A new audio drama featuring the vocal talents of two former Doctors has just been released.

The Minister of Chance is described as a new form of entertainment, a radiophonic drama, made using a combination of film and radio techniques and delivered by podcast.

The series, which has won rave reviews from industry insiders, boasts an impressive cast with the Seventh Doctor, Sylvester McCoy playing The Witch Prime and the Eighth Doctor, Paul McGann playing Durian.

Julian Wadham of The English Patient and The Madness of King George, plays The Minister, Jenny Agutter plays Professor Cantha and Paul Darrow plays Lord Rathen. The cast also features Gethin Anthony, Lauren Crace, Stuart Fox, Peter Guinness, Lloyd Hutchinson, Mark Lewis and Jay Taylor.

The character of the Minister of Chance first appeared in Death Comes to Time, a BBC Doctor Who webcast first broadcast on the BBCi Cult website in the summer of 2001, where the character was played by Stephen Fry.

Six episodes of this new series, which does not feature the character of The Doctor, are planned, of which the first two have been recorded. The completion of the series depends on the success of these episodes. A prologue and the first episode, The Broken World, can be downloaded now.

Hirst Publishing have provided details on their forthcoming publication of a biography on the actor Patrick Troughton, who played the Second Doctor. The book has been written by his son, Michael Troughton.


The book will be in hard-back, and is available for pre-order from Hirst Publishing's website.

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.

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.

Paul McGann is currently in New Zealand, a guest at the Armageddon Pop Culture Expo (Auckland, New Zealand) this weekend. On Saturday he appeared on a panel and revealed what is to be the 'new' costume for the Eighth Doctor.

The costume consists of a double-breasted black Naval jacket, with gold buttons. Part of of the ensemble is a courier pouch bag. However, the shirt and trousers were actually McGann's own and not part of the costume.

Also revealed is a new sonic screwdriver, courtesy of Weta Workshop, the wizards behind the effects on The Lord of the Rings. The screwdriver is similar to the one used by the current Doctor, Matt Smith, but has a wooden handle.

The revision comes some fourteen years since the original Eighth Doctor image was established for the 1996 TV Movie; this is now felt to be a little out of date and the new costume - still a work in progress - is said to be used for future promotional purposes.

No other information in known at present, other than this is an unofficial costume - but it is believed to have the blessing of the BBC.

A long lost ITV play starring Second Doctor Patrick Troughton has been found stored at the Library of Congress in Washington. Freedom in September was originally shown as part of the Play of the Week strand in September 1962. Troughton plays Prince, a journalist who helps a Russian dissident. The play is one of a number of missing plays found in part of the archive of the New York-based public service television station WNET.

John Barrowman wowed a crowd of thousands at Salford's Proms in the Park on Saturday. The actor, who plays Captain Jack in Doctor Who and Torchwood, performed numbers from The Pink Panther and Mack and Mabel as well as Don't Rain On My Parade and I Am What I Am. Barrowman said: “I've had a wonderful time. I think it's a really great opportunity for people to come and hear a variety of different types of music - from the classical Proms music to my kind of entertainment. It's what the BBC do so well bringing different types of music all across the country."

Colin Baker's tour as Inspector Morse arrives at the New Theatre Oxford this week and Baker has been talking to the Reading Post. He told the paper that he’s also a big fan of the new series especially Matt Smith. "I’m very pleased with the new one, I think he’s brilliant", he says.

Meanwhile filming continues in Cardiff on the 2011 series of Doctor Who with Director Richard Clark tweeting "I'm scared filming this. The kids are gonna freak", and "Big finale today. Complex. Lots to co-ordinate. But it's looking seriously gorgeous."

2|entertain has confirmed the 1996 TV Movie will be released on DVD in North America.

The news was given by the Commissioning editor of the Doctor Who range, Dan Hall, in an exclusive interview with Hoo on Who.

The TV Movie stars Paul McGann in his one television appearance as as the Eighth Doctor. It was made as a co-production between Universal Television, BBC Television, BBC Worldwide, and the Fox Network and as a result the DVD rights outside the UK were not, until now, available to 2|entertain. Following discussions between 2|entertain and Universal the situation has now changed giving North American fans a chance to own a Region 1 version of the story for the first time.

The DVD is expected to be released in North America within the next twelve months. It will also be released in Australia and New Zealand.

The BBFC have cleared extras for the DVD release of the Second Doctor story The Dominators.

This 1968 five-part story has been expected ever since an official promo for the story was leaked to YouTube at the end of last year. The story stars Patrick Troughton as the Doctor along with Frazer Hines as Jamie and Wendy Padbury as Zoe.

The story is set on the planet Dulkis, under threat from two alien Dominators, Rago and his subordinate Toba, who have landed in a spaceship. It features the robot Quarks.

Guest stars include Ronald Allen, who was well known at the time for his starring role in the soap opera Compact and later for his role in Crossroads and Brian Cant who was a staple of Children's television in the sixties and seventies, well known for his work on Play School and Play Away and for his narration on the popular Trumpton, Chigley and Camberwick Green puppet series.

Extras Cleared:

• Commentary
• Recharge and Equalise - Featurette - 22'55"
• Easter Egg - 2'34"
• The Dominators - Photo Gallery - 5'46"
• Tomorrow's Times - How the media reported on the Second Doctor - 13'12"

No release date for the story has been confirmed but it is likely to be released in July or August.

Paul McGann can be seen next week in the new ITV drama "Lie With Me" and icLiverpool has run an article in anticipation. The article discusses his family life ("Paul's real life as a family man is very much at odds with the lives he usually portrays on screen") and the character he portrays, Gerry Henson. He also discusses the new TV series. "I was never in the running to play him again," McGann tells the reporter. "I was never called and I never rang them either. Would I have been interested? It's not easy to say - I wasn't interested in doing the pilot to start with." Now Paul, it says, is resigned to being what he calls "the George Lazenby of Doctor Who" and mentions the audios he's done for Big Finish. Read the full article at the icLiverpool website.

Paul McGann, the Eighth Doctor, stars in a two-part romantic thriller, "Lie With Me," airing Monday 15 November at 9pm on ITV1 in the UK. McGann plays "a man who is suspected of drugging and sexually assaulting a young woman - eerily named Roselyn Tyler, and murdering her flatmate." (Thanks to Graham Kibble-White)