The Nethersphere Vol 2 No 3

TTH HEE N NEETTH HEER RS SP PH HEER REE

The editors' chance to pontificate.

Series 10 and Class news.

A page for our younger readers.

The latest on club happenings.

Cameron Biggart, Josh Boland, Fraser Clark, Lauren Davis, Tom Denham, Steve Hyde, Darran Jordan, Joan Kavallaris, Bel Bailey Melouney, Nigel Oglethorpe, Louise Sikaris, Dale Watts, Daniel Worsley Doctor Who is copyright to the BBC. Copyright of all other material contained within returns to the contributor on publication.

No attempt is made to supercede any copyright. Views expressed within are those of the writer and not necessarily held by

Sadly we advise of those who have recently passed away.

Round-up of all the latest news.

Who people, what are they doing now?

Doctor Who web-links to try.

Listing of upcoming DWCA Events.

What Doctor Who and spin-offs are currently on Australian television.

Our reviews column.

DWCA GPO Box 2870 Sydney NSW 2001

Our overseas reporter gives us the low-down on a British book-signing.

0402 689 054

Fans thoughts about the series.

enquiries@drwhoaustralia.org

A-Z of Australians in Doctor Who.

www.drwhoaustralia.org www.facebook.com/drwhoaustralia

The early music of Doctor Who.

twitter.com/drwhoaustralia

Andy's Flight of Fancy.

Hello to all our readers.

Firstly a special thanks to Tom Denham for the magnificent cover, it is so good that it is reprinted inside, without the lettering on the cover, so you can fully appreciate his brilliant work. Contributor of the Issue. The winner is Cameron Biggart for his truly amusing fiction piece where Lou and Andy meet the Doctor.

Cameron will be contacted to arrange to get a prize to him for his sterling work.

In next issue: the third and final movement of Prelude ; the conclusion of the results of the Series 9 online survey and hopefully the delayed article on producing the stage version of ‘Midnight’ plus whatever else we can fit in from what we receive from contributors. (Hint, hint). All contributions are gratefully accepted, so off to your computers, typewriters (!), pens or pencils and write a review, article or letter about whatever takes your fancy in the wide world of Doctor Who.

What ho, all – from Roger

Feeling symptoms of withdrawal? Is your life kinda lacklustre? Well, we’ve added some relief and hopefully, joy, to your day with new content in this edition of The Nethersphere.

Junior Who: Is dedicated to our younger readers (i.e. Dallas: or even younger at heart) who we want to encourage to read The Nethersphere and participate in the Doctor Who universe, after all, they are tomorrow’s actors, scriptwriters, producers and we all want to perpetuate the legend of the Doctor for ever, don’t we?

Do you have contributions suitable for this segment?

Miniscope: A new column of short pithy reviews of about 100 words in length. We have commenced this column with four contributions from: your humble editors; our Publications Manager, Mr Darran Jordan; and our head honcho, club President, Lauren Davis. Thanks to Henry Yau for suggesting the column. You can review anything you want but we would prefer reviews of Classic Who stories. Please send them to: nethersphere@doctorwhoaustralia.org.

Feedback Circuit: This is feedback we’ve received from our readers about The Nethersphere. The title of the column comes from 'Planet of the Spiders' when the Doctor says to the Great One "But you've built a positive feedback circuit.

You're trying to increase your mental powers to infinity". Feel free to give us your feedback – good or bad – and we'll publish it. Send it to nethersphere@doctorwhoaustralia.org.

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On June 14 it was announced that Matt Lucas would return as Nardole and he will be seen regularly in Series 10, starting from episode 1. Steven Moffat said “Delighted and slightly amazed to be welcoming Matt Lucas back on to the TARDIS – and this time it’s not just for Christmas, he’s sticking around. One of the greatest comedy talents on planet Earth is being unleashed on all of time and space”. Matt told the BBC “I’m chuffed to bits that Nardole is returning to the TARDIS for some more adventures. I loved acting with Peter and I’m excited to work with Pearl”.

Other casting news for the series includes: Mina Anwar as Goodthing, Ralf Little as Steadfast, Kaizer Akhtar as Praiseworthy, Kiran Shah, Jennifer Hennessy, Lenora Crichlow, Stephanie Hyam, Kiran Dadlani as Katya and Greg Garner as a Robot Operator. Michelle Gomez recently revealed that she will return as Missy.

Other news about the series is that Mark Gatiss has said he is working on a script and Steven Moffat has said “We’re planning one right now which is very much an Ancient World episode, but I won’t tell you which part of the Ancient World”.

As production on series 10 began Moffat said “I want it to feel like Episode 1 of a brand new show. I want to leave just as it’s all beginning".

The read-through for episode 1 was on June 16 and filming commenced for series 10 on June 20 at the Wales Millennium Centre. Jenna Coleman sent Pearl Mackie flowers to mark her first proper day of filming. Pearl tweeted in response: “Thank you @jenna_coleman_ what a beautifully thoughtful gift. From one companion to another. Day 1, Doctor Who”. Filming moved to the Reardon Smith Building of Cardiff University which will stand in for the fictitious St Luke’s University Bristol. It appears that the Doctor is a lecturer at this university which Bill attends.

On June 30th filming was at World of Boats in Cardiff with Peter Capaldi, Pearl Mackie and Matt Lucas in attendance and at Taffs Well Quarry. July 6 saw Peter Capaldi filming indoors at Clwb Ifor Bach and it appears there had been filming at the Uskmouth power stations for several days (nights?) prior to July 15. On this day Ralf Little began shooting, in his yet to be revealed character. Little had previously voiced Guy Fawkes in video game Doctor Who: The Gunpowder Plot. On July 21 Peter Capaldi and Pearl Mackie, with the TARDIS, were filming in a wheat field in Aberthaw.

Shooting for episode 2, written by Frank CottrellBoyce and directed by Lawrence Gough, moved to Valencia in Spain for 4 days from July 25 to July 29.

Location filming was at the futuristic City of Arts and Sciences including the outdoor spaces of: the Museu de les Ciències; the Hemisfèric, the largest

hall in the country; and the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia, the cultural centre of Valencia.

The production team was particularly impressed by “the incredible diversity of locations within a single enclosure, which [makes] it unique”. Supporting artists were apparently seen wandering around the city with emoji stickers on their upper backs.

Members of the Doctor Who production office had visited Valencia back in February for a location recce.

According to the coordinator of shooting, after the first day of filming, filming proved difficult because of the number of people in the area. For that reason he said they prefer not to give information about the recording. Head of location, Joseman Escriva said, "the filming went very well, and despite the heat of Valencia Peter Capaldi never complained". He also explained that Capaldi and Pearl Mackie whenever they had time, have been receptive to the fans who went to see them filming. He indicated that they do not intend to re-record at Valencia.

The shooting has been treated as a co-production of the BBC with a Spanish production company called South-Film. Based in the Canary Islands the company has co-produced such films as The Fast and the Furious 6 and Clash of the Titans.

Deep Roy was incorrectly rumoured to be playing a robot in the episode after he was apparently spotted in Valencia.

On July 29 the Doctor Who Official Twitter account announced that filming on episodes 1 and 2 was now complete. Shortky after a tweet surfaced, courtesy of Gatwick Airport, showing the safe arrival of Peter Capaldi and Pearl Mackie back in the UK. The read-through for the 2nd block took place on July 18 and this block was for episode 3 written by Sarah Dollard and episode 4 written by Mike Bartlett. Filming began on August 1, starting with episode 3. The location was a car park in Enterprise House, opposite Cardiff Bay Station. It was redressed to look like a brick making establishment. When 'Doctor Who News' tweeted "Today's filming pics for episode 3 of Series 10 (written by Sarah Dollard), set in the Victorian era..." Dollard replied "…the era is a little off…". Based on the costume Pearl is seen wearing, people have said it is the Regency period (1811-1820). Bill Anderson, director of Block 2, recently worked on episodes of Mr Selfridge , and he has previously worked on DCI Banks, Taggart, Lewis, Spooks and Silent Witness. This is his first time working on Doctor Who. Various clips from filming here, here, here, here, here, here and here

The Doctor Who official Twitter account posted on July 13 that Matt Strevens will be co-executive producer along with Chris Chibnall for series 11. The post was subsequently deleted and it is not known why, but Strevens, at the time confirmed the announcement on his Twitter account. Strevens is no stranger to Doctor Wh o; he produced An Adventure in Space and Time .

Producer of Class, Derek Ritchie, is no stranger to the Doctor Who universe as he previously produced episodes for the ninth series of Who. As well as Ed Bazalgette, other directors for the series are Philippa Langdale who will direct 2 episodes, and Wayne Yip. On May 25 Anna Shaffer, best known for appearing in Harry Potter, was announced to play a character named Rachel.

No date has yet been announced for when Class will be screened but as three Class novels have been slated to be released on October 27, it is more than likely that it will start well before that date. On June 9 Canadian television network SPACE announced it will be screening the series.

May 28 saw the end of filming for episodes 1, 2 and 3 that make up block 1. June 6 saw block 2 commence filming. Fady Elsayed ‫‏‬tweeted on June 9 "YOOOOOO!! I just watched a trailer for #CLASSDW WOOOOOOOOOWWWWWW!!! WAR IS COMING".

On June 13 Patrick Ness tweeted “Been asked if Class will have LGBT representation in it. Will a lead character with a boyfriend who he kisses & sleeps with & loves do?

We were keeping that secret, but today that secret doesn't seem very important”.

This was because he was at a vigil held outside the Welsh Assembly in memory of the 50 people who lost their lives and those who were injured in an horrific mass shooting at an LGBT bar in Orlando.

On June 21 Class was filing at the pedestrianised area outside Cardiff University’s Haydn Ellis Building on Maindy Street in Cathays. Pink flowers were scattered everywhere and actor Con O'Neill was seen working at the location. On July 9 Pooky Quesnel was announced to play a series regular, plus episode 5 and thus block 2 completed filming at about 5 o'clock in the morning. It included many night shoots. An enigmatic "Class War" graffiti photo was tweeted by Fady Elsayed on July 18.

On July 24 Class entered its third block of filming.

Patrick Ness revealed on July 29, at Young Adult Literature Con in London, that the whole project started when he was asked to get involved with Doctor Who itself – only to turn the tempting offer down flat. “At first they asked me to write an episode of Doctor Who,” Ness told the crowd, “and I said it’s a brilliant show, but I’ve just spent so much time doing work for other people, and I really want to do something of my own. And they said, well we have this idea for setting a spin-off in a school. And it was like, ‘ding’! It’s been fantastic,” he said. “I’ve got six weeks of filming to go. The cast are great, and it’s been a fantastic experience. I can’t wait for you to see it. Fingers crossed! It’s going well”.

People are asking who or what is "Shadow" as it was specifically mentioned in one of the quotes that was released when the first announcement was made.

See the cast of Class showing some Peggy Mitchell method-acting here!

U

O

WH

THE 4TH DOCTOR WITH FRIENDS AND ENEMIES

Back in 1985, to celebrate the release of the Tom Baker narrated double-cassette version of 'State of Decay', the Sunday Telegraph published a Doctor Who colouring-in competition. Now you can enjoy this flashback to an earlier age by printing and colouring it yourself! Make sure you scan the finished work and e-mail a copy to us here at The Nethersphere so we can publish our favourite in the next issue! Please go to this link to download a pdf of this page which you can then print.

“He’s a genius. The genius. The most human human there’s ever been… Always he chooses the best words. New, beautiful, brilliant words.”

This year marks 400 years since the death of William Shakespeare, and as all good Doctor Who fans know, the Bard and the Doctor have something of a history together. At our August day event, we’ll be exploring this history in depth, looking at the influence these two great men have had on popular culture as well as each other!

Day events are family-friendly gatherings allowing Doctor Who fans to discuss the latest episodes, play games, make purchases from the DWCA Shop and more.

Adult: $10, Concession: $7, Children under 13: FREE

Family $20,

DWCA members receive $2 discount on above prices. DWCA Family members receive $4 off their entry.

AGENDA: President’s Report; Treasurer’s Report; Constitutional Amendments; and Election of Office Bearers. Full details can be found on the club's website. Go here.

Constitutional Amendments. Attendees will consider and vote on a proposed

amendment to Section 15.1 of the constitution, titled ‘Election of Office Bearers’, and the reflection of this amendment in Schedule 1 to the club constitution.

Election of Office Bearers. The positions of President & Secretary received only 1 nomination each and thus the following people will be running unopposed: President – Lauren Davis and Secretary – Roger Reynolds. Two nominations have been received for the office of Treasurer, they are Jon Andersen and Brad Harrison. The Club Constitution states “Due to the highly sensitive nature of the position of Club Treasurer, this role is nominated as per other Office bearers but is elected solely by the committee”. Hence, there will not be a ballot for the position of Treasurer, the successful candidate being announced at the AGM. No nominations were received for the position of Vice President and hence the position is thus declared unfilled.

