Tom Baker spoke to this week's Radio Times about his life, Doctor Who and the future of the show. Said the Radio Times about the fourth Doctor: "The hair may be greyer and the girth slightly wider, but the face is unmistakeably that of Tom Baker. And the much-loved actor is due to rematerialise on our screens this autumn, not as Doctor Who, but as Donald McDonald - a long-lost son from Monarch of the Glen's Glenbogle." The article mentions that Baker, 70, lives with his wife in France, so he'll be renting a flat in Kinguisee until "Glen" filming ends in September. But, says the article, self-catering isn't one of his talents. "I have a girl who comes in, but I can't ask her to cook for me. So the evenings tend to be a microwaved snack and a cold, strong beer." He also offered good wishes to new Doc Christopher Eccleston (seereport on TV news page). (Thanks to Paul Hayes)

The Welsh newspaper Wales on Sunday is revelling in the fact that the news series of Doctor Who is being produced in the Principality, and appears to have started a weekly "Doctor Who" column. This week, with an article entitled "Exterminated?" it is reporting on-going legal tussles between the BBC and the estate of Terry Nation over the use of the Daleks in the new series. (The Wales on Sunday journalist Jon Harry claims this as an exclusive for the paper, but the report was actually rehasing what's been reported elsewhere). There is also a sub-article, which in 200 odd words sums up the career of Terry Nation, emphasizing the fact that he was born in the Welsh cathedral city of Llandaf. (Thanks to John Campbell Rees)

The new Radio Times, out today, also features an item about Piper, but this one has a direct quote from Piper's agent: "It may be that the idea has been mooted, but it's not a conversation I have had." They go on to quote a "BBC spokeswoman" who said "an announcement wasn't expected for another two months". The rest of the article catches up on the Eccleston casting, with Eccleston saying he's "delighted" and Tranter's quote about being a modern hero taken from the press release. Another report at the "This is Somerset" site of the Western Daily Press rehashes the same rumors that Billie Piper may play the role of Rose Tyler. "Billie, married to DJ and TV producer Chris Evans has told friends she would dearly love to work on the new series of the cult show watched by audiences across the globe," it says. "The BBC remained tight-lipped yesterday but told the Western Daily Press it is not ruling Billie out for the part of the Doctor's glamorous sidekick Rose Tyler despite her limited acting experience." (Thanks to Chuck Foster, Paul Hayes, Steve Tribe)

Today's Daily Star newspaper features an article, on page 3, entitled "Return of the Daleks." The paper says that the rights issues have been resolved and that they've been completely redesigned (the paper says "they'll look more like something out of the Terminator movies"). Quotes the Star from a BBC source: "We spared no expense to get the Daleks and we're going to drag them into the 21st Century". The Daily Mail on Monday also included a piece on this, entitled "Exterminate exterminate!", and suggested that the BBC came to an agreement last Friday in a deal that they paid "well over the odds" for, for a "ratings guarantee" that the Daleks will bring; it also suggests that the budget for the series is a million pounds per episode, apparently "the costliest drama" the BBC have ever done. Of course, at this point we've heard that the negotiations over the Daleks, and other rights issues with the Terry Nation estate, have not yet been resolved. A website called DeHavilland repeats the Dalek reports and the Billie Piper rumor. (Thanks to Phillip Madeley, Paul Mount, Mark Smith)

Other coverage of the series this week have been in TV Times and TV Quick; in the latter there is news about Tom Baker joining the cast of "Monarch of the Glen". In Canada a short article appeared in the newspaper the Globe and Mail on Monday. Titled "But will this doctor have a long scarf?" Meanwhile, a piece from the Australian newspaper The Advertiser on Billie Piper and some other reports on Christopher Eccleston and the new series; all of these will be up at the Cuttings Archive in the next day or two. (Thanks to Roger Anderson)

Updated March 24, 1600 GMT.  Outpost Gallifrey's comprehensive list of press coverage and press links for the Christopher Eccleston casting has been updated and is here below (with thanks to Steve Tribe, Andrew Harvey, Jon Preddle, Roger Anderson, Chuck Foster, Robert Byrne, Paul Engelberg, Kenny Davidson, Scott Woodard and DWAS):

BBC Drama Faces: an in-depth look at Christopher Eccleston, including his work, some personal background and other facts.

scifi.com (Sci Fi Wire) Portsmouth Today Cinescape News Wales Globe and Mail (Canada) CBC (Canada) Empire Online BBC Radio 1 Telegraph Sunday Buffalo News (USA) The Scotsman (original report) BBC Entertainment News BBC News Melbourne Herald Sun ITV Ireland Online Manchester Online Daily Record The Times Belfast Telegraph Breaking News (Ireland) UTV Internet Yahoo! CultTV New York Times BBC Press Office (release) nzoom RTE Interactive HELLO! Magazine Online Ireland ABC Australia feMail

Winston Salem Journal New Zealand Herald Daily Record Stuff New Zealand Borsa Italia Express India The Scotsman (March 20 update) The Mirror Sky News The Sun BBCi (official Doctor Who site) Reuters The Guardian Telegraph.co.uk with details     on the last-minute casting Teletext Slashdot Ananova Ananova (3/22) Sydney Morning Herald New Zealand Herald Daily Record (new banner) Teletext (fan reaction) morons.org Oman Observer FilmForce Digital Spy Khaleej Times MyTelus

