New Doctor Who comic-book adventures announced

Tuesday, 21 January 2014 - Reported by John Bowman

Titan Comics and BBC Worldwide Americas have signed a deal to publish all-new Doctor Who comic-book adventures, it was announced today. It comes following the end of the licensing agreement that IDW Publishing had had with the BBC since 2007.

The adventures will feature the Doctors as portrayed by David Tennant, Matt Smith, and Peter Capaldi. A press statement datelined New York said:

In the universe of Doctor Who, regenerations bring not only a new Doctor but often a fresh look and feel to the series, and BBC Worldwide is bringing that same approach to Doctor Who comics as it signs a new deal with Titan Comics.

The deal will open up the world of Doctor Who and provide fans with new stand-alone adventures featuring the Tenth Doctor, Eleventh Doctor and, after the new series launch, the Twelfth Doctor. Creative and production teams will be announced in the coming weeks and the first comic books will be released in 2014.

Today's statement was purely to announce the partnership agreement. A more precise date for when the first issue will be published is yet to be given, as is confirmation of the publication frequency. Although ostensibly an American production, the comic books will be available to buy worldwide.

Titan Comics is the comics and graphic-novel division of publisher Titan, whose magazine subsidiary previously published Torchwood - The Official Magazine.

FILTER: - Merchandise - USA - Comics - Magazines - BBC Worldwide

Doctor Who Magazine 469

Tuesday, 7 January 2014 - Reported by Chuck Foster

The next issue of Doctor Who Magazine is due out this Thursday, and talks exclusively to the Twelfth Doctor, Peter Capaldi.

I was five when the show started. I don’t remember Doctor Who not being part of my life, and it became a part of growing up, along with The Beatles, National Health spectacles, and fog. And it runs deep. It’s in my DNA...

Also in this issue:

Doctor Who's executive producer Steven Moffat talks candidly to DWM in an in-depth interview.
A look at 60s monster-makers Shawcraft, with never-before-seen colour photos.
A preview of The Moonbase DVD with exclusive images.
The Curse of Fenric – an in-depth guide to the classic Seventh Doctor adventure.
Steven Moffat answers readers' questions on The Day of the Doctor.
Pay the Piper – the Doctor and Clara in Part 2 of the latest comic strip.
Author Jacqueline Rayner writes about a world inspired by Doctor Who.
The Time Team watch Series Two of Torchwood.
The opportunity to vote in the Ultimate Doctor Who survey – with a huge prize at stake!
Reviews of all the latest DVDs and Cds.
Competitions, puzzles, and much more!

FILTER: - Merchandise - Magazines - DWM

Win a Dalek with Doctor Who Adventures

Saturday, 4 January 2014 - Reported by John Bowman

Doctor Who Adventures has launched a competition to give away a life-size Dalek worth more than £3,000.

To enter, readers must collect three tokens, with the first one available in the current issue - on sale until Tuesday 14th January.

The second token will be in the next edition of the fortnightly magazine - issue 337 - which goes on sale on 15th January, and token three will be in issue 338, on sale on 29th January. All three tokens need to be sent in with a completed form. Full terms and conditions can be found in the magazine.

Editor Moray Laing said:

Giving away one of the Doctor's greatest enemies has got to be THE ultimate competition and I'm thrilled that Doctor Who Adventures magazine has got one to give away.

The latest edition - issue 336 - also comes with a pack of Alien Attax cards, a Make Your Own Model kit, and a surprise gift.

FILTER: - Magazines - Competitions - DWA

Doctor Who Adventures Goes Interactive

Thursday, 28 November 2013 - Reported by Marcus

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who, Doctor Who Adventures has teamed up with Blippar to create a special interactive edition.

Readers can interact with Doctor Who content in a completely new way and this amazing interactive edition comes with a cool Eleventh Doctor dress-up set, which includes a sonic screwdriver, a fez, a bow tie and 3D glasses.

