The fourteenth in our series of features telling the story of the creation of Doctor Who, and the people who made it happen.

Production is progressing on the new series due for transmission on BBC Television in the Autumn. With key production personnel in place, attention has moved on to casting the main characters in the show.

July 1963 was mostly cool and changeable as production at Television Centre in west London continued on the new television drama, which by now had a name, Doctor Who. Producing a television drama is a complicated thing, with so many departments needing to work together and so many people all needing to make sure their part of the puzzle would fit into the whole picture. One of the most important parts of the whole is design. Design in Television is vital, especially in science fiction drama where new worlds and future landscapes need to be created. The requirements for the new programme were enormous and producer Verity Lambert thought she was not getting the best out of the BBC design department.

Lambert had been pressing the Design Manager James Bould and Head of Design Richard Levin to allocate a designer to the new series since the end of June, but it was not until Wednesday 10th July that Lambert was finally given a name. The first four episodes would be designed by Peter Brachacki. That day, Lambert and Associate Producer Mervyn Pinfield had a meeting with Brachacki. It was not a total meeting of minds as it was obvious Brachacki was not keen on working on the series. He could spare them half an hour and announced he would be unavailable for the next two weeks.

This was something that worried Lambert, and after reflecting on the situation, on Wednesday 17th July, exactly 50 years ago today, she sent her boss, Donald Wilson, a memo outlining her concerns and expressing a wish that the production should not suffer 'because of a lack of effort from the Design department'. Wilson took up the matter and wrote to the Head of the Design department. Music is another vital element in a television drama and Lambert was determined to try something different on this series. On Friday 12th July she made enquiries about commissioning the French electronic music composers Jacques Lasry and Francois Bascher to provide the title music for the series. Their group, Les Structures, were known for creating music using such techniques as glass rods mounted in steel.

By the middle of July, Script Editor David Whitaker had refined the original concept document, making significant changes to the character structure. Whitaker made clear in his changes that the main cast would be forbidden from interfering with history. The character of the Doctor was now described as 'over sixty' rather than 'about 650' and his granddaughter, Susan, was to be a 'sharp intelligent girl who sometimes makes mistakes because of inexperience'. He made notes on the spaceship that would feature in the programme. The actual scripts for the first 10 episodes, now confirmed at a duration of 25 minutes, were still being worked on by Anthony Coburn. He signed the formal contract on 8th July and would be paid £225 for each episode. The contract made it clear that the concept of Doctor Who and its four main characters would remain the copyright of the BBC and not belong to Coburn. Coburn's fee would be paid in 12 instalments.

The story structure for those first ten episodes was also outlined by Whitaker.

Doctor Who once more features heavily in the BBC Worldwide Annual Report, making clear how important the series is to the corporation and putting part of the fall in headline sales for the company down to the lower number of Doctor Who episodes produced this year.

The report details how the revenue from superbrands such as Doctor Who contribute 27% of BBC Worldwide's headline sales, which are down by 14% on the previous year, partly due to a lower volume of output from Doctor Who.

BBC Worldwide exists to exploit the BBC's commercial assets, raising money which can be returned to the corporation for reinvestment in programmes. Doctor Who has many mentions in this year’s annual report, which details the performance of the BBC's assets around the world.

Doctor Who is one of BBC Worldwide’s biggest brands, sold to over 200 territories around the world. It is named as a key part of the digital business strategy, where sales are up by 22.8% on last year.

The report details how the Series 7 premiere was the most-watched telecast in the history of BBC America, and how in Australia the first-ever cinema night of two episodes from Series 6 was number three at the Australian box office.

Other Doctor Who highlights include

• The Doctor Who Experience which relocated to a long-term residency in Cardiff Bay, following a one-year tenancy at London’s Olympia.
• Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock, the first BBC-published game on the Sony PlayStation3
• The Symphonic Spectacular which was held at the Sydney Opera House and had a total ticketed attendance of 16,144.
• The Universal Remote Control has sold 36,000 units since launch.
• Doctor Who Home for Christmas 2012, a collection of Doctor Who homewares, ceramics and stationery, designed and distributed in-house.
• A line-up of Doctor Who collectibles for the 50th Anniversary year, including a celebratory range of Royal Mail stamps.
• Doctor Who coin produced by New Zealand Mint.
• 3.1 million fans on Facebook.

Visitors travelling through Heathrow Airport in London from Tuesday are to be entertained with a range of Doctor Who themed experiences including appearances from Cybermen, TARDIS photobooths, displays of props and memorabilia, and augmented reality hotspots.

The BBC worldwide event, in partnership with Heathrow, is to celebrate 50 years of Doctor Who. Travellers will be able to take pictures of themselves and friends on alien worlds and be menaced by monsters from the comfort of the TARDIS photobooths. Doctor Who passports will be available containing giveaways including a free episode to download, information about Doctor Who activities in terminal over the summer, and a free digital copy of Doctor Who Adventures Magazine.

To mark the launch of the partnership, on July 16 travellers through Terminal 5 will be able to enjoy performances by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. In addition, Doctor Who novelist Jenny Colgan, author of the recently released Doctor Who: Dark Horizons will also be signing books for fans.

