Happy New Year's Eve! - from The Ultimate Doctor Who Site

Another year is nearly done and dusted, as 2013 - the year of the greatest show in the universe - draws to a close. Highlights for the year included the second half of the seventh series of Doctor Who, which dove into the mystery of Clara Oswald, 50th anniversary special The Day of the Doctor which celebrated a milestone for Doctor Who before Matt Smith bowed out as the Eleventh Doctor on Christmas Day in The Time of the Doctor. Enjoy your new year celebrations tonight, as 2014 is just around the corner...

Merry Christmas! - from The Ultimate Doctor Who Site

Its that time of year again to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and enjoy a day of opening presents, joining family and friends for Christmas dinner, and of course, watching the annual Doctor Who Christmas special.

The Time of the Doctor - the last to feature Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor - will broadcast tonight at 7:30pm on BBC One and BBC One HD, read on for the synopsis:

THE TIME OF THE DOCTOR - by Steven Moffat
Orbiting a quiet backwater planet, the massed forces of the universe’s deadliest species gather, drawn to a mysterious message that echoes out to the stars. And amongst them - the Doctor. Rescuing Clara from a family Christmas dinner, the Time Lord and his best friend must learn what this enigmatic signal means for his own fate and that of the universe.

The episode will be available to watch on BBC iPlayer soon after broadcast. Doctor Who will return later next year with its eighth series, starring the new Twelfth Doctor as played by Peter Capaldi.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

The Time of the Doctor - Clip 3

The BBC have released a  third clip from the upcoming Doctor Who Christmas special The Time of the Doctor, you can view it above. The episode is to broadcast on Christmas Day tomorrow at 7:30pm on BBC One and BBC One HD.

Happy Christmas Eve! - from The Ultimate Doctor Who Site

It's December 24th - Christmas Eve, with only one day to go until the big day! So enjoy tonight's pre-celebrations and get ready for Christmas Day and the annual Doctor Who Christmas special, as The Time of the Doctor - the last episode featuring Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor - is to broadcast tomorrow at 7:30pm on BBC One and BBC One HD.

The Time of the Doctor - 2 New Clips

The BBC have released two new clips from the upcoming Doctor Who Christmas special The Time of the Doctor, you can watch one above and one below:

Doctor Who: The Time of the Doctor will broadcast Christmas Day at 7:30pm on BBC One and BBC One HD.

Series 8 - Paternoster Gang Sonic Devices Revealed

Blue Peter have announced the winners and design of the Patermoster Gang (Madame Vastra, Jenny and Strax) Sonic devices, set to appear in the next series of Doctor Who, read on for further details:

Madame Vastra - Sonic Hat Pin
Amber’s winning device for Madame Vastra was a Sonic Hat Pin that works as a remote control for her carriage, but can also turn into a sonic sword that increases in size with the flick of a special switch.

Steven Moffat said: "The Sonic Hat Pin is a glorious idea. It can actually summon her carriage just by plucking it out of her hat, and she can lock it as well. It’s funny, it makes absolute sense and it’s got a little dinosaurs feather in it, which sells it to me."

Jenny Flint - Sonic Gauntlet
Connor designed a Sonic Gauntlet for use by Jenny Flint. His intricate gauntlet design included a tumbler to make locks fall apart, a radioactivity measurer and receiver dish and a watch that shows the conductivity of metal in a lock.

Judge Steven Moffat said that Connor’s design was a multi-purpose toolkit that fits in your arm and can do a whole manner of things: "We love this because it looks really cool; it looks quite steam punk - it looks Victorian, but looks technological at the same time and I can just imagine Jenny Flint when she goes out in the morning needing something like that on her arm."

Strax - Sonic Lorgnette
Arthur’s design was a Sonic Lorgnette - a pair of handheld eyeglasses - for Commander Strax. It includes an x-ray lens for seeing inside people and objects, a thermal lens for detecting people and a sonic light.

Steven Moffat said that this was a beautiful design which was perfect for Strax: "You feel you want to pick it up and hold it, but it’s also about the other side of his life because - of course - Strax is a nurse and this allows him to examine his patients and see what’s wrong with them. I think it will be very funny seeing Strax’s big clumsy hands holding that."

The devices are set to feature in series eight of Doctor Who, which filming will begin for in January before it premieres in Autumn 2014. Doctor Who will, however, return on Christmas Day in The Time of the Doctor - the last to feature Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor - at 7:30pm on BBC One and BBC One HD.

The Time of the Doctor - DVD & Blu-ray Covers & Details

BBC DVD have revealed the covers and details of the release of the Doctor Who 2013 Christmas special The Time of the Doctor onto DVD and Blu-ray, which also includes the 2010-2012 Christmas specials featuring the Eleventh Doctor, read on for further details:

This must-have release for fans of Matt Smith’s incarnation of the Doctor will also feature for the first time in one box his other Christmas specials from throughout his four years in the role.

THE TIME OF THE DOCTOR
Orbiting a quiet backwater planet, the massed forces of the universe’s deadliest species gather, drawn to a mysterious message that echoes out to the stars. And amongst them - the Doctor. Rescuing Clara from a family Christmas dinner, the Time Lord and his best friend must learn what this enigmatic signal means for his own fate and that of the universe. 

