According to Yahoo (via WENN) Britney Spears will be offered the chance to play a group of sex-mad aliens on sci-fi TV show Doctor Who. Russell T Davies, a fan of the pop princess, wants to take the series to Hollywood so Spears can make a spectacular cameo playing a cloned extra-terrestrial. Davies says, "I'd love Britney to do it - it would be so much fun. I'm not sure she'll come to Cardiff where the show is shot so I'm nagging the BBC to fund a Hollywood special."

How serious this quote was is unknown. The story first appeared in the UK tabloid the Daily Star, so perhaps we can place this story safely in the rumor department.

Doctor Who returned to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation on Monday January 15th, 2007 with the broadcast of The Satan Pit at 8:00pm. Up against The Golden Globe Awards and night two of the season premiere of24 a total of 516 000 viewers tuned in to watch the return of the series after a Christmas break. This was down slightly from the season high 536 000 who watched The Impossible Planet back on December 5th, 2006.

Monday January 22nd, 2007 saw a total of 388 000 viewers tuning into the CBC to watch Love & Monsters. Competition for Doctor Who varies by timezone but included the return of Prison Break, Corner Gas, 24 and the premiere of the second half of the first series of Heroes.

(With thanks to Rod Mammitzsch and DWIN)

Issue 379 of Doctor Who Magazine is due out on 1st February; the following is a preview including the cover. Click on the thumbnail for a larger version.
(Thanks to Tom Spilsbury/DWM)

According to various websites, it has been confirmed that Eric Roberts, who portrayed the Master in the ill-fated Doctor Who Fox TV movie, has joined the cast of NBC's hit show Heroes. He will be playing an associate of Claire's father, the mysterious H.R.G. (Horn Rimmed Glasses.) This marks the second former-Doctor Who alumnus to join the series as Ninth Doctor Christopher Eccleston appeared in this week's episode.

Julie Gardner, the executive producer of Doctor Who, has confirmed a long running rumour concerning the nature of Paul Cornell's story, which will form episodes eight and nine of series three. The confirmation comes as part of an interview to be published in the final issue of Dreamwatch magazine.

The BBC's Doctor Who website has announced that an animated Doctor Who cartoon is being produced, to air as part of Totally Doctor Who next year. David Tennant andFreema Agyeman will voice the Doctor and Martha in the animated story, and Anthony Head will play Baltazar, Scourge of the Galaxy (not Mr. Finch from "School Reunion"). Toby Longworth (who has played many roles for Big Finish Productions' line of audio dramas) will also appear.

The cartoon will have 13 parts, comprising a single story titled "Infinite Quest". Russell T Davies describes the story: "The Doctor and Martha follow a trail of clues across wild and wonderful alien worlds, to find the location of the legendary lost spaceship, the Infinite." The story is written by Alan Barnes and directed by Gary Russell.

Full details are available on the BBC site here; the story was broken by the Daily Mirror here.

27th Jan: the image of the Doctor and Martha is shown on the BBC News Entertainment pages as The Big Picture.

One of Britain's best known actors, Sir Derek Jacobi, is to guest star in the forthcoming third series of Doctor Who, according to Thursday's Daily Mirror.

The tabloid paper also reveals the name of his character. Click on the spoiler box below to see the details. While the BBC have confirmed Jacobi's involvement, they have neither confirmed nor denied the spoiler which has resulted in much speculation in our forum.

While this is Jacobi's first appearance in televised Doctor Who, he has previously voiced the Master in the six-part animated BBCi webcast Scream of the Shalka, as well as taking a starring role in one of the Dr Who Unbound audio dramas for Big Finish in 2003.

David Tennant praises newcomer Freema Agyeman in an interview today on Sci Fi Wire.

In the interview, conducted by e-mail, he tells the Sci Fi Channel's news service that the actress "hit the ground running" when she took on the role of Martha Jones, and said he let her deal with the pressure of replacing such a popular and high-profile cast member as Billie Piper in her own way.

Tennant says Agyeman "inhabited Martha Jones from day one without a hint of trepidation or nervousness. I found myself quite envious of her confidence. She is going to be brilliant."

He also tells of how difficult it was to shoot the final scenes with Piper, saying they started sniffling during a run-through of the lines on the make-up bus.

Tennant says Martha and the Doctor have an entirely different relationship to Rose and the Doctor, adding: "As with any big relationship, it takes time for the scars to heal. Perhaps the Doctor feels like he's dealt with it, but Martha might disagree." He also says she "makes herself indispensable".

The UK's largest commercial broadcaster, ITV, have revealed a major marketing campaign for their six million pound science-fiction dinosaur drama Primeval which they hope will be their answer to BBC One's Doctor Who in the Saturday tea-time slot.

David Pemsel, ITV's new group marketing director, said: "Primeval is a bold scheduling step into Saturday night family drama. We believe the series will have both a wide ranging family appeal as well as becoming cult viewing for aspirational adults."

According to Media Bulletin, ITV is backing their series with a heavyweight marketing campaign. Transmission dates are not yet confirmed, but the series is believed to start in mid February.