Issue 633 of Doctor Who Magazine features the Tenth Doctor

Inside this issue:

• Tenth and Fourteenth Doctor DAVID TENNANT discusses his extraordinary career and the new series of audio adventures in which he stars alongside Rani from The Sarah Jane Adventures played by ANJLI MOHINDRA.

• We join TOM BAKER as he meets fans in Rye.

• Fourteen years after playing Amy and Rory, KAREN GILLAN and ARTHUR DARVILL reunite to talk about those times on their new podcast: the Pondcast.

• A tribute to TOM CHADON who played Duggan in City of Death and Merdeen in The Trial of a Time Lord.

• JAMES SUTTON reveals the story behind the creation of the Fugitive Doctor’s new sonic screwdriver.

• Meet the forgotten Romanas! LEE RICHARDS speaks for the first time about her fleeting appearance alongside Fourth Doctor Tom Baker in 1979’s Destiny of the Daleks.

• As Time Goes By… We trace the connections of this song through the history of Doctor Who…

• The Sontarans make their move in THE POISON SKY – this issue’s Fact of Fiction feature.

• THIS MONTH IN… 1984 – were the Tripods a credible rival for the Daleks?

• Are the shape-shifting Zygons the unbeatable force they claim to be?

• The Tenth Doctor and Amy married them… but what place do the Tudors have in Doctor Who?

• BRIEF ENCOUNTERS: original fiction by NICOLA BRYANT that sees the Sixth Doctor’s companion Peri with a new friend…

• The concluding part of our comic strip set during the events of THE DALEKS’ MASTER PLAN.

Regular features

• GALLIFREY GUARDIAN: our monthly round-up of news. Doctor Who brand manager JAMES PAGE explains how the TARDIS ended up at the Commonwealth Games…

• Reviews of the audio dramas from Big Finish and the new Fifteenth Doctor action figure release.

• Other Worlds – the essential guide to new stories in Doctor Who’s expanded universe.

• Prizes to be won! Including the new series of Twelfth Doctor audio adventures.

Doctor Who Magazine Issue 633 is on sale Thursday 20 August 2026  from panini.co.uk, TG Jones and WH Smith priced £8.99 (UK). 

Also available as a digital edition from pocketmags.com priced £7.99.

Doctor Who Magazine presents the second issue of Legends – a special tribute to actor Patrick Troughton.

“It’s 60 years since Troughton was cast as the Doctor,” says editor Marcus Hearn. “William Hartnell had already made an indelible impact in the role, but the endearing ‘cosmic hobo’ that Troughton created was the version of the Doctor that gave the series practically limitless potential.

“This is the most detailed analysis of Troughton’s life and career that Doctor Who Magazine has ever published,” he continues. “It’s a revealing look at the style and techniques that made him the Doctors’ Doctor, as well as an unflinching account of an enigmatic actor with a complicated private life.”

Highlights include:

• A rare interview with Patrick Troughton, conducted in 1984.

• New interviews with Troughton’s Doctor Who co-stars Nicola Bryant, Frazer Hines, Katy Manning, Wendy Padbury and Anneke Wills.

• Script to screen on classic Second Doctor stories The Faceless Ones, The Web of Fear, The War Games and The Five Doctors. 

• A deep dive into each of Troughton’s Doctor Who seasons, and his wider acting career.

• Michael Troughton describes growing up with – and without – his famous father.

• The evolution of the Second Doctor’s costume and best-known props.

• The truth behind Troughton’s departure from the series – and the curious legacy of his decision.

• The inside story of the day Doctor Who Magazine met Troughton.

    AND MORE!

Doctor Who: Legends – Patrick Troughton will be available at panini.co.uk and good news retailers from Thursday 16 July, price £10.99. It will also be available digitally from pocketmags.com price £9.99.

The BBC has confirmed that the previously announced 2026  Christmas Special of Doctor Who has been cancelled.

The corporation has decided to put Doctor Who out to competitive tender this year, in the hope of guaranteeing its long-term future. 

