor Who as a basis to teach participants skills in the industry.

NIDA have run Doctor Who related classes in the past for children/young people, teaching acting and script writing techniques, but this year also sees one aimed at those aged 18 and above (highlighted below).

More performances have been added to next month's Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular for a second time.

The event at Sydney Opera House will feature music composed by Murray Gold, performed by The Metropolitan Orchestra, conducted by Ben Foster.

Originally planned to be held on Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th December only, two shows were added for Tuesday 18th and Wednesday 19th December. Now three extra performances have been slotted on for the following two days: matinee and evening concerts on Thursday 20th December and an evening one on Friday 21st December.

The musical celebration of Doctor Who will be presented by Alex Kingston and Mark Williams, with various monsters from the series poised to overrun the concert venue too.

To book, go to the Sydney Opera House website. (NB: Both of the Saturday performances are now sold out and there is currently limited availability for the Sunday matinee.)

The Snowmen, will make its Australian debut on Boxing Day, Wednesday 26 December 2012 at 7.30pm on ABC1.

The previous two Christmas specials, A Christmas Carol and The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe, also debuted in Australia on Boxing Day.