Postal voting. If you are unable to attend the meeting but would like to vote in

regard to the constitution amendment then please send a letter to – The Returning Officer: 95 Hamrun Circuit, Rooty Hill NSW 2766 by August 11. The letter must include the following: Your name; Your DWCA member number; A clear statement indicating whether you are FOR or AGAINST the proposed amendment. A vote in respect of only 1 membership number per envelope is allowed.

M E S S AG E P O D F O R KY We are happy to announce that we have a Publicity Manager, Mr Scott Marshall.

Scott joins the DWCA committee with a background in Publicity management and will greatly assist us in promoting the Club through various social media, and via other avenues available to us. Scott lives in Brisbane. Keep it rollin’ Scott!

Here is a brief introduction from Scott with a photo.

"Hi everyone, my name is Scott Marshall and I'm the new Publicity Manager for DWCA . My first encounter with DWCA was back in 2000 when I attended my first ever Whovention! Fast forward sixteen years, and I'm now involved with helping your club become the best that it can be. If there is anything that you can think of to help us get the club promoted as best as possible, please don't hesitate to drop me a line at publicity@doctorwhoaustralia.org and we can certainly see what we can do.

I'm looking forward to hearing from you!"

The new ticketing system on the DWCA website, worked perfectly for the recent DWCA Trivia Night. You can now use it to make a pre-payment booking for your tickets for the next Sydney event – "Who Be Or Not To Be". Please go here to be taken to the club's website so you can book your tickets.

On October 23 the club will hold a special event to celebrate its 40th anniversary.

All will be revealed in the next issue of Data Extract.

Don't forget that you are only a click away from the being able to purchase various Doctor Who products from the club's on-line store – DWCA Shop. It has an extensive array of Doctor Who items that you can acquire. Other non Doctor Who material is also available and some of the latest items added to the shop include a variety of Blakes 7 Big Finish audios.

In this new column we present comments we’ve received from our readers – complimentary and not so complimentary. Feedback, whether good or bad, enables us to deliver a better quality, more informed publication. So keep the words flowing, we really do love to hear from you. If you have any comments on anything that we as editors have done or what other people have written, be it a review, a column or an article. Send to: nethersphere@doctorwhoaustralia.org

From: Joan Kavallaris - by email The Nethersphere magazine is awesome! Congratulations on your article you had on the Doctor Who festiva l– behind the scenes with Paul Vanezis producing. It was brilliant!

From: Steve Hyde – by email Just wanted to drop a line to say well done on the latest publication (Vol 2 No 2) .

Cheers.

D WC A B O O K C LU B The text selected for this very special book club meeting is Time Unincorporated Vol. 2 – a collection of over 70 essays covering every era of the classic series of Doctor Who – edited by Robert Smith? and Graeme Burk.

We are delighted to announce that Robert Smith? will be our special guest for the evening, giving you the opportunity to discuss the book with the man who helped put it together! So come along with your friends and enjoy a pleasant evening with good company, good food and excellent beverages.

Entry to the event is FREE, however tickets must be claimed from the DWCA website prior to the event. This event is open to both DWCA members and non-members, but places are limited. Click here to claim tickets. Please note: Whilst entry is free, it is requested that food or drink be purchased from the Bistro during the event.

The evening commences at 6:30 pm and concludes at 10 pm.

The venue is: City of Sydney RSL Restaurant — Villaggio on George on Level 2, 565 George Street, just a short walk from Town Hall Train Station.

You can purchase a copy of Robert’s book from the DWCA Shop here.

At the inaugural meeting, held at the Burwood Club in June, the short story collection The Legends of Ashildr was discussed. The book chosen for the second meeting, which was held on August 5 at the Town Hall Hotel Newtown, was the newly released novel In the Blood by Jenny T. Colgan. The group will meet at this venue on the first Friday of every second month. The next meeting is therefore on October 7.

Even if you cannot attend the discussion the DWCA encourages all its bookloving members to get their hands on a copy of the nominated book and read along with us.

The DWCA will also be accepting written reviews of In the Blood and the previous book, The Legends of Ashildr, the best of those submitted will be published in the club magazine, Data Extract. If you’d like to share your review with us, please send it to fsq@doctorwhoaustralia.org.

Jul 18 1930 – May 24 2016.

He appeared in seven Pink Panther films, opposite Peter Sellers, as Clouseau's servant who regularly attacked his employer to keep him alert.

In 1982 he took on the role of the Mandarin leader Lin Futo in ’Four to Doomsday’, acting alongside a freshfaced Time Lord Peter Davison in his first filmed story. He was to later return to Doctor Who as Doctor Hayashi, again alongside Davison, in the Big Finish adventure Loups-Garoux.

Go here, or here for more information.

Jan 12 1938 – May 24 2016.

He was an Australian film, stage and television actor, best known for his performance on TV in the BBC production of Notorious Women .

He played Professor Tryst in the 4th Doctor story ‘Nightmare of Eden'.

For more information go here.

Jun 12 1947 – May 18 2016.

Farries is his stage name, he was born Christopher Wood. In the 60s he worked in film distribution which included Dr. Who & The Daleks and Daleks Invasion Earth 21 50AD with Peter Cushing as the Doctor. He played Sauvix in the Doctor Who story ‘Warriors of the Deep’.

For more information go here.

Was born in New Zealand on Sep 28 1936 and died in London on Apr 19 2016.

He is best known for his work in the 1970 BBC TV series Warship, but spent most of his career on stage.

He played Preba in the 1974 story ‘The Monster of Peladon’.

For more information go here.

Nov 5 1937 – Mar 17 2016.

He was a Scottish minister of the Church of Scotland who went on to serve as the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland from 1997 to 1998.

In May 2008, he made a non-speaking cameo appearance in the Doctor Who episode ‘The Unicorn and the Wasp’, playing the part of a footman alongside his son (David Tennant). They also appeared together on an episode of celebrity Ready Steady Cook .

For more information go here.

Aug 6 1926 – Jan 30 2016.

He was an English stage, film and television actor who received a CBE in 1984. He was Oscar-nominated for his supporting role in Olivier's 1965 film of Othello. He won a BAFTA award in the 1973 made-for-television film The Adventures of Don Quixote . He won another BAFTA award that year for his performance as Voltaire in the BBC TV production of Candide .

In 2007, he starred as Old Jacob in Bedtime Story one of the stories that made up the Big Finish release titled 1 00. It featured the 6th Doctor, played

by Colin Baker along with Evelyn Smythe, played by Maggie Stables.

For more information go here.

Apr 14 1925 – Jul 8 2016.

He appeared in many feature films as well as a wide variety of well known British television programs such as: The Bill , Last of the Summer Wine and the long-running ITV soap opera, Coronation Street. He played the part of Mr Range in the Doctor Who adventure, ‘Frontios’ in 1984.

For more information go here or here or here.

David Tennant will briefly revisit his role as the 10th Doctor later this year – this time in animated form. The Doctor will appear in a cutaway gag in an episode of Family Guy when it returns for its 15th Season on FOX in the USA on September 25. You don't have to wait until September to see the clip – thanks to the highlight reel that FOX showed at the Family Guy panel at San Diego Comic Con you can catch David's brief appearance in Doctor Who Farted here.

John Barrowman has revealed that he is working on new plans to get Torchwood back on television. He announced at Comic-Con in San Diego on July 22: “I have a phone conversation on Monday to see how we can get it back on television” he added “The fans know me well enough, I’m only going to say it if I mean it and believe it”. He said that this bombshell probably has the people at Titan Comics “crapping their pants” but they should actually be excited because fans need to show their support by buying the new Torchwood comic. “If you really believe in Torchwood, get the comic. Get this series going, it’s like a Kickstarter. If you buy the comic, you’ll show your support… we need Captain Jack back on the screens” he said.

Penelope Wilton has been created a Dame Commander Of The Order Of The British Empire in the 2016 Queen's Birthday honours list to mark the official 90th birthday of the monarch. Wilton played Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North, and sometime Prime Minister, in four episodes of Doctor Who. She is best known for playing Isobel Crawley in the ITV period drama, Downton Abbey. Wilton has had a long career on the stage and screen receiving six Olivier Award nominations for West End appearances. Her film roles include parts in The French Lieutenant's Woman , Cry Freedom , Iris, Shaun of the Dead, Pride and Prejudice and Woody Allen's Match Point.

The citation reads “Penelope Wilton is one of Britain’s most popular and sought-after actresses, whose career has spanned acclaimed performances on stage, screen and television. A household name for her comedic performances starting with 1980s sitcom Ever Decreasing Circles, she has subsequently starred in a diverse range of roles in works including Five Days, Half Broken Things and The Passion for television and Calendar Girls and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel on film. Her celebrated stage work is varied and she has won numerous awards including Critics Circle Awards for Much Ado About Nothing (1981) and The Deep Blue Sea (1993); an Evening Standard Theatre Award for The Chalk Garden (2008); and a Best Actress Olivier for Taken at Midnight (2015)”.

Other actors, who have appeared on Doctor Who, honoured were Brian Blessed who was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to the Arts and charity, and Janet Ellis who was made a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to charity and broadcasting.

The exhibit Bigger on the Inside: Collecting Dr Who at the Canberra Museum and Gallery was officially opened on July 15 by Chris Bourke MLA, member of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly representing the electorate of Ginninderra. Hundreds of people attended, with many turning out as their favourite Doctor Who characters. There were even a few Daleks that invaded the launch. ‪C anberra local Timothy Kirsopp's collection is on display until November 20, and has been submitted to Guinness World Chris Bourke, a TARDIS lady and Timothy Kirsopp Records as the world’s largest collection of ‪Doctor Who‬ memorabilia. It's a huge and impressive collection, no doubt requiring a TARDIS to hold it all.‬‬ London Paramount is a new theme park that is set to open in Kent, London. The entertainment resort will contain a number of themed zones, some of which are expected to be based on popular BBC productions like Sherlock , Doctor Who and Top Gear. London Resort Company Holdings has signed a development agreement with BBC Worldwide to feature its shows in the resort, which promises to “combine the glamour of Hollywood with the best of British culture”. There will be other themed sections throughout the park, such as a "Land of Legends", "Cartoon Circus" and "Starfleet Command". London Paramount also says it will have high-quality West End evening productions, which could potentially showcase Paramount, BBC and Aardman productions, as well as live comedy acts and concerts. The resort is slated to open in 2020, with additional rides and attractions to be unveiled after that.

'The Bendigo Whovian Society' in association with the 'Doctor Who Club of Victoria' and the 'Bendigo Record, Comic and Toy Fair' are attempting a World Record for the most Doctor Who cosplays. They are aiming to get 500 cosplayers together at the Bendigo Record, Comic and Toy Fair on September 18.

'The Mens Shed' in Townsville has built a Dalek and on May 26 it was let out on the streets of Townsville where it was photographed patrolling Charters Tower Road.

Two days later the Dalek, alongside a number of Star Wars Storm Troopers and Imperial guards, it appeared at approximately 2.30 pm at ANZAC Park on the Strand for a wedding.

TV Production company 'Crook Productions' is currently making a new TV show, Sell or Swap, that will see viewers bid on an eclectic mix of items ranging from expensive antiques to a secondhand speedboat and a Dalek! In fact it is a life size replica of Dalek Sec who appeared in 'The Army of Ghosts', 'Doomsday', 'Daleks in Manhattan' and 'Evolution of the Daleks'. Potential buyers would have the opportunity to bid on the item in the auction or if they had an item they wanted to get rid of then there could be the possibility of a swap. The life size Dalek Sec model breaks down into three parts, making it easier to transport and assemble inside the home of the lucky new owner.

Another Dalek has been auctioned, this time a rare 1960's Dalek has been sold at auction on June 8 for £38,000. It was part of a collection of Doctor Who material put up by a single collector at Bamford's Film and Memorabilia Sale in Derby. The Dalek was originally used in the 1966 feature film Daleks' Invasion Earth 21 50 A.D. It was one of three Daleks given away by Sugar Puffs in their promotional competition for the film.

Around 30 bidders contested the sale and the price of £38,000 is believed to be the highest price paid for such a prop and was much higher than the estimated sale price of £15,000. The successful bidder lives in London, defeating interest from America, Australia, New Zealand and Belgium. The entire collection sold for more than £90,000. It included a Cyberman from classic story 'Earthshock', which sold for £2,000, and a TARDIS from the Doctor Who stage show that fetched £1,000.

Also included in the auction were: a Thal space suit costume from 'Planet of the Daleks'; a space pack worn

by Peter Davison in 'Enlightenment'; a Dalek Trooper costume from 'Resurrection of the Daleks'; a Magma Beast costume from 'The Caves of Androzani'; a Soldeed costume from 'The Horns of Nimon'; an Ice Warrior costume from 'The Monster of Peladon'; and a Mara Snake Effigy from 'Snakedance'.

It has emerged that a couple of Doctor Who writers were working on George Lucas’s planned live-action Star Wars television series around 2007.

When Lucas went on to sell Lucasfilm, the project was abandoned.

