The first Big Finish titles starring Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor have been released.

Destination: Nerva is a two-part story by Nicholas Briggs in which the Doctor and Leela (Louise Jameson) travel to the distant future and face a new enemy in a familiar place. Raquel Cassidy guest-stars as Dr Alison Foster and Tim Bentinck plays Giles Moreau.

The first ten minutes of Destination: Nerva can be heard for free via the Big Finish website.


Also available is Doctor Who: The Lost Stories – The Fourth Doctor Box Set, a six-disc collection of two adventures previously devised for the small screen in the 1970s and now finally made on audio.

In The Foe From the Future by Robert Banks Stewart, the Doctor and Leela face ghostly apparitions and an evil enemy in a Devon village, while The Valley of Death by Philip Hinchcliffe sees the travellers join an expedition to the Amazon jungle and uncover the secret of a lost city of gold. Guest stars in the box set include Paul Freeman, Louise Brealey and Anthony Howell.


Both titles are available to purchase from our Amazon shop: Destination: Nerva / The Lost Stories.

A long-lost radio script for an episode of a proposed Doctor Who radio series, to be made in the late sixties, and starring Peter Cushing as the Doctor, has been discovered in the BBC archives.

Journey into Time was written by Malcolm Hulke, who went on to write some of the most regarded scripts of the classic series of Doctor Who. In the radio play, a pilot of which was recorded but never broadcast, the Doctor, accompanied by his granddaughter, ends up in the midst of the American Revolution. The recording has been lost for many years.

The series was proposed as a collaboration between independent company Stanmark Productions and Watermill Productions, who put forward plans for 52 episodes to be made for Australia and other overseas territories. It would star Cushing, who had previously played a character called 'Doctor Who' in the two Dalek movies made earlier in the decade. Its existence was known about through promotional material discovered in 1989, but the script was thought lost until it was discovered by Richard Bignell in a file of merchandising queries held in the BBC archives.

The series was rejected by the BBC with Martin Esslin, head of sound drama, saying: "As a typical commercial production for unsophisticated listeners in Australia or even some parts of the United States, it stands up quite well. As a piece of science fiction, however, it strikes me as extremely feeble."


Also in the issue:

• Illuminating The Dark Dimension: A 30-page article looks at the planned anniversary special, seeing how far things really got, and for the first time reveals precisely the reasons why it all fell apart. With artwork by Lee Sullivan.
• "Oh No, You Shouldn't!": A look back on William Hartnell's one and only pantomime performance in the 1966/67 tour of Puss in Boots, complete with photos of Billy as Buskin, the Fairy Cobbler...
• The Original Sarah Jane Smith: So who really was originally cast as Sarah Jane Smith back in 1973? All is revealed and the actress concerned tells what happened.
• The Living Planet: A look back at one of the first stories proposed for the new series, written by Alan Wakeman during the summer of 1963, with the full proposed storyline and draft script for the first episode.
• Designing The Space Pirates: Costume Designer Nick Bullen shares his costume designs from The Space Pirates, and for the first time since 1969 we get an idea what Dom Issigri looked like!
• Hayles Storm: ten unmade storylines submitted by Brian Hayles to the production office between February 1965 and May 1975, are reprinted and reviewed, covering the first four Doctors, featuring more Ice Warriors, the return of the Celestial Toymaker and a meeting with the Toymaker's half-sister, The Queen of Time.
• The Evil of the Daleks - The Chris Thompson Off-Screen Photographs: For the first time, the 26 off-screen photographs taken by Production Designer Chris Thompson from the first episode of The Evil of the Daleks are published. The article also features photos from Chris's personal collection showing the filming done at Ealing in the Emperor's chamber.
• New Location Photographs: New colour photographs taken during the location filming of The Smugglers and The Invasion and new b/w photos from The Enemy of the World.

Plus:

• The winners of the 1965 TV Century 21 Dalek competition tell what it was like to win a Movie Dalek and what happened to them, and there is a look at the Mark 7 Daleks from the 1972 Radio Times competition...
• Some of the proposed 1960s toys that never made it to the shops...
• Effects Designer John Horton tells just what went wrong with the original Nestene effect in Spearhead from Space...

The 116-page, full-colour magazine is available to order from the Nothing at the End of the Lane website.

BBC Worldwide and 2|Entertain have released a synopsis for the forthcoming DVD of First Doctor adventure The Sensorites, which is due to be released on 23rd January.
The DVD's commentary features William Russell (Ian Chesterton), Carole Ann Ford (Susan), Joe Grieg (Second Sensorite), Martyn Huntley (First Human), Giles Phipps (Second Human), Frank Cox (director), Raymond Cusick (designer), and Sonia Markham (makeup).

