Happy New Year from everyone at the Doctor Who Companion!

A new year, a new Doctor, a new companion, a new TARDIS… The world of Doctor Who — or The Whoniverse as it’s now called — is certainly expanding, as the show and the franchise bounds over its 60th anniversary and heads forward into an uncertain but nonetheless exciting future.

So what does 2024 hold for Doctor Who? We know at least that we have Series 14 coming up, comprised of 8 episodes, followed by a festive special, likely on Christmas Day 2024. Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor will continue to unravel the mysteries of his new companion, Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson), not to mention her neighbour, Mrs Flood (Anita Dobson). Their first adventure together, The Church on Ruby Road, is even being turned into a Target novelisation, as are the three 60th anniversary stories, The Star Beast, Wild Blue Yonder, and The Giggle, which featured David Tennant’s Fourteenth Doctor and Catherine Tate as Donna Noble.

We expect more Target adaptations to be forthcoming — perhaps even of Series 14 soon after broadcast, though that is pure speculation at this stage.

Big Finish and BBC Audio have many titles lined up for 2024, with audio stories for all the Doctors. Similarly, expect lots of new books from the likes of Candy Jar and Obverse Books. And there’ll be conventions galore, including the Bedford Who Charity Con, organised by our very own Simon!

We’ll likely see more episodes of behind-the-scenes show, Doctor Who Unleashed, accompanying each installment of Series 14. And are we going to start calling it “Doctor Who Series 1″? Don’t hold your breath…

So how are you feeling about the new year, DWC readers? Got any special plans? And what are you most looking forward to in 2024?

Personally speaking, I’m in an odd place with Doctor Who. After loving it for so long, I feel quite distanced from it, and while I’d hoped Tennant and Tate’s return, with showrunner Russell T Davies, would pull me back in, that hasn’t happened. Instead, I’ve found myself annoyed at decisions made seemingly just to annoy fans and casual viewers alike. It seems a bit pointless. I remain hopeful that things will change; certainly Ncuti and Millie are magnetic enough. So we shall see.

As ever, the DWC will be here every step of the way, with all the latest news, plus reviews, features, fiction, and more. So do stay tuned, won’t you?

Merry Christmas from everyone here at the Doctor Who Companion!

We hope you’re having a wonderful Christmas Day, and are getting excited about The Church on Ruby Road, Ncuti Gatwa’s first full episode as the Fifteenth Doctor, coming later today.

But if you’re looking for something to read over the festivities, we’ve got you covered — with The Doctor Who Companion Annual 2024!

It’s completely free to download and includes a range of features, reviews, and short stories, all exclusive to the DWC, and completely free. All you have to do is download the PDF.

To download the Doctor Who Companion Annual 2024, just click here!

This is the fourth DWC Annual, filled with goodies. As far as we know, we’re the only Doctor Who site to give readers an annual treat like this, and we’re pretty chuffed about that. There are features new and old, short stories written just for this annual, and reviews round-ups of this year’s episodes, The Star Beast, Wild Blue Yonder, and The Giggle, as well as The Daleks in Colour, rounding off Doctor Who‘s 60th anniversary year. Our short stories, featuring the Sixth, Eleventh, and Fourteenth Doctors, are celebratory affairs too, and the bookending ones both ring in the new year. But you don’t have to save them for then: you can dig in right now!

Click here to download the free PDF.

The PDF should simply open up in a new browser tab.

Stay tuned to the DWC across the festivities for more features, reviews, and news, as well as our traditional poll after The Church on Ruby Road tonight…!

Have a great Christmas, folks.

Today (26^th March 2023), the Doctor Who Companion celebrates its seventh birthday. That feels quite mad, honestly. As you might or might not know, the DWC was created after Kasterborous seemingly sunk and the displaced crew was looking for somewhere else to enthuse about Doctor Who. I began writing for Kasterborous in 2011 and the DWC launched in 2016; while the K has been going long before that (indeed, I was an avid visitor and pitched to its editor, Christian Cawley – who, I’m happy to say, has become a good friend – based on my years of reading), I’ve now technically been working on the DWC longer than I had on Kasterborous.