The writers were Matthew Graham, who wrote Doctor Who episodes ‘Fear Her’, ‘The Almost People’ and ‘The Rebel Flesh’, and Chris Chibnall, who was announced as the new Doctor Who showrunner earlier this year. Matthew Graham said “Chris [Chibnall] and I then flew to Skywalker Ranch every 2 or 3 months or so, for 2 weeks at a time, for 2 years. We had Australian writers, a couple of American writers. Sometimes people came and went. A couple of the American guys didn’t work out so well, so they left…

We’d be with George from 9 until 5 in the afternoon, and we’d break Star Wars stories”. Apparently the team produced approximately 50 scripts for the series.

The TV Choice Awards longlist nominations were revealed on May 18 and Doctor Who , Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman each got a nod. Peter Capaldi is nominated for Best Actor for his role as the Doctor while Jenna Coleman gets a nod for Best Actress. Doctor Who was nominated in the Best Family Drama category. On June 28 the shortlist was revealed and Peter Capaldi is up against Tom Hiddleston, Jim Carter and Cillian Murphy for Best Actor and Doctor Who is up against Call The Midwife , Casualty, and The Durrells for Best Family Drama. Voting for the awards closed on July 8 and the winners will be revealed at a ceremony hosted by comedian Jo Brand on September 5 at the Dorchester in London.

The latest International Licensing Awards held on June 26 saw Hot Topic, the American clothing / accessories store, win the Licensed Program: Retailer Award for their licensing program for Doctor Who products, an award they previously won in 2014.

They have produced a number of products within their license based on Doctor Who, including related coats and dresses, jogger bottoms, tee-shirts, rings and necklaces.

In December they launched a limited edition fashion collection of nine items which featured such icons as the TARDIS, sonic screwdriver and Weeping Angels.

Bonnie Langford has been named as Best Newcomer in the 2016 British Soap Awards held on May 30. Langford has been playing Carmel Kazemi in the BBC continuing drama EastEnders since May 2015. Although she has been performing for over 45 years, this was her first role in a soap opera, making her eligible for the newcomer award.

Using shows like Doctor Who and Sherlock , BBC Worldwide chief executive Tim Davie stated that he feels that Australia will be a place that the company will continue to grow. BBC Worldwide Australia & NZ reported a 23% jump in earnings before interest, tax and exceptional items from £13.3 million to £16.3m for 2014-15 on sales, up 7.8 per cent from £76 million to £81.9 million. For the 12 months ended March 31 they reported £19.2 million in profit, up from £16.3 million in the previous year. Sales slipped marginally to £79.1 million from £81.9 million in the previous 12 months. However, sales numbers increased 5.3% in Australian currency.

BBC Worldwide Australia & NZ chief Jon Penn, whose BBC First concept has been exported elsewhere around the world, said the results were also boosted by sales of 6000 episodes to new digital platforms including Netflix, Stan and New Zealand's Lightbox. They are considering multimillion-dollar acquisitions and plans to bring new channels to Australia in the coming year. The business is now on the hunt to buy digital businesses and production companies. "We have not spent any real money in this region since we acquired a channel seven years ago and I think it's time to start again. I would like to line one of those up in the next 12 months" said Mr Penn.

Davie believes Australia will remain a growth market and plans to delve further into live events such as the Doctor Who Festival. He said that live events, such as the Doctor Who Festival and tours such as that by wildlife presenter Steve Backshall, were performing strongly in Australia for the BBC. Asked whether the BBC was considering a direct-to-consumer streaming service in Australia, Mr Davie said regions would be looked at on a case-by-case basis, but there was nothing to announce at this stage locally. "Far from seeing Australia as a mature market, we see it as a growth market" Mr Davie said.

The Doctor Who Experience had a number of themes and

events that took take place over the course of the Bank Holiday week, May 28 through to June 4. On display was the costume worn by new sidekick Bill, as played by Pearl Mackie in the special introduction broadcast in April plus the TARDIS memorial for Clara created by Rigsy, seen in the closing moments of ‘Face The Raven’.

The original Davros prop from ‘Genesis of the Daleks' has been restored, and was presented with details from visual and model effects designer Mike Tucker who undertook the restoration (including the unearthing of the earliest head casts). Millennium FX were on-hand on May 31 and June 1 and transformed visitors into Zygons.

Upcoming summer features include: The Filming Locations Tour from August 6 to the end of September which takes, this year, the form of a walking tour and will feature a number of filming sites throughout Cardiff Bay. The restoration team offered fans the chance to vote from a collection of eight Classic Who monsters which would be next in line for restoration to their former glory.

Over 8,000 voted and the results announced are: in fourth place, with 15% of the vote - Drathro and Vervoid; in third place, with 21% of the vote - Haemovore and Cheetah Person; in second place, with 21% of the vote - Sea Devil and Tractator and in first place, with 38% of the vote - Mandrel and Morbius.

A new exhibit, the Doctor Who Gallery, will feature DWM covers from throughout the magazine’s history plus the original artwork of various Target Book covers that had recently been exhibited at the London Cartoon Museum, with some new added paintings.

Cavan Scott, who is an author for the Doctor Who Titan comic books, will be hosting a pair of comic book workshops on August 10 and 17. Customers in attendance will get the opportunity to create their own Doctor Who comic strip.

Finally the 1977-81 replica TARDIS console, produced for the 'Day of the Doctor' trailer, is appearing in the 50th-anniversary area. While only half of the set was built for production, the complete interior has since Mike Tucker with the restored Davros been finalised.

The initial round of ballots issued on June 16 for this year's Emmy Awards saw, for the first time in its 53 year history, Doctor Who represented as the series is eligible due to BBC America now being a co-producer. Although they did not submit the show as a drama series, Peter Capaldi is on the lead actor ballot, Steven Moffat and director Rachel Talalay are on the writing and directing ballots for the episode 'Heaven Sent' and the series is a possible nominee for costumes, production design, prosthetic makeup and visual effects. Unfortunately when the final nominations were announced on July 14 Capaldi and the other Doctor Who nominees did not make the final ballot.

The Zone , a sci-fi, fantasy, horror and cult television channel on

New Zealand's pay television satellite TV provider, Sky Television, announced that from Monday July 25 Doctor Who would begin screening. The Zone , which first went to air back in November 2014, stated they will be covering the first 7 seasons of the rebooted series. They began screening from 'Rose', 5 days a week, Monday to Friday at 7.30 pm with repeats at various times.

Developers have been told they cannot create a massive chicken farm as it is feared that heavy lorries used to ferry the birds and manure could cause the land to collapse into the popular Clearwell Caves, Gloucestershire. The caves have been seen in TV programmes such as Merlin and Blakes 7 and in the Doctor Who episodes: ‘The Christmas Invasion’, ‘The Satan Pit’ and ‘Time of Angels’ / ‘Flesh and Stone’. Hundreds of people protested against the controversial plans to build eight giant steel broiler units with enough room to house 350,000 birds on Clearwell Farm, near Coleford.

Rachel Talalay, director of Series 8 and 9’s final stories, has revealed that the Doctor Who production team did approach Timothy Dalton to reprise his role for 'Hell Bent'.

Talalay said “At first we did check to see if Timothy Dalton was available, and he was not. So then a regeneration happened… It was wonderful to work with Donald Sumpter, just embracing a new version of Rassilon. He has that deep, subtle, terrifying performance going on”. It appears Dalton was too busy due to filming Penny Dreadful where he appears as Sir Malcolm Murray.

The first major Doctor Who fan based event in Japan was held at Blister Comics in Akihabara on July 9. It was part of Titan Comics Doctor Who Comics Day. However much of the two hour event was dedicated to talking about Doctor Who itself, as well as reporting back on things like the Doctor Who Experience in Cardiff. The guest at the event was the artist Question No. 6 who has penned many alternate and very stylized covers for Titans' Doctor Who comics and fans were keen for her to autograph their editions.

Piers Wenger returns to the BBC this Autumn as its new Controller of BBC Drama Commissioning. Before joining Channel 4 in 2012, Wenger was Head of Drama for BBC Wales and one of the executive producers of Doctor Who to introduce the third Doctor of the modern series, Matt Smith, alongside fellow executive producers Beth Willis and the (then) new lead writer Steven Moffat. Beth Willis, who followed Wenger to Channel 4 as his deputy, will succeed him as Head of Drama at Channel 4 upon her return from maternity leave.

He has used his Scottish tones for a highly emotional reading of a letter from a soldier in World War I. Capaldi stood on stage for Letters Live on July 22, reading aloud a moving note from Captain Reginald John Armes to his wife called “The Most Extraordinary Scene”. It was written on Christmas Eve of 1914, 5 months into World War I. On that day something amazing happened: thousands of British and German troops on the Western Front decided to put down their weapons and greet each other peacefully. For the next few days, 100,000 men, British and German, chatted, exchanged gifts, sang carols, played football. They also, without fear, were able to bury their dead. On the evening of December 24, the first day of the truce, Captain ‘Jack’ Armes wrote to his wife and described this incredible occurrence.

Capaldi, also at Letters Live , had an epic war of words with Matt Berry when the pair read a set of letters from Mehmed IV, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, to the Zaporozhian Cossacks and back.

This year on July 7 Sean Pertwee and Katy Manning celebrated what would have been Jon Pertwee’s 97th birthday. Sean posted on Instagram a lovely picture of Jon with a big number "3" plus the words “Happy Birthday Pa! 7/7/1919-20/5/1996". Katy tweeted a picture of her and Jon from their initial Doctor Who photo shoot with the words “Thinking of my wonderful Jon on his birthday XXXX”.

He is set to join Arthur Darvill in Legends of Tomorrow. Barrowman has landed a major deal which will see him become a series regular across all of The CW's big DC comics shows produced by Greg Berlanti.

On a more sobering note John cancelled his panel and photo ops at the Montreal Comic Con in early July over a threat to his safety. John posted on his Facebook page the following message – "This morning an email was sent that directly referenced me and in light of recent events, I’ve decided to take the advice of my management and family as they were concerned for my safety. We are working with the convention to arrange for security that not only keeps me safe but also all of you who come to see me. I’m really sorry I have had to cancel my panel and photo ops this weekend. I will be signing later today once security has been arranged. Please check with the promoter and social media for updates on where and when I will be signing".

He is to appear in Seriously Dead, a brand new comedy play, which begins a 23 date tour of the UK on October 6 in Blyth and ends on November 6th in Dartford. He is also to appear on the TV show Who's Doing The Dishes on October 10. The reality show has four strangers visit different celebrities' houses and try to guess who is cooking them dinner. From December 9 to January 1 2017 he will appear in the pantomime Aladdin , as the Emperor of China, at the Opera House York.

At July's Star Wars Celebration 201 6 convention in London, it was revealed that Tom Baker is to provide his voice for a pivotal role in the upcoming season of Star Wars: Rebels. He will voice a huge (literally!) character named Bendu, who is described as the "middle way of the Force" – not Dark Side or Light Side, he’s "something else, a force of nature." Tom can be heard towards the end of the new Season 3 trailer.

It has been announced that Richard Dawkins and Lalla Ward have ended their 24year marriage. They met at a party hosted by author and mutual friend Douglas Adams. The couple said they have "separated amicably" and remain good friends. It is understood they are still living in their marital home in Oxford. They released a joint statement which said: "Our marriage, like everyone's, is a private matter and we are not prepared to share any details. Suffice to say it is true that we recently separated entirely amicably. Obviously, this remains a difficult time, one which we simply will not discuss any further publicly. We would, however, like to stress that we shall always be friends and that we will, of course, continue to work together"' He has described working on his new stage play – a film industry satire entirely devised in rehearsals – as "a white-knuckle ride". "Sometimes I thought, 'Why the hell am I doing this?'" said the former Doctor Who star of Unreachable , which opened on July 11 at London's Royal Court. It tells of a young filmmaker whose perfectionism threatens to derail his latest project. The play is written and directed

by Anthony Neilson. "I'm a fan of his work and the style of his work and I alBuilding the TARDIS – here ways have been," said the 33-year-old, Pearl before Doctor Who – here describing Neilson's methods as "bizarre, mad and chaos". Billie Piper, Fan made Class Trailer – here another Doctor Who star who will shortly Series 10 What We Know So Far be seen treading the boards in London, ( Doctor Who: The Fan Show) – here was among the audience on the opening Top 10: Re-Used Doctor Who night.

Locations – here On July 5 he was made an Honorary Doctor of Drama by the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Formerly the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, the Conservatoire was where Tennant studied acting between 1988 and 1991.

Professor Jeffrey Sharkey, Principal of the RCS said Tennant had had a "profound impact... on individuals and audiences around the world".

Tweeted on June 17 “Sorry for having to cancel Indiana Comic Con. To make up for this I will record any song in the style of Britney Spears. Any suggestions?” The winning answer was @MiyakaLee’s suggestion of Unchained Melody. She subsequently uploaded a performance of the song on Instagram.

