AudioGo's ongoing celebration of 50 Years of Doctor Who reaches the Ninth Doctor in September, with he, Rose and Jack entering the Night of the Whisper in the Destiny of the Doctor series. Meanwhile, the Sixth Doctor finds himself on trial for his lives in The Trial of a Time Lord in the latest Target novelisation adaptations, whilst the soundtrack of six adventures with the First Doctor are released in a collected edition.

The 2013 Doctor Who Prom was watched by 1.2 million viewers, according to unofficial overnight viewing figures.

The show, broadcast on BBC One yesterday afternoon, had a share of 13.3% of the total television audience. The audience built throughout the 75 minute programme, peaking at 1.6 million for the final quarter hour. It won the timeslot beating The Incredible Hulk on ITV, which had 0.9 million watching.

Christopher Eccleston has paid tribute to Doctor Who in a special message read out to the audience at the British Film Institute's retrospective of the Ninth Doctor's era.

The event is the latest in the BFI's year long celebration of Doctor Who, looking back at each era of the programme. The Ninth Doctor event, held yesterday in London featured a screening of the final Eccleston story Bad Wolf/The Parting of The Ways

The event panel included director Joe Ahearne, producer Phil Collinson and actor Bruno Langley. Although Eccleston did not attend, he sent a written message which was read by BFI host Justin Johnson. The BFI has also confirmed that both David Tennant and Paul McGann will appear live on stage for the look back at their retrospective eras as The Doctor.

The Tenth Doctor event on Sunday 29th September will include a screening of the Series 4 two-part finale The Stolen Earth/Journey's End, while the Eighth Doctor screening of the TV Movie will be held on Saturday 5th October.

The Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular is coming to New Zealand for the first time. The special event will open the 2014 New Zealand Festival in Wellington.

Touring with a new show based on the recent Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Proms, the Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular will play three performances at Wellington’s TSB Bank Arena on 21 and 22 February 2014.

This will be the first time the show has been put on for New Zealand audiences. When the 2014 Australian performances were previously announced it was speculated that the show might also come to New Zealand.

The music will be performed by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. During the show there will be live appearances in the aisles by monsters from the series, and specially edited sequences featuring the Eleventh Doctor played by Matt Smith will play on the big screen.

New Zealand Festival Artistic Director Shelagh Magadza said:
New Zealand Symphony Orchestra Head of Artistic Programming Melissa King said:
Helen Pendlebury, Head of Commercial, Entertainment and Children’s Brands, BBC Worldwide Australia & New Zealand commented:

Tickets go on sale to the General Public on 30 August 2013 with pre-sales available from 26 August 2013 from ticketek.co.nz.

Sunday 25th August sees the broadcast of four more instalments in the Doctor Who: The Doctors Revisited series of specials on Australian and New Zealand television - and one of these episodes will be a world premiere. These specials are part of the 50th Anniversary season of Doctor Who on the UKTV Australia and UKTV New Zealand channels.

The Doctors Revisited specials will screen in a two hour block of four episodes, covering the first four Doctors. They screen in Australia at 4:25pm and in New Zealand at 4:40pm, with a New Zealand repeat screening at 3:45am on Monday 26th August.

New Zealand has the honour of being the first in the world to screen Episode 8 in this series, covering Paul McGann's eighth Doctor. Doctor Who Revisited is usually first screened on BBC America, but this particular episode is due to be broadcast in the United States on 31st August.

UKTV describes the specials as follows:

Episode 5:
The Fifth Doctor introduced viewers to a character who was fresh faced, youthful and more vulnerable than we had seen before. Doctor Who Revisited takes a close look at a TARDIS that was bursting at the seams with a range of different companions, and examines one of the most dramatic departures from the series to date. We also look at the return of two popular foes, the emotionless Cybermen and the ever-deceitful Master.

Episode 6:
As Doctor number six colourfully generated onto our screens in a patchwork blast of colour he brought with him his own sense of style and character. Featuring Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant join The Doctors Revisited as we unveil the compassionate side of the Doctor, his attempts at Tardis maintainence and introduce Sil the galaxies most slippery business man!

Episode 7:
The seventh doctor crashed onto our screens, clowned around in a question-marked tank top and juggled his way around foes. Join The Doctors Revisited as we examine the darker side of this Doctor and take a look at some of his surreal adventures. Featuring interviews with Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred, we look at the Doctor's modern day companion Ace and his most scientific foe The Rani.

