The actor Reg Whitehead has died, aged 83.

He was best known in Doctor Who for having played the first Cyberman to be seen on screen, during their invasion of the Antarctic base in The Tenth Planet; he went on to inhabit the insides of Cybermen for their successive stories The Moonbase and The Tomb of The Cybermen, and then as a Yeti in their debut story The Abominable Snowmen.

Outside of Doctor Who, he appeared in a number of television shows during the 1960s and early 1970s, including Z Cars, The Power Game, The Avengers, The Saint, and Counterstrike. In later life he was an enthusiastic racehorse owner, and often involved in projects at his local stables in Newbury.

Reg Whitehead, 11th Dec 1932 - 11 Mar 2016

The actor/comedian Ronnie Corbett has died, aged 85.

Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, he started his acting career after National Service, initially playing a number of schoolchild roles owing to his height, before migrating into comedy on television with the likes of Dickie Henderson and Jimmy Tarbuck However, it was in during The Frost Report in 1966 where he was to first meet and work alongside Ronnie Barker, leading to their successful partnership in The Two Ronnies, running between 1971 and 1987 plus specials, and the show that made him a household name.

His other major television role was as Timothy Lumsden in Sorry!, which ran from 1981-1988. In later years he appeared in films including Fierce Creatures and Burke and Hare, and on television in shows like The Ronnie Corbett Show, game show Small Talk and Ronnie's Animal Crackers, and also made appearance as 'himself' in both Extras and Little Britain.

Though not directly related to Doctor Who, he "inherits" the TARDIS from a 'Doctor' of sorts played by Ronnie Barker in their 1983 Christmas Special sketch, The Adventures of Archie. He was later to appear in The Sarah Jane Adventures universe, playing an ambassador that later turned out to be a Slitheen in the 2009 Comic Relief segment From Raxacoricofallapatorius with Love.

Outside of his career, Corbett was a keen golfer, and was also president of the Lord's Taverners cricketing charity in 1982 and 1987. He received an OBE in 1978 and then a CBE in 2012 for services to entertainment and charity.

He was married to actress and dancer Anne Hart, with two daughters who also act, Emma and Sophie.


Ronald Balfour Corbett, 4th Dec 1930 - 31 Mar 2016

Sir John Hurt is to return to the London stage in a new production of John Osborne's The Entertainer. The War Doctor will play the part of Billy Rice opposite Sir Kenneth Branagh playing Archie Rice, in the play which runs at the Garrick from 20 August to 12 November. The performance will be broadcast live to cinemas worldwide, on a date to be announced.

Sir John said he was delighted to be back on the stage

Meanwhile Catherine Tate opens next week in a new musical, Miss Atomic Bomb. Tate plays Myrna Ranapapadophilou in the new production set in Las Vegas in 1952, where every mushroom cloud has a silver lining and fallout is your friend. The musical runs from 7 March - 9 April 2016 at London's St James Theatre.

Those receiving accolades for past success, include Fifth Doctor Peter Davison, who is nominated as Best Supporting Actor in a Musical, in both the acclaimed Oliver Awards and the WhatsOnStage awards. The actor is nominated for his portrayal of Herbie in the Savoy Theatre production of the musical Gypsy. Also nominated from the productions is Imelda Staunton as Best Actress in a Musical.

Other Oliver nominees this year include David Haig as Best Actor in a Musical for Guys and Dolls, and Mark Gatiss as Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Three Days in the Country.

Peter Capaldi is to feature in a special series of films marking 400 years since the playwright's William Shakespeare's death.

The Complete Walk has been organised by Shakespeare's Globe, the theatre complex based on London's southbank and the location of the 2007 Doctor Who story The Shakespeare Code. The Walk, held over the spring weekend of 23 – 24 April, will feature a series on short films, shown on 37 screens, along a 2.5 mile route on the Thames embankment between Westminster and Tower Bridge.

Each screen will show a ten minute film based on one of Shakespeare's plays, each shot on location in a setting with particular historical and narrative resonance to the story. Capalidi will play the general Titus Andronicus in scenes specially shot in Rome.

