Doctor Who is 47 today!

The first-ever episode of Doctor Who, An Unearthly Child, was broadcast on this date in 1963.

The official Doctor Who site has a small feature to celebrate the show's 47th anniversary, including a clip featuring the original TARDIS crew of William Hartnell, Carole Ann Ford, William Russell and Jacqueline Hill.

BBC Archive has a feature on The Creators of Doctor Who.

AOL Television has put up an ultimate guide slide-show so "you can reminisce about all those wonderful Doctor Who filled times and characters".

Digital Journal has a piece, "Happy 908th Birthday, Doctor Who", about the confusion surrounding the Doctor's actual age.

The third Doctor Who DVD release of 2011 has been confirmed as the First Doctor story The Ark. This will be released in the UK on 28 February with a release in the US and Canada following a week later on 8 March. A release in Australia is expected soon after.

The first release of the year is the Fourth Doctor story Meglos, which following its previously announced release in the UK on 10 January and in the US and Canada on 11 January, has now been confirmed for an Australia release on 20 January helping to fulfill the desire of 2|entertain to release all titles worldwide within a much smaller timeframe.

The second release will be the Third Doctor Story The Mutants released in the UK on 31 January and in the US/Canada on 8 February.

As part of the catch up, the Fourth Doctor story, The Seeds of Doom, released in the UK in October, will be released in the US/Canada on 8 March.

For full details see our release schedule.

The Seventh Doctor story, Paradise Towers is due for DVD release in 2011 according to a blog by the story's writer Stephen Wyatt.

First shown between 5th October and 26th October 1987 the four part story stars Sylvester McCoy as The Doctor with Bonnie Langford as Melanie along with guest stars Richard Briers as the Chief Caretaker, Elizabeth Spriggs as Tabby, Judy Cornwell as Maddy and Howard Cooke as Pex.

The story was the second story of Season Twenty Four and was directed by Nicholas Mallett.

In his blog Wyatt confirmed he has recorded an interview for inclusion on the disc as well as being part of the commentary team.

A novelisation of the story, written by Wyatt, was published by Target Books in December 1988 and it was released on VHS in October 1995.

We are saddened to report the death of the writer Mervyn Haisman.

An actor in his early career, Mervyn Haisman turned his hand to writing, forming a partnership with Henry Lincoln where together they penned three Doctor Who stories for the Patrick Troughton era of the series. The Abominable Snowmen saw the first appearance from the slopes of the Himalayas of the Yeti - robotic servants of the Great Intelligence. The strength of this first story subsequently led to the sequel The Web of Fear, which also saw creation of one of the most enduring guest characters in the series, Alistair Gordon Lethbridge Stewart (The Brigadier). Their third outing The Dominators introduced the Quarks, but artistic disagreements with the production team ended further contributions to Doctor Who. However, their association with the show was to be marked once again with a credit on The Sarah Jane Adventures story Enemy of the Bane for Sir Alistair.

Haisman went on to script-edit a number of television series, notably Sutherland's Law (alongside future Doctor Who producer Graham Williams), Jubilee, and some seventeen episodes of The Onedin Line. He also wrote a number of episodes for the popular 1980s drama Howards' Way.

The 1996 TV Movie will finally get its North American release on February 8, 2011.

In August we reported that, for the first time, the rights to release the story outside the UK had been obtained by 2|entertain. The feature length episode is the only televised adventure of the Eighth Doctor played by Paul McGann.

The story was released in the UK as part of the Revisitions box set. In North America it will be released as a single story on two discs, containing the same extras as the UK version.

It has also been confirmed that the Third Doctor story, The Mutants, will be released in North America on the same day, February 8, shortly after it's released in the UK.

Both North American covers can be seen at TV Shows on DVD.

2|entertain have confirmed that the third story in the Revisitations 2 Box Set will be the Second Doctor Story The Seeds of Death.

DVD commissioning editor Dan Hall gave the news in an interview with Radio Free Skaro. The Seeds of Death stars Frazer Hines as Jamie McCrimmon and Wendy Padbury as Zoe Heriot alongside Patrick Troughton as the Doctor. It was first released on DVD in February 2003.

The story joins The Carnival of Monsters with Jon Pertwee and Resurrection of the Daleks with Peter Davison, on the box set expected to be released mid 2011.

Hall confirmed that The Resurrection of the Daleks will contain a documentary fronted by Tenth Doctor David Tennant (mentioned here). He said the story will be released in both the four episode and two episode edition.

He confirmed that the missing Tom Baker Story Shada is in production and at present the plan is to release it with another title.

In the wide ranging interview Hall also talked about his plans for the range and his hopes and desires for the remaining classic stories which still have to be released.

The latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine (#427) has confirmed details on the following DVD releases due in early 2011:

The Mutants, a Pertwee story by Bob Baker and Dave Martin, will be a two disc release, with features including:

• commentary by Katy Manning (Jo), Garrick Hagon (Ky), Christopher Barry (director), Terrance Dicks (script editor), Bob Baker (co-writer), Jeremy Bear (designer), Broan Hodgson (special sound)
• Mutt Mad, a documentary on the making of the story
• Race Against Time, examining the representation of black actors on British television
• Dressing Doctor Who, A discussion with James Acheson on his work in Doctor Who
• Blue Peter, an item featuring Peter Purves on Doctor Who monsters

The Ark, a Hartnell story by Paul Erickson and Lesley Scott, will include:

• commentary by Peter Purves (Steven), Michael Imison (director)
• All's Well That Ends Well, a feature on the influence of writer H.G. Wells on the series
• One Hit Wonder, on what makes a successful monster
• Riverside Story, touring old production haunt Riverside Studios

Both stories feature the usual production notes, photo gallery, and Radio Times PDF listings.

Former Doctor David Tennant has returned to Doctor Who - at least in documentary form! In his first series-related work since leaving the show, the actor filmed material in June for a feature to appear on the forthcoming Revisitations II boxed set, due out next year.

2|entertain have announced that the 1972 Third Doctor story, Day of the Daleks, will be released on DVD in 2011.

The announcement was made at Time and Space, the DWAS convention in London, where commissioning editor Dan Hall confirmed the story would be released with new SFX and Dalek voices.

The story was the first story of Season Nine and was first broadcast between January 1 and January 22, 1972. Alongside Jon Pertwee as The Doctor, Katy Manning starts as Jo Grant with Nicholas Courtney playing Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, Richard Franklin as Captain Mike Yates and John Levene as Sergeant Benton. Guest stars include Aubrey Woods as The Controller, Anna Barry as Anat, Scott Fredericks as Boaz and Jean McFarlane as Miss Paget.

The story was one of four written for the series by Louis Marks, who died last month. It was directed by Paul Bernard and designed by David Myerscough-Jones.

The story was first released on VHS and Betamax in an omnibus format in 1986 and re-released in episodic format in 1994.

Doctor Who DVD production company 2Entertain have released a new promotional trailer for a forthcoming release in 2011, to be formally announced on the 9th October: