The British Film Institute have announced that, as part of the Doctor Who World Tour, they will be showing the series premiere Deep Breath on the big screen on 7th August at 6:30pm, followed by a Q&A session featuring members of the cast and crew.

Tickets for the event are expected to be in high demand, and will be allocated by ballot. Members of the public can apply for up to two tickets via the BFI website until 8:30pm on 20th July (there is a separate application page for members who can request tickets at a discounted rate).

The evening follows on from the afternoon world premiere of the episode at Cardiff's St David's Hall, and forms part of the BFI's Sci-Fi: Days of Fear and Wonder season.

Related Articles: The World Tour (10 Jun 2014); Cardiff (4 Jul 2014); Australia (14 Jul 2014); South Korea (14 Jul 2014)

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A video of part of the guest panel session from the BFI's final event of its Doctor Who At 50 season was uploaded to the organisation's YouTube channel today.

Held on Sunday 8th December to mark the Matt Smith era, it featured big-screen showings of The Eleventh Hour and The Name of the Doctor followed by an on-stage interview with Steven Moffat, Mark Gatiss, Saul Metzstein, and Dan Starkey, conducted by season co-curator Justin Johnson.

The 12-minute extract from the discussion can be seen below:

The guest panel for the final Doctor Who At 50 event at the BFI (via the BFI's YouTube channel)

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The BFI has released an excerpt from the panel session that it recorded at last month's preview screening of An Adventure In Space and Time.

Director Terry McDonough, actors Sacha Dhawan and David Bradley, William Hartnell's granddaughter and biographer Jessica Carney, and the BBC Two drama's writer Mark Gatiss were the special guests discussing the production with journalist Matthew Sweet - who donned a Menoptra outfit for the drama - following its world première on Tuesday 12th November.

Although not available on the BFI's YouTube channel as yet, the ten-minute extract can be viewed on the organisation's video page.

UPDATE - TUESDAY 10th DECEMBER: The excerpt has now been uploaded to the BFI's YouTube channel:

The excerpt from the Adventure In Space And Time panel (via the BFI's YouTube channel)

Related Articles: Standing Ovation For Première (13 Nov 2013); Review (13 Nov 2013)

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The special guests for the BFI's final event in its Doctor Who At 50 season were announced today.

Taking place on Sunday 8th December and starting at 3.45pm, it will feature big-screen showings of
The Eleventh Hour and The Name of the Doctor, celebrating the current Doctor's era of the show as it approaches its end.

These will be followed by showrunner Steven Moffat, director Saul Metzstein, and actor Dan Starkey taking to the stage for the question-and-answer session.

Although a sell-out, stand-bys and returns are possible, so keep checking with the BFI.

Curated by Dick Fiddy and Justin Johnson, the year-long season has been phenomenally popular and has scored some impressive successes, including the first public showing of the colour-restored Third Doctor adventure The Mind of Evil, as well as the world première of the drama An Adventure In Space and Time.

UPDATE - MONDAY 9th DECEMBER: Mark Gatiss was a subsequent addition to the guest panel line-up, although this was not made public.

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The drama An Adventure in Space and Time, which tells the story of the creation of Doctor Who in 1963 in fictionalised form, received a standing ovation from the audience following its première at the British Film Institute's BFI Southbank venue on Tuesday evening. An Adventure, produced by the BBC as part of the celebrations to mark Doctor Who's 50th anniversary this month, will receive its television début on BBC Two on Thursday 21st November at 9pm, before being shown in the US and Canada the following day, and in Australia on the 24th.

Tuesday's screening was the latest in the BFI's own series of anniversary events, which have previously seen each Doctor celebrated with a screening of one of their stories. The screening of An Adventure in Space and Time proved immensely popular with fans, some of whom had waited for eight hours in the queue for returns in order to gain their seats. The screening was introduced by speeches from its writer and executive producer Mark Gatiss, from the BFI's Television Programmer Marcus Prince and from Clare Hudson, the Head of BBC Cymru Wales productions, which made An Adventure in Space and Time.

