Verity Lambert, O.B.E., the pioneering television producer who was instrumental in the foundation of Doctor Who as its first producer from 1963 to 1965, died yesterday, November 22, just a day before the series' 44th anniversary.

One of the UK's foremost television producers, Lambert's role as producer of Doctor Who was pivotal at the time, as, at the age of 27, she was the youngest and only female drama producer working at the BBC. As the first producer she was instrumental in creating the universe of Doctor Who and was responsible for some of the most important principles of the series, ensuring the programme's success over the years.

After she left the programme her credits and reputation continued to rise and she became one of the best known players in the industry. She oversaw such iconic productions as Adam Adamant Lives, Budgie, The Naked Civil Servant, Rock Follies, Rumpole of the Bailey, Edward and Mrs Simpson, Reilly: Ace of Spies, Minder, GBH and Jonathan Creek.

In 1985 Verity Lambert established her own independent production company, Cinema Verity. The company's first production was the 1988 feature film A Cry in the Dark, starring Sam Neill and Meryl Streep. Cinema Verity's first television series, the BBC1 sitcom May to December, ran from 1989 until 1994.

In 2000 two of her productions, Doctor Who and The Naked Civil Servant, finished third and fourth respectively in a British Film Institute poll of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes of the 20th century.

In the 2002 New Year's Honours list Lambert was awarded the O.B.E. for services to film and television production. In the same year she received BAFTA's Alan Clarke Award for Outstanding Contribution to Television.

She was due to receive the Working Title Films lifetime achievement award at the Women in Film and Television Awards on 7th December.

Russell T Davies, the current Executive Producer of Doctor Who, said: "There are a hundred people in Cardiff working on Doctor Who and millions of viewers, in particular many children, who love the programme that Verity helped create. This is her legacy and we will never forget that."

It is noteworthy that a tribute from the current production team was made in the 2007 story Human Nature, when the Doctor, as the character John Smith, mentions his mother's name was Verity.

Jane Tranter, Controller of BBC Fiction, said: "Verity was a total one-off. She was a magnificently, madly, inspirationally talented drama producer. During her long and brilliant career there was no form of drama that was beyond her reach and that she didn't excel at. From the early episodes of Doctor Who to the still to be transmitted comedy drama Love Soup, via Widows, Minder, GBH, Eldorado and Jonathan Creek (to name but the tiniest handful of credits) – Verity was a phenomenon. She made the television drama genre utterly her own. She was deaf to the notion of compromise and there wasn't an actor, writer, director or television executive she worked with who didn't regard her with admiration, respect and awe. She will be hugely missed but her legacy lives on in the dramas she made, and in the generations of eager young programme-makers she has inspired."

She added: "Today (Friday) is the 44th anniversary of her first ever episode of Doctor Who."

Menna Richards, Controller, BBC Wales, said: "In Doctor Who, Verity Lambert has left a legacy that lives on in the new productions BBC Wales has been making since 2004. We in Wales owe her a debt of gratitude for handing on such a treasure which continues to be enjoyed the world over."

Waris Hussein, who directed the first episode of Doctor Who, said "Verity was not only my producer but a lifelong friend from the earliest days when we were assigned a programme called "Dr.Who" by the then Head of BBC Drama Sydney Newman. We were both at the beginning of our careers and anxious to do the best we could. Neither Verity or I could have realized the impact of "Dr. Who" and it is with wonder and happiness that I see what we created. Directors have come and gone but I am proud to say I was the person chosen to work with Verity and we were the ones, with Sydney's inspiration, to bring the series to life. Verity's subsequent success was inevitable and I was glad to be a part of it. I directed the first episodes of " The Newcomers" and later the suffragette series " Shoulder To Shoulder" and " Edward and Mrs. Simpson" which won us an Emmy and Bafta. Verity was unique. She will leave a large vacuum in the world of Film and Television."

BBC Radio 4 have paid tribute to Lambert in the weekly obituary programme Last Word. The programme contains an interview with Jane Tranter and Joanna Lumley. It is avalable online for the next seven days on the BBC Radio player

Further reading can be found at: The Stage, screenonline, the Guardian, Variety, The Times, The Telegraph,The Herald and BBC News.

