Doctor Who News is looking for volunteers to help maintain the various sections of the website.

We are looking for people who are able to offer a real commitment to the site and who have sound editorial judgment. Some knowledge of internet publishing would be useful.

We are looking for people to write up news items for the website. This includes stories based on press releases as well as originating material. We are also looking for people interested in keeping our events guide up to date.

We are also looking for people to contribute to the News In Time and Space site.

If you are interested in helping out please send a brief summary of what you believe can bring to the site to applications@newsintimeandspace.com

Doctor Who returns to television screens around the world this weekend, and Doctor Who News will be here to bring you all the latest updates on the new series and well as information from the show's 52 year history.

Immediately after the UK broadcast of The Magician's Apprentice, we will release a review of the episode, on Doctor Who Reviews. This will contain spoilers from the episode and should be avoided until after you have managed to watch the episode.
NB: The site already contains over 2000 reviews from episodes throughout the show's history as well as Big Finish Audio adventures and Titan Comics.

We will avoid spoilers from each episode on the News page until Sunday morning, by which time the episode will have been broadcast in the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, as well as in the UK. A full list of the broadcast times can be found on This Week in Doctor Who

We hope to have initial ratings information on Sunday morning, with consolidated figures following a week later. Full ratings information for the whole series can be found in the Doctor Who Guide. The guide also contains a full cast for the series, and this will be updated shortly after transmission to include details of each character in the story.

Doctor Who News can be followed on Facebook and Twitter, Google+, and a mobile version of the site is available for phones and for tablet devices.

To celebrate the tenth anniversary of Doctor Who returning to our screens, Doctor Who News commissioned artist Deborah Taylor to draw a celebratory image involving all the Doctors from 2005 onwards. They are joined by their companions, including one who simply left a message for her "sweetie"...

Competition

We have an 18" by 24" print of the art work available to give away. In order to be in with a chance of winning, answer the following question:
Please send your answer along with your name and address to comp-artwork@doctorwhonews.net with the subject "Fantastic!". The competition is open world-wide, closing date: 14th May 2015. Only one entry per household will be accepted.

The Doctor Who Guide, part of Doctor Who News, has recently been updated to include details of every Doctor Who episode ever shown.

The guide now contains full cast and crew lists, with each episode checked against transmitted credit lists and official BBC paperwork to include every actor, including extras, known to have appeared in the programme. Details of original transmission times and ratings are available, complete with a list of every known UK repeat of the show.

The guide also includes details of Torchwood, The Sarah Jane Adventures and K-9 as well as a comprehensive guide to the many factual TV and Radio programmes dedicated to Doctor Who.

Over the coming year we hope to expand the guide to include descriptions for each character to have appeared in the series. We welcome submissions of a short biography about each role to the site. Simply pick a character from the main index for which the description in missing, and write a short guide to that character. Data should be verified and the text should be original. A name credit will be given to each submitted entry used on the site. Send submissions to guide@doctorwhonews.net

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A reminder that Doctor Who News and the Doctor Who Guide is available as a iPhone/iPad App.

The free app gives users access to the complete archive of Doctor Who News stories, dating back to 1997, via the search option on the main news page.

The App is available free from the iTunes store.

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An ad-free version of the app is also available for a small charge.

Doctor Who News is now available on the updated iPhone/iPad App.

The revised version of the free app gives users access to the complete archive of Doctor Who News stories, dating back to 1997, via the search option on the main news page. The next release, due at the end of the month will allow searches on the reviews page.

As well as updated news, with push alerts for every new news story published, the App includes a complete guide to every Doctor Who story ever broadcast as well as information on the various spin-off series and documentaries based on the show.

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The App is available free from the iTunes store.

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An add free version of the app is also available for a small charge.

Back in November, Doctor Who was awarded the Guinness World record for the largest ever simulcast for a television episode, officially reported as 94 countries. Though a number of those fall within the reach of BBC Worldwide's Entertainment and HD channels, there are still a wide variety of television channels around the world that broadcast the show!

Originally launched in 1998 by Benjamin Francis Elliott, This Week in Doctor Who continues to report on where Doctor Who and its related programmes are shown; however, whilst we are aware of many international broadcasts, there are certainly other non-English channels that we have yet to catalogue. Also, even though we do cover a number of worldwide channels through their online listings, these don't always provide much detail on which episodes are actually being shown (or in some cases are misleading).

