Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat has thanked the programme's fans for keeping the secrets of the season finale.

Following the early release of the US Blu-Ray discs containing the series climax, the BBC asked recipients to keep the secrets of the show until after the broadcast of the show earlier this evening, promising a special video clip would be released as a reward.

Moffat told the Guardian

Hot on the heels of the one earlier in the evening, a new publicity photo for the 50th Anniversary Special's read-through has been released, this time featuring Matt Smith and David Tennant, plus Jenna-Louise Coleman and guest star Joanna Page:

The BBC have released the first publicity photo for the 50th Anniversary Special, featuring Matt Smith and David Tennant together at the episode read-through that took place today:


Filming for the special takes place over the next few weeks.

The BBC have now confirmed that the Tenth Doctor David Tennant will star in the 50th Anniversary episode of Doctor Who.

The news leaked earlier today thanks to a mistake in the distribution of Doctor Who Magazine, which saw subscribers receive their issues 5 days early, forcing the BBC to issue a hurried press release. Tennant will join current stars Matt Smith and Jenna-Louise Coleman in the special episode.

Also joining the cast will be the Ninth and Tenth Doctor's companion Billie Piper.

Tennant played The Doctor from 2005-2010, appearing in 47 episodes of the series, while Piper played Rose Tyler for the 2005 and 2006 seasons, along with cameos in later episodes.

DWM also reports that international film star John Hurt will join the cast for the special episode, which begins filming next week.

John Hurt is one of the UK's most respected actors appearing in films such as The Elephant Man, where he played John Merrick, Nineteen Eighty-Four where he played Winston Smith and Scandal where he played Stephen Ward. On Television he is best known for playing Caligula in the renowned I, Claudius and Quentin Crisp in The Naked Civil Servant. His distinctive voice has been used in many productions such as Watership Down and the animated The Lord of the Rings.

He has received two Academy Award nominations, a Golden Globe Award, and four BAFTA Awards.

It is expected that the special episode will be transmitted on Saturday 23rd November, 50 years to the day since the launch of Doctor Who.

BBC America will broadcast the next in their Doctor Who Revisited series on the 31st March, covering the Third Doctor's era.

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!

It has been announced that Comic Relief has so far raised £75,107,851 - the highest amount raised on the night by the charity fundraiser in its 25 years!

As usual, the evening's programme featured a host of especially recorded sketches featuring popular series characters, which has often included appearances or "minisodes" related to Doctor Who. This year saw the Doctor pop up in One Born Every Minute, a scene with the cast from Call The Midwife where he arrives to warn an expectant mother of the potential threat caused by her unborn twins, John and Edward ... Matt Smith then appeared on stage at BBC Television Centre as a 'preview' to the 3D 50th Anniversary Special, though ended up having to fend off the attentions of presenter Claudia Winkleman.

Later in the evening, Davina promised co-presenter John Bishop a kiss the same way she had received from David Tennant during the 2009 evening - and the actor was on hand to give John a surprise!


The high-definition Call the Midwife sketch is available to purchase via Apple iTunes. The followup encounter between Matt and Devina has been publised by Comic Relief on YouTube. A number of other related videos can be viewed below:

Spearhead From Space has been chosen by BBC America to represent the Third Doctor in its Doctor Who: The Doctors Revisited celebratory season.

A documentary entitled The Doctors Revisited: The Third Doctor will air on Sunday 31st March at 8pm Eastern/7pm Central, followed by the four-part story that ushered in the Jon Pertwee era.

The documentary will see Steven Moffat, Caroline Skinner, David Tennant, and Hugh Bonneville discussing how the Third Doctor brought action and stunts to the series. It will also feature other as-yet-unspecified contributors.

The adventure - which originally aired in 1970 - was the first in the series to be made in colour and it saw the newly-regenerated Doctor, freshly exiled by the Time Lords, team up with new assistant Liz Shaw, played by Caroline John, and the British section of UNIT, headed by Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (Nicholas Courtney). Because of industrial action at BBC TV Centre, the story ended up being made entirely on location and on 16mm film - the only time this has ever been done on the show so far.

BBC America is paying tribute to the programme's 50th anniversary by showing a story per Doctor per month.

David Tennant has signed a new batch of greetings cards to raise money for Headway Essex.

The Colchester-based charity, of which he is the patron, cares for people who have suffered a brain injury, and the actor became involved with the organisation while researching for the 2007 BBC TV drama Recovery, in which he played businessman Alan Hamilton who is left brain-injured after being hit by a car. The production co-starred Sarah Parish as Hamilton's wife, Tricia.

The cards have a black-and-white picture of Tennant on the front and are A5-sized and high-gloss. They come with an envelope and feature the words "With Best Wishes" inside and an explanation on the back about the donation.

This is the second time that he has personally signed cards for the charity.

Other Tennant-related merchandise is also being sold by the charity, namely, a "David Doodle" pillowcase, "David Doodle" T-shirts (for men and women), and a David Tennant tote bag (available in pink or black).

The items are available via the charity's webshop, and all of them can be sent worldwide. Money raised will help people with brain injuries, their families, and carers.

