The latest installment of This Week in Doctor Who, the weekly guide to Doctor Who on television in the UK, North America and elsewhere, for February 14, 2009 has now been posted. Click here to read it.

BBC Books have announced details for the two new Doctor Who books due to be published in September.

A number of new Doctor Who-related comics were announced during the recent New York ComicCon during a panel held by IDW Publishing.

May will see The Time Machination by Tony Lee with art by Paul Grist; this is a 22 page issue that the author revealed will involve Victorian London, and will be the first Doctor Who comic to mention Torchwood.

From July, a new monthly anthology, also by Lee, will commence; entitled Doctor Who Ongoing, it aims to be a 'season' to portray new tenth Doctor adventures, with all-new companions, through to the arrival of his eleventh incarnation in issue 18 (December 2010). Lee commented: "It’s the best fun I’ve ever had." The first two issues will be set in Hollywood in 1927.

(reported by Comic Book Resources, with thanks to Matt Marshall and Craig Andrews)

BBC Books have provided details for the three new Torchwood novels due to be published in May.

This week, Doctor Who Adventures has a fascinating fact file about the actor who has been chosen to be the Eleventh Doctor – Matt Smith.

Also, do you suspect your friend is an alien? Some creatures are masters of disguise and it’s difficult to tell what they really look like. We’ve got a feature all about the monsters that look human and are therefore very dangerous.

Also in the magazine:

• What mystery gift will you find inside this week’s Doctor Who Adventures? There’s something special with every issue.


• Posters: Martha Jones poster and the Doctor and the Gelth from The Unquiet Dead.


• News: Pictures from the Easter special, Planet of the Dead.


• Monsters: The ultimate guide to Sontarans.


• Tale from the TARDIS: DWA readers’ favourite scene from The Next Doctor. The CyberKing rises!


• Puzzles: Fun things to work out!
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• Reader survey: Tell us what you think of Doctor Who Adventures!


• Colour it!: The Dalek Sec Hybrid is waiting for you!


• Comic strip: The Doctor and Heather land in the largest supermarket in the universe.


• Subscription offer: Subscribe today and get a Dalek adventure on CD!

Doctor Who Adventures, issue 102, is out now!

The offical Doctor Who site reports that there will be a special Red Nose Day version of The Sarah Jane Adventures. The mini-adventure will feature an old enemy, and the return of K9.

The special is written by Gareth Roberts and Clayton Hickman, and will see Elisabeth Sladen, Tommy Knight, Daniel Anthony and Anjli Mohindra reprising their roles, with special guest Ronnie Corbett. It will be broadcast as part of Comic Relief on the 13th March.

Further to our news article on the Mark Wallinger exhibition taking place at the Hayward Gallery in London over the next few weeks, a lecture has now been announced for Friday 27th February which will feature writer and script-editor Gary Russell talking about the secrets of the TARDIS: "Blackboard lectures unveil the secrets, enigmas and stories behind works and objects featured in Mark Wallinger’s show with a wide range of experts including artists, writers, mathematicians or sport and art historians."

Admission to the lecture, taking place at 7:00pm, will be free with an exhibition ticket. Further details are on the Gallery website.

Meanwhile, the Yorkshire Evening Post has reported on the exhibition moving to Leeds in the future.

(with thanks to Vin)

The BBC Press Office have confirmed that filming has now begun in the United Arab Emirates for the forthcoming special Planet of the Dead.

Says producer Tracie Simpson: "We rarely take Doctor Who abroad although we did visit Rome for series four's The Fires Of Pompeii which gave us some spectacular footage. The locations in Dubai are a perfect match for writer Russell T Davies's vision of the episode and we expect to film some incredible scenes while we are here."

Additional photos from filming are available on the BBC's offical Doctor Who website for download as wallpaper.

