Doctor Who Magazine is out today, and the print edition includes a Target Books paperback. An exclusive new edition of the wheel in space by Doctor Who author Terrance Dicks

In the magazine:

• THIS YEAR’S SEASON FINALE PREVIEWED! RUSSELL T DAVIES on what to expect in the much-anticipated concluding episodes Wish World and The Reality War…

• ACCESS ALL AREAS – Join DWM at UNIT HQ for the climactic scenes of Lucky Day – including contributions from writer PETE McTIGHE and guest star JONAH HAUER-KING.

• Barber Shop Quartet – actors SULE RIMI, SANYA ADEGBOLA, MICHAEL BALOGUN and JORDAN ADENE talk about their roles as the Barber’s captives in The Story & the Engine.

• Fugitive Doctor JO MARTIN on her surprise return to the TV series…

• VIP backstage access to the Interstellar Song Contest! Writer JUNO DAWSON, director BEN A WILLIAMS and your host RYLAN are among those on hand to reveal the secrets of this entertainment spectacular!

• Mrs Flood unmasked! ANITA DOBSON chats about the latest revelations…

• The Rani reborn! ARCHIE PANJABI on taking on the mantle of the cold-hearted Time Lady!

• A guided tour to an impressive new exhibition opening in Peterborough.

• Target Books’ STEVE COLE remembers TERRANCE DICKS and discusses the special new edition of The Wheel in Space included with this issue.

• Gary Gillatt assesses the merits of alien art from across the universe…

• Back to 1973… We take a look at contemporary reactions to the environmental message of Third Doctor classic The Green Death.

• FACT OF FICTION – unravelling the mysteries of the Evolution of the Daleks.

• The adventures of the Fifteenth Doctor and Belinda continue in the comic strip.

Regular features

• Gallifrey Guardian – our news round-up including details of the cinema screenings of the season finale.

• Reviews – featuring the latest Blu-ray/DVD, book and audio releases.

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

• Prizes to be won – including new adventures for the Fifteenth Doctor in print! 

Doctor Who Magazine Issue 617 is on sale Thursday 22 May 2025  from panini.co.uk and WH Smith priced £10.99 (UK). 

Also available as a digital edition from pocketmags.com priced £6.99.

Demon Records is celebrating Jon Pertwee’s flamboyant portrayal of the famous Time Lord, 55 years after he made his screen debut on 3 January 1970.

Available on Blue and 4 x Blue and Green Vinyl, with a beautifully illustrated cover, this set presents Jon Pertwee narrating two classic Doctor Who Target Books, an array of bonus Jon Pertwee audio appearances, and his own 1972 pop single, Who Is The Doctor?

Doctor Who and the Curse of Peladon is Brian Hayles’ abridged TV novelisation set on a medieval-styleworld, and Doctor Who and the Planet of the Daleks is Terrance Dicks’s abridged adaptation of the Terry Nation adventure set on the jungle-like Spiridon.

Bonus features are also included on each disc, spanning the 1970s to the 1990s, including BBC radio interviews, a Goodwood Races sketch with Elisabeth Sladen, comedy featuring Mel Giedroyc, and tributes paid by family members and Doctor Who producers.

This also includes a frameable photographic print of the Third Doctor. Accompanied by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop’s familiar Doctor Who theme, the Jon Pertwee Collection celebrates one of the most stylish, iconic and beloved Doctors of all.

LP 1 Side A Doctor Who and the Curse of Peladon Part One / Goodwood Races mini-drama

LP 1 Side B Doctor Who and the Curse of Peladon Part Two / Profile interview

LP 2 Side C Doctor Who and the Curse of Peladon Part Three / Newsbeat interview

LP 2 Side D Doctor Who and the Curse of Peladon Part Four / Simon Bates interview

LP 3 Side E Doctor Who and the Planet of the Daleks Part One / The Skivers comedy sketch

LP 3 Side F Doctor Who and the Planet of the Daleks Part Two / Local radio interview

LP 4 Side G Doctor Who and the Planet of the Daleks Part Three / Radio Lives tributes

LP 4 Side H Doctor Who and the Planet of the Daleks Part Four / Who Is The Doctor?

The set is also available in a deluxe 4 CD gatefold package, this includes a full colour booklet with cast, credits and racklisting information.

The latest release in the Black Archive series looks at the Fourth Doctor's swan song Logopolis. 

Logopolis (1981) is a mournful epic of cosmic destruction, obsolescence, and collapse, and marked the final serial in Tom Baker’s long run as the Doctor.

With a star unsure if he really wanted to leave, and a producer keen to explore new directions, Logopolis is a story set in the centre of a transitional space. This Black Archive investigates the changes before and behind the camera, explores the story’s themes of entropy and rebirth, and places it in the context of a specific moment in the history of both computing and Doctor Who.

The book is by Jonathan Hay the author of Science Fiction and Posthumanism in the Anthropocene. They lecture at the University of Chester.