Among the audience were director Waris Hussein, who appears as a character in the drama played by Sacha Dhawan; former companion actors Carole Ann Ford (also a character in the programme) Louise Jameson, Anneke Wills (who also appears briefly in the drama), Sophie Aldred and Matthew Waterhouse, and 1970s producer Philip Hinchcliffe. Taking part in the panel discussion following the screening, conducted by journalist and Doctor Who fan Matthew Sweet, were Gatiss, stars Dhawan and David Bradley (who portrays William Hartnell), director Terry McDonough and Hartnell's real-life granddaughter Jessica Carney, the latter of whom was clearly very moved by the drama.

A spoiler-free review of An Adventure in Space and Time is now available in our reviews section, here. For our An Unearthly Series features, telling the real story behind the creation of Doctor Who fifty years to the day since each major event occurred, click here.

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A video of the main guest panel for the BFI's Eighth Doctor celebratory event was uploaded for viewing this morning.

Held on Saturday 5th October as part of the organisation's Doctor Who At 50 season, it saw Paul McGann, Daphne Ashbrook, and Geoffrey Sax in discussion with season co-curator Justin Johnson, following a big-screen showing of McGann's sole TV outing as the Doctor (up to now).

The guest panel for the Eighth Doctor event at the BFI (via the BFI's YouTube channel)

Earlier, Andrew Cartmel, Nicholas Briggs, Gary Russell, and Jason Haigh-Ellery formed a panel to talk about the years between the McGann movie of 1996 and the show's return in 2005.

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The video of the guest panel at the BFI's celebratory screenings for the Tenth Doctor's era is now available to watch online.

Held on Sunday 29th September as part of its Doctor Who At 50 season, the event saw The Stolen Earth and Journey's End shown on the big screen, with David Tennant, Catherine Tate, Phil Collinson, and Graeme Harper taking to the stage afterwards for a discussion and question-and-answer session with season co-curator Justin Johnson.

A three-minute excerpt was uploaded to the BFI's YouTube channel today,
with the full Q&A - just shy of 30 minutes in length - available to watch in the BFI's video section.

An excerpt from the guest panel for the Tenth Doctor event at the BFI (via the BFI's YouTube channel)

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With exactly a month to go now to Doctor Who's 50th anniversary, the BFI today announced the final screenings in its year-long celebration of the programme.

It will be showing the anniversary episode The Day of the Doctor in 3D on Saturday 23rd November as part of the global simulcast and cinema screenings worldwide. The time is yet to be confirmed by the BBC. Tickets will go on sale to BFI members from Friday 25th October (9am online and 11.30am by phone and in person) and to non-members from Saturday 26th October from 11.30am. They can be bought via this link. (It should be noted that the start time of 7pm given by the BFI is for guidance only. According to the BFI, the exact start time will be given 10 days before the screening.)

Justin Johnson, the programmer of the BFI's Doctor Who At 50 strand, said:

The BFI is very proud of our long relationship with both the BBC and the Doctor Who production team, and we are delighted to be able to mark the 50th anniversary, and the culmination of our year-long celebrations, with this special screening of The Day of the Doctor.

Then, just over a fortnight later, on Sunday 8th December at 3.45pm, it will mark the Eleventh Doctor's era by showing The Eleventh Hour and The Name of the Doctor. The guest panel for that event is yet to be announced.

Johnson, who curated the season with Dick Fiddy, commented on its culmination by telling Doctor Who News:

It's hard to believe that we're now only a month away from the official 50th anniversary and our year-long celebrations here at BFI Southbank are finally drawing to a close. With ten Doctors under our belt, there's only room for one more, and with An Adventure in Space and Time and The Day of the Doctor 3D both playing in NFT1 in November, our final time-travelling voyage is set for Sunday 8th December as we look at the most recent incumbent to grace the TARDIS.

It's been an amazing year, and if Dick and I had to turn the clock back a year and ask ourselves who we hoped would have graced our stage, we could never have predicted that we would have been in such illustrious company.