Offical BBC Worldwide Doctor Who website – here Schoolboys And Girls Exhibition 19671968 – here 'Dalek' commands can hijack smartphones – here Flight Through Entirety podcast – here Dr Poo flies on 2JJ! – here The Millennium Effect – here Doctor Who Cast & Crew Guide – here The T.A.R.D.I.S. owners club – here Missing Believed Wiped group – here Doctor Who Filming page – here

Sunday 14 – Sydney Day Event

Club Burwood, 97 Burwood Road Burwood. 10 am to 4 pm. Theme is William Shakespeare. Adults: $10, Concession: $7, Family: $20, Children under 13 FREE.

Sunday 14 – Newcastle Local Group Meeting

Heroes and More, 89 Nelson Street, Wallsend, NSW, Australia 2287 1 pm to 3 pm.

Sunday 23 – Sydney Day Event

Club Burwood, 97 Burwood Road Burwood. 10 am to 4 pm. Adults: $10, Concession: $7, Family: $20, Children under 13 FREE.

Friday 28 – Central West Local Group Pub Meeting

The Kelso Hotel, Sydney Road Kelso NSW 6.30 pm to 10.30 pm Please note: All dates and venues are liable to change, with little notice, through no fault of the . All attempts are made to flag any changes as soon as they occur. Please check the website and social media channels closer to the date or email the relevant organising group if unsure.

Friday 24 – Central West Local Group Pub Meeting

The Kelso Hotel, Sydney Road Kelso NSW. 6.30 pm to 10.30 pm

Sunday 28 – Canberra Local Group Meeting

Dickson Library, Dickson Shops (off Antill Street) Dickson 12 pm to 4 pm.

Friday 9 - Time and Again: A DWCA Book Club Special Event

Level 2, City of Sydney RSL, 565 George Street, Sydney. 6:30 pm to 10pm. With Robert Smith? as guest.

Free entry, however tickets must be claimed from the DWCA website. It is requested that food be purchased from the Bistro during the event.

Sunday 11 – Newcastle Local Group Meeting

Heroes and More, 89 Nelson Street, Wallsend, NSW, Australia 2287 1 pm to 3 pm.

Satday 17 – Allora Local Group Meeting

Allora QCWA Rooms 51 Warwick Street Allora. 10 am to 3 pm. Admission FREE.

Sunday 25 – Brisbane Local Group Meeting Brisbane Square Library Cnr George and Adelaide Streets Brisbane.

10 am to 3pm. Admission FREE.

.

Allora – Fraser Clark

allora@drwhoaustralia.org

Bathurst – Heather Snitch & Kieron Dorian centralwest@drwhoaustralia.org Brisbane – Steve Glasby brisbane@drwhoaustralia.org Canberra – Ian McAlpine canberra@drwhoaustralia.org Gosford – Chris Collins centralcoast@drwhoaustralia.org Newcastle – Luke Steele Sandford newcastle@drwhoaustralia.org Sydney – Tai Wong sydney@drwhoaustralia.org Toowoomba – David Riley toowoomba@drwhoaustralia.org

Please note: All Local Groups apart from Canberra have a group on Facebook to facilitate discussion and publicise meet-ups.

Please go to the Local Groups webpage to obtain further information.

Monday to Friday at 7.30 pm

Currently ABC 2 are screening series 9 with a repeat early on the following morning. The concluding story, 'The Husbands of River Song' is to be shown on August 9.

After that the time-slot has a number of factual specials: Doctor Who Explained, The Ultimate Time Lord, The Ultimate Companion and The Best of the Doctor. At this stage it is not known what will be screened after this.

No Doctor Who at the moment.

The Monday to Friday 7.30 pm time-slot is currently screening 12th Doctor stories and will reach 'Death in Heaven' on August 24. The next day sees a return to the 9th Doctor and the screening of 'Rose'. These episodes are re-screened the following morning at 1.30 am and 7 am.

Screening weekly on Tuesday at 8.30 pm are 12th Doctor series 8 stories to be followed by series 9. These episodes are repeated the following Sunday at 6.30 pm and again the following Monday early in the morning at 3.30 am.

The Monday to Friday 3.30 pm time-slot is currently screening 10th Doctor stories until September 9 followed by 11th Doctor stories.

On Saturday from 6 am to 10 am 4 or 5 episodes are being screened and then they are repeated very early on Sunday morning from about 12.30 am. The stories currently being shown are from the last series of the 11th Doctor, followed by the 12th Doctor's first series and then onto the 9th Doctor starting on September 10.

SyFy began a weekly run of series 4 on Wednesdays. It started on July 27 and concludes on September 28.

None Currently.

Pop Con. Popcon is a Pop Culture convention held at the Parramatta PCYC, 12 Hassall Street, Parramatta, the 1st Sun of every month! Featuring toys, collectables, comics, cosplay, games, anime & more.

The DWCA regularly attends these events.

The next two are on Aug 7 and Sep 3, both from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm. Go here for more information.

Doctor Who Club of Victoria. Next

meeting on Sep 10. 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm, venue TBA. Further details TBA. Entry cost: Members $6, Non-members $8, First-time attending a meeting a gold coin donation, Kids under 14 $2, Kids under 3 Free, Family (2 adults and their kids) $14.

Doctor Who Anniversary and Xmas Party at Northcote Town Hall on Sat Sep 24.

11:00 am to 5:00 pm. Entry Cost $10 for members and $12 for non-members. Kids $5 (kids under 3 free). Family is $25 (2 adults and up to 3 kids). Please note that due to this being our biggest meeting of the year, members aren’t able to use their free meeting entry and the usual gold coin donation for first time visitors will not apply. Go here for more info.

The West Lodge: Inside the Blue Box Inc. Next meetings are: Sat Sep 3 and Sat Oct 1 from 12.30 pm at the Collins St Centre, South Perth. More info here.

South Australian Doctor Who Fan Club Inc. Next meetings are: 16 Jul, Ad-

elaide High Meeting, 3 pm to 10 pm; 4 Aug pub, Buckingham Arms, 5 pm; 20 Aug, Adelaide High Meeting, 3 pm to 10 pm; 3 Sep pub, Venue – TBA, 5 pm. More info here.

Guinness Book of Records for the largest collection of Doctor Who memorabilia.

Canberra Museum and Gallery, 76 London Circuit, Canberra City from Jul 16 to Nov 1. Tim Kirsopp will be giving a talk on the collection on Aug 24. More info here.

Daemos Rising was re-released July 18 and stars Beverley Cressman, Miles Richard-

son with narration by Ian Richardson. This new version is a 2 Disc DVD collectors edition with, for the first time, a widescreen 16 x 9 version of the film, plus a choice of Stereo or 5:1 Surround Sound. Including the original Special Features, there are also 2 new ones – a Retrospective and a Photo Gallery.

A beautiful TARDIS crystal with the 12th Doctor cut within has been announced with only 500 pieces being made. The crystal piece sits upon a blue-lit base.

Topps Oversized Doctor Who Trading Cards were available exclusively at the BBC America booth during San Diego Comic-Con. Three sets of limited-edition, oversized cards feature characters from the 10th, 11th and 12th Doctor eras. Each of the three sets consists of 10 cards and only 200 copies of each set were produced.

On November 9, Topps will release Doctor Who Extraterrestrial Encounters trading cards. There are 4 categories to collect: 100 base cards, insert cards, 10 costume cards and finally, autograph cards.

The autograph cards will include over 70 signers. 13 of these are brand new signers.

While some signatures are single, dual and triple autographs will be available. Furthermore, an ultra rare Quad Book Auto featuring 4 autographs will be on offer. This will feature David Tennant, Billie Piper, John Barrowman and Noel Clarke.

Bakers End: The King of Cats, a drama audio, is to be released on September 2 by

Bafflegab productions. Written by Paul Magrs it features Tom Baker and Katy Manning. The story sees peevish actors descending mournfully upon the remote English village of Happenstance for the funeral of TV legend Tom Baker. His one-time co-star Suzy Goshawk (Katy Manning) is sucked into a parochial vortex of intrigue involving the quailsome local vicar and Tom's acidulous housekeeper Mrs Frimbly. Why is the vicar creeping about in the bushes in the dead of night? Who exactly is The King of Cats in his furry costume and his battered golden crown?

Adagio Teas, the loose tea maker, has available a range of Doctor Who Signature Blends of Teas designed by Cara McGee. Ten individual blends have been produced for the 9th, 10th and 11th Doctors along with their companions Rose Tyler, Captain Jack, Martha Jones, Donna Noble, Rory Williams, Amy Pond and River Song. The teas are a delightful blend of black tea, orange pekoe, Assam, Ceylon and many more teas and ingredients.

The teas are also packaged in individual collector tins inside their identifiable box. Drawn on the tins are cartoon images of each of the Doctor Wh o characters. People will be keeping the tin boxes well after the tea has been consumed. One small question: how did the 10th Doctor end up as a blonde?

Dot to Doc, a dot-to-dot book, is currently available and includes 45 intricate por-

traits to complete with over 500 dots in every drawing. Inside you'll find every incarnation of the Doctor, plus favourite friends and foes – Rose, Donna, Captain Jack, Clara, the Ponds, a Dalek, a Cyberman, a Weeping Angel and many more! Download an exclusive Dot-to-Doc sheet here!

Issue 501 of Doctor Who Magazine is dedicated entirely to Tom Baker and the 4th Doctor’s era. Included is what DWM is billing as his last interview. "Tom Baker: The Ultimate Interview" is split into 7 parts: The Unbreakable Tom Baker, The Insatiable Tom Baker, The Impeccable Tom Baker (with June Hudson), The Irrepressible Tom Baker, The Unstoppable Tom Baker (with Louise Jameson, John Leeson and Geoffrey Beevers), The Unforgettable Tom Baker and The Irreplaceable Tom Baker. The collectable souvenir edition comes in a poly-bag containing 4 art cards, 2 classic miniposters, and a massive multi-Doctor poster.

Titan released the first issue of the six part Supremacy of the Cybermen on July 6 to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Cybermen and as part of their Doctor Who Comic Day on July 9. The début issue comes with 5 variant covers to collect including: an art cover, a photo cover, a blank sketch cover and a colouring-in cover.

Titan released a Doctor Who convention special comic at San Diego Comic-con, which featured an all-new Doctor Who story, The Long Con , starring the 10th, 11th and 12th Doctors. It came with two covers to collect and also featured all 9 Supremacy of the Cybermen back-up strips

by George Mann and Cavan Scott. They also had a panel at SDCC which featured writers Paul Cornell, George Mann, Cavan Scott and Rob Williams plus Titan's Doctor Who editor Andrew James who revealed upcoming plans for Titan’s Doctor Who comics.

Announced for release at the end of August by Titan is Doctor Who: The Third Doctor, its next Doctor Who mini-series of 5 issues. The main story is The Heralds Of Destruction written by Paul Cornell. When something enormous and extraterrestrial crashes into Bedfordshire, the Doctor, Jo Grant and the forces of UNIT under Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart mobilize immediately to investigate – and find themselves in the middle of a pitched battle against a terrifying invader! But the shocking fate that awaits their return to base may tip their whole world off its axis.

Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor Adventures Audio Originals sees David Tennant,

Catherine Tate and Michelle Ryan as the readers in this exclusive collection of original audio adventures. The stories are: Pest Control, The Forever Trap, The Nemonite Invasion, The Rising Night, The Day of the Troll, The Last Voyage and Dead Air. The authors are: Peter Anghelides, Dan Abnett, David Roden, Scott Handcock, Simon Messingham and James Goss respectively.

Big Finish confirmed on July 19 that they have chosen the winner of the inaugural 'Paul Spragg Memorial Short Trip Opportunity'. In May, Big Finish announced the first of a yearly tribute to Paul Spragg, a Big Finish colleague who died suddenly in 2014. 'The Paul Spragg Memorial Short Trip Opportunity' is an annual chance for writers new to Big Finish to write a Doctor Who Short Trip, and hear their work read

by Big Finish Executive Producer Nicholas Briggs, in a release offered free to all Big Finish listeners. Just over a thousand storylines and excerpts were submitted. They have decided not to name the writer till the production is in the can, with a release date set for December 29, Paul's Spragg’s birthday.

Big Finish have pushed back Charlotte Pollard’s 2nd solo series to March 2017 and have reworked the order of the 2017 Short Trips titles, to bring forward a Charley Pollard story, which had had already been recorded. So Charley and the 8th Doctor will, in November, encounter The Man Who Wasn't There . Listen to an excerpt here.

Also confirmed for the Short Trip series, is the first 2017 title, January's The World Beyond The Trees, read by Nicola Walker in which 8th Doctor companion, Liv Chenka, finds herself alone and fighting for survival.

On the delay of the 2nd series writer/director Nick Briggs said, “I hope listeners will accept my sincerest apologies for this delay. All the New Series Doctor Who content rather crowded my schedule... However, the good news is that the scripts are now finished and we’re ready to record. Getting the main cast together will prove something of a challenge over the summer months, with India currently on holiday, so our aim is to record in September. We’re also going to go straight into making a third series, so there’ll be news on that coming soon”.

The 8th Doctor, Liv Chenka and Helen Sinclair return for the 3rd box set of The Doom Coalition series, to be released in October. After the disappearance of The Eleven – an insane Time Lord – at the end of Doom Coalition 2 , the story continues and will find the Doctor once again crossing paths with River Song. The TARDIS travels to 1998 England, 15th century Prague, modern day Rome and the court of King Henry VIII. A 4th box set will be produced to conclude the ongoing story.

