After a period on hiatus, Who Party, Canada's Doctor Who convention is returning on Saturday June 13th, 2009 in Toronto. A semi-annual event first started in 1978, Who Party is one of the longest-running Doctor Who events in the world. Who Party is taking place at the Best Western Primrose hotel at 111 Carlton Street and runs between the hours of 10am and 8pm.

Guests for Who Party include:

* Director James Strong (Doctor Who: "The Impossible Planet", "The Satan Pit", "Daleks in Manhattan", "Evolution of the Daleks", "Voyage of the Damned", "Partners in Crime" and "Planet of the Dead"; Torchwood: "Cyberwoman", "They Keep Killing Suzie")

* Director Colin Teague (Doctor Who: "The Sound of Drums", "Last of the Time Lords" and "The Fires of Pompeii"; Torchwood: "Ghost Machine", "Greeks Bearing Gifts", "Sleeper" and "Meat"; Sarah Jane Adventures: "Invasion of the Bane")

* Rob Shearman: (Writer of "Dalek" and Doctor Who audios for Big Finish.)

* Lance Parkin: (Writer of Doctor Who novels for both Virgin and BBC Books.)

* Toby Hadoke: Performing his hit Moths Ate My Doctor Who Scarf show in Canada for the first time.)

Who Party is a fan run, not-for-profit event. For more information on Who Party Toronto visit their website.

Posted By Anna Roberts

A special Doctor Who scene featured on John Barrowman's show, Tonight's the Nightyesterday on BBC1. Fan Tim Ingham won a competition to appear in a scene in the TARDIS with John Barrowman playing Captain Jack. The scene was written by Russell T Davies and featured a surprise guest.

The scene and behind the scenes interviews can be found at the BBC Doctor Who website. For UK residents, Tonight's the Night will be available to watch on BBC iPlayer for the next seven days.

Today's Sun announced that Doctor Who could be returning to the stage in a new show later this year. The article reports that the stage show will a multi-media light and sound show with 3D-footage, and will feature many of the Doctor's best loved characters, including "flying DALEKS, croaky CYBERMEN and stocky SONTARANS in the family event."

The paper mentions that plans are at an early stage, and that BBC Worldwide will make a decision in a month or so. Venues mentioned include the Birmingham NEC and the London O2.

Says an insider: "The BBC know they’ve got a massive hit show on their hands, so they want to take it to the next level. They want it to be a Doctor Who experience which will blast fans with amazing visuals and music. The emphasis will be on technology so it’s unlikely any of the show’s stars will be on stage. But they are expected to feature in video elements. That said, the idea of using real actors hasn’t been ruled out."

The story has also been picked up by Digital Spy, What's on TV, the Retford Times and the Gloucestershire Forester.


Australia: the Mercury reports that a stage show based on Doctor Who opens this week at the Peacock Theatre in Tasmania; entitled "Who, Knows", the show follows the adventures of Russell Lambert as he becomes the president of the Doctor Who Club of Tasmania. (with thanks to Dwayne Bunney)

Further to our news article on the Mark Wallinger exhibition taking place at the Hayward Gallery in London over the next few weeks, a lecture has now been announced for Friday 27th February which will feature writer and script-editor Gary Russell talking about the secrets of the TARDIS: "Blackboard lectures unveil the secrets, enigmas and stories behind works and objects featured in Mark Wallinger's show with a wide range of experts including artists, writers, mathematicians or sport and art historians."

Admission to the lecture, taking place at 7:00pm, will be free with an exhibition ticket. Further details are on the Gallery website.

Meanwhile, the Yorkshire Evening Post has reported on the exhibition moving to Leeds and Swansea in the future. It will be at the Leeds Art Gallery from May 16 to June 28 and then the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery in Swansea from July 18 to September 20. It is at the Hayward from February 18 to May 4.

(with thanks to Vin)

London's Hayward Gallery on the South Bank will be opening a new exhibition from 18th February, entitled Mark Wallinger Curates: The Russian Linesman - a name inspired by a ruling made during the 1966 England v West Germany World Cup final and which reputedly changed the course of football history.

