The Horror Channel in the UK is to be broadcast on Freeview, allowing the majority of UK viewers to watch classic Doctor Who, without a subscription.

The Horror Channel has been showing old Doctor Who episodes since last Easter, but until now the channel has only been available on Sky, Virgin and Freesat. The new deal means that from Friday 13th March it will be available on channel number 70 on Freeview, available to over 90% of the population in 17 million homes.

Tanya Gugenheim, Chief Business Development Officer, AMC Networks International – Zone said:
The first story to be shown on Freeview will be the 1978 story The Stones of Blood.

A full list of stories can be found on our sister site This Week in Doctor Who.

Wednesday March 18 sees the release of Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor issue #6 by Robbie Morrison and art by Brian Williamson .

It was forty years today that the Doctor, Sarah and Harry were 'hijacked' from their return transmat to the Ark, pitched headlong into a 'final' battle between the inhabitants of Skaro, and discover exactly how the Doctor's most formidable foe came to be ...

Script editor Terrance Dicks often recounts the tale of how, faced with another "by-the-numbers" Dalek tale from Terry Nation, he and producer Barry Letts instead asked the writer to come up with a new storyline, suggesting an exploration of the origins of the Daleks. Taken on by the incoming team of Robert Holmes and Philip Hinchcliffe, the story was to become a darker tale in keeping with their new "house-style", and also a showcase story for new Doctor Tom Baker. Although criticised as overtly violent at the time by the National Viewers and Listeners Association ("tea-time brutality for tots"), Genesis of the Daleks is these days considered a great success and highly regarded in fandom - often topping polls as a favourite - and has been repeated some four times on the main BBC "terrestrial" television channels, more than any other Doctor Who story.

The first episode establishes that the Thals and Kaleds (which as the Doctor notes, is an anagram of ...) have been at war for so long that neither side remembers how it started, but both sides want it to end, with the Kaleds relying on the inventions of their scientific elite and its head, Davros. As the story progresses it transpires that the Daleks are mutants, a genetic experiment to determine the ultimate form of the Kaled race, and are used as weapons to wipe out the Thal enemy. But Davros's manipulation of emotions within the mutants and their conditioning to not accept any other as equal led to them wiping out the remaining Kaleds and ultimately their creator before he could stop them himself ...

Or did they? Over the last forty years we've seen Davros become a dominant part of Dalek history, from being 'resurrected' during their ongoing war against the Movellans, and again 'rescued' as they break him out of confinement. He's then seen to be engaged in creating a new race of Daleks on Necros, captured by the Daleks to be put on trial, and then revealed to have become the Emperor to a renegade Dalek faction. Through Big Finish we learned more about his own origins. Then, some twenty years after his previous appearance on television, he was back, now a veteran of the Great Time War between the Daleks and the Time Lords, and confronting the Doctor and indeed Sarah again. But as he and his creations were once again defeated, it looked as if he had finally perished in flames ... but did he? Time will tell ...


However, our Moment in Time for today occurs at the finale to Genesis of the Daleks episode one, where through the eyes of Sarah we first get to see this scientific genius, and discover what it is that he's created ...

The actor Hugh Walters has died at the age of 75.

Hugh Walters had three roles in Doctor Who. In 1965 he first made a cameo appearance as William Shakespeare in the First Doctor story The Chase, appearing on the Doctor's newly acquired Time and Space Visualiser.

He returned to the series in 1976 playing Commentator Runcible alongside Tom Baker, in two episodes of The Deadly Assassin. His final performance in the series came in 1985 when he played Vogal, the secretary and assistant to Eleanor Bron's Kara, in the Colin Baker story Revelation of the Daleks.

Walters had a long career in British television. His first major role was as Georgie in the fifth series of the ATV situation comedy The Larkins, appearing alongside David Kossoff and Peggy Mount. He played Smike in the 1968 BBC production of Nicholas Nickleby which starred Martin Jarvis in the title role.

In 1970 he played Wamba in the mini series Ivanhoe as well as regular roles in Sentimental Education and Never Say Die. He played Mr Winters in The Fenn Street Gang and Peter Pringle in The Train Now Standing. He played Vic Thatcher in two episodes of the original production of Terry Nation's Survivors.

In 1976 he took the role of Stifford in the ATV adaptation of Arnold Bennett's Clayhanger. He played Mr Little in the Channel 4 comedy drama Chance in a Million and Theo in Gems. In 2000 he portrayed Charles Hawtrey in the Carry On Docu-Drama Cor Blimey.

