Gareth Roberts has revealed that he will be returning to the Doctor Who team this year. Issue 139 of Quench, a Cardiff student lifestyle magazine, features an interview with Roberts and reports that he is "currently working on the new Peter Capaldi episodes for Doctor Who Series 8". The whole interview can be found here.

Roberts has written five episodes for Doctor Who in the past: The Shakespeare Code, The Unicorn and the Wasp, Planet of the Dead, The Lodger and Closing Time, as well as writing a number of episodes for spin-off series The Sarah Jane Adventures. Outside the Whoniverse, his other writing credits include Wizards vs Aliens and Emmerdale.

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Gareth Roberts is currently the fourth writer confirmed for Peter Capaldi's debut season, joining Steven Moffat, Mark Gatiss and Neil Cross.

Director Douglas Mackinnon has today announced on Twitter that he will be returning to Doctor Who for series eight in 2014, the first to star Peter Capaldi as the Doctor.

Mackinnon - who previously helmed The Sontaran Stratagem and The Poison Sky  for series four in 2008, and The Power of Three and Cold War for 2012-13's series seven - also confirmed that he will be directing two episodes of series eight. He begins pre-production work on his episodes on Monday, with actual shooting taking place next year.

As part of the annual fundraising effort for the BBC Children in Need Appeal, a set visit to watch a day's production on the first episode of the next series of Doctor Who has appeared in the charity's set of e-bay auctions.

The auction, which is open until 9.17pm on Sunday 17th November, offers the winner the following:


Doctor Who has had a long association with the BBC's annual Children in Need campaign, particularly on the night of the main BBC One telethon. The Five Doctors had its début UK broadcast as part of Children in Need in 1983, and since then various events, special episodes and previews have been associated with the campaign during November.

The BBC's official Doctor Who website has announced that acclaimed British film director Ben Wheatley is to helm the opening two episodes of series eight in 2014. This means that Wheatley will be in the chair for the first episodes to star Peter Capaldi, ushering in the era of the Twelfth Doctor.

Wheatley began his career creating short films and animations and internet "virals." He then moved into television, working on comedy programmes such as BBC Three's Ideal (written by Big Finish actor and author Graham Duff). His debut feature film, Down Terrace, was made in just eight days in 2009, and he has followed this with the features Kill List (2010), Sightseers (2012), A Field in England (2013) and the forthcoming Freakshift, a $15 million American film. He is also working on a science-fiction drama series called Silk Road for the American cable network HBO.

Wheatley, who will be one of the most high-profile directors ever to have worked on Doctor Who, told the BBC:
News of the hiring of  Wheatley has generated some excitement online, with the website Den of Geek describing him as "...one of British cinema's best working directors. Throw in the Peter Capaldi factor, and this is, in our humble view, quite brilliant news."

Meanwhile, it has also emerged that the novelist and screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce is working on a script for a potential future episode of Doctor Who, having been put in touch with the production team by former showrunner Russell T Davies. Boyce, who worked with Davies on the Granada Television drama series Springhill in the mid-1990s, broke the news of his involvement with Doctor Who in response to a question at a BBC Writersroom event at the Manchester Literature Festival last week.

Boyce was a writer for the Granada soap opera Coronation Street early in his career, and later wrote the screenplays for several films by the award-winning director Michael Winterbottom, including 24 Hour Party People (featuring Christopher Eccleston). He is also an acclaimed author of children's fiction, having won the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Prize, and the writer of official sequels to Ian Fleming's Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. In 2012, Boyce worked closely in collaboration with director Danny Boyle to write the script for the opening ceremony of the London Olympic Games, which received worldwide praise.

It is unknown yet whether Boyce's script is to be part of series eight in 2014, or a later run, or whether it will eventually appear at all.

Jenna-Louise Coleman was one of the people honoured to speak to the Queen during a visit by the Monarch to the BBC's new Broadcasting House, which she officially opened today. After passing by the resident Dalek, the Queen was then introduced to the actress - next to the TARDIS!

Coleman later spoke to BBC News about her experience:
And did she ask who the next Doctor might be?
The full interview with BBC News can be watched in the United Kingdom via their website.

The BBC has officially confirmed that Doctor Who has been re-commissioned for a new series, the eighth since the series returned in 2005 and the Thirty Fourth since the series began in 1963.

The official website has revealed that the show’s lead writer and executive producer, Steven Moffat, is already working on the new series and plotting a new run of adventures for the Doctor. The series is expected to start filming at the end of 2013 or beginning of 2014 which suggests a transmission date of Autumn 2014.

The website also looks ahead to the 50th Anniversary later this year and promises big plans are being put in place that will well and truly celebrate the Doctor’s half-centenary.