Out now, after downloading the free Blippar App and pointing a smartphone or tablet at the magazine pages, readers can use their device to:

Discover an awesome moving cover with a swirling vortex featuring all the Doctors.
Put their face on a monster!
Watch a top tip from everyone’s favourite Sontaran, Commander Strax!
See the fantastic comic come alive.
Put on the Doctor dress-up set then have your picture taken with the TARDIS, Clara, Cybermen, Strax or Daleks.
There’s a 3D monster fact file, super-scary Weeping Angel poster and amazing 3D Dalek poster which uses Blippar to bring it to life.
Plus an exclusive interview with David Tennant and Matt Smith which features a link to watch a video of them talking about what's next for Doctor Who.
Finally, there's a behind-the-scenes feature showing the First Doctor's TARDIS being constructed at the Doctor Who Experience in Cardiff.

According to Doctor Who Adventures editor Moray Laing:

We pride ourselves on bringing our readers closer to the action-packed world of their favourite show and this time we've taken the magazine to another dimension. Blippar has allowed us to play around with some of the scariest monsters in the universe to create fantastic interactive content which we know our imaginative readers will love!

Issue 334 of Doctor Who Adventures is on sale until 9 December 2013.

FILTER: - Magazines - DWA

Anniversary edition of DWM goes to reprint

Friday, 22 November 2013 - Reported by John Bowman

The 50th-anniversary edition of Doctor Who Magazine has proved so popular it is being reprinted just a week after publication.

Issue 467 is the biggest edition of the magazine ever at 116 pages and includes 12 art cards, a spoof mini magazine that imagines how DWM would have celebrated the show's first birthday, and nine free audio downloads. Despite a larger-than-normal print run, it has been selling out around the UK.

Editor Tom Spilsbury said:

It's astonishing! I've never seen anything like it. Truth be told, I was a little nervous about the 50th-anniversary issue. We worked hard to put together a really good package for readers, but you never quite know how anything is going to go down. You just cross your fingers and hope people like it.

We've been overwhelmed with messages from readers who have enjoyed the new magazine - but what has been even more exciting is seeing after just a few days on sale the issue was selling out across the country!

We've been taken completely by surprise, as we'd already printed a lot more copies than usual, so Panini has taken the unprecedented step of reprinting the issue in order to get more stock out to the shops. I was looking back at past sales figures, and it's sold even more copies than the "Bad Wolf" edition of 2008 (issue 397), which was the previous highest seller of recent years.

To go back to find an issue that has sold even more copies, well, it's the early-1980s at least - and then our records run out. So I can truthfully say it's the highest-selling issue of DWM since records began! And that's not even including digital sales. An amazing thing for the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who.

Thank you so much to all our readers for your support over the years. To keep the magazine going for the 16 years when the TV show itself had gone off air is down to your passion and loyalty. And if you haven't got your anniversary issue yet - well, snap it up fast before it dematerialises for good!

Spilsbury told Doctor Who News that around 50,000 copies were initially printed, with another 15,000 now coming off the presses.

Also inside issue 467:

Matt Smith and David Tennant – Two Doctors interviewed together
The Day of the Doctor – A preview of the 50th-anniversary special, with exclusive new photographs
Jenna Coleman (Clara Oswald) interviewed
An Adventure in Space and Time – Huge behind-the-scenes feature
A feature on Anthony Coburn – Doctor Who's greatest unsung hero
An Unearthly Child – The draft scripts of Doctor Who's very first episode revealed
The Watcher's Guide to Anniversaries
The Wonder of Who – A guide to Doctor Who's supposedly "indefinable magic"
The Five Doctors – A guide to Doctor Who's 20th-anniversary adventure
Mary Peach – The guest star of The Enemy of the World reacts to the story's recent recovery
Production Notes – Showrunner Steven Moffat is joined by someone from his past . . .
John Smith and the Common Men – A special anniversary comic strip
The Time Team watch Last of the Time Lords and Time Crash
The Watcher's 50th-Anniversary Quiz
Competitions and puzzles

FILTER: - Magazines - DWM - WHO50

Daily Mirror archive photos published

Wednesday, 20 November 2013 - Reported by John Bowman

A special magazine of archive photos from the Daily Mirror has been published to mark Doctor Who's 50th anniversary.

The 84-page glossy magazine, entitled The Doctors - The Archive, features pictures dating back to the show's earliest days. The "unofficial guide to 50 years of time travel", which is part of the Mirror Collection series, also includes archive and new interviews.

From the show's earliest days, The Doctors - The Archive features stunning images from the Mirror's archive. Fans can see the show's original star, William Hartnell, having his wig put in place, and see behind the scenes on many of the show's episodes which have now been lost in time.