News on filming has also been mentioned in the local Dubai paper The National: "While filming in crippling sandstorms in Dubai this week may have proved troublesome for mere mortals, the cult sci-fi figure the Doctor, hero of the popular BBC programme Doctor Who, emerged victorious over the climatic horrors of planet Earth. Hundreds of production crew descended on the desert around the city this week to film part of an episode of the programme. The location remained a closely guarded secret despite being in the wide open desert, with production company staff and all technical crew from Dubai required to sign confidentiality agreements."

Further media coverage from: CBBC, WalesOnline, Scottish Herald, Daily Record, Evening Post, Press Association, and Arabian Business.

The BBFC have passed the following extras for release on the forthcoming DVDs for Attack of the Cybermen and Image of the Fendahl.

Attack of the Cybermen:
00:22:48:18 THE CYBER STORY (FEATURETTE)
00:01:03:17 THE CYBERNETIC AUTONOMOUS DALEK (EASTER EGG)
00:08:06:21 HUMAN CYBORG - THE CYBERNETIC EXPERIMENTS (FEATURETTE)
00:08:09:03 ATTACK OF THE CYBERMEN - PHOTO GALLERY
00:07:47:22 THE CYBER-GENERATIONS (PHOTO GALLERY)
00:03:08:22 DOCTOR WHO (TRAILS & CONTINUITY)
00:27:25:05 THE COLD WAR (FEATURETTE)

Image of the Fendahl:
00:26:19:01 AFTER IMAGE (MAKING OF)
00:11:26:18 IMAGE OF THE FENDAHL - DELETED & EXTENDED SCENES
00:05:34:07 IMAGE OF THE FENDAHL - PHOTO GALLERY
00:00:37:07 (EASTER EGG) (LOUISE JAMESON INTERVIEW)
00:00:19:10 DR WHO - NEXT SATURDAY - 6.10 (TRAILER)

Attack of the Cybermen is due to be released on the 16th March, with Image of the Fendahl following later in the year.

London's Hayward Gallery on the South Bank will be opening a new exhibition from the 18th February, entitled "Mark Wallinger Curates: The Russian Linesman" - a name inspired by the 1966 England vs Germany Football World Cup ruling during the match which reputedly changed the course of football history.

The exhibition will explore "notions of the liminal: thresholds between physical, political or metaphysical realms". Says Wallinger: "I have always been interested in how we define and are defined by thresholds and boundaries, the events of history. The works in the exhibition use illusion, artifice and dislocating devices to look at our accidental time and place in the world afresh."

For Doctor Who fans, the exhibition also includes Wallinger's own "Time and Relative Dimensions in Space", a reflective 'TARDIS' originally featured in 2001's Venice Biennale.

For more details on the exhibition visit the Hayward Gallery exhibition page, plus coverage in the Evening Standard and on the London SE1 website.

The media are reporting today that new Doctor Matt Smith has been signed up for three years, with an option for an additional two. The Sun announced that "NEW Doctor Who Matt Smith will get £1million to play the Time Lord for five years. The little-known actor, 26, has signed a £200,000-a-year deal with the BBC1 sci-fi hit. His contract ties him into the show for three years, with the option of two more after that." The ubiquitous insider said: "Bosses don't want Matt doing a David and leaving when things are going great."

Also reported by the Telegraph and Daily Mail.

Noel Clarke has won the BAFTA Orange Rising Star Award.

The award, given by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and presented at a ceremony at the Royal Opera House in London, is the only award voted on by the public. It honours a young actor/actress of any nationality who has demonstrated exceptional talent and begun to capture the imagination of the British public as a film star in the making.

Clarke, who played Mickey Smith in Doctor Who and wrote the Torchwood Series One episode Combat, won the award for his work as writer and star of the feature length Kidulthood as well as follow up film Adulthood, the latter of which he also directed.

Ian Smith, Head of Partnerships at Orange, said: "We are delighted that Noel Clarke has been chosen as this year's Orange Rising Star. Noel is truly a fantastic role model for the next generation of aspiring film talent in Britain."

