Doctor Who short stories announced for 50th anniversary

William Hartnell, Tom Baker, Sylvester McCoy and Matt Smith as the Doctor

A new series of Doctor Who stories is set to be published monthly to celebrate the 50th anniversary year of the hit television programme.

The 11 tales, known as "eshorts", will each be written by a well-known children's author.

Each story will feature one of the various regenerations of the Doctor, starting with William Hartnell, who played the character from 1963-1966.

A paperback of the stories will be published by Puffin in November.

The first children's author will be revealed on the BBC Worldwide Doctor Who Facebook page on Monday 7 January, followed by the first story on Wednesday 23 January.

A promotional video of each author will also be available each month on the BBC Worldwide YouTube channel starting on Friday 11 January.

'Much-loved Doctor'

Publisher Juliet Matthews said: "We are delighted to have 11 sensational children's authors involved in the series, all bringing an individual style, imagination and interpretation to their eshort tribute to The Doctor.

"This is a who's who of children's fiction coming together to celebrate the much-loved Doctor Who."

The Royal Mail recently announced a set of stamps featuring the different Doctors as part of the show's golden anniversary.

Head writer, Steven Moffat, has promised "tremendous surprises" but says he will be keeping them under wraps.

"They wouldn't be surprises if I accidentally said them now, would they?" he said at a preview screening of the Christmas episode.

"But I promise you, we're going to take over television."

Matt Smith spoke to Newsbeat in December and said he wanted to make 2013 the best year yet for the BBC drama.

"We're as much in the dark [over the anniversary plans] as the majority of other people," he revealed.

"I imagine I'll get to read something in January, February time. We'll make it the biggest and the best year, hopefully in the show's history."

Follow @BBCNewsbeat on Twitter