Former Doctor David Tennant joined a number of celebrities (including current James Bond actor Daniel Craig and singer Geri Halliwell) who took to the ICAP trading floor in order to raise money for Prince Charles's charities, Youth Business International and Prince's Teaching Institute.

Having announced having a role in the forthcoming The Hobbit film back in October, the official press conference for the film formally confirms Sylvester McCoy as playing wizard Radagast the Brown; other names in the film include Martin Freeman (who plays Watson in Steven Moffat's other popular show Sherlock), Richard Armitage, James Nesbitt, and the return of Cate Blanchett (who played Elven Queen Galadriel in The Lord of the Rings trilogy).

Christopher Eccleston attended a special charity screening of what he has called his most important work, Hillsborough, after which he gave a 30 minute discussion about the film with attendees; the actor had nominated the drama to be shown as part of fund-raising for the Clapperboard Youth Project.

Writer Stephen Gallagher (Warriors Gate, Terminus) will be writing and producing a new drama for Fox Television: The Danger List will be a medical thriller in which a doctor with a complicated past investigates medical abuses, crimes and conspiracies.

The latest star to join the Doctor Who 'family', Sir Michael Gambon (in this year's Christmas special A Christmas Carol), is in the Stage's shortlist for the Greatest Stage Actor; the public poll also includes the likes of Sir Ian McKellen, Sir John Gielgud, Sir Laurence Olivier, Dame Judi Dench and Dame Maggie Smith.

Catherine Tate (Donna), Mark Gatiss (actor and writer) and David Troughton (King Peladon, The Curse of Peladon, Professor Hobbes, Midnight) are all appearing in the National Theatre production of Alan Ayckbourn's play Season's Greetings, which opens tonight.

John Barrowman has made a number of appearances on television recently, promoting the release on DVD of "John Barrowman Live At The Royal Albert Hall", and the new 3-CD release of his music, "The Collection"; this included a half-hour stint singing songs from the collection live on shopping channel QVC in November. He will shortly be appearing in Aladdin at the Glasgow SECC.

Barrowman has also become newsworthy in the India media, in association with photos of him apparently kissing Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan backstage during Friday Night with Jonathan Ross back in February!

Former producer Phil Collinson has been subject to media speculation in recent months as to what changes he would make to Coronation Street since becoming its producer, and appeared on Lorraine Kelly yesterday morning, as part of coverage of the aftermath from the show's disaster as part of the show's 50th Anniversary. (The show also saw the work of other Doctor Who 'regulars' under Collinson's reign, effects supervisor Danny Hargreaves and CGI company The Mill).

Carey Mulligan (Sally Sparrow, Blink is playing socialite Daisy Buchanan in the film version of The Great Gatsby by Baz Luhrmann. (Though not confirmed, she is believed to be starring with Leonardo Di Caprio as millionaire Joe Gatsby and Tobey Maguire as Nick Carraway.)

Mulligan picked up the Best Performance trophy at the Women in Film and TV Awards on Friday (3rd); the event also saw a lifetime achievement award for actress Sheila Hancock (who played Helen A in The Happiness Patrol).

After some eight years in the role, BBC's head of Television Jana Bennett will be moving onto a new role in BBC Worldwide; Bennett is widely credited as the overseer for the return of Doctor Who, and the launch of BBC3 and BBC4, and has recently been acting as controller of BBC1 since Jay Hunt's departure from the role.

And finally, another former BBC1 controller and BBC governor, reformed Doctor Who critic Michael Grade, is in line for a peerage.

A special Doctor Who celebrity edition of the BBC Two quiz show Eggheads, is scheduled for Monday 20th December at 6pm.

The show will star Sixth Doctor Colin Baker along with Katy Manning, Frazer Hines, Louise Jameson and John Leeson who take on the Eggheads to win money for their chosen charity.

The short film about Verity Lambert and her struggle to get Doctor Who made is now available to watch online.

As we reported last month the film was written by Thomas Cowell and Joey Guy who are film students from the University of Central Lancashire.

A short film about Verity Lambert and her struggle to get Doctor Who made will broadcast online in early December.

The film is written by two film students from the University of Central Lancaster. Thomas Cowell and Joey Guy have produced the ten minute biopic which will focus on the key stage of production for the very first episodes of Doctor Who between August and December 1963. More details about the production of this film can be found here.


You can follow updates at Thomas Cowell's blog.

Karen Gillan has been cast as as a time-travelling Juliet in a new film to be directed by David Baddiel. Romeo And Brittney is about a high school teenager from New Jersey who finds herself travelling back in time to 13th-century Verona. Also cast is Gillian Anderson who will play the dual roles of Karen's mother and the Nurse, and Robert Sheehan plays Romeo in the comedy. Shooting begins in May.

