Doctor Who has received two nominations and Torchwood one nomination for the prestigious Hugo awards.

The Hugo Awards are given every year by members of Worldcon, the World Science Fiction Convention, and have been presented since 1953.

The full list of nominations in the Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form category are.

• Doctor Who - Human Nature/Family of Blood, written by Paul Cornell and directed by Charles Palmer
• Doctor Who - Blink, written by Steven Moffat and directed by Hettie Macdonald
• Torchwood - Captain Jack Harkness, written by Catherine Tregenna and directed by Ashley Way
• Battlestar Galactica - Razor, written by Michael Taylor and directed by Félix Enríquez Alcalá and Wayne Rose
• Star Trek New Voyages - World Enough and Time written by Michael Reaves & Marc Scott Zicree and directed by Marc Scott Zicree

This is the third year running that Steven Moffat has been nominated for the award, having won in 2006 for The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances and in 2007 for The Girl in the Fireplace. Paul Cornell was previously nominated in 2006 for Father's Day.

The Winners will be announced at Denvention 3 in Denver, Colorado in August.

Thanks to Jason Snell

Several DVD sites are now listing K-9 Tales, a double bill consisting of the Invisible Enemy and K-9 And Company, for release in the United Kingdom on 16th June 2008.

The BBC has confirmed that Series Four of Doctor Who will launch on BBC One in the week beginning 5th April 2008.

The day and time slot for the programme are still to be confirmed but it will almost certainly be shown around 7pm on Saturday 5th April.

Episode One, Partners In Crime, reunites the Doctor with Donna Noble, played by Catherine Tate. It also stars Sarah Lancashire as Miss Foster.

Doctor number four, Tom Baker, today opened the latest official Doctor Who Exhibition which takes place at the Earls Court exhibition centre in West London.

The exhibition which occupies the the Museum Hall beneath the centre, runs from March 20th until 19th September 2008 and features actual props from the set as well as costumes and monsters from the show. Over 100 exhibits will be on display including the TARDIS, Daleks, Cybermen and many of the Doctor's other enemies from across time and space.

The exhibition is open 7 days a week 10am - 6pm.

The BBC has confirmed that the Season Four cinema trailer will make its debut on British Television on Saturday 22nd March 2008. As well as being shown on BBC One around 7pm, the preview will be available on the official BBC Website.

With David Tennant and Catherine Tate now confirmed as guests on the BBC1Jonathan Ross show on Friday 4th April, it is looking likely that the series will return to BBC1 on Saturday 5th April 2008.

18th March Update: The new edition of the Radio Times has the trailer listed asDoctor Who Series Four Preview, between the film Toy Story and casting showI'll Do Anything at about 7:05pm.

(note: the BBC website have corrected a previous broadcast date of 29th March as reported yesterday)

The BBC has confirmed that the 1978 Tom Baker story The Invasion of Time is due for release in the UK on 5th May 2008. The release is being timed to coincide with the appearance of the Sontarans in Series Four. Extras on the disc include a commentary with actors Louise Jameson andJohn Leeson, the script editor Anthony Read and visual effects designer Matt Irvine.

As previously announced a number of documentaries are included. Out of Time is a look at the making of the story, The Changing face of Gallifrey, asks how the portrayal of the Time Lords has changed over the years, The Elusive David Agnew investigates the mysterious writer of the story andDeleted Scenes has previously cut scenes from the film inserts in Episodes five and six.

May will also see the release of a box set entitled Bred for War. This will include the new release of The Invasion of Time along with the previously released Sontaran stories, The Time Warrior, The Sontaran Experiment and The Two Doctors. The box set will contain no additional extras.

As previously announced the release date of the Peter Davison story, Black Orchid, will be the 14th April 2008. The Restoration Team website now has an article on this story. It confirms the commentary team of Peter Davison,Janet Fielding, Sarah Sutton and Matthew Waterhouse.