Other credits included Heartbeat, Rumpole of the Bailey, Z Cars, The Brittas Empire, The House of Eliott and regular appearances in The Russ Abbot Show.

Hugh Walters was born in 1939 in Mexborough in Yorkshire. He died in London last month.

The new edition of Doctor Who Magazine is out today, in which series lead writer Steven Moffat reflects on last year's series and tells DWM how the Doctor might change in the next season...


Also inside this issue:

• Paul McGann, the eighth Doctor, gives his opinion on Peter Capaldi's incarnation, and how it's changed how he thinks about the Doctor. Plus, an exclusive preview of the new Doctor Who audio series, Dark Eyes 4, including contributions from Alex Macqueen (the Master).
• Bonnie Langford, who played Mel – companion to the sixth and seventh Doctors – in the 1980s, recalls her turbulent time on the show.
• Doctor Who's very first director, Waris Hussein, continues his guide to the making of the classic 1964 adventure Marco Polo, with the help of unique documents unseen for more than 50 years.
• Discover fascinating new facts about the 1972 third Doctor adventure The Time Monster in The Fact of Fiction.
• In a special feature, the Watcher solves the mystery of when the Doctor was first revealed not to be human.
• There's trouble in storage for Doctor and Clara in Space Invaders!, a brand-new comic strip written by Mark Wright and illustrated by Mike Collins.
• Steven Moffat answer readers’ questions – and speculates about the return of the CyberBrig!
• The Time Team take a side-step to watch Peter Capaldi star in the dark Doctor Who spin-off, Torchwood: Children of Earth.
• Jacqueline Rayner reflects on fear and terror in Doctor Who in Relative Dimensions.
• The DWM Review assesses the very latest Doctor Who audio and book releases.
• The Watcher celebrates the man who played the Doctor, William Hartnell, in the latest Wotcha!
• The DWM Crossword, prize-winning competitions, official news and much more!

The 41st Annual Saturn Award nominations have been announced, and sees Doctor Who up for two awards for this year.

The show itself is listed in the Best Youth-Oriented Television Series category. Other nominations include The 100, Pretty Little Liars, Supernatural, Teen Wolf and The Vampire Diaries.

Jenna Coleman has also been nominated in the Best Supporting Actress in a Television Series category. Her competition is in the form of Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones), Caroline Dhavernas (Hannibal), Lexa Doig (Continuum), Emily Kinney (The Walking Dead) and Melissa McBride (also The Walking Dead).

The Saturn Awards are presented by the The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films, and will take place this year on 25th June 2015.


Previously, Doctor Who won Best Television in 1997, and Best International Series in 2008; in 2010 the spin-off series Torchwood: Children of Earth won the Best Presentation on Television category.

The latest circulation figures for publications have been released by the Audit Bureau of Circulations for the July to December 2014 period, revealing that Doctor Who Magazine has remained stable in its circulation (with only a slight dip of 0.4%), whilst Doctor Who Adventures has seen an improvement in its circulation of some 4.9%.

During the Jan-Jun period last year both publications had suffered in their circulations, with DWM decreasing by some 7% and DWA losing nearly a third of its readers - this period occured as the celebrations of the 50th Anniversary cooled off and no new Doctor Who on the horizon on television until the late Summer. However, breakdown by issues show that both publications saw a huge boost as the series returned (with August's figures for DWM and DWA showing 35,559 and 26,830 respectively). Figures dropped as the series progressed, but improved again by December for the Christmas Special. The full breakdowns can be found by clicking on the relevant linked publication certificate below.


Overall, the 2014 average for DWM shows that their readership has remained stable, with a less than 1% change; however, DWA has shorn some 22.6% of its readership compared to the previous year (the magazine has now switched from fortnightly to monthly so the next biannual report will reflect the less frequent publication).

DWM's editor, Tom Spilsbury, said:

Figures for January-June this year are expected to be released in August.

BBC Books are to publish an anthology of short stories on Thursday 5th March:


The book will be available in hardback and via e-book.

Lovarzi have released two officially-licensed Doctor Who Umbrellas, available to pre-order now.

The items are available from 10 March for £34.99 and can be pre-ordered now. Link to Time-Lord Umbrella. / Link to TARDIS Umbrella (UK Only)

Next Wednesday (March 4) sees the release of Doctor Who: The Eleventh Doctor issue #9 from Al Ewing and Boo Cook.