The full HD film version of Power of the Daleks - the semi-professional reimagining of Patrick Troughton's first adventure as the Doctor - has been made available to watch for free online.

First released episodically in three parts, it was then shown at conventions worldwide, premièring at a special charity convention in Fareham on 1st September 2012.

Lasting 52 minutes, it features Nick Scovell as the Doctor, with cast members also including Nicholas Briggs, Lisa Bowerman, and Barnaby Edwards in the reworking of the six-part adventure. Adapted and directed by Scovell, it was made by the Doctor Who enthusiasts behind the highly successful Portsmouth stage productions of The Web of Fear, Fury From The Deep, The Evil of the Daleks, and The Dalek Masterplan (the latter renamed from the original 12-parter), with support from TNT Films and music by Martin Johnson.

A video of highlights from the Fareham convention - where the guests included original story director Christopher Barry, actress Anneke Wills, who played companion Polly in the TV version, Briggs, and Edwards - has also been released.

The BFI has released an excerpt from the panel session that it recorded at last month's preview screening of An Adventure In Space and Time.

Director Terry McDonough, actors Sacha Dhawan and David Bradley, William Hartnell's granddaughter and biographer Jessica Carney, and the BBC Two drama's writer Mark Gatiss were the special guests discussing the production with journalist Matthew Sweet - who donned a Menoptra outfit for the drama - following its world première on Tuesday 12th November.

Although not available on the BFI's YouTube channel as yet, the ten-minute extract can be viewed on the organisation's video page.

UPDATE - TUESDAY 10th DECEMBER: The excerpt has now been uploaded to the BFI's YouTube channel:

The special guests for the BFI's final event in its Doctor Who At 50 season were announced today.

Taking place on Sunday 8th December and starting at 3.45pm, it will feature big-screen showings of
The Eleventh Hour and The Name of the Doctor, celebrating the current Doctor's era of the show as it approaches its end.

These will be followed by showrunner Steven Moffat, director Saul Metzstein, and actor Dan Starkey taking to the stage for the question-and-answer session.

Although a sell-out, stand-bys and returns are possible, so keep checking with the BFI.

Curated by Dick Fiddy and Justin Johnson, the year-long season has been phenomenally popular and has scored some impressive successes, including the first public showing of the colour-restored Third Doctor adventure The Mind of Evil, as well as the world première of the drama An Adventure In Space and Time.

UPDATE - MONDAY 9th DECEMBER: Mark Gatiss was a subsequent addition to the guest panel line-up, although this was not made public.

The 50th Anniversary Doctor Who convention, the Celebration is now under way, with the show taking over London's Excel Centre for some three days of panels, signings, and a host of other activities. The BBC have released a taster of the event this morning.



The Graham Norton show on BBC Radio 2 will be broadcast live from the Celebration tomorrow from 10:00am.

Screenwriter Terry Nation was being honoured today with the unveiling of a blue plaque at the house in Wales where he was born.

The event was due to take place at midday at 113 Fairwater Grove West, Llandaff, Cardiff, just a few miles from where Doctor Who is now made.

Organised by the Llandaff Society, its chairman, Geoffrey Barton-Greenwood, told the BBC that he met the Dalek creator while the latter had been visiting friends in the area after his move to Hollywood.

He said: Nation was born in 1930 near fellow writer Roald Dahl, and Barton-Greenwood suggested that he might have been playing with the name of "Dahl" when he came up with "Dalek".
Before he wrote for Doctor Who, Nation was a comedy writer and penned material for, among others, Tony Hancock. The comedian's nephew Tim Hancock, who now looks after the Nation estate, was due to unveil the plaque.

In May 2002, blue Heritage Foundation plaques to the memory of William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, and Jon Pertwee were unveiled at BBC TV Centre in London.

Doctor Who has been honoured with a reception at Buckingham Palace to mark the series' fiftieth anniversary.

The reception was attended by past Doctors Tom Baker and Peter Davison as well as the current incumbent Matt Smith and The War Doctor John Hurt.

Held at the official London residence and principal workplace of the British monarch, the reception was hosted by Sophie, Countess of Wessex, the daughter-in-law of the Queen.

Also attending were current showrunner Steven Moffat, today celebrating his 52nd birthday, and current companion Jenna Coleman. The event was held in the Bow Room of the Palace, which had been decked out with Daleks and a TARDIS in honour of the event.

Former companion Catherine Tate was also invited as well as senior members of BBC management including Director General Lord Hall and Director of Television Danny Cohen.

Also present were children from two Cardiff schools, Gladstone Primary and Mount Stuart Primary, who entered a local competition to design a Tardis for the Queen. One of the winners, Hafza Hassan, 10, had painted a gold-plated time machine with a Union flag door, while Emily Parnce, 11, had included a dog flap for the Queen's corgis and an illuminated crown on the roof.

The status of the last part of the Destiny of the Doctor series, The Time Machine, had been uncertain since the series publisher AudioGo entered administration last month; however, the series producers Big Finish have now announced that they will be releasing the final adventure on CD and download, completing the collection which kicked off in January with Hunters of Earth.


For more details, see the Big Finish website.

.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), writer John Richards (ABC1 sitcom Outland, Boxcutters podcast) and actress and singer Petra Elliot.

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 previous episodes are now available at www.splendidchaps.com or at iTunes.

Tickets are now on sale for their Christmas show! To see out this year of Doctor Who, the chaps look at all the Time Lord goodness that didn’t fit into the rest of the year, including not-quite-Doctors Peter Cushing and Richard E Grant, and spin-off K9 & Company. There’ll be special guests, songs from house band The Time Lads and a cardboard Dalek too.

This show will also be raising funds for the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC) and Medecins San Frontieres (MSF).

Space: The Bella Union, upstairs, Melbourne Trades Hall, corner of Lygon and Victoria Streets, Melbourne
Time: Sunday, December 15; doors open from 4:30 PM
Accessibility: This venue is wheelchair accessible; please contact the venue for lift access.
Tickets: $20 (including booking fee)
Bookings: via bellaunion.com.au online, or at the door (subject to availability)
Podcast: not yet available; released 23rd of December, 2013.

Today BBC Radio Four Extra begins a week of celebrations for the fiftieth anniversary of Doctor Who with a reading of the very first Doctor Who novelisation.

Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks was first published in 1964, adapted by the series' script editor David Whitaker from the first Dalek story written by Terry Nation. The story was republished by Target Books in 1973, kicking off the range which would introduce a generation of fans born in the sixties and seventies to the eras of the first and second Doctors.

The story, intended to work as a standalone, is told from the viewpoint of Ian Chesterton and has a very different meeting between the Doctor and his future companions than that of the television series.

The Audiogo recording is read by William Russell, who played Ian in the TV series. The broadcast begins at 1800 GMT on Saturday with the first two episodes. The full adaptation is broadcast between 0000 GMT and 0430 GMT on Sunday.

The broadcast kicks off a week of Doctor Who programming on the station. Radio Four Extra can be heard worldwide via the BBC Website.

• Sunday - Protect and Survive - 1800 GMT & 0000 GMT
In this drama the Seventh Doctor (played by Sylvester McCoy) and his young companions Hex and Ace are plunged into the late '80s, where history has gone terrifyingly wrong, with the world trembling on the brink of a final terrible war.
• Monday - Fanfare for the Common Men - 1800 GMT & 0000 GMT
A four-part drama featuring the Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison). The Doctor's young companion Nyssa is unfamiliar with the Earth's musical heritage, but in a trip back to the '60s the Beatles are nowhere to be seen and their role has been taken by the Common Men.
• Tuesday - A Thousand Tiny Wings - 1800 GMT & 0000 GMT
A full-cast audio drama in which the Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) arrives in a remote homestead during the period of Kenyan independence in December 1963 and is reunited with an old acquaintance – an ex-Nazi called Klein.
• Wednesday - Farewell Great Macedon - 1800 GMT & 0000 GMT
Based on an unproduced television script and brought to life through a combination of performance and narration. The original team of the First Doctor and companions Ian, Barbara and Susan step out from the TARDIS into the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and meet Alexander the Great.
• Thursday - Human Resources - 1800 GMT & 0000 GMT
A full-cast drama featuring the Eighth Doctor (played by Paul McGann). The two-part story explains the on-going mystery of Lucie Miller (Sheridan Smith), paired off with the Doctor in a witness protection programme.
• Friday - The Dalek Invasion of Earth - 1800 GMT & 0000 GMT
A reading by William Russell (Ian Chesterton in the original TV serial on which the story is based). This is one of the classic Doctor Who stories featuring the First Doctor and set in an occupied Britain.
• Saturday - Doctor Who special – Who Made Who - 0900 GMT & 1600 GMT
Tracy-Ann Oberman is the guide on a journey back to a time before Time Lords. Interviewees include Doctor Who writers Charlie Higson and Al Hennen and William Hartnell's grand-daughter Jessica Carney. Featured programmes include The Reunion, which gathers the original 1963 cast, and Whatever Happened to . . . Susan Foreman? which tries to solve the mystery of the Doctor's original travelling companion, his grand-daughter.
• Sunday - Lucie Miller - 0000 GMT
An Eighth Doctor adventure starring Paul McGann, Sheridan Smith and Graeme Garden.
• Monday - To the Death - 0000 GMT
The Time Lord calls on friends, family and the Monk to help overthrow the Dalek occupation of Earth. This Eighth Doctor adventure stars Paul McGann, Sheridan Smith and Graeme Garden.

The TARDIS is being taken on tour across Wales for a week as part of Doctor Who's 50th-anniversary celebrations.

The special event starts this weekend and will see the phone box appearing overnight at secret locations in eight towns and cities, with the exact spots revealed on the morning of each visit via #TARDIStourWales.

The tour culminates in Cardiff - where the series is made by BBC Cymru Wales - on the day that the special anniversary episode The Day of the Doctor is broadcast.

Brian Minchin, the series' co-executive producer, said: The tour itinerary is as follows:

• Saturday 16th November - Holyhead
• Sunday 17th November - Llandudno
• Monday 18th November - Wrexham
• Tuesday 19th November - Aberystwyth
• Wednesday 20th November - St Davids
• Thursday 21st November - Swansea
• Friday 22nd November - Newport
• Saturday 23rd November - Cardiff