The latest edition of Doctor Who Magazine features an exclusive interview with outgoing show-runner Chris Chibnall. 

Highlights of the new issue include:

• In his most extensive and revealing interview ever, Chris Chibnall looks back on his time as Doctor Who showrunner and shares detailed insights into the making of the series since 2017.

• Director Paul Joyce provides a commentary on the stills that created fantasy backdrops to his 1981 story Warriors’ Gate.

• How Doctor Who became part of Fortnite, the biggest video game in the world.

• The team behind the forthcoming Doctor Who – Worlds of Wonder describe the new exhibition.

• A look at how the Silurians and Sea Devils have evolved since their first appearances in the 1970s.

• Collectivity meets Doctor Who’s branded-clothing collectors.

• Apocrypha revisits World Game, a 2005 Second Doctor novel by Terrance Dicks.

• The Fact of Fiction saddles up for A Town Called Mercy.

• The fourth and final part of Hydra’s Gate, a new comic-strip story for the Doctor, Yaz and Dan.

• Previews, reviews, news, prize-winning competitions, Time and Space Visualiser, Sufficient Data and more!

Doctor Who Magazine Issue 577 is on sale from panini.co.uk and WH Smith from Thursday 28 April priced £6.99 (UK).

Also available as a digital edition from pocketmags.com priced £5.99.

Big Finish Productions have confirmed the second series of Doctor Who –The Ninth Doctor Adventures starring Christopher Eccleston, due to be released throughout 2022 and into 2023.

Last year, Big Finish announced the Ninth Doctor’s return to Doctor Who, with his inaugural series of full-cast audio dramas currently delighting audiences and critics alike. Now, Christopher Eccleston returns to the TARDIS for twelve more adventures in time and space, across four brand new box sets.

Each volume is now available for pre-order exclusively at the Big Finish website(www.bigfinish.com), with prices starting at just £19.99.

Christopher Eccleston said:

Big Finish Chairman Jason Haigh-Ellery said:

Producer David Richardson added:

Doctor Who fans worldwide can now pre-order the second series of the Ninth Doctor Adventures, which are available in three formats –collector’s edition CD, digital download or limited edition gatefold triple LP vinyl –exclusively from the Big Finish website at bigfinish.com.

 

The latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine is now available. 

 

Highlights of the new issue include:

 

• An exclusive in-depth interview with Christopher Eccleston – his first with DWM in 16 years!
• Former showrunner Steven Moffat on writing for the Ninth Doctor.
• A preview of Ravagers, the new box set of audio adventures starring Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor.
• Jonathan Morris explores the gaps in our knowledge of the Ninth Doctor – where could new adventures take place in his timeline?
• Collectivity celebrates the merchandise released in 2005 after Doctor Who’s revival.
• DWM tracks down some of the real soldiers who formed part of UNIT in the 1960s and 70s.
• Members of the Doctor Who Restoration Team reveal the secrets of making old episodes look better than ever for their release on Blu-ray.
• Apocrypha remembers BBC Books’ 2005 novel The Monsters Inside.
• The Fact of Fiction looks back at 2005’s Father’s Day.
• Reviews of the Season 8 Blu-ray box set and the new Target novelisations
• Sufficient Data crunches Doctor Who’s numbers.
• Previews and reviews, news, prize-winning competitions, Time and Space Visualiser and more.

 

Doctor Who Magazine Issue 563 is on sale from store.panini.co.uk and WH Smith from Thursday 1 April, priced £5.99 (UK).

Also available as a digital edition from pocketmags.com priced £4.99.

Big Finish Productions, in association with BBC Studios, today announced the long-awaited return of Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor in a brand new series of audio adventures.

First seen on screen in 2005, Christopher Eccleston’s Ninth Doctor introduced a whole new generation of fans to Doctor Who.

Now he's back, with a brand-new series of twelve full-cast audio adventures in space and time, due to be released across four box sets, starting with volume one in May 2021.

Christopher Eccleston said:

Big Finish’s Chairman, Jason Haigh-Ellery said:

 

Big Finish’s Creative Director, Nicholas Briggs, added:

Doctor Who fans worldwide can now pre-order all four volumes, which are available in three formats – collector’s edition CD, digital download or limited edition gatefold triple LP vinyl – exclusively from the Big Finish website.

Each of the four volumes in Doctor Who: The Ninth Doctor Adventures will be released as a 4-disc collector’s edition box set or download containing three brand-new full cast audio adventures, plus a selection of behind-the-scenes extras.

Doctor Who: The Ninth Doctor Adventures is now available to pre-order. Find out more and get your copy exclusively at the Big Finish website

 

 

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.