The decision, made in consultation with Russell T Davies and Bad Wolf, means that the pre-planned edition of the show, due to continue the series after the departure of the fifteenth Doctor, will no longer be made. 

It means that 2026 will be the first year in which no new Doctor Who is screened since 2004.

The BBC issued the following statement 

Details of the tender will be announced in due course.

Current showrunner Russell T Davies has also confirmed that he will leave the series and will not be involved in the tender process. He confirmed on Instagram that no script for the Christmas special was ever written and that no actor was approached to play the next Doctor.

The BBC retains all IP in Doctor Who. BBC Studios will continue to lead the global distribution of Doctor Who as well as licensing, consumer products, digital and immersive experiences on behalf of the BBC.

A previously announced new Doctor Who animation series for CBeebies is currently in production

The latest instalment in the Black Archive series from Obverse Books looks at the 2013 docu-drama based on the creation of Doctor Who, An Adventure in Space and Time

In 1966, William Hartnell is about to record his final scenes as Doctor Who. Having helped establish the series as a smash hit for the BBC, he is not keen to go, but ill health means he simply can't continue.

Tracing the story of the series creation from Sydney Newman's first suggestion of a new science fiction series to Hartnell leaving the role behind, An Adventure in Time and Space is more than just a biopic of William Hartnell; it's the story of the creation of a television legend. 

David Rolinson is a lecturer at the University of Stirling. He teaches and writes on a wide range of topics but specialises in docudrama and terrorism. He wrote a guide to Alan Clarke and co-edited The Art of Invective, a collection of Dennis Potter’s non-fiction writing.

AN ADVENTURE IN SPACE AND TIME is available now in paperback and electronic formats, direct from Obverse Books and from selected online retailers.

Doctor Who Magazine Issue 629 is out today with special in-depth coverage of the two previously lost episodes of Doctor Who, The Daleks' Master Plan

Including

• PETER PURVES – alias First Doctor companion and space pilot Steven Taylor – shares his delight on seeing episodes he recorded over 60 years ago!

• Meet the people behind FILM IS FABULOUS! Hear the story behind this remarkable find – and what hope there is for further discoveries…

• TOBY HADOKE on the enduring fascination of Doctor Who’s missing episodes.

• Find out what Doctor Who celebrities and experts made of the episodes now they can finally see them. Among those sharing their reactions are: RUSSELL T DAVIES, KATY MANNING, MATTHEW WATERHOUSE, BEN AARONOVITCH, ROB SHEARMAN, PETE McTIGHE, NICHOLAS PEGG and MATTHEW SWEET…

Plus

• Rutans vs Sontarans! Check out exactly how a Big Finish audio drama is recorded, with contributions from PAUL McGANN, COLIN BAKER and NICOLA BRYANT.

• We take a deep dive into the mysteries of Twelfth Doctor episode The Pyramid at the End of the World.

• Back to 1987… and the discovery of two missing episodes of Doctor Who…

• How does poll-topping fan favourite The Caves of Androzani compare to modern TV drama?

• The Fifteenth Doctor and Mel battle the Daleks in the comic strip…

Regular features

• GALLIFREY GUARDIAN: our monthly round-up of news from across the Whoniverse.

• Reviews – including GARY GILLATT on The Nightmare Begins and Devil’s Planet.

• Other Worlds – the essential guide to new stories in Doctor Who’s expanded universe – including the latest Eighth Doctor audio box set, the 100th monthly Torchwood release and an interview with SIOBHAN REDMOND about playing the Rani.

• Prizes to be won! Including the Steelbook edition of the TV movie.

Doctor Who Magazine Issue 629 is on sale Thursday 30 April 2026  from panini.co.uk and TG Jones priced £8.99 (UK). 

Also available as a digital edition from pocketmags.com priced £7.99.

The latest release in the Black Archive series from Obverse Books looks at the first Doctor story The Daleks. 