Other extras on the DVD include Secret Voices of the Sensorites, Vision On, Looking for Peter, plus the usual production notes, photo gallery, and PDF extras.

---

The latest edition of Doctor Who Magazine has confirmed the commentary participants for the stories currently due out in March.

• Fourth Doctor adventure The Face of Evil (5th March) features Louise Jameson (Leela), Leslie Schofield (Calib), David Garfield (Neeva), Michael Elles (Gentek), Harry H. Fielder (tribesman), Philip Hinchcliffe (producer) and John McGlashan (film cameraman).
• Eighth season finale The Dæmons (26th March) features Katy Manning (Jo Grant), Richard Franklin (Mike Yates), Damaris Hayman (Olive Hawthorne) and Christopher Barry (director).

---

A number of feature clips from the U.N.I.T. Files Boxed Set (released last week) have been made available online via the BBC's Classic Doctor Who YouTube channel. From Invasion of the Dinosaurs, presenter Matthew Sweet discusses politics in the story, director Paddy Russell discusses capturing a deserted London on film, and Jon Pertwee talks about the creation of the Whomobile. From The Android Invasion, Philip Hinchcliffe discusses making a cliffhanger more effective, reflects upon the Kraal costumes, and Milton Johns reflects upon his own eyepatch story!

The new Doctor Who Magazine (out 12th January) features an exclusive interview with Robert Banks Stewart, writer of the two highly regarded stories Terror of the Zygons and The Seeds of Doom featuring as this month's choice of covers.

The writer is also the original writer of audio adventure The Foe From The Future which sees Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) travelling alongside companion Leela (Louise Jameson) - the first part of which can be listened to for free via the magazine. Discussing his unused 1970s script:

Also this issue:

• Menace from The Past - Two 1960s episodes of Doctor Who, thought lost forever, have been found! DWM presents the first review of Galaxy 4: Air Lock and The Underwater Menace Episode Two, and examines how they were recovered. We also chat to the people who starred in them, including stars Maureen O'Brien, Frazer Hines and Anneke Wills.
• Watch in Wonder! - Writer, actor, novelist and all round gentleman, Mark Gatiss tells of the thrill of watching the recovered episodes – and gives reveals some tantalising hints about his next Doctor Who script – in Production Notes.
• More Janis Thorns! - The Fourth Doctor and Leela are reunited in a brand new series of audio adventures! DWM goes behind the scenes and catches up with Tom Baker and Louise Jameson as they prepare to battle the Master, the Daleks, Kraals and more...
• Let's Shoot Hitler! - DWM interviews dynamic director Richard Senior about Let's Kill Hitler, recording special scenes for DVD, and his life-long love of Doctor Who.
• Assassins and Talons and Hands, Oh My! - It was the season that saw the departure of Sarah Jane, the arrival of Leela, and the Fourth Doctor face some of his most terrifying foes... Countdown to 50! continues with a look back to the 70s and Series 14...
• New New York, New New York - The Time Team revisit the year five billion and watch what happened when the Doctor and Rose met Cat Nuns, Cassandra and the Face of Boe. What will Emma, Chris, Michael and Will make of New Earth?
• Gods and Monsters - The Gods are angry and ancient Greece will suffer their wrath! The Doctor, Rory and Amy face the mighty Zeus himself in Part Two of the new comic strip adventure, The Chains of Olympus, written by Scott Gray and drawn by Mike Collins.
• We Love the Doctor! - Romance! Aliens! And the Electric Light Orchestra! The Fact of Fiction puts the Tenth Doctor and Rose adventure Love & Monsters under the microscope, with exclusive additional comments from writer Russell T Davies!
• Money, Money, Money - The Watcher reveals the surprising relationship that the Doctor has with filthy lucre, celebrates another supporting artist, and challenges readers with The Six Faces of Delusion in Wotcha!
  

PLUS! All the latest official news, merchandise previews and reviews, a prize-winning crossword, competitions and much more!

David Tennant is to present the inaugural BBC Audio Drama Awards ceremony that also sees him nominated in one of the categories.

The awards, which cover audio dramas first broadcast in English in the UK between 1st October 2010 and 30th September 2011 or first uploaded/published for free listening online in the UK during the same period, aim to celebrate and recognise the cultural importance of audio drama on air and online, and to recognise the actors, writers, producers, sound designers, and others who work in the genre.

