Friday Night Press

The Scotsman says that "People could be mistaken for thinking they have been transported to a different time dimension if they stumble across a Doctor Who Tardis. In fact, there are 237 blue police call boxes (PCBs), on which the BBC modelled the fictional time lord's transporter. Ordnance Survey has tracked down the locations of all former PCBs using a digital master map of Britain - technology which may well have delighted the creators of the sci-fi classic. The curious-looking cubes can now be found disguised as coffee kiosks since personal radios made them redundant in 1969. But just as the television show is being resurrected, police are experimenting with bringing the boxes back, although now they are more hi-tech." The Sun also picked up this story, as did icWales.

Leeds Today says it's "16 years on, and fans can't wait for return of the Doctor". "Sixteen years after being exterminated by Beeb bosses, look Who's back. Doctor Who fans in West Yorkshire are gearing up for the return of the nation's favourite timelord. ... Leeds teacher and Doctor Who fan Chris Hoyle admitted he was "giddy" with excitement . He said: 'It's a shame that a whole generation of kids haven't had a doctor to grow up with, but now that's going to change.'" Other fans are interviewed.

The London News Review says that "In short: episode one ("Rose") is wonderful, and we only have one and half niggles. The chief beef is Murray Gold's incidental music. Gold did a fine job of reworking the theme tune. And his trendy/derivative music was entirely right for Queer As Folk, which is presumably why he was recruited by the man behind that show and the new Who, Russell T. Davis. But his incidental music in 'Rose' sounds like bad library CDs from the 1990s. It's the only thing that makes the fantastic new episode already seem dated." (Outpost Gallifrey begs to differ...)

The Birmingham Evening Mail says that "Doctor Who fans can't wait for the future to come in the shape of Saturday night. Suky Singh, a member of the Dr Who fan club the Wolves of Fenric, based in Wolverhampton, said: 'People just want to spend Saturday evening in front of their television and not be distracted.' ... The return of Dr Who has rekindled some affectionate and frightening memories. The Evening Mail took to the streets of Brum to gauge public reaction. Graham Taylor, aged 54, ajournalist from Droitwich, said: 'The new Dr Who looks quite exciting and more up-to-date. I certainly won't miss the old effects.' Angela Bowyer, 63, from Stoke-on-Trent, said: 'I have lots of memories of children being frightened but it was also good fun.' Her husband Peter Bowyer, 69, added: 'It will be interesting to compare the old and new programmes.' David Dai, 23, a graphic design student who lives in Harborne, said: 'I don't know Dr Who. I will be watching it, but I usually watch Channel 4 and Five.' Rashila Lad, a 33-yearold window dresser from Kings Heath, said: 'When I was a kid I was scared of the Daleks.' Lucy Stacey, 23, a window dresser from Great Barr, said: 'My older brother Danny used to make me watch it with him because he was scared.'"

The Spectator jokingly reviews the series: "I'm not sure which aspect of his latest incarnation, as written by Russell T. ('Queer As Folk') Davies, I find most objectionable: his new pink headquarters on the planet Stifado One, his mincing young assistant Julian or that his foppish, vaguely Edwardian kit has now been replaced by a pair of leather chaps, a studded belt and an enormous black codpiece with a little holster on the side for his sonic screwdriver." Later he changes tune a bit: "Davies is such a dedicated Doctor Who fan that he even carried on watching in that difficult period after Peter Davison had gone, when it apparently went down and down. If anyone on this planet was ever likely to breathe new life into an aging Time Lord, then Russell T.was surely the man. And, sure enough, he has, with extremely unlikely support from the actor playing Dr Who ù Christopher Eccleston. Eccleston, I get the impression from all those non-interviews he gives, is an actor who takes himself very seriously. You just know if you sat next to him at a dinner party he'd bang on about the Kyoto Agreement, or some such, and never once vouchsafe any juicy asides like fun actors do about which thesp has the biggest penis, which has the best coital one-liners ('Tom's in now, ' is popular with one, I gather), which is secretly gay and so on. The idea of him summoning up the lightness of touch required to play the Doctor seemed about as remote as the Daleks of conquering the universe when they can't even walk up staircases." He ends with a positive note: "Why ever didn't they think of it earlier?"

