AudioGo have released details on audio titles in their spoken word range due to be released in September.

The latest adventure for the Eleventh Doctor will be The Empty House, written by Simon Guerrier and read by Raquel Cassidy; meanwhile, Torchwood continues with The Exodus Code written by Captain Jack himself, John Barrowman with his sister Carole. For the classic series, this month's Target novelisation will be The Highlanders read by Anneke Wills, whilst the soundtrack release of Horror of Fang Rock will include linking narration by Louise Jameson. Finally, the complete series of Serpents Quest starring Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor is to be released as a boxed set.

The Doctor Who adventures will be released on CD from 6th September, and can also be purchased as downloads from AudioGo from 1st September; Torchwood: The Exodus Code will be released in both formats from 13th September.

The British Board of Film Classification has now passed special features that will appear on the forthcoming DVD release of the last complete Tom Baker adventure Terror of the Zygons:

00:26:25:04  THE UNIT FAMILY - PART THREE
00:19:38:05  MERRY-GO-ROUND - THE FUEL FISHERS
00:01:47:19  (EASTER EGG)
00:05:06:24  TERROR OF THE ZYGONS - PHOTO GALLERY
00:31:22:14  SCOTCH MIST IN SUSSEX
             (REMEMBERING 'TERROR OF THE ZYGONS')
00:30:01:15  REMEMBERING DOUGLAS CAMFIELD
00:22:54:13  DOCTOR WHO STORIES - TOM BAKER
00:19:43:22  DOCTOR WHO STORIES - ELISABETH SLADEN

In addition, the Board have also passed a "director's cut" version of episode one, which has a run-time of 23m21s (the broadcast version is 21m41s).

No release date for the story has been announced at present.

The current confirmed schedule consists of Planet of Giants for 20th August, Vengeance on Varos (special edition) for 10th September, and The Ambassadors of Death for 1st October. Online retailers have also listed The Claws of Axos (special edition) for 22nd October.

Other known releases still be to scheduled include The Legacy Boxset (known to feature Shada and More Than Thirty Years In The TARDIS), The Reign of Terror (with animated episodes 4+5), Inferno (special edition), and The Mind Of Evil (with colourised episode 1 and colour-restored 2-6), plus the two recently returned episodes Galaxy Four: Air Lock and The Underwater Menace: Episode 2. How the remaining episodes of The Tenth Planet and The Ice Warriors are to be released has yet to be announced.

The Ambassadors of Death - Cover:

A clean version of the cover art by Lee Binding for October's The Ambassadors of Death has been published via the Tea-Lady Design Facebook page.

The actor Geoffrey Hughes has died at the age of 68.

Geoffrey Hughes was well known for supporting roles in several British television series. He played the lovable rogue Eddie Yeats in the soap opera Coronation Street from 1974-1983 as well as Onslow in the sitcom Keeping Up Appearances, Twiggy in the television comedy The Royle Family, and Vernon Scripps in the ITV drama series Heartbeat.

In 1986 he played Mr. Popplewick in The Ultimate Foe, the story which comprised the final two episodes of the Trial of a Time Lord Series of Doctor Who. Popplewick was the identity used by the Valeyard while in the Matrix.

Hughes also had a number of film credits to his name including Smashing Time, Till Death Us Do Part, The Bofors Gun, The Virgin Soldiers, Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall, Carry On at Your Convenience, and the cartoon Yellow Submarine for which he supplied the voice of Paul McCartney.

Hughes lived on the Isle of Wight where he was appointed Deputy Lord Lieutenant in 2009, providing the official link between the island and royalty at formal events.

Hughes had thought he had beaten prostate cancer in 2009, but a year later, after collapsing at his home, found it had returned. His agent said he died "peacefully in his sleep" on Friday night.

The BBC have confirmed that the first official television trailer for Doctor Who's next series will air on Thursday 2nd August, around 8:00pm on BBC1, with a repeat the following week.

The trailer forms part of a series of promotions for shows that form the latest Original British Drama campaign that will run throughout the London Olympics coverage over the coming seventeen days.

As well as Doctor Who, the list includes Merlin, Hunted, Good Cop, Accused, The Secret of Crickley Hall, The Paradise, Ripper Street, plus the stalwart soap EastEnders. The 'series' of trailers kicks off from 28th July with a special "Bundle" compilation.

Ben Stephenson, Controller, BBC Drama Commissioning, said:

The actress Mary Tamm - who played the first incarnation of Romana - died this morning aged 62 after a long battle with cancer, her agent Barry Langford has announced.

Born in Dewsbury, Yorkshire, on 22nd March 1950, she graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and then acted with the Birmingham Repertory Company. Stage roles included Amanda in Private Lives and Beverly in Abigail's Party. Film and television roles followed, including Tales That Witness Madness, two appearances in Coronation Street, The Odessa File, and the film version of The Likely Lads.

