The Radio Times have revealed that Reece Shearsmith is to play the actor Patrick Troughton in the 50th Anniversary drama An Adventure in Space and Time. Shearsmith - one of the collaborators behind The League of Gentlemen - is a good friend of writer/executive producer Mark Gatiss, who told Patrick Mulkern at the recent BFI screening of Troughton adventure The Tomb of the Cybermen:
The actor told his Twitter followers this morning: "Very happy to confirm I am the 2nd Doctor. Very excited to be part of it."


Other cast members confirmed by the article include Jeff Rawle (peviously Plantagenet in Frontios and Mr Harding in Mona Lisa's Revenge) playing associate producer/director Mervyn Pinfield, Andrew Woodall as producer/director Rex Tucker, and Gatiss's partner Ian Hallard as original Dalek director Richard Martin.

Filming update:

As reported yesterday, cast and crew descended upon Westminster Bridge to record the iconic scene of the Daleks gliding across the bridge, with articles on the shoot published by several media sources, including the BBC, Daily Mail and Express. After these scenes were completed the production moved back to BBC Television Centre, which saw scenes filmed including Brian Cox as Sydney Newman with Jessica Raine as Verity Lambert.

Big Finish are running a promotion on The Eighth Doctor Adventures, with stories from all four series starring Paul McGann available at a discount until the 2nd March.

Producer David Richardson says:

This morning saw a re-enactment of an iconic moment in the early history of Doctor Who - Daleks invading London! Filming for An Adventure in Space and Time took place on Westminster Bridge in London to recapture scenes from The Dalek Invasion of Earth.


This marks the fourth time Daleks have crossed the bridge in their pursuit of world domination (and publicity!): as well as the 1964 incursion, the scene was recreated in 1993 for the 30th Anniversary documentary (More Than) Thirty Years in the TARDIS, and then again in 2011 as part of the publicity for the Doctor Who Experience.



This weekend marks the halfway point in filming of the drama, which during the course of last week has focussed on scenes set in BBC Television Centre.

Cast and Crew updates:

As well as the actors that portray William Russell, Jacqueline Hill and Carole Ann Ford, other members of the cast are expected to feature in some way. Speaking at The William Hartnell Years convention, Peter Purves mentioned that he would be represented in the drama, and observer Nick Lawton commented on Friday's filming: "'Vicky' [sic] was actually sitting in reception talking with Mark Gatiss, as Bill, Waris etc were filming scene. 'Vicki' was wearing her 'The Rescue' outfit, which is why I think it was her".

A few minor roles that have been cast include child actor Reece Pockney playing Alan, Elaine Andrews playing "1960s Vintage Mum", and Philip C. Francis playing "Restaurant Customer"; model/actor Ernest Gromov also reported his appearance in the drama, which he has now confirmed to us to be a "BBC Designer". On the production side, Matthew Patnick (who worked on Spies of Warsaw alongside David Tennant) is Line Producer, whilst Daniel Bishop (who also worked on The Empty Planet) is Camera Operator.

The 50th anniversary of Doctor Who may still be months away, but the Doctor Who Club of Australia (DWCA) is kicking off a year-long calendar of events with Whovention: Gold. Featuring international and local guests, exclusive activities and a few surprises, the convention promises to be the biggest in the club’s 35-year history.

Over the next weekend, 22-24 February, Bankstown Sports Club will welcome fans and guests from across space and time to celebrate the beginnings of the original series in 1963 as well as the hugely successful 2005 revival.

Star guests include Louise Jameson (Leela), who accompanied Tom Baker’s Fourth Doctor during one of the most popular periods in the show’s history. Louise will also perform her one-woman show “From Women’s Eyes” on the Friday night. Separate tickets are available for fans unable to attend the full weekend.

Camille Coduri (Rose’s mum, Jackie Tyler) will talk about the show’s revival in 2005 and her part in those first two hugely popular seasons.

Original series composer Dudley Simpson will also share anecdotes from 15 years working with four Doctors.

Dan Hall from Pup Ltd and commissioning editor of the Doctor Who DVD range is flying in to join Austen Atkinson, of Central Coast animation company Planet 55 Studios. Together, they will share exclusive behind-the-scenes material from the newly restored Reign of Terror DVD. And maybe a few other surprises…

Also, Rob Lloyd is bringing his popular stage show “Who, Me” to Sydney for the first time for a one-off performance on the Saturday night.

Other activities include roaming Daleks, a Doctor Who script writing workshop hosted by NIDA teacher Judith Duncan, panels, autograph sessions, a Saturday night VIP dinner with the guests, Doctor Who Mastermind, cosplay competition, debate, charity auction, raffles and the dealer room stacked with Doctor Who merchandise for sale.

Weekend, VIP dinner and single day tickets are available. For more details and to buy tickets, please visit the Whovention website: http://whovention.dwca.org.au.