BLACK ARCHIVE #76: LOGOPOLIS is available for pre-order now in paperback at a sale price of £5.99 and electronic formats, at a price of £3.99, direct from Obverse Books and from selected online retailers.

Doctor Who Magazine celebrates 20 years of the Ninth Doctor, and 20 years since the show’s triumphant return to television.

The latest Special Edition is packed full of all-new content, which has been compiled in co-operation with some of the biggest names from the 2005 series. 

“This is an in-depth look of one of the most remarkable comebacks in television history,” says editor Marcus Hearn. “We’ve got some fantastic exclusives, including interviews with executive producer Mal Young and director Joe Ahearne. And there’s a very special contribution from Russell T Davies, who has written a new story relating to one of the Ninth Doctor’s adventures. The illustrations are by Martin Geraghty, and you can see some of his artwork on the front cover. It might give you a clue about the old foe Russell has revisited!”

Highlights of the new issue include:

• In his first interview for DWM, executive producer Mal Young describes how Doctor Who was finally brought back to the screen.

• In another first for the magazine, Joe Ahearne – who directed more Ninth Doctor episodes than anyone else – takes readers behind the scenes on the 2005 series.

• Christopher Eccleston explains what drew him to the role of the Doctor – and why he’s still coming back to it, 20 years on.

• Interviews with Lloyd Elis (first assistant director), Lee Sheward (stunt co-ordinator) and Lowri Thomas (location manager).

• The cast and crew of the 2005 series chose their favourite moments.

• The making of the renowned Trip of a Lifetime trailer.

• Concept artist Dan Walker reveals his original designs for the Ninth Doctor’s sonic screwdriver.

• Fans share their eyewitness accounts – and photographs – of the 2004 location filming.

• Action figures, radio-controlled Daleks and other merchandise that was available in Toys R Us, Woolworths and elsewhere.

• A guide to the Ninth Doctor’s adventures in the expanded universe.

PLUS

    A new and exclusive short story by Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies!

20 Years of the Ninth Doctor is on sale now, RRP £9.99 from panini.co.uk and selected branches of WH Smith while stocks last. 

It’s also available digitally from pocketmags.com priced £8.99.

Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper are returning to the roles of the Ninth Doctor and Rose Tyler in a brand-new series of full-cast Doctor Who audio dramas from Big Finish

In 2005, Eccleston and Piper took a whole new generation of Doctor Who fans on the trip of a lifetime into time and space.

Twenty years later, the trip continues, as they’re set to star in a brand-new series of twelve, hour-long, full-cast audio adventures, due to be released from August 2025.

The news was announced to a packed hall at the world's premier Doctor Who convention, Gallifrey One in Los Angeles.

Christopher Eccleston said:

Billie Piper added:

Producer Matt Fitton said:

Big Finish listeners can now pre-order Doctor Who – The Ninth Doctor Adventures, starting at £9.99 per story (download to own) or £11.99 (download to own + collector’s edition CD) exclusively from bigfinish.com.

Please note: the collector’s edition CDs are strictly limited to 1,500 copies each and will not be repressed. A complete series multibuy bundle of all twelve releases is also available to pre-order at the discounted price of £102 (download to own) or £126 (download to own + collectors edition CD), again exclusively from the Big Finish website.

The makers of Doctor Who Magazine have announced the latest issue of Chronicles, looking at Season Seven, first broadcast in 1970. 

Editor Marcus Hearn

Chronicles 1970 covers all the stories in Season 7: Spearhead from Space, Doctor Who and the Silurians, The Ambassadors of Death and Inferno, alongside exclusive features, insightful commentary and previously unpublished images.

Highlights include:

• Assistant script editor Robin Squire speaks to DWM for the first time, revealing his contributions to Spearhead from Space and Inferno.

• New interviews with actors Constance Carling (Spearhead from Space), Nigel Johns (Doctor Who and the Silurians) and John Levene (Sergeant Benton).

• Costume designer Christine Rawlins describes inventing a look for the Third Doctor, and the other challenges of Season 7.

• Scene by scene on The Ambassadors of Death with camera operator Mike Minchin.

• Mark Ayres, Peter Crocker and Paul Vanezis explain how the episodes in The Collection: Season 7 were restored for Blu-ray.

• Behind the scenes on the new Nicholas Courtney documentary, Splendid Chap.

• The surprising links between Doctor Who and soap opera Crossroads!

• The life and career of writer Malcolm Hulke.

• Tributes to Jon Pertwee, Caroline John and Nicholas Courtney.

• Special effects and production techniques.

• Target novelisations, TV Comic strips and the Doctor Who annual.

• … and much more!

Doctor Who: Chronicles 1970 is on sale Thursday 13 February, RRP £12.99 from panini.co.uk and selected branches of WH Smith while stocks last. 

It’s also available digitally from pocketmags.com priced £11.99.

Today marks fifty years since we first became acquainted with the fourth Doctor as played by Tom Baker.

Baker had briefly appeared the previous summer in the final episode of Planet of the Spiders but 28th December 1974 is when the fourth Doctor had his first adventure Robot. 

