Principal Photography for the Mark Gatiss drama exploring the creation of Doctor Who, An Adventure in Space and Time, kicked off on Sunday 3rd February, with the writer proclaiming: It begins!, executive producer Caroline Skinner exclaiming: "I am on set - in 1963!!! An Adventure in Space and Time begins..........", and producer Matt Strevens commenting: "Standing on the set, day 1. Very exciting.".

As previously reported, the show's first Doctor is being played by David Bradley (with producer Matt Strevens describing him as "what a lovely man he is. Being very gentle. He's going to blow people's socks off in this.") Another of the original cast, Carole Ann Ford as Susan, has now been confirmed to be played by newcomer Claudia Grant - as reported by the agency run by William Hartnell's real-life granddaughter Jessica Carney! The actors to play the roles of William Russell and Jacqueline Hill have yet to be announced.

The set in question mentioned by Strevens was the lobby of BBC Television Centre itself, which had been made up to resemble the BBC Club as seen in the iconic photograph of producer Verity Lambert alongside the original season cast.

Day One's filming was successfully completed, with the producer concluding: "That's day 1 of An Adventure' in the bag. A very good day, lovely vibe on set. Outdoors all day tomorrow. Winter draws on." Outdoors Monday turned out to be on Wimbledon Common, where a police box prop was spotted during the day.


Filming for Tuesday was reported as taking place on a residential street, Wilton Road in Merton, with further filming to take place inside a house made up to resemble a residence suitable for the 1960s.


Talking about the casting of David Bradley, Mark Gatiss told the Radio Times:
Though details of the scope of the drama have yet to be formally announced, actor Peter Purves suggested at last weekend's William Hartnell Years convention that the drama would focus on Verity Lambert's time as producer (which would also encompass the start of his time on the show). Talking about the drama itself, Mark Gatiss also told the Radio Times:

The second in Puffin's range of Doctor Who books to celebrate the 50th Anniversary has now been announced:

Michael Scott is the author of the Nicholas Flamel range of children's books, whose debut book in the series, The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel, made the New York best sellers list in 2007. The author said of his Doctor Who assignment:

A promotional video about Scott will be released by BBC Worldwide via their YouTube channel on Monday 11th February, and an extract from the book can be read via the Guardian. The e-book itself will be released on Saturday 23rd February on Amazon (UK/USA) and iTunes.

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.

Dark Bunny Tees have announced a new range of officially licensed t-shirts to tie in with Doctor Who's 50th Anniversary.

Owner Alex Chenery said:

Details on Dark Bunny Tees can be found via their website, Facebook, Twitter, and Blogger.

The BBC has announced that actor David Bradley will play William Hartnell in the upcoming docudrama An Adventure in Space and Time, detailing events leading to the creation of Doctor Who fifty years ago.

Bradley is best known for playing Hogwarts caretaker Argus Filch in the Harry Potter film series. He is also an established theatre actor with a career that includes a Laurence Olivier Award for a supporting role in a production of King Lear.

This won't be Bradley's first involvement with the worlds of Doctor Who. He played Solomon in last year's episode Dinosaurs on a Spaceship and provided a Shansheeth voice in the 2010 Sarah Jane Adventures story Death of the Doctor.

An Adventure in Space and Time will tell the story behind the creation of Doctor Who and the many personalities involved. The BBC’s Head of Drama Sydney Newman, credited with the creation of the show, will be portrayed by Shakespearean actor Brian Cox, who voiced the elder Ood in the 2009 Doctor Who episode The End of Time.

Doctor Who's first producer, Verity Lambert, will be played by Call the Midwife star Jessica Raine (shortly to appear in one of this year's episodes), while the director of the first serial, Waris Hussein, will be played by Sacha Dhawan, best known for his appearances in The History Boys and Last Tango In Halifax. (Some photos of Waris and Sacha together can be seen courtesy of the Radio Times.)

Commenting on his upcoming role, Bradley said:
The one-off 90-minute BBC Two drama has been written by Doctor Who writer and actor Mark Gatiss, who will also act as executive producer alongside Steven Moffat and Caroline Skinner. Gatiss said:

The readthrough for the drama took place yesterday, with Gatiss describing the day as "thrilling and moving". Filming starts at the beginning of February at BBC Television Centre before moving to Wimbledon Studios. It is being produced by Matt Strevens (Misfits, Skins) and directed by Terry McDonough (Breaking Bad, The Street).