Scotland's Evening Times says that "Scotland fans stuck at home could miss the start of the vital World Cup clash with Italy because of Doctor Who. BBC bosses have scheduled coverage of tomorrow's game to begin at 7.45pm - the same time as kickoff. And if earlier programmes run late, the Milan match could have started before the closing credits in the new series of Dr Who. Ironically, the game was brought forward weeks ago to suit Italian TV chiefs. But despite the alteration, BBC are sticking to their original schedules. The move has angered fans who can't make the journey." Priorities!

Curiously, the Daily Star says the Cybermen won't be back. "One of Doctor Who's greatest enemies, the Cybermen, have been killed off because TV bosses think they are out of date. And in their bid to give the SF series a fresh look, they claim the Time Lord is more likely to go up against iPod-man. Fans had been hoping that the silver-suited aliens who enjoyed many a battle with the Doctor would return now the show is back on our screens tomorrow. But writer Russell T Davies claims that although he's happy to bring back foes like The Daleks, the Cybermen are to be banished into cyberspace. He said: 'I am afraid aliens like the Cybermen would be somewhat dated. I think you're more likely to see the Doctor fighting iPod-man.'" Though Davies has, of course, gone on record several times saying that if the show goes on long enough, he might want to bring back the Cybermen. The Daily Star also ran a Doctor Who quiz: "Are you a Timelord or a Sci-Fi Dunce from the Dull Dimension? Dare you try..."

The Coventry Evening Telegraph says "Two, four, six, eight, Who do we appreciate?" and it's Doctor Who, of course. "Doctor Who fans across Coventry are eagerly awaiting the return of the cult science-fiction show this weekend after a 16-year absence from our screens. ... And computer programmer Wes Campbell, of Beausale Croft, Mount Nod, is looking forward to seeing Dr Who updated for the 21st century. Mr Campbell, 39, a member of a Dr Who fan group called The Warwickshire Who Group, said: 'It's good to see that the writers haven"t just slavishly tried to recreate the old Dr Who. They are trying to create something new and exciting, not just an extension of the old series.' In particular the show's famously ropey special effects have been ditched in favour of impressive new graphics."

In today's Times, in the People section: "After all the fuss about the new Doctor Who, you would think that Christopher Eccleston would be glad to associate himself with the role. But asked in The Stage about a second series, he replied: 'I'll have to think long and hard about it ... It could be a poisoned chalice.'" That is, of course, a quote from Eccleston in the recent past, also regurgitated today by the Daily Express: "I'll have to think long and hard before I make a final decision."

Newsquest Digital Media says that "Unless you've been hiding behind a sofa for the past month (and be honest, has anyone ever done that?) you'll be aware that a new series of Doctor Who is upon us from Saturday. I'm looking forward to it, not least because one of my relatives is getting exterminated in a later episode. Of course, one of the main concerns that people (the sort who inhabit TV list programmes and just pop up as "experts on popular culture" as if that's a proper job) put forward is that it won't be like it was in the good old days - to which I say, good. I was very fond of the Doctor's adventures when I was a kid, and some of it was very good indeed, especially given the production values of the day. But a lot of it was shambolic tosh, with wobbly sets, school play special effects, and pantomime acting. It shows you what a slower, gentler world we lived in, when simple plots could be stretched out over four half-hour episodes (episode three = everyone runs up and down suspiciously-similar corridors a lot). I doubt the new version will be as complete a regeneration as the excellent new "reimagined" Battlestar Galactica series. But as long as Doctor Who can be watched without the aid of nostalgia-tinted glasses, it should be a step in the right direction. (OK, I've mentioned wobbly sets and hiding behind the sofa... now if I can only step into something and have it disappear to the sound of the Tardis and a bad dematerialisation special effect, I can get a job as a regional news presenter... )"

Today's The Forester (Forest of Dean) says "Doctor Who has returned to the Forest to rediscover his roots. Ninth Who Christopher Eccleston and his side-kick Billie Piper shot scenes for the new BBC1 series, which starts at 7pm on Saturday, on the western flanks of the Dean in Monmouth. Billie, who stars as the Doctor's companion Rose, told the secret to Radio 1 listeners. Last week, The Forester revealed the Doctor first visited the Forest in 1974 to film on the River Severn at Broadoak."

