United Kingdom:

Space, Time, Machine and Monster: The Science Fiction of Doctor Who is to take place from 6pm tonight in Lacock Church. The talk with CBBC's scientist Mark Brake, rapper Jon Brake and the Bishop of Swindon is described as "a fun exploration of the universe and a chance to discuss science and faith issues". [Corsham People, 20 May 2012]

Nearby Corsham saw Doctor Who stars help raise money for charity earlier in the month, with Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant, John Levene, and Julian Glover among the star names helping to raise £6,620 at the Corsham Sci-Fi Family Funday. Also there mingling with the likes of Daleks and Davros was Doctor Who Magazine artist Mike Collins. [Corsham People, 4 May 2012]

Colin Baker is to appear at a television, film, and toy collectors' fair at the River Park Leisure Centre, Winchester on 9th June (the day after his birthday!). He will be joined by Terry Molloy as Daleks are set to invade the event. [Romsey Advertiser, 21 May 2012]

A six-year-old girl from Kedington has become the envy of collectors after finding a rare item of merchandise. Jessie Spicer bought a £1.50 packet of Lego Doctor Who figures at Hamley's in London and when she opened it she found a Day of the Moon model of the Doctor, of which only 100 have been made. Her mother said: "It was a real Willy Wonka moment for her and we were all really excited about it. She is going to hold on to it as an investment for the future." The figure is currently estimated to be worth up to £600. [Haverhill Weekly News, 4 May 2012]

Meeting rooms at the newly-extended BBC Broadcasting House in London have been brightened up with some familiar faces. Images of the Doctors have been applied to the walls of the cubicles, as can be seen in the picture on the right, which can be clicked on to expand. (With thanks to Rob Fitt for the details)

The PC Support Group in Liverpool counts Doctor Who amongst the company's credits, having provided support to stunt-coordinator/performer Abbi Collins for Dalek co-ordination in the series. Co-founder Simon Albert said: "I've been a huge fan of Dr Who since I was little, so when we got the opportunity to actually work with the people behind the show we all jumped at the chance to get up close with some of its most infamous characters." [Liverpool Daily Post, 18 May 2012]

Boscombe police are hoping to re-introduce police boxes in the high street in order to help combat anti-social behaviour. PC Will Martindale told the local business forum in April: "The Inspector would like to put a 'Tardis' outside McDonald's. There are issues in that area and this would be putting our stamp back in the area." Phil Stanley-Watts, councillor for Boscombe West, has been calling for the return of police boxes in Boscombe for years, saying that updated versions could be used for reporting crime and would make the public feel safer. [Bournemouth Echo, 1 May 2012]

Steven Moffat received the Writer prize for the Sherlock episode A Scandal In Belgravia at this year's BAFTA Television Craft Awards, and said he was "genuinely, utterly thrilled" to be presented with it. His wife, Sue Vertue, tweeted: "The Moff wins! Hurrah for my husband @steven_moffat who's just won a #Bafta for #Sherlock. Love him!" The Mill had been nominated for its visual effects work on Doctor Who but it lost out to BlueBolt and Great Expectations. [BBC News, 14 May 2012]

Ahead of being presented with a Special BAFTA next Sunday, Moffat has given an interview to the film and television arts organisation about his career so far. In it, he takes a swipe at people who have problems with the complexity of his dramas Doctor Who and Sherlock. "There's been a weird backlash among, I presume, fairly stupid people about the fact the shows are complicated and clever, but they're both huge international hits. We make no apology. Don't expect to do the ironing; sit down, pay attention and think about it. Audiences like complexity. They follow intricately plotted soap operas all the time. It depresses me when people say, 'It's all far too clever,'" he states. [BAFTA Guru]

Catherine Tate has been signed up by Sky Arts to star in a new comedy called Psychobitches. Part of the channel's comedy and drama strand entitled Playhouse Presents, the 30-minute production will see her portraying Eva Braun and Edith Piaf. Also appearing in it will be Sheila Reid as Mother Teresa, while Sam Spiro will play Mary Whitehouse - a real-life enemy of Doctor Who during the classic era! It will be shown on Thursday 21st June at 9pm. [Sky Arts]