Amanda Hill, Chief Brands Officer for BBC Worldwide comments. Susan Goldsmith, Operations Director at Heathrow Terminal 5 saidTravellers are invited to share their images of Doctor Who at Heathrow using the hashtag #WhereDoYouWantToGo

A special edition of Doctor Who Magazine has been published today featuring telesnaps from missing Second Doctor episodes.

Although a total of 106 Doctor Who episodes no longer exist in the BBC archives, there are pictorial records of most of them in the form of photos taken of TV screens at the time of broadcast, and The Missing Episodes – The Second Doctor Volume 1 contains images from six Patrick Troughton stories across its 116 pages.

The adventures covered are The Power of the Daleks, The Highlanders, The Underwater Menace, The Moonbase, The Macra Terror, and The Faceless Ones.

The special publication also has a feature by researcher and author Richard Molesworth, which reveals how some missing episodes of Doctor Who have miraculously been found and returned to the archives over the years. Molesworth wrote the book Wiped! Doctor Who's Missing Episodes, which was updated this year for a second edition.

It is unknown as yet when Volume 2 will be published or which stories it will cover.

BBC Worldwide have announced the release of a limited edition set to celebrate the Fourth Doctor, as played by Tom Baker. The Fourth Doctor Time Capsule will contain exclusive merchandise and memorabilia:

• An Interview with the Time Lord - a newly commissioned interview with Tom Baker.
• Terror of the Zygons - an advance "vanilla" release of the restored story, which is due out later in the year.
• Fourth Doctor Action Figure - an exclusive post-regenerative Fourth Doctor, wearing Jon Pertwee’s trademark frill-fronted shirt.
• Fourth Doctor sonic screwdriver.
• Genesis of the Daleks - an audio version of the classic Dalek "origin" story.
• Tomb of Valdemar - a novel by Simon Messingham, set during the Doctor’s search for the Key to Time.
• Art cards - featuring all the Fourth Doctor’s companions.
• A letter from Tom Baker.

The Fourth Doctor Time Capsule is limited to 5000 copies, and is due to be released in the UK only on 29th July.

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The set was subject to a Twitter campaign over the last week using the #thefourth hashtag, which also saw a couple of intriguing teaser trailers released to promote interest:

Remembrance of the Daleks is to be shown on BBC America this month as part of the channel's celebratory strand Doctor Who: The Doctors Revisited.

Airing on Saturday 27th July in omnibus form, it will be preceded by a documentary at 7pm ET/PT entitled Doctor Who: The Doctors Revisited – The Seventh Doctor, in which Sylvester McCoy, his companion actors Sophie Aldred and Bonnie Langford, plus current lead writer and executive producer Steven Moffat will be among the people examining the darker side of this particular incarnation of the Doctor. They will also be viewing some of his surreal adventures and discussing The Rani.

Remembrance of the Daleks, written by Ben Aaronovitch and directed by Andrew Morgan, was originally shown over four episodes in October 1988 and saw the Doctor return to Coal Hill School as well as the Totter's Lane junkyard first seen in the show's premier episode. In addition, it continued the story arc of the Dalek civil war, and marked the last appearance of the Daleks and Davros in the original run of the show.
BBC America is celebrating the programme's 50th anniversary by showing a story per Doctor per month.

Award-winning Children's Laureate Malorie Blackman has written the seventh e-book short story in the range celebrating Doctor Who's 50th anniversary.

The Ripple Effect, to be released on Tuesday 23rd July by Puffin Books in partnership with BBC Worldwide, sees the Seventh Doctor and Ace encountering Daleks - but these are Daleks with a difference.
Blackman said: An extract is available via The Guardian's website, and a promotional video featuring Blackman will be available on the BBC's Doctor Who YouTube channel from Thursday 11th July.

Blackman, who will be the Children's Laureate until 2015, has written more than 50 books, including the critically-acclaimed Noughts & Crosses series of novels for young adults. She is acknowledged as one of today's most imaginative and convincing writers for young readers and has been awarded numerous prizes for her work, including the Red House Children's Book Award and the Fantastic Fiction Award. She has also been shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal. In 2005, Blackman was presented with the Eleanor Farjeon Award in recognition of her contribution to children's books, and in 2008 she received an OBE for her services to children's literature.

Details about the e-short for the Eighth Doctor will be revealed on Tuesday 6th August.

.As previously reported, Splendid Chaps is a year-long performance/podcast project to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who hosted by comedian Ben McKenzie (Dungeon Crawl, Melbourne Museum Comedy Tour) and writer John Richards (ABC1 sitcom Outland, Boxcutters podcast)

Described by its creators as part intellectual panel discussion, part nerdy Tonight Show, Splendid Chaps is a combination of analysis, enthusiasm and irreverence. The first episode went to number 1 on the iTunes TV & Film Podcast chart in Australia, and to number 4 in the UK.  The podcasts to previous episodes are now available at www.splendidchaps.com or at  iTunes.

