The BBC has announced today that Doctor Who fans will soon be able to step inside a virtual reality version of the TARDIS in an upcoming immersive VR adventure called Doctor Who: The Runaway.

Viewers will join the Thirteenth Doctor on board the TARDIS in this animated interactive story from the BBC and Passion Animation Studios. Fans will get the chance to be the Doctor's champion and help her on this exciting adventure, as they find themselves at the centre of the action facing a deadly threat.

Jo Pearce, creative director for the BBC's digital drama team, said: “Fans will experience the TARDIS like never before in this thrilling new interactive story. As ever, the Doctor is full of warmth, wit and charm – helped by a wonderful performance from Jodie – which puts fans at the heart of the story as they immerse themselves in this beautifully animated world.” 

Zillah Watson, head of BBC VR Hub, said: “Our team at the BBC VR Hub has been creating new experiences with the goal of helping to usher virtual reality into the mainstream, and Doctor Who is exactly the sort of series that can help more people to try this new technology. The show has been pushing boundaries for over 55 years, and VR enables Doctor Who to explore a whole new dimension of storytelling.”

Featuring new original music from series composer Segun Akinola, Doctor Who: The Runaway has been written by Victoria Asare-Archer and directed by Mathias Chelebourg, whose previous VR films include Alice, the Virtual Reality Play and The Real Thing VR. It has been produced by the BBC’s digital drama team, BBC VR Hub and Passion Animation Studios.

‘Rosa' was one of the standout moments from series 11 with an amazing response to the story from fans around the world. Today, 4th February, marks 103 years since Rosa Parks (1913) was born and a chance for us to look back.

Not only was the episode embraced by the audience, it was also really important for our cast and crew to make.

‘It’s pretty tough to take and, you know, you really appreciate what people have done for history and time like Rosa Parks.’

The feedback to the episode was so strong, BBC News wrote a story on the reaction from fans while providing more information about the amazing woman.

The episode ended with the Doctor teaching Yaz, Ryan and Graham about what happened to Rosa Parks after the events of the episode. It was moments like this that caused school teachers to get in touch to tell us how they were using the episode in their classrooms.

Don’t forget you can still revisit ‘Rosa’ on BBC iPlayer, along with the other episodes from series 11. 

Doctor Who has made the final short list for this year’s National Television Awards, competing in the Drama category. Jodie Whittaker is nominated for Drama Performance and Bradley Walsh is also nominated for TV Presenter for his work outside of Doctor Who. Winners are chosen by the public and you can vote for your favourite show by visiting the NTA website now! https://www.nationaltvawards.com/vote

This year the Doctor is facing stiff competition from the likes of Casualty, Call the Midwife, Peaky Blinders and Our Girl but your vote could hand victory to the Time Lord!

Voting opened yesterday (7th January 2019) and closes at noon on the 22nd January 2019. The awards ceremony will take place at The O2 London later that day.

Welcome to the Doctor Who weekly roundup. Where we show you a week in the world of Who. We started the week by taking a closer look at Episode 9: It Takes You Away.

Creatures of the Antizone were the subject of this week's case file.

We got to know more about Tosin Cole in Getting To Know Who.

It was then time for the explosive series finale: The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos

After the episode, we announced that series 12 would air in early 2020...

...and we got a glimpse of what’s to come in the New Year’s Day special: Resolution.

Thank you for watching; you can catch the whole series on BBC iPlayer.

THE DOCTOR AND HER FRIENDS WILL LAND AGAIN ON BBC ONE IN 2020

As series 11 came to a close on BBC One tonight (Sunday 9th December) the show announced that series 12 is on its way and will be returning to BBC One in early 2020.

Series 11 marked a brand new era for Doctor Who with Showrunner, Chris Chibnall, taking control of the TARDIS. With Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor, viewers saw the Doctor and her friends travel through space and time on adventures fighting monsters and conquering battles. Series 12 will see Jodie reprise her role as the Doctor and she will once again be joined by Bradley Walsh (Graham), Mandip Gill (Yasmin) and Tosin Cole (Ryan).

So far, from the first eight episodes, series 11 of Doctor Who has averaged a 4-screen consolidated audience of 8.4m.

Jodie’s first episode as the Doctor launched with a consolidated audience of 11 million making it the second biggest drama this year across all channels, while also placing it among the top 10 programmes in 2018 so far across all channels and genres. The episode received 3.7 million requests through BBC iPlayer.

Speaking of the return Showrunner Chris Chibnall said “We’re off again! Well we never actually stopped - as Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor and friends have been winning the hearts of families across the nation this autumn, we’ve been busy with a whole new set of action packed adventures for the Thirteenth Doctor. We adore making this show and have been blown away by the response from audiences, so we can’t wait to bring more scares, more monsters and more Bradley Walsh, Mandip Gill and Tosin Cole to BBC One. Brilliant!”

Charlotte Moore, Director of Content added, “We’re delighted that the Doctor and her friends will be returning to thrill audiences in 2020. I know Chris and the whole team are already working on a whole new set of exciting adventures. In the meantime we’ve got a very special episode on New Year’s Day for everyone to enjoy.”