Tickets to the Eleventh Doctor screenings on 8th December will be allocated by ballot via the members' section, which BFI Champions can enter from Monday 4th November, and Cinema Members from Tuesday 5th November. The ballot will close on Friday 8th November and will be run over the weekend of 9th and 10th November, with all entrants being notified on Monday 11th November as to whether or not they have been successful. All tickets reserved for Champions and Cinema Members via the ballot will be held for claiming by them until 8.30pm on Friday 15th November, and any that are unclaimed by then will be released for public sale on Saturday 16th November.

As has been the case with all previous events in the season, it will undoubtedly sell out to Champions and Cinema Members, but returns and stand-bys will be a strong possibility, so keep checking with the BFI.

UPDATE - 26th OCTOBER: The BFI was forced to suspend ticket sales for The Day of the Doctor yesterday because of "an issue with card payments". Sales reopened for members today at 9am (online) and 11.30am (phone), and will reopen tomorrow to non-members.

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The BFI will be premiering An Adventure In Space And Time - the drama about the genesis of Doctor Who - on Tuesday 12th November.

The 90-minute production for BBC Two has been written by Mark Gatiss, directed by Terry McDonough, and stars David Bradley as William Hartnell. Before it airs on TV screens, though, it is being shown first on the big screen as part of the BFI's Doctor Who At 50 season.

The event will start at 8.20pm and a question-and-answer session with a special guest panel will also be held, with the names of those taking part still to be confirmed.

Tickets will be allocated by two separate ballots via the members' section, with one ballot for BFI Champions, opening on Monday 30th September, and another ballot for members, which will open on Tuesday 1st October. Champions can enter both ballots. The ballots will close at midday on Friday 4th October and will be run over the weekend of 5th and 6th October, with all entrants being notified on Monday 7th October as to whether or not they have been successful. All tickets reserved for Champions and members via the ballots will be held for claiming by them until 8.30pm on Friday 11th October, and any that are unclaimed by then will be released for public sale on Saturday 12th October.

Although it will undoubtedly sell out to Champions and members, as has been the case with all previous events in the season, returns and stand-bys will be a strong possibility, so keep checking with the BFI.

A broadcast date for the drama is yet to be announced.

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Catherine Tate will be among the guests joining David Tennant later this month for the question-and-answer panel at the BFI's special event celebrating the Tenth Doctor's era.

The Stolen Earth and Journey's End, which formed the Series 4 finale, are being shown on Sunday 29th September at 2pm when, as reported last month, Tennant will be the headline guest. It has now been confirmed that he will be joined by Tate, with the other guests named as the episodes' director, Graeme Harper, plus producer Phil Collinson and casting director Andy Pryor.

The sell-out screenings are part of the BFI's Doctor Who At 50 season, curated by Dick Fiddy and Justin Johnson.

Check here for returns or try the BFI on the day for stand-bys.

Related Articles: Tenth Doctor Screening (19 Jul 2013)

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Videos of the guest panels from the two most recent celebratory screenings by the BFI were released today.

The BFI is running a Doctor Who At 50 season throughout this year, curated by Justin Johnson and Dick Fiddy, and a six-minute excerpt from the question-and-answer session at the Seventh Doctor event, held on Saturday 27th July and which saw a big-screen showing of Remembrance of the Daleks, features Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred, and Ben Aaronovitch in conversation with Johnson.

The panel at the Seventh Doctor event (via the BFI YouTube channel)

Meanwhile, the Ninth Doctor event - held on Saturday 24th August with Bad Wolf and The Parting of The Ways being screened - spawned a longer video, with Joe Ahearne, Phil Collinson, and Bruno Langley on the panel.

The panel at the Ninth Doctor event (via the BFI YouTube channel)

The next event, which will mark the Tenth Doctor's era, is to take place at the BFI on Sunday 29th September when the episodes The Stolen Earth and Journey's End will be shown and - as previously reported - David Tennant will be among the special guests. As with all the other events in the BFI season it has sold out, but returns are possible - keep checking here - as are stand-bys on the day.

Less than a week after that - and again as previously reported - Paul McGann will be the headline guest on Saturday 5th October at the sold-out event in honour of his time as the Eighth Doctor, with a screening of the TV Movie taking place. The full guest line-up, announced today, will be Daphne Ashbrook, Geoffrey Sax, Andrew Cartmel, Gary Russell, Nicholas Briggs, and Jason Haigh-Ellery. Cartmel, Briggs, Russell, and Haigh-Ellery will be forming a panel to talk about the years between the McGann movie and the show's return, while McGann, Ashbrook, and Sax will be the panel guests following the screening.

