The actor and stuntman Alan Chuntz has died at the age of 81. Chuntz appeared in at least 15 stories from the classic series. He was a member of HAVOC, the team that provided much of the stunt work for the programme. He played Omega's champion in The Three Doctors and had a rare speaking role as the Chauffeur in The Seeds of Doom.

As well as his work on Doctor Who, Chuntz was a regular face on British Television in the seventies appearing in series such as Z Cars, Some Mothers Do Ave Em, The Avengers, The Persuaders, The Onedin Line, Hazel and Minder.

• The Invasion - Stuntman
• The Seeds Of Death -Technician
• The Ambassadors Of Death - Soldier
• Inferno - Soldier
• Terror Of The Autons - Stuntman
• The Mind Of Evil - Prisoner
• The Sea Devils - Stuntman
• The Three Doctors - Omega's Champion
• The Green Death - Security Guard
• Planet Of The Spiders - Stuntman
• Genesis Of The Daleks - Kaled Guard
• Revenge Of The Cybermen - Stuntman
• The Seeds Of Doom - Chauffeur
• The Face Of Evil - Stuntman
• The Talons Of Weng-Chiang - Stuntman
• State Of Decay - Guard
• The Visitation - Stuntman

March 2nd sees the Dalek War box set come to North America with the release of the two third Doctor stories Frontier in Space and Planet of the Daleks.

Starring Jon Pertwee as The Doctor and Katy Manning as Jo Grant, the set includes the recently restored episode three of Planet of the Daleks, now in colour for the first time in 30 years.

Frontier in Space features a commentary with Katy Manning, as well as producer Barry Letts and script editor Terrance Dicks.

Extras Include:

• Perfect Scenario: Lost Frontier
• The Space War, the making of the story
• Roger Delgado: The Master, a biography of actor Roger Delgado
• Stripped for Action: The Third Doctor's comic book adventures

Planet of the Daleks also features a commentary with Manning, Letts and Dicks and also includes Prentis Hancock who played Vaber and Tim Preece who played Codal.

Extras Include:

• Perfect Scenario: The End of Dreams
• The Rumble in the Jungle, the making of the story.
• Multi-colourisation, a look at the colour restoration of episode three.
• Stripped for Action: focuses on the Daleks
• Blue Peter.

Also released on this day is the special edition of the seventh Doctor story, Remembrance of the Daleks.

First shown in 1988 the story stars Sylvester McCoy as The Doctor  and Sophie Aldred as Ace.

The story was first released on DVD in 2002. This special edition has a audio commentary by actors Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred as well as a number of documentaries about the programme.

• Back to School: "Making Of" documentary (32 mins)
• Remembrances: Influences and references to earlier Doctor Who adventures (15 mins)
• Davros Connections: In-depth look at the history of the Daleks' creator (43 mins)
• Extended and Deleted Scenes (12 mins)
• Outtakes (4 mins)
• Multi-Angle Sequences (2 mins)
• Isolated Music Option
• Trailers and Continuities (5 mins)
• Photo Gallery (8 mins)
• Easter egg
• DVD-ROM material: Radio Times listings
• Production Notes Subtitle Option

BBC Worldwide has done a deal with MSN Video to supply classic episodes of Doctor Who online. The stories are available free on the MSN website. The series is starting with the 1965 William Hartnell story, The Web Planet.

New episodes will be added on Tuesdays and Fridays from 10th November.

Video may not be available outside the United Kingdom.

The British Board of Film Classification has passed the extras for two upcoming DVD releases.

The Curse of Peladon. Confirmed UK release 4th January 2010

• The Peladon Saga:Part One:The Market and the Miners
• Jon and Katy
• Photo Gallery
• Storyboard Comparison
• Warriors of Mars

The Masque of Mandragora. Expected UK release 8th February 2010

• Bigger on the inside
The story was the first to use the wood-panelled secondary control room.
• The Secret of the Labyrinth
• Photo Gallery
• Beneath the Masque of "The Masque of Mandragora"
• Now and Then - The Locations
The Story was filmed at Portmeirion in Gwynedd, Wales.
• Trails and Continuity

TV Tonight blog reports The Waters of Mars will make its Australian debut on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation during the week beginning Sunday 6 December 2009 on ABC1. This follows the ABC 'fast-tracking' the last two Doctor Who specials broadcast in the UK.

