Brief News Notes

Radio Times has been running a new advertising campaign on UK television. "Basically it has loads of fed-up people stuck in their cars at roadworks. They start honking their horns, a dog starts barking and a baby starts crying - all of which adds up to a recognisable rendition of the 'Doctor Who' theme tune!" says our report. "Near the end, the passenger in one of the cars turns to the driver and says (approximately) 'Did you know that there have been ten Doctor Who's, The Daleks was originally called The Mutants and that TARDIS stands for Time and Relative Dimensions in Space?'"

Paul Cornell ("Father's Day") will be writing another audio play for Big Finish for 2006, due out next September, according to an announcement by Big Finish at the recent 2005 World Science Fiction Convention in Glasgow. "Circular Time" will likely feature the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa.

There's a rebuttal in today's Scotsman by David Bickerstaff, reacting to the earlier comments about David Tennant's forthcoming tenure in the TARDIS. "I should ask him, politely, to reserve any form of judgment until David Tennant makes his debut as Doctor Who at Christmas in The Christmas Invasion," he writes. "Having been a lifelong devotee of Doctor Who, I am absolutely thrilled that an actor of his standing has accepted the role. He has a real passion for the character and will, I am sure, give it 101 per cent commitment. As for the costume, perhaps George Kerevan should look around at the dress sense of today and see that the Doctor mirrors the fashion sense of society. Patrick Troughton mirrored the style of the Beatles, Jon Pertwee had the smoking jacket of Bob Dylan in the Seventies and Tom Baker reflected the Bohemian style of students in the mid-Seventies. Mr Tennant's costume is a mish-mash of all that is smart in our fashion-conscious male."

(Thanks to Kieran Seymour, Peter Sneddon, Jonathan Melville, David Bickerstaff)