Intro Historium Diary Lost Spin-Offs Cast & Crew Site Info

The production history of Doctor Who on television
Click here for the latest news about the Fourteenth Doctor...
... and about the Fifteenth Doctor
Updated
15th
March

2024

I'm delighted to announce that I've joined the podcast team at Toby Hadoke's Time Travels. I'll be writing the Too Much Information series, each installment of which takes a deep dive into the making of a Doctor Who episode -- that's episode, mind you, not story -- in order from the very start in 1963. The podcasts will continue to be presented by the inestimable Toby Hadoke. Toby's own scripts cover episodes up to the end of Marco Polo, almost all of which are now available on Spotify, iTunes, and elsewhere. My first two scripts, for the opening episodes of The Keys Of Marinus, have been released exclusively on Patreon, with the wider releases following in the coming months. If you'd like to explore the early days of Doctor Who in much more detail than I cover here on A Brief History Of Time (Travel), please check out Too Much Information!


15th March 2024: It has been announced that the episodes of Season Forty will premiere on BBC iPlayer at midnight on Saturday mornings, and simultaneously around the world on Disney Plus. A linear broadcast will then follow on BBC One later that evening. The first two episodes will air on May 11th, with a new episode then premiering each of the following six weeks.

18th February 2024: The rumoured identity of the fifth director for 2025's Season Forty-One has been noted.

5th February 2024: Twenty-eight-day viewing figures have been added for The Star Beast, Wild Blue Yonder and The Giggle. The biography of Michael Jayston has been updated to reflect the sad news of his passing.

2nd February 2024: The episodes being made as part of the second and third recording blocks for 2025's Season Forty-One have been revealed. A biography has been added for Amanda Brotchie, whose involvement as a Season Forty-One director has now been confirmed.

22nd January 2024: And now a rumoured -- but also as-yet-unconfirmed -- fourth director for 2025's Season Forty-One has been noted.

10th January 2024: A rumoured -- but as-yet-unconfirmed -- third director for 2025's Season Forty-One has been noted.

8th January 2024: The seven-day viewing figure and more accurate start time for The Church On Ruby Road have been updated.

6th January 2024: Belatedly added a note about the novelisation of Planet Of The Ood to Keith Temple's biography.

4th January 2024: Happy New Year! The appreciation index figure for The Church On Ruby Road has been added.

27th December 2023: A short biography of Julian Bleach has been added.

25th December 2023: Basic information for The Church On Ruby Road has been added, along with the month during which Season Forty will air in 2024, and an additional returning castmember. The biography of Richard Franklin has been updated to reflect the sad news of his passing.

20th December 2023: A short biography of Karl Collins has been added.

18th December 2023: The seven-day viewing figure and more accurate start time for The Giggle have been updated. More guest cast for The Church On Ruby Road has been added. The title of the second episode of Season Forty has been updated, along with the identity of the episode co-written by Kate Herron and Briony Redman.

12th December 2023: The seven-day viewing figure and more accurate start time for Wild Blue Yonder have been updated.

11th December 2023: The appreciation index figure for The Giggle has been added.

9th December 2023: Basic information for The Giggle has been added. If you haven't seen it, this means that there are now major spoilers littered throughout the site!

5th December 2023: The seven-day viewing figure and more accurate start time for The Star Beast have been updated. The scheduled start time for The Church On Ruby Road has been added, alongside a synopsis and additional guest cast.

4th December 2023: The appreciation index figure for Wild Blue Yonder has been added.

2nd December 2023: Basic information for Wild Blue Yonder has been added. The long-missing 28-day viewing figure for The Power Of The Doctor has also been posted.

30th November 2023: Guest cast have been added to The Church On Ruby Road.

28th November 2023: The appreciation index figure for The Star Beast has been added.

25th November 2023: Basic information for The Star Beast has been added. A synopsis for The Giggle has been sourced from the BBC.

24th November 2023: An additional guest castmember has been added to Wild Blue Yonder, and a synopsis has been sourced from the BBC.

23rd November 2023: Happy Doctor Who Day! The entry for An Adventure In Space And Time has been updated to reflect a recent development in its repeat broadcasts. It's also been confirmed that Season Forty-One will air in the Spring of 2025.

22nd November 2023: The transmission time for The Giggle has been confirmed. A more detailed synopsis for The Star Beast has been sourced from the BBC.

18th November 2023: Information has been added concerning the first two directors for the Fifteenth Doctor's second block of episodes: Alex Pillai and Peter Hoar.

17th November 2023: Basic information for Children In Need Special (2023) has been added.

16th November 2023: The transmission time for Wild Blue Yonder has been confirmed. Additional guest cast has been added to The Star Beast, and a synopsis has been sourced from the Radio Times.

