The drama An Adventure in Space and Time, which tells the story of the creation of Doctor Who in 1963 in fictionalised form, received a standing ovation from the audience following its première at the British Film Institute's BFI Southbank venue on Tuesday evening. An Adventure, produced by the BBC as part of the celebrations to mark Doctor Who's 50th anniversary this month, will receive its television début on BBC Two on Thursday 21st November at 9pm, before being shown in the US and Canada the following day, and in Australia on the 24th.

Tuesday's screening was the latest in the BFI's own series of anniversary events, which have previously seen each Doctor celebrated with a screening of one of their stories. The screening of An Adventure in Space and Time proved immensely popular with fans, some of whom had waited for eight hours in the queue for returns in order to gain their seats. The screening was introduced by speeches from its writer and executive producer Mark Gatiss, from the BFI's Television Programmer Marcus Prince and from Clare Hudson, the Head of BBC Cymru Wales productions, which made An Adventure in Space and Time.

Among the audience were director Waris Hussein, who appears as a character in the drama played by Sacha Dhawan; former companion actors Carole Ann Ford (also a character in the programme) Louise Jameson, Anneke Wills (who also appears briefly in the drama), Sophie Aldred and Matthew Waterhouse, and 1970s producer Philip Hinchcliffe. Taking part in the panel discussion following the screening, conducted by journalist and Doctor Who fan Matthew Sweet, were Gatiss, stars Dhawan and David Bradley (who portrays William Hartnell), director Terry McDonough and Hartnell's real-life granddaughter Jessica Carney, the latter of whom was clearly very moved by the drama.

A spoiler-free review of An Adventure in Space and Time is now available in our reviews section, here. For our An Unearthly Series features, telling the real story behind the creation of Doctor Who fifty years to the day since each major event occurred, click here.

New Zealand's Prime television channel will screen The Day of the Doctor a little later than the simulcast that will be seen in many other countries.

If simulcast, the 50th anniversary special would have screened at 8:50am NZ time on Sunday 24 November. It will instead commence just ten minutes later, at 9:00am.

This brief delay is believed to be because Prime is not permitted to broadcast PGR (Parental Guidance Recommended) classified programmes before 9:00am in the morning. New series episodes of Doctor Who invariably receive this rating in New Zealand. Prime will repeat the special at 8:30pm the same day.

A couple of new documentaries to mark the anniversary are also scheduled on Prime for 24 November. Doctor Who Explained will screen at 6:30pm followed by Doctor Who in the U.S. at 10:15pm.

One additional item appears in Prime's line-up for 24 November. Closing Time will screen on 2:00pm. This is not part of the anniversary schedule but rather the latest in a run of weekly repeats of the latter half of Series Six.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who, Doctor Who Magazine 467 is the biggest issue ever, at 116 packed pages! It also comes complete with a very special 1960s-themed mini issue, which imagines how DWM might have celebrated the series' first anniversary. PLUS! There's also a set of 12 amazing art cards, featuring all 12 Doctors, and NINE free audio downloads of Doctor Who stories!

Also inside this issue:

• 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 fascinating 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 fascinating 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, puzzles, and much more!

Celebrate 50 years of Doctor Who with DWM 467, out Thursday 14 November.

CBBC is celebrating 50 years of Doctor Who with the launch of a Blue Peter competition, which will give children the chance to design a brand-new device for the forthcoming series of Doctor Who.

The competition, which will be launched on the Doctor Who: Blue Peter Special on Thursday 21 November. Viewers aged between six and 15 will be asked to design a new sonic device for either Sontaran Commander Strax, Madame Vastra or Jenny Flint and the winning gadgets will feature in the science fiction series next year.

There will be three eligible age categories for the competition - six to eight years, nine to 11 years and 12 to 15 years. All entries will be considered by a panel of judges which will include Blue Peter editor Ewan Vinnicombe, Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat, Doctor Who producer Nikki Wilson, Doctor Who’s brand account manager Edward Russell, CBBC presenter Chris Johnson, Blue Peter series producer Ellen Evans and Michael Pickwoad, production designer for Doctor Who.