The winners will be announced at a ceremony to be presented by Tennant and held in the Radio Theatre at BBC Broadcasting House, central London, on Sunday 29th January. Among the categories, he is up for Best Actor in an Audio Drama for his role as the author Franz Kafka in the Radio 3 production Kafka: The Musical which aired last April and, coincidentally, was written and scored by Murray Gold.

Nominated in another category is June Whitfield, who played Minnie Hooper in The End of Time (Best Actress in an Audio Drama for her portrayal of the actress Margaret Rutherford in the Radio 4 Afternoon Play A Monstrous Vitality which aired last June).

In a separate award during the ceremony, Stephen Wyatt, who wrote Paradise Towers and The Greatest Show In The Galaxy, has been nominated for The Tinniswood Award for his Radio 4 Afternoon Play Gerontius, which aired in July 2010 and starred Derek Jacobi (Professor Yana/The Master in Utopia) and Michael Jayston (The Valeyard throughout season 23).

---

Karen Gillan has been nominated for Scot of the Year 2011 by ScotsCare, a charity set up for Scots in London who are in need, hardship or distress. Other nominations for the title include tennis player Andy Murray and Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond. [Inverness Courier, 12 Jan 2012]

Meanwhile, We'll Take Manhattan, the BBC Four drama in which the actress plays Sixties supermodel Jean Shrimpton, will air in the UK on Thursday 26th January at 9:00pm. [BBC Media Centre, 12 Jan 2012]

David Tennant is to star in a new film Emotional Rescue alongside actress Heather Graham, who plays an award-winning journalist who finds love with his character after the breakdown of a previous romance. [Scotsman, 6 Jan 2012]

Eve Myles (Gwen Cooper, Torchwood) is to appear in Zach Braff's new play All New People in the role of Emma, alongside Susannah Fielding as Kim. Premiered in July last year, the play will be performed at the Manchester Opera House from 8-11th February, Glasgow's King’s Theatre from 14-18th February, and then settling in the West End's Duke of York Theatre from 22nd February for a ten-week run. [Broadway, 9 Jan 2012]

Mekhi Phifer (Rex Matheson, Torchwood: Miracle Day) is on Broadway, appearing in drama Stick Fly at the Cort Theatre as a plastic surgeon. The actor said: "I do love being onstage. Even as a kid, I was a performer. Local talent shows, local this and that. When break dancing was out, I break danced. When rapping was the thing, I freestyled rap on the street and battled and all that kind of stuff. I'm a student of the game. I'm never not learning. I've got to be quite honest: I caught the theater bug and I'm all about Broadway right now - It can be scary but you have to have a certain strength and fortitude about yourself." [Associated Press, 9 Jan 2012]

The BBC have launched the 2012 Script to Screen Competition which will give one lucky team of primary school children the chance to write their own Doctor Who mini-adventure starring the Eleventh Doctor, Matt Smith.

In 2011 Script to Screen was part of Doctor Who Confidential. The competition was won by the children of Oakley Junior School in Basingstoke, who saw their script, Death Is the Only Answer produced by the BBC Wales team and shown on BBC Three following the 2011 series finale.

The 2012 competition is now open to UK pupils aged 9-11 who are encouraged to collaborate on a script that takes the Time Lord on a new quest travelling through space and time. Bespoke lesson plans and printable Doctor Who resources are also available to inspire children's creativity.

Amy and/or Rory can be included in the script, but no other Doctor Who characters such as River Song.

The competition closes at midnight on 16th March 2012. Resources and an entry form are available on the BBC Schools Website.

---

Matt Smith will be appearing on Blue Peter this week to launch the competition - the show will be broadcast today (Thursday) on the CBBC channel at 5:45pm, and then on BBC1 on Friday at 4:30pm. The episode will be available on the BBC iPlayer for a week after broadcast.

The answer to one of Doctor Who's oldest mysteries has been provided on the DVD release of Invasion of the Dinosaurs.

It has long been known that Elisabeth Sladen was not the first choice of actress to play the role of Sarah Jane Smith. For years the identity of the original actress has remained a close secret, known only to members of the production team.

However, the production notes on the new DVD release, compiled by David Brunt, have revealed that the actress first selected to play the role was April Walker. Brunt discovered the name on a stray memo from the BBC files, informing the BBC Finance department to pay the actress when each of the eleventh season stories went into studio.