She joined Doctor Who in the role of Romanadvoratrelundar, aka Romana (or Fred!), alongside Tom Baker as the Doctor for the sixteenth year of the show, which revolved around the search for the Key to Time. During the run she had the chance to play another character in the form of the identical Princess Strella in The Androids of Tara (not to mention android versions of both!). She only played the role of Romana for one year, citing that the character could not develop any further from its 'traditional' companion role, with The Armageddon Factor's guest actress Lalla Ward continuing the character from the following story.

Post-Doctor Who, Tamm continued her TV career with a recurring role as Jill Fraser in The Assassination Run and The Treachery Game, Jennifer Reynoldston in The Hello Goodbye Man, Yvonne Edwards in Paradise Heights and a stint in Brookside as Penny Crosbie. Other guest appearances included Casualty, Holby City, Jonathan Creek, Crime Traveller, Heartbeat, and adding EastEnders to her CV as Orlanda in 2009. She was due to play a judge in the film Far Out Far In but illness forestalled that role.

Though departing from Doctor Who in 1979, Tamm continued her association with the show through the audio plays of Big Finish, reprising the role of Romana - as well as the villainous Time Lord Imperiatrix Pandora - in the Gallifrey audio series. Later, she again reprised her original role for the Companion Chronicle The Stealers from Saiph in 2009, followed by Ferril's Folly and Tales from the Vault in 2011. She is also set to feature posthumously alongside Tom Baker once more, with the pair starring in the second series of The Fourth Doctor Adventures, due to be released from January 2013.

The first volume of her autobiography First Generation (Fantom Films) was published in 2009. Her official website can be found here.

Update 9th August: Tragically, her husband Marcus Ringrose also passed away this week, a few hours after Mary's funeral on Tuesday 7th August. They are survived by their daughter Lauren and family, including grandson Max.

Tributes

Her agent Barry Langford said:Tom Baker, who played the Fourth Doctor alongside Tamm, said:David Richardson, producer for Big Finish, told us:Dexter O'Neill, whose company Fantom Films published her autobiography, said:Ian Fraser, Mary's photographer, told us:Steven Moffat, current lead writer of Doctor Who, said:
On Twitter

• Colin Baker (The Doctor): Shellshocked to hear Mary Tamm is gone. A funny, caring, talented, lovely and down to earth lady. My heart goes out to Marcus and Lauren
• Nicola Bryant (Peri): Just heard the terrible news that Mary Tamm has died. Completely shocked. Very sad. Thoughts go to Marcus & Lauren. RIP Mary.
• Anneke Wills (Polly): Mary Tamm - How sad! A brave, beautiful woman, she will be greatly missed. I'm grateful to have known her. Love Anneke x
• Frazer Hines (Jamie): I'm still reeling from the shock of Mary passing away!always a smiley friendly person whenever we met at cons.
• Edward Russell (brand manager): My condolences to Mary Tamm's family. As a companion, Romana was my hero when I was 8 years old. So very sad. Guess we've reached that point in Doctor Who's history where it's time for many of its rich cast to say goodbye. Thank you for taking part.
• Nicholas Briggs (actor, Big Finish): Very sad indeed about the death of Mary Tamm. She was so much fun and lovely to work with. I shall miss her.
• Barnaby Edwards (actor): Very sad to hear of the death of Mary Tamm. A lovely actress and a sharp, witty person.
• Nicholas Pegg (actor): Raising a glass to the beautiful, talented, funny Mary Tamm. So young. What sad news.
• Paul Cornell: I'm so sorry to hear about Mary Tamm. It's an obit every month in DWM these days. How terrible.
• Andy Pryor (casting director): Sad times. Caroline John and now Mary Tamm. We salute you both.
• Mark Ayres (composer): Sad news to wake up to: RIP Mary Tamm, Doctor Who's first Romana, aka Fred. She was of the few Doctor Who girls I never met properly, though I did "music" her Myth Makers, which she played as Alice in Wonderland.
• Gary Russell (script editor): Mary Tamm, funny, sweet, smart and utterly outrageous. Will miss her so much RIP xxx
• Toby Hadoke (performer): Reeling from the news that Mary Tamm has passed away. RIP. And what?!
• Kai Owen (Rhys): Sad news indeed. RIP Mary Tamm.
• Benjamin Cook (DWM): Such sad news about Mary Tamm. I interviewed her once, in 2009. (Couldn't believe she was old enough to be a grandmother.) RIP. "I never, ever thought of Romana as a sex symbol," she said. "Glamorous, but not sexy… An old-fashioned, movie star style."
• Gary Gillatt (DWM): Mary Tamm now. Another tragedy. What an awful year it's been to be a Doctor Who fan. This terrible silence, slowly rolling over it all.

