Big Finish Productions has announced that its licence from BBC Worldwide to make original Doctor Who dramas on audio has been extended until 31st March 2020.

Executive producer Jason-Haigh Ellery said Executive producer Nicholas Briggs added:Line producer David Richardson gave some idea of future plansBig Finish Productions have been producing audio dramas based on the original Doctor Who series since 1999.

A new programme guide is to be published in April, picking up from where the originals left off in 1989 ...


The New Who Programme Guide will be available on Amazon from 3rd April 2015.

Also inside the new issue:

• Russell T Davies, the writer of the landmark first episode, Rose, and many other episodes since, looks back on his first Doctor Who script, and shares brand new information about bringing the Doctor back to our screens.
• DWM tracks down a guest star from each and every one of the ten Ninth Doctor adventures, including Camille Coduri (Jackie Tyler), Yasmin Bannerman (Jabe the Tree), Alan David (Gabriel Sneed), Alan Ruscoe (the Slitheen and other creatures), Barnaby Edwards (the Dalek), Bruno Langley (Adam Mitchell), Shaun Dingwall (Pete Tyler), Florence Hoath (Nancy), Annette Badland (Blon Fel-Fotch Passameer Day Slitheen) and Jo Joyner (Lynda 'with a Y' Moss).
• Doctor Who's first director of the modern era, Keith Boak, is interviewed, looking back on the making of Rose, Aliens of London and World War Three.
• Doctor Who's first ever director, Waris Hussein, concludes his look back over the epic lost adventure from 1964, Marco Polo.
• DWM pays tribute to 1980s director Fiona Cumming, who passed away earlier in the year.
• The Doctor and Clara visit Antarctica in Part One of Blood and Ice, a brand-new comic strip written by Jacqueline Rayner and illustrated by Martin Geraghty.
• Steven Moffat answers readers’ questions – and speculates about Osgood's family connections!
• Jacqueline Rayner reflects on what life would have been like if Doctor Who had never returned in Relative Dimensions.
• The DWM Review assesses the very latest Doctor Who audio and book releases.
• The Watcher reveals the connection between Doctor Who and Dr Carl Sagan, in the latest Wotcha!
• The DWM Crossword, prize-winning competitions, official news and much more!

Doctor Who Magazine 485 will be on general release from Thursday 2 April.

Peter Capaldi presents a special birthday surprise to children at the Doctor Who Experience, celebrating ten years since the series' return.

To mark the 10th anniversary of the transmission of Rose, Doctor Who: Legacy, has launched a new 8-bit pixelated adventure, Bigger on the Inside.

Thanks to Tiny Rebel Press, we can offer readers of Doctor Who News a special code for the 3rd Doctor's pixel costume. The code expires at the end of the weekend or after 10,000 claims.

It was ten years ago today, on the 26th March 2005, that Doctor Who was reborn, in a new century, with a new Doctor, for a new generation.

In 2005 the series had been absent from British television screens for most of the previous fifteen years. "Rested" in 1989, the series was a nostalgic memory to a generation who grew up in the 60's, 70's and 80's. To some it was remembered with derision, talk of shaky sets and implausible monsters was apparent when the series was mentioned. But to others it was remembered with great affection, engendering warm feelings of affection with memories of winter evenings spent in the company of childhood friends.

When the series was dropped from the schedules it had very few friends at the top of the BBC. The series was considered past it, had run its course, and was yesterday's news. Very few thought it would ever return. In 1996 an attempt was made to relaunch the series in America. The 90 minute TV movie made by Fox was reasonably well received, but not successful enough for the producers to commission further episodes. To many this was the final nail in the coffin. The series was dead, it would not return.

But things change and the TV landscape in 2003 was now a very different beast. The team at the top had changed and a new generation had taken over. TV was now being run by the people who had grown up with the first few Doctors. Those who remembered how exciting Saturday evening could be, when the good Doctor would battle enemies on a weekly basis, sandwiched between episodes of Basil Brush and The Generation Game. BBC One was now being run by Lorraine Heggessey, a self confessed fan of the series who had stated publically that she wanted the show back on her network. Many doubted it would happen, but on Friday 26th September 2003 it was confirmed. Doctor Who would return.

The man entrusted with the regeneration was Russell T Davies, whose was previously best known for the seminal Channel 4 series Queer as Folk, about gay life in Manchester. He was joined as Executive producer by Julie Gardner, who had just returned to the BBC to produce the David Tennant series Casanova, following a spell working with Davies at London Weekend Television. Also on the team was Mal Young, who was best known for producing the Channel 4 soap opera Brookside. Meanwhile Linda Green producer Phil Collinson was recruited to produce the series.