The extensive photographic coverage features rare and never-before-seen pictures from not just the show's early years but throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, plus exclusive pictures taken during the recording of the revived television series, which has become a sensation in the 21st century.

Featuring archive and new interviews, this special publication salutes and commemorates 50 years of Doctor Who on the BBC.

The magazine can be bought and delivered worldwide via Amazon or the Mirror. It can also be bought in the UK at selected supermarkets, WH Smith, and independent newsagents.

With thanks to Tony Clark

FILTER: - Merchandise - UK - Magazines - WHO50

Radio Times Covers

Tuesday, 19 November 2013 - Reported by Marcus

Radio Times is celebrating Doctor Who’s 50th anniversary with an interactive special edition and a choice of 12 collectable covers - one for each of the Doctors who've appeared over the last 50 years.

The special issue is the 50th Radio Times Doctor Who cover since the iconic time traveller first graced the front page in 1964 and the magazine features archive interviews with each of the actors to have played the Doctor.

To access the interactive content, readers simply have to download the free Blippar app (iOS/Android) to their smartphone or tablet, then open the app and hold over the cover of the Radio Times to reveal an exclusive video message from the current Doctor, Matt Smith, and the opportunity to create and star in their own Radio Times Doctor Who cover to share on social media.

There's also further Doctor Who content to be unlocked inside where readers see the Blippar logo including:

A comprehensive episode-by-episode guide for each Doctor
Animated and video Doctor Who content
Over 100 pictures from the Radio Times Doctor Who archive
Gallery of all Radio Times Doctor Who covers
Exclusive 3D content

Inside the issue there are 26 pages of Doctor Who features, including interviews with Matt Smith, David Tennant and John Hurt, as well as authored pieces by showrunner Steven Moffat and BBC Director General Tony Hall, a guide to all the Doctors, a gallery of all 50 Radio Times Doctor Who covers, celebrity fans on what makes the iconic programme so special to them, and a chance to win Matt Smith's bow-tie.

TV Times

The rival listing magazine TV Times also features Doctor Who in a series of four souvenir covers.

All eleven Doctors are featured, where they are joined by several companions and monsters from throughout the last fifty years.

Both magazines are now available in shops.

FILTER: - Magazines - WHO50 - Radio Times

The Big Issue celebrates Doctor Who's 50th

Monday, 18 November 2013 - Reported by John Bowman

The new edition of street magazine The Big Issue - out today - marks the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who with a cover feature.

Editor Paul McNamee said:

We kick off our run of five bumper editions leading up to Christmas with a Doctor Who special. As the anniversary of that show approaches, with a number of Doctors together on screen and fan-mania growing, we have a collection of fantastic features.

These include:

An interview with Matt Smith detailing working on screen with David Tennant
A piece from Who-obsessive, screenwriter, and man of letters Mark Gatiss
Pieces from Karen Gillan and Eddie Izzard plus a panel of experts explaining what deeply-held psychological fear each Who monster plays to and why we can't escape them
A big Doctor Who competition with prizes including a TARDIS teapot

This special edition of the weekly magazine will be available from vendors everywhere across Britain except for a pocket around Manchester and the north-west, which is served by The Big Issue In The North.

The Big Issue is written by professional journalists and helps homeless and vulnerably-housed people by giving them the chance to earn their own money. Vendors buy the magazine at a reduced rate and sell it for the cover price, keeping the difference. Please note that the magazine should only be bought from badged vendors.

If people are unable to get hold of the publication, they can e-mail office manager Robert White via robert.white@bigissue.com.

UPDATE - TUESDAY 19th NOVEMBER: The Big Issue has got £1,800-worth of Doctor Who goodies to give away, including prints, DVDs, and Weeping Angel costumes. Editorial co-ordinator Steven MacKenzie told Doctor Who News:

It doesn't just have to be people who have already bought the magazine who can enter.

The closing date is Wednesday 27th November. Full details are available here.

FILTER: - UK - Magazines - WHO50

SFX 241

Wednesday, 16 October 2013 - Reported by Harry Ward

The latest edition of SFX magazine has been published and features an 18 page special on Doctor Who to celebrate the show's 50th Anniversary.