The book is available from the Obverse Books website 

A 10% discount is available until the end of April using the code tenyearanniversary

The two long‑missing, newly rediscovered Doctor Who episodes are now available for fans in the United States, who can watch them on the Doctor Who Classic YouTube channel.

The BBC has confirmed that the two recovered episodes of Doctor Who from the 1960’s will be made available for viewers in the UK on BBC iPlayer on Good Friday.

The two episodes; The Nightmare Begins and Devil’s Planet were from the third series entitled The Daleks’ Master Plan.

Written by Terry Nation, the series starred William Hartnell as the Doctor and Peter Purves as Steven Taylor. It also featured Nicholas Courtney as Bret Vyon, Adrienne Hill as Katarina, and Kevin Stoney as Mavic Chen.

The episodes were found by Film is Fabulous! – a charitable trust run by film collectors, cinema lovers and vintage television enthusiasts. They approached BBC Archives after finding them in a private collection, which worked to restore the original 16mm telerecordings.

Viewers will be able to watch the two episodes on BBC iPlayer in the UK from 6am on 3 April 2026 (Good Friday). These episodes add to a raft of Doctor Who programming which forms The Whoniverse on BBC iPlayer

The BBC and Film is Fabulous! have announced the recovery of the William Hartnell episodes The Nightmare Begins and The Devil's Planet, two previously missing episodes of the epic twelve part story broadcast over the winter of 1965/66, The Daleks' Master Plan!

From the BBC press release:

The recoveries bring the current count of missing episodes of Doctor Who down to 95, a number that hasn't reduced since the announcement of the recovery of The Enemy of the World and most of The Web of Fear in 2013. It means the first quarter of the story is now back in the archives, and enables us to now see more of Adrienne Hill's portrayal of short-lived companion Katarina, and of Nicholas Courtney's first role in the series as Bret Vyon, long before he became regular character Brrigadier Lethbridge-Stewart.

BBC: exclusive first look

The BBC has announced that a brand-new 4K restoration of Doctor Who: The Movie is coming, rebuilt from the original film reels of Paul McGann’s debut as the Eighth Doctor. 

In 1996, Paul McGann debuted as the Eighth Doctor in Doctor Who, a feature-length co-production between the BBC and the American Fox network, more commonly known as The TV Movie.

This 90-minute feature was shot on film, and now, for the first time, all 219 reels of original film (totalling almost 200,000 feet!) have been pulled from deep storage in the US and meticulously scanned over 21 days, then restored by Paul Vanezis to provide a definitive 4K experience.

The restoration has a 24-frame transfer to match the original film rushes, and immersive surround sound, rebuilt from the original raw sound elements.

Also starring Sylvester McCoy (the Seventh Doctor), Daphne Ashbrook (Grace), Eric Roberts (The Master) and Yee Jee Tso (Chang Lee),

The TV Movie sees the Doctor’s regeneration triggered on an operating table, with surgeon Grace Holloway accompanying the new Doctor on an epic adventure to prevent The Master from stealing the Doctor’s future lives.

This new release is available on 4K in a limited edition steelbook with exclusive artwork, as well as standard Blu-ray, and includes a host of special features including:

• The ‘uncensored’ UK version.
• The USA broadcast version.
• Soundtrack in Dolby Atmos, 5.1 and stereo.
• In Conversation with director Geoffrey Sax.
• Sylvester McCoy and Janet Fielding featurette.
• 3 New Featurettes with Daphne Ashbrook, Eric Roberts and Yee Jee Tso. 
• Two audio commentaries.
• Isolated music score.
• Production info text.
• The Seven Year Hitch making-of documentary.
• Paul McGann’s audition tape.
• Alternate takes.
• Electronic press kit and behind the scenes footage.
• TARDIS tour.
• BBC Trails.

And much more.

Doctor Who The TV Movie in 4K!

Doctor Who – The Movie. The ultimate new restoration is available is available to pre-order ahead of its release on 25th May 2026 in the UK.

UltraHD   Blu-ray  Steelbook