Episode One of the animated Power of the Daleks has been released on the BBC Store, exactly 50 years after it was first seen in the UK.

Viewers in the UK can download the episode for £1.89SD or £2.49HD or buy a season pass which gives access to all six episodes for £9.99SD and 12.99HD. Episodes are being released on a daily basis, although some BBC Store users have reported they already have access to all six.

The first three minutes of the episode were live streamed on the Periscope service earlier today. Viewers who missed it can unlock the video by going to the BBC Store twitter account



The first three episodes of the story were premiered at the National Film Theatre in London on Saturday afternoon, although disappointingly in mono rather than the remixed 5.1 sound so lovingly created by Mark Ayres. A packed audience included many who worked on the animation as well as members of the original production team from 1966, including designer Derek Dodd, actress Anneke Wills and runner and future Doctor Who director Graeme Harper, who at the time he worked on Power of the Daleks was just three weeks into his BBC Career.

Actor Frazer Hines, superfan and comedian Frank Skinner and current showrunner Steven Moffat all shared their memories of working with and watching Patrick Troughton.

Also in the audience was Grahame Strong, the man who made the recreation possible, by recording the sound from his TV on his domestic tape recorder as the story was being broadcast, thereby preserving the soundtrack when the rest of the episode was destroyed.

Some of the process of the animation was explained by project Director Charles Norton. The team had roughly 6 months to complete all six episodes, an incredibly tight framework, with the final episodes only completed last Wednesday. He decided to make the story in 16:9 rather than the original 4:3 as most people now watch on widescreen TV's and if it had been made in 4:3 most would be watching the animation stretched to fit the screen.

Norton said he had fought hard for the animation to be made in Black and White as he felt it enhanced the story and gave a far more accurate rendition of the original product, something accepted by BBC Worldwide. The idea to colour the episodes came later from BBC America and is being done in Canada by a completely separate team. As far as BBC Worldwide is concerned the definitive edition for the UK market is the Black and White edition.

Those who do wish to see the Colour version can download it from the BBC Store at the end of the year, or buy the Blu-Ray in February, which will contain both versions.

In the USA the story will be screened weekly on BBC America starting on November 19. This is in addition to a number of movie theatre screenings on November 14. BBC America will make the colour version available exclusively on their digital platforms towards the end of November. and from January 24, 2017 both versions of the story will be available on DVD.

The story will also be screened at selected theatres in Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

It was fifty years ago today, on Saturday 5th November 1966, that we welcomed Patrick Troughton to the role of The Doctor.

The signing of Patrick Troughton was a major coup for the production team. At the time he was one of the best-known actors on British Television, having worked in the medium ever since it restarted after the second World War.

Troughton was born in North London in 1920, the son of a solicitor. His first acting role was at Mill Hill school, later attending the Embassy School of Acting studying under Eileen Thorndike. He won a scholarship to the Leighton Rallius Studios at the John Drew Memorial Theatre on Long Island in New York City.

His acting career was interrupted by war and the ship returning him to England sunk after hitting a mine in the English channel, forcing him to escape by lifeboat. Not put off by the sea he joined the Royal Navy serving with Royal Naval Reserve, earning the 1939-45 Star and the Atlantic Star as well as being mentioned in dispatches. Troughton made his Television debut in 1947, playing the young Thomas Culpepper in the play The Rose Without a Thorn, a production which starred Richard Hurndall, another actor who would inherit the role of the First Doctor. He found himself particularly suited to Television, where all drama was transmitted live. He relished the large audience the medium could reach, and the majority of his career would now focus on Television and to a lesser extent movies.

He was prolific in the medium appearing The Invisible Man, The Old Curiosity Shop, Kidnapped, The Count of Monte Cristo, Ivanhoe, Dial 999, Danger Man, Maigret, Compact, The Scarlet Pimpernel, The Third Man, Crane, Detective, Sherlock Holmes, No Hiding Place, The Saint, Armchair Theatre, The Wednesday Play, Z-Cars, Adam Adamant Lives!, A Tale of Two Cities, Smuggler's Bay, The Splendid Spur, The Naked Lady, The Scarf, The Rebel Heiress, Benbow and the Angels, Clementina, The Royalty and Softly, Softly. In 1953 he became Television's first Robin Hood, becoming a tea-time favorite for the nation's children and in 1960 made a huge impression on Sunday afternoons as Paul of Tarsus.

