In this week’s Radio Times, on sale Today (for listings 17th-23rd May 2014) Steven Moffat recalls writing The Day Of The Doctor, revealing it was the most “difficult” and “terrifying” thing he has ever written and reveals why he chose Peter Capaldi to be the new Doctor.

Steven Moffat writes:

“When you choose a Doctor, you want somebody who is utterly compelling, attractive in a very odd way. None of the Doctors are conventionally attractive, but they’re all arresting. Handsome men don’t quite suit. Matt Smith’s a young, good-looking bloke from one angle but is actually the strangest looking man from another. You need that oddity; you need somebody who is carved out of solid star, really. Doctor Who is a whopping great star vehicle, despite the fact it changes star every so often.” 

The Day Of The Doctor is one of the nominees for this year’s Radio Times Audience Award at the British Academy Television Awards 2014 – the only BAFTA award open to public vote. Voting is open until 12pm Thursday 15th May, the winner will be announced on Sunday 18th May.

The new issue of Radio Times also includes 16-page guide to the Bafta TV Awards 2014 featuring David Attenborough, Dominic West, Rory Kinnear, Helen George, Laura Carmichael, Natalie Dormer and much, MUCH more...

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[Source: Radio Times]

To celebrate Doctor Who’s 50th anniversary the new issue of Radio Times (on sale from Tuesday 19th November) features 12 different collectable covers each with a different Doctor and monsters from their era, with 26 pages on the iconic show inside.

The first cover can be seen to the right with three covers being unveiled every day from Saturday 16th November to Tuesday 19th November on the Radio Times DiscoverTV app.

Radio Times DiscoverTV is a new daily TV and radio recommendations and discovery service; helping you discover your new favourite programmes today wherever they are - on TV, catch-up or on-demand.

Available on iPad and optimised for iOS7, Radio Times DiscoverTV is a freemium app with a 30-day free trial of the premium features. A free limited service is available without subscription with easy-to use, 14 day customised TV and radio listings, by provider and location, and basic programme information. Download for free here.

What's in the 50th Anniversary Special Issue?

Why you can't destroy the Doctor, by Steven Moffat
The show-runner writes exclusively for Radio Times on a cultural legacy so strong that it even endured a 16-year television hiatus. Not that he would ever let that happen again, of course…

Retrospectives of each Doctor
From the first Doctor, William Hartnell, to the 11th, Matt Smith, we examine each Time Lord's era, taking in companions, villains and using exclusive archive interviews with the actors themselves. It’s the ultimate guide to the mad man in a box.

Interviews with Matt Smith, David Tennant and John Hurt
It’s not all about the past, though, for The Day of the Doctor is coming. Radio Times talks to Matt Smith and David Tennant about acting together – “Have I just woken out of a dream?” asks the tenth Doctor – while screen legend John Hurt (the War Doctor) tells us why he wasn’t a fan of the 1963 series. 

Interactive issue
The issue is not just packed with great Doctor Who words and pictures, it also contains a treasure trove of interactive content, such as video, 3D pages and detailed guides. To access the interactive content, simply download the free Blippar app to your smartphone or tablet; then open the app and hold your device over the interactive symbols.

Start with the cover to reveal an exclusive video message from the 11th Doctor, and the opportunity to create and star in your own Radio Times Doctor Who cover to share on social media.

Inside, there’s even more, including a comprehensive episode-by-episode guide for each Doctor, animated and video Doctor Who content, over 100 pictures from the Radio Times Doctor Who archive, a gallery of all Radio Times's Doctor Who covers, plus exclusive 3D content.  

An exclusive shot from The Day of the Doctor
The tenth Doctor and Joanna Page’s Queen Elizabeth I look rather cosy, don't they?

My love of Doctor Who, by BBC Director General Tony Hall
The DG writes exclusively for Radio Times about how he fell in love with Doctor Who in 1963 and is now thrilled to be the man in charge at its height. He even tells a nifty little tale of how he once flew the Tardis…  

Interviews with famous Doctor Who fans
Charlie Brooker, Jonathon Ross and Jo Whiley are among the stars sharing their favourite Who moments in extracts from Steve Berry’s book, From Behind The Sofa.

Win the Doctor’s actual bow tie!
And finally, as if we haven’t spoilt you lot enough, we’re also giving readers a chance to a win a money-can’t-buy prize: the bow tie worn by Matt Smith’s Doctor on screen.

Twelve collectible covers
View all 12 covers in our gallery, below:

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[Source: Radio Times]

Radio Times have launched another issue of their popular magazine, sporting a Doctor Who cover, this time to promote The Name Of The Doctor.

