The BBC will be releasing a number of items related to Doctor Who over the coming weeks, with today seeing a new short story featuring the thirteenth Doctor written by showrunner Chris Chibnall.

The writer said:

You can read the short story via the official BBC Doctor Who website.

Ninth Doctor Christopher Eccleston has been announced as a guest at the annual Gallifrey One Convention to be held in Los Angeles early next year.

The appearance will see the actor attend both days of the convention, now in its thirty-first year.

Christopher Eccleston has for many years been reluctant to discuss his time in Doctor Who. He was cast as The Doctor when the series returned in 2005, but only served for one year. The manner of his departure was controversial with the BBC at the time having to apologise for a press release issued on his departure which was inaccurate over the reasons the star left the series.

Eccleston said the incident at the time left him feeling bitter. In recent years he has been more amenable to discussing his role as the Doctor and in his recent autobiography, he paid tribute to the show's fans. Eccleston has recently released a new memoir I Love the Bones of You: My Father And The Making Of Me, a gritty account of his life, his battles and his relationship with his father, who suffers from dementure. In the book, the actor discusses his mental health, revealing that he has lived with eating disorders and had considered suicide. He revealed that while making Doctor Who he was suffering from anorexia. A spokesperson for the eating disorder charity Beat praised the actor's courage speaking about having anorexia.

In the UK Christopher Eccleston will be discussing the book at a special event being held at the Lowry Theatre in Salford Quays on Monday 14th October.

Simon & Schuster UK are to publish Christopher Eccleston’s memoir, detailing the Ninth Doctor's acting career as well as the impact of dementia on his family.

The book, I Love the Bones of You, will detail the actor's life, growing up in working-class Salford, brought up to be 'factory fodder' in the north-west. He will talk about his desire to perform which led him to his film debut playing Derek Bentley in the 1991 film Let Him Have It

He will talk about his breakthrough role in the BBC drama series Our Friends in the North and his time as The Doctor when Doctor Who was relaunched in 2005.

Eccleston will also discuss the loss of his father, who suffered from dementia and describe the struggles his family had to cope with the condition over the past decade of his father's life. Iain MacGregor, publishing director of non-fiction at Simon & Schuster UK said I Love the Bones of You is due to be published in September 2019.

Christopher Eccleston has been talking to the media about his time on Doctor Who, explaining some of the circumstances of his departure.

The actor has told Radio Times how difficult he found making the series, revealing that there was a breakdown of trust between the show's producers, including Russell T Davies, and himself as early as the first period of filming. Eccleston left the series at the end of the first year, with his departure announced shortly after the first episode aired, but the circumstances of his departure have always been a subject of much speculation. Until now neither the actor or the production team have given their take on the issues involved.

Eccleston admitted some of the problems may have been caused by his taking on a role very different to any he hat attempted before. When Eccleston left the series the BBC put out a statement saying the actor had left after fearing becoming typecast, a statement later retracted with an apology from the Corporation to the actor for not consulting him prior to issuing the statement.

Eccleston himself has never talked about his departure until now, saying he wanted to concentrate on the fact he had played the part rather than on his reasons for leaving. He told the Guardian last week that the BBC had tried to damage his career. Eccleston said that his relationship with Russell T Davies, who he previously worked with on the 2003 series The Second Coming, had been destroyed by the experiences on Doctor Who saying that he “never will have” a working relationship with the screenwriter again.

Eccleston was speaking ahead of the release of his new series, the BBC One drama Come Home.

One of the most intreguing 'what-ifs' of the modern era of Doctor Who, could be solved with the publication of a new book from Obverse Books.

Doctor Who's 50th Anniversary was marked by the television story The Day of The Doctor, which starred David Tennant and Matt Smith and the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors, but also featured John Hurt as the War Doctor, the missing incarnation of the Doctor.

What is not so well known is that the original hope of the producers was to reunite the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors with their Ninth incarnation played by Christopher Eccleston

Eccleston declined to feature in the story, but not before scripts were written by showrunner Steven Moffat. Excerpts from these scripts are now to be released as part of a new charity book.

The Second Target for Tommy is a charity book designed to raise money for Tommy Donbavand, a writer who having overcome throat cancer, developed a tumor in his lung. As a result, he continues to be unable to do the school visits which previously generated much of the income needed to support his family.

As well as including the draft script for the Christopher Eccleston scene in Doctor Who’s 50th Anniversary Special, Day of the Doctor, the book will feature stories from over two dozen writers.

Every penny of profit raised will go to support Donbavand while he works on making a full recovery.

The book is a sequel to A Target for Tommy, released in August 2016

More about Donbavand's battle with Cancer can be found on his blogTommy vs Cancer

The new book can be ordered from Obverse Books.

Ninth Doctor Christopher Eccleston is to play Macbeth in the 2018 summer season for the Royal Shakespeare Company.

The actor is to make his RSC debut playing the Scottish King at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-Upon-Avon, in the season which runs from 13 March until 18 September 2018.

