I’m appearing at two upcoming Doctor Who-related events in the next eight days. (It gets me out the house.) The first is in Chicago, IL. The second is in London…

CHICAGO TARDIS 2011 (25-27th Nov)

Yes, I’m doing a sci-fi convention. My first in six years. Chicago TARDIS has been held annually since 2000, and apparently it’s quite a big deal. It’s the Midwest’s largest Doctor Who convention. This year, it’s taking place at the Westin Lombard Yorktown Center over Thanksgiving Weekend. Aside from me, other guests include Peter Davison, Janet Fielding, Sarah Sutton, Matthew Waterhouse, Mark Sheppard, Andrew Hayden Smith, Beth Chalmers, Nicholas Briggs, Robert Shearman, Tony Lee, and many more.

If you’re interested in attending, passes are $100 for the weekend, or $60 for a one-day general admission. More information at www.chicagotardis.com.

FORBIDDEN PLANET (30th Nov)

I will be signing copies of The Brilliant Book of Doctor Who 2012 at Forbidden Planet’s London Megastore, 179 Shaftesbury Avenue, along with other contributors to the book – Jason Arnopp, David Bailey, James Goss, David Llewellyn, editor Clayton Hickman, and designer Paul Lang – and Doctor Who scriptwriters Steven Moffat, Mark Gatiss, Tom MacRae, and Gareth Roberts. Gary Russell will be there, too, signing copies of The Doctor Who Encyclopedia.

This event will take place from 6-7pm, on Wednesday 30th. For more information, visit www.forbiddenplanet.com.

SATURDAY 5TH NOVEMBER

RT @sampepper: Went to fireworks tonight, wasn’t that great, they didn’t even have like a massive one that goes off at the end! (05/11/2011 21:59)

@sampepper Let it go, Sam. Let it go. (05/11/2011 21:59)

Fireworks at Blackheath with @mrtinoforever @TheVirginScary @AsalSays @SofiaStephanou & @sampepper. Too few bangs for Sam’s liking. (05/11/2011 22:05)

RT @sampepper: @benjamin_cook Someone just tweeted me saying they went to one and it made babies cry, we should have went there! (05/11/2011 22:14)

TUESDAY 8TH NOVEMBER

Frankie Cocozza “axed” from #XFactor! I am too sad for words. This is the day the music died. I might go lay flowers outside ITV studios. (08/11/2011 13:57)

Think I’m experiencing the Five Stages of Grief. 1) Denial. 2) Anger. 3) Bargaining. 4) Depression. 5) Acceptance. #XFactor #KüblerRoss (08/11/2011 14:11)

1) “He hasn’t gone.” 2) “He CAN’T have gone!” 3) “TAKE ME INSTEAD!” 4) *weeps for Frankie* 5) “Hm. Maybe he was shit.” #XFactor #KüblerRoss (08/11/2011 14:12)

THURSDAY 10TH NOVEMBER

So this just happened. In a bath. With Christ. Or possibly @blade376. #NakedTweet http://twitpic.com/7cvaf0 (10/11/2011 23:17)

I do believe we’ve started a meme… (10/11/2011 23:48)

RT @xFAWNx: @benjamin_cook @blade376 @photosonthewall yfrog.com/j2y9xbj (10/11/2011 23:42)

RT @eddplant: @benjamin_cook @blade376 So this just happened. In a bath. With Walter Bishop. Or possibly @jonginn. twitpic.com/7cvjc6 (10/11/2011 23:44)

@eddplant @jonginn @xFAWNx @photosonthewall You’ve just melted the internet. Your special prize is in the post. (10/11/2011 23:48)

Spent the day in Bath with @coollike @thatalexday @liliesarelike & @ciaranobrien. It was cold & beautiful. Like me. How’s been your day? (15/11/2011 21:32)

http://www.twitpic.com/7f2v57 So I’ve joined a band! Or taken part in an anti-bullying video: http://youtu.be/mh1jBZIA0io One of those. (15/11/2011 21:54)

The new issue of Doctor Who Magazine (on sale today, from all good newsagents) looks forward to Christmas, and back at the last year’s worth of Doctor Who, with my exclusive, in-depth interview with the show’s producer, Marcus Wilson, in which he says stuff like:

“If you read all the different reviews, your brain starts to explode. There’s such rubbish in some of the papers. Things like the whole debate about the ratings… I feel for Steven [Moffat, Doctor Who's showrunner] most of all, because people read stuff into things that aren’t there. There was a story that we had this year’s mid-series break for financial reasons and because we were behind. That is categorically untrue. Steven pitched the split to me over a year ago, before I even started. I thought it was a great idea.”

