As we approach the 60th Anniversary of Doctor Who, revisit the story of Doctor Who, the occasional series written for the 50th Anniversary, explaining the origins of the programme.
Episode 31 - An Unearthly Series - The Origins of a TV Legend: First published 23 Nov 2013
Demon Records have announced a special vinyl collection will be released celebrating the Fourth Doctor as played by Tom Baker.
Limited to just 600 and each including a signed print from Tom Baker, the collection celebrates Tom Baker’s unique portrayal of the famous Time Lord, almost 50 years after he made his debut in the role.
This limited edition 4 LP vinyl box set mixes thrilling audio drama with interviews and readings by the man himself.
Genesis of the Daleks is the original 1979 album version of the TV serial, whilst Doctor Who and the Pescatonsis the made-for-vinyl audio drama first released in 1976.
Exploration Earth: The Time Machine is an adventure specially produced by BBC Schools Radio in 1976, and The State of Decay is a unique audiobook reading from 1982.
The collection is completed by a selection of BBC radio interviews with Tom Baker made in the 1970s and 1980s.
Presented inside an eye-catching Fourth Doctor O-ring sleeve, this Dalek-fronted quadpack design houses 4x 140g LPs in Orange, Green, Blue & Red vinyl, each with full cast & credits and its own brand-new graphic design.
Every copy of this release also includes an exclusive, frameable photograph of the Fourth Doctor, hand signed by Tom Baker himself.
The set co-stars Elisabeth Sladen, Ian Marter, Bill Mitchell and John Westbrook,
The set will be released on 15th September 2023 and is available to preorder on Amazon
BBC Books are to publish new Doctor Who Target books in July 2023
BBC Books has announced that it will be expanding the Doctor Who Target range with five new titles in Summer 2023, all publishing on 13th July, each with newly commissioned cover artwork by Anthony Dry.
The new titles celebrate Target publishing Doctor Who books for half a century. The 2023 collection celebrates the dramatic return of David Tennant and showrunner Russell T Davies to the programme.
Both The Waters of Mars by Phil Ford and The Planet of Ood by KeithTemple are Doctor Who episodes from the Tenth Doctor era.
Fans will also be able to add a Twelfth Doctor adventure, as played by Peter Capaldi, to their collection with The Zygon Invasion by Peter Harness and a Thirteenth Doctor novelisation with Kerblam! by Peter McTighe.
Stephen Gallagher’s Warriors’ Gate and Other Stories will feature the Fourth Doctor.
Launched in 1973, Target Books published novelisations of almost every Doctor Who serial aired between 1963 and 1989, with only a few notable exceptions.
BBC Books began reissuing these classic paperbacks in 2012, and in 2018 expanded the Target range to include all-new novelisations of modern-era Doctor Who episodes.
This year, the expansion continues with:
Pete McTighe is a British screenwriter, producer, and lifetime Doctor Who fan. As well as writing episodes of Doctor Who, he has written two series of hit BBC drama The Pact, alongside writer and showrunner duties on A Discovery Of Witches, The Rising, and Wentworth for which he received five Australian Writers Guild nominations. He also writes and directs acclaimed short films to promote Doctor Who - The Collection Blu-ray releases.
Keith Temple is a British screenwriter whose credits include Doctor Who, Doc Martin and the original BBC comedy drama, Angel Cake starring Sarah Lancashire. He has also written extensively for Continuing Drama including EastEnders, Emmerdale, River City and Casualty. Most recently, he wrote the screenplay for the horror feature film, Wyvern Hill. He has also written for the stage and lectures widely on screenwriting and filmmaking.
The Waters of Mars by Phil Ford
The first human colony on Mars is destined for destruction in a nuclear explosion. This tragedy is a fixed point in history. The laws of time dictate that it cannot –must never – be changed. But as the Doctor’s darkest hour comes calling, he resolves to break the rules as he never has before...
Phil Ford has written scripts for Doctor Who, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures for BBCTelevision. He also wrote animated Doctor Who adventure Dreamland, and four Doctor Who Adventure Games. His extensive screenwriting credits include episodes of Taggart, Bad Girls, New Captain Scarlet and Coronation Street. He co-created Wizards vs Aliens with Russell T Davies.
Peter Harness is an English playwright, screenwriter and actor. He has contributed to programs such as McMafia, City of Vice, and Case Histories and wrote a new miniseries adaptation of The War of the Worlds for BBC One
Warriors’ Gate and Other Stories by Stephen Gallagher
A new-to-print, expanded novelisation of the classic 1981 adventure. With the TARDIS caught in the collapsing void between two different universes, the Fourth Doctor is drawn into a dangerous alliance with a race of enslaved, time-sensitive aliens.
The consequences are explored in two further short stories, one exclusive to this volume!
Stephen Gallagher is an English screenwriter and novelist from Manchester. He wrote two serials for Doctor Who, as well as writing for Rosemary & Thyme and Bugs. He also created and wrote Eleventh Hour, a science-based series for ITV.
Each of the authors for the 2023 Target books are the original screenwriters of the TV episodes.
Demon Records is to release Demon Quest, the second in a series of Fourth Doctor audio adventures, on vinyl.
The limited edition stars Tom Baker as the Doctor and is the sequel to Hornets Nest which saw the return of Tom Baker to the role of the Doctor after many years.
Demon Quest was originally released on five CDs by BBC Audiobooks between September and December 2010. Written by Paul Magrs, it stared Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor and Richard Franklin as Captain Mike Yates.
Every copy of the vinyl edition includes an exclusive, frameable portrait of the Fourth Doctor, hand signed by Tom Baker himself.