The Doctor Who News Page would like to remind its readers about "Time Crash", the special Doctor Who scene which will air Friday night as part of theChildren in Need telethon. The telethon airs on BBC One starting at 7:00. TheRadio Times indicates that Time Crash will air between 8:00 and 8:30, but the Children in Need schedule is always fluid, so this may or may not be accurate.

"Time Crash" stars David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor and Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor. It is written by Steven Moffat and directed byGraeme Harper, who previously directed Peter Davison in his final Doctor Who story, The Caves of Androzani. The scene is expected to be between five and seven minutes long.

The BBC's Doctor Who website has announced that fans in the UK will be able to view "Time Crash" online for seven days after its broadcast, as well as a special Doctor Who Confidential featurette.

In addition to "Time Crash", the Children in Need telethon will include a singing appearance by John Barrowman, which is also scheduled by Radio Times in the 8:00-to-8:30 slot. Christmas special guest star Kylie Minogue will also be singing her new single, "2 Hearts", sometime during the evening's events.

On Thursday, Mark Shift of Clitheroe, Lancashire won a Children in Need auction for a day on the Doctor Who set. Shift entered the bidding for his five-year-old son Joshua (whom he describes as a "Doctor Who fanatic"), and won with a bid of 37,000 UK pounds. Shift is interviewed in The Clitheroe Advertiser, his local newspaper.

The Doctor Who News Page would like to remind its readers that the Doctor Who production team have contributed their time and talent freely, for the benefit of Children in Need. Children in Need funds are given to charity organizations which aid children in the UK. Readers can give to Children in Need online by following this link. Please give generously.

The official website of the BBC's Radio Times listings magazine has released details of its new issue, due out tomorrow in the UK, including an image of the cover. For the 15th time since the return of Doctor Who in 2005 (including multiple covers in the same week), the series is the main feature, promoting the special episode "Time Crash", due to be shown on BBC One on Friday November 16th as part of the annual Children in Need charity telethon event.

The cover image features Peter Davison and David Tennant as the Fifth and Tenth Doctors, who meet for the first time in this special episode. The preview on the Radio Times website promises an exclusive on-set report from the making of the mini-episode. Click the thumbnail below for a larger image of the cover.

David Tennant can be heard interviewing Kylie Minogue for an hour-long programme later this month on BBC Radio 2.

The BBC Press Office says X-amining Kylie is to be broadcast on Tuesday, November 27 at 10.30pm, and will feature Tennant talking to Minogue about her life and work.

Minogue plays the character Astrid in the forthcoming Christmas special Voyage Of The Damned.

The radio programme coincides with the release of her tenth studio album, X, and will feature a track-by-track sample of it as well as an exclusive song.

The press office adds that a revised version of the programme, Re-X-amining Kylie, featuring extra material about Doctor Who, will be broadcast on Radio 2 after Voyage Of The Damned.

The official website has released full details for the forthcoming Davros DVD box set, scheduled for release in the UK on November 26, 2007. In the set, Genesis of the Daleks, Resurrection of the Daleks andRevelation of the Daleks will contain the same material as the previously released DVDs of those stories. Destiny of the Daleks will also contain roughly the same material as the separate DVD of the story being released on the same day. However, the box set will contain a two-disc version ofRemembrance of the Daleks, with the following extras:

• Commentary with actors Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred
  
• Back to School - Cast and crew talk about the making of the story accompanied by rare behind-the-scenes material
  
• Remembrances - Cast and crew talk about the influences and references to other Doctor Who adventures that are spread throughout the story
  
• Extended and Deleted Scenes
  
• Outtakes
  
• Multi-Angle Sequences - allowing the viewer to watch Ace's escape from the Chemistry lab and the Daleks blowing up the large gates from one of two camera angles
  
• Trails and Continuity
  
• Plus photo gallery, isolated music, Radio Times listings, subtitles, and Dolby Digital 5.1 mix
  

The documentaries "Back to School" and "Remembrances" are new, and are not found on the previously released single DVD version of Remembrance of the Daleks. The original Region 2 DVD of Remembrance also had a few missing effects shots, which will be restored in the box set version.

The set will also include a new documentary on the character and history of Davros, titled "Davros Connections".