Also in DWM 441… Dan Tostevin goes behind the scenes of Serpent Crest, AudioGO’s latest series of audio dramas featuring Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor, and talks exclusively to David Troughton, who joins the cast to take on his father’s role of the Second Doctor; Jason Arnopp interviews Closing Time director Steve Hughes; the Time Team reaches the end of the Ninth Doctor’s era; the Eleventh Doctor faces the time-twisting Chiyoko, in the climax to Jonathan Morris and Martin Geraghty’s The Child of Time comic strip; Fact of Fiction considers 1982 serial Earthshock; Steven Moffat comes over all Christmassy in Production Notes… and all the latest news, reviews, previews, and competitions.

MONDAY 17TH OCTOBER

Thanks for all the birthday wishes, Twitter. I am, of course, 21. Again. Possibly 20. Maybe even 19. It’s hard to tell under these lights. (17/10/2011 14:13)

AT LAST! Benjamin Cook: The Video Game (or “Red Dyed Redemption”): http://bit.ly/oubdEl The talented @jonginn made this for my birthday. (17/10/2011 17:48)

TUESDAY 18TH OCTOBER

Lunch with Sophie Aldred at Rules, Covent Garden. Fascinating interview. Some big revelations. To be pub. in @DWMtweets early next year. (18/10/2011 15:57)

I have just set fire to my own hair. This is not a joke. (18/10/2011 22:09)

Those of you taking the piss may like to know that I am NOT joking. And now I smell of smoke. And yes, it hurts. (18/10/2011 22:24)

FYI, I was lighting a cigarette, and set fire to my fringe. It took three people to put me out. (18/10/2011 22:25)

Before you tell me I shouldn’t smoke… I know that NOW! (18/10/2011 22:28)

RT @notdangle: @benjamin_cook So basically tonight you were involved in a Fringe event *gets amber ready* HAHAHA ME SO FUNNY. (19/10/2011 00:07)

WEDNESDAY 19TH OCTOBER

RT @TimH078: http://youtu.be/dfwCQ8KJ4O0 New video! Feat. @Khyan @therhexperience @benjamin_cook @SeCeOddlyEnough … what more could you ask for? (19/10/2011 19:04)

FRIDAY 21ST OCTOBER

Spent tonight in a TV studio with Jerry Springer. We went “JERRY! JERRY! JERRY!” And I’ve always wanted to do that. (21/10/2011 21:52)

MONDAY 24TH OCTOBER

Bill Bailey has just sung the Dr Who theme tune to me down the phone. (24/10/2011 14:37)

Every week should start like this. (24/10/2011 14:37)

TUESDAY 25TH OCTOBER

In a fancy dress shop. Queuing to try on a Halloween costume. This is my fitting room ticket: twitpic.com/75mw0u Holy fuck. (25/10/2011 16:30)

RT @BenPaddon: @benjamin_cook I’ll be honest with you, Ben – I think you’re going to die in that store. (25/10/2011 16:32)

SUNDAY 30TH OCTOBER

Last night was fun. (30/10/2011 11:39)

Halloween party at @HattiRex‘s, with @FoozerV @3sixty5days @edstockham @eddplant @xFAWNx @TheVirginScary @CheekTV @sebbyRIOT et al. (30/10/2011 11:40)

The new, 100-page issue of Doctor Who Magazine is out today, and celebrates the life of Elisabeth Sladen, who died earlier this year. Among those tributes from friends, family and colleagues are my interviews with Doctors Tom Baker, David Tennant, and Matt Smith. Here are some exclusive audio clips from those interviews:

Tom Baker (DWM 440)
WARNING: This clip contains strong language and adult humour.

