The BBC have released four new publicity photos for the forthcoming new series of Doctor Who, featuring Peter Capaldi as the Doctor, Jenna Coleman as Clara, and Neve McIntosh as Vastra:

Doctor Who fans arriving in Cardiff for the world premiere screening of the first episode from the new series, Deep Breath, will get an opportunity to see the new Doctor on the red carpet, ahead of the event, 7 August.

Peter Capaldi, the Twelfth Doctor and Jenna Coleman, his on-screen companion Clara, will be meeting the public as they walk up the red carpet outside Cardiff Central Library, from 11am, en route to the sell-out screening at St David’s Hall. Joining them in the Hayes will be Cybermen and Daleks.

Brian Minchin, Executive Producer of Doctor Who, says:BBC Wales Director, Rhodri Talfan Davies, says:

The new edition of SFX, out today, celebrates the return of Doctor Who to our screens this autumn with an exclusive selection of five limited edition covers and a revealing behind-the-scenes interview.

Issue 251 features access to the man behind Doctor Who, Steven Moffat, in which he exclusively reveals his hopes for the new Doctor, Peter Capaldi, the direction he hopes the show will go in, and his episode-by-episode insight into the 2014 series.



To celebrate the return of Doctor Who to our screens, the magazine features five limited edition collectable covers: Peter Capaldi as the Doctor and his four ​companions Clara, Strax, Jenny and Madame Vastra. These will be randomly distributed around the UK.

Dave Bradley, Editor-in-Chief of SFX, says:

Issue 251 also goes behind the scenes on Sin City: A Dame To Kill For and analyses the future of superheroes on TV with a complete guide to the upcoming shows Gotham, Constantine, The Flash, Agent Carter and more. The issue also features interviews with geek icon Felicia Day, director Luc Besson, and top fantasy author Robin Hobb.

The issue goes on sale on Wednesday 23 July, priced £4.99.

Peter Capaldi's Celebrity School Report and Signed Photo is being auctioned for Cecily's Fund, a charity that works to provide orphans and vulnerable children and young people in Zambia with access to education.

The unique school report is handwritten and signed by Peter Capaldi on behalf of Dr Who. It grades the Doctor on subjects including history (exceptionally good) and Dalek fighting (A+). The report also includes a doodle of a Dalek and comes with a signed photo of Capaldi.

Other reports are also available including items from Hugh Bonneville, Bill Nighy and Joanna Lumley.

The auction on ebay closes on 4th July.

Meanwhile Capaldi has joined Hollywood star Brad Pitt as a trustee of The Mackintosh Appeal, raising money to help the The Glasgow School of Art recover from a serious fire which damaged The Mackintosh Building at the heart of the school campus, in May.

Capaldi is a former student of the art school.

Peter Capaldi has won the first ever RTS Scotland Award.

The Royal Television Society (RTS), is Britain's leading forum for television and related media. Its Scotland awards cover all forms of production in the nation, recognising excellence and innovation across a range of genres and crafts. April Chamberlain, co-founder of Glasgow-based production company, The Comedy Unit, chaired the Awards juries which met for the first time this year. She said:The RTS Scotland Award, which is given at the discretion of the RTS Scotland Awards committee, was presented to Peter Capaldi, acknowledging his outstanding contribution to television. The citation reads The winners were announced at an awards ceremony at the Oran Mor, Glasgow.

BBC America has released a still from the teaser trailer heralding the return of Doctor Who this August.

The image shows the Doctor, as played by Peter Capaldi, silhouetted inside the TARDIS console room as explosions rage behind him.


Glimpses of the scene were shown in the teaser released on 23rd May, when the month of the show's return was announced.

The new Doctor, as played by Peter Capaldi, makes his debut as a Radio Times front cover this week - the second Doctor Who related one this year (so far) as the show once again promotes the BAFTA Television Awards, which take place live on BBC One this coming Sunday 18th May at 8:00pm. It is one of the nominees in the Radio Times Audience Award that is open to a public vote - The Day of The Doctor is up against Broadchurch, Breaking Bad, Educating Yorkshire, The Great British Bake-Off and Gogglebox. Voting closes at midday, 15th May.

There is a 16 page guide to this year's BAFTA TV awards, and the magazine also includes a feature on Doctor Who, with lead writer/executive producer Steven Moffat discussing writing The Day of the Doctor, revealing how it was the most "difficult" and "terrifying" thing he has ever written!

Speaking about how Capaldi came to be chosen as the new Doctor, he said:

The Radio Times is on sale from today.

