A Letter from the Doctor (series)
A Letter from the Doctor were short, in-universe letters "written" by DWU characters, typically, but not limited to, the Doctor. Beginning in the first issue of Doctor Who Weekly, A Letter from the Doctor remained a recurring feature for the first dozen or so issues, eventually being devolved into an occasional feature thereafter being reserved for celebrating milestones in the publication's history.
Originating in the Fourth Doctor's role as the "host" of Doctor Who Weekly, the stories often (but not always) treated Doctor Who Magazine as an in-universe periodical. The letters were associated with their distinctive sign-off "happy times and places".
Stories
Original letters
For reasons of production, the original few issues of Doctor Who Weekly were mostly created before the first issue's publication, meaning they didn't have material for the letters feature Who Cares! (in which readers would write in to the magazine and its host, the Fourth Doctor). Instead, to preempt Who Cares! these issues had letters to the readers from the Doctor, inviting them to write him back. These original stories were actually written by Dez Skinn, but he kept it a secret to keep the illusion that "the Doctor" had actually written them.
The letters tied together the Doctor's curatorial role across the magazine, mentioning the concurrent DWM comic stories, Tales from the TARDIS and the DWM backup comic stories (the latter two of which also directly featured him in the role of host). After Who Cares! began as a feature in DWM 7, the letters continued for 9 issues of Skinn's editorship as the Doctor took on a more traditional British comics host role in his Who Cares! appearances.
| # | Title | Author | Main character |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DWM 1 | Dez Skinn[1] | Fourth Doctor |
| 2 | DWM 2 | ||
| 3 | DWM 3 | ||
| 4 | DWM 4 | ||
| 5 | DWM 5 | ||
| 6 | DWM 6 | ||
| 7 | DWM 7 | ||
| 8 | DWM 8 | ||
| 9 | DWM 9 | ||
| 10 | DWM 10 | ||
| 11 | DWM 11 | ||
| 12 | DWM 12 | ||
| 13 | DWM 13 | ||
| 14 | DWM 14 | ||
| 15 | DWM 15 | ||
| 16 | DWM 16 |
New-look Weekly letters
Doctor Who Weekly' "new-look" which debuted in DWM 26 brought back the Doctor's letters with a dedicated box on the inner cover to each issue. Shorter and less frequently featuring the Doctor's personality as time went on, these letters were replaced in DWM 50 and onwards with non-fictional letters from the magazine's editors at the start of each issue. Per the magazine's credits, these letters were likely written by either editor Paul Neary or assistant editor Jenny O'Connor.
Like the previous sequence of letters, the Doctor acted here as the magazine's host, with the letters discussing his role in curating the DWM comic stories, DWM backup comic stories, DWM prose stories, Dr. Who's Time Tales, and The Dalek Tapes. From DWM 43 onwards, the sign-off "happy times and places" was replaced with "have fun!".
| # | Title | Author | Main character |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DWM 26 | TBA | Fourth Doctor |
| 2 | DWM 27 | ||
| 3 | DWM 28 | ||
| 4 | DWM 29 | ||
| 5 | DWM 30 | ||
| 6 | DWM 31 | ||
| 7 | DWM 32 | ||
| 8 | DWM 33 | ||
| 9 | DWM 34 | ||
| 10 | DWM 35 | ||
| 11 | DWM 36 | ||
| 12 | DWM 37 | ||
| 13 | DWM 38 | ||
| 14 | DWM 39 | ||
| 15 | DWM 40 | ||
| 16 | DWM 41 | ||
| 17 | DWM 42 | ||
| 18 | DWM 43 | ||
| 19 | DWM 44 | ||
| 20 | DWM 45 | ||
| 21 | DWM 46 | ||
| 22 | DWM 47 | ||
| 23 | DWM 48 | ||
| 24 | DWM 49 |
One-off editorial throwbacks
For special occasions, later issues of Doctor Who Magazine reverted the editor's letter into a fictional throwback to A Letter from the Doctor.
| # | Title | Author | Main character |
|---|---|---|---|
| TBA | DWM 154 | Seventh Doctor | |
| TBA | DWM 311 | The Master |
Doctor Who Storybook
A Letter from the Doctor was revived for the Annual-style publication Doctor Who Storybook. All but the letter in the 2009 Storybook, written by newly appointed showrunner Steven Moffat, were written by the show's producer and lead writer Russell T Davies.
The letter in the 2010 Storybook was different in format from the others, appearing to be the transcription of a garbled transmission from the Doctor. It includes snippets of dialogue from Tenth Doctor television episodes going back to the incarnation's very first words. Because of this format, it was believed the first words of the letter, "Don't forget me", might have been the last words of the Tenth Doctor in The End of Time; instead, these were his final words to Sarah Jane Smith in The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith.
| # | Title | Author | Main character |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Storybook 2007 | Russell T Davies | Tenth Doctor |
| 2 | Storybook 2008 | ||
| 3 | Storybook 2009 | Steven Moffat | |
| 4 | Storybook 2010 | Russell T Davies |
Peter Capaldi's letters
First in the issue announcing his role as the Twelfth Doctor and later in the celebratory DWM 500, Peter Capaldi wrote letters published in DWM in the style of A Letter from the Doctor.
| # | Title | Author | Main character |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DWM 464 | Peter Capaldi | |
| 2 | DWM 500 |
Doctor Who Adventures
- Main article: Dear Readers (series)
When Panini Comics began publishing Doctor Who Adventures in 2015, they updated the magazine to be a "sister publication" to Doctor Who Magazine, with elements evoking DWM's more child-oriented origins as Doctor Who Weekly. Alongside the UNIT Command Centre feature taking queues from UNIT Hotline, letters from the Twelfth Doctor in the same format and style as Weekly's letters appeared at the start of each issue.
A Letter from the Producer
Starting in 2022, a non-fiction DWM feature by Russell T Davies has paid homage to A Letter from the Doctor in name and artwork.
Doctor Who annuals
The official 2024 Doctor Who annual featured an instalment in this series featuring the Fourteenth Doctor.
| # | Title | Author | Main character |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DWAN 2024 | Paul Lang | Fourteenth Doctor |
Footnotes
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