We would like to hear from any of our international readers (i.e. outside of the United Kingdom) who are able to assist in reporting on what is actually being broadcast in their countries, whether these include advertising, are cut, subtitled, dubbed, etc., and also local coverage of the show in the media which isn't always available online. In addition, we would like to know about general Doctor Who news within those countries, and welcome anyone who might wish to write articles for Doctor Who News itself.

If you are interested in contributing to This Week in Doctor Who and Doctor Who News then please contact us via our applications address, letting us know which country you are from and what's happening Doctor Who-wise locally.

Thanks for any help you can provide.
The Doctor Who News Team

We would also like to increase our pool of reviewers for Doctor Who (and other series) related publications, audio, and other merchandise; if you might be interested in writing reviews then please let us know at the above email address.

We are looking for new volunteers to assist with the Doctor Who News and News in Time and Space websites, taking on responsibility for reporting news items and/or writing reviews of related merchandise. Reporters from any country are welcome, but we are especially interested in those from outside the main five (UK, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) who will be able to provide 'regional' news or details on events that is not necessarily available or obvious to English-speaking countries.

In addition we are also interested in hearing from anyone who is able to assist in compiling our broadcasting schedules for This Week in Doctor Who, updating with when Doctor Who or related shows are on air in their regions.

As well as current items, there is a wealth of legacy data that is still being incorporated into our Guide and This Week in Doctor Who, and if you are able to help in updating entries such as cast/crew biographies, broadcasts etc. we'd also like to hear from you.

If you are interested in becoming part of the team please do drop us a line outlining what you can help out with to applications@newsintimeandspace.com.

It is now traditional for the Doctor to entertain us on Christmas Day - and for Doctor Who News to run its Christmas Ratings Competition!



This year, The Snowmen will be broadcast at 5:15pm, and will be facing ITV1's New You've Been Framed (5:00pm), Emmerdale (5:30pm), and Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs (6:00pm). Other programmes include films The Fellowship of the Ring (Channel 4 from 5:40pm) and The Santa Incident (Channel 5 from 5:25pm), and a documentary Sister Wendy and the Art of the Gospel (BBC2, from 5:25pm).

The Prize:

We are delighted to be able to invite the winner to a recording of a Big Finish audio adventure - the recording, which will feature Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor, will take place on 21st January 2013 (see terms and conditions below).

An alternative prize will be available to the winner should they be unable to attend the recording.

Entering The Competition:

To enter the competition, please send the following details to xmas-competition@doctorwhonews.net:

• Your name and email address
• Your country (full address will only be requested if you are a winner)
• An alternative contact number (in case we cannot reach you through email)
• Confirmation of being able to attend the Big Finish recording (see terms and conditions)
• Where you read about this competition
• And of course ... your guess for the final viewing figure!

Previous Ratings / Current Odds:

For comparison, the ratings for the previous Christmas Day episodes in recent years are as follows: The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe (10.77m), A Christmas Carol (12.11m), The End Of Time: Part One (12.04m), The Next Doctor (13.10m), Voyage of the Damned (13.31m), The Runaway Bride (9.30m), The Christmas Invasion (9.84m).

The Snowmen is currently considered to be the second-most favourite to top the Christmas TV ratings, according to William Hill. Odds given at the time of writing are 4/1 (up from 5/1 earlier in the week), with the runaway favourite being EastEnders at 1/2. Downton Abbey is third at 5/1, with the other major soap Coronation Street at 8/1. Other shows expected to do well are The Royle Family (10/1) and Call the Midwife (14/1). For the ITV1 programmes in direct opposition to Doctor Who, New You've Been Framed is 100/1, Emmerdale is 40/1, and Paul O'Grady is 50/1.

Terms And Conditions:

• The competition closes at 6:15pm, 25th December 2012
• Only one entry will be accepted per person.
• The competition is open worldwide - however, please note Big Finish details below.
• BARB figures are expected in early January; we will contact the winner once they have been published.
• In the event of a tie, the winner will be chosen from random from out of our fez.
  
  
• The Big Finish recording will take place at their studio near Hammersmith, London - however, travel and accommodation is not included. You must confirm in your competition entry whether you are able to attend the recording or not - an alternative prize will be offered instead should you be a winner.
• Entrants under the age of 16 must be accompanied by an adult.
• If you do confirm you will be attending, you are also agreeing to keep the confidentiality of any plot details or other information unveiled by Big Finish or the cast.