Tickets are now on sale for their 7th Doctor show! This show discusses the seventh and final Doctor of what we now call the classic era, played by variety performer and actor Sylvester McCoy. Famous for escapology, spoon playing and putting ferrets down his trousers, McCoy’s casting raised a few eyebrows, but his performance changed many doubters’ minds – especially when combined with Sophie Aldred as Ace, and under the new direction provided by the incoming production team under Andrew Cartmel. Of course, no-one knew that the program’s days were numbered…

Splendid Chaps are also looking at the theme of “religion” in Doctor Who. The Doctor has been all across space and time and encountered zealots, fanatics, kindly priests, and beings who believed themselves to be gods or demons or the devil himself. But what does the program say about religion, faith and belief? Is the Doctor Who universe truly a rational one in which the supernatural is really just advanced science, or is The Beast really the Devil? Is faith worthwhile, and if so, what does the Doctor believe?

Hosts Ben McKenzie, John Richards and Petra Elliott are joined by guests including writer and game designer Paul Callaghan, comedian and television writer Dave Bloustien, and for their discussion of religion, the Reverend Dr Avril Hannah-Jones, Uniting Church minister and founder of the Church of the Latter Day Geek (as seen on Adam Hills In Gordon Street Tonight)! Plus a very special musical performance from the one and only Lee Zachariah, and all the usual prizes and surprises!

Space: The Public Bar, 238 Victoria Street, North Melbourne (opposite Victoria Markets)
Time: Sunday 14 July; recording starts 5 PM
Accessibility: This venue is wheelchair accessible.
Tickets: $15 (plus booking fee where applicable)
Bookings: via trybooking.com or at the door (subject to availability)
Podcast: not yet available; released 23 July 2013.

BBC Radio 2 has told Doctor Who News it is to produce a documentary entitled Who is the Doctor? to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who.

The 90-minute programme will be broadcast on Thursday 21st November, just two days before the celebration date. More details when we have them.

Also on Radio 2, former companion to the Sixth Doctor, Bonnie Langford, will be Graham Norton’s guest this Saturday. The actress, who played Mel from 1986 to 1987 is scheduled to appear at around 12.15pm UK time. Questions can be sent to Norton at the usual address graham.norton@bbc.co.uk

BBC Radio 2 can be heard worldwide via the BBC website.

The thirteenth in our series of features telling the story of the creation of Doctor Who, and the people who made it happen.

The story so far: Pre-production is now under way on the new Saturday evening science fiction series Doctor Who. Conceived by Sydney Newman, the series was expected to air on BBC Television in the late summer. A producer had been appointed, Verity Lambert, but the show was far from being ready. With no completed scripts and no actors yet cast, the new producer was in for a rocky ride.

At the end of June Sydney Newman returned from holiday to discover all was not well with his new show. Like any big organisation the BBC throughout its history has often suffered from an overblown bureaucracy and middle managers determined to protect process over progress, Doctor Who was not immune from such obstacles and on the 27th June 1963, exactly fifty years ago today, Newman was determined to tackle the problem.

In a heated phone call with Joanna Spicer, the Assistant Controller (Planning) Television, Newman listened to some of the complaints. The new series had bypassed the proper BBC procedures and the production had been carrying out auditions without authorisation he heard. Indeed just two days before director Rex Tucker had been interviewing actresses for the role of Susan Foreman. Furthermore, he was told the series would place unacceptable demands on the servicing departments due to its ambitious nature. Scripts weren’t ready and production was way behind schedule.

Newman leapt to the defence of his team. He dictated a memo to Spicer which pulled no punches. It was entitled Doctor Who Hassle.
Newman's memo caused much discussion in the upper echelons of BBC Television. At a meeting with Donald Baverstock, Spicer and her Head of Department decided to rethink the early evening Saturday slot. The original plan was to fill 50 minutes with programming aimed at children. They now reduced this to 30 minutes between 5.20pm and 5.50pm each Saturday. The slot would be initially filled with the cartoon series Deputy Dawg and then Doctor Who. The new series would now need to be made in 30-minute episodes, so to give the production team more time it was decided Doctor Who would now be delayed by eight weeks. The pilot episode would be recorded on Friday 27th September and the series would debut on Saturday 9th November.

The budget for the series was now set at £2,300 per episode. Newman was asked to confirm that the costs of the 'time/space' machine would be met from an additional budget. The team were allocated Lime Grove Studio D. Newman accepted most of these changes but was unhappy about the proposal to increase the running time to 30 minutes. In this he was supported by Ronald Waldman, the General Manager of Television Enterprises, who favoured 25-minute episodes for overseas sales.

One major problem caused by the delay was the fact that Rex Tucker, the assigned director of the first story, would not be available to direct the story as he would be on holiday in Majorca at the time the episodes were in production. It was therefore decided to swap the first two directors around. The first story would now be directed by newcomer Waris Hussein, with Tucker taking on the second. With script editor David Whitaker now on board too, the production was now complete. But they still needed four character actors to play the main roles. Disliking Tucker's suggestions for the roles, Hussein and Lambert began the search in earnest.