Dispite his huge body of work, Troughton was not the only choice, or indeed the first choice to take over from Hartnell. Brian Blessed, fresh from a leading role in police drama Z-Cars was offered the role, but declined because of scheduling conflicts. Rupert Davies, Valentine Dyall and Michael Hordern were all approached but none wanted to commit to a long-running series.

Troughton was offered the role in June 1966, while working on the Hammer film The Viking Queen. He had doubts about accepting. He himself was a fan of Doctor Who, and had watched every single Hartnell episode. But he thought the series had probably run its course. Troughton was eventually persuaded to take the role and signed the contract for 22 episodes on 2nd August. He initially had the idea of playing the character in heavy make-up, in order to prevent being type-cast, but the look eventually settled on was that of the cosmic hobo. The characterisation was worked out between Troughton and script editor Gerry Davis, who explained. Troughton would hold the role for three years. His success would guarantee the series longevity, and Troughtons place in the Television hall of fame.

Lovarzi, the UK’s leading online scarves shop, is launching two new Doctor Who licensed products in time for Christmas, with a special offer of a 15% discount for members of their VIP Fan Club.

To celebrate the return of Doctor Who on Christmas Day, Lovarzi is releasing a TARDIS and Daleks Christmas Scarf, and a knitted Hat with the same exclusive pattern. Both scarf and hat are made from 100% premium quality Acrylic.

Lovarzi launched their officially-licensed Doctor Who range in 2012 with the bestselling Fourth Doctor Scarf. Further releases include the Fifth Doctor Sweater, The Pandorica Opens Scarf, and TARDIS Folding Umbrella.

Maninder Singh Sahota, Director of Lovarzi, says The 15% discount is only valid for this weekend. You can sign up to the Fan Club for free on the Lovarzi website, and as soon as you signup you will get code to get 15% discount. All existing members will get an email with a discount code. Fans will also be the first to be notified of upcoming products and from 2017 Lovarzi is planning to give free Doctor Who goodies to members of the Doctor Who Fan Club.

The TARDIS and Daleks Christmas Scarf (30 x 190cm), priced £19.99, and Christmas Hat (RRP £14.99) are available to order now via the company website.

BBC Worldwide has announced that first three minutes of the animated Power of the Daleks will be premiered live on twitter via Periscope this Saturday.

The original transmission of the episode took place on BBC 1 at 5.50pm on Saturday 5th November 1966. The animated reconstruction will be live streamed exactly 50 years after that first broadcast at 5.50pm on Saturday 5th November 2016. The twitter feed will be available globally.

Fans in the UK will then be able to access the entire first episode on BBC Store from 5.50pm on Saturday, with the remaining five episodes being released 1 per day over the following five days. The DVD will be released in the UK on Monday 21st November.

Jonathan Green, Director of BBC Store says
Rhidian Bragg Head of Sales, Consumer Products, BBC Worldwide added
Georgina Parnell, Head of Entertainment Partnerships, Twitter said
The Power of the Daleks has been lost since its one broadcast on BBC One. The animated reconstruction has been masterminded by Charles Norton, working with Martin Geraghly and Adrian Salmon who did the character designs. The team was responsible for the successful animation of a lost Dad's Army episode A Stripe for Frazer, which was released on BBC Store earlier this year.

The work has been intense for Norton, with work on the final two episodes completed earlier this week. The project was helped by the existence of a complete set of Studio camera scripts, which detail the exact framing for each shot used in the original recording. He described the project as challenging, with instructions such as The Doctor does a little jig, being very difficult to recreate in animation, particularly with a character wearing checked trousers. For sequences pre-filmed at Ealing studios there was no camera script available and the animation team had to improvise far more.