David Tennant (DWM 440)

Matt Smith (DWM 440)

This issue also features Lis’ final magazine interview, which I conducted last year, originally for Radio Times, but only 10% was ever published… until now. DWM presents this interview in full, for the first time. Asked how she feels when Sarah Jane tops polls of the greatest companion ever, Lis said:

“I can’t take that seriously. You have to look at the time I was in the show, and the Doctors I was paired with. That’s not me being bashful… You can have the most wonderful Romeo and the most wonderful Juliet, but if they don’t come together and match, you’ve got nothing. You’ve got to believe it. If you can make people believe, you’ve won.”

Also in DWM 440… Marcus Hearne takes an in-depth look at the life and times of Lis, from her childhood in Liverpool through to her starring roles in Doctor Who and The Sarah Jane Adventures; Mark Wright catches up with the young stars and head writer of Sarah Jane, to talk about the final series (which aired on CBBC earlier this month); there’s a Fact of Fiction on 1976 serial The Hand of Fear; the Time Team travels to the year 200,100 and watches Ninth Doctor episode Bad Wolf; the Doctor, Amy and Alan Turing are on a mission to stop Chiyoko – and save the human race – in the third part of Jonathan Morris and Martin Geraghty’s The Child of Time comic strip; Who showrunner Steven Moffat shares some Confidential thoughts in the 100th Production Notes… and all the latest news, reviews, previews, and competitions.

Doctor Who Magazine is available from all good newsagents and supermarkets.

TUESDAY 4TH OCTOBER

I seem to have grown a beard. :/ (04/10/2011, 09:41)

RT @_L_M_C_: @benjamin_cook: Now you may expect 7,176 replies asking you what colour. (04/10/2011, 09:44)

Sigh. RT @RhodesRa: @benjamin_cook Is it red? (04/10/2011, 09:47)

WEDNESDAY 5TH OCTOBER

In Cardiff. It’s raining. Standard. I’m on set with Dr Who, for @DWMtweets. It’s Xmas here. #HoHoHo (05/10/2011, 15:38)

RT @coollike: Just been informed that Matt Smith is now the proud owner of a copy of Still Got Legs. Thanks @benjamin_cook for giving it to him! (05/10/2011, 16:47)

 (06/10/2011, 01:32)

FRIDAY 7TH OCTOBER

Exhausted! Tonight involved naked women spitting champagne, @mrtinoforever @eddplant @insilverblood @MrsGrrrg, @therhexperience, and a cake. (08/10/2011, 03:34)

SATURDAY 15TH OCTOBER

Never Google yourself. (15/10/2011, 13:39)

Blimey. (15/10/2011, 13:41)

Which TV show, according to Google’s autocomplete algorithm, have more users searched for alongside my name than any other? Go on, guess. (15/10/2011, 13:42)

RT @Littleradge: @benjamin_cook No idea, but when I started going through A-Z to figure it out, this happened: pic.twitter.com/7Vkg3pbq (15/10/2011 13:49)

@Littleradge Say my name, iGoogle! Say my name, bitch! Etc. (15/10/2011 13:50)

Most of you are suggesting Dr Who. Which would make sense, wouldn’t it? But you’re wrong: http://twitpic.com/70n1n7 (15/10/2011, 13:55)

Is Benjamin Cook gay? twitpic.com/70n6fr (15/10/2011 13:56)

RT @_L_M_C_: @benjamin_cook I only found out I was gay when I Googled it. A bit of a shock as I’d always been something of a womaniser up to that point. (15/10/2011 14:01)

RT @em_ross: @benjamin_cook My iPhone Google search brings up this list: twitpic.com/70n3sp (15/10/2011 14:01)

RT @fuckyeahcallum: @benjamin_cook This is even better… lulz: lockerz.com/s/147305748 (15/10/2011 14:02)

This is The Brilliant Book of Doctor Who 2012. (SCREAM!) Edited by Clayton Hickman, and featuring contributions from yours truly, amongst others, The Brilliant Book is a 168-page guide to the last year’s worth of Doctor Who. It went on sale TODAY.