Finola Dwyer, Chairman of the BAFTA Film Committee, said: "I'm sure the British public will join me in congratulating a very deserving winner."

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Also at the awards, former Doctor Who writer and co-creator of K-9, Bob Baker, won the BAFTA for Short Animation for his work on Wallace and Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death. Baker shared the award with Steve Pegram and Nick Park.

The latest installment of This Week in Doctor Who, the weekly guide to Doctor Who on television in the UK, North America and elsewhere, for February 7, 2009 has now been posted. Click here to read it.

As revealed below, the BBC has now released the trailer for the forthcoming Torchwood series.

Children Of Earth will air over five consecutive nights on BBC One later this year. Captain Jack (John Barrowman), Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles) and Ianto Jones (Gareth David-Lloyd) are still coming to terms with the death of two of their closest friends. Despite their pain, they have a job to do. This time they are faced with their fiercest threat to date, one which throws the future of Torchwood and the entire human race spiralling into danger. They battle against the odds but do they stand a chance of saving mankind?

The series will also be shown on BBC America. Trailer content may be unavailable outside the United Kingdom.

This week's issue of Doctor Who Adventures is a Sontaran special, and it's full of Sontaran secrets!

There's an interview with actor Anthony O'Donnell who played Kaagh in The Sarah Jane Adventures plus the second part of a guide to the baked potato-headed creatures.

You can get ready for Red Nose Day with Freema Agyeman, who tells the magazine how you can get involved in events to raise money for charity.

Also in the magazine:

• Posters: Captain Jack, Davros, and a Pyrovile


• Fact file: A look at the brave people who’ve helped the Doctor save worlds.


• Blast from the Past: Back in time to a dangerous adventure for the Fifth Doctor – Black Orchid.


• Quiz: How well do you know Donna?


• Doctor’s data: All about the Brigadier!


• Comic strip: The Doctor and Heather help plug a temporal hiccup.

Doctor Who Adventures, issue 101 is out now.

This month's Doctor Who Magazine reveals that the upcoming Doctor Who specials will be shot in High Definition, a first for the series. Previously the production team has resisted the move to HD, because of the higher costs involved particularly with effects shots. Executive Producer Julie Gardner said the team has been planning the move to HD for many months. James Strong, who is directing Planet of the Dead, has considerable experience working in HD on programmes such as Hustle. The change means the programme will be shown on the BBC High Definition channel as well as on BBC One. BBC HD is available subscription free in Europe on Freesat. The channel is also part of the Sky HD service and the Virgin Media HD service.

In other news the magazine also reveals that K-9 is due to play a large part in Series Three of The Sarah Jane Adventures. He is likely to appear in around 6 episodes of the 12 part series.

The magazine, out on Thursday, contains the first magazine interview with Matt Smith, recently revealed as the Eleventh Doctor. It asks how he plans to go about playing a 950-year-old Time Lord?

"The script is where it starts, it's always about the words, and luckily we're in the hands of Steven Moffat, who has this show ingrained in his soul and searing through his blood. It’s really born into his whole fabric, and that's the job for me over the next few months, to make this show part of my fibre. I think Steven is going to be the main creative source for me, and we're going to discover it together, who the Doctor is in Steven's mind and words, coupled with pockets of my personality, my history, my life, and the man and the human being that I am. I've got a meeting with Piers (Wenger, executive producer) next week to discuss that, but I think we'll start rehearsing and, you know, just sit around Piers' or Steven's kitchen table, read the scripts together, talk about the part. We’ll talk about my intentions, their intentions, how we feel it can fly, and sing, and be as brilliant and as Doctor-y and as excellent as it can be."

When asked what he might wear as the Doctor? "I’m a big fan of long coats and rather dashing scarves in everyday life, so who knows? For the audition, I rocked up in whatever, so I think they’re having to tone down what I wear in real life for the Doctor! I am a rather elaborate dresser. That's what's lovely, there are all these exciting things – what’s he going to wear, what’s he going to do in his first scene with his companion, which monsters will he meet, will he meet the Daleks? This show is so alive, it really is. I can't ever quite forget that I'm the Doctor – which is weird, because it’s still so far away. But it’s always there in my subconscious, because it's the Doctor! It’s like, there’s Sherlock Holmes, James Bond, and Doctor Who. It has resonance in our cultural fabric."