The 5th and 7th Doctors cross time streams in an audio adaptation of the classic Virgin Missing Adventure story Cold Fusion . It has been adapted for audio by original author Lance Parkin. It will be released in December. Appearing alongside the 5th Doctor will be his television companions Nyssa, Tegan and Adric; while the 7th Doctor is aided by his New Adventures companions Roz Forrester (Yasmin Bannerman) and Chris Cwej (Travis Oliver).

In October 2016 and April 2017, Big Finish will release the second and third ever versions of their titles to appear on vinyl LPs. October 2016 sees the release of Doctor Who - The Chimes of Midnight. This macabre Rob Shearman story set at Christmas sees the Eighth Doctor and Charley encountering inexplicable seasonal murders in a large house.

Doctor Who – Spare Parts, is to be released in April 2017.

This classic early Big Finish story penned by Marc Platt, has long been praised for its mature, chilling portrayal of a society in decay, of a people on the verge of extinction, until they determine a solution that will have horrific consequences for the universe. Can Nyssa and the Doctor prevent the creation of the Cybermen?

Both are sumptuous 4 disc sets pressed in heavy vinyl, each accompanied by brand new 2016 documentaries looking back on the stories. The gatefold sleeve contains brand new artwork commissioned from artist Tom Webster. Big Finish has released a short audio clip from the Chimes of Midnight documentary.

Big Finish have announced that Matthew Waterhouse will be reprising his role as Adric in three new 2017 adventures alongside Peter Davison, Janet Fielding and Sarah Sutton. The stories will be set within Season 19 of the classic television series!

The new trilogy begins with The Star Men by Andrew Smith, who made his writing début with Adric's introductory adventure 'Full Circle', and continues with The Contingency Club by Phil Mulryne – set within an exclusive Victorian gentlemen's club – and concludes with Zaltys by Matthew J Elliot.

Doctor Who: The Early Adventures returns in September

for its 3rd series with new stories featuring Carole Ann Ford, William Russell, Maureen O'Brien, Peter Purves and Jean Marsh – while also introducing Jemma Powell as Barbara, a role originally played on television by the late Jacqueline Hill. Jemma Powell had previously played Jacqueline (and played Jacqueline playing Barbara) in An Adventure in Space and Time .

First is The Age of Endurance by Nick Wallace, set aboard the deep space vessel, the Dreadnought, featuring Susan, Ian and Barbara. October sees The Fifth Traveller by Phillip Lawrence which introduces new companion Jospa, played by James Joyce alongside Ian, Barbara and Vicki. The TARDIS lands on the homeworld of the Arunde to find a jungle that covers the planet. In November playwrights Robert Khan and Tom Salinsky (whose credits include Coalition and Kingmaker) make their Big Finish début with The Ravelli Conspiracy, a historical story set in Florence in the year 1514 with Vicki and Steven. Finally, the 1st Doctor, along with Steven and Sara Kingdom, faces a first encounter with a race that will one day become an old enemy, in December’s The Sontarans by Simon Guerrier – with Dan Starkey appearing as the iconic invaders. A trailer for The Age of Endurance is here.

Please note: All release dates are subject to change. Only the first edition of material is listed. If the item is issued in more than one country, then the release date for the country in which the item is produced is used.

Apr 27: On the Shelf: Revisiting Rejected and Abandoned Scripts (NF) May 23: Drawing Breath / Argh! (NF) May 26: The Only Good Dalek & The Dalek Project (Graphic) Jul: Erimem: A Pharaoh of Mars (F) Jul 18: The Mad One: The Wife In Space Volume 4 (NF) Jul 20: The Twelfth Doctor: Vol 4: The School of Death (Graphic) Aug: A Target for Tommy (Short story collection) Aug: Seasons of War (Short story collection) Aug: The Silurian Age: Dinosaurs and Spaceships (Activity) Aug: Hating to Love: Re-Assessing the 52 Worst Doctor Who Stories of All Time (NF) Aug: Chasing Shadows (NF) Aug: Downtime: The Lost Years of Doctor Who (NF) Sep: Lethbridge-Stewart: The Grandfather Infestation (F) Sep: The Black Archive #7: The Mind Robber (NF) Sep 1: Choose The Future: Terror Moon (F) Sep 1: Pocket Diary 2017 (NF) Sep 6: Arena of Fear (Graphic) Sep 6: The One (Graphic) Sep 22: Whographica: An Infographic Guide to Space and Time (NF) Sep 27: The Highgate Horror (Graphic) Sep 27: Doctor Who: Supreme Dalek and Illustrated Book: With Light and Sound (Activity)

Sep 27: Extra Time (F) Sep 27: Terminal of Despair (F) Sep 27: Underwater War (F) Sep 30: Lethbridge-Stewart: Time Squared (F) Oct: The Pirate Planet (official novelisation) (F) Oct: A Timelord For Change (F) Oct 6: Twelve Doctors of Christmas (Short story collection) Oct 6: Is There Life Outside the Box? An Actor Despairs. Peter Davison autobiography (NF) Oct 6: The Official Annual 2017 (NF) Oct 6: A History of Humankind: The Doctor's Official Guide (NF) Oct 27: The Whoniverse: An Untold History of the Universe (NF) Nov: The Black Archive #8: The Pirate Planet (NF) Nov 1: Doctor Who and The Crusaders – hardback facsimile (F) Nov 1: Doctor Who and The Daleks – hardback facsimile (F) Nov 1: Doctor who and The Zarbi – hardback facsimile (F) Nov 1: Gaze of the Medusa (Graphic) Nov 3: Doctor Who – Doodle Book (Activity) Nov 3: Doctor Who Origami (Activity) Nov 15: The American Adventures Files (Short story collection)

Jul 18: Myth Makers – Jessica Martin (DVD) Reeltime Pictures.

Jul 18: Daemos Rising (UK DVD) Reeltime Pictures Oct 18: Weeping Angels includes 'Blink', 'The Time of Angels/ Flesh and Stone', 'The God Complex', 'The Angels Take Manhattan', 'The Time of the Doctor' and 'Hell Bent' (US DVD)

These release dates are for organisations who distribute Big Finish .

Jul: 4th Doctor 5.06 The Trouble With Drax Aug: Monthly #214 A Life of Crime Aug: 4th Doctor 5.07 The Pursuit of History Aug: 10th Doctor 1.1 Technophobia Aug: 10th Doctor 1.2 Time Reaver Aug: 10th Doctor 1.3 Death and the Queen Aug: UNIT – The New Series: Shutdown Aug: Torchwood 2.4 Moving Target Aug: The New Counter Measures Special Release: Who Killed Toby Kinsella?

Sep: Monthly #215 Fiesta of the Damned Sep: 4th Doctor 5.08 Casualties of Time Sep: Classic Doctors, New Monsters Volume 1 Sep: The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield 3: The Unbound Universe Sep: Torchwood 2.5 Broken Sep: You’re Him Aren’t You? Audiobook Oct: Monthly #216 Maker of Demons Oct: The Early Adventures 3.1 The Age of Endurance Oct: Philip Hinchcliffe Presents: The Genesis Chamber Oct: Torchwood 2.6 Made You Look Jun 2: The Daemons commentary (Fantom films) Jun 4: The Claws of Axos (BBC classic series audio) Jun 4: Scream of the Shalka (BBC classic series audio) Jun 30: Day of Armageddon Commentaries (Fantom films)

Jul 7: The Sontaran Experiment (BBC classic series audio) Jul 28: Illegal Alien (BBC classic series audio) Jul 31: Lethbridge-Stewart: Beast of Fang Rock (Fantom Films) Jul 31: Lethbridge-Stewart: Mutually Assured Domination (Fantom Films) Aug 4: The Macra Terror (BBC classic series audio) Sep 1: The Invasion of Time (BBC classic series audio) Oct 6: The Time Meddler (BBC classic series audio) Oct 6: The Eleventh Doctor Adventures (BBC new series audio) Nov 3: The Day of the Daleks (BBC classic series audio) Jun 1: 4th Dr Miniseries #3; Jun 8: 11th Dr 2.10; Jun 15: 10th Dr 2.11; Jun 29: 9th Dr #3; Jun 29: 12th Dr 2.7; Jul 6: Supremacy of the Cybermen #1(Comic Day release); Jul 12: 10th Dr Omnibus Vol 3; Jul 13: 10th Dr 2.12; Jul 13: 4th Dr Miniseries #4

Jul 21 – No. 502; Aug 18 – No. 503; Sep 15 – No. 504; Oct 13 – No. 505.

Jul 19 – No. 17; Aug 16 – No. 18; Sep 13 – No. 19; Oct 11 – No. 20 Jun 16: Special #8 – The Mire Jul 28: 77 – Flame thrower Dalek Aug 11: 78 – The Whispermen Aug 25: 79 – Robot Mummy Sep 8: 80 – Moonbase Cybermen Sep 8: Dalek Special #9 – Chase Guard Dalek Sep 22: 81 – Tritove Oct 6: 82 – Vervoid

ASTRAL Cards on the table, I don't rate the 10th Doctor highly, and Donna even less so, so it's with some trepidation I picked up this one.

And from basically, page one, line one Colgan has nailed the Doctor and Donna perfectly, but importantly, they're not annoying. Everything about them that wound me up is missing. He's curious and clever and very hyper, but it's not done for humour's sake, rather that's just who he is. She is loud and a little ignorant but ohh so full of life and compassion.

The book is full of social commentary, a little mocking and a little judgmental at times, but it's the Doctor doing the mocking and judging. This is a twenty-first century version of Pertwee snarking off at politicians and making frequent swipes at the tax man. He needs to take a wider view of things and say "do you really think this is a good idea?" So the irony of me doing this review for Nethersphere isn't lost on me.

The heart of the story is, effectively, humans getting infected by a computer virus. One that drives the anger to boiling point, until all that's left is rage.

So yes, it's Doctor Who does 28 Days Later, but it's done with a deft touch, lots of humour and heart, The Doctor says the stakes are high but elects to take a plane not the TARDIS to South Korea because… Well because he has a run in with hipsters. It's one of the more contrived ways of seperating the Doctor from the TARDIS and it's actually one of the very few things in the book that irked me.

For the longest time, the stakes seemed low, despite the Doctor saying how bad things would get. And then… we discover Wilf has Wi-Fi in his shed… Suffice it to say, even knowing that the Doctor will save the day, it's an excellent tension mounter.

A rather touching moment comes towards the end where the Doctor, self-sacrificing as always, tells a depressed Donna he's always thought of her. We also got a return of the Chameleon Arch, and a potential explanation for why the Doctor never used it on the Doctor Donna.

L MAP Big Finish has given us what we have been waiting for. With New Series Doctor Who now a decade old, the Invisible Barrier set up in 2005 has been broken down. Big Finish’s New Series releases have all been leading to this point: The Tenth Doctor Box Set. The first release contains three stories, and as soon as the Doctor and Donna appear, it’s as if the listener is transported back in time. They work so well together in audio, and it feels as if they’ve never been apart. Their characters are just as we saw them on TV. The first story is set on Earth, and is yet another alien attempt to overthrow humanity for its own reasons. It’s a solid story, full of the fears of technology that many people have these days. It starts at quite a clip, and continues at the pace you would expect from one of their television episodes. This is what Big Finish does so well. It takes the best of what they have and expand on it.

Story 2 is a fast paced techno-thriller styled piece. It even leads nicely into one of the televised adventures. This is probably the weakest of the three, with a slightly too complicated plot that tries too hard to be emotional at the end.

The third tale is an unusual one. It’s an epic piece that would be really hard to achieve on television. It has everything that would make it a classic, except the plot is rather obvious.

If the listener hasn’t figured out what’s going on by half way through, they’re not paying attention. Despite this, it is an enjoyable romp.

All in all, despite its minor flaws, this is a solid release. Fans of the 10th Doctor and Donna will not be disappointed.

The DWCA Trivia Night was deferred to the

July 9, due to another trivial event taking place the previous week, viz. the General Election. I’m sure we had more fun on our night than the previous Saturday.

It was a cold night out but a band of determined and enthusiastic participants turned up for a most enjoyable evening.

The evening’s entertainment commenced at 6:30 and, as is usually the case, there was a lively exchange of banter and witty remarks between the various groups and questioners. The winning cosplay entry was from Meri Amber with her interpretation of Idris from the episode 'The Doctor's Wife'.

The overall Trivia night winners were 'Team BRexit' with a remarkable 70 points. Close on their heels was 'The Lizzie Killer Project' with 69.5 points.

The evening ended at 9:30 with everyone having had a great night.

Our warmest thanks go to BBC Worldwide who contributed the prizes for the evening.

