The Daily Mirror is reporting that the TARDIS interior will be redesigned for Matt Smith's arrival in the TARDIS and the move to HD filming. The Mirroralso says that the designers will "improve the quality of the police box exterior", and credits the change to incoming showrunner Steven Moffat, who scripted a line in the 2007 episode "Blink" noting that the TARDIS's police box windows were the wrong size, an in-joke aimed at the Outpost Gallifrey Forum (now the Doctor Who Forum). The TARDIS redesign story has been picked up by the Daily Telegraph, METRO and Digital Spy.

Cardiff's Western Mail has reported on recent filming in Newport for the second of the 2009 Doctor Who specials.David Tennant and Lindsay Duncanwere filmed with the TARDIS in a snowy street. Spoilery photographs and set reports from fans who were present at the filming can be found in this thread in the Doctor Who Forum.

In other news, the Guardian's TV and radio blog has an entry speculating about casting for the companion in Series 5. The Radio Times will have 21 different covers for Comic Relief's Red Nose Day, including one with David Tennant(also covered at The Wire). And the Daily Telegraph reports that the Royal Shakespeare Company is preparing to film their recent production of Hamlet starring David Tennant and Patrick Stewart.

Thanks to the posters on the Doctor Who Forum's "Media Watch" thread.

As noted in This Week in Doctor Who, the 2008 Christmas special comes to Canada in March when The Next Doctor is shown on the SPACE channel. The episode is scheduled to be shown on Saturday 14th March at 9pmEastern Time.

Previous episodes of the series have been shown on CBC. SPACE has also acquired the Canadian broadcast rights toTorchwood. The channel can be seen on satellite on Bell TV and Star Choice and is available on most Canadian cable systems.

The Daily Record newspaper is reporting that actress Lindsay Duncan has been cast as the Doctor's companion, named in the report as Adelaide, in the second of the forthcoming special episodes which will see out David Tennant's tenure as the Tenth Doctor.

Duncan is well known for her roles in high-profile television dramas such as GBH and Rome. She is also appearing as Margaret Thatcher in next week's much-publicised BBC Two drama Margaret, concerning the former Prime Minister's final days in power.

The paper quotes Duncan as saying: "I'm thrilled to be involved in Doctor Who. I've never done anything like this before and I'm really looking forward to working with David Tennant and the Doctor Who team."

The special's co-writer and executive producer Russell T Davies is also quoted, saying: "Lindsay is an incredibly talented actress and I've been an admirer of her work for some time. We are delighted to announce that she will be joining the team and playing the Doctor's most strong-minded companion yet."

Incidentally, in 2008 Duncan co-starred alongside forthcoming Doctor Matt Smith in a critically acclaimed theatrical production of That Face.

UPDATE - Feb 19: The BBC today confirmed Duncan's casting as Adelaide. Production on the second special - co-written by Davies and Phil Ford - is due to start this spring.

Overseas filming for the Easter special episode Planet of the Dead has concluded, and Dubai-based newspaper 7DAYS has a (presumably) final report on the fate of the double-decker bus used in filming. The report contains minor spoilers for the special.

According to 7DAYS, the bus (which was damaged in transit to the UAE) was able to be used in filming, but is no longer serviceable and will be crushed into a cube. Members of a Doctor Who fan club at Dubai's English College were able to see the bus prior to its demolition.

The report also mentions that on their last night in Dubai, David Tennant and crew members watched the Wales v. England rugby match in a resort hotel's bar.

A photograph of the bus's interior and a larger version of the photograph at right can be seen in the newspaper's E-paper edition (free registration required).

(Thanks to "sunjunky" of the Doctor Who Forum.)

The BBC Press Office have confirmed that filming has now begun in the United Arab Emirates for the forthcoming special Planet of the Dead.

Says producer Tracie Simpson: "We rarely take Doctor Who abroad although we did visit Rome for series four's The Fires Of Pompeii which gave us some spectacular footage. The locations in Dubai are a perfect match for writer Russell T Davies's vision of the episode and we expect to film some incredible scenes while we are here."

Additional photos from filming are available on the BBC's offical Doctor Who website for download as wallpaper.

News on filming has also been mentioned in the local Dubai paper The National: "While filming in crippling sandstorms in Dubai this week may have proved troublesome for mere mortals, the cult sci-fi figure the Doctor, hero of the popular BBC programme Doctor Who, emerged victorious over the climatic horrors of planet Earth. Hundreds of production crew descended on the desert around the city this week to film part of an episode of the programme. The location remained a closely guarded secret despite being in the wide open desert, with production company staff and all technical crew from Dubai required to sign confidentiality agreements."

Further media coverage from: CBBC, WalesOnline, Scottish Herald, Daily Record, Evening Post, Press Association, and Arabian Business.

