Today sees special Royal Mail stamps going on sale to mark the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who.

Each of the 11 TV Doctors is represented on his own first-class stamp (60p), as is the TARDIS, while four enemies – Dalek, Cyberman, Ood, and a Weeping Angel – feature on second-class stamps (50p). The enemies and TARDIS are on a five-stamp miniature sheet, while the stamp design for the Doctors sees the face of each one set against relevant opening title sequences along with a relevant logo. Since the first two Doctors' eras were broadcast in monochrome, the first two stamps are also black and white.

As well as the stamps - which are being sold at more than 9,000 Post Office branches in the UK, online, and via phone (08457 641 641) - a wide variety of associated products is also available, ranging from first-day covers and postcards to stamp sets and stamp strips plus a pin badge of the TARDIS stamp. Some of the items on sale include series information penned by Doctor Who writer, director, and script editor Gary Russell.

Royal Mail - which said it had had an unprecedented number of pre-registrations for the stamps since they were unveiled in December - is also creating unique postmarks in the home towns of the actors to have played the 11 TV Doctors. All stamped mail sent from those locations will have a special postmark celebrating 50 years of Doctor Who, with the name of the actor who played the Doctor plus the length of time they were in the role.

Andrew Hammond, the managing director of the stamps and collectibles division at Royal Mail, said:
Fiona Eastwood, the product development director at BBC Worldwide Consumer Products, said:
Royal Mail's Special Stamp programme has been commemorating and celebrating events and anniversaries relevant to UK heritage and life for nearly 50 years itself. All UK stamp designs are approved by the Queen before they are printed.

The stamps are available to purchase from the Post Office.

Pre-issue event:

A special public affairs event marking the issue of the anniversary stamps was held by Royal Mail at BAFTA in London earlier this month, with Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Paul McGann, Steven Moffat, Jenna-Louise Coleman, Jon Pertwee's son Sean Pertwee, and William Hartnell's granddaughter and biographer Jessica Carney mingling among the invited guests, who included MPs, stakeholders, and key Royal Mail customers.

Speeches in praise of the show and the stamps were given by Moya Greene, Royal Mail's chief executive, and Steven Moffat. The showrunner also introduced a video message from Matt Smith, as the actor had been unable to make it to the function, plus an extended trailer for Series 7b.

Props made by the officially-licensed company Rubbertoe Replicas were on show, as were displays of the stamps, with Daleks and a police box also adding to the atmosphere.

Competition to follow:

Doctor Who News will shortly be running a competition connected with the release of the stamps and there's a fabulous prize to be won, courtesy of Royal Mail, so keep checking back for details!

The Caves of Androzani is to be shown by the BFI to represent the Fifth Doctor's era in its Doctor Who At 50 season, it announced today.

Written by Robert Holmes and directed by Graeme Harper, the four-part adventure - which first aired in March 1984 - saw the final regular appearance of Peter Davison as the Doctor.

The "regeneration" adventure will be shown on the big screen at BFI Southbank on Saturday 4th May, as reported earlier this week, with the start time for the event now confirmed as 2pm. The names of the guests for the accompanying panel discussion will be announced nearer the time.

Dates for when tickets go on sale are also yet to be announced. BFI Champions get first pick, followed by standard members and then the general public. So far, all the events in the celebratory season have sold out to BFI members in advance of tickets being released to the public, but returns and stand-bys are possible.

A video of the guest panel at last month's screening of The Tomb of the Cybermen at the BFI has been uploaded to the organisation's YouTube channel.

The event, marking the Second Doctor's era, was held on 9th February as part of the BFI's Doctor Who At 50 season, and the discussion saw director Michael Ferguson and actors Anneke Wills, Bernard Holley, Deborah Watling, Shirley Cooklin, and Michael Kilgarriff in conversation with season co-curator Justin Johnson about working with Patrick Troughton.


The next event takes place on Saturday 20th April, marking the Fourth Doctor's era, and will be a screening of The Robots of Death, with Tom Baker, Louise Jameson, and Philip Hinchcliffe as guests. Although it is currently sold out, returns and stand-bys are possible.

It will be followed on Saturday 4th May with a screening in honour of the Fifth Doctor, with the story title and guests for that event yet to be announced.

Tom Baker, Louise Jameson, and Philip Hinchcliffe will be the special guests at next month's BFI screening of The Robots of Death.

The announcement was made at yesterday's première of the colour-restored story The Mind of Evil. Big-screen showings with guests are being staged by the BFI for each Doctor this year as part of its Doctor Who At 50 season.

The four-part adventure is being screened at BFI Southbank on Saturday 20th April at 2pm to mark the Fourth Doctor's era. Tickets go on sale to the general public at 11.30am tomorrow. They were made available to Champion members last Monday and to standard members last Tuesday. All three screenings held so far sold out to members before tickets were due to go on general release, but returns and stand-bys are possible.

It was also announced yesterday that the story marking Fifth Doctor Peter Davison's era will be shown on Saturday 4th May. The title is due to be revealed later this week.

The BBC has announced details of a special three day event to be held in London in November to celebrate 50 years of Doctor Who.

The three day Doctor Who 50th Celebration Weekend will be held at the ExCeL centre in London, beginning on Friday, 22 November with tickets for over 15,000 fans available.

More details about the event, including guests, itinerary, ticket prices and booking information will be revealed soon with fans invited to sign up to the doctorwho.tv newsletter.

