The fiftieth anniversary episode of Doctor Who was the most accessed programme on the BBC iPlayer for the whole of 2013.

The Day of the Doctor topped the chart with 3.2 million people accessing the episode at some point. The episode had 0.3 million more requests than the second placed programme, episode 1 of Bad Education, the comedy series about the worst teacher ever to grace the British education system.

The Christmas episode, The Time of the Doctor, which saw Matt Smith leave the series, was accessed 1.95 million times in the week following transmission, enough to make it the 32nd most requested programme of the year and the most requested programme for Christmas week. Mrs Brown's Boys, which came top of the Christmas broadcast ratings, had 1.36 million requests.

Nearly a million people downloaded the iPlayer mobile and tablet apps over the Christmas period, meaning over 20 million now have the service on their mobile device.

All ten episodes of Doctor Who that premiered in 2013 made the top 50 programmes on iPlayer for the year. The Bells of Saint John came in at number 5 on the chart, with 2.64 million requests during the couple of months it was available. The Rings of Akhaten was 15th with 2.31 million requests. At 23 was The Name of the Doctor which had 2.06 million requests. Cold War was 33rd with 1.95 million requests, Hide was 35th with 1.92 million requests, Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS was 39th with 1.89 million requests, Nightmare in Silver was 40th with 1.89 million requests and The Crimson Horror was 43rd with 1.83 million requests.

Overall, the 2013 episodes were requested over 19 million times during the year. The 2012 episodes were also available on iPlayer for part of the year and were requested a total of 2.39 million times. The 14 episodes from Series Six were requested 4.51 million times and Series Five 0.67 million times.

Production on the eighth series of Doctor Who in the 21st Century is now in full swing, with filming taking place in Cardiff at the Roath Lock studios and on location in Cardiff. The BBC have announced details of the first couple of episodes to be filmed, alongside the first official image of new Doctor Peter Capaldi alongside Jenna Coleman:


Arriving on set in Cardiff to begin filming, Peter Capaldi said:
Steven Moffat, Lead Writer and Executive Producer, added:
Ben Stephenson, Controller of Drama Commissioning, said:
Charlotte Moore, Controller BBC One, commented:

Moffat has written the first episode of this series, which is directed by Ben Wheatley. Wheatley is a newcomer to Doctor Who, but his previous work includes The Wrong Door and Ideal. The director will also undertake the following episode, which has been written by Phil Ford, whose previous credits include The Waters of Mars for Doctor Who, as well as several episodes of Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures. Other confirmed production crew include Brian Minchin (The Time of The Doctor) as executive producer alongside Moffat, and the return of producers Nikki Wilson (The Waters of Mars, The Sarah Jane Adventures) and Peter Bennett (several episodes from Series 5 and also Torchwood: Children of Earth).

Filming is expected to continue until August 2014.

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As reported above, filming has commenced on location in Cardiff, which revealed other characters involved with the opening episode.

Gareth Roberts has revealed that he will be returning to the Doctor Who team this year. Issue 139 of Quench, a Cardiff student lifestyle magazine, features an interview with Roberts and reports that he is "currently working on the new Peter Capaldi episodes for Doctor Who Series 8". The whole interview can be found here.

Roberts has written five episodes for Doctor Who in the past: The Shakespeare Code, The Unicorn and the Wasp, Planet of the Dead, The Lodger and Closing Time, as well as writing a number of episodes for spin-off series The Sarah Jane Adventures. Outside the Whoniverse, his other writing credits include Wizards vs Aliens and Emmerdale.

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Gareth Roberts is currently the fourth writer confirmed for Peter Capaldi's debut season, joining Steven Moffat, Mark Gatiss and Neil Cross.

Fifty years ago today on Doctor Who the companion Barbara Wright - as played by Jacqueline Hill - became the first of the TARDIS crew to encounter a Dalek, in the cliffhanger to the episode The Dead Planet.

At the time, only Barbara saw it in full and she didn't know that it was a Dalek either. The 6.9 million TV viewers could only see a plunger - as wielded by assistant floor manager Michael Ferguson - advancing menacingly on her, but this tantalising glimpse of an unknown alien horror, coupled with Barbara's piercing scream and sheer terror at what she had encountered, became an iconic moment in the programme.

The following episode would see the full introduction of the creatures that would become an instant hit with audiences and make the show a genuine talking-point, propelling it to international success and guaranteeing its longevity.

To mark today's special anniversary, though, the official site has uploaded a video of current showrunner Steven Moffat looking back at the 1975 story Genesis of the Daleks. It follows the release by the site earlier this week of a video of Moffat praising the 1988 adventure Remembrance of the Daleks. Both of them were recorded last year as part of a series in the run-up to the broadcast of Asylum of the Daleks.



Following the popularity of our An Unearthly Series feature that marked the 50th anniversaries of milestone events leading up to the broadcast of the show's first episode, Doctor Who News will be celebrating significant moments in time relating to the series after its début on 23rd November 1963.

Details have been revealed for the DVD and Blu-ray releases of The Time of the Doctor - with Region 2 getting a two-disc set comprising all the Eleventh Doctor's Christmas specials as well as extra content from this year's offering, which sees Matt Smith bow out as the Doctor.