Production designer Michael Pickwoad gave a talk to the Friends of the Bodleian in Oxford in which he touched on his involvement with the show. A great admirer of historical architecture and construction methods, he mentioned that Nostell Priory in Yorkshire influenced a twin-column design that he used in Doctor Who. Pickwoad's early work included the film Withnail and I, which starred Paul McGann and Richard E Grant, who not only provided the voice of the Doctor in the animated webcast Scream of the Shalka but also played a version of the Doctor in the 1999 Comic Relief spoof The Curse of Fatal Death, which was written by Steven Moffat. Another notable film Pickwoad worked on was Let Him Have It, which starred Christopher Eccleston in one of his earliest acting roles. [The St James's Evening Post, 16 May 2012]

And speaking of the actor . . . During an interview ahead of his appearance as Creon in Antigone at the National's Olivier Theatre in London, Christopher Eccleston touched on his time as the Time Lord and why it was so brief. "I know what went on and the people who were involved know what went on – that's good enough for me. My conscience is completely clear," he said. Eccleston also praised the young fans of the show, saying: "I'm hugely grateful to the children who to this day come up and talk to me about the show." Antigone opens tomorrow and runs until Saturday 21st July. [The Telegraph, 16 May 2012]

Eccleston will be talking about his career and answering questions at the Olivier Theatre on Thursday 19th July. The one-hour interview - part of the In Conversation series - will be conducted by Al Senter.

Georgia Moffett has been speaking about stripping to her underwear as Geraldine Barclay in the farce What The Butler Saw. "I thought it was going to be a lot scarier than it is. Once the play starts I have to take my clothes off or the story doesn't work. But I am quite insecure about my figure, so it's amazing how liberating it feels after you have done it a couple of times. Obviously, I would prefer to wear clothes, but once I take them off at the beginning, I think, 'Oh, well, they've seen it now’, and I just carry on." The production, which also stars Samantha Bond and Tim McInnerny, is at the Vaudeville Theatre in London's West End until Saturday 25th August. [The Telegraph, 18 May 2012]

In Memoriam:

Legendary hairdresser Vidal Sassoon, who in 1963 created the distinctive geometric cut for the character of Susan, played by Carole Ann Ford, has died in Los Angeles at the age of 84. [BBC News, 10 May 2012]

The Finished Product - Issue Nine

The latest issue of the unofficial Big Finish fanzine, The Finished Product, has now been released, with a cover by Vworp Vworp's Colin Brockhurst.Contact thefinishedproduct@hotmail.co.uk for more information.

Fanz

A new geek based sitcom, Fanz has been released on audio CD from ComedyPunkz.

To accompany the release of this story, ComedyPunkz are running two competitions, one each on Twitter and Facebook. See website for details.

Possibilities

The short fan-film Possibilities, which was mentioned in the Doctor Who Fanz documentary, is to be shown at Phoenix Comicon this coming memorial day weekend. The film will be shown as part of the fan-film presentation between 10.30 and 1.30 on the Friday of the event.

The 15-minute film was filmed at familiar locations around London in late summer 2004 and is a collaborative effort featuring the students from Realtime Pictures Megeve Experiment and directed by award-winner Neil Oseman, also principal photographer on Daemos Rising.

The full film has been viewable on YouTube for a while and an accompanying making-of feature is now available.

The Television Movie

The co-executive producer of the 1996 Television Movie Philip Segal has passed on several items from his collection to fan Paul Salamoff, the owner of the 1996 TARDIS console. Salamoff was part of the team behind the recent restoration of the Paul McGann TARDIS which was visited by Segal at the Gallifrey One Convention in February.

Items passed on include the Doctor’s bag (with props), an original sonic screwdriver prop, one of the staffs from the Eye of Harmony and a stunningly beautiful Doctor Who chess set made in 1993 by the Danbury Mint.

The Doctor Who story The Doctor's Wife has won the Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation in this year's Nebula Awards, the annual event held by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.

Although Doctor Who was nominated for the same award last year, this is the first time the programme has been successful. In winning the award the team beat several Holloywood movies including Martin Scorsese's Hugo and Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris.