Also in the magazine:

• Showrunner-in-waiting Steven Moffat shares with DWM readers just what it's like to cast a new Doctor Who in Production Notes.


• Remember the Zygon gambit? The Yeti in the Underground? Or that, frankly, unmissable invasion by thousands of Daleks after Earth was transported billions of miles across space? DWM investigates why so many people in the Doctor Who universe, apparently, don't!


• Susie Liggat talks to DWM about her experiences as the producer of the UK's best-loved drama series.


• The Fact of Fiction revals some surprising secrets about 1975's Planet of Evil.


• Can the Doctor and Majenta prevent the Day of the Lokhus? And what will become of Maxwell Edison? Find out in the final part of DWM's latest comic strip, The Stockbridge Child by Dan McDaid, with art by Martin Geraghty.


• Neil Harris writes an open letter to Eleventh Doctor Matt Smith, full of helpful advice, in You Are Not Alone.


• DWM turns the tables on the BBC's "Doctor Who correspondent" and asks Who on Earth Is Lizo Mzimba?

Mad Norwegian Press has announced the launch of Time, Unincorporated, a new series of books that will collect the best essays and commentary from a range of Doctor Who fanzines.

In spirit, this series will pick up the torch from Virgin's Licence Denied collection (1997), making some of the most delightful and strange fanzine writings available to a much wider audience.

Volume 1 of this new series, due out in May, will collect 15 years of Doctor Who-related essays and articles by Lance Parkin. The cornerstone of this edition is a year-by-year survey and analysis of Doctor Who that Parkin wrote for the show's 40th Anniversary of Doctor Who (here updated to through the present day), as well as a myriad of Parkin's articles and columns from the fanzines Enlightenment and Matrix. Also included: Parkin's original pitch for the celebrated Doctor Who novel The Infinity Doctors, his extensive advice on the art of writing, and more.

Forbidden Planet International has released details about a new wave of Classic Series figures.

This series includes two versions of the First and Second Doctors (one in colour and one in black and white), and a version of the Sixth Doctor in his all-blue costume from BBCi's webcast Real Time.

These figures are available now for pre-order and will be released in late July.

Get more product information here

UPDATED The figures mentioned are actually exclusive figures from Underground Toys at this year's San Diego Comic-Con.

The First and Second Doctor 2-packs and the Sixth Doctor figures are Underground Toys exclusives and Forbidden Toys is the exclusive retailer for them in the UK.

Toy collectors in the US will be able to get these figures at San Diego and shortly afterward at select retailers that carry the Doctor Who toy line. Customers should be able to preorder these figures from their regular retailer and online stores shortly.

As production begins on the first special of 2009, Planet Of The Dead, the BBC has released a video diary from David Tennant recording his return to Cardiff and to Doctor Who.

The video is also available via the official website. Content may not be available outside the United Kingdom.

The BBC have announced that a 60 second trailer for the forthcoming mini-series Children of Earth will be shown at the New York Comic Con on Thursday 5th February at 4:00pm local time; this will be made available simultaneously in the United Kingdom (9:00pm GMT) on the official Torchwood web site.

The Bristol Commercial Vehicles Enthusiasts have reported that the BBC have hired an additional bus in the same style as the one used recently in filming for Planet of the Dead, and of course the one that was damaged in transit to Dubai that the media have extensively commented upon.

There is no official confirmation as yet as to if this new bus is also being shipped out to Dubai to replace the damaged one for filming.

