The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall are to pay an official visit to the Doctor Who studios in Cardiff next month to mark the show's 50th anniversary.

It will form part of the royal couple's annual Wales Week, in which they tour the country to publicise its positive aspects.

Their diary shows that on Wednesday 3rd July they will be meeting cast and crew members of Doctor Who during a set visit to the Roath Lock studios.

A spokesman for Clarence House, which is their official residence in London, said: While they are at Roath Lock the couple will meet Matt Smith and Jenna-Louise Coleman, and will encounter some of the Doctor's enemies as well. It is not known as yet which production team members will be presented to Charles and Camilla.

This won't be the first official brush with the world of Doctor Who for the Duchess of Cornwall. While opening the West Wilts Show in Trowbridge in July 2009 she encountered a Dalek and TARDIS at a display dedicated to the programme.

Earlier this month, Coleman was presented to the Queen when the monarch officially opened the rebuilt Broadcasting House in London.

The special guests for the BFI's celebratory screening of Remembrance of the Daleks next month have been announced.

The sell-out event, part of the BFI's Doctor Who At 50 season, is being held on Saturday 27th July at BFI Southbank to mark the Seventh Doctor's era and will see Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred, Ben Aaronovitch, Dick Mills, and Mike Tucker taking part in the question-and-answer panel.

The BFI is running a competition to win a pair of tickets to the screening, with a copy of the BFI book 100 Science Fiction Films - to be published on Friday 28th June - also going to the winner. Enter via this link. The contest closes on Friday 19th July. Terms and conditions apply.

August's event should have seen the Eighth Doctor's solo TV venture (so far) being shown on the big screen but instead the Ninth Doctor will be honoured that month, with a story screening and guest panel being held on Saturday 24th August.

BFI spokeswoman Liz Parkinson told Doctor Who News today: The date for the TV movie screening is yet to be announced, while the story to be shown from the Ninth Doctor's era, and the accompanying guests, will also be confirmed in due course.

Because of the overwhelming demand to attend the monthly screenings, a ballot system is being run to allocate tickets and priority booking for the Ninth Doctor event will take place, as previously, via the members' section.

BFI Champions can enter the ballot from Monday 1st July and members can enter from Tuesday 2nd July.

The ballot will close on Friday 5th July and be run over the weekend of 6th and 7th July, with all entrants to be notified on Monday 8th July if they have been successful or not. Any tickets reserved for Champions and members through the ballot will be held until 8.30pm on Friday 12th July, and any that are unclaimed by then will be released for public sale on Saturday 13th July.

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

Actors Frazer Hines and Tony Selby plus script editor and writer Eric Saward and visual effects designer Mike Kelt will be the special guests at the BFI screening of The Two Doctors.

The event, which takes place on Saturday 15th June to mark the Sixth Doctor's era, is the latest in the organisation's Doctor Who At 50 season and will start at 2pm.

The screenings have proved overwhelmingly popular, selling out as soon as tickets have been made available, although the BFI has introduced a ballot system to help make ticket allocation fairer.

Returns are always a possibility, though. As such, at the time of posting this news item four tickets were available via the event link. Stand-bys and other returns may also be available on the day.

The First Doctor's TARDIS console built for An Adventure In Space And Time - the forthcoming drama about Doctor Who's genesis - is to get its first public display at next month's Comic Con in Paris, the BBC announced today.

Writer Mark Gatiss will also be at the event, where he will take part in a panel session and will be signing autographs. In addition, clips from Doctor Who episodes Gatiss has written for and appeared in will be shown.

Other Doctor Who attractions at the Comic Con - the fifth to be held in France - will be a screening of Revenge of the Cybermen in French as well as a gallery display marking 50 years of the show.

After appearing at the French Comic Con, which runs from 4th to 7th July and is being held at the Paris-Nord Villepinte Exhibition Centre, the console will be installed at the Doctor Who Experience in Cardiff for the duration of the summer.

The 90-minute drama is due to be broadcast on BBC Two later this year, following a première at the BFI in London.

The BFI is to show the BBC's long-lost behind-the-scenes report on Daleks - Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D. that was recovered last year.

The feature, lasting about five minutes, was originally included in the edition of teen culture programme A Whole Scene Going broadcast on 16th March 1966 and will be shown on the big screen at BFI Southbank on Wednesday 3rd July during a compilation of reports from various productions.

The BFI event is entitled The Location Report and is itself part of the wider Broadcasting The Arts: Television Looks At Film strand being run by the organisation. Tickets go on sale to the public on Tuesday 11th June.

Although the master tape was wiped by the BBC, a copy of this particular edition of A Whole Scene Going ended up as part of a Welsh villager's collection of films that was eventually sold on. A timecoded and watermarked extract from the programme is available to view via the Tim Disney Archive, with the Dalek film report excerpt starting at 1 min 16 sec.

.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 the first few episodes are now available at www.splendidchaps.com or at  iTunes.

Tickets are now on sale for their 6th Doctor show! Their sixth outing discusses the sometimes controversial Sixth Doctor, played by actor Colin Baker. Better known for playing villains and bullies – including Time Lord Commander Maxil in the Peter Davison story Arc of Infinity - Baker dug into the character’s past, bringing back some of William Hartnell’s arrogance and pomposity in order to offer a different take to his good-natured predecessor. It was a turbulent time to become the Doctor, though, as the show was suspended for 18 months, put on trial by the powers that be, and finally forced to make drastic changes – including firing the lead actor.

