Doctor Who: Bluedot to celebrate show's 60th anniversary

Jodrell Bank's Lovell Telescope was where the fourth Doctor, played by Tom Baker, regenerated

The 60th anniversary of Doctor Who will be "celebrated in style" at a festival held on the site where the Time Lord once regenerated, organisers have said.

A representative for music and science festival Bluedot said a host of Whovian talks, performances and panels would be part of its programme in July.

It is held at Jodrell Bank Observatory, which provided the backdrop for the fifth Doctor's arrival in 1982.

Organisers previously revealed Grace Jones would headline the festival.

The event, which will take place between 20 and 23 July, will also see sets from Pavement, Roisin Murphy, Leftfield, Max Richter and the BBC Concert Orchestra, Young Fathers and many others.

Doctor Who returns in November with three special episodes featuring David Tennant as the 14th Doctor to coincide with the show's 60th anniversary.

Ncuti Gatwa will then take over as the Doctor during an episode set to air over the festive season before he returns in 2024 for a full season of the show.

Among the events will be a celebration of Delia Derbyshire, who created the show's much-loved theme tune

The celebration of Doctor Who at Bluedot will take place beneath the gaze of the Lovell Telescope, which featured in the programme in 1982.

Bluedot's organisers said during the event it would become the Pharos Project Radio Telescope from which the fourth Doctor, played by Tom Baker, fell, triggering his regeneration into the fifth, played by Peter Davison.

A representative said the event would also see a performance by the Radiophonic Workshop called Dawn of the Doctors, a discussion between writer, actor and Doctor Who expert Toby Hadoke and comedian and BBC Radio 4 presenter Robin Ince about life as a Whovian, and a panel featuring Doctor Who scriptwriter Stephen Gallagher and actor Dan Starkey.

They said the charity and archive Delia Derbyshire Day, which takes its name from the woman who created the Doctor Who theme tune, would also host a number of events and there would be further panels looking at the future of the show and how it portrays scientists.

According to the Doctor's "non-linear concept of time and space, an anniversary would be relatively meaningless, but not so to his myriad fans, who will be ensuring that the galaxy's most infamous Time Lord will be celebrated in style at this year's festival", they added.