13th November 2023: The BBC has announced a new mini-episode, Children In Need Special (2023), which will air on November 17th; the biography page for director Jamie Donoughue has also been updated. Separately, a page has also been added for the 2024 Christmas special.

10th November 2023: The transmission time for The Star Beast has been confirmed.

9th November 2023: Additional confirmed castmembers have been added for The Star Beast and The Giggle.

6th November 2023: The title and airdate of the 2023 Christmas special have been revealed.

30th October 2023: The announcement of Tales Of The TARDIS on BBC iPlayer has provoked updates to the biographies for Maureen O'Brien, Peter Purves, Frazer Hines, Wendy Padbury, Katy Manning, Janet Fielding, Peter Davison, Nicola Bryant, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred, Daniel Anthony, Phil Ford and Pete McTighe. I've also made small updates to the biographies for Sarah Sutton and Bonnie Langford, since I had overlooked their in-character appearances in the Blu-ray trailers.

25th October 2023: The broadcast dates have been announced for the three specials featuring the Fourteenth Doctor.

24th October 2023: Added short biographies for newly-announced Season Forty writers Kate Herron and Briony Redman.

23rd October 2023: Added confirmation that production has begun on Season Forty-One and the 2024 Christmas special.

16th October 2023: Removed erroneous information about Joe Ahearne's birth date.

6th October 2023: Added a note to David Whitaker's profile about a forthcoming biography written by Simon Guerrier.

23rd September 2023: An additional returning castmember has been revealed to be appearing alongside the Fourteenth Doctor, and the identity of Neil Patrick Harris' villain in the same specials has been confirmed. Also, corrected an error in the locations map for Robot, with thanks to John Bowman.

14th September 2023: Added a member of the guest cast for The Star Beast.

24th August 2023: Expanded a Lost Stories entry on an untitled script by Jamie Mathieson.

22nd August 2023: Added the BBC's confirmation that Season Forty is scheduled to broadcast from Spring 2024.

8th August 2023: Added Diary entries to provide a skeleton of the production of those episodes aired in 2020 and January 2021 (with acknowledgements to the Doctor Who Magazine supplement The Making Of Series 12 by Andrew Pixley).

7th August 2023: Added Diary entries to provide a skeleton of the production of those episodes aired in 2018 and 2019 (with acknowledgements to the Doctor Who Magazine supplement The Making Of Series 11 by Andrew Pixley).

25th July 2023: Updated Donald Cotton's biography (with acknowledgements to Lucas Testro's articles in Doctor Who Magazine #581), as well as the entries for The Myth Makers and The Gunfighters; also added a previously-unlisted alternative title for The War Machines.

24th July 2023: Not a site update per se, but a shout-out to a new website worth checking out: Doctor Who Reviewer.

23rd July 2023: Information about their 2022 novelisations have been added to the biographies of David Fisher and Rona Munro.

20th July 2023: Updated Derrick Goodwin's biography (with acknowledgements to the obituary written by Catherine Cartwright for The Guardian).

19th July 2023: More detail added regarding the gestation of 42.

17th July 2023: More detail added to the profile of Henry Lincoln (with acknowledgements to the obituary written by Simon Guerrier for Doctor Who Magazine #576); added Lost Stories entries on “The Lost Power Of Abraxis”, “The Queen Of Strangers” by Alan McDonald, “The Talisman Of Zakarus” by Rod Beacham, and “Whitewolf” by John Buckeridge.

15th July 2023: Added confirmation that production has now concluded on the Fifteenth Doctor's first season.

14th July 2023: Added Lost Stories entries on “The Count Of Vladimir” by Colin Davis, “Elektaron Five” by Peter Howell, “Music Of The Spheres” by Paul Norris and David Gottlieb, “The Pool Of Death” by Chris Boucher, “A Tree In Eden” by Joan Paget, an untitled story idea by Wendy Graham, and an untitled storyline by Mark Morris; and updated the entries on “Hex”, “Leviathan”, “The Macro Men”, and “Power Play”.

13th July 2023: Added a Lost Stories entry on “Mind Of The Hodiac” by Russell T Davies.

9th July 2023: Jacob Anderson's candidacy for the role of Rory Williams has been added to The Eleventh Hour.

7th July 2023: Additional information has been added about the circumstances surrounding John Bishop being cast as Dan Lewis (with acknowledgements to Emily Cook's interview, published in Doctor Who Magazine #569).

5th July 2023: More detail added to the profile of Jackie Lane (with acknowledgements to the obituary written by Jonathan Rigby for Doctor Who Magazine #567).

2nd July 2023: More detail added to the profile of Frank Cox (with acknowledgements to the obituary written by Oliver Wake for Doctor Who Magazine #565).

1st July 2023: Clarified the involvement of Chris Baker and Graeme Harper with The Brain Of Morbius.

30th June 2023: Corrected the military organisations involved with making The Mind Of Evil.

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