Most people, of course, remember Six for that outfit, and so this episode the Splendid Chaps discuss Clothes. Few programs have as broad-ranging a costume design remit, with new worlds, eras and civilisations needing to be created every week. Not to mention that an eccentric Time Lord and his companions need to find clothes that are practical in any situation, from soulless steel corridors to rocky alien landscapes, polar caps and the inside of volcanoes. Oh, and they need to be fashionable in any era… It’s a big ask, and as The Discontinuity Guide reminded us, there were fashion victims as well as triumphs.

Hosts Ben McKenzie, John Richards and Petra Elliott are joined by writer and podcaster Tansy Rayner Roberts (Galactic Suburbia, Verity), and another guest to be announced soon. There will also be a special musical performance, prizes, surprises – and a fashion show! Yes, and Splendid Chaps want to see your best cosplay and Doctor Who related sartorial creations – and there will be prizes on offer.

Space: Agent 284, 284 Smith Street, Collingwood, Melbourne
Time: Saturday 15 June; recording starts 4 PM
Accessibility: Regretfully this venue is not wheelchair accessible.
Tickets: $15 (plus booking fee where applicable)
Bookings: via trybooking.com or at the door (subject to availability)
Podcast: not yet available; released 23 June 2013.

Remembrance of the Daleks is the story that has been chosen to represent the Seventh Doctor's era for the BFI's Doctor Who At 50 season.

The four-parter, written by Ben Aaronovitch and directed by Andrew Morgan, originally aired in October 1988 and saw the Doctor return to Coal Hill School and the Totter's Lane junkyard first seen in the show's premier episode in 1963. It also continued the story arc of the civil war between rival Dalek factions and marked the last appearance of the Daleks and Davros in the original run of the show.

Remembrance will be getting its big-screen showing on Saturday 27th July at 2pm, with priority booking for tickets being subject to a ballot via the members' section.

BFI Champions can enter the ballot from Monday 3rd June and members can enter from Tuesday 4th June.

The ballot will close on Friday 7th June and be run over the weekend of 8th and 9th June, with all entrants to be notified on Monday 10th June if they have been successful or not. Any tickets reserved for Champions and members through the ballot will be held until 8.30pm on Friday 14th June, and any that are unclaimed by then will be released for public sale on Saturday 15th June.

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!

Guests for the accompanying question-and-answer panel will be announced nearer the time.

UPDATE - SUNDAY 16th JUNE: The BFI has launched a competition to win a pair of tickets to the Remembrance screening, with a copy of the BFI book 100 Science Fiction Films - to be published on Friday 28th June - also going to the winner. Enter via this link. The competition closes on Friday 19th July. Travel is not included, and terms and conditions apply.

The Doctor Who Appreciation Society recently held an online auction via eBay of Doctor Who Memorabilia, in order to raise money for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research. After tax relief this auction raised over £1100 and the Society would like to thank everyone who took part.

Next weekend also sees Dr Who @ the Movies at Riverside Studios:

You can visit the DWAS Auction site at eBay here.

The event site can be accessed via DWAS Online.

The video tribute to Doctor Who shown at last Sunday's TV BAFTA ceremony to mark the programme's 50th anniversary has been made available online.

The dazzling montage, which lasts 2 min 16 sec, features clips and dialogue from a multitude of adventures, and is followed by a scene inside the TARDIS where the Doctor, as played by Matt Smith, discovers a BAFTA award mask, which he likens to an Axon. He is corrected by Clara - Jenna-Louise Coleman - who takes the mask to present at the ceremony, which was hosted by Graham Norton.


Overseas readers may find the above will not play, in which case they should try this version:



The BBC Four adaptation of Room At The Top, in which Coleman starred, won the mini-series BAFTA. Other winners with Doctor Who connections were: Olivia Colman - supporting actress and female performance in a comedy programme; Sheridan Smith (companion Lucie Miller to the Eighth Doctor in the Big Finish audio dramas) - leading actress; Last Tango In Halifax, starring Derek Jacobi, Anne Reid, Sarah Lancashire, and Sacha Dhawan - drama series; Twenty Twelve, starring Hugh Bonneville, Jessica Hynes, and Olivia Colman - situation comedy; and Game of Thrones, starring Iain Glen, Harry Lloyd, and Liam Cunningham - audience award.

A video of the guest panel at this month's BFI celebration of the Fifth Doctor's era is now available to watch.

As part of its Doctor Who At 50 season, the BFI screened The Caves of Androzani, which was followed by a question-and-answer session featuring actors Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton, Janet Fielding, and Matthew Waterhouse, as well as the story director Graeme Harper.


The event, held on Saturday 4th May, saw the discussion led by season co-curator Justin Johnson.

As reported last month, the next celebratory screening - marking the Sixth Doctor's era - will be The Two Doctors, taking place on Saturday 15th June at 2pm. Because demand for all the events has been so high, tickets are now being allocated via ballot.