Finally, the box set will contain eight audio dramas from Big Finish Productions starring Terry Molloy as Davros. The stories are Davros(starring Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor), The Juggernauts (also starring Colin Baker), Terror Firma (starring Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor), the four parts of the miniseries I, Davros, and a new audio drama,The Davros Mission, written by Nicholas Briggs. The BBC site describes this new story, specially commissioned for the DVD box set, thus: "Davros is taken by the Daleks for trial and imminent execution. But even in his darkest hour, he finds allies and an insatiable cunning to survive..."

Only 10,000 of the individually numbered box sets will be issued.

This coming Sunday, September 23rd, BBC Radio 4 will be airing the first episode of a new documentary series, The Preposterous Files, investigating the history of strange stories from the files of Britain's National Archives.

The opening episode is called "Metropolitan Police: The Tardis", and looks at various reports on police public call boxes, compiled by Britain's Home Office.

Historian Julian Putkowski, who presents the programme, tells the new issue of the BBC's Radio Timeslistings magazine: "[The documents] show a very tradtional organisation, in this case the Metropolitan Police, struggling to change, to keep up with their competitors (the criminals), implementing, for want of a better expression, IT. That's one version of events. However, it turns out the box wasn't to keep tabs on the crooks but on the policemen! The inspectors would call every hour to check up on their whereabouts."

"The Preposterous Files - Metropolitan Police: The Tardis" is on BBC Radio 4 this Sunday from 2.45 to 3.00pm. Overseas fans can listen live at bbc.co.uk/radio4.

The latest issue of the BBC's ever Who-friendly Radio Times listings magazine is released in the UK today, and contains various items of interest to Doctor Who fans.

Billie Piper is the issue's cover star and the subject of an interview inside the magazine, promoting her new ITV2 drama series The Secret Diary of a Call Girl. Interviewer Zoe Williams writes: "She won't be drawn on Doctor Who (will she return before David Tennant departs?) - for personal or contractual reasons, we can only guess."

On page three, Radio Times editor Gill Hudson asks her readers to guess what connects three of the major television events of the week - Billie Piper's new role, the first appearance of Christopher Eccleston in BBC Two's run of the US fantasy series Heroes, and the return of Sarah Jane Smith. "Right first time!" Hudson tells her readers.

The Sarah Jane Adventures is listed as one of the picks of the week on page four, and on page 31 is given a one-page preview feature, in which Gareth McLean interviews Russell T Davies about the show and his return to children's television, where he started out with dramas such as Dark Season in 1991, from which a photo of Kate Winslet and Jacqueline Pearce is shown.

"I loved the sort of dramas that were set in this world, but had an otherworldliness to them," Davies tells McLean. "They had all this possibility that there were fantastic forces at work beneath the ordinariness of the world. How marvellous!" Davies also reflects on how he never felt children were his natural audience, and on the changes to children's television since he worked in it. He concludes that "With the likes of Disney investing so much money in children's TV, I do feel optimistic about its future."

The Sarah Jane Adventures is one 'Today's Choices' for Monday September 24th, with reviewer Mark Braxton commenting: "The show looks perfect for cheering up Mondays; it confirms the promise of the pilot and has its heart in exactly the right place."

The magazine also confirms that the next episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures will follow on the CBBC Channel at 5.30pm on Monday, immediately following the previous episode's BBC One premiere.

BBC7 is currently set to begin re-running the Big Finish Eighth Doctor audios that have aired on the station over the next several weeks. BBC7 programmes can be heard either live on the internet or for seven days afterwards using BBC7'sListen Again option.

The series begins Monday, September 10th at 6pm with Shada, and continues every weeknight thereafter.

The cover image for the forthcoming UK DVD release of The Time Warriorhas been made available. Click on the thumbnail below for a larger version.

The Robert Holmes four-parter, which originally aired from December 1973 to January 1974, was the first story in Jon Pertwee's final season as the Third Doctor, and introduced not only Elisabeth Sladen as companion Sarah Jane Smith but also the Sontaran race.

It is out on September 3 and will be the first time the adventure has been available unedited.

(Thanks to Carl T Davies.)

Cosmic Hobo Productions has announced that the first adventure of The Scarifyers will be broadcast on BBC 7 in August.

The Nazad Conspiracy stars classic Doctor Who actors Nicholas Courtney andTerry Molloy in a tale of supernatural adventure set in 1930s London. The first episode will be broadcast 1800-1830 on Saturday 25th August in BBC 7's 7th Dimension sci-fi slot.