Episode 8:
Celebrate the uniqueness of the Eighth Doctor, Paul McGann, who appeared in the Doctor Who TV movie in 1996 to fight a new incarnation of his oldest nemesis, the Master. Featuring Steven Moffat and Daphne Ashbrook.

The specials were originally made for BBC America, where they are presented in conjunction with screenings of stories including Earthshock, Vengeance on Varos, Remembrance of the Daleks, Doctor Who (The Movie). All four stories have previously screened on UKTV as part of the 50th Anniversary season.

The specials replace earlier scheduled Doctor Who programmes on UKTV. Australia was due to screen Doctor Who America Specials: The Destinations of Doctor Who and The Women of Doctor Who, while New Zealand was to have seen Pyramids of Mars.

The 50th Anniversary audio adventure Light at the End from Big Finish is to be released in a limited edition Vinyl edition.


The Light at the End will also be available as a limited edition five-disc CD, which features:

• Discs 1 and 2 – The Light at the End
• Disc 3 – The Making of The Light at the End (70 minute documentary)
• Disc 4 – This is Doctor Who at Big Finish (70 minute documentary)
• Disc 5 – Doctor Who – The Companion Chronicles: The Revenants performed by William Russell as Ian

The Light at the End is scheduled to be released on 23rd November 2013; the standard version is currently available to pre-order via our shop.

The new edition of Doctor Who Magazine, out Thursday, goes behind the scenes of Doctor Who Live, the special show which finally revealed the identity of the Twelfth Doctor. The magazine features interviews with the people who made it happen, including show runner Steven Moffat, presenter Zoë Ball and producer Russell Minton... and there's also has an exclusive letter from Peter Capaldi himself!

Steven Moffat told DWM:


Also this issue:

• Waiting in the Wings... Steven Moffat writes exclusively for DWM about how Peter Capaldi came to be chosen as the Twelfth Doctor.
• No Hiding ... The author of the recent episodes The Rings of Akhaten and Hide, and the creator of the acclaimed drama series Luther, Neil Cross talks exclusively to DWM about how he came to fulfil his dream of writing for Doctor Who.
• Out of the Wilderness... In the second part of The Way Back, we continue to examine the rebirth of Doctor Who in the 21st and take a look at the other Ninth Doctor whose life was cut short after just one animated adventure, Scream of the Shalka – with contributions from Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner, Jane Tranter and many more...
• Back to the Sixties: The Seventh Doctor and Ace take a trip to 1960s London where the Doctor hidden a dangerous Time Lord artefact. Unfortunately, two opposing Dalek factions also want to get their suckers on it... Remembrance of the Daleks from 1988 takes its turn under the scrutinising lens of Fact of Fiction, which reveals new and fascinating facts about the production.
• Dead Man Walking: The Doctor is killed by an impossible astronaut – and that's just the start of his problems! DWM’s journey through Doctor Who’s long history arrives at 2011 and the thirty-second series, as Countdown to 50 continues.
• Blinking Marvellous? Chris, Emma, Michael and Will are keeping their eyes open as they watch the award winning Doctor Who episode Blink from 2007. What will our fearless Time Team make of Steven Moffat’s ‘Doctor-lite’ episode, and will they escape being sent back in time by the Weeping Angels?
• Fight and Flight! The Doctor’s bug problems are bigger than ever as the over-sized insect Koragatta’s plans come to fruition and the Prime Mother and her swarm threaten the Earth, in the exciting final episode of the DWM comic strip A Wing and a Prayer, written by Scott Gray, with art by Mike Collins.
• The Best of the Best: The votes have been counted in the 2012 DWM readers merchandise poll and the winners are revealed, including your favourite fiction and non-fiction books, audios, and DVD releases. Plus, we also reveal the top features, covers and interviews from DWM itself.
• Ain't Misbehaving... Mother of twins and devoted fan Jacqueline Rayner shares those occasional embarrassing moments when Doctor Who has let her down in the company of friends and family, in this issue’s Relative Dimensions.
  