Other films include Cleopatra in front of the Pyramids, Shylock in Venice’s Jewish ghetto, Hamlet on the rocks of Elsinore, Henry VIII at Hampton Court Palace and Richard II in Westminster Hall.

Other Doctor Who alumni taking part include Lindsay Duncan in All's Well That Ends Well, filmed in Roussillon; and Meera Syal as Lucetta in The Two Gentlemen of Verona.

After appearing in London, the project will be presented in cities across the UK and internationally, after which the films will be accessible on Globe Player.

David Tennant has joined BBC Director General Tony Hall and RSC Artistic Director, Greg Doran for the launch of the 2016 Shakespeare Festival, marking 400 years since the death of the playwright.

The month long season begins on Shakespeare's birthday, 23rd April, when Tennant will host a special celebration of Shakespeare's words and his enduring influence on all performance art forms - from opera to jazz, dance to musicals. The BBC Two programme will include appearances from Dame Judi Dench, ENO, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Ian Bostridge, Joseph Fiennes and Akala.

Later in the month BBC One will screen a new production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, adapted by former Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies. The production, filmed at the Doctor Who studios in Cardiff, is described as funny, exciting and with as much attitude as any theatrical interpretation. The cast includes includes Maxine Peake as Titania, Matt Lucas as Bottom, John Hannah as Theseus, Elaine Paige as Mistress Quince, Javone Prince as Snug, Nonso Anozie as Oberon, Hiran Abeysekera as Puck, Richard Wilson as Starveling and Bernard Cribbins as Snout.

Also as part of the season, BBC Two will screen the final part of The Hollow Crown: The Wars of the Roses. The production concludes the cycle of Shakespeare’s History plays on BBC Two, and will include three new adaptations - Henry VI (in 2 parts) and Richard III. Stars include Hugh Bonneville, Benedict Cumberbatch, Judi Dench, Michael Gambon, Keeley Hawes, Sophie Okonedo and Tom Sturridge.

The Hollow Crown is a Neal Street co-production with Carnival/NBC Universal and Thirteen for BBC Two. In the US, the series will be transmitted on PBS by Great Performances, produced by Thirteen Productions LLC for WNET.

Doctor Who Director Rachel Talalay has been talking about the series and how it is perceived by the TV Industry.

Talalay has written a blog inspired by the recent controversy over the Oscar nominations and their lack of diversity. In the article the director talks about award nominations, and how they are skewed to favour traditional type dramas. The director disputes the implication that Doctor Who's long history means it is not new and fresh. Rachel Talalay directed the final two episodes of both Series 8 and Series 9, including the one man episode Heaven Sent where Peter Capaldi performed solo for the majority of the story She also paid tribute to members of the production team Finally the director paid tribute to the mastermind of the series Full Blog at racheltalalay.tumblr.com

Seventh Doctor Sylvester McCoy is to star in a new BBC Two travel documentary series, The Real Marigold Hotel, which takes the cast on the journey of a lifetime.

The series, inspired by but otherwise unrelated to the blockbuster film, documents the authentic experience of eight famous senior citizens as they head to India on an experimental adventure.

Joining the 72 year old McCoy will be actor Miriam Margolyes, dancer Wayne Sleep, comedian Roy Walker, chef Rosemary Shrager, darts champion Bobby George, singer Patti Boulaye and former news reader Jan Leeming for three weeks to see if they would consider spending their golden years retiring to the other side of the world.

Four thousand miles from home, the group will land in colourful Jaipur, capital of the state of Rajasthan in Northern India, to test whether they can set up a better, more rewarding retirement here than in the UK.

In the scorching heat, the group will take over a haveli - an Indian private mansion - and from the moment they arrive they will have to work out how to set up home together: from who’ll cook and clean and whether they will hire staff, to how they will get around and spend their time.