The DWC launched on the anniversary of Rose airing, so today also marks a celebration for 21st Century Who.

Seven years, though. There’s something curious about seven years, isn’t there? There’s the old adage of the “seven-year itch”, of course, but you can find patterns and cycles relating to that number all over. Astrology, chakras, religions, science, psychology: all find seven-year milestones to be important. Our very minds and bodies change in seven years.

So what’s changed for Doctor Who in seven years? Everything and nothing, perhaps.

Fundamentally, it’s the exact same show and franchise as it was in 2016, as it was in 2005, as it was in 1989, as it was in 1963. To survive that long, of course, it’s got to change, although I shirk at that notion that “Doctor Who is all about change”. To me, “the more things change, the more they stay the same” is more so true. Doctor Who is about a traveller in all time and space fixing wrongs and fighting monsters. There it is. That’s true of every era: if it weren’t, it wouldn’t be Doctor Who.

The DWC debuted at a difficult period in Doctor Who, i.e. in the long gap between The Husbands of River Song and The Return of Doctor Mysterio, so the latter was the first episode screened while the DWC existed; but we’ve gone through more difficult periods since, both in the show and behind the scenes.

Still, in those seven years, we’ve had 45 episodes, from the aforementioned Return of Doctor Mysterio to The Power of the Doctor, including some classic stories like:

• The Pilot
• Oxygen
• World Enough and Time/ The Doctor Falls
• Rosa
• Fugitive of the Judoon
• The Haunting of Villa Diodati
• Village of the Angels

We’ve had quite a few Doctors: Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor, David Bradley (sort of) as the First Doctor, Jodie Whittaker as the first female Doctor, Jo Martin as the Fugitive Doctor, seemingly endless Timeless Children, David Tennant as the Fourteenth Doctor (albeit briefly so far, in the cliffhanger of The Power of the Doctor), and, looking ahead, Ncuti Gatwa as the Fifteenth Doctor.

That’s the most significant thing to happen to Doctor Who: two complete changes of era in less than a decade. Steven Moffat handed the reins over to Chris Chibnall, and then, when Chibnall left, Russell T Davies made an unexpected return as showrunner. A surprising turn of events.

I think it’s fair to say that Chibnall’s era of the programme has been divisive, arguably more divisive than any other, at least in recent times. Personally, it made me fall out of love with Doctor Who — something I never really thought would happen — so maintaining this site has been tough, especially since Andrew Reynolds, the DWC’s co-founder, left and some personal issues raised their ugly heads. So what’s carried me on?

This team, of course. Or more accurately, this community.

I want to thank everyone who has contributed to the Doctor Who Companion in whatever capacity in the past seven years, whether they be writers, advisors, commenters, or readers. You all make the DWC what it is today.

The Doctor Who Companion started with a solid readership, grew pretty quickly, I’m proud to say, and has generally kept at a good level with a few slight and mercifully brief dips in readership. In one astonishing day in 2020, we had our most views ever: over 22,096. No one expected that, certainly not me. It’s overwhelming and means that, at the time of writing, the DWC has had 3,254,710 all-time views.

As for the number of news articles, reviews, features, and more we’ve published in seven years, that’s hardly to pin down. A few years ago, we migrated servers and lost a lot of content — it still exists, but in a back-up that’s hard to retrieve and sync with the current site. Even without those pieces, however, we’ve published 3,283 articles. Well, 3,284 now!

And of course, we’ve got a lot more planned in the future, including some exciting features across Easter.

If you’d like to write for the DWC, please do get in touch with us — doctorwhocompanion@outlook.com — and if you don’t hear back, our spam filters have been working in overtime, so prod me here in the comments section. We’re always open to more contributors, more voices, more thoughts, so contact us if you want to write one article, occasional features, or regularly. Whatever is on your mind.

Thank you for sticking with us, everyone. The best is yet to come!