Amanda Hill, Chief Brands Officer at BBC Worldwide said:

The event follows the two day convention which took place in Cardiff last year and which saw fans get a chance to meet the current stars of the show and take a trip to the TARDIS set.

The last time the BBC celebrated an anniversary of the show with a convention was in 1983 when thousands of fans attended an event to celebrate the 20th anniversary at Longleat House in Wiltshire.

The BFI is to screen The Robots of Death to mark the Fourth Doctor's era as it celebrates Doctor Who's 50th anniversary, it was announced today.

The four-part story, which first aired in 1977, will be shown at BFI Southbank on Saturday 20th April at 2pm. The guests will be announced in due course.

Tickets go on sale to the general public on Tuesday 12th March but will be available on Tuesday 5th March to people with a standard BFI membership and on Monday 4th March to Champion members.

Screenings that the BFI organised for last month, this month, and next month - honouring the First, Second, and Third Doctors - all sold out to members before tickets were due to go on general release.

The organisation has a Doctor Who At 50 season this year, showing a story per Doctor per month as well as digitally-restored prints of the two Dalek films, with question-and-answer panels featuring special guests at each session. In addition, the BBC Two docudrama An Adventure In Space And Time about the show's genesis, written by Mark Gatiss and currently being filmed, will debut at the BFI in November.

The special guests for the screening of The Mind of Evil at the BFI Southbank next month have been announced. The announcement was made at the screening of The Tomb of the Cybermen on Saturday.

The event, which takes place on Sunday 10th March at 2pm, will see cast and crew from the episode on stage during the Q&A panels. The guests are:

• Katy Manning - companion Jo Grant
• Richard Franklin - Mike Yates
• John Levene - Sergeant Benton
• Tim Combe - Director
• Terrance Dicks - Script Editor
• Plus members of the Restoration Team

Tickets for the screening sold out within 5 minutes of going on sale to BFI members on 5 February at 11.30am.

United Kingdom:

The recent snowfall across the United Kingdom brought forth an array of snow sculptures, including Daleks! Areas reported include Leicester and Faversham, plus a number of photos published by the official Doctor Who Facebook page.

Speaking of Daleks, another was to be found at a chip shop in Helston! It was built by proprietor Marc Stonham, who said: "I've been thinking about it on and off for the last 40 years. It wasn’t until last (year) that I actually did it. People do mention it and come and have a look." [Falmouth Packet, 17 Jan 2013]

The islanders of Cumbrae in Scotland hope that John and Carole Barrowman's Hollow Earth books will boost tourism. Paul Watling, of Visit Cumbrae, reported: "We've had visits from a number of Hollow Earth fans and last week, a group of about 14 came over. They were from all across France and Germany and were very keen to see the island. I showed them some of the locations used in the book and they loved their visit. We hope the books will do for Cumbrae what (tv series) Balamory did for Mull." [Daily Record, 13 Jan 2013]

The Rainbow pub in Digbeth has been re-opened with a retro theme, including a photo booth masquerading as a police box! Other features include a "Del Boy" cocktail bar and a Scalectrix set to play with! [Birmingham Mail, 1 Feb 2013]

United Kingdom / Australia:

A Doctor Who postcard has sailed the seven seas from Sunderland (England) to Perth (Australia)! Schoolboy Cade Scott released the card in a bottle in August 2011, and was found by Matthew Elam this last Christmas Day, who responded back in January. Cade said: "I had got some Doctor Who postcards in a magazine and decided to use one of them to put in the bottle. I was just amazed it had gone so far. I thought it had sunk in the North Sea." [Sunderland Echo, 18 Jan 2013]

United States:

Two special screenings of Doctor Who are to take place at the Rockland Public Library in Maine, as part of a series of literary, film and music evenings. The Sun Makers is to be shown on the 7th February, with Blink the following 14th. Admission is free. [Penobscot Bay Pilot, 28 Jan 2013]

Crochet versions of each of the Doctors have been made by Allison Hoffman from Austin, Texas; she explained: "I made the dolls for a woman that wanted to give her husband a Christmas present that would blow him away. He is a huge Doctor Who fan and she knew he’d love these toys. He’s actually building a custom cabinet to display them now! Before taking on this project I had only seen the newer Who and not very many episodes, but now I feel like I know all of these people personally!". No prizes for guessing her favourite: "Tom Baker - I loved making that scarf!" [Metro, 29 Jan 2013]

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson recently discussed "What is Time?" on his StarTalk Radio, comparing views of how Time travel is portrayed as linear, branching and, in Doctor Who's case, wibbly wobbly! [StarTalk Radio via YouTube, Jan 2013]

Current costume designer Howard Burden will be giving a talk about his work later this month.

He will be at the BFI in London on Wednesday 20th February for an afternoon seminar entitled Designing For Science-Fiction, which will examine "how various screen craft disciplines work to realise fantastical science-fiction visions."

The event - the first in a new series looking at what it takes to succeed as a designer in the film and TV industries - is being presented in association with Wimbledon College of Art.

Burden has been the costume designer on Doctor Who since Asylum of the Daleks. His sci-fi pedigree also includes working on Red Dwarf from series three onwards as well as on the 1998 six-part series Invasion: Earth, which was a BBC Scotland/Sci-Fi Channel co-production.

The Doctor Who Experience has announced a number of fancy dress competitions to take place over the course of February's school half term period:
There will also be a number of behind-the-scenes talks and other events taking place, dates still to be announced.