Once it was known the series was returning, speculation began on just who would play the enigmatic Time Lord. Paul McGann was a tipped contender, having played the Doctor in the 1996 TV Movie, while William Hill made Alan Davies the 8-to-1 favourite to win the role. Richard E. Grant was an option as was Sean Pertwee, son of the late third Doctor. The Fourth Doctor, Tom Baker announced to BBC London News that Eddie Izzard had won the role. According to the Telegraph Bill Nighy was the choice of Davies and had been offered the role, while the Daily Mirror said it was EastEnders actor Shane Richie. Colin Baker weighed in to recommend a female Doctor in the form of Dawn French.

On Friday 19 March 2004 it was announced that acclaimed actor Christopher Eccleston would take on the role, with Davies telling the press:
Two months later Eccleston was joined by Billie Piper who was cast as Rose Tyler. Piper was best known as the youngest artist ever to debut at number one in the UK singles chart. Over the next few months more respected actors joined the cast, Noel Clark would play Micky, Camille Coduri would play Rose's mother while even song and dance man John Barrowman was rumoured to have signed up.

Old monsters would also be returning, with a very public battle taking place over the use of the Daleks in the new series. An agreement was finally reached in August with the Terry Nation estate to allow the infamous pepper pots to meet the new Doctor.

The series launched on BBC One, in ablaze of publicity, on Saturday 26th March. Viewers were warmed up with a preview at 5.25pm when Doctor Who: A New Dimension gave a taste of the series. After Strictly Dance Fever with Graham Norton, the British public finally got to meet the new Doctor at 7pm, when Doctor Who: Rose was screened. A technical error a few minutes into the programme caused audio of Norton to be overlaid on the episode, much to the distress of the production team.

No one knew if it would succeed. There were many who thought it would fail. But succeed it did. Rose achieved 10.81 million viewers, the seventh most watched programme of the week. A new generation took the Doctor to their hearts and in the intervening years the series has grown into one of the BBC's most valuable assets.

Over the past ten years we have travelled with five new Doctors and enjoyed 97 stories across 117 episodes. The series is now made in specially built studios on Cardiff Bay. We have been to concerts, read books, enjoyed quiz shows and visited exhibitions based on the series. The reborn series celebrated its 50th Anniversary in 2013, with a massive convention in London, and a record breaking simultaneous transmission of the special anniversary episode was watched by millions around the world.

Series 9 is currently being filmed in Cardiff, the 35th since the series began.

The trip is not over, the adventure goes on...

Horror Channel has won the Design – General Image Programme Design Package award for their Doctor Who image campaign at the PromaxBDA Europe Awards 2015, which took place in Germany Thursday evening.

The iconic images and animations have been used to promote the show on Horror since it started broadcasting the series in April last year.


Doctor Who is shown daily on Horror Channel, and is available to watch on television in the United Kingdom via both Freeview (channel 70) and Freesat (channel 138), and on other subscription services. Episode details can be found via This Week in Doctor Who.

Ten years ago tonight, Christopher Eccleston undertook his only major inteview to promote the forthcoming new series of Doctor Who on The Jonathan Ross Show. The programme saw him reflect on being a fan of the original run, and how he came to be involved in this new, fresh production under the helm of Russell T Davies, and included an extensive trailer highlighting what was to come over the next few weeks.

However, our Moment in Time recalls Eccleston's surprise as, when discussing forthcoming merchandise to tie in with the show, Ross produces the prototype of a toy expected out for Christmas, and he comes comes face-to-face with a 10" version of himself as the Doctor ...

Milk VFX, Real SFX and BBC Wales VFX have been nominated for a 2015 BAFTA Craft Award for their work on Doctor Who.

The teams are nominated in the category Television Craft | Special, Visual & Graphic Effects in 2015. Other nominees are the teams from Atlantis, David Attenborough’s Conquest of the Skies 3D and Ripper Street.

Danny Hargreaves of RealSFX tweeted "Very proud of my team today"

Doctor Who won the award last year for the work on the fiftieth anniversary special, The Day of the Doctor.

The winners will be announced on Sunday 26 April at the Brewery in East London.

Brighton and Hove Council are asking members of the public to decide if one of the city's new buses should be named after former Doctor Who producer John Nathan Turner.

The south coast resort is to acquire 24 new Coaster Buses and has been asking for nominations for names for the new vehicles. Over 100 suggestions have been made so far and the council has selected 15 names to be revealed at a future date. The names for the remaining 9 buses will be selected by public vote, with former resident Nathan-Turner making one of the the short lists. Eight names are on the list and the most popular two will be given to one of the new buses.

Nathan Turner was producer of Doctor Who from 1980 until the show was cancelled in 1989. He is competing against a number of local dignitaries for the honour.

Voting can be done online. The closing date is Wednesday 25th at 12pm.