As revealed below, the BBC has now released the trailer for the forthcoming Torchwood series.

Children Of Earth will air over five consecutive nights on BBC One later this year. Captain Jack (John Barrowman), Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles) and Ianto Jones (Gareth David-Lloyd) are still coming to terms with the death of two of their closest friends. Despite their pain, they have a job to do. This time they are faced with their fiercest threat to date, one which throws the future of Torchwood and the entire human race spiralling into danger. They battle against the odds but do they stand a chance of saving mankind?

The series will also be shown on BBC America. Trailer content may be unavailable outside the United Kingdom.

This month's Doctor Who Magazine reveals that the upcoming Doctor Who specials will be shot in High Definition, a first for the series. Previously the production team has resisted the move to HD, because of the higher costs involved particularly with effects shots. Executive Producer Julie Gardner said the team has been planning the move to HD for many months. James Strong, who is directing Planet of the Dead, has considerable experience working in HD on programmes such as Hustle. The change means the programme will be shown on the BBC High Definition channel as well as on BBC One. BBC HD is available subscription free in Europe on Freesat. The channel is also part of the Sky HDservice and the Virgin Media HD service.

In other news the magazine also reveals that K-9 is due to play a large part in Series Three of The Sarah Jane Adventures. He is likely to appear in around 6 episodes of the 12 part series.

The magazine, out on Thursday, contains the first magazine interview with Matt Smith, recently revealed as the Eleventh Doctor. It asks how he plans to go about playing a 950-year-old Time Lord?

"The script is where it starts, it's always about the words, and luckily we're in the hands of Steven Moffat, who has this show ingrained in his soul and searing through his blood. It’s really born into his whole fabric, and that's the job for me over the next few months, to make this show part of my fibre. I think Steven is going to be the main creative source for me, and we're going to discover it together, who the Doctor is in Steven's mind and words, coupled with pockets of my personality, my history, my life, and the man and the human being that I am. I've got a meeting with Piers (Wenger, executive producer) next week to discuss that, but I think we'll start rehearsing and, you know, just sit around Piers' or Steven's kitchen table, read the scripts together, talk about the part. We’ll talk about my intentions, their intentions, how we feel it can fly, and sing, and be as brilliant and as Doctor-y and as excellent as it can be."

When asked what he might wear as the Doctor? "I’m a big fan of long coats and rather dashing scarves in everyday life, so who knows? For the audition, I rocked up in whatever, so I think they’re having to tone down what I wear in real life for the Doctor! I am a rather elaborate dresser. That's what's lovely, there are all these exciting things – what’s he going to wear, what’s he going to do in his first scene with his companion, which monsters will he meet, will he meet the Daleks? This show is so alive, it really is. I can't ever quite forget that I'm the Doctor – which is weird, because it’s still so far away. But it’s always there in my subconscious, because it's the Doctor! It’s like, there’s Sherlock Holmes, James Bond, and Doctor Who. It has resonance in our cultural fabric."

Also in the magazine:

• Showrunner-in-waiting Steven Moffat shares with DWM readers just what it's like to cast a new Doctor Who in Production Notes.
• Remember the Zygon gambit? The Yeti in the Underground? Or that, frankly, unmissable invasion by thousands of Daleks after Earth was transported billions of miles across space? DWM investigates why so many people in the Doctor Who universe, apparently, don't!
• Susie Liggat talks to DWM about her experiences as the producer of the UK's best-loved drama series.
• The Fact of Fiction revals some surprising secrets about 1975's Planet of Evil.
• Can the Doctor and Majenta prevent the Day of the Lokhus? And what will become of Maxwell Edison? Find out in the final part of DWM's latest comic strip, The Stockbridge Child by Dan McDaid, with art by Martin Geraghty.
• Neil Harris writes an open letter to Eleventh Doctor Matt Smith, full of helpful advice, in You Are Not Alone.
• DWM turns the tables on the BBC's "Doctor Who correspondent" and asks Who on Earth Is Lizo Mzimba?

The Bristol Commercial Vehicles Enthusiasts have reported that the BBC have hired an additional bus in the same style as the one used recently in filming for Planet of the Dead, and of course the one that was damaged in transit to Dubai that the media have extensively commented upon.

There is no official confirmation as yet as to if this new bus is also being shipped out to Dubai to replace the damaged one for filming.

(with thanks to Rob Sly)

As production begins on the first special of 2009, Planet Of The Dead, the BBC has released a video diary from David Tennant recording his return to Cardiff and to Doctor Who.

The video is also available via the official website. Content may not be available outside the United Kingdom.

The BBC have announced that a 60 second trailer for the forthcoming mini-seriesChildren of Earth will be shown at the New York Comic Con on Thursday 5th February at 4:00pm local time; this will be made available simultaneously in the United Kingdom (9:00pm GMT) on the official Torchwoodweb site.