Weaving fact and fiction, interviews and information, and packed with unseen photographs and original artwork, the book boasts brand new material from the writers of the TV show (including Mark Gatiss, Gareth Roberts, Matthew Graham, Tom MacRae, and Steve Thompson, with exclusive extras from Neil Gaiman), a full episode-by-episode guide (including deleted scenes and hidden gems you might have missed), plus my candid chats with series regulars Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, Arthur Darvill, and Alex Kingston, and Doctor Who supremo Steven Moffat (who tells me the truth behind the BBC’s decision to make fewer episodes for 2012 – and hints at what’s to come in 2013, the show’s 50th anniversary year: “Epic, huge, massive, indulgent, all your treats at once… We’re going to be in production for longer than ever, just to do everything that we intend to do”).

Here is an exclusive audio clip from my interview with Matt:

Matt Smith (The Brilliant Book)

And one from my interview with Karen, discussing poor, “messed up” Amy:

Karen Gillan (The Brilliant Book)

The Brilliant Book of Doctor Who 2012 (pub. BBC Books, ISBN 978-1-849-90230-4) is available, in hardback, from all good bookstores, and online at the usual places: Play, Amazon, WHSmith, Waterstone’s, BBC Shop, et al.

FRIDAY 2ND SEPTEMBER

Those moments when you & @coollike end up in David Tennant’s dressing room with Catherine Tate, David Walliams & Take That’s Jason Orange.

Much Ado was phenomenal, btw. Even hardened ‘Shakespearophobes’ will love this one. David & Catherine on particularly good form. Beautiful.

SUNDAY 11TH SEPTEMBER

My day so far = Chatroulette with @MrsGrrrg @insilverblood @DanEv_ @TheVirginScary @sampepper @dogbean & @iSinclair…

Introduced @sampepper to Brass Eye. Found @iSinclair a dinner lady fetishist who’ll love him for who he really is. My work here is done.

MONDAY 12TH SEPTEMBER

Having SO MUCH FUN on #Pottermore tonight! Just discovered the Cloak of Improbability under an empty butterbeer crate in Hogsmaiden Village!

Oh no, I have been attacked by an orc from Gringotts! What do I do? Please help. #Pottermore

Just ate a unicorn. #Pottermore

RT @robbiem101: @benjamin_cook are you high?? #Pottermore

@robbiem101 I’m off my tits on unicorn blood.

So who else is on #Pottermore? Let’s all have a magical meet-up in the woods behind The Burrow? We can play Quiddity and drink Pollyjuice.

TUESDAY 13TH SEPTEMBER

If your guitar gently weeps, it’s probably a small child shaped like a guitar, and not an actual guitar at all.

WEDNESDAY 14TH SEPTEMBER

Playing Guess Who? in a Camden pub with @timothymr @hexachordal & @thevirginscary…

RT @timothymr: @benjamin_cook Most of my friends go to Camden to get weed… I’m going to play Guess Who? THIS IS AWESOME.

Guess Who? results = Guess Who? is harder than it looks. Especially if your name is Tom. Or Tim. Or anything else beginning with ‘t’.

SATURDAY 17TH SEPTEMBER

Been sent the BEST photo: @coollike & I attempting to ruin an otherwise lovely shot of the gorgeous @Markgatiss: http://twitpic.com/6mc8yp

Apparently, it’s called ‘photobombing’. You live and learn. (HT: @rawrsomesauce @snowsunshine)

FRIDAY 23RD SEPTEMBER

It’s 9.29am, Twitter. And I’m off to the pub. With Tom Baker. BRB.

That moment when you’re strolling through Rye with Tom Baker, and you’re accosted by two Jehovah’s Witnesses.

The Jehovah’s are proclaiming: “All suffering soon to end!”

TB: “Yeah, yeah. Fleas don’t bite anybody, lions lie with lambs… You haven’t thought this through. Where are the virgins with big tits?”

The day has arrived. The day of destiny. The day of the Doctor’s death. But first… the new issue of Doctor Who Magazine goes on sale tomorrow, from all good newsagents and supermarkets. It features my previews of Closing Time and The Wedding of River Song, for which I chat to stars Matt Smith (“Maybe it’s time the Doctor settled down? Before he, you know, dies”) and Alex Kingston (“One minute, she’ll marry you. The next, she’ll kill you. This is where we find out which is which”) about River’s forthcoming nuptials. Plus, my interview with Closing Time scribe – and the “Bizarro Bowie” of Who – Gareth Roberts, and behind-the-scenes pieces on Let’s Kill Hilter and The God Complex. Here are two exclusive clips from my interview with Amy Pond actress Karen Gillan (“Oh God, this is a dark interview!”), in the first of which we talk babies and bad dreams:

