Doctor Who Magazine (abbreviated as DWM) is a magazine devoted to the British science fiction television series Doctor Who.
Launched in 1979 as Doctor Who Weekly, the magazine became a monthly publication the following year. In 1990 it switched to a four-weekly schedule, publishing 13 issues a year, along with triannual deluxe Special Editions (2002–) and Bookazines (2013–). Regular issues include interviews, behind-the-scenes articles on television episodes and Doctor Who in other media, as well as producing its own comic strip.
Its founding editor was Dez Skinn, and the longest-serving editor was Tom Spilsbury who served from 2007 to 2017. He was succeeded by Marcus Hearn, who took over from Spilsbury in July 2017. The incumbent editor is Jason Quinn, who took over from Hearn in September 2023. DWM is recognised by Guinness World Records as the longest running TV tie-in magazine, celebrating 40 years of continuous publication on 11 October 2019. The magazine published its 600th issue on 1 February 2024.
History Originally geared towards children and predominately featuring comic strips, DWM slowly transformed into a mature magazine, expanding to explore behind-the-scenes aspects of the series and developing the comic strip. Due to its longevity, it is seen as a source of 'official' and exclusive information, sharing a close relationship with the television production team and the BBC.Russell T Davies in Spilsbury (2016), p. 3
Marvel years (1979–1995)
Officially licensed by the BBC, the magazine began life as Doctor Who Weekly in 1979, published by the UK arm of Marvel Comics. The first issue was released on Thursday 11 October with a cover date of 17 October and priced 12 pence.Spilsbury (2016), p. 5
The magazine moved from weekly to monthly publication with issue 44 in September 1980, becoming Doctor Who – A Marvel Monthly with a cover price of 30 pence – although the tagline was not part of the name, but simply a descriptor which appeared on many of Marvel UK's monthly titles at that point. The indicia continued describing the publication as 'Doctor Who Weekly' until issue 48. The cover title changed to Doctor Who Monthly with issue 61, and then to The Official Doctor Who Magazine with issue 85 in February 1984. It became The Doctor Who Magazine with issue 99 in April 1985, and simply Doctor Who Magazine with issue 107 in December 1985. The magazine has remained under that title ever since; an exception was made for issue 397 (June 2008) when the cover featured only the words Bad Wolf, following transmission of the Doctor Who episode "Turn Left" on Saturday 21 June.
Despite the BBC discontinuing production of Doctor Who in 1989, the magazine continued to be published, providing new adventures in the form of comics. In 1990 the magazine started appearing once every four weeks (13 times a year).
Panini years (1995–present)
DWM is now published by Panini Comics, which purchased the title along with the rest of the Marvel UK catalogue in 1995. In 2006, however, it lost its exclusivity when BBC Worldwide launched its own comic, Doctor Who Adventures, aimed at a younger audience.
DWM's 400th issue was published in September 2008, and the publication celebrated its 30th anniversary in October 2009. In April 2010, it was confirmed in issue 420 that Doctor Who Magazine now holds the Guinness World Record for "Longest Running Magazine Based on a Television Series." The magazine reached its 500th issue in May 2016. It reached its 600th issue in February 2024.
In April 2011, Panini Comics released a new monthly magazine titled Doctor Who Insider; although it was made in Britain the magazine was published for North America. It was announced on 27 January 2012 that Doctor Who Insider had ceased publication after nine issues. Doctor Who Insider returned for a special edition issue on 1 November 2012.
Panini has begun to digitally restore and reprint older DWM comics in trade paperback format. Twenty-five volumes have been printed so far: two featuring the comics adventures of the Fourth Doctor, one with the adventures of the Fifth Doctor, two featuring the Sixth Doctor, five with the adventures of the Seventh Doctor, four focusing on the Eighth Doctor, one with the adventures of the Ninth Doctor, three featuring the Tenth Doctor, four collecting the adventures of the Eleventh Doctor and four with the adventures of the Twelfth Doctor. Panini also published a one-shot magazine-format reprinting of the complete Ninth Doctor strips in 2006 and most of the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones strips in 2008. DWM issue 426 reported that the series had been postponed; it eventually resumed with the publication of "The Crimson Hand" in May 2012.
In November 2020, Panini published The Daleks, a new compilation of the Dalek comic strips originally published on the back pages of early issues of 1960s comic TV Century 21. Unlike previous reprints, the majority of pages in the collection were scanned from the original artwork.
Editors
DWMs founding editor was Dez Skinn, who had been headhunted by Stan Lee (the figurehead and creative leader at Marvel) to oversee the revitalisation of the ailing UK division. "[I] had the idea for a Doctor Who title around 1975. . . . I felt it would be a perfect stablemate to my then-current House of Hammer magazine, and could be produced in the same format, with a mix of comic strips and features, going behind and beyond the TV series." To make the publication work, Skinn needed a comic strip to be at the heart of the publication, and successfully negotiated for the rights to the Doctor Who comics licence with the BBC which had previously been held by Polystyle Publications since late 1964."Scoones (2012), p. 11 DWCC Launching in 1979 as a weekly comic strip based publication, Skinn handed over the reins in 1980.
