It begins with a knock at the TARDIS door, while still in deep space, and an important message from a long-lost Time Lord friend. The distress signal prompts the Doctor (Matt Smith), Amy Pond (Karen Gillan), and Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill) to literally leave the universe, and leads them to a junkyard asteroid. The matrix and power of the TARDIS is immediately drained, leaving them stranded on this odd world, where they confront a mysterious entity called the House (Michael Sheen). What secrets does the mad bitey woman known as Idris (Suranne Jones) hold for the Doctor?

During TARDISblend 26, we review the events of the long-awaited Neil Gaiman-penned episode, The Doctor’s Wife, an episode that proves to be much of the best Doctor Who has offered in a long time.

It’s Doctor Who Week! That’s right; it’s just a few days to go until the premiere episode of Series 6, The Impossible Astronaut. And even though there are many fans out there waiting for the new season with high anticipation, there’s also a bunch of people out there who are new to the Time Lord, so to help out new folks with the continuity, The Fine Brothers have put together a video: 47 Years of Doctor Who in 6 minutes.

Now, you could go down the route that Neil Gaiman recommends:

With the new season of Doctor Who coming up on us quickly on April 23, there’s a level of anticipation and excitement among fans online I’ve not seen for quite some time. What’s interesting is I continually find myself running into new fans who have only ever seen the new Doctor Who series that has been going since 2005.

Indeed, to a generation of Doctor Who fans, there have been only three Doctors since they discovered the adventures of the Time Lord: Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant, and Matt Smith. And inevitably, many of these fans find themselves wanting to dive deeper into the mythos and legend of the good Doctor.

And why shouldn’t they? The series has had a legacy spanning close to half a century, with some amazing stories being created from some of the greatest creative minds including Terrence Dicks, Douglas Adams, Terry Nation, and so many more.

As we move closer to the first episode of of Doctor Who Series 6, there are more tidbits of information coming out about this year’s season — including returning villains (and the tools at their disposal) and surprising guest stars that are returning from Series 5. The following information could be considered a tad on the spoilery side — so consider to have been alerted!

First off, as the spoiler-hounds have known for some time now, the Cybermen will be returning in Series 6, but what makes things interesting is who and what will also be in the episode.

Today marks a sad day around the universe for Doctor Who fans. Long-time cast member Nicholas Courtney has passed away at the age of 81. Courtney portrayed the famous Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, otherwise referred to as the Brigadier, alongside eight of the eleven Doctors. His first role as Lethbridge-Stewart was in The Web of Fear opposite Patrick Troughton‘s Second Doctor, and his final role in the Doctor Who universe was along with Elisabeth Sladen in a 2008 episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures entitled Enemy of the Bane.

Aside from Doctor Who, Courtney has made his mark in other television series over the years, including Escape, The Avengers, All Creatures Great and Small, and Yes Prime Minister. Despite his acting in other shows, he is forever known as the Brigadier, an aspect of his career Courtney was openly proud of.