(with thanks to Rob Sly)

In less than two weeks, Gallifrey 2009, the twentieth annual North American Doctor Who and science fiction media convention will begin! The official convention of Outpost Gallifrey and the Doctor Who Forum, the 2009 Gallifrey One event takes place February 13-15 at the Los Angeles Airport Marriott Hotel, and features an enormous guest lineup including Doctor Who 2005-2008 producer Phil Collinson in his first-ever convention appearance; the sixth Doctor, Colin Baker, sponsored by Alien Entertainment; Nicola Bryant and Wendy Padbury, Peri Brown and Zoe Heriot from classic Doctor Who; Torchwood star Gareth David Lloyd (Ianto Jones); recurring Torchwood cast member Kai Owen (Rhys Williams) sponsored by Tenth Planet Events; writers Phil Ford (head writer for "The Sarah Jane Adventures"), Keith Temple ("Planet of the Ood"), Paul Cornell ("Human Nature"), James Moran ("The Fires of Pompeii") and Rob Shearman ("Dalek"); "Doctor Who: The Forgotten" comic writer Tony Lee and illustrator Pia Guerra; Big Finish producer Jason Haigh-Ellery and cast members Laura Doddington and Ciara Janson; actor/comedian Toby Hadoke; and Doctor Who/Torchwood novelist and script editor Gary Russell.

In addition, Gallifrey 2009 has confirmed a variety of new guest appearances in the past few weeks, some appearing on stage and some signing autographs only on one or more days, including Claudia Christian (Babylon 5); Tracy Scoggins (Babylon 5 and Crusade); John Levene (Sgt. Benton from Doctor Who, signing at the Sci Fi Sea Cruise tables); Damian Samuels (Mr. Lloyd from the Doctor Who episodes "The Empty Child" and "The Doctor Dances"); writers David Gerrold, Marc Scott Zicree and Marv Wolfman; Doctor Who novelists and audio writers Simon Guerrier, Nev Fountain, Mark Wright, Caroline Symcox, Darin Henry and Peter Anghelides; and many, many more!

For more information, visit the website here at Outpost Gallifrey.

The latest installment of This Week in Doctor Who, the weekly guide to Doctor Who on television in the UK, North America and elsewhere, for January 31, 2009 has now been posted. Click here to read it.

Matt Smith stars as DS Dan Twentyman in a new drama series, Moses Jones, starting Monday on BBC2.

The series is writer Joe Penhall's first original series for television, following his award-winning adaptation of Jake Arnott's novel The Long Firm and stars Shaun Parkes, who played Zachary Cross Flan in The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit, in his first leading role for television. The series also features Eamonn Walker, Dennis Waterman, Indira Varma and Jude Akuwudike, and introduces newcomers Wunmi Mosaku and Obi Abili.

The story, told over three one-hour episodes, begins when a wave of violence hits London following the discovery of the bizarrely mutilated body of a man in the Thames. First appearances suggest a witchcraft killing, but the dark reality is more complicated -- and even more frightening.

Assigned to the case are young hopeful DS Dan Twentyman played by Smith in his first television role since being revealed as the eleventh Doctor, and his senior partner, DI Moses Jones, seconded from Scotland Yard due to his supposed cultural links with the local African community. Confronted with a wall of silence, Jones and Twentyman become increasingly frustrated, but all roads lead to Joy, her friend Solomon and the Afrigo Club, where the ex-pat community goes to unwind to the irresistible music of Solomon's band.

As the search deepens, the violence escalates and the investigation grinds to a halt. But one name crops up again and again -- Mathias Mutukula, a mysterious godfather figure rumoured to have both terror links and supernatural powers. Forced to ask himself tough questions about his cultural identity, Moses embarks on a frightening quest to track down his man and redeem himself before the community implodes, or takes revenge itself.

Moses Jones is on BBC2 at 9pm starting Monday 2nd February and will be available on the BBC iPlayer.

Extensive damage was caused to a bus due to be used in Dubai for filming the Doctor Who special Planet of the Dead.