Winners will be announced as part of Blue Peter’s Christmas show on 19 December. The designer of the winning device will be invited to Cardiff to see their gadget being used on the Doctor Who set, with three runners up each receiving a special framed picture including their competition entry and a signed picture of the actor they designed their device for.

Competition details will be live on the Blue Peter website following the launch on the show on 21 November.

Ewan Vinnicombe, editor of Blue Peter, said: In addition to the exclusive competition, Blue Peter will also be broadcasting two live episodes dedicated to Doctor Who – Doctor Who: Blue Peter Special on Thursday 21 November and a Doctor Who: Blue Peter Party episode on Saturday 23 November.

Presenters Barney Harwood, Lindsey Russell and Radzi Chinyanganya will be joined by aliens and monsters in the studio and the audience will be challenged to design their very own alien live on air. Viewer questions will be answered by Matt Smith and Jenna Coleman, and there will be a very special themed ‘make’ as the team shows the CBBC audience how to make their very own cushion (to hide behind) and some tasty – if slightly scary – Dalek cupcakes.

Doctor Who News is offering a copy of the official 50th Anniversary book, Doctor Who: The Vault, to the person who can most accurately guess the BBC One ratings for the UK premiere of The Day of the Doctor.

The Day of the Doctor is being broadcast in the UK on Saturday 23rd November at 7.50pm, later than normal Doctor Who episodes. On BBC One it follows Strictly Come Dancing, the latest edition of the Dancing With the Stars format, which achieved a rating of 11.09 million viewers in the most recent reported week. Doctor Who will be opposite The X Factor on ITV, which had 8.67 million viewers in the most recent week.

Doctor Who: The Vault:

This is the full and official story of Doctor Who, from the first pre-production memos in 1963 to the most recent props created for the 2013 series, including interviews with key contributors and scores of prop photos, design sketches and behind-the-scenes stills from every decade of the show's production.

Taking you year by year through the world's longest-running science fiction series, Marcus Hearn explores the show's groundbreaking innovations as well as its impact on popular culture through books and comics, magazines and toys, merchandise and ephemera.

The Vault is a collector's dream and the ultimate celebration of Doctor Who

Entering The Competition:

To enter the competition, please send the following details to comp-50thratings@doctorwhonews.net:

• Your name and email address
• Your country (full address will only be requested if you are a winner)
• Where you read about this competition
• Your guess for the final viewing figure!

Previous Ratings:

For comparison, the rating for the previous Doctor Who episode, The Name of the Doctor, shown in May, was 7.45 million. The last Christmas episode, The Snowmen, had 9.87 million watching at 5.15pm. The last episode shown in November was The Waters of Mars in 2009, which had 10.32 million watching, while the last anniversary special, The Five Doctors, shown in 1983, had 7.70 million watching.

Terms And Conditions:

• The competition closes at 7.50pm GMT, 23rd November 2013.
• Only one entry will be accepted per person.
• The competition is open worldwide.
• BARB figures are expected around 10 days after transmission; we will contact the winner once they have been published.

The Australian broadcaster ABC announced today that it will be joining in with the global simulcast of The Day of the Doctor by screening it on ABC1 at 6.50am Australian Eastern Daylight Time on Sunday 24th November, with a repeat later the same day at 7.30pm.

It will be joining more than 75 countries around the world in showing the 50th-anniversary episode at the same time.

Local time of broadcast in capital cities:

• Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart, Canberra - 6.50am
• Adelaide - 6.20am
• Brisbane - 5.50am
• Darwin - 5.20am
• Perth - 3.50am

As previously reported, ABC1's primetime evening repeat of the adventure will then be followed at 8.45pm by the drama An Adventure In Space And Time, exploring the genesis of Doctor Who.

.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.

Thanks to the generous support of their listeners in Sydney and beyond, the Splendid Chaps are hitting the road and materialising in Glebe to stop talking about our heroes and instead think about those not-so-splendid chaps (and, er…things?), the monsters and villains of Doctor Who!

