Filming for the new series of Doctor Who has now commenced at the Valley of the Gods in South-Eastern Utah. Matt Smith (who had reportedly arrived in Utah after his appearance on The Late Late Show at around midnight), Karen Gillan, Arthur Darvill, Alex Kingston and Mark Sheppard were all spotted during the course of the day's activities.


Filming is expected to continue in Utah until the 19th November.

The new issue of Doctor Who Magazine reveals that the writer for episodes five and six of Series Six will be Matthew Graham. Steven Moffat describes the story, to be directed by Julian Simpson, as a "thrilling and terrifying two-parter. The Doctor will face a dilemma the like of which he’s never seen before."

Graham has himself confirmed this on Twitter:

The Life on Mars/Ashes to Ashes creator previously wrote Fear Her for David Tennant's first series.

The Utah Governor's Office of Economic Development has confirmed that principal photography for the previously announced US filming will take place in Utah from November 17 to November 19. The state's Motion Picture Incentive Fund has authorized a filming rebate of up to $30,000 for location filming in the state. The exact location of filming has not been revealed, and fans are not being encouraged to attend filming; a BBC representative told a member of the Utah Film Commission in a private email that he "feels that it would be doing the production a disservice to have fans of the show watching it being filmed as certain story arcs and plot lines could be exposed prematurely and be spread over the internet."

Showbiz site Deadline are reporting that the actress Arlene Tur has been cast as a surgeon named Vera Juarez in the new series of Torchwood, The New World. The actress is best known on screen for her role as Bebe Arcel in another series by the network Starz, Crash.

A number of names have been associated with the main roles of the series, including Enver Gjokaj (Victor/Anthony Ceccoli in Dollhouse) and Chad Michael Murray (Lucas Scott in One Tree Hill) for CIA Agent Rex Matheson, and Amber Stevens (Ashleigh Howard in Greek) as Watch Analyst Esther Katusi - however, apart from the established characters played by John Barrowman (Jack), Eve Myles (Gwen) and Kai Owen (Rhys), no other cast announcements have been made so far.

We are saddened to report the death of the writer Mervyn Haisman.

An actor in his early career, Mervyn Haisman turned his hand to writing, forming a partnership with Henry Lincoln where together they penned three Doctor Who stories for the Patrick Troughton era of the series. The Abominable Snowmen saw the first appearance from the slopes of the Himalayas of the Yeti - robotic servants of the Great Intelligence. The strength of this first story subsequently led to the sequel The Web of Fear, which also saw creation of one of the most enduring guest characters in the series, Alistair Gordon Lethbridge Stewart (The Brigadier). Their third outing The Dominators introduced the Quarks, but artistic disagreements with the production team ended further contributions to Doctor Who. However, their association with the show was to be marked once again with a credit on The Sarah Jane Adventures story Enemy of the Bane for Sir Alistair.

Haisman went on to script-edit a number of television series, notably Sutherland's Law (alongside future Doctor Who producer Graham Williams), Jubilee, and some seventeen episodes of The Onedin Line. He also wrote a number of episodes for the popular 1980s drama Howards' Way.

The 1996 TV Movie will finally get its North American release on February 8, 2011.

In August we reported that, for the first time, the rights to release the story outside the UK had been obtained by 2|entertain. The feature length episode is the only televised adventure of the Eighth Doctor played by Paul McGann.

The story was released in the UK as part of the Revisitions box set. In North America it will be released as a single story on two discs, containing the same extras as the UK version.

It has also been confirmed that the Third Doctor story, The Mutants, will be released in North America on the same day, February 8, shortly after it's released in the UK.

Both North American covers can be seen at TV Shows on DVD.

It was back to Cardiff today, with filming taking place in two locations during the course of the day.

The daytime hours were spent at the Coal Exchange near Cardiff Bay - a frequent interior location for the series, used most recently for the forthcoming 2010 Christmas Special!

The evening saw activity switch to Cardiff city centre, focussing around the streets just south of the New Theatre, Crockherbtown Lane and Park Place - another venue that has cropped up in past adventures. The following photos capture the transformation from Cardiff to the currently filming story's required setting!

2|entertain have confirmed that the third story in the Revisitations 2 Box Set will be the Second Doctor Story The Seeds of Death.

DVD commissioning editor Dan Hall gave the news in an interview with Radio Free Skaro. The Seeds of Death stars Frazer Hines as Jamie McCrimmon and Wendy Padbury as Zoe Heriot alongside Patrick Troughton as the Doctor. It was first released on DVD in February 2003.

The story joins The Carnival of Monsters with Jon Pertwee and Resurrection of the Daleks with Peter Davison, on the box set expected to be released mid 2011.

Hall confirmed that The Resurrection of the Daleks will contain a documentary fronted by Tenth Doctor David Tennant (mentioned here). He said the story will be released in both the four episode and two episode edition.

He confirmed that the missing Tom Baker Story Shada is in production and at present the plan is to release it with another title.

In the wide ranging interview Hall also talked about his plans for the range and his hopes and desires for the remaining classic stories which still have to be released.

The latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine (#427) has confirmed details on the following DVD releases due in early 2011:

The Mutants, a Pertwee story by Bob Baker and Dave Martin, will be a two disc release, with features including:

• commentary by Katy Manning (Jo), Garrick Hagon (Ky), Christopher Barry (director), Terrance Dicks (script editor), Bob Baker (co-writer), Jeremy Bear (designer), Broan Hodgson (special sound)
• Mutt Mad, a documentary on the making of the story
• Race Against Time, examining the representation of black actors on British television
• Dressing Doctor Who, A discussion with James Acheson on his work in Doctor Who
• Blue Peter, an item featuring Peter Purves on Doctor Who monsters

The Ark, a Hartnell story by Paul Erickson and Lesley Scott, will include:

• commentary by Peter Purves (Steven), Michael Imison (director)
• All's Well That Ends Well, a feature on the influence of writer H.G. Wells on the series
• One Hit Wonder, on what makes a successful monster
• Riverside Story, touring old production haunt Riverside Studios

Both stories feature the usual production notes, photo gallery, and Radio Times PDF listings.

As with last year, Doctor Who is nominated for an award from The Writers' Guild of Great Britain. Series five writers included within the nomination for Best Television Drama Series are Steven Moffat, Toby Whithouse, Simon Nye, Mark Gatiss and Chris Chibnall.

Once again, the show is up against last year's winner in this category, Whithouse's successful 'horror' series Being Human; and for this year the other show in the running is another sci-fi/fantasy series, Ashes to Ashes.

The awards ceremony takes place on Sunday 21 November 2010.

The guild is a trade union for professional writers and the awards are deemed to be special because the work of writers is honoured by their peers and colleagues.