Stories in preparation but unscheduled include The Brain of Morbius and The Trial of a TimeLord as well as a double issue entitled K9 Tales, comprising of the 1977 story The Invisible Enemy and the 1981 special K-9 and Company.

Episodes of Doctor Who that were originally colour but now only exist in black and white could be restored to their former glory.

In a major piece headlined Putting colour back in the Doctor's cheeks, today's Guardian reports how the colour recovery process has been made possible thanks to an error by technicians when 16mm black-and-white film recordings were made from the original colour master tapes for overseas sales before the masters were purged.

These telerecordings were liable to interference from the colour-encoded video signal, and this pattern of grey dots - called chromadots - would normally be eliminated with a filter.

However, filters were not always used, meaning the chromadots were often burnt into the film, and while at BBC Research engineer James Inselltheorised that it was possible to extract the original colour pattern and decode it.

Insell, who subsequently set up an independent group to work on the technology, points out in the article: "The quality of the film has got to be good enough to have captured this pattern. We're really talking about working from the original negatives and having an HD scan made to get as much information as possible from the film."

The piece stresses that this is not colourisation, whereby colour reference material is used or colour is invented. It quotes Insell as saying: "In the colour recovery process, what you get out are the original colours."

Such is the potential that software for large-scale colour recovery is being developed, and he adds: "BBC Worldwide is obviously quite interested in releasing archive content, notably with Doctor Who and various programmes like that."

Insell also worked on the reverse standards conversion process, which was used to great effect on various DVD releases, such as The Claws of Axos.

(With thanks to Tony Clark and Luke McCullough.)

Posted By John Bowman

A special party with star guests possibly in tow is to be held in London the night Series Four starts - and readers of this page could be joining in the fun.

The free event is being organised by Doctor Who historian Jeremy Bentham, who has 100 tickets up for grabs.

Very much an informal occasion, similar parties that he has held for the start of the previous three series have proved hugely popular - last year's, for instance, saw just under 1,400 applications for tickets.

Bentham said: "We will be showing Partners In Crime, plus any other related Doctor Who programmes that are on that day, live on a big-screen plasma projection system with full surround sound - and who knows who else may drop in to join the fun and festivities?"

Among the star names at last year's party was Nicholas Courtney. Pictured at the event is a Dalek built by prop-maker Julian Vince, who also supplied a police box that materialised during the day.

This year's party will start at 3pm and finish late. A cash bar and full food menu will be available throughout the afternoon and evening, plus from 10pm onwards there will be free admission to the venue's nightclub.

Bentham said: "A draw for the tickets will take place three weeks before the confirmed series launch date, which is currently expected to be one of the Saturdays in early to mid-April."

And he stressed: "Please only apply for tickets if you know for sure that you'll be available to come to London for the party whenever Series Four starts. Alternatively, please state any Saturday dates when you will not be able to come, so that I can ensure tickets go out to those who can definitely make it."

Party hopefuls should send a postcard stating their full name, address, daytime contact number and the number of tickets they would like (maximum of two) to: DW Launch Party 2008, 13 Northfield Road, Boreham Wood, Herts, WD6 5AE.

All party entrants must be aged at least 18 and no admission will be allowed without a valid ticket. Winners will be notified by post during the week following the draw.

Posted By John Bowman

The forthcoming DVD release of Fourth Doctor story The Invasion of Time will have CGI effects as optional extras.

The British Board of Film Classification today passed a total of 33 effects for the six-part adventure, comprising three for episode one, five for episode two, five for episode three, nine for episode four, three for episode five, and eight for episode six.

As well as the mini-documentaries The Elusive David Agnew and The Rise and Fall of Gallifrey, reported earlier this month by this site, today's announcement stated that the DVD would also have a "making of" mini-documentary entitled Out of Time plus an Easter Egg.

A date for the DVD's release has yet to be announced.

It has been confirmed that the Peter Davison story Black Orchid will be released in the UK on 14th April 2008.