Posted By John Bowman

The title of episode nine of the new series has been changed to Forest of the Dead.

Earlier this week, all Series Four episode names bar the penultimate one were announced in a Radio Times feature. In it, the ninth episode - the concluding instalment of this series' second two-parter - was named as River's Run, but CBBC Newsround now says it has exclusively been told of the title alteration.

The story has been written by Steven Moffat and has Alex Kingston and Colin Salmon as the guest stars.

In this week's Radio Times, Russell T Davies talks about how he goes about casting Doctor Who. "You can't really write with a guest star in mind - well, only in very exceptional cases. Kylie Minogue was one. There's a great danger in writing for someone and then they get offered a film, or they just don't fancy it. So it's dangerous territory to enter."

One of the things I love about this job is working with actors. It's such a strange process where you hand the script over to a bunch of complete strangers, but you have to trust them, and when you cast it well, that trust is paid back. Undoubtedly, they have fun doing it, but not so much fun that it looks like fun on screen." Every guest actor says, "My children would have killed me if I hadn't taken the part." Even those who haven't got children have nephews and nieces. Not just some of them say it – every single one of them does. It's a litany as they arrive. And it's absolutely true!"

Catherine Tate tells of her reaction when asked to reprise the role of Donna Noble, "I couldn’t have been more surprised. I went out to lunch with [executive producer] Julie Gardner and I thought we were just there to chat. When people say, “My jaw hit the floor". I know what they mean!". David Tennant talks about the Doctor's reaction to the reunion. "He’s pretty gobsmacked. Donna’s quite a force of nature, she doesn’t really take no for an answer."

The Magazine also contains an article on first producer Verity Lambert, and looks ahead to the tribute on BBC Fourthis weekend. It was to Lambert’s 60s version that Davies turned for inspiration when kick-starting new Doctor Who in 2005, because, "It was before the series became bogged down in any continuity. There was just mystery. An open road – that’s what she created."

The website of the BBC's listings magazine, the Radio Times, has revealed that the magazine has once again givenDoctor Who the honour of gracing the magazine's cover for the start of the new series. This time there will be four different versions of the cover available. The new issue, which also extensively previews the series inside, will be available across the UK from tuesday.

Tha magazine reveals the almost complete list of Episode titles for Series 4. Episode 12's title is being kept secret for the time being.

The BBC has confirmed that the Season Four cinema trailer will make its debut on British Television on Saturday 22nd March 2008. As well as being shown on BBC One around 7pm, the preview will be available on the official BBC Website.

With David Tennant and Catherine Tate now confirmed as guests on the BBC1Jonathan Ross show on Friday 4th April, it is looking likely that the series will return to BBC1 on Saturday 5th April 2008.

18th March Update: The new edition of the Radio Times has the trailer listed asDoctor Who Series Four Preview, between the film Toy Story and casting showI'll Do Anything at about 7:05pm.

(note: the BBC website have corrected a previous broadcast date of 29th March as reported yesterday)

Posted By John Bowman

People

David Tennant reveals some of his forthcoming work schedule in the February 9-15 edition of Radio Times. In a feature about the listings magazine's annual party for its cover stars, he says he will have all of May off and start rehearsing Hamlet for the RSC in June. (NB: Tennant is also appearing inLove's Labour's Lost in October and November, although he doesn't make reference to that in the feature.)

He appears in Hamlet from July until January 9, 2009 and says he will be back in Cardiff on January 10 to commence next year's Doctor Who specials, adding: "After that, I really don't know. Nothing has been decided . . . honestly!"

Tennant, Freema Agyeman and John Simm are all pictured at the bash.

Sophie Aldred was interviewed by BBC Norfolk while making a guest appearance in the area.

In the lengthy feature, she tells how she tried - unsuccessfully - to persuade Christopher Eccleston to attend conventions. The interview is also in three parts in an audio format. In addition, it includes video interviews with Terry Molloy and Elisabeth Sladen, as they are referred to in the piece, although these may not be playable by overseas visitors to the BBC site.