Happy New Year, dear readers, from everyone at the DWC!

2023 is an exciting year to say the least. Doctor Who will celebrate its 60th anniversary, and we’ve got a new/old combination of Russell T Davies returning as showrunner and David Tennant coming back as the Doctor. But don’t think that everything will run as expected: Tennant isn’t the Tenth Doctor again; nor is he the Metacrisis Doctor. He’s the Fourteenth Doctor, with Ncuti Gatwa coming in later this year as the Fifteenth.

Not only that but Doctor Who will be coming to Disney+ around the world (but will stay on the BBC in the UK), so that’s a serious vote of confidence from the House of Mouse.

We know we’re getting three specials in 2023, which does seem a tad sad, considering it’s a celebratory year, but David knows what he’s doing, so let’s have faith that Doctor Who will take over the world again, as it did the show’s 50th anniversary in 2013.

Speaking personally, I hope the upcoming eras revive my love of the programme. I know everyone has times where they drift in and out of Doctor Who (heck, even Peter Capaldi admitted to falling out of love with it for a time), so fingers crossed I feel like the show connects with me again. 2022 has been an odd year — lots of good and lots of bad, but I guess that’s always the way, isn’t it?

I’m not one for New Year’s resolutions generally (they always boil down to “be a better person”), but I know I aim to simplify my life in some ways in 2023; in other ways, I aim to take more stuff on. Hopefully, I can make it through the muddle and report back in 2024 with fresh outlooks. So what about you, DWC readers? Do you have aims for the next 12 months? What are you most looking forward to in 2023?

Whatever happens, the DWC will be there with you, a companion every step of the way.

You can now download a brand new e-book, Six Festive Objects of Dr Who, completely free!

I wrote this short collection for Candy Jar Books to tie into 100 Objects of Dr Who, giving you a taster of the sort of stuff you’ll find inside 100 Objects and as a thank you to everyone who has already bought the book. This Christmassy title was first sent out by Candy Jar on Christmas Eve to all the company’s mailing list, but you can read it on the DWC too.

I love Martin Baines’ cover — evocative, nostalgic, warm, and above all, very festive.

To download Six Festive Objects of Dr Who, just click here!

The six objects include:

• The Fourth Wall: Exploring all the times Doctor Who has broken that divide between its fictional world and the one we inhabit, as inspired by the very first Christmas episode, The Feast of Steven.
• The Immortality Gate: From The End of Time, David Tennant’s swansong story as the Tenth Doctor, I use this as a launchpad to explore all the times Tennant has actually returned to Doctor Who since leaving.
• Rose’s Red Bicycle: She was given this by Father Christmas — or maybe by the Ninth Doctor — when she was 12. So does Santa Clause actually exist in the Doctor Who universe?

It was great fun to write, particularly as I love festive books. Knowing that I’d be able to give people this little gift for Christmas feels very special, even if only one person actually reads it.

To open and/or download this free PDF, simply click here.

Here’s the blurb for 100 Objects:

“So, all of time and space, everything that ever happened or ever will: where do you want to start…?”

100 Objects of Dr Who is a celebration of everyone’s favourite sci-fi show. Perfect for fans, no matter your mileage – whether you’ve just started your journey through all of time and space, or have lived through the highs, the lows, the Wildernesses, the Androzanis, and the Twin Dilemmas.

Inside, you’ll find: A terrifying army of three Daleks! Death’s Head’s head! A really quite astonishingly heavy door! Dinosaur fossils! A framed piece of wall!

And much, much more!

This is a book about Doctor Who. But probably not the one you’re expecting.

And it’d be churlish not to add that 100 Objects of Dr Who is available now from Candy Jar Books!

Merry Christmas from everyone here at the Doctor Who Companion!

We hope you’re having a fantastic day — but if you’re understandably subdued about the complete lack of Doctor Who this festive season, we’ve got you covered: we hope you enjoy the DWC Annual 2023!

This is our third annual, a PDF that you can download or just open in your browser, completely free.