The sound has been restored by Mark Ayres, who had access to the original music sessions and sound effect recordings which still exist on quarter inch tape, and was able to create both a stereo and a 5.1 mix for the animated version.

One of the stars of the story, Anneke Wills who played Polly, saw the first two episodes for the first time at a press screening on Thursday. Although Wills has recorded a commentary for the story, it was done viewing an incomplete print. On viewing the completed episodes she declared herself thrilled with the result. She particularly relished Patrick Troughton's vocal performance which she said shines through from the very start.

The BBC have also announced that a colour version of the story will be available on BBC Store in the UK from 31st December 2016 and also on a Special Edition Bluray available from 6th February 2017.

Although the BBC Store is not available in the US, the story will be screened weekly on BBC America starting on November 19. This is in addition to a number of movie theatre screenings on November 14. BBC America will make the colour version available exclusively on their digital platforms towards the end of November. and from January 24, 2017 the story will be available on DVD exclusively at Barnes & Noble, this includes the colour version.

The story will also be screened at selected theatres in Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

BBC Worldwide said today that there are no current plans to animate any other missing Doctor Who stories, but, if Power of the Daleks sells well, it is an option they would certanly consider.

The BBC have announced that a colour version of the animated story The Power of the Daleks is to be released at the end of the year.

The Black and White version is being released this weekend on BBC Store, with a DVD release coming on 21 November. It is now confirmed that a colour version will be released on BBC Store on 31st December followed by a Special Edition Bluray, containing both the Black and White and Colour versions, from 6th February 2017.

BBC America is screening the Black and White version weekly from November 19, and will make the colour version available exclusively on their digital platforms towards the end of November. From January 24, 2017 both versions of the story will be available on a Region 1 DVD, exclusively at Barnes & Noble.

As in previous years, the BBC's annual charity fundraising evening for Children in Need will feature an item relating to the forthcoming Doctor Who Christmas Special.

This year this will take the form of an exclusive clip from The Return of Doctor Mysterio:

This year's Children in Need takes place in the evening of Friday 18th November.

Doctor Who historian David J Howe has launched a project to raise money for the establishment of a Doctor Who Merchandise Museum.

Since the seventies, David J Howe has been collecting merchandise, magazines, original costumes, artwork and props and now arguably holds the biggest collection of 'Doctor Who' merchandise and memorabilia in the world. His dream is to launch a museum in which to display and share his collection.

Howe already has premises just outside Sleaford in Lincolnshire, but now needs to raise money via an Indiegogo fundraiser to equip and display the items in the museum. Howe aims to be able to launch the Museum in the summer of 2018. As part of the fundraising there are a number of perks which people can buy, which include: exclusive invitations to the Launch Day, private dinners with Howe and his wife, the novelist Sam Stone; dinner with Doctor Who actor Frazer Hines; and lunch with Star Trek's Chase Masterson in LA. Other perks include special signed proof pages from one of Howe's books and bundles of goodies donated by Doctor Who Author Richard Dinnick. The Indiegogo runs until the end of the year, and full details can be found online

David Tennant is to return to the London stage, appearing in a production of Patrick Marber’s play Don Juan in Soho.

The play, an updated version of the classic Molière comedy, will be staged at London's Wyndham’s theatre next spring.

Tennant's previous outing in the West End was also at Wyndham’s theatre when he starred in the 2011 production of Much Ado About Nothing, alongside Catherine Tate.

Don Juan in Soho originally premiered at the Donmar Warehouse theatre in London in 2006, when it starred Rhys Ifans as the lordly Don Juan.

Panini have announced the latest in their ongoing Doctor Who Essentials series of special magazines:


The Essential Doctor Who: Invasions of Earth is on sale now at WH Smith and all good newsagents.

The BBC have released a new set of pictures from the fourth episode of Class, Co-Owner Of A Lonely Heart.

The episode is released on BBC Three next Saturday, after which it will be released around the world. Full Details