Yesterday, Ashbrook revealed on her website that she would be taking part, commenting:

I can't wait to see Paul McGann, Gary Russell, Jason Haigh Ellory [sic] and Andrew Cartmel. And Geoffrey Sax, whom I haven't seen since we shot the movie in 1996!

The event will be followed by a signing at the BFI Shop of advance copies of the BBC's 50th-anniversary book Doctor Who - The Vault, due out on Thursday 24th October, with author Marcus Hearn. Check here for returns for the Eighth Doctor event or try for stand-bys on the day.

Related Articles: Ninth Doctor Event Review (26 Aug 2013); Seventh Doctor Event Review (28 Jul 2013)

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Christopher Eccleston has paid tribute to Doctor Who in a special message read out to the audience at the British Film Institute's retrospective of the Ninth Doctor's era.

The event is the latest in the BFI's year long celebration of Doctor Who, looking back at each era of the programme. The Ninth Doctor event, held yesterday in London featured a screening of the final Eccleston story Bad Wolf/The Parting of The Ways

The event panel included director Joe Ahearne, producer Phil Collinson and actor Bruno Langley. Although Eccleston did not attend, he sent a written message which was read by BFI host Justin Johnson.

I love the BFI. I love the Doctor and hope you enjoy this presentation. Joe Ahearne directed five of the 13 episodes of the first series. He understood the tone the show needed completely – strong, bold, pacy visuals coupled with wit, warmth and a twinkle in the performances, missus.

If Joe agrees to direct the 100th anniversary special, I will bring my sonic and a stair-lift and – providing the Daleks don’t bring theirs – I, the ninth Doctor, vow to save the universe and all you apes in it.

The BFI has also confirmed that both David Tennant and Paul McGann will appear live on stage for the look back at their retrospective eras as The Doctor.

The Tenth Doctor event on Sunday 29th September will include a screening of the Series 4 two-part finale The Stolen Earth/Journey's End, while the Eighth Doctor screening of the TV Movie will be held on Saturday 5th October.

Related Articles: Guests Announced For BFI's Ninth Doctor Screenings (13 Aug 2013); BFI Seventh, Eighth, And Ninth Doctor Screenings Update (17 June 2013); BFI Screenings: Ninth Doctor Stories Announced (24 June 2013)

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Producer Phil Collinson and director Joe Ahearne will be joining actor Bruno Langley and visual effects designer Dave Houghton as the special guests for the BFI's screenings marking the Ninth Doctor's era, it was revealed today.

The episodes Bad Wolf and The Parting of the Ways - which comprised the Series 1 finale and saw Christopher Eccleston bowing out as the Doctor - will be shown on the big screen on Saturday 24th August.

The Ninth Doctor event is the latest in BFI Southbank's Doctor Who At 50 celebratory season and will start at 2pm. Tickets are currently sold out but returns and stand-bys are a possibility.

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The BFI today announced details for its celebratory screenings marking the eras of the Eighth and Tenth Doctors - with both happening within a week of each other but in reverse order.

The Tenth Doctor will be honoured on Sunday 29th September at 2pm with the Series 4 two-part finale The Stolen Earth and Journey's End, while the sole TV outing - so far - for the Eighth Doctor will be shown on the big screen on Saturday 5th October at 10am.

The adventures are being shown at BFI Southbank as part of the organisation's Doctor Who At 50 season.

The Series 4 finale episodes - written by Russell T Davies and directed by Graeme Harper - first aired on 28th June and 5th July 2008 respectively, and saw the universe crumbling and a number of planets, including Earth, having been stolen by Davros as part of his plot threatening the whole of reality. Julian Bleach took on the mantle of the Daleks' creator, with all the companions seen in the revamped series uniting with the Doctor to defeat the evil, mad Kaled scientist and the Daleks.

