The Australian broadcaster ABC announced today that it will be joining in with the global simulcast of The Day of the Doctor by screening it on ABC1 at 6.50am Australian Eastern Daylight Time on Sunday 24th November, with a repeat later the same day at 7.30pm.

It will be joining more than 75 countries around the world in showing the 50th-anniversary episode at the same time.

Local time of broadcast in capital cities:

• Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart, Canberra - 6.50am
• Adelaide - 6.20am
• Brisbane - 5.50am
• Darwin - 5.20am
• Perth - 3.50am

As previously reported, ABC1's primetime evening repeat of the adventure will then be followed at 8.45pm by the drama An Adventure In Space And Time, exploring the genesis of Doctor Who.

.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) and writer John Richards (ABC1 sitcom Outland, Boxcutters podcast).

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.

Thanks to the generous support of their listeners in Sydney and beyond, the Splendid Chaps are hitting the road and materialising in Glebe to stop talking about our heroes and instead think about those not-so-splendid chaps (and, er…things?), the monsters and villains of Doctor Who!

Daleks, Sontarans, Cybermen, the Silence, Silurians, Quarks… The Doctor’s monsters sometimes seem to be physical manifestations of humanity’s fears. Is it the creatures we find so terrifying, or what they represent – and what do they represent? The Chaps will celebrate the baddest of the bad, as well as those whose galactic domination has been less than completely successful.

Then there are the less literal, more human monsters: the Master, Davros, Lady Cassandra… Are they all thoroughly evil, or do they have more subtle motivations? What makes a good Doctor Who villain tick? Are they better than inhuman monsters, or is it best when they work hand in hand? They’re often some of the best fun to be had in a story, so let's embrace the dark side!

Ben, John and Petra Elliott will be joined by writer and comedian Alice Fraser (FBi Radio, NewsLab), and actor and presenter Steven “Bajo” O’Donnell (ABC2′s Good Game, ABC3′s Good Game: Spawn Point) to talk about the people and things we love to hate. Plus prizes, surprises, loveliness and a live musical performance of a lost Doctor Who classic tune from Keira “LadyNerd” Daley and Catriona Wimberley!

Space: upstairs, The Roxbury Hotel, 182 St Johns Road, Glebe, Sydney
Time: Saturday, November 30 2013, 5:00 PM
Accessibility: Splendid Chaps regret that this venue is not wheelchair accessible.
Tickets: $25
Bookings: via trybooking.com or at the door (if seats available)
Podcast: TBA.

BBC One programme introductions may be subject to interruptions by the Doctor, as witnessed this evening on the channel when he popped up before Strictly Come Dancing! The BBC have now made a clean version of that ident available to watch:



The 'interruption' was preceded by the broadcast of the 40 second version of The Day of The Doctor trailer, as released by the BBC yesterday.

As part of the annual fundraising effort for the BBC Children in Need Appeal, a set visit to watch a day's production on the first episode of the next series of Doctor Who has appeared in the charity's set of e-bay auctions.

The auction, which is open until 9.17pm on Sunday 17th November, offers the winner the following:


Doctor Who has had a long association with the BBC's annual Children in Need campaign, particularly on the night of the main BBC One telethon. The Five Doctors had its début UK broadcast as part of Children in Need in 1983, and since then various events, special episodes and previews have been associated with the campaign during November.

The BBC is being challenged over the ownership of the copyright of the TARDIS, by the son of the author of the first Doctor Who story, Anthony Coburn.

Stef Coburn is claiming that his father created the TARDIS, seen in the very first episode of Doctor Who, An Unearthly Child, shown on 23 November 1963. He claims that he remembers his father getting the inspiration for the TARDIS during a walk on Wimbledon common. He believes the BBC is failing to give his father "the public recognition that should by rights always have been his due" for inventing the Tardis.

Anthony Coburn was a staff writer for the BBC when he was commissioned to produce scripts for the proposed new science fiction series. He inherited a concept for the show which had been produced by script writer Cecil Edwin Webber in which much of the structure of the programme had already been defined. In the original document the spaceship is described as something "humdrum, say, .... such as a night-watchman's shelter"

Stef Coburn's case is that any informal permission his father gave the BBC to use his work expired with his death in 1977 and the copyright of all of his ideas passed to his widow, Joan. Earlier this year she passed it on to him. He told the Independent
Coburn had demanded that the corporation either stop using the TARDIS in Doctor Who, or pay his family for its every use since his father's death. The BBC says it is looking into the complaint. A repeat run of a restored version of the very first story, An Unearthly Child, was announced in September, but then removed from schedules 'pending the resolution of issues'. The BBC have yet to confirm these issues have been resolved.

This is not the first time the BBC has been involved in litigation over the TARDIS. In 1998 the London Metropolitan Police argued it should own the trade mark of blue box, objecting to the BBC using the image of the TARDIS on comics, T-shirts, videos and other merchandise. The Police force lost the case, following appeal, in 2002, and was ordered to pay £850 plus legal costs to the BBC.

An extended trailer for The Day of the Doctor was broadcast on BBC One tonight, airing between Strictly Come Dancing and Atlantis at around 8:00pm.

As Doctor Who begins to 'take over' television in the final fortnight before the 50th Anniversary weekend, viewers can have fun watching out for 'cameo' appearances in other BBC One programmes, for example the TARDIS parked innocuously on the desk during The Graham Norton Show on last night.


See how many you can spot!
(note: Chris Johnson's desk on the CBBC programme links does not count!)

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Graham Norton will serve up a more substantial slice of Doctor Who on the 22nd November when he hosts two Doctors on his sofa: both Matt Smith and David Tennant will be guests on the show to promote The Day of The Doctor broadcast the following day. Other guests on the show will be Emma Thompson, Robbie Williams and Jimmy Carr.

The programme will also be shown on BBC America on the 23rd November from 10:00pm.

The BBC have now released the first full trailer for Doctor Who's 50th Anniversary story, The Day of the Doctor:




The official BBC website also reports that a second trailer will be released tomorrow (Sunday); this trailer has been seen in various forms at industry events, but will now be presented in its finished form, complete with special effects.

The BBC Shop has unveiled their exclusive t-shirt to celebrate the recovery of The Web of Fear, available to pre-order online; both it and the design for The Enemy of the World can be purchased individually or as a bundle with their respective story's limited edition DVD release.

The Web of Fear

The Enemy of the World

BBC Three has announced it will host a celebration show, Doctor Who Live: The Afterparty directly after the BBC One screening of The Day of the Doctor.

No details are yet available on the content or the guests on the programme.