John Barrowman is to appear in the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special. The show is expected to go out on Christmas Day. Barrowman has also signed up for a cameo in Goodnight Burbank, a news satire webcomedy that stars Laura Silverman and Dominic Monaghan. Meanwhile Russell T Davies has let slip that Steven Moffat would like to see Captain Jack back in Doctor Who, opening up the way for Barrowman's possible return to the series.

Big Finish have announced Drama Showcase, a new line of plays made for audio and starring many Doctor Who actors.

The line-up comprises four productions:

• Not a Well Woman, written by and starring Katy Manning.
• Pulling Faces , written by Helen Goldwyn and starring Louise Jameson, with Helen Goldwyn, David Warwick and Colin Baker. This is an adaptation of Louise's acclaimed one-woman show.
• In Conversation with An Acid Bath Murderer, written by Nigel Fairs and starring Nigel Fairs, Louise Jameson and Richard Franklin. This is an adaptation of Nigel's critically admired theatre play.
• Unintelligent Design written by and starring Geoffrey Beevers.

Producer David Richardson says
The season is also available on subscription, with pre-ordered subscription CD copies signed by the main star.

NB: Drama Showcase productions contain adult material and are not suitable for younger listeners.

Several Doctor Who stars have contributed to a new project to raise money for a charity providing special days for seriously ill 16 to 40 year olds throughout the United Kingdom.

Organised by The Willow Foundation and British artist, Julie-Anne Gilburt, Stars on Canvas is an exhibition of 20x20 cm canvases, each created by different stars from the worlds of sport, art, design, fashion, music and entertainment.

The charity was founded in 1999 by Bob and Megs Wilson as a lasting memorial to their daughter, Anna, who died aged 31. Anna battled cancer for five years, yet during these years she and her family and friends experienced some of their most memorable moments and quality times. The Charity's aim is to replicate the positive impact special days had on both Anna and her family for other seriously ill 16 to 40 year olds throughout the UK.

Pictures online include submissions from Freema Agyeman and Billie Piper, David Tennant, Catherine Tate and Russell T Davies.

The results will be displayed at the Catto Gallery, in Hampstead, North London from 2 to 5 December 2010.

From 26 November until 5 December 2010 each Canvas will be sold online through an eBay auction with profits going to the charity. To register your interest and receive a notification prior to the eBay auction going live, please email your name to starsoncanvas@willowfoundation.org.uk

The BBC is to screen a previously unbroadcast interview with the late Delia Derbyshire, the woman who realised the original Doctor Who title music.

On Monday 15 November, the West Midlands edition of BBC One's Inside Out will feature excerpts from an interview originally recorded in the late-Nineties by BBC Radio Scotland's John Cavanagh but never broadcast before. In the interview Derbyshire reveals that one of the primary influences on her music, including Doctor Who, were the abstract sounds she heard as a child during the Coventry blitz. The programme also features previously unseen footage of Derbyshire later in life at a Doctor Who fan convention.

BBC Radio 2 presenter Stuart Maconie looks at her career and explores why the woman herself remains a mystery despite her work influencing the world of electronic music, including Pink Floyd and today's modern dance acts. He begins his journey in war-torn Coventry, where Derbyshire grew up, and follows her journey to the Radiophonic Workshop at the BBC. He talks to a range of people, including the man who invented the sounds of the TARDIS, Brian Hodgson.

In 1963, hardly anyone outside of avant garde music circles and academia knew electronic music even existed. But, 47 years on, the Doctor Who theme is probably the most famous piece of electronic music in the world and Derbyshire's lost recordings, discovered in her attic after her death, are being lovingly restored by the University of Manchester.

Uncovered in this episode is the revelation that Derbyshire composed music for an astonishing number of landmark programmes of the day, with the original Doctor Who theme being just a small part of her massive output whose style was described in her own words.

This programme will be broadcast on BBC One in the West Midlands, at 7.30pm on Monday 15 November.

Viewers in the UK outside the region can watch the programme on Freesat channel 963, Sky channel 979, or on the BBC iPlayer.

The director of BBC Wales, Menna Richards, has announced that she is stepping down from the position after more than ten years guiding Welsh broadcasting.

It is of course during her tenure that Doctor Who finally returned to television as a series after some 16 years, and for many will be seen as one of her biggest achievements. The man behind the show's return, Russell T Davies said:
Speaking on BBC Wales Today, Professor Ian Hargreaves of Cardiff University (where Richards is Vice-President) said:

The Welsh secretary, Cheryl Gillan, summed up Richards's career at the BBC: