Actor and script writer Mark Gatiss has confirmed that he has been commissioned to write two new Doctor Who episodes, but has clarified that they will not necessarily both be in the upcoming series.

Gatiss has previously written six episodes for the series (The Unquiet Dead; The Idiot's Lantern; Victory of the Daleks; Night Terrors; The Crimson Horror; Cold War) as well as the acclaimed drama based on the origins of the series, An Adventure In Space And Time.

Gatiss confirmed the news on Twitter after telling reporters in Brazil that he would be writing two episodes for new Doctor Peter Capaldi.

He recently told Digital Spy that Capaldi would have an "exciting and disturbing" debut in the series.

Fantom Publishing have released the final cover for their forthcoming second part of actress Mary Tamm's autobiography, due out in April.


The book will be available in paperback and limited edition hardback; full details are available from the Fantom Films website, as are for the her first autobiography, First Generation.

As one of the highest rated shows on television today, and with four (or five!) new Doctors under its belt, it's perhaps hard to imagine a time when Doctor Who was simply one of the thousands of series that had once flourished but ultimately been consigned to the great script book in the sky. But in the mid 2000s this was how the series was regarded by many, and the brave effort by the BBC to bring it back exactly nine years ago was very much a gamble - how would the 'old-school' fans receive it, and what would a 'modern' audience make of a time-traveller in a police box?

Of course, Doctor Who did have an advantage in that it was a show that was still remembered outside of its core fan base, the general public at large were aware of "Dr Who", his iconic TARDIS, and the Daleks. This helped to lend a sense of curiosity at what the new face behind the show, celebrated writer Russell T Davies, would do with the Doctor, who would be played by an established television and film actor in the form of Christopher Eccleston, not to mention the inclusion of the press-attraction of former teenage pop-star turned actress Billie Piper.

A teaser trailer on New Year's Day 2005 formally introduced the return to the general public, but it wasn't until March when the promotional gears were turned up to maximum with a host of trailers ("Do you want to come with me?") and programmes to build up interest in a way not witnessed again until the 50th Anniversary last year.

The three principal names appeared on a variety of news and magazine programmes in the lead-up to the premiere: Christopher Eccleston was a guest on the ever Who-friendly Blue Peter on the 21st March, and then came face-to-face with 'himself' on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross on the 25th; Billie Piper appeared on Parkinson on the 19th; and Russell "TV" Davies appeared on the Breakfast couch on the 11th, on BBC2 Wales's On Show on the 17th, and with Phil and Fern on This Morning on the 23rd. The press preview on the 8th March was covered widely in the media, and led to recorded interviews with the stars popping up on Breakfast and GMTV during that week. Special programmes during the period included: Matthew Sweet looking forward with a little trepidation on how the show's return would fit in culturally on The Culture Show on the 17th; Ian Rankin, Bonnie Greer and Professor John Carey discussing the series' merits on Newsnight Review on the 18th; and BBC Radio 2 presenting Project: Who? on the 22nd. Doctor Who wasn't the only programme on the way - Doctor Who Confidential was also to premiere at the weekend on BBC Three, and executive producer Mark Cossey chatted to Rufus Hound on the channel's Destination Three about what to expect from the behind-the-scenes series.


Then, suddenly, it's the 26th March. As the early evening inexorably approaches, appetites are whetted with a special preview (and countdown) in A New Dimension, an excruciating wait through Graham Norton's Strictly Dance Fever ... and then, at 7:00pm, the BBC One "Tap Dogs" ident commences, with the announcement fans have been waiting over fifteen years for:

45 minutes later and an unprecedented ten million viewers - and 43.2% of the audience - have watched Rose run to the TARDIS and off into adventures with the Doctor; the final figure rose to 10.81m (44.8%) and achieved seventh place in the TV charts, only beaten by the soap juggernauts Coronation Street and EastEnders. A week later, a further series has been commissioned (not to mention a new Doctor on the cards!), and the longevity of a modern Doctor Who is assured ...

Three Dalek gifts are being given away with the new edition of Doctor Who Adventures, published today.

Also in issue 342:

• Vote for your favourite Eleventh Doctor story
• Ood facts and how to make an Ood mask
• Sontaran Strax with his guide to the Doctor
• Facts about a Dalek invasion on television in 1964
• Win a huge bag of Doctor Who goodies - including sonic screwdrivers and mini-figures
• Cyberman secrets from Nightmare in Silver
• A comic strip featuring an unseen adventure with the Eleventh Doctor and Clara – and use the free app Blippar to bring the comic strip to life
• Posters and puzzles

The new issue of DWA is available until Tuesday 8th April.

Matthew Waterhouse makes his Big Finish debut as Adric this summer in The Fifth Doctor Box Set, reunited with Peter Davison, Janet Fielding and Sarah Sutton for two four-part audio adventures.

Waterhouse first played the role in 1980, joining the series just as the Fourth Doctor was completing his run, staying for 11 stories and 42 episodes.

Producer David Richardson saidThe Fifth Doctor Box Set is out in August.

The five discs include an hour-long documentary with interviews with the cast, in which Waterhouse talks about why he decided to return to Doctor Who.

The Doctor Who Appreciation Society is to present a special convention in June to celebrate the making of Doctor Who:
The event takes place on the 1st June, full details and ticket booking can be found via their website.

Competition:

We have a pair of tickets to the event up for grabs, courtesy of DWAS. In order to be in with a chance to win simply answer the following question:
Send your answer along with your name, address and where you heard about the competition to comp-mythmakers@doctorwhonews.net with the subject line "Mythmakers in Time and Space". Only one entry per postal address will be accepted. The competition is open to readers worldwide, and the closing date is 31st March 2014. If you are a winner and have already purchased tickets for the event, DWAS will refund them (up to two tickets only!).

The 50th Anniversary episode of Doctor Who has been nominated for a 2014 BAFTA Craft award.

The Day Of The Doctor has been nominated for Special, Visual and Graphic Effects with the nomination going to Milk VFX, Real SFX and The Model Unit for their work on the story.

Doctor Who has been nominated in the same category for the last seven years, but has lost out on each occasion. This year the full nominees are

Television Craft | Special, Visual & Graphic Effects in 2014
• David Attenborough’s Natural History Museum Alive 3D
ZooFido
• Doctor Who: The Day Of The Doctor
Milk VFX|Real SFX|The Model Unit
• Micro Monsters with David Attenborough: Predator
Robert HollingworthJonathan Watts
• Peaky Blinders
Blue BoltRushes

Danny Hargreaves of Real SFX said on twitterThe drama set during the making to the first years of Doctor Who, An Adventure in Space and Time is also nominated in three categories, for Costume Design, Make Up and Hair Design and in Editing Fiction.

Television Craft | Costume Design in 2014
• An Adventure in Space and Time
Suzanne Cave
• Da Vinci's Demons
Annie Symons
• Downton Abbey
Caroline McCall
• The Suspicions of Mr Whicher: The Murder in Angel Lane
Lucinda Wright

Television Craft | Make Up And Hair Design in 2014
• An Adventure in Space and Time
Vickie Lang
• Burton and Taylor
Lucy Cain
• Da Vinci's Demons
Jacqueline Fowler
• Death Comes to Pemberley
Loz Schiavo

Television Craft | Editing - Fiction in 2014
• An Adventure in Space and Time
Philip Kloss
• Broadchurch (Ep 8)
Mike Jones
• The Fall
Steve Singleton
• Top of the Lake (Ep 6)
Alexandre De Franceschi

Also earning a nomination this year is Doctor Who at the Proms 2013 which is nominated on the Entertainment Craft Team award.

Television Craft | Entertainment Craft Team in 2014
• Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway
Production Team
• Doctor Who at the Proms 2013
Bernie Davis, Eryl Ellis, Huw Thomas, Keith Ware
• Dynamo: Magician Impossible
Alex Hartman, Saul Gittens, Dan Evans, Amer Iqba
• Top Gear
James Hart, Dan James, Andy Hodges

The winners will be announced on Sunday 27 April 2014

Big Finish want to know your thoughts on the audio range and are offering a prize of £250 worth of Big Finish digital products to encourage people to take part in the BIG Survey.

There are 50 questions and the survey will take around 10-15 minutes. The answers are confidential. The survey will run until the end of March and one person will be selected at random, from all returns, to receive their choice of £250 worth of Big Finish digital products.

Click the link below to start the survey.

Survey

Christopher Eccleston has recorded an audio version of a short story by award-winning author Patrick Ness in aid of Read for RNIB Day.

The story, Now That You've Died, takes readers and listeners on an exhilarating journey into the afterlife. It was written by Ness especially for the Royal National Institute of Blind People, the leading UK charity helping blind and partially sighted people.

The story can be heard for free here. In return, listeners are asked to consider making a donation to RNIB to help make reading more accessible to blind and partially sighted people.

The RNIB Day campaign manager, Becca McRow, said:

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David Tennant is lending his voice to the upcoming Xbox One game Kinect Sports Rivals as the narrator.

The game is produced by British video game developer Rare. A video has been released which includes a behind-the-scenes interview with Tennant as well as footage of the recording sessions.

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Tom Baker has said he's thrilled that the classic Doctor Who series is to be screened in the UK on the Horror Channel, as reported here. The Horror Channel has completed a deal with BBC Worldwide to broadcast 30 stories from the classic series, which ran from 1963 to 1989, featuring the first seven Doctors, starting with William Hartnell and concluding with Sylvester McCoy.

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Sylvester McCoy, will be making an appearance at FantasyCon this July. The Con will be held in Salt Lake City, Utah. Tickets are now on sale.

Arthur Darvill has taken over the role of Guy in the West End production of Once the Musical.

The actor, who played Rory Williams in Doctor Who, took over the role on Monday when the production celebrated its first birthday in London's Phoenix Theatre. Darvill previously played the role on Broadway and will stay with the London production until 10th May.

Once the Musical is based on the 2006 film of the same name, written by Enda Walsh. It includes many of the songs, including the Academy Award-winning Falling Slowly performed by Darvill in the play. It tells the story of an Irish busker and a Czech girl who meet through a shared love of music. The original production won 8 Tony Awards in 2012 and the London one has been nominated for six Olivier Awards.

Doctor Who News was invited to a special preview on Wednesday afternoon when Darvill and the company performed a number of songs from the musical.


For more information on the production visit the official website or the Once the Musical Facebook page.