To be released on Monday 20th January as a box set and entitled The Time of the Doctor + Other Eleventh Doctor Christmas Specials, the Region 2 contents will be as follows:

• The Time of the Doctor
• The Snowmen (The 2012 Christmas special)
• The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe (The 2011 Christmas special)
• A Christmas Carol (The 2010 Christmas special)
• Behind the Scenes of The Time of the Doctor - We take a peek behind the lens on this cracker of a Christmas special. With Matt Smith, Orla Brady, Jenna Coleman, Steven Moffat, Danny Hargreaves, Jack Hollington, Sheila Reid, James Buller, and Elizabeth Rider.
• Farewell to Matt Smith - Narrated by Alex Kingston, this compelling special looks back at Matt's extraordinary tenure as the Eleventh Doctor, featuring highlights from the show and copious interview footage with Matt, his cast mates, writers, producers, guest stars, and celebrity Doctor Who fans.
• Tales from the TARDIS - A look back at the full, 50-year history of Doctor Who. Eleventh Doctor Matt Smith and past Doctors David Tennant, Sylvester McCoy, Colin Baker, Peter Davison, and Tom Baker tell what it was like to be the Doctor, how they got the job, and how it changed their lives. With companion actors Jenna Coleman, Karen Gillan, Arthur Darvill and more, this special offers a unique insight into the world's longest-running sci-fi series.

The BBC Shop is also doing an exclusive T-shirt and DVD/Blu-ray offer for the release.

The one-disc Region 1 DVD/Blu-ray of The Time of the Doctor will be released on Tuesday 4th March, comprising this year's Christmas episode and the extras Behind the Scenes of The Time of the Doctor, Farewell to Matt Smith, and Tales from the TARDIS. None of the previous Christmas episodes will be included.

With the 50th anniversary of the first appearance of the Daleks on TV screens fast approaching, a video tribute by Doctor Who's current showrunner Steven Moffat to their last story during the classic era - Remembrance of the Daleks - was posted today by the BBC on the programme's official site.

In the piece, he says of the 1988 four-parter: Moffat's comments were recorded last year as part of a mini series in which he talked about the Daleks in general to publicise their return in Asylum of the Daleks and, in subsequent video posts, looked at what he considered to be the best and most significant Dalek adventures.

BBC Worldwide have released the artwork, trailer and details for the forthcoming DVD of the second Doctor story The Moonbase, which is due for release in the United Kingdom early January next year.

The DVD was originally due to be released this October, with animated versions of episodes 1 and 3. However, this was later put on hold to allow further work on the animation to be completed.

Starring Patrick Troughton as the Doctor, Michael Craze as Ben, Anneke Wills as Polly, Frazer Hines as Jamie and guest-starring Patrick Barr, Andre Maranne and Michael Wolf, The Moonbase was originally screened in February and March 1967, and with episodes 1 and 3 animated it will become the earliest complete Troughton story available on DVD. Special features on the DVD include:

• Fully remastered Episodes 2 and 4.
• Newly animated Episodes 1 and 3, with original off-screen soundtrack recordings.
• Commentary on Episodes 2 and 4: a traditional commentary with actors Anneke Wills, Frazer Hines and Edward Phillips and Special Sounds creator Brian Hodgson.
• On Episodes 1 and 3, a series of interviews featuring writer Kit Pedler's daughters Lucy Pedler and Carol Topolski, archive interviews with producer Innes Lloyd, assistant floor manager Lovett Bickford, and Cyberman actors Barry Noble, Derek Chaffer and Reg Whitehead. Moderated and linked by Toby Hadoke.
• Lunar Landing – Cast and crew look back on the making of the story. With actors Anneke Wills, Frazer Hines and Reg Whitehead, plus production assistant Desmond McCarthy.
• Photo Gallery – Production, design and publicity photos from the story.
• Coming Soon – A trailer for a forthcoming DVD release.
• Radio Times listings.
• Programme subtitles.
• Subtitle production notes.

The DVD is available to order at amazon.co.uk and amazon.com.

Director Douglas Mackinnon has today announced on Twitter that he will be returning to Doctor Who for series eight in 2014, the first to star Peter Capaldi as the Doctor.

Mackinnon - who previously helmed The Sontaran Stratagem and The Poison Sky  for series four in 2008, and The Power of Three and Cold War for 2012-13's series seven - also confirmed that he will be directing two episodes of series eight. He begins pre-production work on his episodes on Monday, with actual shooting taking place next year.

The actor Barry Jackson has died at the age of 75.

Jackson played three roles in Doctor Who, appearing in six episodes of the series. In 1965 he played Ascaris in the William Hartnell story The Romans, a mute assassin who tried to kill the Doctor believing he was the lute player Maximus Pettulian. He returned to the series in Mission to the Unknown where he played Jeff Garvey, a member of the expedition to the planet Kembel.

His final appearance in the series was as Drax - a renegade Time Lord and previous friend of the Doctor on Gallifrey - in the 1979 story The Armageddon Factor.

Away from Doctor Who, Jackson was best known for playing pathologist Dr George Bullard in Midsomer Murders for more than 10 years. He appeared in the first episode of the detective drama, staying until 2011.

His long career on television began in 1960, with the role of the Earl of Surrey in the BBC series An Age of Kings. Countless roles followed in other shows, including Doctors, Heartbeat, The Bill, A Touch of Frost, Bernard's Watch, Three Seven Eleven, All Creatures Great and Small, Hard Cases, Coronation Street, The Onedin Line, Blake's 7, Crown Court, Secret Army, Poldark, Z Cars, Dixon of Dock Green, The Adventures of Black Beauty, Harriet's Back in Town, Spy Trap, Adam Adamant Lives! and A for Andromeda.

Films that he appeared in included Ryan's Daughter and Barry Lyndon.

Jackson's agent said the actor died at home in north London surrounded by his family.

The first teaser trailer for this year's Doctor Who Christmas special can now be viewed online.

The trailer aired on BBC One yesterday immediately following The Day of the Doctor and includes Daleks, a Cyberman, a Silent, Weeping Angels, and a tolling bell, with captions stating: "This Christmas Silence Will Fall".


The episode, whose title is yet to be revealed, is expected to be broadcast on Christmas Day, and will see the Eleventh Doctor regenerate into the Twelfth.