Matt Smith is to star in a new film, How To Catch A Monster, written and directed by Ryan Gosling. The film has been described as "set against the surreal dreamscape of a vanishing city and centred on a single mother of two being swept into a macabre and dark fantasy underworld, while her teenage son discovers a secret road leading to an underwater town." Smith is to play the, as yet unnamed lead, alongside Eva Mendes, Christina Hendricks and Saoirse Ronan. Filming begins in May. [Variety, 6 Feb 2013]

David Tennant is currently filming a new three-part thriller for BBC One, The Escape Artist, in which he plays Will Burton, a barrister who specialises in spiriting people out of tight legal corners. The show is written by Spooks creator David Wolstencroft, who said of the casting: "David Tennant is one of the most accomplished and iconic actors of his generation. I cannot wait to see him in Will's shoes.". The show also features Sophie Okonedo, Toby Kebbell and Ashley Jensen (with whom the actor appeared in his very first professional role, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui). [BBC Media Centre, 31 Jan 2013]

The actor has also been reunited with Emilia Fox for the drama Every Seventh Wave, a sequel to last year's Love, Virtually. It can be heard this Thursday on BBC Radio 4.

Christopher Eccleston took on the role of Winston Smith in the first BBC Radio 4 adaptation of George Orwell's 1984 broadcast at the weekend; on the enduring appeal of the book and his character, the actor said: "it's the human story that means that we keep coming back to it and keeps it relevant.". The adaptation forms part of a season of programmes entitled The Real George Orwell celebrating the writer, who used to work at Broadcasting House. (Eccleston isn't the only Doctor to have played the role - Patrick Troughton starred as Smith in a 1965 broadcast by the BBC Home Service.)

We reported back in September that Eccleston was amongst a number of celebrities who were making claims against News International over phone-hacking allegations - a settlement was reached last Friday, with the lawyer representing claimants reported that the actor has been "shocked and distressed" over the sixteen occasions his messages had been compromised, and that "owing to the deliberate destruction of documents by the News of the World, he will never find out the true extent to which his privacy and that of those close to him, was invaded". [BBC News/Express, 8 Feb 2013]

Peter Davison was recently subject to an internet death hoax, as a joke blog post escalated out of control across social media - the actor is of course very much alive! A number of celebrities have suffered similar reports in recent months as unfounded rumours spread through social media. However, this is not a new phenomenon as obituaries have been published in the past in print for people still very much alive! [Travelers Today, 2 Feb 2013]

Joy Whitby, former children's TV producer at the BBC, has revealed how producer Verity Lambert contacted her about a job on the recently launched Play School after she finished on Doctor Who. Surprised, she turned her down, considering her to be an over-qualified and high-powered producer! [BBC News, 31 Jan 2013]

Talking about how she became an actress, Freema Agyeman said: "No one in my family or my friend circle anywhere was in the acting business or anything to do with the industry whatsoever. I went to a very strict academic convent girls' school, and I was very into science and things like that when I was younger. And then I suddenly just went off on this tangent when I was 17 and I suddenly decided that I liked acting. But I also liked fine arts and English literature, so I would have gone and done any of them at a higher education level. I remember asking a career advisor, "What should I do?" and her advice was to apply to universities and see what happens. So I applied to either of the three at university, and I decided that fate would guide me. And it so happens that the theatre studies or the acting degree application was responded to first, so I thought it was a sign. And I learned everything as I went. I got into it quite late. I'm enjoying it, but I'm very much learning as I go - and enjoying that, actually!" [Hollywood, 5 Feb 2013]

The actress has also joined Twitter, and can be followed via @FreemaOfficial.

Toby Jones was named Best Actor at the London Evening Standard 2012 British Film Awards for his role as Gilderoy in the psychological thriller Berberian Sound Studio. [BBC News, 4 Feb 2013]

Daniel Blythe gave a reading of his Doctor Who book Autonomy to pupils at the Hepworth J&I School in Huddersfield. He visited the school to give a presentation on how he became an author and his Doctor Who connections. [Huddersfield Examiner, 1 Feb 2013]

In Memoriam:

The actor Peter Gilmore, who guest-starred as Brazen in the 1984 story Frontios, died aged 81 on 3rd February - 29 years to the day since the adventure's fourth and concluding episode was transmitted. He was best-known to TV viewers as shipping magnate James Onedin in the BBC period drama The Onedin Line and also made 11 appearances in Carry On films. [The Guardian, 6 Feb 2013]

Robin Sachs, who played a professor in Torchwood: Miracle Day, has died at the age of 61. He was the son of Leonard Sachs and was also known to sci-fi/fantasy fans for his roles in Buffy, The Vampire Slayer, Star Trek: Voyager, Babylon 5, and Galaxy Quest. [BBC News, 5 Feb 2013]

Two people from the Hartnell era have been reported as passing away in January: Reg Pritchard, who played Ben Daheer in The Crusade, and Keith Marsh, who played Conway in the Peter Cushing movie Daleks' Invasion Earth: 2150AD. [The Stage, 7 Feb 2013]