The new Doctor, Peter Capaldi, has made a surprise visit to the BBC Worldwide showcase event in Liverpool

The 4 day event, attended by international TV buyers from around the world, gives the BBC a chance to sell many of its programmes to international broadcasters, with Doctor Who being one of the most important products. All BBC Worldwide profits are ploughed back into BBC programme making, with £156 million being made last year.

Capaldi emerged from the TARDIS to chat briefly with another BBC star Graham Norton. Speaking after the event he said Capaldi is currently filming for the 34th series of Doctor Who, due to be screened later this year.

The Fifth Estate:

The film The Fifth Estate is due out on Blu-ray and DVD next Monday (17th February); the story follows the events surrounding WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, as played by Sherlock's Benedict Cumberbatch, and also features new Doctor Peter Capaldi as Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger. Grapevine have kindly sent us some photos of Capaldi in his role:



We have two copies of the film on DVD to give away, courtesy of Grapevine; to be in with a chance to win please answer the following question:
Send your answers to comp-fifthestate@doctorwhonews.net with the subject line "Was Wikileaks an Omnishambles?", along with your name, address and where you read about the competition. Only one entry per postal address will be accepted. The competition is open to readers in the United Kingdom only, and the closing date is 28th February 2014.

Not Another Happy Ending:

Former TARDIS traveller Karen Gillan's first film, Not Another Happy Ending, is out this week, and Organic have kindly provided us with a few video clips of the actress in action:


Recently in an interview with MSN, she revealed the romantic comedies that she watched to prep for her role:


We have two film posters signed by Karen Gillan to give away, courtesy of Organic; to be in with a chance to win please answer the following question:
Send your answers to comp-nahe@doctorwhonews.net with the subject line "Blink and you'll miss her", along with your name, address and where you read about the competition. Only one entry per postal address will be accepted. The competition is open to readers in the United Kingdom only, and the closing date is 28th February 2014.

The BBC has taken to Twitter to warn people to avoid tweets claiming to be from either Peter Capaldi or Jenna Coleman, as neither actor has a Twitter account. In a tweet sent out from the official Doctor Who account last week, it said:
Meanwhile, Coleman has been talking about her life in travel, including her earliest holiday memory (Cornwall) and her favourite destination in Britain (Derbyshire). She says her best holiday was in The Maldives. "I went after finishing series seven of Doctor Who. I had to pinch myself because it was so picturesque. Especially because I'd gone in January, from grey London skies and concrete to all this colour and sea. It took about five days to settle in. We arrived by seaplane and barely saw anyone else the whole time. We did a catamaran trip where the hotel took us out with a picnic and snorkelling gear to a strip of sand in the middle of the ocean and left us there. You couldn't see anything else except the horizon and water. We were totally stranded." Her worst travel experience was "Christmas Eve at London Euston railway station, trying to get home to Blackpool. Everybody turns into animals. Humans stop being humans." [The Independent, 1 Feb 2014]

Tomorrow's episode of ITV drama Midsomer Murders sees an End of Time reunion of sorts take place, with Bernard Cribbins, Jacqueline King and June Whitfield among the guest cast caught up in the goings-on of The Flying Club, when an airfield owner is murdered. Cribbins plays veteran mechanic Duggie Wingate, Whitfield portrays Molly Darnley, a former Air Transport Auxiliary member with a dark secret, and King is Laura Wilding - the mother of resident pathologist Kate. Chatting about the episode last week, Cribbins said that Whitfield's character would be a love interest for Wingate. The two-hour episode airs from 8pm. [ITV Press Centre]

Paul McGann and Sophie Aldred will be among the star guests at sci-fi convention The SF Ball in Bournemouth later this week. The event takes place from Friday 7th to Sunday 9th February and Aldred, who filmed a number of her Doctor Who stories in the county, spoke of her fond memories of the place. "It was always a delight. I love Dorset and it was great to be filming there," she said, adding: "I remember having a barbecue on the sand at Lulworth Cove. Somebody had managed to wire up lights on an extension cable. We had a disco. Then we would go for walks off along Durdle Door. I remember watching shooting stars one night. It was wonderful." Aldred also said how much she enjoyed meeting the show's fans. "They are incredibly bright people. Doctor Who attracts really brilliant, brainy people," she said. (NB: McGann will only be at the event on the Friday and Saturday.) [Dorset Echo, 3 Feb 2014]

