The 50th Anniversary features Matt Smith, David Tennant and a mysterious incarnation played by John Hurt. Only one appears in the mini episode, The Night Of The Doctor. But which?

I’m thrilled we’re going to celebrate this truly Welsh success story with the Radio Wales Doctor Who Day. Its return in 2005 marked the start of BBC Cymru Wales’ drama success story with programmes like Doctor Who now viewed by millions all over the world. It’s fitting therefore that we pay tribute not only to The Doctor but also to all those involved in making the series from our Roath Lock studios in Cardiff Bay. I’d say it’s one of the great Welsh success stories of recent years.

I still get mail from Doctor Who fans, I’ve got one letter which I’ve kept from a guy in New Zealand who said, ‘I’m not familiar with your repertoire - I don’t know what else you’ve done, but may I say you played the role of a newsreader very well,’ not knowing that it was my job at the time.

Doctor Who fans across Wales will get a unique opportunity to get up close to the Doctor's time machine and be part of our anniversary celebrations. Look out for it in a town near you.

These first episodes form an important part of the BBC’s celebrations of the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who and we don’t want to deny BBC viewers in the UK the opportunity to see them. We don’t believe that Mr Coburn’s claims should affect any planned programming.

Vinyl release

Side One:
1. Dr Who? (Time Waits For No Man)
2. Dr Who? (Radio)
3. Time Traveller (Radio)
4. Chain Reaction (Radio)
5. Funky Revolution (Radio)
6. Dark Star Angel (Radio)
7. UFO (Radio)

Side Two:
1. Dr Who? (Club)
2. Chain Reaction (Club)
3. Dark Star Angel (Club)
4. Dr Who? (Cosmic Remix) – a special remix for the BBC, made in 1984

The vinyl album has a gatefold sleeve telling the story of the making of the 1978 single, a poster, plus unpublished photos from the first Doctor Who convention in the USA, which was held in 1979 and for which a special pressing of the single was made.

CD release

1. Dr Who? (Time Waits For No Man)
2. Dr Who? (Radio)
3. Time Traveller (Radio)
4. Chain Reaction (Radio)
5. Funky Revolution (Radio)
6. Dark Star Angel (Radio)
7. UFO (Radio)
8. Dr Who? (Club)
9. Time Traveller (Club)
10. Chain Reaction (Club)
11. Funky Revolution (Club)
12. Dark Star Angel (Club)
13. UFO (Club)
14. Dr Who? (Cosmic Remix)

The CD will have the same information as the vinyl release.

So, on the Monday I think it was, we got the chart position of 25, and also the call that we had a place on Top Of The Pops. The golden prize! We would record two days later.

I called the musicians who had recorded Dr Who? and who I had named Mankind. Mark Stevens was available, so was Dave Green, but Graham Jarvis and Dave Christopher weren't. They may have been on tour with Cliff Richard.

My usual session drummer, Graham Hollingworth, was free and I called Paul Martinelli, the lead singer and guitarist from my old band Britania. He said yes, but he'd have to take a day off work.

In those days the Musicians' Union had strict rules about TV appearances. It was OK to mime but not to the original recording. I had to re-record the track using the same or replacement MU members. This was next to impossible. Although the musos were quite capable of recording the basic track in one take, Mark Stevens and I had spent days in the studio dubbing extra electronics: keyboards and synth tracks. There was no way we could do all that in a three-hour recording session!

I booked a studio and told the guys to be there early, certainly before the MU rep - who would oversee the session - arrived. You can probably guess that we were about to "pretend" to re-record the track. If the MU rep suspected anything there would be no Top Of The Pops.

Everybody turned up on time and took their places behind isolation booths. Everybody, that is, except for bass player Dave Green. The MU rep arrived and we started "recording". The MU rep stayed in the control room of course and he couldn't see all the musicians, so he was oblivious to the fact that we were one member short. I remember hitting the talkback button and giving instructions to the absent Dave. I was terrified! Any minute, Dave Green would walk into the control room and in his usual ebullient style say something like "OK, when do we start?"

I kept making my excuses to go outside. The MU rep must have thought I had a weak bladder! On one of these "trips to the loo" I encountered Dave bouncing up the stairs. Before he could say anything, I put my finger to my lips to say "Shhh". I whispered what was going on and told him to sneak into the studio and take his place. He was to mime to the track.

As luck would have it, we got away with it, and the band would now appear on Top Of The Pops.