TV Tonight also reports that Torchwood: Children of Earth will make its Australian free-to-air debut during the week beginning Sunday 3 January 2010 on ABC2.

Update 8 Nov: TV Tonight has since confirmed that 'The Waters of Mars' will indeed debut on ABC1 on Sunday 6 December 2009 at 7.30pm.

Thanks to TV Tonight.

Doctor Who is up for an award from The Writers' Guild of Great Britain.

It has been nominated in the television drama series category, where it faces competition from fellow BBC series Being Human and Little Dorrit.

The awards will be announced on November 29 at the Free Word Centre in London.

Series Three of Doctor Who was named best TV series in the guild awards of 2007, while in 1975 season 11 of the show (Jon Pertwee's last series, which aired between December 1973 and June 1974 and comprised The Time Warrior, Invasion of the Dinosaurs, Death To The Daleks, The Monster of Peladon and Planet of the Spiders) won a guild award for best writing in a children's serial.

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.

It follows the news that spin-off series The Sarah Jane Adventures has been nominated for a Children's BAFTA. These awards will, again, be given on November 29 in London.

(Thanks to John Bowman)

With attention on the outgoing Doctor with the press launch of The Waters of Mars, incoming Executive producer Steven Moffat has been talking about the new series currently being filmed with new Doctor Matt Smith. Interviewed by Ben Cooke, at the Screenwriters' Festival in Cheltenham, Moffat described Smith as simply "the best". "He's all the things you'd expect, including ancient," and described the new Doctor as "someone you can't take your eyes off". Moffat confirmed he will be writing six episodes of the new series.
A full transcript can be found at Digital Spy


Meanwhile outgoing Doctor David Tennant will be a guest on next Monday's Graham Norton show on BBC One. Tennant has also been talking to PBS about his new role as host of Masterpiece Contemporary.

Steve Roberts of the DVD Restoration team has been giving details of the processes involved in returning colour to Doctor Who stories which currently only exist in black and white. Speaking at an event sponsored by the Doctor Who Information Network. Roberts talked about work being done on the Mind of Evil as well as discussing future plans for the classic range with all complete stories due for release by November 2013, the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who. He confirmed there are no plans for any further animated restorations of lost episodes, nor any plans to issue any more partial stories.

John Barrowman has been sitting in for Elaine Paige on her Sunday afternoon BBC Radio 2 show. He read out an e-mail asking if he knew if Torchwood was coming back or not. He said that they were currently 'in negotiations' and that he hoped Torchwood would be back some time in the future. Barrowman has released his new memoirs I Am What I Am, which covers the last three years and includes behind the scenes secrets and gossip from the sets of Doctor Who and Torchwood, complete with behind the scenes photos of the cast.

Finally, obits for Barry Letts have now been posted in the Independent as well as on the BBC Doctor Who site. As reported below, it was confirmed at the press launch that The Waters of Mars will be dedicated to Letts.

Following the release of the UK transmission date, BBC America has confirmed The Waters of Mars will air in the US on Saturday December 19 at 9:00pm ET/PT.

Tennant's final two stories will then air over the holiday season as a two-part special. Airdates will be released in early December.

The BBC will release The Waters of Mars and the two-part finale on DVD and Blu-ray on Tuesday, February 2, 2010 both as individual releases and also as part of a 5 disc specials collection including The Next Doctor and Planet of the Dead.

David Tennant today launched The Waters of Mars, which airs on Sunday November 15 at 7pm on BBC One. The episode is the second Doctor Who special to be screened this year, and Tennant will also star in two more shows before bowing out at Christmas.