Because there’s no Doctor Who on TV this Christmas, we’ve made sure we include two short stories to bookend the tome…

To download the Doctor Who Companion Annual 2023 PDF, just click here!

This is the first Christmas with no Doctor Who on TV since 2004… which yes, might sound sad, but actually, how amazing is that?!

Since then, we’ve had Christmas Day and New Year’s Day specials, including The Christmas Invasion, Voyage of the Damned, A Christmas Carol, The Snowmen, The Husbands of River Song, Twice Upon A Time, Resolution, and, most recently, Eve of the Daleks (reviewed by Joe Siegler in the annual, alongside Peter Shaw’s reviews of Legend of the Sea Devils and The Power of the Doctor).

We’re in quite a privileged position, having enjoyed that wealth of stories, and with new showrunner, Russell T Davies, promising a return of the Christmas Day specials next year.

Until then, you can enjoy some fiction and non-fiction in our annual!

Click here to open the DWC Annual 2023, completely free.

And stay tuned to the Doctor Who Companion because, with our usual news coverage, we’ve also got a bevvy of festive features and reviews, plus an extra surprise in the New Year…

Merry Christmas, our dear DWC readers.

Gosh, this feels a bit strange. The Doctor Who Companion is six years old today (26^th March 2022) – well, officially, at least. We launched on this day in 2016, but as those of you who followed us over from Kasterborous will remember, we’d teased the DWC from February that year.

Since then, we’ve published some 2,892 articles (not including this one), an archive made up of news, features, and reviews, covering as much of the Doctor Who universe as we can, from TV to books, audios to stage events. And I say “some 2,892 articles” because, when switching hosts, some articles fell through the gaps – not permanently lost, but at least proving difficult to retrieve right now. (We’ll get there!)

Needless to say, turning six makes me feel very proud. It actually marks something of a turning point, in that I’d written for Kasterborous since 2011 and left when the site was sold on. So I’ve now worked longer on the DWC as I did Kasterborous. (Of course, the K, as we still affectionately call it, has a far greater history, predating even Doctor Who’s 2005 return.)

In the time since the DWC began, the Doctor Who landscape has gone through a seismic shift. The first episode that aired while the DWC was live was The Return of Doctor Mysterio; the most recent episode to air was Eve of the Daleks. The Twelfth Doctor has given in to the Thirteenth, and the showrunner mantle passed from Steven Moffat to Chris Chibnall. All that will change soon too, with Russell T Davies taking over as showrunner and a Fourteenth Doctor still to be announced.

The Doctor is no longer from Gallifrey and isn’t a Time Lord, although the character did steal a TARDIS and swanned off to explore all of time and space when bearing the visage of the first face he remembers. It’s been a divisive time, basically. In truth, these changes have come close to killing my love for Doctor Who, a fact I’ve expressed elsewhere.

Nonetheless, there’s still a lot to love; I don’t think I could ever truly give up on a show that’s given me The Tomb of the Cybermen, The Robots of Death, The Caves of Androzani, The Impossible Planet/ The Satan Pit, The Pandorica Opens/ The Big Bang, and Smile (yes, I love Smile; stop bugging me about it).

Plus, it’s given me a lot more than that. Including you – the Doctor Who Companion community!

You’ll no doubt have noticed we’ve finally had to implement ads on the site. We’re sorry about that, but it helps pay for hosting and for maintaining the site. We’re still learning what works and what doesn’t… not to mention how to properly use those ads. We’re trying to get the balance right – we want to give readers the same great content without being hampered by too many adverts. As I write this, we’ve tweaked that annoying ad below the title, getting rid of it completely! Except it hasn’t worked. It’s still there and we don’t know why. We’ll get there, promise.

For now, I want to thank every person who has contributed to the DWC, whether that’s writing articles, commenting, or visiting. We wouldn’t be here without you.

Onwards and upwards!

Merry Christmas from everyone at The Doctor Who Companion!