BBC America are to broadcast four new special documentaries in the lead-up to their premiere of the next series of Doctor Who. Forming part of their Supernatural Saturday themed evenings, the first documentary will be broadcast on Saturday 4th August:


The documentary will be preceded by repeats of last year's documentaries, Best of the Companions, Best of the Monsters and Best of the Doctor from 6:00pm.


The following weeks will see documentaries on The Women of Doctor Who (11th August), The Timey-Wimey of Doctor Who (18th August), and The Destinations of Doctor Who (25th August).

The man behind the Fifth Doctor's costume, Colin Lavers, has died.

Colin Lavers was a costume designer for the BBC. In 1982 he was scheduled to work on the Doctor Who story Four To Doomsday, which just happened to be the first story recorded by Peter Davison, and therefore the realisation of the Fifth Doctor's costume became his responsibility.

The cricket motif came out of discussions with Davison and producer John Nathan-Turner, who insisted the question-mark lapels sported by Tom Baker's Doctor should remain.

Lavers was also the costume designer on the 20th-anniversary story, The Five Doctors, which gave him the responsibility of creating costumes for a large number of Doctor Who alumni, some of whom had not been seen on television in colour before. He also worked on the 1978 story The Power of Kroll and the 1983 story The King's Demons.

Other productions in his long career included EastEnders, Last of the Summer Wine and Judge John Deed.

More episode titles for the forthcoming new series of Doctor Who have been officially revealed.

Said to be needing one of the largest sets to date, the second episode is called Dinosaurs On A Spaceship, while the Western-themed episode three, which was shot on location in Spain, has been confirmed as A Town Called Mercy.

Meanwhile, at the San Diego Comic-Con over the weekend, it was also announced that episode four is called Cubed.

Dinosaurs On A Spaceship has been written by Chris Chibnall and directed by Saul Metzstein. It co-stars Mark Williams as Rory's dad, Brian, and Rupert Graves. A Town Called Mercy, co-starring Adrian Scarborough and Ben Browder, has been written by Toby Whithouse and again directed by Saul Metzstein.

Showrunner Steven Moffat said: Cubed, which has also been written by Chris Chibnall, is being directed by Douglas Mackinnon. Principal photography on it has now been completed.

The title of the first episode of Series 7 was revealed last month to be Asylum of the Daleks.

The show returns later this year with a run of five episodes followed by the Christmas special and a further eight episodes in 2013. Asylum of the Daleks is to be premiered at the BFI in London on Tuesday 14th August. It will also be shown during the Edinburgh International Television Festival, which runs from 23rd to 25th August.

The BBC have announced on Twitter that Dame Diana Rigg is to appear in Doctor Who alongside daughter Rachael Stirling; lead writer Steven Moffat said:
The script commences filming this week, with the pair "playing a mother and daughter with a dark secret". The story is set in Yorkshire, with filming kicking off today at Roath Lock Studios and Bute Town in Rhymney, which stands in for a village in the county.

Diana Rigg is of course best remembered as Emma Peel in the 1960s series The Avengers, and also became James Bond's short-lived wife in On Her Majesty's Secret Service; however the actress has had a long career covering stage, screen and television including The Assassination Bureau, Diana, Bleak House and The Mrs. Bradley Mysteries. She also hosted the PBS series Mystery! for some 15 years.

On her appearance in another sci-fi/fantasy institution, she said:

Meanwhile, her daughter's career has encompassed starring as Nan in the controversial BBC adaptation of Tipping the Velvet, with other television appearances including The Young Victoria, Boy Meets Girl and last year's Women in Love; she has also appeared in films such as Centurion, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen and Snow White and the Huntsman. The actress is also no stranger to the world of Doctor Who, featuring alongside Tom Baker and Louise Jameson, playing Demesne Furze in the recently released Big Finish Fourth Doctor adventure Trail of the White Worm.

On her latest role, Rachael said:

BBC Worldwide has confirmed that the 1970 Doctor Who story, The Ambassadors of Death, will be released on DVD in full colour.

The seven part story was made originally made in colour as part of the first Jon Pertwee season, but the only master tape to remain in the BBC Archive is that of Episode One. The rest of the story was only kept as 16mm black and white film.

A second generation colour copy does exist as an off air recording from WNED Channel 17 in Buffalo, New York and this was used to restore episodes five and six to colour for the 2002 Video release. At the time it was not possible to restore the remainder of the story.

With the advances in technology over the last decade, it is now possible to restore colour to the complete story. It was hoped to release the story last year, paired with the 1977 story The Sun Makers, however problems with restoration process caused the release to be postponed in order to allow the restoration team more time to achieve the best results on the story.

It is expected that the DVD will be released later this year.