BBC Studios have announced that the 1969 Patrick Troughton story The War Games, has been colourised with the new edition being shown on BBC Four and iPlayer this Christmas. 

Originally aired in 1969, The War Games marked the end of an era for the Second Doctor who, with his companions Zoe and Jamie, land in a battlefield that appears to be a World War I military zone—but all is not as it seems.

They soon discover that soldiers from different historical periods have been abducted and are being manipulated in a cruel game. As they work to uncover the mystery behind the War Lord and his twisted experiments, the Doctor faces one of his most difficult challenges.

For the first time, these original episodes have been colourised and enhanced with updated visual effects edited into a new, 90-minute feature-length experience to appeal to today’s modern audiences. With updated sound and a new score, this new version of The War Games offers fans and newcomers even more ways to watch the much-loved classic story.

In addition, the episode will also feature the Second Doctor's never-before-seen regeneration into the Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee), alongside recovered footage not seen since the original broadcast.

Russell T Davies, Showrunner said:

The story will be screened on BBC Four on 23rd December 2024.

This special episode is the second time that a classic Doctor Who story has been colourised, following The Daleks in 2023 which was updated to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the franchise.

THE WAR GAMES in Colour - Trailer

Today marks the 61st Anniversary of the launch of Doctor Who on 23rd November 1963

To mark the birthday BBC Studios are inviting you to a watch party featuring the Series 1, Season 40 story, Boom alongside story writer Steven Moffat who will live-tweet the event on x. 

The story will be screened on the Doctor Who YouTube channel at 7 pm GMT / 2 pm EST. 

In addition, fans can expect a day full of exclusive content and announcements, giveaways, as well as a brand-new series of New to Who, hosted by Tyrell Charles

You can follow all the Doctor Who Day activities on the Doctor Who official website and channels:

Official Website /  YouTube / Instagram / X  / TikTok

The latest bookazine from the makers of Doctor Who Magazine examines the Daleks’ behind-the-scenes history, and their fictional universe, in unprecedented detail. 

Daleks: The Ultimate Guide includes all the television stories, along with details of Dalek feature films, stage plays, books, comic strips, webcasts, audio dramas and much more. New CG illustrations tell the story of the Daleks’ evolution from 1963 to the present day.

This 224-page publication, packed full of new and new and exclusive material, includes a lavish slipcase. 

Editor Marcus Hearn says

Doctor Who: Daleks – The Ultimate Guide is on sale Thursday 21 November 

from panini.co.uk and WH Smith priced £19.99 (UK). 

Also available as a digital edition from pocketmags.com priced £18.99.

Doctor Who Magazine Issue 610 is available now. 

Inside this issue

• PHILIP HINCHCLIFFE – THE ULTIMATE INTERVIEW! The man behind Fourth Doctor classics such as Genesis of the Daleks, Terror of the Zygons, The Seeds of Doom and Robots of Death reflects on his career – sharing his views on what makes essential Doctor Who – and reacts to episodes of this year’s series.

• Showrunners RUSSELL T DAVIES, STEVEN MOFFAT, CHRIS CHIBNALL and the TV Movie’s producer PHILIP SEGAL talk about Hinchcliffe Who and how it inspired them.

• As the first series of Blake’s 7 arrives on Blu-ray, we examine how it crossed over with Doctor Who.

• John Kane – who played the loveable Tommy in 1974’s Planet of the Spiders – gives a rare interview about his part in the series.

• The Fact of Fiction – delving into the detail of Tenth Doctor story The Doctor’s Daughter.

• This Month In… 1967. How Carry On actor Bernard Bresslaw became an Ice Warrior!

• Comic strip action with the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby.

Regular features

• Gallifrey Guardian – full details of the new Dalek partwork launching next year, plus the latest book news.

• Shelf Life – including a review of the Season 25 Blu-ray boxset, plus books, action figures and audio releases.

• Other Worlds – the essential guide to new stories in Doctor Who’s expanded universe.

• Prizes to be won including Blake’s 7 on Blu-ray! 

Doctor Who Magazine Issue 610 is on sale from panini.co.uk and WH Smith priced £7.99 (UK). 

Also available as a digital edition from pocketmags.com priced £6.99.

The latest publication in the Black Archive series looks at the Twelfth Doctor story Under the Lake / Before the Flood.

A base under siege, a time travel paradox, and ghosts! With these elements in place, Toby Whitehouse’s Under the Lake and Before the Flood (2015) tread familiar ground for fans of Doctor Who while also moving in bold new directions, both in terms of story-telling and character representation.