Walker had a similar pedigree to Sladen at the time Sarah Jane was cast, with small roles in a number of television series including Crossroads, Dad's Army and The Onedin Line.

Walker was cast in 1973 as the Doctor's assistant by then-producer Barry Letts, who was looking for a replacement for Katy Manning, who had left the series at the end of the previous season. Contracts were signed but when Walker met the current Doctor, Jon Pertwee, it became apparent there was a lack of chemistry between the two. Although the pair had worked together on stage about five years previously and got on quite well, she was not the sort of actress Pertwee wanted to play the companion. He felt she was too tall, busty and too much of a dominant performer. Not the sort of tiny girl he could "protect" as the Doctor.

For actors to be replaced after they have been cast is not common, but not unknown. Sometimes the face just doesn't fit and however good the actor is, the production team realise that a replacement is necessary. Letts took the decision to recast the part and eventually selected Sladen, this time with approval from Pertwee. To take the decision to recast the role was a very difficult one for Letts and one he never discussed in public. Walker was paid in full for the Eleventh season.

Following her brief encounter with the Doctor, Walker has gone on to have a long career with over 40 appearances listed on the Internet Movie Database. She is perhaps most well known for playing Jean in the 1975 Fawlty Towers episode The Wedding Party. She also had roles in Anna Karenina, The Two Ronnies, Wyatt's Watchdogs and Minder.

The forthcoming third issue of the Doctor Who production research fanzine Nothing at the End of the Lane will contain Walker's first ever published interview concerning her casting and replacement in Doctor Who. The fanzine is released later this month.

The Terrible Zodin - Issue 13

The thirteeth issue of the fanzine The Terrible Zodin is now available to download:

Inferno Fiction - Issue 10

The tenth issue of online Doctor Who fiction magazine Inferno Fiction is now available to read on the website.

Panic Moon

The January 2012 issue of Panic Moon is now available. Details on the website.

Hot on the heels of the Netflix deal reported last month, Amazon-owned LoveFilm have now signed deals with the BBC and ITV in order to be able to stream video-on-demand content to subscribers, dipping into both the archive and new programming including Doctor Who, Spooks, Marchlands, Cold Feet, Prime Suspect and Above Suspicion.

The company has also signed up BBC Worldwide, enabling access to their portfolio of shows, including Whitechapel, Life on Mars and Planet Earth. BBC Worldwide's UK/Ireland Sales and Distribution Head Lisa Rousseau said:

The deal will enable recent shows from both broadcasters to be accessed via the LoveFilm Instant online service, available on PC, Apple iPad, Xbox 360, Sony PS3 and internet-connected TV platforms.

The two companies will be in competition to encourage subscribers to their services; LoveFilm's announcement indicates an advantage over Netflix currently, who have yet to link up with ITV.

United Kingdom

Doctor Who's long association with Ealing and its studios is recounted, not to mention other monstrous encounters: "One of the quirkier connections between the Doctor and Ealing has been discovered with some archives pictures showing Cybermen, one of the show’s most iconic baddies, taking to the streets of Ealing. But as alien invasions go this one appears to be fairly low-key, with the robotic monstrosities captured in what appears to be a friendly encounter with 10-year-old Doctor Who fan Anthony King. In another image, they are seen waiting for a bus. One can only assume their spaceship was undergoing repairs at the time." [Ealing Gazette, 2 Jan 2012]

Aberkenfig resident Gareth Griffiths has had a newspaper article tatooed on his arm as a tribute to his father who died when he was very young. David Griffiths was a BBC employee in the 1960s and dressed as a Dalek in local Llandaff publicity by the Echo for a forthcoming Doctor Who film. [South Wales Echo, 4 Jan 2012]

Portland's Southwell Primary School has a permanent Dalek in residence, a result of a year-long project by parent Roy Porter. The Mk-1 version 'lives' outside Headteacher Stuart McLeod's office - the dedicated Doctor Who fan said: "In nearly all of the schools I have worked in I have converted a cupboard into a TARDIS. So many children and adults love Doctor Who it is great to see them smile when they see my office. A school should be fun and a TARDIS is a great place to learn." [View Online, 30 Dec 2011]

Australia

Geoff Campbell from Toowoomba has built his own police box which has become something of a neighbourhood favourite; wife Kate said: "We had a couple of Mormons who came to knock on our door and all they wanted to talk about was how much they loved Dr Who. I must admit there are times when I do feel a little bit embarrassed by my husband's geekiness, but I am very proud of him as well." [Toowoomba Chronicle, 5 Jan 2012]