The Doctor's Wife was the fourth episode of the 2011 series of Doctor Who. It was written by acclaimed author Neil Gaiman and directed by Richard Clark.

In accepting the award, Neil Gaiman paid tribute to the creators of Doctor Who. Posting on twitter he said
Richard Clark also took to twitter to express his delight at the award.
Show-runner Steven Moffat congratulated the team

Steven Moffat, Executive Producer and Lead Writer on Doctor Who, is to be presented with a special BAFTA award in recognition of his outstanding creative writing contribution to television.

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is honouring the writer with the award, presented in memory of the playwright Dennis Potter, at the Television BAFTA's which take place at London's Royal Festival Hall on May 27.

Moffat began his television scripting career on Press Gang, the ITV Children's drama, in 1989. Since then he has gone onto to work on a wide variety of programmes including Stay Lucky, Joking Apart, Murder Most Horrid, Chalk, Jekyll and Coupling.

Steven Moffat was one of the first writers approached by Russell T Davies when he was planning the return of Doctor Who in 2005, leading to Moffat writing one of the most critically acclaimed stories of that first series, The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances. Moffat went on to write several more episodes of the show, creating aliens such as The Weeping Angels and characters such as River Song. When Davies left the series, Moffat was the obvious successor, taking the helm of the show for the introduction of Matt Smith as The Eleventh Doctor and creating the characters of Amy and Rory.

Running parallel to the success of Doctor Who, Moffat has, in collaboration with Mark Gatiss, created Sherlock, updating Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's stories and placing Sherlock Holmes and Dr John Watson's firmly in the 21st century.

In announcing the special award Tim Corrie, Chairman of BAFTA, said
Steven Moffat said he was thrilled with the award.
The award was won by Russell T Davies in 2005. Other recent winners include Alan Plater, Stephen Poliakoff and Lynda La Plante.

The BBC wants you to help decide which figure from history the Doctor should meet next.

Over the years the Doctor has met some of the most influential figures in the history of the planet Earth. He has travelled with Marco Polo, flirted with Madame de Pompadour, had his tooth extracted by Doc Holliday and played Hide and Seek with the Emperor Nero. He has met the authors HG Wells, Agatha Christie and Charles Dickens, and even helped William Shakespeare with some of his ideas. He has debated with Winston Churchill, helped out Richard Nixon and rescued Queen Victoria from a werewolf.

Recently the BBC website asked which real person the Doctor should meet next and Doctor Who's Executive Producer Caroline Skinner was so delighted with the response and imagination in the replies that she decided to commission a Doctor Who writer to write a short story based on the best suggestion.

The story will appear on the BBC website, where suggestions for the character involved can still be made.

UPDATE - 18th MAY: The BBC has now stopped accepting suggestions after it was inundated with e-mails.

Last week saw the final scenes recorded on location for the characters Amy and Rory, aka Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill - the latter who comes 'full circle' as the location at St. Cadoc's Hospital in Caerleon was where he filmed his first day on location back in 2009!

Their last scenes to be filmed come from the penultimate episode for the Ponds, the fourth of the next series. Their departure on screen will be in the following episode, the fifth, which was recorded last month. After the final shots were completed Karen Gillan tweeted "And that's a wrap! Bye bye from the ponds. We love you."

The final scenes were observed by several of the production team past and present, including lead writer Steven Moffat and former executive producers Piers Wenger and Beth Willis, with a party taking place afterwards to celebrate.

Another 'closure' took place on Friday, with the final day's production at Upper Boat. The studios, located in Pontypridd just outside Cardiff, have been home to Doctor Who since the third series and have also been the base for Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures. The complex was the first BBC studio centre totally dedicated to drama, and was set up in the wake of the success of Doctor Who following the series' revival in 2005. Production will now continue in full at the new purpose-built studios at Roath Lock in Cardiff Bay.



With Karen and Arthur's final scenes recorded, the "handover" to new girl Jenna-Louise Coleman will begin filming shortly, though as with previous introductions her first story to be recorded may not be her first story on screen!