Meanwhile, BBC South East Today ran an interview with Tommy Knight, who plays Luke in The Sarah Jane Adventures.

Broadcasting

Radio Times also reveals that the February 15 edition of EastEnders will feature the storyline in which the characters Stacey and Bradley visit a Doctor Who exhibition in London. The location filming for this was reported by this site in December. (Information elsewhere suggests that the February 14 edition may also include this storyline.)

The teaser for the following week's Radio Times (February 16-22) mentions the character Martha Jones joining theTorchwood team, suggesting there will be a feature about it in that edition. Her debut Torchwood episode will be shown on BBC3 on February 13 at 9.50pm. It will, presumably, be shown on BBC2 on February 20 as part of the series' run on that channel.

The February 13 edition of Late Junction on BBC Radio 3, to be broadcast from 11.15pm to 1am, will include music from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and is believed to be a feature about 50 years of the workshop, including its realisation of the Doctor Who theme. UPDATE (February 7): Although the February 13 edition will indeed include music from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop archive, it has been announced that it will be the February 12 editionthat will mark 50 years of the workshop with, among other items, a look at the Doctor Who theme. The show will be broadcast in its usual slot, from 11.15pm to 1am.

(With thanks to Tony Clark)

Doctor Who

Nearly all the Doctor Who press coverage from the last couple of days is related to the classic series. It's like we've gone back in time to 2003.

The Derby Evening Telegraph has a short interview with Colin Baker, who speaks about working with his ex-wifeLiza Goddard in "She Stoops to Conquer" and his visit to the filming of "Voyage of the Damned".

In the West End, Peter Davison will leave the role of King Arthur in Spamalot on March 1; his replacement in the role will be Alan Dale, who also has a guest role in an upcoming episode of Torchwood. The Official London Theatre Guide and Playbill have details.

An actual police box has been installed at the Kent Police Museum in Chatham. The Crawley Observer has the Press Association story and BBC News has video. NB: The police box, which is on loan to the museum from its home in Glasgow, will not be on public display until Sunday, February 10, when the museum reopens.

TVShowsOnDVD.com reports that BBC Video is reducing the price of two dozen classic Doctor Who DVDs in North America.

The only press items at all related to the new series are reviews of the recent adaptation of Mansfield Park starring Billie Piper, which will air in the US on PBS stations on Sunday, January 27 as part of the Masterpiece Classic series (formerly Masterpiece Theatre). The Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle and Deseret Morning News (Salt Lake City) review the production.

Torchwood

TV Guide and the Radio Times both have interviews with James Marsters about his role in Torchwood. TV Guidealso recommends the show to US viewers weathering the writers' strike.

There are more reviews of "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" from the Boston Herald, The Star-Ledger (New Jersey), the South Bend Tribune (Indiana), The Deadbolt and iF Magazine.

IGN, the Courier-Post (Cherry Hill, New Jersey) and The Globe and Mail (Toronto) have more reviews of the Torchwood First Season DVD box set; the Globe and Mail's review is on the same page as a review of the Criterion DVD release of This Sporting Life, the film which drew William Hartnell to the attention of Verity Lambert.

(Thanks to "Austin39" of the Doctor Who Forum.)

BBC Video has confirmed the April 1st North American release date for the classic series adventure Timelash, starringColin Baker as the Doctor, Nicola Bryant as Peri, and featuring a guest appearance of Blake's 7's Paul Darrow.
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Two interviews with Russell T. Davies will air this week on BBC radio and television. First, on Tuesday January 15, Davies will speak to Nemone on the digital radio station BBC 6 Music. This interview can be heard from 1:00 p.m. GMT via the internet and the BBC's iPlayer Radio service (formerly Listen Again).

Then, on Wednesday January 16th, BBC Four will broadcast Mark Lawson Talks to Russell T. Davies. The Radio Times describes this interview as follows:

Davison's daughter for companion role?
As previously reported on this page, Georgia Moffett, daughter of Fifth Doctor Peter Davison, will be appearing in an episode of Doctor Who this year. However, several media sources (including Digital Spy and the NottinghamEvening Post) are reporting that Moffett is being considered for a regular role as the Doctor's companion in the 2010 series. The same reports say that Felicity Jones, who will appear in the forthcoming Agatha Christie episode, is also in the running for the role of the next companion. The story appears to derive from a comment by Phil Collinson in the most recent issue of Doctor Who Magazine.