The event was won by Team BRexit

A close second was The Lizzie Miller Project

DWCA Trivia Night Participants

The Cosplay competition was won by Meri Amber

Only the Monstrous is a 4 disc box set from Big Finish in which John Hurt

reprises his role as the War Doctor. It consists of 3 separate but connected stories, 'The Innocent', 'The Thousand Worlds' and 'The Heart of the Battle' plus a bonus 'making of' disc. And the whole thing is superb.

Where to start? With a confession. John Hurt has long been my favourite actor, ever since his beautiful performance in The Elephant Man moved me to tears many years ago. The man could recite the alphabet and give it gravitas and meaning, and his shock appearance at the end of 'Name of the Doctor' is perhaps my favourite moment in the show's history. The fact that this box set even exists is a wonderful thing.

As expected, Hurt is brilliant, and gives as much as he has to any other performance. World weary, tired, understated yet passionate. His is a Doctor unlike any other yet still recognisable as the Doctor.

There's also a very impressive supporting cast. There is none of the awful hammy overacting that Big Finish actors sometimes indulge in. Having Hurt around has lifted everyone's game. Jacqueline Pearce is great as Servalwhoops, I mean Cardinal Ollistra. Despite her saying that she hoped to make Ollistra sound different to Servalan, the fact is she was all I could picture.

Servalan in full Time Lady regalia, but Servalan nonetheless. This is no slight on Pearce, it's simply that her voice is very recognisable and Servalan is such an iconic character. Lucy Briggs Owen and Carolyn Seymour (Abby Grant in Survivors) both play Rejoice, the ersatz companion. They are both very good and very likeable, and so like each other that at first listen I wasn't aware that a different actress was playing the role.

Beth Chalmers, best known as Raine in the 7th Doctor Missing Stories, is as fantastic as ever as Veklin, Cardinal Ollistra's lackey. My favourite support role however is Mark McConnell as Trannis, who reminds me of a Time Lord Braveheart as he opposes those who want to make peace with the Daleks.

Music also plays an important part. While most Big Finish stories sound like TV, and some, sadly, sound like bored actors reading a script for the first time in separate recording booths, this sounds like a big blockbuster movie.

It's very easy to imagine you're seeing this on the big screen with a hundred or so fans around you. Happily, there is also a music suite at the end of disc three, because the music is worthy of being listened to by itself.

The stories themselves are fantastic. Nicholas Briggs is one of the greatest Doctor Who writers in any medium in my opinion, and this is him at his best.

My favourite story is the third one, but each one is superb and I imagine each one will be someone's favourite.

Disc 4 is a 'making of' disc, in which everyone involved is interviewed. Nicholas Briggs reveals which classic movie he was inspired by to start these stories, and John Hurt touches on other parts of his career. When all is said and done I give this box set 10 out of 10 and can't recommend it highly enough.

Oz Comic-Con Melbourne 2016 was amazing. We were attending on Sunday as part of the publicity team working on behalf of Blue Planet Public Relations for ReedPop. This year guests included many favourites from lots of TV and Movie productions, including John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness), Ingrid Oliver (Petronella Osgood) and Samuel Anderson (Danny Pink) all from NuWho. Oz Comic-Con brought in hundreds of Doctor Who fans from all over the state and country, dressing in cosplay and enjoying all the panels, competitions and exhibitor stalls within the event.

Our day began with Ingrid Oliver’s panel where she spoke about her Doctor Who fandom and her favourite episodes with the occasional slip into other fandoms like Harry Potter. Next was Samuel’s panel where he spoke about his time as Danny Pink and the adventures he would have liked to go on as well as singing bits from his favourite symphonies as he is really into his music. We finished the day with John’s panel where he made it clear to everyone that he really has no filter when it comes to presenting. John was joined on stage with his partner to sing one of his favourite songs as well as singing lines from his top 10 musicals. He finished up his panel playing Jenga with his fans from his amazing Tim-Tam tower he created with all his Tim-Tam gifts.

During the Photograph sessions and Autograph sessions all guests were lovely and spent the time to make sure you got what you wanted. Although John’s Autograph’s and Photograph’s were pricey at $50 and $70 respectively, they were still worth the money spent. Overall we had a great day and enjoyed everything that Oz Comic-Con had to offer.

All photos © Josh Boland

It was as if a comic book universe had suddenly split open, tumbling its various occupants out into the world beyond. Along the streets and avenues of Olympic Park they marched, colourful creatures from every corner of the imagination. The drab overcast day and damp pavements were momentarily forgotten as a veritable army of heroes, villains, aliens and monsters arrived at their chosen destination – the 2016 Sydney Supanova Pop Culture Expo. As Poison Ivys and Harley Quinns shivered in the cold, Captain Americas lined up patiently beside Batman, Robin, Asterix and Obelix in the ever snaking queue. They patiently awaited the moment when the doors would open, the treasures therein many and varied, including such obscurities as rare comics, trading cards, action figures, replica props, games, autographs and panels with guest stars such as James (Spike) Marsters and Juliet (Drusilla) Landau (also known to Whovians as Big Finish’s Romana). Of course, one question was bound to be on everyone’s lips, no matter how young or old, or what costume they were wearing… just where was the DWCA stand this year?

That answer at least was simple – “right next to the wrestling!” So it was that while men in spandex were “throwing down” within the ring, immediately adjacent the DWCA volunteers were busy greeting the attending public. It was a great opportunity to catch up with existing members and to spread word of the club to those who had not heard of it before. Over the course of the weekend the stand was visited by many who availed themselves of merchandise from the DWCA shop (including those elusive back issues of Data Extract). All too soon however it was over for another year, and one by one the colourful people faded away once more, returning to their everyday lives… at least until the next event, or perhaps until they saw that elusive bat signal shining in the sky over Sydney…

The group saw a couple of new faces at our most recent meeting, which is alw pecially since numbers were a bit low due to members having other commitme didn't prevent our small group from enjoying ourselves regardless. Apart from viewing material, we started off with a few humorous clips of interest, scou darkest depths of the internet, and finally, before breaking for lunch, a video in the San Diego Comic Con featuring Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman.

A new addition to our meetings – A Sony PS3 with Lego Dimensions game plus add-ons – proved very popular with the younger members, as did the PC runnin Who Adventure Games series.

After lunch it was time for our Trivia game. This time it was 20 questions – from new series seasons 8 & 9, then 10 questions from classic series season 8 & sic series questions proved to be more difficult, with some members indicatin brush up on their classic series viewing. Fancy not knowing that the Master's didn't make an appearance until season 19 or that Aggedor was hypnotised us an lullaby! I don't think anyone failed to guess any of the new series questions Next it was time to draw the lucky door prize of a Doctor Who Lego set. After menced the multi-draw Raffle. Prizes this time were a framed photo of a Cyberm and autographed by Brian Orrell, a Sarah Jane Adventures Alien Communicator Doctor Who Annual, and an autographed Music CD by Meri Amber. Thanks to bers who supported our raffle.

The day ended with some more Doctor Who viewing, and everyone gradual goodbyes and departed. All in all it was another great social meet up for our lo

Recently in Allora, the Allora Autumn Festival was held and the Allora Local Group was invited by the organisers to take part in their 'Decorated Tree' competition. This was an open themed competition and so entrants could use any subject material they wanted. Fantastic!

So, after a slow start, some of our members started to create and collect various materials of a Doctor Who nature which could be attached to our nominated tree. The decorations went up the day before the festival and what great effort it was by all involved. The tree had various iconic items randomly scattered around it. There was a 6th Doctor's rainbow umbrella at the very top of the tree, a full size 7th Doctor cobbled together from old clothes, some home made Daleks, a few TARDISes and even an 11th Doctor's fez and 4th Doctor's scarf.

The group received many good comments and praise from the general public for our efforts, and it seem ments were not unfounded as it turns out our group's tree prize in the competition! Congratulations and thank you fo fort to everyone involved in contributing to our tree. The received by the group will go towards something special w joy at our meetings. Thank you also to the organisers of t tumn Festival for giving us the opportunity to promote their competition.

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I hadn’t been born yet back in the sixties when Doctor Who started, so there was no chance of me seeing it from its début episode. But if I had, I’d have been hooked from the start! In an age of big screens and Blu-rays, the black and white era actually has added mystique and atmosphere.

This story is historically important as the first, but even if it wasn’t the strangeness and originality of it would mark it out as a classic. Fans of the latest stories would do well to check out where the epic narrative really began!

In this adventure we meet for the first time: 3rd Doctor's new companion, Jo Grant (played by DWCA Patron – Katy Manning), the Master and Captain Mike Yates.

The story has a straight forward plot, involving the invasion of Earth, instigated by the Master who steals the sole surviving Nestene Energy Unit for his fiendish plans. Scenes involving: a circus, the Jodral Bank Radio telescope, a rickety old factory and a gun battle abound; demonstrating that TV’s visual potential is beginning to be realised. It’s a ripping story, told in the Classic Doctor Who format!

A new Doctor with 3 companions hearkens back to the 1st Doctor. This story is part of the zenith of Bidmead's ‘Master’plan which saw the replacement of humour with hard-science. Its concepts are a hot-pot of: mathematics, physics and computers theory with a large dollop of art and a pinch of history added for good measure. Concepts like: recursion, causality and multiple dimensions are covered.

With excellent production values and a great performance by Peter Davison this is my second favourite opening story of a Doctor just pipped by Spearhead from Space.

The 2nd Doctor, Jamie and Victoria arrive in the middle of a space opera which closely parallels Roman history, complete with a self-declared dictator for life who is (figuratively) stabbed in the back. The opening is challenging, with loads of characters and backstory to keep track of, but stick with it and the political intrigue will draw you in. There's also an intense torture scene in which the Doctor plays a surprising role. The battle sequences in the latter half do get a bit dull, but this is nevertheless an entertaining read, especially for fans of ancient history and / or chess.

For many new fans of our favourite renegade Time Lord it’s been a long year in this current Who drought, relying on quick Netflix binges and the occasional Blu-ray to keep us going. But for lifetime members of the Whoniverse this dry spell is merely a momentary phase and certainly not the first.

Back when Doctor Who was still a new kid on the block, children hiding behind sofas had only fleeting moments to catch our dashing hero’s adventures before they were lost to the ether, seemingly never to be seen again. Or so they thought, as ratings continued to rise and with scripts already written up, it was only a matter of time before these stories would see life anew and so in 1974 the Target novel was born!

Beginning with already established novelisations of the 1st Doctor’s adventures Target went on to transform almost every story from screen to page throughout the classic series run, allowing fans of all ages to revisit some of the best moments the series had to offer.

Now 42 years later Target is seeing renewed interest in its exotic Eric Saward tales, which leads me on a rare sunny morning to the Mecca of all things science fiction, Forbidden Planet, London. It’s April the 23rd and I’m in line eagerly waiting to see some of Doctor Who ’s brightest talent; writer and former script editor Eric Saward, legendary artist Chris Achilleos, and of course writer and former script editor (Uncle Terry) Terrance Dicks. They’re all here today for Target’s re-issue Chris Achilleos launch of seven classic Who stories, some with brand new cover illustrations by Chris, who has painstakingly recaptured the classic look of the original run but with a modern twist to entrance and entice even the most avid collector. The atmosphere inside the store is electric as fans of all ages and backgrounds discuss their favourite stories, share Terrance Dicks images of collections and grin in

excitement of meeting the minds who have given so much joy and terror to millions.

No matter how many times I’ve encountered Uncle Terry there is always a sense of awe in the air whenever he appears, whether that’s due to his soft voice and inquisitive demeanour, or the fact that he served as script editor for six years and has written more Target novels than any other writer. His presence is well renowned throughout the greater fan culture and was clearly evident today. New fans playing at home will recognise his impact with the Sisterhood of Karn, who made a brief cameo in Paul McGann’s screen return in 'The Night of the Doctor'.

Then there’s Eric Saward, brooding, wrapped in controversy and utterly delightful! It was my first time meeting the man who killed a companion and every second was worth the wait. Eric charmed the crowd with tales of his time on Who, his inspiration to have the Doctor be responsible for the great fire of London, and the shock-waves felt across the nation the morning after the conclusion to his 1982 story 'Earthshock'!

After a quick photo shoot and the obligatory autograph we chatted about his desire to visit the sunny shores of Australia and the apparent lack of Hobnobs (a chocolate oat biscuit) provided.

Finally it was time to meet the unexpected star of the day Chris Achilleos, who placed between these two titans of Who lore, still managed to make his mark on the crowd with a winning smile and boundless enthusiasm to be involved in the world of Who once again. Newer fans of Who may not recognise Chris at first glance but for anyone looking to relive classic adventures in the 70s his artistry was the door to worlds beyond imagination. And for some, his art was the only visual reference to be had of the plethora of deadly threats to the galaxy our hero faced on screen, be they Cybermen, Zarbi, or even the formidable Ice Warriors.

With some truly eye popping covers and over 150 titles to choose from it’s been fascinating to see which seven have been chosen to represent the range with some outstanding stories to behold. The full release contains William Hartnell’s Doctor Who and the Zarbi , Patrick Troughton's The Web of Fear, Jon Pertwee’s The Dinosaur Invasion , Tom Baker’s Genesis of the Daleks, Peter Davison’s The Visitation , Colin Baker’s Vengeance on Varos, and even Sylvester McCoy’s Battlefield making an appearance. With such great titles in the relaunch it was easy to see why so many fans had made the trip into inner city London.