In this week’s Radio Times – on sale today – Jenna Louise Coleman talks about what it's like being in the public spotlight:

“Matt warned me that there’s nothing that can prepare you for it. All I can do is enjoy it. I’ve noticed some changes – nothing huge. I have a really cool job and get to do these crazy things and you do have so many ‘pinch me’ moments. I’ve just been sent emails with pics of the Clara doll, which is kind of… That isn’t completely normal, is it? People do come up to me, but so far they’ve really engaged with the show and the character and just want to chat. Yesterday a little boy walked past and said, “You all right, Soufflé Girl?” Which put a smile on my face. So it’s not obtrusive.”

She hints at the finale of the mystery of the impossible girl :

“In the beginning we see a Clara in the 60s, 70s and the 80s so there are a lot of costume changes, which I love. Always one for a bit of dressing up, me. Love a red carpet. Richard E Grant is back with his evil Great Intelligence, The Doctor’s greatest secret is revealed, all of his friends rally round to protect him and we finally understand why the Doctor has met Clara so many different times.”

On working with Matt Smith:

“His first advice was never Google yourself and, now that I’ve got a three-month break, he said take your time and choose your next role carefully. I’ve read loads of scripts but nothing I’m really in love with.”

+  Radio Times is out Today, priced £1.60.

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[Source: Radio Times]

Radio Times starts its celebrations of 50 Years of Doctor Who with four free postcards of classic Doctor Who Radio Times covers with each issue – there are two sets of postcards to collect.

Also in this week’s Radio Times - What’s coming up to celebrate Doctor Who's 50th birthday:

November 2013 marks 50 years of Doctor Who on TV, and RT will bring you all the news as it unfolds – starting with some of the treats coming up. The most hugely anticipated event is surely the Anniversary special on BBC1.

All details are firmly under wraps – and it doesn’t even start filming until spring, but fans worldwide are praying for a multi-Doctor escapade, perhaps with a few former best friends and best enemies thrown in. Could it actually happen? And would all the surviving actors be available – and willing – to appear in such a celebration?

Tom Baker famously declined to participate in The Five Doctors in 1983, and the first three actors to play The Doctor are now long dead. But if William Hartnell can be recast (in The Five Doctors and now in An Adventure in Space and Time) is it conceivable that other actors might convince in Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee’s shadows? This might all be pure fantasy, but what is known is that showrunner Steven Moffat has been toiling with the script.

He tells Radio Times:

“I’m mostly excited, a little bit nervous, and aware of trying not to let people down.”

An Adventure In Space And Time:

Radio Times is chuffed that Mark Gatiss is calling his drama about Doctor Who’s birth An Adventure in Space And Time. This was the tagline RT printed on the billing for episode one in 1963 (below) and indeed on all 253 editions in the 60s. For Gatiss, the 90-minute special (filming now and due to air in November on BBC2) is “quite simply a dream come true”. He describes it as “the story of how an unlikely set of brilliant people created a true television original”.

David Bradley (Argus Filch in the Harry Potter films) is playing William Hartnell, the actor who was initially reluctant to take on the role of the mysterious time traveller. He soon fell in love with the character and was sad to leave in 1966. He died in 1975. Bradley says when Gatiss offered him the part, “I almost bit his hand off.” Our first picture of Bradley in character shows him on the second day of shooting last week, with Lesley Manville as Hartnell’s devoted wife, Heather.

Call the Midwife star Jessica Raine has been cast as producer Verity Lambert (then just 27), while Brian Cox (the international film star, not the prof) is playing the “father” of Doctor Who, Sydney Newman, a flamboyant Canadian who was BBC head of drama.

The only surviving member of the quartet who created the series is Indian-born director Waris Hussein. He’s helped Gatiss with his “meticulous research” and is delighted to be a key character in the drama. “I am to be portrayed by my doppelganger, Sacha Dhawan, a handsome actor. Vanity prevails!” he jokes. Recently seen in Last Tango in Halifax, Dhawan was one of the original History Boys (in the play and movie).

Filming began on 3rd February at BBC Television Centre, on what is likely to be the last drama made on the site before it’s redeveloped.

Executive producer Caroline Skinner tells Radio Times:

“As the BBC moves out of TV Centre, we are moving the cast and crew for An Adventure in Space and Time in! It’s a fantastic opportunity to film this momentous story in the actual location – a little bit of television history .”

Plus an exclusive shot of David Bradley as William Hartnell on his second day of shooting, we also look ahead to plans for the 50th anniversary and to the new series at Easter.

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[Source: Radio Times]