60 years of Doctor Who is to be celebrated with impressive programme of talks, panels, and performances at this year’s Bluedot festival.
Cheshire’s multi award-winning celebration of music, science, and cosmic culture will once again be taking over the grounds of the iconic Jodrell Bank Observatory from Friday 20 – Sunday 23 July – with Grace Jones, Pavement, Roisin Murphy, Max Richter, and Leftfield among the names lined-up to take to the stage over the three-day festival.
BBC Concert Orchestra, Young Fathers, and Annie Mac also form part of this year’s already-announced lineup, alongside a series of hands-on science workshops, exhibitions, and so much more.
And now, you can add a massive Doctor Who anniversary celebration that list.
It’s pretty fitting that Bluedot’s Jodrell Bank home would host the 60-year celebrations to the long-running BBC sci-fi show, as fans will know that the Observatory is rightly-renowned in Whovian lore for having provided the backdrop to the fourth Doctor’s transition to the fifth back in 1982 – when Tom Baker handed the role over to Peter Davison.
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Taking place on the Sunday of the three-day festival, with a full programme of events curated by the Bluedot festival team – who are self-confessed Who superfans – actor and renowned Doctor Who expert Toby Hadoke, and the charity Delia Derbyshire Day, 60 Years of Doctor Who – A Celebration promises festivalgoers a spine-tingling experience.
Radiophonic Workshop will be the event’s very-special guests with the premiere of brand-new live show, Dawn of the Doctors.
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60 years of Doctor Who to be celebrated Bluedot Festival with talks, performances, and more / Credit:
Aside from that though, Toby Hadoke’s series of talks and panels include a conversation with BBC Radio 4’s Robin Ince for a “fascinating and hilarious deep-dive into life as a Whovian”, a talk with Dr Tom Attah, Dr Emma Alexander, and comedian and Doctor Who actor Bethany Black titled ‘Why Do We Love This Silly Programme So Much’.
One of the stand-out talks in Toby’s lineup is ‘Doctor Who Made Me’ – which will be made up of prolific TV scriptwriter and producer Stephen Gallagher, who wrote the Doctor Who stories Warrior’s Gate and Terminus, and actor and writer Dan Starkey, who has played the fan-favourite Strax the Sontaran character in numerous episodes.
Bluedot 2023 is taking over the grounds of Jodrell Bank on Thursday 20 – Sunday 23 July / Credit: bluedot
Further panels include ‘Reversing the Polarity of the Timey Wimey Flow: The Changing Portrayal of the Scientist in Doctor Who’ with David Butler, Jen Gupta, and Simon Guerrier, and ‘Doctor Who and the Current Crisis; The Role of Drama in Imagining Futures’ with Sashwati Mira Sengupta.
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Another one of the event’s highlights is ‘Conversations in Space, Time, Science and Music: Doctor Who at 60’ – which is a fascinating programme of panels featuring Dick Mills, who was Delia Derbyshire’s tape assistant during the production of the original theme, and Mark Myers of the Radiophonic Workshop Band.
Both final day and weekend tickets for Bluedot 2023 are on sale now, and you can find out more and grab yours here.
Featured Image – Lucas Sinclair
What's On
UK pub chain announces bottomless Guinness for the 2026 Six Nations
Danny Jones
As we all know, Guinness and the Six Nations go hand in hand, so pubs not only showing all of this year’s games, but also serving bottomless pints of the good stuff here in Greater Manchester, is an absolute match made in heaven.
With the 2026 Six Nations tournament kicking off this Thursday, 5 February – a France vs Ireland opener in Paris – Manc rugby fans are already nailing down their go-to spots to watch the fixtures.
However, we can’t think of many other places offering bottomless black gold in town, let alone anywhere else in and around Manchester.
So, if you were still unsure of where to watch this year’s tournament, the Social Pub and Kitchen group might have just made the decision for you…
That’s right, this widespread British chain is looking to keep the pints flowing throughout the duration of this year’s competition, thanks to a twist on their standard bottomless brunch format.