Across 18 pages of Doctor Who goodness, we have an exclusive chat with showrunner Steven Moffat about that golden anniversary , reveal 50 real-life heroes who made Doctor Who great (everyone from the stars to composers and Peter Brachacki, the man who designed the TARDIS interior, take a look at the Daleks’ lengthy kill list, and speak to Waris Hussein and Carole Ann Ford about “An Unearthly Child”, the very first William Hartnell story from 1963. We've also asked readers what they want to see from the Twelfth Doctor in our regular illustrated Wishlist feature.

SFX 241 (newsstand cover) (Credit: Future Publishing)

SFX 241 - Happy Birthday To Who (Credit: Future Publishing)

SFX 241 - Time Machine: An Unearthly Child (Credit: Future Publishing)

SFX 241 - Wishlist (Credit: Future Publishing)

SFX 241 is available in shops now.

FILTER: - Magazines

Doctor Who Magazine 464

Wednesday, 21 August 2013 - Reported by Chuck Foster

The new edition of Doctor Who Magazine, out Thursday, goes behind the scenes of Doctor Who Live, the special show which finally revealed the identity of the Twelfth Doctor. The magazine features interviews with the people who made it happen, including show runner Steven Moffat, presenter Zoë Ball and producer Russell Minton... and there's also has an exclusive letter from Peter Capaldi himself!

Steven Moffat told DWM:

He’s always looked like Doctor Who, how has this taken us so long?! Because the moment you say his name, you go ‘Of course!’ Because he’s got the hair, and he’s got the look, he’s brilliant, he’s known to be a fan, of course it’s bloody him!

Also this issue:

Waiting in the Wings... Steven Moffat writes exclusively for DWM about how Peter Capaldi came to be chosen as the Twelfth Doctor.
No Hiding ... The author of the recent episodes The Rings of Akhaten and Hide, and the creator of the acclaimed drama series Luther, Neil Cross talks exclusively to DWM about how he came to fulfil his dream of writing for Doctor Who.
Out of the Wilderness... In the second part of The Way Back, we continue to examine the rebirth of Doctor Who in the 21st and take a look at the other Ninth Doctor whose life was cut short after just one animated adventure, Scream of the Shalka – with contributions from Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner, Jane Tranter and many more...
Back to the Sixties: The Seventh Doctor and Ace take a trip to 1960s London where the Doctor hidden a dangerous Time Lord artefact. Unfortunately, two opposing Dalek factions also want to get their suckers on it... Remembrance of the Daleks from 1988 takes its turn under the scrutinising lens of Fact of Fiction, which reveals new and fascinating facts about the production.
Dead Man Walking: The Doctor is killed by an impossible astronaut – and that's just the start of his problems! DWM’s journey through Doctor Who’s long history arrives at 2011 and the thirty-second series, as Countdown to 50 continues.
Blinking Marvellous? Chris, Emma, Michael and Will are keeping their eyes open as they watch the award winning Doctor Who episode Blink from 2007. What will our fearless Time Team make of Steven Moffat’s ‘Doctor-lite’ episode, and will they escape being sent back in time by the Weeping Angels?
Fight and Flight! The Doctor’s bug problems are bigger than ever as the over-sized insect Koragatta’s plans come to fruition and the Prime Mother and her swarm threaten the Earth, in the exciting final episode of the DWM comic strip A Wing and a Prayer, written by Scott Gray, with art by Mike Collins.
The Best of the Best: The votes have been counted in the 2012 DWM readers merchandise poll and the winners are revealed, including your favourite fiction and non-fiction books, audios, and DVD releases. Plus, we also reveal the top features, covers and interviews from DWM itself.
Ain't Misbehaving... Mother of twins and devoted fan Jacqueline Rayner shares those occasional embarrassing moments when Doctor Who has let her down in the company of friends and family, in this issue’s Relative Dimensions.
Doctor Blue? The Watcher takes his cue from the casting of Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor and selects the TARDIS Swear-Box as this issue’s A History of Doctor Who in 100 Objects; presents a Capaldi-themed joke in What a Load of Rubeish; and celebrates another extra in Supporting Artist of the Month. Plus regeneration forms the basis of the brain tease in The Six Faces of Delusion and a Top Ten Fine Wines with a Doctor Who vintage are revealed. All in this issue’s Wotcha!