Tennant said he was excited for new Doctor Matt Smith, saying: "I remember how exciting it was starting out on this kind of a journey and nerve-wracking. I'm jealous that he's going through that now - but it couldn't happen to a nicer chap. I'm looking forward to not knowing what happens next. I'm looking forward to being a viewer again."

Of the special, Tennant said: "The Doctor finds himself in a situation where he knows what the end is. It's all about whether he can un-knit the inevitable. With this particular Time Lord's life coming to an end, if he starts fiddling with the fundamentals of time and space, it might lead to his undoing."



Tennant said: "The Doctor now knows incontrovertibly that he's running from his own demise." He described shooting the final scenes as "emotional" but said that as they were filmed out of sequence, the situation did not get too weepy. The actor said the last line he said as the Doctor was: "'You two, with me, spit spot'... so it was robbed of any epic quality. It was very emotional saying cheerio. Filming the final scene was very, very sad. There's lots of scenes in the final, final story that are very sad and were very sad to play."

Tennant spoke about the big opportunities that arose in killing off the current tenth incarnation of the Doctor, to take the story "to places we've never quite been before". He said: "It allows it to be bigger and more epic and wilder... and sadder."

Tennant said he had originally felt under some pressure in taking on the role, saying: "It means so much to so many people. It meant so much to me." He said the bit he would miss the most was "when the new script comes. That was always such a thrill. It was always surprising." Asked if he felt he was in danger of becoming typecast, Tennant said: "I seem to have managed to do quite a variety of things while I've been doing Doctor Who. I haven't felt that it has been anything other than a positive." The star said he had his own sonic screwdriver which he kept locked up in a "secure location" in case his house was burgled.

On playing the role, he said: "You're not really expected to follow what went before, you're sort of expected to go your own way and mess it up a little bit the Doctor is different each time. You know James Bond is always James Bond and Tarzan is always Tarzan and Sherlock Holmes is always Sherlock Holmes but the Doctor is up to you, it's a blank sheet and you can scribble all over it, it's up to you."

He compared the job to being the United States president, saying: "You always get to be called the Doctor."

At the launch, Executive producer Russell T Davies confirmed The Waters of Mars will be dedicated to former producer Barry Letts. Davies paid tribute to his predecessor saying "He was one of the finest producers of Doctor Who and many programmes.. He used to do the Sunday afternoon classic serials and he actually produced the Jon Pertwee years. And then he cast Tom Baker. He cast Lis Sladen as well. He was an extraordinary figure in Doctor Who history and in pop culture – and he passed away, sadly. So, of course, we wanted to have that tribute to him on screen."

The launch has been covered by BBC News, The Guardian and BBC Newsbeat.

Journalist Ian Wylie has posted the full transcript of the press launch with Tennant and Davies on his blog.

The BBC is today celebrating the 75th Anniversary of its Maida Vale studios, best known to Doctor Who fans as the home of the Radiophonic Workshop. A series of programmes being broadcast across the entire BBC radio network will celebrate the role the studios have had in the cultural life of the country, many including music from the classic series of Doctor Who.

The Radiophone Workshop was involved with the series from the very start when, in 1963 the unit were given the task of realising composer Ron Grainer's theme tune for the upcoming television series. Working in Maida Vale, Delia Derbyshire created the sound which has become one of the most recognisable themes in British television.. The Workshop was responsible for most of the sound effects used in the series throughout it's entire run and it was in these studios that such iconic sounds as the TARDIS materialisation and the sound of the Sonic screwdriver were created. The workshop provided much incidental music for the programme including every score from 1980 to 1985.

The Maida Vale studios were also used to broadcast news across Europe during the Second World War and were the home of Radio 1's Peel Sessions from 1967 until 2004. They also hosted early radio performances from such acts as The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and David Bowie, drama recordings for Radio 3 and Radio 4 including Dr Zhivago and King Lear and Bing Crosby made his last recording session in the studios in 1977.