Tom Baker has been honoured by King Charles and made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).

The award is given to the 90-year-old actor for services to Television.

The awards are issued twice a year, to mark the New Year and to mark the King's official birthday. The Order of the British Empire was created in 1917 by King George V to honour ordinary people, whose achievements previously went unrecognised. 

Other recipients of honours this year include Stephen Fry, who is made a Knight Bachelor for services to Mental Health Awareness, the Environment and Charity.

The actresses Sarah Lancashire, Anne Reid and Carey Mulligan have all been made Commanders of the Order of the British Empire for services to drama.

Carmen Munroe, who appeared in the Second Doctor story The Enemy of the World as Fariah has been made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to drama.

The actor Eddie Marsan, who was in the Sarah Jane Adventures, has been made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, for services to drama. 

Overall 1204 honours were given for New Year. The awards will be presented by the King, or one of his counsellors of state, at a ceremony in 2025

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

Rose Ayling-Ellis will be joining Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor in the upcoming season of Doctor Who, which will air in 2025.

Russell T Davies, Showrunner said:

Rose Ayling-Ellis, said:

This year, Ayling-Ellis has been made a Member of the Order of the British Empire for voluntary services to the Deaf community, and she became the first Deaf presenter of live sport at the Paralympic Games. She was also the subject of Who Do You Think You Are and appeared in Ludwig. She became the first ever deaf actress to play a deaf character in EastEnders and she won Strictly Come Dancing in 2021 subsequently winning the BAFTA TV Award for ‘Must-See Moment’ in 2022.

The series is produced by Bad Wolf with BBC Studios for the BBC and Disney Branded Television, and will air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer simultaneously in the UK, and exclusively on Disney+ outside of the UK where available.

The first Jon Pertwee season will be the next to be released on Blu-ray as part of the Doctor Who Collection series. 

The SEVEN DISC box set of the 7th Season of Doctor Who stars Pertwee as the 3rd Doctor along with Caroline John as Liz Shaw and Nicholas Courtney as The Brigadier. The series was originally broadcast in 1970 and was the first series made in colour. 
 

In his debut season, the Third Doctor is exiled to Earth, teaming up with UNIT’s Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and scientist Liz Shaw to confront alien invasions and threats from our own planet’s primeval past.

All episodes have been newly remastered from the best available sources – these classic adventures have never looked or sounded so good on home media.

The Collection: Season 7 is also jam-packed with hours of new and exclusive material including:

NEW DOCUMENTARIES
SPLENDID CHAP 

• A profile of beloved actor Nicholas Courtney
• LOOKING FOR MAC
• Uncovering the story of writer Malcolm Hulke
• TERROR IN THE SUBURBS
• When Doctor Who came down to Earth
• LUCKY 13: ROCKETS, ALIENS AND SPARE PARTS
• How the science of the day influenced Doctor Who
• BEHIND THE SOFA
• New episodes with Katy Manning (Jo), Matthew Waterhouse (Adric),
• Janet Fielding (Tegan), Sarah Sutton (Nyssa), Sophie Aldred (Ace), Toby Hadoke,
• and the late Caroline John’s family: husband Geoffrey Beevers (The Master) and daughter Daisy Ashford
• IN CONVERSATION
• Matthew Sweet chats to John Levene (Benton) about his life and career
• THE DOCTOR WHO ESCAPE ROOM 
• Will Team Third Doctor escape the room of doom?
• MOVIE-LENGTH OMNIBUS EDITIONS
• The Silurians and Inferno
• EXCLUSIVE CONVENTION FOOTAGE 
• HD PHOTO GALLERIES 
• INFO TEXT 
• PDF ARCHIVE
• PLUS LOTS MORE! 

This seven-disc box set also includes hours of special features previously released on DVD including Documentaries, Featurettes, Audio Commentaries and more.

The set can be pre-ordered on Amazon

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.

The actor and writer Arnold Yarrow has died at the age of 104.

Arnold Yarrow was the oldest surviving cast member of Doctor Who, appearing in the series in 1974 at the spritely age of 53. He is believed to be the longest-lived actor to have ever had a credited role in the series and one of only six actors to have reached the age of 100. 

Arnold Yarrow was born in the east end of London in April 1920, just 17 months after the end of the First World War. He served in the Second World War fighting in the army in India and China.

In the 1940's he became an actor working in weekly rep where he met the future Doctor Who producer Barry Letts. It was under Letts's stewardship of Doctor Who that Yarrow was cast as Bellal in the Third Doctor story Death to the Daleks. The role required Yarrow to be stitched into an all-enveloping costume made of several strips of material glued together. He told Toby Hadoke 

He also talked about the movement he put into the character

Doctor Who was a tiny part of the actor's long career, first appearing on television in the early 1950's. Appearances included roles in London's Burning, One by One, The Chinese Detective, Wainwright's Law, The Onedin Line, Dr. Finlay's Casebook, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Coronation Street, Boyd Q.C., The Andromeda Breakthrough, Dial 999, Macbeth. He returned to his Jewish roots in London when he played Benny Bloom in EastEnders. 

As a writer, he contributed scripts to EastEnders, Warship, Crown Court, Z-cars and  Softly Softly Task Force where he was script editor. 

He was proudest of his stage work and was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Arnold Yarrow died peacefully in his sleep at Herne Bay, Kent, at the age of 104 years, 236 days.

He is survived by his brother who is aged 100 and by a number of nephews and nieces, many of whom work in the entertainment business. 

The oldest surviving Doctor Who actor is now believed to be Laurie Webb who is 100

Doctor Who Magazine Issue 611 is released today and includes 4 exclusive art cards. 

Inside this issue

• The writer of this year’s Christmas Special, STEVEN MOFFAT, gives us a preview of what awaits on Christmas Day…

• PHIL COLLINSON and the team behind the colourisation of Second Doctor finale The War Games discuss the new edit of this landmark story.

• We catch up with JANET FIELDING (Fourth/Fifth Doctor companion Tegan) and INGRID OLIVER (Osgood) at the Bath Children’s Literature festival.

• Join the guests at Cardiff’s Arcadia convention including Fugitive Doctor JO MARTIN.

• It’s 50 years since Doctor Who and the Daleks came to the West End in Seven Keys to Doomsday. We talk to Benedict Martin  – the son of stage Doctor, Trevor Martin.

• ANNEKE WILLS reflects on playing the First/Second Doctor’s companion Polly – and her fab fashions!

• All you need to know about the Eleventh Doctor’s final story – The Time of the Doctor.

• A look back at 1984’s Box of Delights starring Patrick Troughton.

• The continuing adventures of the Doctor and Ruby in the comic strip!

PLUS!

• RUSSELL T DAVIES’ traditional Twelve Days of Christmas!

• Christmas as seen on TV, on audio and in Doctor Who Magazine itself!

• The annual DWM Christmas quiz!

Regular features

• Gallifrey Guardian – including full details of this year’s festive viewing.

• Shelf Life – featuring reviews of the latest books and audio releases – and the new sonic screwdriver.

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

• Prizes to be won including The Collection Season 2 on Blu-ray! 

Doctor Who Magazine Issue 611 is on sale Thursday 5 December  from panini.co.uk and WH Smith priced £8.99 (UK). 

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

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