The MFX Warehouse have announced that they have ceased their lines of replica Doctor Who props.

The Warehouse produces replicas designed by its award-winning parent company Millennium FX. With that company having worked on Doctor Who and its spin-offs since production resumed in 2004, the last five years have seen the Warehouse produce fully licensed authentic hand-made replicas of a number of their designs, including items such as Cyberman and Ood heads, Clockwork Man masks, and the sonic screwdriver.

However, the announcement has stated that this line has now ended, and that their remaining stock of sonic screwdrivers - on sale at a reduced price - will no longer be available to purchase from April.

IDW Publishing have announced a new Doctor Who Annual to be released in the United States in 2010. Revealed at the Gallifrey One convention at the weekend, editor Denton Tipton explained:
The annual will be written/drawn by three established writers for IDW's Doctor Who range - Tony Lee, Al Davison and Matthew Dow Smith - plus Hollywood screenwriter Jonathan L Davis who has written the main story.

The annual also features a short story by Matthew Smith and Tony Lee that leads into IDW's final arc of their ongoing Tenth Doctor range of comics (issues 13-16, entitled Final Sacrifice). The comic series itself continues from March with issue 9 starting the Don't Step on the Grass story by Tony Lee; the new story will also feature the Doctor's companion Martha Jones.

You can read more about IDW's Doctor Who range in a report by Comic Book Resources from the convention.

This week's issue sees an adventure guide to last year's The Waters of Mars, in which you can discover what is turning people into zombies, and how the Doctor plans to stop it. You can also find out more about the Cybershades from The Next Doctor.

The issue also comes with two free gifts: an inflatable monster, and Cybershade tumblers.


Out now in the United Kingdom.

Friday 5th March sees the launch of National Doodle Day 2010, the seventh event organised by the charities Epilepsy Action and The Neurofibromatosis Association. A number of doodles from celebrities will be auctioned to help raise money to help those afflicted by those illnesses, and this year sees illustrations by Doctor Who companions Catherine Tate, Bernard Cribbins and Elisabeth Sladen, as well as other guests from the show like Michelle Ryan and Russell Tovey. It is also possible to vote for your favourite celebrity doodle.

In previous years, celebrities doodles have included those by Peter Davison, Colin Baker, and Louise Jameson; many of these can be purchased on t-shirts and other items in support of the charities from PhotoBox.

The auction starts on Ebay from 5th March, and a full list of the celebrity doodles are available on the National Doodle Day website.

The Tonner Doll Company has recently unveiled a set of Doctor Who figures to be released this year. Displayed at the New York Toy Fair, award-winning sculptor Robert Tonner has modelled the 10th Doctor, Martha Jones, Captain Jack and Gwen Cooper.

The highly detailed 17" dolls include accessories: for example the 10th Doctor comes with a two piece suit, shirt, tie, socks and shoes, and also includes a sonic screwdriver model; a coat can be purchased separately to complete the appearance.

The limited edition figures are expected to retail between $170-$200 mark, depending on the character. See the Doctor Who and Torchwood catalogues for more details. You can also see various views of the figures from the Toy Fair Gallery.

BBC America has announced that their broadcasts of the new series of Doctor Who will start on April 17th. The date has been reported in the Hollywood trade paper Variety, and has been confirmed on BBC America's website and Facebook page.

The start date for UK broadcast has not yet been officially confirmed. There are reports that a trailer has aired with the date of April 3rd, but this may have been broadcast in error. The BBC's official position is that the series will debut "at Easter".

After the last few days' media hype, the Bonhams Auction of Doctor Who prop and costumes finally took place today. As expected, of the 163 lots, the Daleks performed extremely well, with the MkI version from Remembrance of the Daleks fetching the best price of the auction at £20,400, with the Torchwood SUV second with a bid of £18,000. The other "Imperial" Dalek MkII reached £15,600. Of the Cybermen, one from The Five Doctors/Silver Nemesis fetched £9,600, with a destroyed one from The Five Doctors reaching £4,080.

Of the costumes, the Tenth Doctor costume from Voyage of the Damned fetched £5,040, whilst Astrid Peth's reached £3,120; Rose's costume from Rose achieved £1,020; the costume for the 'Next Doctor', Jackson Lake, reached £3,120.

Other items of interest include: a sarcophagus cover from Pyramids of Mars fetching £4,800; a Chancellery Guard uniform from The Deadly Assassin (as mentioned on The One Show) for £2,280; and the Malus from The Awakening at £3,000. The oldest prop from the series, the brontosaurus model from Invasion of the Dinosaurs, went for £1,320.

The cheapest item was a speaker from The Runaway Bride, which fetched £42.


You can view all of the props and their final bids below. The catalogue is currently available to see on the Bonhams website.

The new edition of SFX will feature a specially-commissioned 3D cover celebrating the return of Doctor Who to television at Easter. Produced in full co-operation with the BBC and the Doctor Who production team, the cover features the Doctor and Amy with a couple of Weeping Angels. The magazine includes an exclusive look at the new series, including interviews with Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, and Steven Moffat.

Issue 194 is on sale from 10th March - see the SFX website for more details.


(please note our cover illustration is an animated simulation of the 3D effect - if you didn't see it when reading this article, simply click on the image to see the larger-scale version)

John Baker worked for the BBC Radiophonic Workshop between 1963 and 1974, during the time when many special sounds for Doctor Who were made by the department. The auction site Ebay currently an EMS VCS3 synthesiser listed which was owned by the composer, and it has been reported as being used for Doctor Who, and possibly even used for the re-arrangement of the Doctor Who theme tune in the early 1970s (though this has not been confirmed).

The item has, unsurprisingly, attracted interest, with the bid at the time of writing at £3877. Running until 4th March, you can view the item on the auction website.

You can read more about John Baker at the Trunk Records website.

It has been reported that visual effects designer Ian Scoones has died in Bulgaria where he lived with his wife Anastasia, on 20th January.

Scoones is perhaps best remembered for his work on Doctor Who in the 1970s for Pyramids of Mars, The Invisible Enemy and City of Death, though he had worked on many other stories, including the very first story An Unearthly Child as an uncredited special effects assistant. He was also heavily involved with the first series of Blake's Seven. As well as television, he worked on a number of films, including Quatermass and the Pit, Nineteen Eighty-Four and Haunted Honeymoon.

Having lived in Spain for a number of years he then retired to Bulgaria, but was interviewed by fellow visual effects designer Mat Irvine for the 2008 BBC DVD release The Invisible Enemy, a story he also worked upon.