An intricately die-cut, removable outer sleeve reveals a Demonic lidded box, inside which are 10 individual illustrated LP sleeves featuring full cast and credits for each of the five stories.
The Time Lord’s encounters with the mysterious Demon are detailed in The Doctor’s Journal, a large 16-page full-colour booklet featuring notes and illustrations from this epic pursuit through Time.
Presented across 10 x 140g alternating Red and Black vinyl discs, this full-cast audio adventure also stars Susan Jameson as Mrs. Wibbsey.
The supporting cast includes Nigel Anthony, Samuel West, Jan Francis, Trevor White, Lorelei King and Finty Williams, and original sound design accompanies the familiar Doctor Who theme from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.
Demon Records are to release the latest in their Vinyl Who collection of Doctor Who TV soundtracks on 18th March 2022, Season 16 adventure The Pirate Planet:
"The life force is dead! We’re all murderers!"
Demon Records presents the debut Doctor Who adventure by Douglas Adams - creator of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - starring Tom Baker as the Doctor.
On the hunt for the Key to Time, the Doctor, Romana and K9 materialise on the planet Calufrax –or do they? Entangled in local events, they are caught between the bombastic Captain – half-man,half-machine – and the sinister Mentiads. Someone is ransacking whole planets for their wealth,and just as the Doctor discovers who’s behind it another one comes under threat: Earth!
Presented across 2 x 140g Sky Demon Splatter vinyl discs, this 1978 TV soundtrack is narrated by John Leeson, the original Voice of K9. The supporting cast includes Mary Tamm as Romana with Bruce Purchase, Andrew Robertson, David Warwick and Rosalind Lloyd. Incidental music is composed by Dudley Simpson, and the familiar strains of the Doctor Who theme are courtesy ofthe BBC Radiophonic Workshop.
The coloured vinyl LPs are presented in a fully illustrated gatefold sleeve showing cast and credits, and inner bags featuring complete episode billings.
Season 17, the penultimate season starring Tom Baker as the Doctor, will be the next to be released as part of the Doctor Who Collection series.
Doctor Who – The Collection: Season 17 was originally shown between September 1979 and January 1980 consists of the following stories
In 1979, Tom Baker’s Doctor was in full flight. With Douglas Adams (The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy) as script editor, the series leaned into Baker’s penchant for humour and paired his Doctor with a regenerated Romana (Lalla Ward) as his travelling companion. Together, they would form one of the most popular Doctor/companion duos of all time.
Although Season 17 was halted behind-the-scenes by strike action (resulting in the season finale being abandoned part-way through production), it remains a beloved slice of Doctor Who history, featuring the return of Davros and the Daleks, and one of the all-time classic stories, Douglas Adams’ own City Of Death.
With all episodes newly remastered from the best available sources, this Blu-ray box set also includes extensive and exclusive Special Features including:
The Collection will be released on 13th December 2021 and is available to pre-order on Amazon
The second issue in a new series of bookazines, Doctor Who: Chronicles, has been released by the makers of Doctor Who Magazine.
This issue takes us back to 1975
Tom Baker’s debut came as a shock to some critics and even regular viewers, but his charismatic portrayal of the Doctor soon propelled the series to new heights of popularity. In 1975 Doctor Who attracted both critical acclaim and controversy in stories that many regard as the benchmark for everything that would follow.
This 116-page bookazine includes newly discovered images and all-new features, including:
And much more!
Doctor Who: Chronicles – 1975 is on sale now, RRP just £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.
The next Fourth Doctor audio release has been announced by Big Finish.
Tom Baker and Louise Jameson are plunging back into the Time Vortex for volume 2 of Doctor Who: The Fourth Doctor Adventures due for release in February 2021.
These two brand-new full-cast audio dramas follow the Fourth Doctor and Leela into an uproarious tour through time and a prehistoric encounter with an esteemed palaeontologist.
Doctor Who: The Fourth Doctor Adventures Series 10 Volume 2 is now available to pre-order as a collector's edition box set (on CD at £24.99) and as a digital download (at £19.99), exclusively from www.bigfinish.com.
The volume consists of two rip-roaring rides, as follows:
Tribulations of Thadeus Nook by Andrew Smith
It’s time for the trip of a lifetime! Come along on one of Thadeus Nook’s Time Tours. See history as it really was. Get to witness wars and assassinations! See barbarian warlords right up close!
The Doctor and Leela encounter a most enterprising young gentleman – using time travel for his own financial gain. The Doctor is horrified at the irresponsibility – but it’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Because Thadeus Nook is about to learn that history is often best left in the past.
The Primeval Design by Helen Goldwyn
Dorset, 1830. The Doctor has taken Leela to meet Mary Anning, the noted palaeontologist, but the duo immediately stumble into trouble.
A body has been found in unusual circumstances. Attacked by an animal... but one of a size unknown in the area.
It turns out some things might be better off staying buried.
Taking on the role of the Doctor for his tenth year with Big Finish, Tom Baker said:
Series 10 Volume 2 is now available to pre-order as a collector's edition box set (on CD at £24.99) and as a digital download (at £19.99), exclusively at the Big Finish website.
The latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine goes back to the 1970's to investigate a TARDIS journey we never saw.
Highlights of the new issue include:
Doctor Who Magazine Issue 555 is on sale from Thursday 20 August £5.99 (UK)
The first full-cast, full-length Doctor Who audio drama to have been recorded entirely during lockdown will be released on 12 May. 
Director Nicholas Briggs said
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