To celebrate, and as part of a Christmas tradition (established, y’know, last year), we’ve got you a special present. We proudly present to you… the DWC Annual 2022.

It’s a free-to-download PDF — and a massive 85 pages!

The Annual is a smorgasbord of features, reviews, and fiction, covering various eras of Doctor Who, so we hope there’s something in there for everyone.

To download the Doctor Who Companion Annual 2022, just click here!

So what’s actually inside?

The annual is bookended by musical festive fiction — in fact, Peter Shaw, who has written the first tale, Born in Time, has even curated a Spotify playlist to accompany your reading! And there’s another bit of fiction in there, this time set during Series 11.

There’s also reviews of every episode of Flux, plus features that go alongside them about Mary Seacole, the Weeping Angels, and specific characters from Series 13. Those are followed by an in-depth look at another sci-fi staple, Star Trek, then recollections of the Series 9 finale.

Oh, and you get an exclusive preview of my book, 100 Objects of Doctor Who. Thank you to Shaun Russell for giving me the go-ahead!

But first, we start off with an exclusive archive interview with Chris Achilléos, in tribute to the great man, who passed away earlier this month.

Click here to download the free PDF.

Stay tuned to the DWC across the festive period for a whole host of features and news, including about the New Year’s Day special, Eve of the Daleks.

Merry Christmas, one and all. We hope you have a spectacular day.

It’s an odd time in fandom — there’s a lot of division, and while that’s always been true, it feels a bit more extreme at the moment. We’re never going to agree all the time about what we like best, which era is a golden period of Doctor Who, which bits are awful. And that’s good: it means debate. And I like to think that the Doctor Who Companion stands for debate, discussion, free speech. Today, I was reminded of the quote from George Orwell’s Animal Farm, outside the old BBC Television Centre: “If Liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.”

Right now, some media outlets won’t publish anything negative about the current era of Doctor Who, and I personally think that’s a little pathetic. What’s the point of a review if they’re all going to say each episode is great? There’s no healthy discussion if the party line of “everything is fantastic, always” is adhered to. And it’s just not reflective of the Doctor Who universe. We all love and hate different things. For instance, vast swathes of fandom say Journey’s End is wonderful; I think it’s pants (albeit with a generally good cast and some decent scenes, including Donna’s departure, which is heartbreaking and superb). Similarly, fandom will tell you The Rings of Akhaten is rubbish; I think it’s beautiful.

Everything’s like that: look at how Marvel’s Eternals has divided the comic book community.

But sometimes, when I watch Journey’s End, the good bits stand out. Sometimes, the bad bits do. That’s life. That’s fiction.

In trying to cultivate a community that isn’t afraid to say what it thinks, however, we can forget that the people we’re arguing with online are actual people. Messages get misconstrued online. Sarcasm can be lost. Jokes can be cutting.

That’s why we have a comments policy. Please do take a look when you can.

The main thing about it is that thing fans now say Doctor Who is all about: “be kind”. Personally, I think Doctor Who is about a silly ol’ Time Lord dotting around space and time, getting into trouble, righting some wrongs, and generally getting embroiled in events while offering strangers jelly babies. The comments section, though, really is about kindness, as well as debate. Because proper debate comes with respect.

So I just want to take a moment to remind readers and writers that everyone here is a real person, not a bot; words can hurt; and the people contributing to this site — both making articles and leaving comments — do so not for financial gain (I’m as tight as The Sun Makers‘ Collector), but for the love of Doctor Who and for its community.

I don’t like the idea that anyone is put off leaving comments because they’re worried they’ll be shot down in flames. Nor that the divisions in fandom mean readers and writers of this site can’t come together and appreciate both sides.

Honestly? My heart isn’t in Doctor Who right now. But the DWC does make me smile. I’m proud of it. The people who visit and the people who contribute mean I haven’t completely lost faith in Who, that there’s something still worth holding onto.

