As well as the regular issues of Doctor Who Magazine, quite a large number of Specials have been published since 1980. The earliest examples simply reprinted material from the regular editions, but the Specials soon became more ambitious, and were usually published at the rate of two per year. The final volume of this initial run was a ‘Movie Special’, published in the spring of 1996, and aimed at a younger readership, in the wake of the Paul McGann film.
After a gap of six years, the DWM Specials resumed in 2002, beginning a new numbering sequence from 1, with three volumes released per year. These Specials were initially themed around specific Doctors, but from 2005 they became alternately ‘series companions’ of the revived TV show, and interview compilations under the umbrella title In Their Own Words.