Gallifrey One's Network 23, the twenty-third annual North American Doctor Who Celebration convention, will take place February 17-19, 2012 at the Marriott Hotel at Los Angeles Airport.

Featured guests from the Whoniverse at this year's annual installment of the long-running fan convention -- blending both classic and new series guests -- are Paul McGann (the eighth Doctor), Camille Coduri (Jackie Tyler), Mark Sheppard (Canton Everett Delaware III), William Russell (Ian Chesterton), Louise Jameson (Leela), Caitlin Blackwood (Young Amelia Pond), Maureen O'Brien (Vicki), Richard Franklin (Captain Mike Yates), Tony Curran (Vincent van Gogh), Eric Roberts (the TV Movie Master), Daphne Ashbrook (Grace Holloway), Yee Jee Tso (Chang Lee), Simon Fisher-Becker (Dorium Maldovar), Philip Segal (TV Movie Producer), John de Lancie (Torchwood's Agent Shapiro), Toby Haynes (director of five Series 5-6 episodes), Richard Senior (director of "Let's Kill Hitler"), Nicholas Briggs (the voice of the Daleks), W. Morgan Sheppard (Old Canton), Daniele Favilli (Torchwood's Angelo Colasanto), Waris Hussein (director of "An Unearthly Child"), Barnaby Edwards (new series Dalek operator), Michael Troughton (author & son of Patrick Troughton), Gary Russell (Sarah Jane Adventures script editor), Phil Ford (Sarah Jane producer), Simon Guerrier (Graceless), Richard Dinnick (The Big Finish Companion), Jason Haigh-Ellery (Big Finish Productions), "Torchwood" writers Jane Espenson, Doris Egan and John Shiban, IDW Doctor Who comics editor Denton Tipton, writer Joshua Hale Fialkov, colorist Charlie Kirchoff and illustrators Matthew Dow Smith & Blair Shedd, comedian Charlie Ross (who brings his famous UK Doctor Who themed comedy show to America for the first time), and many other guests from the science fiction media, comics and literary community.

Gallifrey One is the world's longest-running annual Doctor Who convention, with three days of events including a weekend-long tribute to actors Nicholas Courtney and Elisabeth Sladen; a live Friday night performance of Louise Jameson's one-woman stage show Pulling Faces; a full Saturday masquerade/costume show and performance of Charlie Ross's legendary Doctor Who comedy show; previews from Big Finish Productions, IDW Comics, the Doctor Who Restoration Team and Hirst Publishing; a dealers room, art show, an annual charity benefit auction this year benefitting Students Run L.A., cosplay program and costuming hall, an exhibits area this year featuring the fully restored 1996 TV Movie TARDIS console, science programming, the North American debut of the Guerrier Brothers' short film Cleaning Up starring Jameson and Mark Gatiss, Q&A sessions, interviews, autographs and much more.

Online convention pre-registration closes on January 31 (with at-door registration open as the convention begins). For more information visit www.gallifreyone.com/ or check out the Facebook page at facebook.com/gallifreyone

Matt Smith narrowly missed out being named Britain's Coolest Man in a poll by Zoo Magazine; the actor lost out to magician Dynamo, with other runners up including F1 driver Jenson Button, Prince Harry and singer Noel Gallagher. [Huffington Post, 17 Jan 2012]

Karen Gillan is about to start work on her first film, Not Another Happy Ending, directed by John McKay (who also directed We'll Take Manhattan); McKay said of the actress: "Every now and again, we produce somebody who really holds your attention on the screen and she’s got it. She is not just a small screen star, she is a big screen star. She really is one of Scotland’s greatest talents and can go all the way." [Daily Record, 20 Jan 2012]

John Barrowman and his sister Carole are due to appear at Waterstones in Bluewater on 4th February to sign their new book, Hollow Earth. [Dartford Messenger, 20 Jan 2012]

Actor and Never Mind the Buzzcocks captain Noel Fielding has his eye on a particular role: I wouldn't mind being on Doctor Who. I like the guy who does it at the moment and I thought David Tennant was amazing, but next I think we need an androgynous, slightly dippy Doctor who gets everything wrong... [Radio Times, 20-26 Jan 2012]

Speaking at the Radio Times Cover Party, actor Warwick Davis said about networking at the event: "Mr. Steven Moffat is somebody I want to talk to, certainly, cos I love Sherlock and I would love to be in Doctor Who. It's been a dream of mine for many years - I don't want to play the Doctor, but a villain or something like that would be good." [Radio Times (video), 18 Jan 2012]

John Simm has indicated on Twitter that he would consider reprising his Doctor Who persona; when asked, he said: The Master - of course! Mr Moffat is a brilliant writer. [@john_simm, 16 Jan 2012]

Writer Richard Curtis (Vincent and the Doctor) is about to direct a film based upon his own script; About Time is described as "a low-budget time-travel picture", and will be made by Working Title. [Hollywood Reporter, 18 Jan 2012]

Tickets are now on sale for the forthcoming run of Punchdrunk's The Crash of the Elysium at the Ipswich Arts Festival this summer.

