As she prepares to take on Daleks, Cybermen, Weeping Angels and Sontarans, Fugitive Doctor Jo Martin talks to Doctor Who Magazine, Issue 631 on sale tomorrow, Thursday 25th June, about her return to Doctor Who in new audio adventures, comics, books, games and online content.
Doctor Who: Circuit Breaker launches this week, kicking off an epic, multi-platform adventure unfolding this summer across audio, publishing, gaming and digital, bringing fans together for one connected, must-follow Whoniverse event.
The story event will see a single, escalating crisis play out across multiple formats, with each chapter unlocking new clues, new dangers… and a new side to the Time Lord.
The Doctor Who multimedia event will include a Blu-ray collection of classic episodes, The Black Archive Files – Circuit Breaker, released in September.
The new issue of Doctor Who Magazine, available to preorder here from Panini, also includes interviews with Omari Douglas, who plays Osgood’s assistant, Andrew, who talks about his character and his wider career, which included a role in Russell T Davies’ It’s a Sin; plus the creative masterminds behind Circuit Breaker, Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson and James Page, on how the project came about and the epic story it will tell. Costume designer James Sutton also discusses working on the Fugitive Doctor’s new look.
Circuit Breaker brings together a range of longstanding Doctor Who partners including Titan Comics, Doctor Who Magazine, BBC Audiobooks, East Side Games, Puffin, BBC Books and Big Finish, each delivering a unique chapter of the story across the summer.
Fans can follow every twist via the Doctor Who website and official channels and The Whoniverse Show, with the first chapter of the epic story, “Calling the Doctor” launching on the in-universe UNIT website tomorrow.
A message on that site from Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, Commander in Chief of the Unified Intelligence Task Force, posted earlier today, advises: “All staff are required to monitor the activity of Asteroid 1963.S2. We’re monitoring its activity as a possible alien threat.”
Circuit Breaker Releases: July
Titan Comics first Circuit Breaker tie-in, Adversary of the Daleks, on sale 8th July, features cover art by Jay Anacleto, Robert Sienicki and Flops, a photo cover, and variants. That goes on sale from Wednesday 8th July 2026 in all good Local Comic Shops, and some run by Ogrons.
Written by Dan Watters with art by Roberta Ingranata, coloured by Valentina Bianconi, in the first issue the Doctor arrives in Thessaloniki in ancient Greece, where she discovers that even the gods fear strange visitors from across the universe.
“The Honourable Society” features in Doctor Who Magazine issue 632, written by Jason Quinn and illustrated by Anthony Williams, on sale 23rd July
BBC Audiobooks will release The Deadliest Weapon, on 30th July, an Audio Original adventure written by Steve Lyons and narrated by Jo Martin, featuring David Banks as the Cyber-Leader.
Masquerading as a resident in a luxurious space hotel, the Doctor is in fact on a dangerous mission to eliminate Kashan Akravar, a rogue weapons dealer who is attempting to auction blueprints for the deadliest weapon ever invented.
The Division – that shadowy Time Lord organisation – have briefed the Doctor to prevent the blueprints’ sale at all costs. But they’re not the only ones who realise the weapon’s potential. When the hotel is attacked by Cybermen, intent on seizing the blueprints, the Doctor must use every ounce of her courage and ingenuity to hold them off.
Working with husband and wife Kel and Jinni, the Doctor finds puzzles and obstacles in her way. Whose disembodied voice is calling out to her? What is its connection with UNIT’s Black Archive? And can anything prevent a cruel stroke of fate that will have unimaginable consequences for them all…?
Circuit Breaker Releases: August
Titan Comics Dawn of the Daleks goes on sale 5th August, The Doctor travels to the war-ravaged world of Skaro as she battles the Daleks, with the fate of their Kaled forebears at stake. That issue is written by Dan Watters and Dulce M Montoya, with art by Sami Kivela, coloured by Valentina Bianconi.
Castling from East Side Games, written by Mario Mentasti, is released 6th August. Hailing from Buenos Aires, Argentina, Mario been working in the games industry and taking international freelance work for around ten years. His many credits include the Doctor Who: Lost in Time game for iOS and Android, officially released in 2023, with a soft launch the previous year.
Be ready for “Don’t Blink!” a story that will debut on the UNIT website, written by Sunday Times bestselling author of fantasy fiction, and the inaugural winner of the Future World’s Prize, Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson, on 17th August
Puffin Books release The Doctor and the Three Witches, written by author and fully-fledged gamer Janelle McCurdy, on 20th August.
“I jumped at the chance of bringing the amazing Jo Martin Doctor to life through The Doctor and the Three Witches story,” says Janelle, “and I hope you all enjoy it and the whole Circuit Breaker series!”
27th August sees the release of Moment Mori from East Side Games, written by Mario Mentasti.
August releases rounds off with The Black Archive Files – Circuit Breaker Blur-ay release (31st August). The release features the stories Fugitive of the Judoon, Dalek, The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky, Time Heist, Genesis of the Daleks, War of the Sontarans, Blink, The Shakespeare Code, The Girl in the Fireplace and The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon. The release includes an exclusive interview with The Fugitive Doctor, Jo Martin, and bonus booklet.
Circuit Breaker Releases: September
The Kaleidoscope, written by Jo Martin herself, is published by Penguin Random House on 3rd September. It’s described as a key instalment of the transmedia event, and alongside the Fugitive Doctor, features Martha Jones (as played by Freema Agyeman on screen), together with UNIT.
Big Finish Productions will release Circuit Breaker: Full Circuit, a two-hour, full-cast audio drama written by Robert Valentine, on 22nd September, and two interconnected “Short Trips” stories released together as Short Circuits, alongside the main audio drama. Both are available to pre-order now, exclusively here.
In Circuit Breaker: Full Circuit, strange alien artefacts begin appearing inside UNIT’s Black Archive. Each object is unmistakably linked to a different regeneration of the Doctor, but they’ve been tampered with. A corrupted energy signature of unknown origin pulses through them, and their sudden arrival has torn tiny ruptures across time and space.
UNIT is out of options. To repair the damage and restore the timeline, the objects must be returned to the exact moments they were taken from. If not, the Doctor’s adventures – and the universe itself – could unravel.
To solve the mystery, UNIT calls upon a little-known incarnation of the Time Lord: the Fugitive Doctor. But how does UNIT know about her? And is she the Doctor they expect?
Doctor Who: Circuit Breaker: Short Circuits features “Battleships” by Alex Hewitt, and “Get Rich or Die Trying” by Alex Hewitt, from a story by Natasha Siegel. Further story details are to follow.
Head downthetubes for…
• Watch “Inside the World of Circuit Breaker” on Instagram
• Doctor Who: Circuit Breaker Central on the BBC
• Everything you need to know about the Fugitive Doctor so far
• Doctor Who Magazine Issue 631 – Available here from Panini UK
• Doctor Who: Circuit Breaker #1
• Doctor Who: Circuit Breaker #2
- About the Author
- Latest Posts
John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
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