Meanwhile, the big-budget TV Movie - written by Matthew Jacobs and directed by Geoffrey Sax - originally aired in the UK on 27th May 1996 (although it had its global TV premiere in Canada on 12th May 1996, having been filmed entirely in the country) and saw the Seventh Doctor regenerate into the Eighth. It also featured the return of the Master - this time played by Eric Roberts - and a new-look TARDIS interior, in an adventure set in San Francisco on the eve of the year 2000 and with the whole of Earth at stake as the Master attempts to take the Doctor's remaining regenerations.

Tickets to both events will be issued via a ballot system through the members' section. Separate ballots are being held for each event but the same dates will apply for both. BFI Champions can enter the ballots on Monday 5th August and members from Tuesday 6th August. The ballots will close on Friday 9th August and will be run over the weekend of 10th and 11th August, with all entrants being notified on Monday 12th August whether they have been successful or not.

All tickets reserved for Champions and members via the ballots will be held for claiming by them until 8.30pm on Friday 16th August. Any that are unclaimed by then will be released for public sale on Saturday 17th August.

The guests for both events will be announced in due course.

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A video of the guest panel from the BFI's screening of The Two Doctors earlier this month was released today.

Unlike previous panels, though, it has not been uploaded to the organisation's YouTube channel but instead is available to view on its videos page.

The event took place on 15th June to mark the Sixth Doctor's era, as part of the BFI's Doctor Who At 50 season.

Lasting 15 min 34 sec, it features the actors Frazer Hines and Tony Selby, script editor and writer Eric Saward, and visual effects designer Mike Kelt in conversation with season co-curator Justin Johnson.

UPDATE - SATURDAY 6th JULY: The BFI has now uploaded the video to its YouTube channel, meaning it can be watched below:

Doctor Who: The Two Doctors event (via the BFI YouTube channel)

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The BFI will be showing the episodes Bad Wolf and The Parting of the Ways to mark the Ninth Doctor's era for its Doctor Who At 50 season.

The two stories, written by Russell T Davies and directed by Joe Ahearne, first aired on Saturday 11th June and Saturday 18th June 2005 respectively. They comprised the Series 1 finale, which saw Christopher Eccleston hand over control of the TARDIS to David Tennant after an epic battle against the Daleks.

The screenings are being held on Saturday 24th August from 2pm at BFI Southbank. The special guests for the accompanying panel session are yet to be announced.

Tickets are being issued via a ballot system through the members' section, with BFI Champions able to enter the ballot from Monday 1st July and members from Tuesday 2nd July. The ballot will close on Friday 5th July and be run over the weekend of 6th and 7th July, with all entrants to be notified on Monday 8th July if they have been successful or not.

All tickets reserved for Champions and members through the ballot will be held until 8.30pm on Friday 12th July, and any that are unclaimed by then will be released for public sale on Saturday 13th July.

Although all the screenings in the season so far have been immediate sell-outs, returns and stand-bys are a strong possibility, so it's always worth checking back with the BFI.

The organisation is skipping from the Seventh Doctor's era to the Ninth Doctor's because of guest availability, with the Eighth Doctor event currently planned to be held sometime in September. The precise date plus guests are still to be confirmed and announced.

Related Articles: Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Doctor Screenings Update (17 June 2013)

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The special guests for the BFI's celebratory screening of Remembrance of the Daleks next month have been announced.

The sell-out event, part of the BFI's Doctor Who At 50 season, is being held on Saturday 27th July at BFI Southbank to mark the Seventh Doctor's era and will see Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred, Ben Aaronovitch, Dick Mills, and Mike Tucker taking part in the question-and-answer panel.

The BFI is running a competition to win a pair of tickets to the screening, with a copy of the BFI book 100 Science Fiction Films - to be published on Friday 28th June - also going to the winner. Enter via this link. The contest closes on Friday 19th July. Terms and conditions apply.

August's event should have seen the Eighth Doctor's solo TV venture (so far) being shown on the big screen but instead the Ninth Doctor will be honoured that month, with a story screening and guest panel being held on Saturday 24th August.

BFI spokeswoman Liz Parkinson told Doctor Who News today:

Due to guest availability, we've moved our Eighth Doctor event to a little later in the year, so our Ninth Doctor event has been brought forward.