Dubai newspaper 7DAYS has uploaded a report with a picture showing the double-decker's roof crushed. It says the vehicle was damaged by a crane operator at Dubai port as it was being brought into the United Arab Emirates state. The left side of the bus was also crushed inwards, windows were smashed, the frame was bent and paint was ripped from the roof. The vehicle is currently being repaired. (NB: The 7DAYS report could be considered to contain a minor spoiler.)

The accident has also been covered by BBC News, The Sun and Telegraph. (NB: Both newspaper reports contain plot details.)

Although parts of the story's script had to be rewritten the BBC said that filming was "continuing as normal". Another bus is being used for filming in Cardiff.

The images below show more of the damage that was caused to the bus. (NB: These pictures are copyright and courtesy of 7DAYS. They may not be copied or published anywhere else without permission of 7DAYS.)

Production on spin-off series K9 is well under way in Brisbane, with the fourth block of filming due to complete at the end of next week.

Paul Tams, who along with Bob Baker is the show's co-creator and co-associate producer, told The Doctor Who News Page that there would be 13 blocks, each comprising two half-hour episodes, with principal photography set to end on May 7.

Taking the opportunity to put the record straight on various matters regarding the show, he confirmed that the series would be known purely as K9, adding: "Bob and I are pleased with the interest shown and hope K9 will be viewed as a series that Who fans old and new will all find something enjoyable from."

And as a teaser, he said: "I've made sure that hidden in most episodes fans will spot some nod to the past - either a mention or a visual treat."

Regarding the electronic dog itself, he said: "K9 will be seen on screen as both an animatronic prop and in CGI form. The latest design I have done that is being used in the show is sleek and different from any previous images seen on the net, etc. K9 will, however, be recognisable to fans new and old as the K9. And to clear up the identity of which mark K9 this is, to quote Doctor Who itself he is the original you might say!"

Most information - including cast and characters - was being kept under wraps but Tams added: "The show will feature several new races of monsters created by Bob and myself, alongside the Jixen Warriors as reported previously.

"We first planned and created the show back in 1998, so it has taken 11 years to get to the production stage. It has been a long and rocky road and we are working with some very talented people here: actors, artists, sculptors, costume-makers. The schedule is very hectic and full on.

"I have to tip my hat - if I wore one - to the creative teams in the '60s who worked under such pressure to turn monsters, costumes and sets around at such a fast pace on Doctor Who. I now know how they must have felt - exhausted!"

A new logo has been created, which will be revealed in due course, and Tams said that the show would be airing later this year, with Australian broadcaster Network Ten currently lined up to carry it.

A press release published on the Newsarama website has revealed that director Euros Lyn is to oversee the final two special episodes of Doctor Who which will see out David Tennant's time as the Tenth Doctor. The news was revealed as part of the promotion for Lyn's forthcoming appearance at the New York ComicCon event in the United States, where he is to promote Torchwood: Children of Earth, which he has also directed.

Lyn is the only director to have worked on every production block to date of the new Doctor Who series. He helmed The End of the World and The Unquiet Dead for the first series; Tooth and Claw, The Girl in the Fireplace, The Idiot's Lantern and Fear Her for the 2006 run; the Christmas special The Runaway Bride for the third production block, and most recently the two-parter Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead for series four in 2008. In addition, Lyn directed the mini-episodes Children in Need Cutaway in 2005 and and Music of the Spheres in 2008, the former of which was David Tennant's first full broadcast scene as the Doctor, meaning Lyn will have bookended the actor's time in the TARDIS.

The first two special episodes to be shown this year are being directed by James Strong and Graeme Harper. No broadcast dates are yet known, but it is expected that Lyn's two-part finale will be shown over the Christmas and New Year period.

Hello readers. We're not sure exactly what happened, but this morning the News Page suffered a total database crash. We were able to restore the database from the last automatic backup -- from 27 January, four days ago -- but in the meanwhile, the couple of news stories posted since then are no longer available. Our news editors are busy attempting to restore their work from the four missing days; meanwhile, if you have the text of those stories, please email us as this would be a great help. Thank you!