Daleks, Sontarans, Cybermen, the Silence, Silurians, Quarks… The Doctor’s monsters sometimes seem to be physical manifestations of humanity’s fears. Is it the creatures we find so terrifying, or what they represent – and what do they represent? The Chaps will celebrate the baddest of the bad, as well as those whose galactic domination has been less than completely successful.

Then there are the less literal, more human monsters: the Master, Davros, Lady Cassandra… Are they all thoroughly evil, or do they have more subtle motivations? What makes a good Doctor Who villain tick? Are they better than inhuman monsters, or is it best when they work hand in hand? They’re often some of the best fun to be had in a story, so let's embrace the dark side!

Ben, John and Petra Elliott will be joined by writer and comedian Alice Fraser (FBi Radio, NewsLab), and actor and presenter Steven “Bajo” O’Donnell (ABC2′s Good Game, ABC3′s Good Game: Spawn Point) to talk about the people and things we love to hate. Plus prizes, surprises, loveliness and a live musical performance of a lost Doctor Who classic tune from Keira “LadyNerd” Daley and Catriona Wimberley!

Space: upstairs, The Roxbury Hotel, 182 St Johns Road, Glebe, Sydney
Time: Saturday, November 30 2013, 5:00 PM
Accessibility: Splendid Chaps regret that this venue is not wheelchair accessible.
Tickets: $25
Bookings: via trybooking.com or at the door (if seats available)
Podcast: TBA.

BBC One programme introductions may be subject to interruptions by the Doctor, as witnessed this evening on the channel when he popped up before Strictly Come Dancing! The BBC have now made a clean version of that ident available to watch:



The 'interruption' was preceded by the broadcast of the 40 second version of The Day of The Doctor trailer, as released by the BBC yesterday.

As part of the annual fundraising effort for the BBC Children in Need Appeal, a set visit to watch a day's production on the first episode of the next series of Doctor Who has appeared in the charity's set of e-bay auctions.

The auction, which is open until 9.17pm on Sunday 17th November, offers the winner the following:


Doctor Who has had a long association with the BBC's annual Children in Need campaign, particularly on the night of the main BBC One telethon. The Five Doctors had its début UK broadcast as part of Children in Need in 1983, and since then various events, special episodes and previews have been associated with the campaign during November.

The BBC is being challenged over the ownership of the copyright of the TARDIS, by the son of the author of the first Doctor Who story, Anthony Coburn.

Stef Coburn is claiming that his father created the TARDIS, seen in the very first episode of Doctor Who, An Unearthly Child, shown on 23 November 1963. He claims that he remembers his father getting the inspiration for the TARDIS during a walk on Wimbledon common. He believes the BBC is failing to give his father "the public recognition that should by rights always have been his due" for inventing the Tardis.

Anthony Coburn was a staff writer for the BBC when he was commissioned to produce scripts for the proposed new science fiction series. He inherited a concept for the show which had been produced by script writer Cecil Edwin Webber in which much of the structure of the programme had already been defined. In the original document the spaceship is described as something "humdrum, say, .... such as a night-watchman's shelter"

Stef Coburn's case is that any informal permission his father gave the BBC to use his work expired with his death in 1977 and the copyright of all of his ideas passed to his widow, Joan. Earlier this year she passed it on to him. He told the Independent
Coburn had demanded that the corporation either stop using the TARDIS in Doctor Who, or pay his family for its every use since his father's death. The BBC says it is looking into the complaint. A repeat run of a restored version of the very first story, An Unearthly Child, was announced in September, but then removed from schedules 'pending the resolution of issues'. The BBC have yet to confirm these issues have been resolved.

This is not the first time the BBC has been involved in litigation over the TARDIS. In 1998 the London Metropolitan Police argued it should own the trade mark of blue box, objecting to the BBC using the image of the TARDIS on comics, T-shirts, videos and other merchandise. The Police force lost the case, following appeal, in 2002, and was ordered to pay £850 plus legal costs to the BBC.