This two-part story sees Peter Capaldi’s 12th doctor break the fourth wall, speaking directly to the audience. His lecture on “the bootstrap paradox” serves to set up the central puzzle of these episodes while insisting that it remain unsolved. Meanwhile, actress Sophie Stone’s portrayal of Cass challenges traditional representational tropes surrounding disabled people. Simultaneously, this character asks us to think further about how we understand disability in, and through, science fiction.

The book is written by Ryan C. Parrey, PhD is Senior Lecturer in Disability Studies and director of the Disability Studies program at Eastern Washington University near Spokane, Washington, USA. and Kevin S. Decker, PhD is Professor of Philosophy at Eastern Washington University.

Under the Lake / Before the Flood is available now in paperback and electronic formats, direct from Obverse Books and from selected online retailers.

The cinematographer Ernie Vincze has died at the age of 81.

Ernie Vincze was the Director of Photography on 38 episodes of Doctor Who between 2005 and 2009, responsible for the Camera work and the lighting on each episode.

He was in charge for the entire first series of the revived show in 2005 looking after each episode of the Ninth Doctor's era before completing the Christmas special introducing the Tenth Doctor.   

He shared the load over the next three years, with his final episode, The Waters of Mars, in 2009.

His Doctor Who episodes were  

Ernie Vincze was born in Hungary in 1942. He spent most of his working life in Britain with over 80 credits. Some of his best-known work includes Jeeves and Wooster, Holby City, Robin Hood, Macbeth, Screen Two and The South Bank Show. 

He was elected to the British Society of Cinematographers in 1978, and is a fellow of the BKSTS. He served on the BAFTA council for 20 years, and was Head of Cinematography at the NFTS from 2000 - 2002

He won the 2008 Cymru BAFTA for his work on Doctor Who: Voyage Of The Damned

Showrunner Russell T Davies paid tribute to Vincze on Instagram

Issue 609 of Doctor Who Magazine is released today. 

Inside this issue

• Eighth Doctor PAUL McGANN and companion INDIA FISHER talk about their roles and their wider Doctor Who career in a break from rehearsing for the live performances of audio play The Stuff of Legend.

• RUSSELL T DAVIES brings us an update on Ncuti Gatwa’s second series…

• THE WAR BETWEEN THE LAND AND THE SEA – an exclusive preview of this Doctor Who spin-off including a message from producer Edo Ferretti, and executive producer Phil Collinson on the cast.

• Monster magic! The performers behind the creatures stalking the latest Doctor Who Prom share their experiences with DWM.

• Script to Screen on the episode Boom – discover the design process behind the deadly Villengard ambulance.

• The Fact of Fiction – It’s been an endless source of fascination for DWM over the years – Alan Barnes scrutinises the Fifth Doctor two-parter Black Orchid.

• This Month In… 1977. Find out the newspapers’ initial reaction to K9!

• Stand-up comedian Alison Zrada considers the pitfalls of leaving home to travel with the Doctor… 

• Comic strip action with the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby.

SEASON 25 BLU-RAY – SPECIAL FEATURES!

• A story-by-story guide to the reimagined versions of Remembrance of the Daleks, The Happiness Patrol, Silver Nemesis and The Greatest Show in the Galaxy included in the forthcoming Season 25 Blu-ray release.

• A look back at daytime TV’s celebration of the 25th Anniversary.

• We talk to producer Eric Luskin about the documentary – that he made for the New Jersey Network in the eighties – covering the making of Silver Nemesis…

• Rounding up our coverage of Season 25, we speak to Dick Fiddy and Justin Johnson about the BFI screening of The Happiness Patrol.

Regular features

• Gallifrey Guardian – the latest news from the Whoniverse.

• Shelf Life – including reviews of the latest books and audio releases.

• Other Worlds – the essential guide to new stories in Doctor Who’s expanded universe.

• Prizes to be won including the new Season 25 Blu-ray box set, The Gold Archive hardback and a new audio adventure for the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby.

Doctor Who Magazine Issue 609 is on sale Thursday 10 October  from panini.co.uk and WH Smith priced £10.99 (UK). The print issue also includes he latest addition to the Target Books range – The Evil of the Daleks by Frazer Hines

Also available as a digital edition from pocketmags.com priced £6.99.

The makers of Doctor Who Magazine present a lavish, 224-page bookazine in an exclusive slipcase.