The immersive theatre experience is part of the London 2012 Festival, celebrating the Olympic Games taking place in the summer, and from 15th June to 8th July 2012.


New Wolsey Theatre Chief Executive Sarah Holmes said:

Tickets can be purchased via the New Wolsey Theatre, with three types, School Performances (aged 4-7), Family Performances (aged 7-12 with adult), and After Dark Performances (aged 13 and above).

Shadowlocked have conducted an interview with Sylvester McCoy - who stars in the Death Comes to Time spin-off audio series The Minister of Chance as The Witch Prime - alongside his former seventh Doctor sidekick Sophie Aldred.

In an short interview segment released by the site, Sophie discusses how she might have appeared in The Sarah Jane Adventures, whilst Sylvester reflects on the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who and how fans would like to see the Doctors re-united, or cast in other cameo roles ...


The full, hour-long interview will appear at The Minister of Chance website soon.

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You can also read Shadowlocked's "complete reviews" of Doctor Who, kicking off from the very start with An Unearthly Child through to The Wedding of River Song, published this week.

BBC Books have announced the latest in their line of hardback Doctor Who novels - Dark Horizons sees a new adventure for the eleventh Doctor, written by Jenny Colgan.


A successful author with some thirteen books under her belt, Jenny Colgan is also a lifetime Doctor Who fan, and won a national fan competition aged 11 to meet Peter Davison as the Doctor (who mistook her for a boy!). Speaking about her new book, she said:
Albert De Petrillo, Senior Editorial Director at BBC Books, said:

Dark Horizons is due to be published on 7th July 2012.

The BBC/2Entertain have released a couple of clips from Looking for Peter, a feature on the forthcoming The Sensorites DVD out next Monday. The item features presenter Toby Hadoke tracing the life of the largely unknown writer of the story, Peter R. Newman.

In the first clip, Toby meets up with Richard Bignell at Alexandra Palace to discuss potential clues:

In the second clip, Toby visits archivist Marcus Hearn to discuss Newman's work with Hammer Films:

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In other news, Mark Ayres has reported that the 'Revisited' re-release of Sixth Doctor story Vengeance on Varos will also feature a new 5.1 Surround Mix to accompany the original mono soundtrack.

Also, last year's release of Day of the Daleks has been named the Best DVD Exclusive for 2011 in Home Cinema Choice magazine's awards.

Two academics planning a book examining portrayals of religion in Doctor Who and its spin-offs are seeking written contributions.

Andrew Crome and James McGrath are compiling a publication - called Religion and Doctor Who: Time, Space and Faith - consisting of academic essays, and people are being invited to submit 300-word summaries (aka abstracts) for consideration. If accepted, they would need developing for inclusion in the publication. A word limit for the final pieces has not been set yet but even if there is one there will probably be some flexibility.

Dr Crome, who works in the School of English at Trinity College Dublin, told Doctor Who News:
Other aspects of Doctor Who to be looked at are the internet and video games.

Dr McGrath, who works in religion and philosophy at Butler University, Indianapolis, said the book was aimed at a popular-academic readership, and possible subjects - among many - include:

• Death and the afterlife in Doctor Who and Torchwood
• The Doctor as a Christ figure
• Portrayals of non-Christian religions in the classic or revived series
• Fan response to "religious" episodes
• The use of Doctor Who by religious organisations

The deadline for the summaries is Friday 20th April and a short biography of the author should accompany them. More details, including a contact e-mail address, are available here.

The actress Jenny Tomasin has died at the age of 75.

Tomasin played the role of Tasambeker, an employee of Tranquil Repose, in the 1985 Doctor Who story Revelation of the Daleks.

She was best known for her portrayal of the long-suffering Ruby in the London Weekend Television production Upstairs Downstairs, appearing in 41 episodes. Her role, as the put-upon kitchen maid who nurtured dreams of running away with Rudolph Valentino, made her one of the most popular characters in the series.

In 1981 Tomasin had a small part in Emmerdale Farm as Naomi Tolly. She also had parts in Crossroads and Martin Chuzzlewit. During the nineties she performed in many regional pantomimes, and in 2005 she returned to Emmerdale, this time playing Noreen Bell, a cantankerous villager, who was eventually killed off in July 2006.

Jenny Tomasin was born on November 30, 1936 in Leeds, West Yorkshire. It is believed she died earlier this week.

UPDATE - 3rd February 2012: Upstairs, Downstairs co-star Simon Williams, who appeared in the following Dalek story Remembrance of the Daleks, has paid tribute to Jenny Tomasin in an obituary in The Stage. The Independent has also run an obituary.

UPDATE - 12th February 2012: Jenny Tomasin died on 3rd January from hypertensive heart disease, according to the coroner's office. Confirmation of her death was delayed because she had no immediate survivors. [The Washington Post]

Just when you thought it was safe to finally stow your scarf away in the back of the wardrobe, actor/comedian/Doctor Who DVD moderator Toby Hadoke has announced some new dates for his acclaimed one-man show Moths Ate My Doctor Who Scarf!

You can find out more details of Toby's shows via his website.