Tennant promotes cancer research
David Tennant has become a patron of the Association for International Cancer Research (AICR), and will film a video for the Scotland-based charity. Fife Today, Digital Spy and the AICR website have more information.

John Barrowman talks to everyone

Torchwood star John Barrowman's autobiography, Anything Goes, ghostwritten by his sister Carole, will be published on January 24. The Times has a joint interview with the siblings. The Stage also interviews Barrowman, who makes a passing comment about gay actors who remain in the closet; this comment is picked up by other sources, including The Guardian, Digital Spy and Pink News. Some of these sources slightly misrepresented Barrowman's comment, and The Stage has posted a clarification. Scotland on Sunday has an extensive talk with Barrowman, which includes comments about how the actor would like to have children with his partner Scott Gill. These remarks have been picked up by Digital Spy, Actress Archives, Now Magazine andShowbiz Spy. Some of these sources also note Barrowman's on-screen kiss with James Marsters in the first episode of Torchwood's second series; The Sun has pictures of the kiss. And Off the Telly has yet another Barrowman interview.

Other Torchwood news
Digital Spy interviews Eve Myles, who says that in the upcoming series her character Gwen Cooper will be monogamous with her boyfriend Rhys. The Sun and Digital Spy pick up comments from Rhys actor Kai Owen, originally reported in the South Wales Echo.

SFX has Q&As with the Torchwood cast and crew on their website all this week; interviews with Kai Owen and Gareth David-Lloyd are already up, and talks with writer Chris Chibnall, producer Richard Stokes and Eve Myles will follow later in the week.

Tate complaints continue
The BBC has defended Catherine Tate's Christmas special against complaints about its content, reports theGuardian. The Daily Star, The Press Association, The Sun, the Bedford Times & Citizen, Nottingham'sEvening Post and the Biggleswade Chronicle note that a Conservative Member of Parliament has added her voice to the complaints about the special. Some viewers objected to foul language used by Tate's character Nan in the special; others complained about the portrayal of a Northern Irish family in one sketch. (The latter charge is refuted by a columnist for the Belfast Telegraph.) Tate will return to Doctor Who as Donna Noble in the 2008 series.

Miscellany
The Evening Standard has a story about David Tennant's upcoming role as Hamlet for the Royal Shakespeare Company.

The Guardian profiles Billie Piper, and Wales on Sunday and The Press and Journal (Aberdeen) pick up a months-old quotation in which the actress said she had forgotten how to play Rose Tyler. Meanwhile, the coverage of her wedding to Laurence Fox has reached China Daily, and the Daily Mailand Evening Standard say that Fox's uncle Lawrence Fox chose not to attend the ceremony, because his young children were not invited.

Montreal-based filmmaker Kara Blake has made a documentary on Delia Derbyshire, who realized the original version of the Doctor Who theme music and other avant-garde sound as part of the BBC Radiophonic Workship; the Montreal Mirror discusses Blake's Derbyshire project, titled "The Delian Mode".

Mark Johnson, creative director of digital agency Sequence, will speak at a digital media forum in Swansea about the games and other web content Sequence has created for the BBC's Doctor Who website. The Western Mail and Swansea's Evening Post write that Johnson will speak at amperSANDat the National Waterfront Museum on Wednesday, January 16.

The Manchester Evening News notes the closing of the "Doctor Who Up-Close" exhibit, which brought over 225,000 visitors to Manchester's Museum of Science and Industry.

A replica Dalek has been donated to the Royal Aberdeen Children's Hospital, reports BBC News.

Political commentator Andrew Sullivan is one among many bloggers who are linking to a page which asks whether the Doctor is a revolutionary or a "tool of The Man", and when in the series' long history each descriptor might fit him.