Into the Vortex covers the entire history of the world’s longest-running science-fiction series, with details and highlights of all 311 television stories, plus sections dedicated to the series’ best-known monsters, villains and other characters. 

Newcomers to the show will find this the perfect way to navigate the huge archive of episodes on the BBC’s iPlayer, while longtime fans will find new and surprising insights into the television adventures of all 15 Doctors.

Editor Marcus Hearn says

Doctor Who: Into the Vortex is available now  from panini.co.uk and WH Smith priced £19.99 (UK). 

Also available as a digital edition from pocketmags.com priced £18.99.

The actor David Graham, one of the original voices of the Daleks, has died at the age of 99. Graham was also the voice of Parker in Thunderbirds and Grandpa Pig in the TV series Peppa Pig.

David Graham was one of two actors who provided the distinctive staccato tones of the Daleks in their first story screened in 1963. Along with Peter Hawkins, the sound of the metal monsters was a great part of their success, easily imitated by children in playgrounds across the nation. He told the Daily Mirror 

Graham later provided the Dalek voices in The Dalek Invasion of Earth in 1964 and The Chase and The Daleks' Master Plan in 1965.  In 2023 he recorded new Dalek voices for the 60th Anniversary special project The Daleks in Colour. 

Producer Benjamin Cook said

As well as providing his vocal talents to Doctor Who David Graham also appeared on screen in several roles. His most noteworthy appearance was as Kerensky the mad scientist working for  Count Scarlioni in 1979's City of Death.  Other roles included the bartender Charlie in The Gunfighters in 1966

David Graham was born in London on 11 July 1925. After service in the Royal Air Force as a radar mechanic he trained as an actor in New York City. 

His break into TV came in 1958 when he met writer and producer Gerry Anderson, who was planning his first puppet productions. His first voiceover role was as Grandpa Twink in Four Feather Falls. Many roles followed and in 1965, Graham became the voice of Gordon Tracy, Brains, Aloysius Parker and Kyrano in Thunderbirds. He reprised the role of Parker for an ITV remake of the show in 2015, called Thunderbirds Are Go! and was the only original cast member to return.

 Gerry Anderson wrote:

Graham appeared in Callan, Timeslip, So Haunt Me, Danger Man, The Saint, Howards' Way, Softly, Softly, Armchair Thriller, Ace of Wands, Justice, The Regiment, The Bill, The Fixer, The Sentimental Agent,Timeslip and The Avengers, in the 1963 episode Man in the Mirror. In the 1984 commercial introducing the Apple Macintosh, he played the role of Big Brother. 

In 2004, Graham became the voice of Grandpa Pig in Peppa Pig, introducing his voice talents to a new generation. 

Issue 608 of Doctor Who Magazine is released today

Inside this issue

• Join DWM at rehearsals for the Doctor Who Prom! We talk to host Catherine Tate, composers Murray Gold and Segun Akinola and exec producer Julie Gardner.

• Voice of the Daleks, and Big Finish boss, Nicholas Briggs talks about the challenges presented by the live performance of audio drama The Stuff of Legend, and his experiences on the TV show itself.

• Script to Screen! Discover how Dot and Bubble’s monstrous Mantraps were brought to life!

• Ahead of the release of Season 25 on Blu-ray, we interview Kandy Man actor David John Pope.

• The concluding part of our in-depth chat with 80s designer John Asbridge, covering his work on Silver Nemesis and The Happiness Patrol…

• Cyber Leader David Bank face the Memory Worm – will he remember the highlights of his Doctor Who career?

• DWM presents an indispensable guide to Doctor Who-related activities around the UK…

• …and checks in with the Worlds of Wonder exhibition as it reaches New Zealand.

• Doctor Who fan Danny Howroyd shares his experiences of working on 73 Yards as a supporting artist.

• Back to 1964 – viewers left bereft as Doctor Who goes off air for the first time!

• The Fact of Fiction – we examine the Twelfth Doctor’s encounter with Davros in The Witch’s Familiar…

• A brand-new comic strip adventure with the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby.

PLUS!

• Gallifrey Guardian – the latest news from the Whoniverse – including details about new books and audio releases!

• Shelf Life – including reviews of the latest action figure exclusives.

• Other Worlds – the essential guide to new stories in Doctor Who’s expanded universe.

• Prizes to be won including the new comic collection Black Sun Rising.

Doctor Who Magazine Issue 608 is on sale Thursday 12 September from panini.co.uk and WH Smith priced £7.99 (UK). 

Also available as a digital edition from pocketmags.com priced £6.99.