The Express and Echo (Exeter) says that "Exeter youngsters with an appetite for time travel are appealing to new Doctor Who Christopher Eccleston to help them put the finishing touches to a school play based on the famous TV time lord. On the eve of the return of the classic BBC series this weekend, children at John Stocker Middle School in St Thomas are rehearsing their own version of the much-loved sci-fi show. The musical, Where's Who?!, was written by head teacher John Palmer and his wife Ann in the early 1980s when Doctor Who, - with its police-box-cum-time-travel-machine the Tardis and robotic aliens, the Daleks - was still being regularly screened. First staged by pupils at Willand primary near Cullompton where Mr Palmer used to be deputy head, the play featured an opening speech delivered by former Doctor Who actor Colin Baker, recorded especially for the production. Now John Stocker children - who weren't even born before the TV show was last aired in 1989 - have written to the latest actor to portray the Doctor to ask whether he would make a similar recording. Mr Palmer, an amateur actor himself, explained: "When we originally did the play the opening speech needed to be done by Doctor Who. We just wrote to the BBC and sent the script off and Colin Baker recorded the speech which was only about a minute long. We're trying to get Christopher Eccleston to do the same thing but so far we have not had a reply. "The play is about the children having just come out of school for their summer holidays and going up to their den which is a cave. It turns out that the cave is a Tardis and as they approach they hear a crackly radio message which is Doctor Who saying: 'Help me! The Zeldons have captured me and my Tardis and banished me to the rubbish heap at the end of the universe'. This is what was recorded by Colin Baker. The children then have to punch some co-ordinates into a computer to try and get to the Planet of the Zeldons but get the numbers wrong so end up travelling into the future and then the Pyramids in Egypt. Their mission is to find the Tardis and rescue Doctor Who."

The Evening Times (Glasgow) says "If we can accept Worzel Gummidge as a timelord we can easily accept Shallow Grave star Christopher Eccleston. Where the new series differs is the investment in character developments. Writer Russell T Davies has created a timelord with a Salford accent, an enigmatic smile and a short temper. Overall he's a very human alien, whose two hearts seem to be in the right place. His assistant, Rose - played by former teen popette Billie Piper - is also real. She is bored with her life as a shop girl, fed up with her childish boyfriend and her man-mad single-parent mother. We can readily believe why Rose would run off around the universe with a bloke who looks like a social worker and is old enough to be her dad. What's difficult to grasp is that Dr Who has gone outdoors. The storyline takes us around London, to shopping centres and cafes. And without that sense of studio-based claustrophobia of old, it all looks worryingly much less malevolent than the 1960s efforts." A downer at the end: "Doctor Who has enough character base to be a success with Buffy-loving teenagers but perhaps it simply can't appeal to grown-ups who grew up with the original. Back then, the strong storylines and weak special effects prompted the imagination to work overtime. Or perhaps we recall too fondly the time of our lives when we could be so easily terrified. And to overcome that nostalgia is asking a little too much of television."

Today's Sunderland Echo has a two-page centrespread on DW, under the title 'Time, gentlemen, please!'. It features your usual brief-history-of-the-Doctor alongside a photo montage of the nine TV incarnations and a couple of small photos from the new series. There's also a box-out about the novels and audios alongside a montage of a Dalek, Cyberman and an Ice Warrior. Another box-out features an interview with Wearsider William Russell, talking about his time on the show, his reading of 'The Daleks' CD, and his delight at the return of the TV series.

The Bolton Evening News has four pages dedicated to the show, thanks to the deputy editor Ian Savage being a long-time fan. Large cover photo on the weekend supplement (the familiar Doctor/Rose publicity shot) Two page preview with photos from Rose and End of the World. Then a one page episode guide with some more photos familiar from other newspapers this week.

(Thanks to Paul Engelberg, who needs sleep as much as I do, plus Steve Tribe, Mick Gair, Chuck Foster, Paul Hayes, "gazhack")