The exhibition will explore "notions of the liminal: thresholds between physical, political or metaphysical realms". Says Wallinger: "I have always been interested in how we define and are defined by thresholds and boundaries, the events of history. The works in the exhibition use illusion, artifice and dislocating devices to look at our accidental time and place in the world afresh."

For Doctor Who fans, the exhibition also includes Wallinger's own "Time and Relative Dimensions in Space", a reflective 'TARDIS' originally featured in 2001's Venice Biennale.

For more details on the exhibition visit the Hayward Gallery exhibition page, plus coverage in the Evening Standard and on the London SE1 website.

An extended version of Doctor Who at the Proms is currently available for UK Digital viewers to watch on the red button. As well as the Doctor Who related music as broadcast on New Year's Day, the broadcast also includes "Song for Ten", and other classical music such as "Fanfare for the Common Man" and Holst's "Jupiter" from the Planets suite. The concert runs for approximately 95 minutes.

Posted By John Bowman

Russell T Davies is to reopen the new-look Doctor Who Up Close Cardiff exhibition on Thursday 30 October.

The event starts at 6pm and marks a revamp that has also seen the arrival of the Supreme Dalek to join the creatures, costumes and props there.

Doctor Who Up Close has been at The Red Dragon Centre in Cardiff Bay since December 2005. It is open every day from 10.30am to 7.30pm except on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day.

Posted By John Bowman

Tickets to the press launch of multi-platform Doctor Who book project The Darksmith Legacy are up for grabs in a contest.

The event takes place at the Earls Court Doctor Who exhibition on November 6 from 6pm to 8pm, and the winners will be among the first to preview the books, test the interactive Darksmith online destination, and interview a panel of writers from the 10-part series, which launches to the public in January.

They will also get free admission to the exhibition plus a Doctor Who goodie bag.

Published by BBC Children's Books in association with Penguin Books, The Darksmith Legacy will offer the adventure of a book serialisation, with cliffhangers, plus interactivity and content only obtainable online.

The contest is only open to 13-to-18-year-olds and closes on November 3. Click here for more details.

Click on the thumbnails below for larger images of the covers for the first two titles: The Dust of Ages and The Graves of Mordane.

The Doctor Who Exhibition at Earl's Court will be extending a special value to visitors on Halloween weekend, 31 October - 2 November.

Any child under the age of 16 who dresses up as a Doctor Who character or in any Halloween costume will be given free admission into the exhibition.

"The exhibition has proven to be a really big hit over the summer holidays and it's great to offer families and young Doctor Who fans something a little bit different for Halloween," said EC&O venues managing director Nigel Nathan.

The exhibition features props, costumes and monsters from Doctor Who. Taking center stage in the exhibition on Halloween night is Davros, creator of the Daleks. There's also a sound and light Dalek Zone for visitors to enjoy.

The exhibition, which started in March, ends on 9 November and is organised by Experience Design and Management.

The BBC Press Office information for Children in Need night, Friday the 14th of November on BBC One, contains the claim that the evening's entertainment will feature "Children In Need-themed scenes from Doctor Who and Ashes To Ashes," among the various other attractions on offer.

There is no information given as to what form this scene might take. In 2005 and 2007, Children in Need featured specially-commissioned Doctor Who scenes (such as Time Crash, pictured, in which the Tenth Doctor met the Fifth), although neither of these were "Children in Need-themed" in and of themselves, suggesting that this particular production may be of a different format.

Doctor Who has long enjoyed a close relationship with the Children in Need charity, being featured in various capacities on several of the annual telethon evenings. Since its return, Doctor Who has also been the focus of several special events to raise money for the charity, such as the 2006 concert in Cardiff and this year's set visit competition.

This year, in addition to the Doctor Who scene, the press office information also reveals that Captain Jack actor John Barrowman will be performing live, as he did in last year's telethon when he sang Elton John's "Your Song".