The line reached far around the store's mammoth basement floor and snaked its way outside, filled to the brim with fans eager to grab a copy of these wonderful novels that encapsulate all the thrill and excitement that Doctor Who has to offer.

Target’s re-issues haven’t stopped with just books though, as London’s Cartoon Museum has carefully collected over 30 original artworks created for the novels, which were on display (April 28 – June 5) in a special exhibition celebrating the line's success and the cultural impact these stories have had on entire generations across the globe. Opening night for the exhibition was a star studded affair with appearances by series show runner Steven Moffat, cover artists Andrew Skilleter and Jeff Cummins, and the 12th Doctor Peter Capaldi, as well as our special guests, Eric Saward, Terrance Dicks and Chris Achilleos. To see some of the excitement of the night yourself check out Doctor Who: The Fan Show channel on YouTube.

It’s been an exciting day for this reporter, meeting some behind the scenes legends, mixing it up with local fans and of course picking up a few new stories to jump into on the ride home. If you’re looking to pick up copies of these releases yourself they can be found at Dymocks, and online.

The above photos, taken from the web, are of the launch of the Target covers exhibition at the Cartoon Museum in London.

1st photo (l to r) Terrance Dicks, Chris Achilleos, Andrew Skilleter, Steven Moffat and Jeff Cummins; 2nd photo Peter Capaldi and Three Doctors cover; 3rd photo Mark Gatiss; 4th photo (l to r) Terrance Dicks, Andrew Skilleter, Jeff Cummins; 5th photo Peter Capaldi; 6th photo Peter Capaldi and Chris Achilleos; 7th photo (l to r) Terrance Dicks, Eric Saward and Steven Moffat.

It's good to see quite a number of fans in the 12–29 age group, but the ageing of fans means that more than half of the respondents would have remembered seeing the original screening of later Classic Who.

This survey looked at Series Nine to discover what episode and story were voted as favourite and also to drill down a bit further to try and find why people chose the story they did. The survey then moved on to getting an idea of what people think of the 12th Doctor and the actor who plays him, US VIC Peter Capaldi, plus his companion UK WA Clara Oswald as played by Jenna Cole- TAS No answe man. Then the survey concluded with SA ACT getting some idea of which various Canada characters from the season were Netherla peoples' favourite.

Firstly I’d like to thank everyone who QLD took the time to fill out the survey. All in all 236 people provided their input. A NZ brief breakdown on the people who reNSW sponded is shown in the various graphs below.

The dominance of fans in NSW continues but it is good to see that Queensland fandom looks like it's growing.

Male With this being an on-line survey it is also nice to see the many responses from overseas fans.

No Answer

Female

The responses to recent survey's again shows a growth in the number of female fans the show has.

30–39

40–49

20–29

>50

12–19 <12

No Answer

No

Have previously been

Yes

No answer

This was the big surprise of the survey for me. Why didn't many more DWCA members take the opportunity to enter the survey? It was not as if they did not know about it. Answers on a postcard please!

er

Firstly the survey looks at your selection of favourite story, not favourite episode, which is asked later in the survey.

Then the survey tries to gain a bit more insight into why you chose a particular story as your favourite. If the survey had just asked "why?" I would have expected to have received 236 different answers and that would have been impossible to analyse, so the survey looks at the stories from 3 different perspectives: their plots, the characters in the stories and the production values of the stories.

Then the survey gives people the opportunity to choose their favourite episode. To conclude the survey then gives people a chance to look at the whole of Series Nine and asks them to compare it with the previous series.

ands

The Magician's Apprentice / The Witch's Familiar Under The Lake / Before The Flood The Girl Who Died The Woman Who Lived The Zygon Invasion / The Zygon Inversion Sleep No More Face The Raven Heaven Sent / Hell Bent The Husbands Of River Song No answer

It was a close tussle but the series finale beat out the Christmas special, with the Zygon story just a whisker behind. As many predicted 'Sleep No More' came last, but not as far behind as most would have expected.

- Comments from respondents about their favourite story included:

Heaven Sent / Hell Bent was a masterpiece. I also LOVE appearances of River Song. Erin, NSW High hopes were set by the opening two parter that gradually faded through the season but were, thankfully, restored by the Christmas special. James

Hadwen-Bennett, UK

I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed this

season. The Zygon story edges out others but that's mainly because of the superb second half. And Hell Bent is pretty damn good. Matthew Cardier,

Qld

The Husbands of River Song was one of the best episodes to date. It gave the Doctor a sense of belonging to the others and really made the audience love him more. Tomeeka, Qld

Whilst one respondent really did not like 'Sleep no More':

Sleep No More was garbage â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Gatiss has had too many chances and never yielded anything close to a classic story.

It's time for him to move on and let someone else have a chance. John

Fulbrook, SA

For each story people were offered a range of 1 to 10, with 1 being abysmal and 10 being magnificent. Although it was not specified the other numbers in the range were; 2 – very poor, 3 – poor, 4 – below average, 5 – average, 6 – above average, 7 – good, 8 – very good and 9 – excellent.

Based on the results each story was given an average, a mode and a median. Average as the name implies is the average of all the scores, mode is the score with the greatest number of responses and median is the score that is in the centre if all scores from 1 to 10 are placed one after each other in numerical order.

Story

Average Mode Median

The Magician's Apprentice / The Witch's Familiar Under The Lake / Before The Flood

7.37

8

8

7.14

8

7

The Girl Who Died

6.82

8

7

6.56 The Woman Who Lived The Zygon Invasion / 8.08 The Zygon Inversion

8

7

10

8

Sleep No More

5.76

7

6

Face The Raven

7.31

8

8

Heaven Sent / Hell Bent

7.86

10

8

The Husbands Of River Song

7.85

10

8

With regards to plot 'The Zygon Invasion / The Zygon Inversion' came out tops with the highest average and one of three stories to "get more 10s" then any other number. 'Heaven Sent / Hell

Bent' and 'The Husbands of River Song' were so close as to be nearly identical.

Of the single episode stories 'Face The Raven' came out top in this perspective and also in the other two perspectives making it easily the best single episode story of the series, except of course for the Christmas special.

A detailed comment from one of the respondents:

The plots breathed better with two part stories and the Doctor and Clara were more settled and consistent together.

The Doctor's character warming and becoming committed to trying to relate to emotions was a welcome development. Aside: the cue cards with responses to crisis situations – hilarious!

After brilliant acting but dodgy plots in series 8, series 9 was in my humble opinion the best and most consistent series since 201 0, Matt Smith's début.

Better plots, less holes in plots, well planned double episodes and great acting. I hope Capaldi does at least three MORE years so we see both the heights he might hit with Moffat's swan-song as well as with a new show runner full of his own ideas. Craig, Tas

Story

Average Mode Median

The Magician's Apprentice / The Witch's Familiar Under The Lake / Before The Flood

7.67

8

8

7.34

8

8

The Girl Who Died

6.83

7

7

6.72 The Woman Who Lived The Zygon Invasion / 7.96 The Zygon Inversion

8

7

10

8

Sleep No More

5.86

7

6

Face The Raven

7.29

8

8

Heaven Sent / Hell Bent

7.88

9

8

The Husbands Of River Song

7.79

10

8

Story The Magician's Apprentice / The Witch's Familiar Under The Lake / Before The Flood

8.17

9

9

7.97

8

8

7.52

8

8

7.33

8

7

8.11

10

8

6.93

8

7

Face The Raven

7.85

8

8

Heaven Sent / Hell Bent

8.25

10

9

The Husbands Of River Song

8.01

9

8

'The Zygon Invasion / The Zygon Inversion' again came out top when looking at characters, maybe because of the return of Osgood. 'Heaven Sent / Hell Bent' and 'The Husbands of River Song' The Girl Who Died this time were a bit closer and I assume for one of these stories it was for River The Woman Who Song's return and for the other the Lived Doctor's character was to the fore. It also looks like people enjoyed the char- The Zygon Invasion / The Zygon Inversion acters of the opening two-parter.

There are 2 comments from people who Sleep No More responded: I didn't particularly like the character of 'Me' so that was a negative factor for me in some episodes. Katherine

Deane, Qld

Was glad to see Clara finally leave, should have left last season after finding out about her Impossible Girl story.

Mark Allen, NSW

Average Mode Median

'Heaven Sent / Hell Bent' topped the poll in production values, well ahead of the opening story and this appears to be one reason that it came out on top as best story of the season.

This time 3 comments, 2 about production values and one a summary:

Production value is always high in this series. Too bad about the unevenness of the writing and casting. Luke Owens,

USA

The production values are almost always high now. No matter what the show at least looks amazing. Ian Ste-

wart, Vic

Hard to pick a favourite, they were all good for their different aspects. Jo,

NSW

'Heaven Sent' and 'The Husbands Of River Song' were the runaway leaders for best episode and it is clear that 'Heaven Sent' was a main reason that 'Heaven Sent / Hell Bent' was the story that was chosen best of the season.

Comments from our respondents tend to confirm this as well:

'Hell Bent' will always be the episode that could have been great. Spoilt by the killing of the general (not necessary - remember Colonel Runaway?) just as a gender swap gimmick, amongst other things. Nigel Mitton, Vic The reason 'Heaven Sent / Hell Bent' are rated low is because of the ending of Hell Bent, from when the Doctor gets his memory wiped to until Clara dematerialises. Robert Johnston, NSW Please don't link 'Heaven Sent' and 'Hell Bent' in the same category. One is an amazing story, the other is a bland, forgettable follow up. Ryouga, WA Some very good episodes, a few not so good. Ron Godwin, NSW

Series 8

Series 9

No answer Series Nine was without doubt chosen as the better series, reasons for this could include; more two-parters, Peter Capaldi settling into his role and Clara being less important to the storyline.

The comments below give a variety of opinions:

No answer The Husbands of River Song Hell Bent Heaven Sent Face The Raven Sleep No More The Zygon Inversion The Zygon Invasion The Woman Who Lived The Girl Who Died Before The Flood Under The Lake The Witch's Familiar The Magician's Apprentice

Hard to choose between 2 disappointing series. Matthew Place, NSW This series just had too much talking and little action. The bad guys were not very bad, and seemed too easy to defeat. I never thought that the Doctor would shut-up. Very sad, as season 8 was very good. Paul Kennedy, NSW With question 6, I couldn't answer because I prefer both series 8 AND 9.

Corrina Miller, Qld

Series nine far superior to eight, Peter Capaldi has made the grade as best Doctor for me in the last series. A great actor. Jean Sayce, Qld

This multi-part article attempts to list alphabetically all the people who are 'Australians' and who have worked in Doctor Who. What I mean by Australian is: people who were born or who have lived in Australia, for a long period of time.

The information has been gleaned from many areas, including my own personal knowledge of some of these people, and is as correct as far as I can determine. If you know of any errors, or people I have missed, please contact me so I can add that information in the last part of this article.

• Directed 'Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS'.

Mat King was born on February 3 1975 in Adelaide, Australia.

He has directed film and television for NBC Universal, BBC, ITV, ABC, Kudos and Left Bank Pictures among others. He has worked in the British, American, and Australian markets.

His first work was Devil in the Detail a 17 minute short which he directed and produced in 1997. He went on to work as second unit director on McLeod's Daughters for 2 episodes in 2001.

In early 2005 Mat spent 2½ months in Vietnam directing television commercials. He is married to Tam Nguyen, ex-production manager at the Australian International Documentary Conference.

His first directing for television was in 2005 for the series The Fairies shown on the Seven Network. In 2006 he produced and directed Angela’s Decision, a 50 minute film which won the Australian Cinematographers Society Gold Award for Best Drama and at the Tupelo Film Festival it was judged 'Best Film'. In 2009 he directed Star Runners, a television movie for the SciFi channel. In 2010 he moved to the UK where he directed 5 episodes of the BBC series S pirit Warriors and between 2011 and 2014 he directed 8 episodes of Law and Order: UK. In Australia he directed 2 episodes of Underbelly in 2011 and recently directed episodes of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries and House Husbands plus episodes of Hunters, a new Syfy series.

He is currently directing for the television series Wrong Girl for Network 10 and 4 episodes of series 5 of Wentworth for Foxtel.

He is a member of BAFTA, Directors UK and AACTA – Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts.

Played Alydon in 'The Daleks'.

John Lee was born on March 31 1928 in Launceston, Tasmania.

From 1956 to 1998, he had a long and active career in film and television in his native Australia, the UK, and the US. His first appearance was in the American movie The Bottom of the Bottle and he soon gained a regular role in the US television series Adventures of the Sea Hawk as Peter Seaforth.

He then moved to the UK in 1959 and worked there throughout the 1960s and 1970s. His first appearance was in the television series The Flying Doctors. His first regular role on British television was in 1960 in Golden Girl as John Redfield.