EXTRAS
Behind the Lens
Tales from the Tardis
Farewell to Matt Smith

ALSO INCLUDED
2010 Christmas Special: A Christmas Carol
2011 Christmas Special: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe
2012 Christmas Special: The Snowmen

The Doctor Who: The Time of the Doctor & Other Eleventh Doctor Christmas Specials set is on sale from 20th January 2014 priced £13.99 on DVD format and £17.49 on Blu-ray format.

The Time of the Doctor - Trailer 2

A second trailer promoting the upcoming Doctor Who Christmas special The Time of the Doctor is currently airing on BBC America in the United States in between show breaks, you can watch it above. Doctor Who: The Time of the Doctor will broadcast Christmas Day at 9:00pm/8C on BBC America in the U.S and 7:30pm on BBC One and BBC One HD in the UK.

Doctor Who Magazine - Issue 468

The cover and details of this month's edition of Doctor Who magazine:

Doctor Who magazine joins in the festive spirit with a bumper-sized 100-page Christmas issue, previewing The Time of the Doctor and celebrating a landmark…

To celebrate the fact that Christmas Day will see the broadcast of the 800th episode of Doctor Who, the mag comes complete with a HUGE double sided-poster - one side celebrating Matt Smith’s years as the Doctor, and the other featuring images from every single episode - all 800 of them! - since the series began.

ALSO IN ISSUE 468...

• The Time of the Doctor - a preview of the Christmas Special, with exclusive new photographs.
• Steven Moffat talks exclusively to DWM in an in-depth interview.
• The life and times of Doctor Who’s first writer, Anthony Coburn.
• DWM tells the previously unknown story of one of the men instrumental in the creation of Doctor Who: CE ‘Bunny’ Webber.
• The DWM Review of 2013.
• The Watcher’s Guide to the Eleventh Doctor.
• A look back at the Doctor Who Celebration at the ExCeL.
• A Christmas Carol - an in-depth guide to Matt Smith’s first Chrismas Special.
• Production Notes - showrunner Steven Moffat talks candidly about the biggest day of his career.
• Pay the Piper: Part 1 - a brand new comic strip.
• Author Jacqueline Rayner looks back on Doctor Who’s Christmas past.
• The Time Team watch 2007′s Voyage of the Damned.
• The Watcher’s Fiendishly Festive Christmas Quiz!
• Competitions, puzzles, and much more!

Issue 468 of Doctor Who magazine is on sale from today at all good newsagents until 8th January 2014 priced £5.99 per copy.

Doctor Who Adventures - Issue 335

The cover and details of this fortnight's edition of Doctor Who Adventures magazine:

Doctor Who Adventures’ Christmas issue is packed with festive fun! There’s an exciting preview of the Christmas special episode, loads of Doctor Who facts, top 10 festive frights, a special Christmas comic, a Blippar feature to watch their comic artist draw the Doctor, fun puzzles, drawing challenges, quizzes and terrifying posters.

Plus, it comes with free Alien Attax cards and a free exclusive Dalek Card, only available in Doctor Who Adventures magazine!

Issue 335 of Doctor Who Adventures magazine is on sale now at all good newsagents until 30th December priced £2.99 per copy.

The Time of the Doctor - Trailer

A new trailer advertising the upcoming Doctor Who Christmas special The Time of the Doctor is currently airing on various BBC channels in between show breaks, you can watch it above. Doctor Who: The Time of the Doctor will broadcast Christmas Day at 7:30pm on BBC One and BBC One HD.

Character Building - New Series & Display Brix Boxes

Character Options have revealed their next series of Doctor Who Character Building micro-figures, which now come in a blind display brix box, read on for further details:

Collect, build and now display your Doctor Who micro-figure collection with Character Building micro-figure Display Brix. There are 12 highly detailed and fully articulated Doctor Who micro-figures to collect featuring key characters from the hit TV show.

Each constructable Doctor Who micro-figure is sealed within a large building brick so you never know which character you are going to get! Simply construct your micro-figure and place it inside the transparent Display Brix for all your friends to see.

Build amazing towers and huge displays of micro-figures by stacking the Display Brix on top of each other. You can even combine Display Brix with any building brick or playset so you can have hours of building fun! Collect’em, build’em, display’em!

The new series Doctor Who Character Building mirco-figures are on sale later this month at all good toystores priced £1.99 each.

The Time of the Doctor & Series 8 - Latest Info

A round-up of the latest news regarding the upcoming Doctor Who Christmas special and the show's next series:

ELEVENTH DOCTOR IN HIS FINAL BODY
In an interview with Radio Times, Steven Moffat revealed that the Doctor is actually in his thirteenth and final body as a Time Lord, saying "We’ll find out that Matt Smith is actually the Thirteenth Doctor. Although everyone knows that the Doctor can only regenerate twelve times."