Sylvester McCoy and Karen Gillan join the guests taking part in the Sci-Fi Expo in Irving, Texas, at the weekend. Organised by Dallas Comic Con, the event will be held at the Irving Convention Center on Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th February, with Gillan there on Saturday only. [TheForce.net, 30 Jan 2014]

If you miss her then, Gillan will be on the Wizard World Comic Con Tour later this year, appearing at Philadelphia Comic Con from Thursday 19th to Sunday 22nd June, Chicago Comic Con from Thursday 21st to Sunday 24th August, and Austin Comic Con from Thursday 2nd to Saturday 4th October. [Wizard World]

Staying with the Stateside theme, Broadchurch creator Chris Chibnall has spoken about David Tennant's American accent in Gracepoint - the US remake of the ITV crime drama. Tennant played Det Insp Alec Hardy in the British original and is portraying Det Emmett Carver in the US version, and Chibnall said of the actor's accent: "I've heard it's fantastic." [Radio Times, 30 Jan 2014]

Meanwhile, Broadchurch co-star Olivia Colman has been talking of the agonies of keeping a tight lid on the plot of the second series after enduring similar tongue-holding for the first one. "Now it’s all starting again, it's awful - there's no end to the secret keeping."
[Radio Times, 30 Jan 2014]

Colin Baker had a jovial dig at the BBC over the gender of the Doctor, saying: "There should [be a female Doctor]. It won't happen because they are too timid but there should be. First female Doctor? I will have a sex change and do it. I am in touch with my feminine side." [Radio Times, 29 Jan 2014]

Brian Cox is to return as Broughty Ferry burger-seller and failed politican Bob Servant for a second - shorter - TV series of the comedy Bob Servant Independent. Filming begins in May, with Bob and his long-suffering campaign manager Frank (played by Jonathan Watson) left to pick up their lives after a by-election disaster. Cox joked: "Doing Bob Servant was the worst experience of my long career, working with no-hoper talents like [series writer] Neil Forsyth and the rest of them. But these things are sent to try us and occasionally we must fly the flag for the afflicted. One has to be generous at my great age so I am happy to endorse the new series of Bob Servant. For no-hopers they're awffy nice people. I remember when I used to make movies!" The show follows in the footsteps of the Bob Servant books and radio series, with last year's TV series comprising six episodes. The second series, consisting of three episodes, will air later this year on BBC Four and BBC Two Scotland. [BBC Media Centre, 3 Feb 2014]

Following the announcement of the opening of a musical version of Back To The Future in the West End next year, speculation has been rife over who will land the plum role of Marty McFly, with Arthur Darvill being given odds of 16/1 by Paddy Power. [The Independent, 2 Feb 2014]

Billie Piper caused a stir at the Project Arts Centre in Dublin last week when she dropped by to give her support to friend Ben Power on the opening night of his play A Tender Thing. The actress is filming forthcoming psychosexual horror TV series Penny Dreadful in the area, playing Irish immigrant Brona Croft. The programme - also starring Timothy Dalton - is due to start airing on Showtime in May. [Irish Independent, 1 Feb 2014]

Alex Kingston reprises the role of Dinah Lance in an episode of Arrow, the series based on the DC Comics character Green Arrow. Entitled Heir To The Demon, the episode - which also features a character called Nyssa! - is due to air on The CW tomorrow at 8pm ET. A preview clip including Kingston is available to watch below:


And Kingston is being reunited with Sir Kenneth Branagh for a radio production of Antony and Cleopatra. The duo - who are playing the eponymous roles - starred together in Macbeth last year at Manchester International Festival, and Branagh said he was "excited to be reunited with Alex Kingston after our hugely rewarding partnership in Macbeth on stage. To play another pair of Shakespeare's great couples is a privilege." It is due to air on Radio 3 on Sunday 20th April. [The Stage, 29 Jan 2014]

Jessica Raine will be appearing as new recruit Det Con Georgia Trotman in the second series of BBC Two's police corruption drama Line of Duty, which starts on Wednesday 12th February at 9pm. She said that what worried her most was her style of running. "What I was most concerned about was not running like a girl in a police vest. I practised that a few times," she said, adding that having watched playbacks she reckoned she did OK. [Radio Times, 30 Jan 2014]

Meanwhile, Raine and David Walliams were among those pictured at the Radio Times Cover Party. [Radio Times, 29 Jan 2014]

Robert Webb is to replace Stephen Mangan as Bertie Wooster in Perfect Nonsense at The Duke of York's Theatre in London from Monday 7th April. [The Stage, 3 Feb 2014]