An exciting new chapter for Doctor Who has begun this month, as its new home at Roath Lock studios has officially opened in Cardiff!

The state-of-the-art BBC Wales drama village, located at the very heart of the city in Cardiff Bay, is where the series will be filmed from the autumn, alongside other flagship dramas, Casualty and Pobol y Cwm. By Christmas, the facility will have over 500 people working. Construction on the £2.5 million development began in June 2010.

To mark its opening, a special event was held at Hoddinott Hall, for fans to watch last year’s Christmas Special, The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe, as the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, conducted by Ben Foster, peformed its soundtrack live.

The opening of Roath Lock also coincides with the forthcoming relocation of the Doctor Who Experience, which will become a permanent fixture in Cardiff Bay when it opens in the spring. Keith Jones, the Director of BBC Wales, has commented: “It’s very exciting that audiences will be able to come and enjoy the experience within a stone’s throw of where it is made… Locating the experience in Cardiff is a great development.”