His immediate successor as editor, Paul Neary, was faced with significant falling sales following the premature end of the programme's 17th season in January 1980. Neary first attempted to target the publication at a younger readership; when this failed to halt falling sales, he instead relaunched the title as a monthly magazine. Subsequent editors gradually realised then surpassed Skinn's vision of a more mature magazine, getting rid of secondary and tertiary comic strips for regular features and articles going behind the scenes of the show.
During 1995 Panini bought out Marvel UK, and thus took control of DWM. The incumbent editor Gary Russell – who would go on to produce the Big Finish Productions Doctor Who audios dramas from their inception, and to work for BBC Wales as a Script Editor on the Doctor Who spin-offs The Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood – was 'asked to leave'. The editorship was taken over by recently hired comic strip editor, Gary Gillatt.
Gillatt edited the magazine for the next five years, except for issue 255 in 1997 which was guest-edited by one of the stars of the Doctor Who TV show Sophie Aldred (who had portrayed the Seventh Doctor's companion Ace during the late 1980s).
In February 2001, the editor at the time Alan Barnes, oversaw the transformation of the comic strip from black and white to full-colour with the first episode of the Eighth Doctor story Ophidius (issue 300).
Clayton Hickman became the editor in 2002, launching the deluxe triannual Special Editions of the magazine (which are running to this day) and the Doctor Who Annual, later Storybook, in 1996 (which ceased publication after five years). He was the first editor since John Freeman to work on the publication with the show actually in production.
Subsequent editor Tom Spilsbury took over in 2007, later launching the deluxe triannual Bookazine (running parallel to the Special Editions, and again still being produced to this day). Spilsbury would stay at the helm for a decade, becoming the longest-serving editor in the process, handing over the editorship to Marcus Hearn in 2017. Hearn announced his departure as editor in issue 594 in 2023, and he was succeeded by Jason Quinn.
Editor Duration Issues Range Total Dez Skinn 1979–1980 1–22 22 Paul Neary 1980–1981 23–48 26 Alan McKenzie 1981–1985 49–96 48 Sheila Cranna 1985–1988 97 & 107–136 31 Cefn Ridout 1985 98–106 9 John Freeman 1988–1992 137–185 49 Gary Russell 1992–1995 186–200 (solo)201–221 (co-editor with Marcus Hearn)222 (solo) 37 Gary Gillatt 1995–2000 223–254256–261 (solo)262–263 (co-editor with Alan Barnes)264–271 (solo)272–292 (co-editor with Alan Barnes) 69 Sophie Aldred 1997 255 1 Alan Barnes 1998–2001 262–263272–292 (co-editor with Gary Gillatt)293–312 (solo)313 (co-editor with Clayton Hickman) 44 Clayton Hickman 2002–2007 313 (co-editor with Alan Barnes)314–386 (solo) 74 Tom Spilsbury 2007–2017 387–515(final issue joint with Peter Ware & Richard Atkinson) 129 Peter Ware & Richard Atkinson 2017 515 (joint with Tom Spilsbury) 1 Marcus Hearn 1993–19942017–2023 201–221 (co-editor with Gary Russell)516–594 (solo) 100 Jason Quinn 2023– 595– Ongoing
Controversy The December 2017 issue (Issue 518) of Doctor Who Magazine featured a hidden profane message in a column written by an anonymous writer under the pseudonym 'The Watcher' on page 82. Soon after the message's discovery, the column was amended in the digital version of the issue. It was later revealed that the writer of the column had been Nicholas Pegg, an occasional writer for the magazine and one of the Dalek operators on the television series. BBC Worldwide had told the Daily Mirror that "The matter was raised with the publisher who have dismissed the writer." Private Eye later reported that editor Tom Spilsbury's decision to leave the magazine stemmed from "falling-out" with BBC Wales over DWM's coverage of Doctor Who spin-off Class, and that he was "paid off" in the summer of 2017 to leave the publication.Private Eye Issue 1456 Retrieved 1 November 2017 However, in the following issue of Private Eye, a letter from Spilsbury was published, denying these allegations.Private Eye Issue 1457 Retrieved 15 November 2017
Circulation
The magazine joined the Audit Bureau of Circulations in June 2010, giving the average figure per issue for every six months, meaning circulation figures have only been made available officially for six-monthly periods since August of that year, when the publication recorded an average circulation of 35,374 per issue for between January and June 2010.
Since then, the average figures per issue have fluctuated, reaching a high of 36,151 for the July–December 2013 period, but generally decreasing since then, with the occasional small rise.
The last-known six-month certified average circulation figure per issue was 20,635 for the period between July and December 2018. The magazine's average circulation figure per issue for January to June 2019 was due to be released on 15 August 2019 as part of the bureau's batch of Consumer Magazines figures for that period. However, for the first time since August 2010 no official data was published, after the magazine changed its reporting frequency to annually. The average circulation figure per issue for the 13 editions between January and December 2019, subsequently published by the bureau on 13 February 2020, was 17,586, comprising 10,239 paid single copies, 7,213 paid subscriptions and 134 free copies.
The average circulation per issue for the 13 editions between January and December 2020 was 16,304, according to data published by the bureau on 11 February 2021. It comprised 8,330 paid single copies, 7,838 paid subscriptions and 136 free copies.
The magazine stopped being registered with the Audit Bureau of Circulations at some point after then, meaning no figures for 2021 were published as part of the bureau's batch of Consumer Magazines figures that were released on 17 February 2022.
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