Radio Times special - win The Doctor’s Bowtie!

The Radio Times covering the 50th Anniversary is out today, and we well as having a DOZEN covers to choose from, it contains a treasure trove of articles and photos from the complete history of Doctor Who.

One thing that caught my eye was a competition to win a screen worn Eleventh Doctor bow tie!

We do get a wonderful close up view of the bow tie to a level of detail you can’t see on screen or even on the high resolution costume portraits.

I wonder who the lucky winner will be!

Radio Times - 50th anniversary issue covers

The 50th Anniversary week is almost here, and as expected the cover of the latest Radio Times features The Doctor - not just once, but TWLEVE times!

The sources of the images used are quite interesting, the majority of which are from the Radio Times own extensive archive of Doctor Who images. All are out-takes, so are being published for the first time.

The First and Second Doctors come from the 10th Anniversary Special published by the Radio Times in 1973. The Third Doctor comes from a photoshoot in 1970 for the launch of Jon Pertwee in the role.

The Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Doctors are pictured from the shoot for the 30th Anniversary special, which featured in the 1993 Children In Need.

This shows that they were all taken separately before being composited into the group on the cover.

The rest of the Doctors come from bespoke cover shoots done for the Radio Times in more recent years. For example the Ninth Doctor is from the gatefold cover which launched the new series in 2005; and the Tenth from The Next Doctor in 2008. The Eleventh and War Doctors are obviously newly taken.

Here’s the full size version of the Eleventh Doctor’s cover.

Finally, have you noticed that all 12 covers join together to form a long single image?

No smoking in time and space!

This is a little off topic, but I saw this in this week’s Radio Times and just had to share it with you.

For those who don’t know, the main headquarters of the BBC is Television Centre in west London (see right).
Opened in 1960, it has been the home for the corporation ever since, but is due to be old off as part of the cost-saving drive which has seen Doctor Who Confidential being axed.

Anyway, the building is in a curious round shape, and looks like a question mark form the air! (see below)

In the centre of the ‘doughnut’ is a fountain and open space. It is here that a TARDIS is on permanent display! (see left)

The UK has a ban on smoking in enclosed public spaces, so office workers have to go outside the buildings they work in to get their nicotine fix, and BBC tv Centre is no exception.

Apparently there is a sign indicating where the designated smoking area is located - and where it is NOT . . . .

Radio Times - Christmas Doctor Who cover

Since 2006, the penultimate issue of the Radio Times before Christmas has had a Doctor Who themed cover, and this year is no exception.

In previous years it has been robot Santas (see below, far left), as well as Kylie (see below, left) and David Morrissey (see below, right), before David Tennant bowed out with a solo portrait last year (see below, far right).

This year’s cover show matt Smith in his revamped costume, with Michael Gambon and Katherine Jenkins sharing a ride in his shark-drawn (!!!!) sleigh.

Radio Times - first good look ofMatt’s refreshed costume

Today a new copy of the Radio Times dropped through my letterbox (see left).

With Christmas coming soon, this was not actually next weeks issue (that arrived on Tuesday), but the one after, covering the 4th to 10th December.

Right at the very back is a preview of the following issue, being the week before Christmas itself (see right).

Part of the features in that will be inevitable coverage of the Doctor Who Christmas Special, and it’s accompanied by a nice festive portrait of Matt in costume.

As far as I am aware, this is one of the clearest photos I have seen to date, showing the refreshed costume (the paparazzi photo taken during filming were distant and blurred, and official stills to date have been equally unclear).