And finally, a columnist for Singapore-based Asia-Pacific Broadcasting discusses watching William Hartnellepisodes on a friend's mobile phone in Kuala Lumpur.

Thanks to Ian Berriman and Sean Palmerston, and "PolyG" and "aaaa" of the Doctor Who Forum.

"Voyage of the Damned" has received both positive and negative reviews in the British press. The Daily Mirror (published before the special aired) calls it "a corker", with "plenty of the Doctor's joky humour, some nice Christmas gags and even a touching romance." However, the reviewer at The Herald (Glasgow) complains that Kylie Minogue looked "matronly". Sam Wollaston of The Guardian feels that Kylie "may be Kylie, but she's no Freema or Billie." The Daily Mirror gives a mixed review, praising the "brilliant psychedelic Pink Floyd-esque imagery" as well as "great baddies ... and neat jokes", but lamenting that "the plot was a mess, consisting mostly of one hi-tech chase scene after another, and it descended into noise and bluster." And theLiverpool Echocalls it "a load of old tongue-in-cheek nonsense".

Tim Teeman, writing in The Times, goes further, saying that "Doctor Who sucks" and calling the show and its protagonist "lazy, predictable and indulgent." But James Walton, writing in the Daily Telegraph "can’t imagine how this episode could have done its job any better", calling Voyage of the Damned "a winning mixture of wild imagination and careful writerly calculation." And 10-year-old George Baker, whose TARDIS bedroom has been previously mentioned on this page, tells Newsround that the Christmas special was "BRILLIANT": "I give it 10 out of 10 - and I cannot wait for the new series!"

UPDATE: A few more reviews have come to light. The Sunday Times describes "Voyage of the Damned" as having "big-screen aspiration with small-screen production values and half a radio script." However, The Stage says "Voyage of the Damned was well up to Doctor Who’s impeccably high standards, neatly combining comedy and thrills to stunning effect," and The Observer says "Doctor Who was an oasis of cheeky nonsense and careless invention."

Before "Voyage of the Damned" aired, Billie Piper was quoted in the Aberdeen Press and Journal saying that she was looking forward to watching the Christmas special, and was envious of her once and future costar David Tennant: "I'm just gutted that I missed [Kylie Minogue]. I speak to David and he's like, 'I've got Kylie's number on my phone.' I want to be Kylie's friend!" The Sun puts Minogue and Piper together in their list of 2007's "top TV babes". TheDaily Mirror has a profile of Piper's "great year", and the Western Mail has a Q&A with the actress.

Kylie Minogue's role in the Christmas special got a lot of coverage in her native Australia, including the Courier Mail(Brisbane, twice), the Herald Sun(Melbourne), Macquarie National News (Sydney) and Sky News. The Daily Telegraph (Sydney) calls "Voyage of the Damned" "the greatest Dr Who episode of all time" but also frets that some of Kylie's younger fans may have been unable to tell fact from fiction, as did Sky News.

Digital Spy provides "Ten Things You Never Knew About David Tennant" (although several items may be known to readers of this page).

The Halifax Courier concludes its three-part history of Doctor Who. Part one was linked in the last press round-up, and you can now read parts two andthree.

Catherine Tate's Christmas special has provoked some controversy. Ofcom, the UK's independent media reglatory agency, will investigate complaints that the special contained excessive foul language and stereotypical portrayals of Northern Irish characters. The story is covered by The Times and The Daily Telegraph. Meanwhile, The New York Times has a largely positive review of Tate's comedy series, as its third season airs on BBC America.

The Manchester Evening News has a profile of Frazer Hines, who played the Second Doctor's companion Jamie McCrimmon from 1966 to 1969.

The Sun is claiming that Kylie Minogue's sister Dannii is "tipped" for a role in Torchwood, and has a quote from John Barrowman; this story is also covered by Digital Spy, All Headline News and inthenews.co.uk as well as news sites based in India and Estonia, both of which refer to "Kylie Minogue's successful stint on US TV show 'Dr Who'"!

Thanks to Greg Chapman and "PolyG" of the Doctor Who Forum.