BBC Worldwide have announced that The Tenth Planet is to be released on DVD in late 2013 and, like last month's The Reign of Terror, will have its missing episode four animated by Planet 55 Studios.

Range producer Dan Hall said:
The story was originally released on VHS in 2000 and featured a reconstruction of the missing episode using existing telesnaps from the episode; it is expected that this version will also be included on the DVD as an extra.

The missing episode marked the end of the First Doctor's adventures, and introduced the revolutionary concept of the appearance of the Doctor changing - a key element of the series mythos that has enabled the series to now celebrate its fiftieth year! Though the 'regeneration' itself survived, along with a few clips, the story itself has been 'lost' from the BBC archives since the 1970s.


A selection of stills of the new animation in progress can be seen via a gallery on BBC Worldwide's official Doctor Who 50th Anniversay website. There is also a showreel available to watch on the Planet 55 website featuring a number of their concepts - including the First Doctor stalked in the snow, a scene inspired by The Tenth Planet.

Sunday 17th February sees the broadcast of the five-part 1968 Patrick Troughton story The Mind Robber in Australia and New Zealand. The story is the latest instalment in the the 50th Anniversary season of classic Doctor Who stories on the UKTV channel.

 It is scheduled in New Zealand at 3:50pm and in Australia at 4:00pm. New Zealand has a additional screening on Monday 18th February at 3:50am.

The Mind Robber was first broadcast in Australia in 1970. New Zealanders had to wait another 15 years to see the story (it was first screened in 1985 to launch an extensive series of Doctor Who screenings by TVNZ that continued with few interruptions until 1990).

UKTV is showing stories every week throughout the year in the lead-up to the anniversary in November. The Mind Robber is the third of four stories to be aired as part of the channel's celebration of the second Doctor this month. The next story is The Seeds of Death (24th February). Next month UKTV will move on to focus on the third Doctor.

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 has released details of three forthcoming books featuring the 11th Doctor, with new companion Clara also in one of them. All three hardback titles will be published on Thursday 11th April.

Nicholas Briggs has been a prolific Doctor Who contributor since 1999, when he began work on the Big Finish Doctor Who audio dramas, for which he is now executive producer. Nick is also an actor, and since Doctor Who’s return to television in 2005 he has worked on set with all three of the new Doctors as the voice of the Daleks, also providing the voice of the Cybermen and other aliens.

Justin Richards is creative consultant to BBC Books' range of Doctor Who titles, has written for stage and screen, and has penned novels and graphic novels. Together with Jack Higgins, he has also written several action thrillers for older children.

Tommy Donbavand is the author of the 13-book Scream Street series, published in more than 12 languages worldwide, and was the winner of the 2011 Hackney Short Novel Award.

Big Finish have released a teaser trailer for The Light at the End, the 50th Anniversary story featuring the first eight Doctors and their companions.



A synopsis for the story has also been released:

The Light at the End can be pre-ordered now as a Limited Collectors Edition set and as a Standard Edition set.

The latest edition of Doctor Who Adventures - out today - comes with a free Doctor or Dalek popper folder that has four pencils and a notepad.

Also in issue 307:

• A guide to the war-hungry Sontarans - plus how to create your own potato-head Sontaran
• A Dalek survival guide
• Monsters in love
• Comic-strip adventures with the Doctor and Decky Flamboon as they try to stop a slimy horror that is connected to Valentine's Day
• Posters
• Puzzles

As well as being available in print form, the publication can also be downloaded as an app for the iPhone and iPad from App Stores in the UK, USA, and Australia.

Earlier today, the latest Audit Bureau of Circulations report showed that DWA's circulation had risen for the first time since the second half of 2010.

Latest figures for Doctor Who Magazine and Doctor Who Adventures show both publications defying economic hard times and adding to their total average net circulations during the second half of last year.

The Audit Bureau of Circulations report for consumer magazines from July to December 2012, issued at midday today, showed that the weekly Doctor Who Adventures, published by Immediate Media Company, was up by 0.1 per cent to 31,935, having added 32 to its net average total, while the net average total for Panini's monthly Doctor Who Magazine was up by 6.1 per cent to 28,743, thanks to an extra 1,654 on its figure.

DWM had been experiencing six-monthly falls in circulation since the second half of 2010 and the same had been the case for DWA since the first half of 2011. Year-on-year, both are still showing drops in circulation, with DWM's down by 6.1 per cent on July to December 2011 and DWA's down by 34.1 per cent for the same period, but the new figures show encouraging signs for both publications.

DWM editor Tom Spilsbury told Doctor Who News: and DWA editor Natalie Barnes told us: For detailed breakdowns of the latest figures, click on the relevant links in the table below.


The next set of figures, covering the period January to June 2013, is due to be published on Friday 16th August.

UPDATE - 29th MARCH: The bureau has changed the publication date for the next set of figures to Thursday 15th August.