• Doctor Blue? The Watcher takes his cue from the casting of Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor and selects the TARDIS Swear-Box as this issue’s A History of Doctor Who in 100 Objects; presents a Capaldi-themed joke in What a Load of Rubeish; and celebrates another extra in Supporting Artist of the Month. Plus regeneration forms the basis of the brain tease in The Six Faces of Delusion and a Top Ten Fine Wines with a Doctor Who vintage are revealed. All in this issue’s Wotcha!
  

PLUS! All the latest official news, TV and merchandise reviews, previews, competitions, a prize-winning crossword and much, much more!

The eighteenth in our series of features telling the story of the creation of Doctor Who, and the people who made it happen.

Production on the new series was progressing. The main cast were under contract and being measured for costumes and make-up.

It was on Tuesday 20th August 1963 - exactly 50 years ago today - that Doctor Who had its first studio session.

The place was Stage 3A of the BBC's television studios in Ealing, and the event was testing for what would become the iconic Doctor Who title sequence. The designer assigned was Bernard Lodge and the inspiration for the design came from a piece of 35mm film obtained by Verity Lambert. The film had been created for the children's production of Tobias and the Angel, made in 1960, and featured a howl-round effect that impressed Lambert.


The use of howl-round as an effect had been pioneered in the late Fifties by Norman Taylor, a BBC technical operations manager on Crew 9 based at Lime Grove in London. He discovered, while experimenting with a camera looking at a monitor showing its own picture, the effect of diminishing images into limbo.
Lambert would later ask permission for Taylor to be given a credit for his work on the series. Although this was rejected by Taylor's Head of Department, R W Bayliff, Taylor was given a Technical Suggestion award of £25 for his idea.


In 2011, Palmer recalled how Taylor had brought the effect to him in his role as an Investigations Engineer, responsible for developing new operational techniques:
It was this film sequence for Tobias and the Angel that had caught the attention of Lambert and which she showed to Lodge as the type of effect she would like for the opening of her new drama series. The sequence impressed Lodge and he suggested feeding the letters from the Doctor Who title into the sequence.

Clive South, who was part of the technical team, recalls that TC3 was used to create the effect which was recorded on to film at Lime Grove. He said:
Hugh Sheppard, who was on camera for the session, recalls Taylor lighting matches to trigger the howl-round.

Geoff Higgs, who was working in videotape in 1963, talked about some of the complications in recording the sequence:
Lodge used just one part of the old Tobias and the Angel footage: the very start, the opening line that comes up and then breaks away. Everything else was new.

Complete with the Ron Grainer music, realised by Delia Derbyshire and Dick Mills, the opening sequence would become one of the most memorable and inspired in the history of British television.

The writer of the eighth Puffin Books e-book to celebrate the 50th Anniversary is the author of the TimeRiders series of books, Alex Scarrow.
With careers as a rock guitarist, graphic artist and game designer Scarrow became a successful author, writing adult thrillers and screenplays, but it is the world of Young Adult fiction that has enabled him to further develop concepts he originally delved into when designing games. Commenting on his latest commission, he said:
The author can be reached on Twitter via @AlexScarrow, and more details about the TimeRiders series can be found via this website.

A promotional video featuring Scarrow has been made available via the BBC's YouTube channel, and the Guardian has also published an extract from the e-book.

A party celebrating the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who is to be held in London in November.

Organised by Jeremy and Paula Bentham together with Tony Clark, The Doc Lands @ 50 Party will be free to attend and will take place at a venue in Docklands on Saturday 23rd November, starting around 7pm after the BBC's Doctor Who 50th Celebration at ExCeL has ended that day. The party is open to all people aged 18 and over, whether or not they are going to the ExCeL event.

Jeremy told Doctor Who News: If the broadcast of the anniversary episode and any other Doctor Who programming by the BBC coincides with when the party is taking place, it will be shown on the venue's large-screen TV.

Food and drink will be available to buy at the party – although fish fingers and custard will not necessarily be on the menu!

Entry to The Doc Lands @ 50 Party will be by allocated ticket only, and capacity is strictly limited to 1,500 places. To apply for tickets, e-mail Jeremy at jjbentham@aol.com by Monday 9th September, using the subject line Doc Lands ticket applications and stating your name as well as how many people will be in your group. Before applying, though, people are urged to consider their transport options for getting home afterwards, as the party will finish late.

Successful applicants will be contacted in early November, when they will be told the exact location of the party and will be sent their group or individual tickets too.

Since the show's return to TV in 2005, the organisers have held a series of highly popular event parties in London.