Doctor Who has returned to Finland, with all episodes from the first appearance of the Ninth Doctor in Rose through to the 2011 Christmas Special, The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe, scheduled for transmission.

The revived series was first shown in 2005 but was not successful despite acquiring a dedicated fan base in the country, and the show was dropped from the schedules after The Christmas Invasion.

The series is now being shown with Finnish subtitles on the YLE TV2 channel, airing at 8pm on weekday evenings. Following transmission, each episode will be available online, but only inside Finland.

The Doctor Who Experience in Cardiff is to open its doors to the public on Friday 20th July, it was announced today. Tickets for the attraction will go on sale at 10am on Thursday 14th June.

Originally based at the Olympia Two exhibition, conference, and event centre in West Kensington, London, it has been moved next to the Roath Lock drama studios at Porth Teigr, where Doctor Who is now made. With the construction having finished, internal fitting can now take place, moving in props, sets, and memorabilia from the show.

Items going on display for the first time in Cardiff will include the Doctor's cradle from A Good Man Goes to War, the Silence spaceship, and the Doctor's sonic cane from Let's Kill Hitler. Many more items are being kept under wraps until the attraction opens.

Philip Murphy, the managing director of BBC Worldwide Live Events, said:
The interactive exhibition ran for a year in London, closing in February this year. It was originally planned to open in Cardiff this spring, but that date got pushed back and instead the Official Doctor Who Convention was held in the Millennium Centre. The Cardiff "incarnation" of the Experience, which is in a 3,000 sq m building, is scheduled to be in situ for five years.

The attraction covers the entire history of the series, with exhibits changing as new episodes are shown, and Paula Al-Lach, BBC Worldwide's head of exhibitions and events, said:
Ken Poole, Cardiff council's head of economic development, said:
Up to a quarter of a million people are expected to pass through its doors every year.


[BBC News and BBC Media Centre, 14 May 2012]

The third in our occasional series marking the 50th anniversary of events leading to the creation of a true TV legend.
 
The initial seed had been sown with the suggestion by Eric Maschwitz, Assistant and Adviser to the Controller of Programmes, that the literary merits of science fiction be looked into for short, single adaptations.

BBC Head of Script Department Donald Wilson, who had set up a Survey Group to keep an eye on other media and to look for ideas that the department could develop for television, gave this task to drama script editors Donald Bull and Alice Frick. They reported back that there was just a small number of suitable works and writers but were unable to recommend any particular stories.

Bull and Frick also stated that any adaptations should be written by TV dramatists and not SF writers. One copy of the report was sent to Wilson, to be duplicated and circulated with the next minutes for the Survey Group, and another was sent to Maschwitz.

On 14th May 1962 - exactly 50 years ago today - a memo was sent to Maschwitz by Donald Baverstock, the Assistant Controller of Programmes for BBC TV, thanking him for the Survey Group report, which he had seen. Baverstock wrote: "HSDTel" stood for "Head of Script Department, Television", ie, Donald Wilson. The next day - 15th May 1962 - Maschwitz sent Baverstock's memo to Wilson, including with it a hand-written note expressing his own "admiring thanks".

Just days later, Frick and her colleague John Braybon, pictured right, were tasked with putting together another report specifying sci-fi stories that would suit being adapted for television. This follow-up would be presented to Wilson on 25th July 1962.

Earlier in the month, on 1st May 1962, Bull had sent a letter to SF author John Christopher's agent, Jean LeRoy, to express his gratitude for the stories by Christopher that she had sent him. He said there were "considerable immediate opportunities . . . for using John Christopher's specialised knowledge and talent in conjunction with our future schemes, possibly in collaboration with a skilled TV dramatist" but he also stated that TV audiences were generally unready yet for "the more fanciful flights of SF" as displayed in such stories as Christopher's Christmas Roses.

In the meantime, rival channel ITV was preparing to broadcast the sci-fi anthology series Out of this World - the first of its kind on British TV and a programme greenlit by ABC drama supervisor and sci-fi fan Sydney Newman, who was working out his notice at the commercial network before joining the BBC as its Head of Drama later in the year. This 13-part series would start airing on 30th June 1962.