The episode was broadcast on BBC 1 at 5.35 pm following the Shari Lewis Show and the News and preceding Bruce Forsyth and the Generation Game. It had 10.8 million viewers. 

Baker would go on to play the Doctor in 173 episodes over 7 years, plus a notable return in the 2013 anniversary story The Day of the Doctor. He is the longest-serving Doctor to date.

To mark the anniversary Radio Times has produced a special digital bookazine edited by Stuart Manning, Tom Baker: 50 Years in Time and Space

The bookazine is free to download from www.radiotimes.com/tom-baker-bookazine/

In addition, Big Finish have released a special full-cast audio anniversary adventure, The Curse of Time. Starring Tom Baker, along with Sadie Miller (as Sarah Jane Smith) and Christopher Naylor (as Harry Sullivan), the story picks up at the end of Season 12, with the Doctor and his companions returning to Earth after the events of Revenge of the Cybermen. 

Doctor Who – The Fourth Doctor Adventures: The Curse of Time is now available to purchase for just £15.99 (collector's edition double CD with slipcase + download) or £12.99 (download only), exclusively from bigfinish.com

No Doctor I'm the Doctor! | Doctor Who | Robot

The First Doctor story The Savages has been animated and will be released next year.

The four-part series, first broadcast between May and June 1966, will return as an animated series to be released on DVD, Blu-ray and a limited-edition Blu-ray Steelbook next spring.

With the original master recording lost, as many of these television episodes where historically wiped after transmission, the BBC Studios Home Entertainment teams worked with original audio recordings and soundtracks of all four episodes and a team of animators to bring back to fans this long-lost story arc.

In this early story, the Doctor (William Hartnell) and his travelling companions, Steven (Peter Purves) and Dodo (Jackie Lane), arrive on an unnamed planet where they encounter two distinct people - the Elders and the Savages. They soon discover the Elders are the evil ones, draining the primitive Savages for their life source to remain young and powerful forever. This story marks the final appearance of Purves as Steven.

This three-disc release will include all four 25-minutes animated episodes in colour and black and white, as well as exclusive bonus features.

Paul Hembury, Executive Producer commented:

The story is available for pre-order on Amazon

THE SAVAGES RETURNS

In addition, BBC Studios Home Entertainment will release the new colourisation of The War Games. Originally aired in 1969, The War Games marked the end of an era for the Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton), following him and his companions Zoe and Jamie as they land in a battlefield that appears to be a World War I military zone – but all is not as it seems. They soon discover that soldiers from different historical periods have been abducted and are being manipulated in a cruel game. As they work to uncover the mystery behind the War Lord and his twisted experiments, the Doctor faces one of his most difficult challenges.

For the first time, these original episodes have been meticulously colourised and enhanced with updated visual effects edited into a new, 90-minute feature-length experience to appeal to today’s modern audiences. With updated sound and a new score, this newly updated version of The War Games offers both fans and newcomers even more ways to watch the much-loved classic story. This title will be released on DVD, Blu-ray and limited-edition Blu-ray Steelbook and will air on BBC will air on 23 December 2024 on BBC Four and BBC iPlayer.

This year's Doctor Who festive special, Joy to the World, will be broadcast on BBC1 on Christmas Day at 5:10pm. Written by Steven Moffat, the episode features Ncuti Gatwa in his second Christmas outting, and also introduces Joy, played by Nicola Coughlan.

Other guest stars for the episode include Steph de Whalley as Anita, Jonathan Aris as Melnak, Joel Fry as Trev, Peter Benedict as Basil, Julia Watson as Hilda, and Niamh Marie Smith as Sylvia.

This Christmas, as well as the now traditional festive outtings for Strictly Come Dancing, Call The Midwife, Eastenders and Mrs Brown's Boys, BBC1 also sees the return of Wallace and Gromit with Vengeance Most Fowl, and the final episode of Gavin and Stacey (the highest rated Christmas programme in recent years!).

Doctor Who will be up against the film North by Northwest on BBC2, Bullseye on ITV1, The Piano: Christmas on Channel 4, and The Greatest Comedy Classics on Channel 5. 

Joy to the World will also be available on BBC iPlayer, and around the world on Disney+ where available.

Other Doctor Who related broadcasts in the Christmas week include:

• Doctor Who: The War Games in Colour, BBC4, 23 December at 9:00pm
• Doctor Who at the Proms 2024, BBC2, Christmas Eve at 4:10pm

Today marks the 61st Anniversary of the launch of Doctor Who on 23rd November 1963

To mark the birthday BBC Studios are inviting you to a watch party featuring the Series 1, Season 40 story, Boom alongside story writer Steven Moffat who will live-tweet the event on x. 

The story will be screened on the Doctor Who YouTube channel at 7 pm GMT / 2 pm EST. 

In addition, fans can expect a day full of exclusive content and announcements, giveaways, as well as a brand-new series of New to Who, hosted by Tyrell Charles

You can follow all the Doctor Who Day activities on the Doctor Who official website and channels:

Official Website /  YouTube / Instagram / X  / TikTok