Since 1998, This Week in Doctor Who has provided a valuable record of Doctor Who transmissions from around world.

Creator and maintainer Benjamin F. Elliott stepped down from compiling the list earlier this year, and Doctor Who News would like to keep his work going by providing a detailed list of where and when you can watch Doctor Who, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures.

To do so we need the help of contributors who would be willing to update our database on a regular basis. We are looking for people who would be willing to take on responsibility for updating a particular channel, especially in countries where we are not represented at present. In return you will get a name credit on the TWIDW page.

 If you would like to help please end us an email to twidw@doctorwhonews.net stating which channel you would be able to update and in which country you live.

Last week we launched a competition to win a copy of the soundtrack to A Christmas Carol by Murray Gold. This is just a reminder to say that you have until Wednesday 6th April to get your entries in.

We have six copies of the CD up for grabs courtesy of Silva Screen Records. To be in for a chance of winning the competition, simply answer this question:

In A Christmas Carol, what is the name of the device that Abigail sings into so that the space liner can land safely?

Send your answer with your name, address and email to us at acc-competition@doctorwhonews.net, with the subject line A Christmas Carol CD Competition.

We have successfully completed our migration to our new home for the Doctor Who News Page, doctorwhonews.net!


The site can now be bookmarked under it's new identity, www.doctorwhonews.net, though any references to the old domain should redirect automatically to the new one (including those that still refer to doctorwhonews.com).


As noted in our original announcement, the news feed address has now changed, too. You can pick the new feed up directly from here, or by using the "Subscribe" button on the sidebar. The feed is populated with our most recent articles.


The only known issue at present is the news search facility which may not pick up new articles for a few days. We believe that all other facilities are functioning okay - however, if you do find anything else that isn't working on the site then please let us know through our feedback address.

(please note previous article recommendation links have reset due to the change of domain - feel free to re-recommend your favourite articles!)

The Doctor Who News Page is to undergo a "regeneration" this coming weekend, moving from our existing blogspot identity to our new doctorwhonews.net domain.

This has been in progress for a few weeks now, with our other sub-sites Doctor Who in the Media and This Week in Doctor Who having already moved under the new naming scheme. Being that the update to the main news site may have a wider effect on readership, we've decided to announce what will happen with the change beforehand.

We do not expect anybody visiting the site to be impacted in any way, as the old address will automatically redirect to the new one. This will include news articles themselves, so any bookmarks should continue to function as before - we would recommend that these links to us are updated in the future, but this is not a high priority.

However, some news applications that utilise our feed may have to be reconfigured to point to the new feed address after the change; whilst Blogger will handle redirection for the feed, some applications may not recognise this and will no longer see articles. The easiest way will be to simply re-subscribe to the new address via our "Subscribe" option on the sidebar after the change has taken place in order to continue receiving the news feed.

We also expect the search facility may suffer some problems until Google catches up with our new indexing, but this should be resolved within a few days after the change.

The switchover to doctorwhonews.net is expected to be made during this coming Saturday morning. As noted above, this should be seamless to those visiting the News Page, but please note that there may be some unforeseen issues that requires us to take the site offline for a little while.

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As part of the new launch, we've introduced two new sections to the news site.

The Competitions section will cater for prizes that can be won, including those offered by the Doctor Who News Page - our latest competition to win a copy of K9 Series One Volume One is now online to enter!

We have also created a Reviews page, which we aim to populate with reviews of new and recently releases merchandise, kicking off with a review of the Doctor Who DVD Meglos.


In addition, we have updated our Events section to give a full guide to Doctor Who events around the world, and welcome submissions to the page at the new address events@doctorwhonews.net.

News items may now be sent to us via submissions@doctorwhonews.net, and links to media coverage can be reported via media@doctorwhonews.net.

A number of news-sites (including ourselves) had reported in the last day or so that the transmission date for the forthcoming Torchwood has been revealed for BBC1 in the UK and Starz in the US.

BBC Marketing have informed us, however, that the "Torchwood" Facebook Page and Twitter feed which purported to 'announce' the series premier date is not an official site as claimed, and has no links to the BBC itself.