The date for the TV movie screening is yet to be announced, while the story to be shown from the Ninth Doctor's era, and the accompanying guests, will also be confirmed in due course.

Because of the overwhelming demand to attend the monthly screenings, a ballot system is being run to allocate tickets and priority booking for the Ninth Doctor event will take place, as previously, via the members' section.

BFI Champions can enter the ballot from Monday 1st July and members can enter from Tuesday 2nd July.

The ballot will close on Friday 5th July and be run over the weekend of 6th and 7th July, with all entrants to be notified on Monday 8th July if they have been successful or not. Any tickets reserved for Champions and members through the ballot will be held until 8.30pm on Friday 12th July, and any that are unclaimed by then will be released for public sale on Saturday 13th July.

Although all the screenings in the season so far have been immediate sell-outs, returns and stand-bys are a strong possibility, so if all else fails keep checking with the BFI!

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Actors Frazer Hines and Tony Selby plus script editor and writer Eric Saward and visual effects designer Mike Kelt will be the special guests at the BFI screening of The Two Doctors.

The event, which takes place on Saturday 15th June to mark the Sixth Doctor's era, is the latest in the organisation's Doctor Who At 50 season and will start at 2pm.

The screenings have proved overwhelmingly popular, selling out as soon as tickets have been made available, although the BFI has introduced a ballot system to help make ticket allocation fairer.

Returns are always a possibility, though. As such, at the time of posting this news item four tickets were available via the event link. Stand-bys and other returns may also be available on the day.

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The BFI is to show the BBC's long-lost behind-the-scenes report on Daleks - Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D. that was recovered last year.

The feature, lasting about five minutes, was originally included in the edition of teen culture programme A Whole Scene Going broadcast on 16th March 1966 and will be shown on the big screen at BFI Southbank on Wednesday 3rd July during a compilation of reports from various productions.

The BFI event is entitled The Location Report and is itself part of the wider Broadcasting The Arts: Television Looks At Film strand being run by the organisation. Tickets go on sale to the public on Tuesday 11th June.

Although the master tape was wiped by the BBC, a copy of this particular edition of A Whole Scene Going ended up as part of a Welsh villager's collection of films that was eventually sold on. A timecoded and watermarked extract from the programme is available to view via the Tim Disney Archive, with the Dalek film report excerpt starting at 1 min 16 sec.

Related Articles: Dalek Documentary Discovered (6 June 2012)

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The film A Hitch In Time starring Patrick Troughton as a time-travelling professor is to be released on DVD for high-definition viewing.

Penned by the Oscar-winning scriptwriter T E B "Tibby" Clarke and directed by Jan Darnley-Smith, the 54-minute Children's Film Foundation feature from 1978 will form part of the three-film CFF collection Weird Adventures from the BFI.

In A Hitch In Time, Patrick Troughton plays time-hopping inventor Adam Wagstaff. Discovered working on his time machine by two curious kids, Wagstaff decides to send them back through the ages. But with malfunctions a-plenty, will they be able to make it back?

It also stars Jeff Rawle as "Sniffy" Kemp, a teacher out to spoil the fun. The art direction is by Doctor Who's current production designer Michael Pickwoad.

The other two films in the collection are Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's last collaborative feature The Boy Who Turned Yellow (1972) and Alberto Cavalcanti's The Monster of Highgate Ponds (1961).

All the films have been newly transferred for high-definition viewing from the best available elements in the BFI National Archive, having been out of distribution for a number of years.

Weird Adventures - the third volume of CFF films brought out by the BFI - will be released on Monday 17th June and is available to pre-order.

The CFF was a non-profit-making pan-industry initiative set up in 1951 by the owner of the Odeon and Rank cinema chains to make home-grown entertainment for young cinema-goers to see at the "Saturday morning pictures". Key themes included adventure, mysteries, monsters, science-fiction, shipwrecks, races, and animals, with regional content from Scotland to south-west England.

It became the Children's Film and Television Foundation in 1982, with film production ending in 1987. The CFTF is now known as the Children's Media Foundation, with the film collection preserved in the BFI National Archive.

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