The film is a co-production between BBC America and BBC Cymru Wales and will air both sides of the Atlantic in November, after being premièred at the BFI in London.

Diamond Comics, the main distributor for comic books in North America, has published a preview of the first issue of IDW's new Doctor Who comic, Doctor Who: Prisoners of Time. The first five pages of issue #1 can be read in PDF format here.

As previously reported, Doctor Who: Prisoners of Time is written by Scott and David Tipton. Each issue will feature each of the eleven Doctors in turn, with art by a different artist. The first issue's art is by Simon Fraser; the second issue, featuring the Second Doctor, will be illustrated by Lee Sullivan; Mike Collins will tackle the Third Doctor in the third issue, and the fourth issue will have art by Gary Erskine. Artists on the remaining issues have yet to be announced.

Interested readers can find interviews with both the Tiptons at Comic Book Resources, with Scott Tipton at Comic Book Therapy, and with Simon Fraser at downthetubes.net (though some readers may consider some of the promotional material in those interviews to be spoilers).

The first issue will be available in comic stores and via download at Comixology.com this Wednesday, January 30. North American readers who prefer their comics in old-fashioned paper-and-ink format can find their nearest comic store via the Comic Shop Locator.

The guest line-up for next month's celebratory screening of The Tomb of the Cybermen at the BFI Southbank was announced today.

The event, which takes place on Saturday 9th February at 2.30pm, will see seven people make up the Q&A panels. They are:

• Deborah Watling - companion Victoria in Tomb
• Anneke Wills - First and Second Doctor companion Polly
• Shirley Cooklin - Kaftan in Tomb
• Bernard Holley - Peter Haydon in Tomb
• Michael Kilgarriff - the Cyber Controller in Tomb and Attack of the Cybermen
• Michael Ferguson - director of stories during the First, Second, and Third Doctor eras
• Michael Troughton - Patrick Troughton's son and biographer

Part of the organisation's Doctor Who At 50 season to mark the show's milestone anniversary, it sold out to BFI members before tickets went on general release.

Throughout 2013, the BFI is showing a story per Doctor as well as digitally-restored prints of the two Dalek films. It will also be premièring An Adventure In Space And Time - a 90-minute BBC Two docudrama about the show's creation, written by Mark Gatiss, which is due to start shooting next month.

Marking the Third Doctor's era, the première of the colour-restored story The Mind of Evil plus a discussion takes place on Sunday 10th March at 2pm. Tickets will go on general sale on Tuesday 12th February at 11.30am. BFI members get priority booking plus discounts on ticket prices and are exempt from booking fees. An annual membership currently costs £30 - down from £40. This special offer expires at the end of February - click here for more details.

The British Film Institute have now made parts of the Q&A panel with guests at the screening of An Unearthly Child on 12th January available to watch via their YouTube channel.

The first, nine minute segment from before the story was shown features a chat with the story's vision mixer Clive Doig and special sounds creator Brian Hodgson, alongside writer/actor Mark Gatiss (writer of the 50th Anniversary drama An Adventure in Space and Time). The second, fifteen minute segment features a cast and crew discussion after the showing, with Waris Hussein (director), William Russell (Ian), Carole Ann Ford (Susan), Jeremy Young (Kal), Donald Tosh (writer/script editor), and William Hartnell's granddaughter Jessica Carney.



The next (sold out!) event takes place on 9th February with the Second Doctor celebrated by a showing of The Tomb of the Cybermen (guests to be announced).

BBC AudioGo have released details for next month's release in their 50th Anniversary special series Destiny of the Doctor. Shadow of Death is written by Simon Guerrier and set during the Second Doctor's era; it is performed by Frazer Hines (Second Doctor companion Jamie McCrimmon), with Evie Dawnay.

Silva Screen have announced plans for several classic television soundtracks to be released on CD over the course of the 50th Anniversary year.

The anniversary range will kick off on 25th March 2013 with the release of the original television soundtrack for the 1984 Fifth/Sixth Doctor regeneration story The Caves of Androzani, as composed by Roger Limb with the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.