With Wembley being declared safe the BBC Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular is all set to begin its first UK tour, this weekend.

The London venue had been closed for the past two days, following the discovery of a World War II unexploded bomb on a building site nearby. The bomb, which posed "a genuine risk to life", was removed by members of the British Army's Royal Logistic Corps disposal team, early this afternoon, and will be detonated in a controlled explosion.

The area has now been reopened.

The Symphonic Spectacular features the music written for Doctor Who by Murray Gold, performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Chorus of Wales. The orchestra will be conducted by Ben Foster and hosted by Peter Davison.

The show will enjoy a limited run of thirteen performances in London, Cardiff, Birmingham, Leeds, Newcastle and Glasgow.

Ticket information is on the BBC Events Website.

MineCartMayhem has secured interviews with each of the surviving Doctors from the original Doctor Who Series.

MineCartMayhem is run by George, an eleven year old who styles himself as a Mini Matt Smith. George obtained interviews with Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy at EM-CON 2015 in March. Last weekend he completed the set with a interview with Tom Baker at Geek Fest held at Folkestone Academy.

Tom Baker Exclusive interview / Exclusive interview with Sylvester McCoy, Colin Baker and Peter Davison

Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular is celebrating its first ever UK tour with a homage to the legendary Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover.



In advance of the forthcoming Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular which visits six cities across the UK from May 23rd, artwork has been released today to capture the monsters and characters from Doctor Who, alongside the musicians taking part in the tour.

Paying homage to the classic Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover designed by Sir Peter Blake for The Beatles in 1967, the design features a range of characters, past and present, including the Fifth Doctor Peter Davison who will be presenting the Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular tour.

The line-up also features a range of fan favourites including the current and last three incarnations of the Doctor - Peter Capaldi, Matt Smith, David Tennant and Christopher Eccleston - as well as their respective companions. Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular’s take on the iconic album cover also features a range of monsters from the show including the Daleks, Cybermen, Judoon and Dream Crabs.

Murray Gold, who scored the Doctor Who music since 2005 also features on the image, along with conductor Ben Foster, Welsh soprano Elin Manahan Thomas and a number of the members of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and BBC National Chorus of Wales taking part in the tour.

The tour visits London, Cardiff, Birmingham, Leeds, Newcastle and finishes in Glasgow. Tickets are on sale online

Peter Davison, who celebrates his 64th birthday today, is currently appearing in London's West End in the revival of the Musical Gypsy.

Davison plays Herbie in the show, which is based upon the memoirs of the stripper Gypsy Rose Lee, and which is currently previewing at London's Savoy Theatre. The cast is led by BAFTA award winning actress Imelda Staunton who was asked to take on the role of Rose by the play's lyricist Stephen Sondheim, after he saw Staunton's performance as Mrs Lovett in the 2012 production of Sweeney Todd.

The show's cast album, featuring Davison, is released on 27th April.

Davison will take time off from the show to host Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular’s UK tour this May.

NB The first London production of Gypsy in 1973, starring Angela Lansbury, featured a 9 year old Bonnie Langford in the role of Baby June.

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Fortitude, the psychological thriller television series starring Christopher Eccleston, has been renewed for a second 10-part series.

The series, which also stars Michael Gambon airs in the UK on Sky Atlantic, where the first episode was watched by more than 2.5m people and is the channels most successful original commission.

BBC Worldwide have announced that Peter Davison, the fifth Doctor, is to join the Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular UK tour.

Davison has presented the tour in Australia and New Zealand in the past and made an appearance at the 2013 Doctor Who Prom Concert. Vision Nine and BBC Worldwide have today confirmed that he will host the UK events in May 2015 as well as the previously announced Australisian part of the tour.

In addition, given the very strong demand for tickets, one additional matinee performance has now been confirmed for Sunday 24th May at the SSE Arena, Wembley.

The Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular, which celebrates the world’s longest running science fiction TV series, showcases the music written by Murray Gold for the series since 2005 and features over 100 performers including the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and members of the BBC National Chorus of Wales, conducted by Ben Foster. The first ever UK shows will be staged from Saturday 23rd May 2015 to Friday 29th May 2015.

Looking forward to the tour Davison said Tickets for the additional matinee performance on 24th May 2015 go on sale at 10am on Wednesday 5th November. Tickets for the other performances are on sale now.

Lovarzi, the makers of officially licensed Doctor Who scarves have added the Fifth Doctor's cricket jumper to their range along with two new scarves.

Maninder Singh Sahota, Director of Lovarzi, says:

Danie Ware from Forbidden Planet added:

Peter Davison has released some deleted scenes from The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot on YouTube.

Davison commented on the video:


He added on Twitter:

An extended video collating three of the Regenerations panels at the Doctor Who Celebration has been uploaded onto the BBC's 50 Years of Doctor Who website.

Recorded at the Excel arena in London on the 22nd and 23rd November and moderated by Nicholas Briggs, the panel brought together former doctors Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy before the celebratory simulcast broadcast of The Day of the Doctor.

Discussed were the series' 2005 revival, the current TARDIS set, an anecdote from Tom about improvising in The Face of Evil, what Doctor each of them would play discounting themselves and the actors' reactions to regeneration scenes. (also available in a separate YouTube video).

In a string of three days from November 22nd to the 24th at the Excel, the event saw fans from across the globe visiting the celebration, alongside cast and crew, in honour of the show as part of the anniversary weekend.

Matthew Waterhouse makes his Big Finish debut as Adric this summer in The Fifth Doctor Box Set, reunited with Peter Davison, Janet Fielding and Sarah Sutton for two four-part audio adventures.

Waterhouse first played the role in 1980, joining the series just as the Fourth Doctor was completing his run, staying for 11 stories and 42 episodes.

Producer David Richardson saidThe Fifth Doctor Box Set is out in August.

The five discs include an hour-long documentary with interviews with the cast, in which Waterhouse talks about why he decided to return to Doctor Who.

Fifth Doctor Peter Davison will be making a number of special appearances at ABC shops in the next couple of weeks.

The actor is in the country to host the Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular. He will be making a special appearance at the shops, where he will be signing Doctor Who merchandise. Please note the number of items that can be signed will be limited due to time restrictions. See here for further details. Each appearance will be for 90 minutes.

• Friday 31 January: 10.30am to 12pm - ABC Shop Chadstone
• Tuesday 4 February: 10.30am to 12pm - ABC Shop Brisbane
• Tuesday 11 February: 11.30am to 1pm - ABC Shop QVB Sydney
• Wednesday 12 February: 11.30am to 1pm - ABC Shop Macquarie - North Ryde