Running for every single televised meeting between the much-loved half dozen rugby union teams, all 103 of their locations across the country will be providing this impressive offer on pints.
Here in central Manchester, that includes Tank and Paddle in the Printworks, Crafty Pig on the edge of the Northern Quarter, The Beech Inn in Chorlton, and The Director’s Box right in the heart of the city – and dangerously close to The Manc office…
As well as these nearby venues, there are obviously plenty more around the North West for those slightly further afield, including the likes of Cheshire and Derbyshire.
With a new food menu too, which features several honey-based dishes like the sweet sriracha pizza, chipotle loaded fries, as well as honey chipotle chicken wings, the matchday scran is on point.
So too are the drinks, clearly, and if any of your party wants to stray away from the bottomless Guinness, there are series of special Six Nations-themed cocktails, such as the ‘Midnight in Dublin’, a ‘Peach on the Pitch’ margarita, Baby Velvet, and the bold ‘G-Bomb’.
Yes, we suspect it is as boozy as it sounds.
Running throughout February and March whilst the games are on, we imagine plenty of people will be making at least one Social Pub and Kitchen site their chosen destination for watching all the action.
Even if you happen to be reading this outside of Greater Manchester, you can find your nearest Social Pub and Kitchen and book your table right HERE.
And if you’d still like some other alternatives here in the city centre, you can do no wrong with our helpful little round-up.
Featured Images — The Manc Group/Publicity picture (supplied)
What's On
CBeebies is bringing its popular Bedtime Stories show live to Manchester for FREE this month
Emily Sergeant
CBeebies will be bringing a live version of its popular Bedtime Stories show to Manchester in a couple of weeks time.
With it not being long to go now until February half term arrives, it’s time to get ready for Manchester city centre to transform into a giant playground this month, as The Super Duper Family Festival brings four free days of fun.
The popular event will feature a series of pop-up play zones at a variety of outdoor spaces and popular venues across the city centre, all of which will be free to use and ready to explore.
Taking place from Wednesday 18 February through to Saturday 21 February, there’s set to be more immersive play areas than ever before at this year’s festival – with nine different zones providing unique experiences for all ages.
CBeebies is bringing its popular Bedtime Stories show live to Manchester for free / Credit: Supplied
Families can dive into high-energy challenges in The Sports Hall at Great Northern, level up in The Arcade at Printworks, whirl and twirl through The Carnival on St Ann’s Square, and get playful in The Playground with Waterloo Road on Exchange Square, just to name a few.
And now, two hugely popular CBeebies shows are adding live events into the mix.
First up, families are invited to snuggle down and enjoy the power of storytelling with CBeebies Bedtime Stories LIVE, as stars from CBeebies, alongside some special guests, host sessions filled with stories and songs at Manchester Central as part of The Story Den festival zone.
Four shows will run each day, with sessions lasting approximately 20 minutes, and to ensure the experience is accessible to as people as possible, a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter will be present at all sessions on Wednesday 18 February.
Then, for those who’ve always wondered what goes on behind the cameras, there’s exclusive access to one of the BBC’s most iconic programmes on the lineup too – with Blue Peter Behind the Scenes guided tours on Saturday 21 February at the legendary Blue Peter set at Versa Campfield Studio 2, where guests can enjoy surprise meet and greets with the Blue Peter team throughout the day.
You can also expect everything from gaming and crafts, to pop-up performances, hands-on workshops, fun children’s activities, and so much more over the course of the four-day event.
The Super Duper Family Festival is returning from 18-21 February 2026, and you can find more information about everything happening here.
With limited spaces available for both CBeebies experiences, families are encouraged to book their free tickets, which went live earlier today (Wednesday 4 February) at 11am, and you can get your hands on them here.
Emily Sergeant -
26th May 2023 