In joining the RSC the actor follows in the footsteps of Tenth Doctor David Tennant, who played Hamlet in 2008 season at Stratford. Eccleston himself played Hanlet in the 2004 West Yorkshire Playouse production of the play.

The contemporary production of what is described as Shakespeare’s darkest psychological thriller, will be directed by Polly Findlay and will also star Niamh Cusack as Lady Macbeth.

The actor actively sought the role according to RSC artistic director Gregory DoranThe production will be broadcast live to cinemas on April 11th, 2018

Priority Booking opens from 25 September. Public booking opens on 23 October on the RSC website.

Jodie Whittaker has talked about her reaction to being cast as the thirteenth Doctor.

The actress was talking to BBC 6 Music in her first broadcast interview since her casting was revealed. She described her excitment for the new series led by Chris Chibnall, who worked with Whittaker on Broadchurch.

Whittaker said she had not seen a lot of the reaction to her casting as she is not on any kind of social media, so she has only seen what friends had sent her. One clip she has seen is the reaction to her casting by a young girl in a clip which went viral. Whittaker said she had spoken to a few of the other actors who have played the role and the overwhelming advice was to enjoy the exciting adventure she was embarking on. No person plays the part the same.

The interview was to promote the new BBC One series Trust Me, which starts on 8 August. where she stars as Cath Hardacre, a nurse who loses her job after she turns whistle-blower - and then steals her friend's identity as a senior doctor in an Edinburgh hospital.

Jodie Whittaker has also been talking to BBC News about the new role.

Incoming Doctor Who Showrunner Chris Chibnall has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Edge Hill University.

The award for, services to Literature, was made on Monday 17th July. In a video released by the University, Chibnall talked about how it felt to receive the award and his aspirations for Doctor Who.

BBC Sources have indicated that next year's series of Doctor Who, the first with the thirteenth Doctor, will be broadcast in the Autumn of 2018.

New showrunner Chris Chibnall is currently still working on season three of his ITV crime drama Broadchurch , which is currently being edited and will premiere in the UK on 27 February.

Chibnall told RadioTimes.com that he has not yet been able to fully dedicate himself to Doctor Who. After finishing work on Broadchurch he intends to take a holiday before launching into Doctor Who.

Chibnall will lead the team searching for the new Doctor, although the choice will need to be agreed by the BBC director of content Charlotte Moore and head of drama and former Doctor Who Executive Producer Piers Wenger. It is expected that a new Doctor will not be announced before the Autumn, with the new Doctor making their debut at the end of the 2017 Christmas Special.

Sources told RadioTimes that the first Chibnall series will begin filming at the start of 2018 for transmission in the Autumn.

Series 10 of Doctor Who, the last full series starring Peter Capaldi. is currently in production and will begin transmission on 15th April.

A roundup of competitions that readers may enter over the next couple of weeks:

Ninth Doctor Christopher Eccleston fronts the latest campaign from Alzheimer’s Research UK #sharetheorange.

The project features stop motion animation from award winning studio Aardman, to demonstrate how the diseases that cause dementia, most commonly Alzheimer’s, physically attack the brain. Through damage caused by the disease, the brain of a person with Alzheimer’s can weigh around 140 grams less than a healthy brain – about the weight of an orange.

Eccleston, whose father Ronnie died with vascular dementia following a 14-year battle with the disease, said

BBC Worldwide have announced a new boxed set of Doctor Who adventures, this time featuring the Christmas Specials that have aired so far...


The set is out in the United Kingdom on DVD and Blu-Ray from 19th October.

Christopher Eccleston has been talking about his time on Doctor Who in a rare interview on BBC Radio 4.

Eccleston was appearing on the Saturday evening discussion programme Loose Ends, primarily to promote his role in Safe House, a four-part drama on ITV from 20 April.

Eccleston was interviewed by Emma Freud in a wide ranging talk about his career. When asked about Doctor Who, he told Freud how he had put himself forward for the role. Freud asked him if he felt he had succeeded. So why did he leave? Freud pushed the point saying it was a big shock to fans when he left, and he had been so successful in the role he could still be playing it now. The full programme can be heard worldwide on the BBC iPlayer for the next four weeks.

Peter Davison, who celebrates his 64th birthday today, is currently appearing in London's West End in the revival of the Musical Gypsy.

Davison plays Herbie in the show, which is based upon the memoirs of the stripper Gypsy Rose Lee, and which is currently previewing at London's Savoy Theatre. The cast is led by BAFTA award winning actress Imelda Staunton who was asked to take on the role of Rose by the play's lyricist Stephen Sondheim, after he saw Staunton's performance as Mrs Lovett in the 2012 production of Sweeney Todd.

The show's cast album, featuring Davison, is released on 27th April.

Davison will take time off from the show to host Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular’s UK tour this May.

NB The first London production of Gypsy in 1973, starring Angela Lansbury, featured a 9 year old Bonnie Langford in the role of Baby June.

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Fortitude, the psychological thriller television series starring Christopher Eccleston, has been renewed for a second 10-part series.

The series, which also stars Michael Gambon airs in the UK on Sky Atlantic, where the first episode was watched by more than 2.5m people and is the channels most successful original commission.