Karen Gillan #1 (DWM 439)

And here’s Karen discussing playing a 57-year-old Amy in The Girl who Waited:

Karen Gillan #2 (DWM 439)

Also, I interview writers Steven Moffat (“I’d like to do a really belting Dalek story”) and Toby Whithouse (“Wouldn’t it be refreshing to have a character whose faith makes them compassionate, and heroic, and clever?”), and God Complex guest star David Walliams (“I’ve seen Jon Pertwee semi-naked – in a very small pair of pink pants, almost like a thong”), and talk to the Who regulars about… well, shit. (Arthur Darvill: “Would you have your poo examined?” Karen Gillan: “Yeah, I’d film that myself… I’d want to be taken seriously.” Etc.)

You want more? How about my preview of the fifth and final series of The Sarah Jane Adventures (“There will be a lot of tears,” predicts lead writer Phil Ford), David Bryher’s interview with The Girl who Waited writer Tom MacRae, the second part of Jonathan Morris and Martin Geraghty’s comic strip adventure The Child of Time, the Time Team’s take on Boom Town, fond farewells in Steven Moffat’s Production Notes, and all the latest news, reviews, and competitions? Happy now? Yes? Good.

MONDAY 15TH AUGUST

Off to the UK premiere of ‘Dr Who and the Let’s Kill Hitler’ with @lukespillane @thatalexday & @coollike. If you’re coming too, say hi.

RT @tommacwriter: Had the most fantastic Who-y night. Highlights included Karen’s dress, Arthur’s beard, Ben Cook’s hair, and the cab ride home with Moffat.

Highlight of my night? Introducing @lukespillane @thatalexday & @coollike to Karen Gillan & Arthur Darvill. And the line “Shut up, Hitler!”

TUESDAY 16TH AUGUST

RT @RattyBurvil: Big fun last night at BFI with @RattusRattus @RichardAtwill @steven_moffat @tommacwriter @benjamin_cook and that big ginger.

THURSDAY 18TH AUGUST

Rules of our #BBUK Launch Night drinking game. 1: Drink every time you lose faith in humanity. 2: Drink to forget. 3: Er, that’s it.

Anyone else reckon this Big Brother would be better if they’d put Kerry Katona in the house by herself? #BBUK

RT @RufusHound: Shall we play guess what drugs they’re on? Tara Reid = ecstasy, Katona = tranqs, Jedward = Sunny Delight. #BBUK

SATURDAY 20TH AUGUST

So @mrtinoforever has arrived. He has Strongbow. I have some port left over from Big Brother launch night. This is how we roll. #XFactor

RT @Popjustice: “I live near a field” is the worst sob story ever. #XFactor

BOO! GET OFF! #XFactor

RT @DubEll_: Reasons I love @benjamin_cook… http://twitpic.com/693zt7

MONDAY 22ND AUGUST

You know when you make a last-minute decision to spend next weekend in a field with @eddplant @mrtinoforever & @stanley_kass? Yeah, that.

WEDNESDAY 24TH AUGUST

RT @OldRoberts953: About to be interviewed by @benjamin_cook. Faxing him the contract that stipulates no-go areas – Zamper, weight, Haliborange addiction.

FRIDAY 26TH AUGUST

Gerard Way & Brian May. ‘We Will Rock You’ & ‘Black Parade’! @stanley_kass @eddplant & I – at the front. :) Jealous? #ReadingFestival

SATURDAY 27TH AUGUST

Thanks for chatting, Twitter. I’m off to sit in the sunshine with @mrtinoforever. He’s dressed as a kangaroo. (No, he is.) #ReadingFestival

P.S. Enjoy #DoctorWho tonight. It’s a good one. Hitler is in it. And River Song. And lots of Germans running about in their underwear.

Crystal Castles, end of Pulp’s set (‘Common People’), now waiting for The Midnight Beast to arrive (sorry, The Strokes). #ReadingFestival

SUNDAY 28TH AUGUST

Frank Turner, Tim Minchin, Panic! At the Disco… all AMAZING. Now enduring Elbow so that we’re near the front for Muse. #ReadingFestival