Yes, fandom is split, but that doesn’t mean the DWC isn’t there to try to bridge the gaps. You want to comment? Comment! Please bear in mind our comments policy, i.e. be thoughtful and considerate, don’t use offensive language, and don’t personally attack anyone. Remember, too, that no one owes anyone else a reply; this isn’t Judge Judy, so no one here has to defend themselves — but if they do want to expand on their feelings, that’s very much encouraged too. Discussion is the life-blood of the site.

Basically: just go forward in all your beliefs and prove to me that I am not mistaken in mine. Thanks, team. Be amazing.

Today, it’s The Doctor Who Companion‘s fifth birthday!

That’s right: it’s been half a decade since we officially launched, although the transition from Kasterborous to the DWC had been a long process and we’d posted teasers since mid-February 2016. Since then, a lot has happened. But it still feels like early days for the DWC. At least, it does to me. I’m hoping that we’ve settled into a nice little groove, but that there still feels plenty to explore, plenty to do.

It’s odd, though, that this year also marks 10 years since I joined Kasterborous. 10 years since I emailed Christian Cawley out the blue and asked whether he’d be interested in a news article from me. It’s doubly odd, then, that this past Wednesday (24^th March 2021) was the first time we’ve actually spoken. Christian offered to interview me about my upcoming book, 100 Objects of Dr Who, on the PodKast With A K. Of course, we’ve chatted continuously by email, instant messenger, et al., but this week was the first time we’ve heard conversed in a semi-traditional manner (albeit still via digital platform).

I never knew he was Northern; he didn’t know I’m Welsh.

That’s a joke. He’s Northern, of this I have been long aware (whippets and cobbled lanes are frequently mentioned); and I’ve never even seen Gavin and Stacey. You’ll be able to hear this podcast in time. After Christian has edited out all the scandal.

Nonetheless, this got me thinking about this community. We talk a lot about communities. Mostly in woolly terms. “They were there for me”, and all of that. Sometimes, when you see people doing that on Twitter, you feel an overwhelming urge to tell them to get over themselves. It can be mawkish, particularly right now, during lockdown, when half the people extolling the virtues of checking on elderly neighbours also can’t be bothered to pick up some shopping for them. And yet.

And yet.

I received a lovely email the other day from a contributor. Actually, I received many. I’m afraid I have started to drift away from Doctor Who somewhat, something I never thought I’d actually do, but these kindly folks pull me back. So too do messages from other editors and publishers. And comments. And actually, it’s not so much that I’m magnetised by Doctor Who: it’s the people.

Without that silly little show, I wouldn’t know any of you, and you wouldn’t know me, and I wouldn’t be writing this. This is getting very Inferno, isn’t it?

Look, I’m normally a bit quiet about stuff I’ve been working on, but I’m really proud of the DWC. That’s because it’s not solely me. Far from it. We’ve got a thriving mass of writers and commenters, and each brings their own thing to the site. It means that we’ve got something for everyone, that we can offer something a bit different, that many voices can be heard.

That’s important to me. Always has been. Freedom of speech is a wonderful thing and it pains me to see not only civil liberties leaking away but also the shocking number of people who are fine with that, or, even worse, who see it as somehow liberal.

So yes, we have differing opinions here and that works just fine for most of us. If there’s an opinion you don’t agree with, that’s cool – another opinion will be along shortly.

We do have lots to come. Across the Easter holidays, we’ve got plenty of features and reviews lined up, alongside your standard helping of news.

For instance, Elliot Wood concludes his reviews of Big Finish’s The Fourth Doctor Adventures: Series 10. We’ve a collective feature on Revolution of the Daleks. Peter Shaw recalls discovering a missing Doctor Who story (sort of). Rick Lundeen questions whether Doctor Who should really enjoy a “shared universe” like the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). And Colin Burden mulls over immortality.

Oh, and we’ve a very special interview incoming…

And lots more!

So thank you for indulging this brief fancy. Today is a good day to celebrate. Half a decade: thank you to everyone who has worked to make the DWC what it is.

Anyway, yes, the DWC has been my longest project to date made with the intention of getting Karen Gillan to notice me. Five – years – and – counting…