Other television shows in which he appeared as a regular were The Net in 1962 as Immigration Officer Jim Howarth, Marked Personal in 1974 as Richard Mason, Warship from 1973 to 1977 as Lieutenant Commander Kiley and in 1978 in Wilde Alliance as Christopher Bridgewater. He also appeared in series such as The Avengers, Danger Man , The Champions, Softly Sofly, The Troubleshooters, Doomwatch and Survivors.

He returned to Australia in the mid-70s and procured regular television work including playing Father Gibney in The Last Outlaw, Andrew Reynolds in Prisoner, Sir Peter Edwin in All The Way, Len Mangel in Neighbours, Philip Stewart in Return to Eden and Les Robinson in A Town Like Alice . His last television appearance was in the mini-series Moby Dick in 1998.

He also appeared in the Australian movies Street Hero, Deadline , Pure S and The Castle .

He died on December 21, 2000 in Melbourne, Victoria, of natural causes.

Played Linx in 'The Time Warrior', Cho Je in 'Planet of the Spiders' and Styre / The Marshal in 'The Sontaran Experiment'.

Kevin Alan Lindsay was born on April 17 1924 in Australia.

He moved to England in 1969 and worked in repertory theatre including Watford, where he appeared in plays and pantomime.

His first appearance on the screen was in 1963 in One Got Fat, a 15 minute bicyclesafety film, made in Georgia in the US. It showed children what can happen when bicycles are ridden carelessly and recklessly. He made his first television appearance in an episode of Crossroads.

Through the sixties and early seventies he continued to work in British television and appeared in such series as Coronation Street, Love Story, Sherlock Holmes, Paul Temple , Z Cars and War and Peace .

He also played the 'milkman' in the 1970s UK television advertisement 'Pick up a Pinta for all it's worth' which promoted milk.

His last appearances on stage were in Promises, Promises and The Gingerbread Lady.

He died in hospital at Enfield, Greater London on April 25 1976 after suffering a heart attack. This was only 9 days after his 51st birthday and just 7 weeks after the broadcast of 'The Sontaran Experiment'.

Played Griffin, the chef, in ‘Enemy of the World’.

Reginald Thomas Lye was born on October 14 1912 in Sydney.

He was an Australian actor who worked extensively in Australia and England. He was one of the busiest Australian actors of the 1950s, appearing in the majority of locally shot features at the time, as well as on stage and radio. Lee Robinson called him "one of the best character actors in Australia". He moved to England in the early 1960s but returned to Australia when the film industry revived in the late 1970s.

Notable films include Sunday Too Far Away (1975) for which he won the best supporting actor AFI award and The Killing of Angel Street (1981).

His first film work was in 1954 in King of the Coral Sea where he was credited as Reginald Lye and performed alongside Chips Rafferty, it also saw the film début of Rod Taylor. He appeared in 8 other films in the 50s including Smiley, Walk into Hell and The Shiralee . His first appearance on Australian Television was on June 5 1957 in a live television play Shadow of Doubt. His first television series was Whiplash where he played three different roles in three episodes in 1961.

His first role on British television was in 1962 when he appeared in The Slaughter of St. Teresa's Day for the BBC. The same year saw his first British film appearance when he played Uncle Joe in The Amorous Mr. Prawn . In 1963-64 he made his first regular television appearance as Mr Anstruther in 7 episodes of Emergency-Ward 1 0. He went on to appear in a large number of British television shows in the 60s and 70s including: Gideon, The Saint, Mogul, Softly, Softly, Adam Adamant Lives!, Dr. Finlay's Casebook, The Champions, Dixon of Dock Green, Softly Softly: Task Force, Paul Temple, Ace of Wands, The Adventures of Don Quick, Budgie, Jason King, The Morecambe & Wise Show, The Fenn Street Gang, Arthur of the Britons, Freewheelers, Z Cars, The Tomorrow People, Doctor on the Go, Yes Honestly, The Dick Emery Show, Get Some In, George and Mildred, Ripping Yarns and Sykes. He ap-

peared in a few movies during this time, the best known are: the 1968 Hammer film The Lost Continent, 1 0 Rillington Place in 1971 and Wombling Free in 1978.

On his return to Australia he appeared in three movies the best known was The Killing of Angel Street.

He also appeared in 2 television series, the last was Joe Wilson in 1988 where he played Jimmy Nowlett. It was not screened till after his death.

He died on March 23 1988.

All you have to do is send in your completed version of the crossword. If you can't complete it all but can do most of it, you can also send it in, just in case no one else can complete it. If more than one complete answer is received then the names of the people who have completed it will go into a hat. If no one completes the crossword, the person who answers the most clues correctly will be the winner.

All the words in the answers have something in common. See if you can guess what it is.

Deadline is Friday September 2

Winner will be announced in the next issue of The Nethersphere .

Please send your answer sheet to:

Doctor Who Cryptic Crossword c/GPO Box 2870 Sydney NSW 2001 .

Or you can email your answers to: nethersphere@doctorwhoaustralia.org The winner can choose from one of 5 signed trading cards. They are: Debbie Chazen as Foon Van Hoff, Sinead Keenan as Addams, Yasmin Bannerman as Jabe, Felicity Kendal as Lady Clemency Eddison and Richard Wilson as Dr. Constantine.

2. First seen in 1727.

3. It has an eye.

4. Starry.

5. The TARDIS landed in this in the 12th century.

6. Patricia Pryor played one of these.

7. Vortigern.

10. An eye of the Cailleach.

11. The largest that can be.

13. He died in the mutiny that he had earlier warned was being planned.

15. One of the things that did not fit the Doctor in 'Power of the Daleks'.

16. Toxic.

19. Roy was a journalist.

21. A British one of these was seen in 'The War Machines'.

24. They roamed the streets in 1869.

26. He was suspected of being a drug dealer.

27. This tower had three entrances.

28. Sorin was touched by this.

29. Caesofine can be this.

34. By the year 200,000, it was home to a university of questionable reputation.

35. Lan. 37. Alien race that incorrectly had a planet said to be theirs.

38. Lady Peinforteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s potion required this.

1. A group of them was given a bag of raw meat.

8. Damian Richardson operated one of these.

9. Clara visited this in the TARDIS. 12. Part of the name of the story that 6.9 million UK viewers watched.

14. November 25th, 1974.

15. Her brother was Tony.

17. Broken _______ 18. Member of the IMC expedition to Uxarieus.

19. Name first heard in 'Pyramids of Mars'.

20. Lady Christina de Souza did this.

22. Judson broke this.

23. First seen in 'The Aztecs' episode 3.

25. In 1215 the Doctor and his companions were mistaken as coming from here.

27. Part of the name of two branches of the Slitheen.

30. Voodoo Child lyric.

31. A half form.

32. One of these drowned in the Jamuna River.

33. The King of Despair.

36. Two episodes have this as their title.

39. Highland fling and drunk giraffe.

40. Clom is one of these.

41. Name of a community.

This is the second ‘movement’ of my analysis of the early music associated with Doctor Who and its many musical contributors.

However, I have decided to divide the subject matter into 3 sections instead of just 2. This is because having the theme analysis and an appreciation of Season 1 composers would have made this section too long.

Consequently, in this section, I’d like to examine more closely the works of just the 1st Season music contributors to the world of Doctor Who. An Unearthly Child – The music, composed by Norman Kay, adds an excellent atmospheric context to the story and action. Conventional instrumentation is used, that of percussion (timpani), harp, trumpets and clarinet, creating a feeling of mystery and danger. The clarinet is played in the lowest register of the clarinet, called the chalumeau, which is the name of the clarinet’s predecessor. It seems to me that the harp component has been electronically modified at times with, what we nowadays call reverb, giving it a ringing, resonating Norman Kay sound, somewhat reminiscent of a vibraphone.

I must confess, when I saw this in 1963, I was immediately hooked, line and sinker. It remains one of my all time favourite episodes.

The Daleks – The introduction of the Daleks. How good is that?

The music here was composed by Tristram Cary. It marked a radical departure from conventional music, using electronic devices to create the sound effects. Cary was one of the first British composers to work in musique concrète (see previous article in The Nethersphere Vol 2 No 2).

The Edge Of Destruction – The music here has not been specially composed but is what is called 'library music' i.e. selections of music that the BBC have in their music library. Excerpts that have been identified are : Musique Electronique: Mood Three / Space Agitato / Anaesthesia / Conflict No. 2 by Eric Siday, Musique Concrète Pt. 2 by Buxton Orr and The Day the Sky Fell In by Desmond Leslie. They are all examples of 'Musique Contrète'.

Marco Polo – Having actually seen the original broadcast of this episode, I consider it to be one of the most brilliant historical Doctor Who Adventures.

Tristram Cary’s opening music is with low clarinet, timpani and occasional plucked strings (pizzicato). A variety of gongs, hand bells, harp, flute (the neighing of horses) help to create an appropriate atmosphere of remoteness and oriental intrigue.

For me, the music here, adds an extra dimension to the story telling (as it should). It is employed as an interwoven component of the whole story, bringing with it a very satisfying sense of unity. Perhaps, this is why 'Marco Polo' is regarded as one of the best Doctor Who adventures.

Tristram Cary

The Keys of Marinus – The incidental music is again composed by Norman Kay. The episode opens with pizzicato strings (reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho), trumpets and harp. Later scenes include close harmony high clarinet(s) and low chalumeau register are contrived to give mystery and intrigue. Flutes are also use to effect both mystery and danger during various incidents during the story.

The Aztecs – The well know British composer, Richard Rodney Bennett, wrote the music for 'The Aztecs' demonstrating the avant-garde surrealism influences gleaned from his two years (1957–1959) spent with Pierre Boulez. The music for this memorable historical adventure commences with drum rolls and low woodwind, opening the scene as the Doctor and companions arrive in an Aztec sacrificial temple. The music then moves onto high dissonant flutes, creating a sense of mystery mingled with foreboding.

A particularly charming scene occurs when the Doctor meets Cameca, in the Garden of Peace, with delicate flutes setting the scene for future romance twixt Doc- Richard Rodney Bennett tor and Cameca. I find this another of my favourite episodes. To interfere or not to interfere, that is the question!

The Sensorites – This 6 part story has incidental music by Norman Kay. The musical instrumentation consists of: flute, percussion (timpani), horn, trumpet, clarinet, harp, glockenspiel / marimba(?).

Norman Kay’s accompanying music supports the story as it unfolds – mystery, fear, danger etc.

The Reign of Terror – Stanley Myers wrote and conducted the music for this historical adventure set in the 18th century during the French Revolution. The instrumentation consists of: horn(s), trumpet, percussion, flute, vibraphone / marimba(?), harpsichord. With these forces Myers encompasses the mysterious, humorous, pastoral and threatening musical settings – with a healthy smattering of The Marseillaise thrown in for good measure.

Concluding this section, my main observation is that in the early days, many different composers were engaged in supplying musical content to the show. Some quite adventurous music was introduced using electric means Stanley Myers eg Musique Concrète and the BBC’s Radiophonic Workshop. I wonder if we’ve lost this pioneering aspect with the music of NuWho? In the next, and final article, I will look in detail at Ron Grainer’s theme music and Delia Derbyshire’s realisation of it.

Andy: "I wanna drive the TARDIS!" Lou: "It's a very difficult machine to control, it can go through time and space you know."

Andy: "Yeah, I know. I wanna drive the TARDIS." Lou: "Well we'd have to find it first, it's not easy you know, it could be anywhere or any-when."

Andy: "Yeah, I know. TARDIS!" Lou: "OK well we'll just go down to the park for a while and see if the TARDIS is there."

Andy: "OK." Lou: "Are you sure you want to drive the TARDIS Andy? Only we'd have to ask the Doctor and he can be a bit grumpy."

Andy: "Yeah, I know. Wanna drive the TARDIS." Lou: "Oh look, there's the TARDIS and the Doctor now. I'll just pop over and ask him."

Andy: "Alright."

Lou: "Hello, umm excuse me, Mr Doctor, my friend Andy over there would like to drive your TARDIS for a while if that's OK?" Doctor: "Look I'm a bit busy right now."

[Andy jumps out of wheelchair and runs into the TARDIS, behind the Doctor and Lou, which then dematerialises] Lou: "It would only take a minute."

Doctor: "I just told you I'm very busy, the fate of the entire universe hangs on the outcome of the next few minutes."

Lou: "Alright, I'm sorry to have bothered you."

[TARDIS rematerialises exactly where it was and Andy runs out of it now visibly suntanned and in a funny hat and sits down in his wheelchair again] Doctor: "Look it's obviously important to you and Andy, why don't you bring him over to drive for a minute."

Lou: "Oh thank you very much, it means the world to him."

[Walks back to Andy] Lou: "OK, the nice Doctor said you can drive his TARDIS for a minute."

Andy: "Wanna go home."

Lou: "But I just asked him and he said you could. He said it was OK." Andy: "Wanna go home."

Lou: "Are you sure you want to go home? We won't get another chance to drive the TARDIS ever you know."

Andy: "Yeah, I know. Wanna go home."

[Lou looks resigned and starts to push Andy home. He gets confused when he notices the hat]