Their unforgettable Indian adventure will see the group fully embrace Indian culture, from the surprises of the capital’s largest slum to meeting Jaipur’s Royal family at the opulent Rambagh Palace. As they settle into local life, members of the group will take to yoga and learn some Hindi, experience shopping in the hectic streets, hunt for potential properties and take advantage of the medical care. We’ll see them visit the Ganesh Chaturti festival, ride elephants, make a trip to one of the holiest Hindu cities in India, Varanasi, and also test out long-distance travel by embarking on a 150-mile trip to the jewel in India’s crown, the Taj Mahal.

From the environment to the food, the transport to the customs, moving away from the UK is guaranteed to be a culture shock for our cast - as they leave routines and loved ones behind to adapt to living together and to a completely new way of life.

The series is set to air late-January 2016

Actor, comedian, presenter, and all-round Doctor Who aficionado Toby Hadoke has produced a video in remembrance of those cast and crew who have been lost to the Doctor Who universe in 2015.

The writer Anthony Read has died, aged 80.

Born in 1935, Read attended the Central School of Speech and Drama and, following National Service, worked in Fleet Street in advertising, journalism and publishing before deciding to become a full time writer. He joined the BBC on 2nd November 1963 - just some three weeks before the show we remember him for launched on television! Early work included being a writer for The Indian Tales of Rudyard Kipling and script editor for the Peter Cushing incarnation of Sherlock Holmes, but it was in the latter half of the decade when he became known for The Troubleshooters, a series he script edited, wrote and later produced for.

During the 1970s he returned to being freelance, working on shows such as Marked Personnel, The Black Arrow, Crown Court and Z-Cars (a return to one of the first shows he had written for in 1962). However it was in 1977 when he came to be associated with Doctor Who, invited by producer Graham Williams to take over from Robert Holmes, working alongside the outgoing script editor on Image of the Fendahl and The Sun Makers before formally taking charge of scripts with Underworld. Having co-written The Invasion of Time with Williams, the pair went on to devise the umbrella-themed Key to Time Season Sixteen, with Read also taking on producer duties when his colleague became ill. Having 'discovered' a talented writer during that run, he then recommended the reins of script editing be passed to 'newcomer' Douglas Adams, and returned to write a story for the following season, The Horns of Nimon. After leaving Doctor Who he contributed scripts to The Omega Factor (which starred his first 'companion' Louise Jameson).

Other programmes during this prolific time included The Professionals and the science fantasy cults Into the Labyrinth and Sapphire and Steel; he also dramatised/wrote all three series of Chocky, devised from the book by John Wyndham. A return to the world of Sherlock Holmes with The Baker Street Boys earned him an award from the Writers' Guild of Great Britain. During the 1980s he moved away from writing for television, though he did contribute to the medium occasionally, notable writing several episodes for The Adventures of Swiss Family Robinson in 1998.

A long-time friend with David Fisher (hailing back to the 1960s), the pair collaborated on a number of non-fiction works, including The Fall of Berlin, The Proudest Day: India's Long Road to Independence and Colonel Z: The Secret Life of a Master of Spies. He also wrote a number of solo works focussed around the Second World War, including winning the Wingate Literary Prize for Kristallnacht; however he also kept up his fictional ties, especially with regard to his soft spot, The Baker Street Boys.

Actor John Hurt has spoken of his delight on receiving the latest assessment of his fight with Pancreatic Cancer.

The actor, who played The War Doctor in the 50th Anniversary story Day of the Doctor, was diagnosed with the disease last Summer. However speaking at the Man Booker Prize ceremony on Tuesday night in London, he revealed he had recently been given good news by doctors.

His agent Charles Macdonald spoke to to BBC Radio Norfolk telling the station that Hurt had a very good meeting with his oncologist. The actor, who was knighted in the Queen's New Year Honours list, said he was wary of using works like remission, even if true. Around 8,800 people are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in the UK each year, making it the 11th most common cancer.

It was announced last week that Sir John will reprise his role as The War Doctor, in a new range of audio adventures for Big Finish Productions, the first of which will be released later this year.