CNN have reported that plans are afoot to broadcast the sixth series of Doctor to the United States within hours of airing in the United Kingdom.

Addressing the issue of fans downloading episodes via the Internet way ahead of their broadcast in the USA, the vice president of programming at BBC America, Richard de Croce, said:
Tomorrow's broadcast of A Christmas Carol will be the first time American fans will be able to watch Doctor Who on the same evening as those in the UK, with Australia and Canada following suit a day later.


However, Doctor Who hasn't always aired first in the UK; the 1996 TV Movie aired in the USA and Canada a couple of weeks before the BBC, and back in 1983 some American fans actually got to see the 20th Anniversary story The Five Doctors on PBS two days before those in the United Kingdom!

BBC Magazines will be launching a new partwork magazine in April 2011, entitled Doctor Who: Monster Invasion.

The magazine was first published in April during Matt Smith's first series, but was only available in southwest England in a test run to see how it might be received. This original series of six issues introduced a new card game with some 90 cards to collect; there were also special 3D cards that enabled the collector to interact with the magazine's website, which also provided further information about the cards and magazine, and also games to play.

(This website is still active, and it is possible to sign up for a newsletter for more information on developments.)

It isn't clear as yet whether the April launch will be a completely fresh start or will build upon the card series previously released.


Comic artist Jamie Smart has recently announced that he is working on the project, via his blog:


"Partwork" magazines are those that are regularly published as part of a series, normally to build up a collection, and Doctor Who is no stranger to the format! Back in 2006, Battles in Time also revolved around a collectible card game, and was published until 2009. Last year then saw the launch of the Doctor Who Files, a DVD collector series which initially released the first four series of 21st Century Doctor Who, but has since continued with classic series stories (as well as completing the David Tennant Specials in the next couple of months).

BBC Worldwide have announced that their new game for mobile platforms, The Mazes of Time, has now been released for Apple products. The game can be purchased from Apple's iTunes App Store for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.


Robert Nashak, Executive Vice President, Digital Entertainment, BBC Worldwide, said:
The game is also available as a high definition version, which has been released for the larger Apple device, the iPad. It has also been confirmed that the Android community won't miss out on the game either, with a version for the Google OS due to be released in 2011.

The Mazes of Time is one of several mobile games developed for BBC Worldwide (which also includes Top Gear and Teletubbies); the Doctor Who version was produced by Tag Games and written by Oli Smith, who also worked on the recent Nintendo games Evacuation Earth and Return to Earth.

BBC America have released a video to tie in with the Christmas special, entitled A Christmas Carol - Exclusive Inside Look.

The video features interviews with Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill, during which the three discuss their thoughts on the special and its guest stars, Michael Gambon and Katherine Jenkins.

The BBC have released their Christmas Showreel, featuring programmes in the festive line-up this year. Doctor Who is of course one of the highlights (5:52 into the video), though this is simply the trailer with no additional material from the story.


There is also a drama-specific showreel, which features the Who segment at the start.

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.

BBC America have confirmed they will be showing the 2010 Doctor Who Prom on Christmas Day, the same day they show the 2010 Christmas Special A Christmas Carol.

The BBC Proms are an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events which have been held annually since 1895. Taking place mainly in the Royal Albert Hall in London, the BBC took over responsibility for the Proms in 1927. The first Doctor Who Prom took place in 2008.

The Doctor Who Prom features the music of Murray Gold performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, who record the soundtrack for the television series. The Prom took place Saturday 24 July and was hosted by Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill.

The Prom was shown in the UK last September.

The director of BBC Wales, Menna Richards, has announced that she is stepping down from the position after more than ten years guiding Welsh broadcasting.

It is of course during her tenure that Doctor Who finally returned to television as a series after some 16 years, and for many will be seen as one of her biggest achievements. The man behind the show's return, Russell T Davies said:
Speaking on BBC Wales Today, Professor Ian Hargreaves of Cardiff University (where Richards is Vice-President) said:

The Welsh secretary, Cheryl Gillan, summed up Richards's career at the BBC:

The site of the new BBC Studios in Cardiff Bay has been named Porth Teigr, reflecting the traditional name of Tiger Bay the area held during its dockland heyday.

The project is being undertaken by developer Igloo; director Mark Hallett said:
The BBC is due to begin production on hospital drama Casualty (relocating from Bristol) at the new site in March next year, with filming from September; Doctor Who and The Sarah Jane Adventures are expected to move there during 2012.

A digital media centre for small businesses is also being proposed by the developers.

David Tennant's return to BBC One last Sunday was watched by 5.1 million viewers according to unofficial overnight figures. The drama Single Father has received rave reviews and scored an Appreciation Index figure of 87. It continues on Sunday.

The new BBC One controller has been named as Danny Cohen. Cohen has been in charge of BBC Three since May 2007 after previously working for Channel 4 and E4. As Controller he is responsible for the commissioning and scheduling of Doctor Who.

Doctor Who Live continues its tour around the UK. Currently at the Glasgow SECC it moves to Birmingham on Monday.

British musician Mitch Benn, best known for his humorous songs performed on BBC Radio has released a song praising the output of the BBC, in which Doctor Who gets no less than three mentions. The song will be released for download from iTunes, Amazon and other reputable sites on November 1st.