Moffat states that the existence of the meta-crisis Tenth Doctor from the series four final Journey's End from a semi-regeneration and the War Doctor from The Day of the Doctor have meant that the Doctor has now used up all of his lives. "The twelve regenerations limit is a central part of Doctor Who mythology - science fiction is all about rules, you can’t just casually break them. So if the Doctor can never change again, what’s Peter Capaldi doing in the Christmas special?"

Doctor Who: The Time of the Doctor will broadcast Christmas Day at 7:30pm on BBC One and BBC One HD.

SERIES 8 NOT TO BE SPLIT
At the Eleventh Doctor BFI celebration last night, Steven Moffat has confirmed that series eight, the first to feature Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor, will not be split into two different broadcast times - a pattern that was used for Doctor Who's sixth and seventh series - and instead have an uninterrupted run. The series - said to feature "at least" thirteen episodes - begins filming next month and will premiere Autumn 2014 on BBC One and BBC One HD.

The Time of the Doctor - New Promo

The BBC have released the 'movie poster' promo image advertising the upcoming Doctor Who 2013 Christmas special The Time of the Doctor, you can view it above. Doctor Who: The Time of the Doctor will broadcast Christmas Day at 7:30pm on BBC One and BBC One HD.

The Other Doctor Action Figure - FP Exclusive

Character Options have revealed details of a new 5" Doctor Who action figure, exclusive to Forbidden Planet, read on for further details:

THE OTHER DOCTOR
As seen in the 50th anniversary episode The Day of the Doctor, the ‘Other Doctor’ is the Doctor’s dark chapter, a hitherto unknown incarnation whose existence he has spent centuries repressing, a secret he wants no one to know of.

He is a relic of the past, part of the great Time War, when he spent centuries fighting alongside his fellow Time Lords against the Daleks and made the final decision to end it with a desperate act that cost that incarnation the right to use the name “Doctor”. This haunted and battle-worn Other Doctor is finally forgiven after helping find a new solution to end the war, giving the Eleventh Doctor a new purpose as he heads into further adventures.

Accessories
Sonic Screwdriver
The Moment Box
Swappable 8th Doctor's Head

The Other Doctor action figure is on sale from 28th February 2014 exclusively at Forbidden Planet stores priced £14.99 per purchase.

The Day of the Doctor - Most Watched Drama of 2013

The BBC have released the official viewing figures for the Doctor Who 50th anniversary special The Day of the Doctor, read on for further details:

The 50th anniversary special of Doctor Who has topped the chart as the most watched drama in 2013, as confirmed by consolidated figures released today. 

12.8 million have now watched The Day of the Doctor since its premier on 23rd November, with an additional 2.9 million requests so far on BBC iPlayer.  The one off special is the most requested programme ever on iPlayer in 24 hours with 1.27 million requests, beating the Olympic opening ceremony, and is also the most tweeted about drama ever generating 442,692 tweets.

Starring Matt Smith, David Tennant and Jenna Coleman with Billie Piper and John Hurt, the 75 minute BBC Cymru Wales produced special was seen on BBC One by 10.2 million overnight, with a peak of 10.6 million. 

Writer and executive producer, Steven Moffat, said:  "A stellar rating for the Doctor's birthday. And since it doesn't include online catch-up, or indeed the rest of the world, it's only the end of part one!"

The episode was also shown in 834 cinemas around the world and now holds the record for the largest worldwide TV drama simulcast, airing in 94 countries across 6 continents.

Ben Stephenson, controller of BBC Drama, added: "The Doctor Who 50th was a hugely ambitious event on the BBC and it's only fitting that it has taken the top spot as the highest rating drama across all channels this year.  It's a fantastic tribute to both Steven Moffat and the creativity of all those involved in the show throughout its history.  Next stop the regeneration at Christmas!"

The drama generated 442,692 tweets with the conversation peaking at 12,939 tweets per minute during the opening moments of the broadcast - these stats are measured for the half an hour before, duration and for the half an hour after the programme airs. 

Doctor Who: The Day of the Doctor is available to buy now on DVD and Blu-ray, more information on that can be found in a previous post. In other news: The BBC have confirmed that start time of the upcoming Doctor Who Christmas special as 7:30pm, which will air Christmas Day on BBC One and BBC One HD.

Series 8 - New Companion to Join?

In the heat of the upcoming 2013 Doctor Who Christmas special and the on-going pre-production of series eight, there have been persistent rumours about a new male companion to join the Twelfth Doctor and Clara in the next series of the show.

The supposed new companion - known only as Tom as of current - has already made a brief appearance in the recent 50th anniversary special The Day of the Doctor as a fellow teacher  of  Clara at Coal Hill School played by Tristan Beint, who is aware of the rumours himself and on Twitter tweeted the following in reply to a follower:

“Are you sure Tom could ever compete with a Time Lord though..? Oho… Keep watching.”

And in other reply where the follower asked if his character would form a relationship with Clara:

“Now, now, spoilers… But #tomwald, like it. Pass that on to Mr Moffat…”

All of the above is yet to be officially confirmed by the BBC. Doctor Who returns with The Time of the Doctor Christmas Day on BBC One and BBC One HD, a time is yet to be confirmed.