Today's new edition of the Radio Times has a news item on page 10 - illustrated with the TARDIS - on the new writers. The article strangely omits Paul Cornell and Rob Shearman... but includes a firmer date for the start of filming. The article is as follows (thanks to Steve Tribe & Roger Anderson):

This week's Radio Times (31 Jan-6 Feb) has the results of a recent poll on their website of "Spookiest TV Of All Time". While Doctor Who doesn't specifically feature, author William Gallagher says in his write-up: "If you're wondering where Doctor Who is, we know it could do spooky, but as it walks away with every poll it figures in, we awarded it a Certificate of Advanced Spookiness and left it off the list to give the others a chance". Meanwhile, Sky TV Magazine has done a similar yet more arbitrary poll of "scary moments", presumably selected by the magazine staff, in which Doctor Who does feature; the entry (which comes in ninth place) consists of: "The bit where the Cybermen come out of the sewers." (It doesn't mention the story -- "The Invasion" -- but at least it's there!) (Thanks to Matthew Harris)

Friday's Daily Express (UK) features an interview with Anthony Stewart Head, who makes note of the recent attention pegging him as a possible new Doctor. "I suppose I might be consider because of my sci-fi status," Head says. "If I did get the part I'd like to take him back to the kind of character that was played by Patrick Troughton. He was the best. He had whimsy but he had a dark side, too, and I think that the subsequent Dr Who's, there was too much emphasis on whimsy." The article makes note that he was picked the favorite successor by Radio Times. (Thanks to Mike Pitt)

The Christmas/New Year double issue of Radio Times has hit shops in England, and the forthcoming December 30 documentary The Story of Doctor Who gets several plugs in. On Page 17, the documentary is included in a rundown of the best TV and radio of the fortnight. This is illustrated with a large picture of a Dalek family Christmas - three Daleks + a baby Dalek, wearing party hats, eating mashed potato (a reference to 1970s advertising hit 'Smash', which featured a family of robots...) and one of the Daleks carving the turkey! There's also a copy of the Radio Times from November 1999 on the table (Dalek cover) and a photo of Jon Pertwee with the message "A Very Happy Christmas From The Doctor". In that same preview on page 17, there are some comments from Verity Lambert, including 'I don't know that the Daleks are as scary as people make them out to be. I think kids really rather enjoyed them. They like to be scared. I certainly don't think we did anything to traumatise them more than anything else really.' It's not clear whether these are quoted from the documentary or whether Radio Times has interviewed her. She crops up again on page 168 as a 'TV Insider', promoting 'The Story of...', saying that she has high hopes for RTD as 'a very good writer' and that 'Back then, it was just trying to keep the programme on air and making it as entertaining and clever as possible.' There's also a publicity shot of William Hartnell. Also on page 168, 'The Story of...' is one of Today's Choices for Tuesday 30 December, under the heading ''Nostalgia', which notes what a good year it's been for Doctor Who fans, describes the documentary as 'terrific', with 'Marvellous, sometimes hilarious clips... from the creepy (Zygons) to the shambolic (Myrka).' The write-up concludes 'This is tremendous fun, and a reminder of what Saturday teatimes have been missing for years. It's a shame we can't all hop in the TARDIS and leap ahead to see how the new series turns out.' Finally in the Radio Times, there's the listing itself on page 170, illustrated with a couple of Daleks. (Thanks to Steve Tribe)

In a new interview in the Radio Times with Tom Baker, the Fourth Doctor comments about how different the new series should be. "They do have to move on and make it funny and wry. Will there be sexual chemistry between the Doctor and the companion? Will they make the Doctor gay? black? or a woman?" Baker says he wouldn't play the role of the Doctor again... "but if they did bring back the TARDIS they could have me in a glass cage, just moving my eyes... [the new Doctor] could turn to it and say 'What would you do I wonder?' Perhaps I could go back as the Master". Meanwhile, a new interview in today's issue of "The Scotsman" with Baker asks about him hosting an "imaginary dinner party". Says Baker: "IÆd like to go back in time and invite Anthony Hopkins and his then wife Jennie, because he and I were great friends when we worked together at the National Theatre in the 1960s. They only divorced in the last couple of years and heÆs now remarried. They were very kind to me... He was very strange and had a marvellous imagination which made him compelling. ItÆs a quality stars have. I havenÆt seen him since 1972. Maybe heÆs changed a bit.ö What kind of food would he serve? Italian, with 13 1/2 percent red wine. "None of this 12 per cent stuff. ItÆs amazing the difference in impact between 12 and 13 and a half per cent. It sounds so little. It was lovely to get squiffy with Hopkins.ö It goes on from there. Visit the website to read the interview. (Thanks to Steve Tribe and Planet Who)

Tom Baker was voted the greatest Doctor ever in a poll by Radio Times, while companion Sarah Jane Smith was voted best companion. Said Baker, "The readers' vote is very pleasing and reassuring. I was lucky because all my stuff was in colour, the scripts were coming along, the effects were getting more refined, the sets didn't fall over so often. I loved it so much. Some were more successful Doctors than others, but no-one ever failed at Doctor Who. Twenty years on, the Doctor's image has stayed with me. People remember me fondly and are kind to me in the street, sometimes even physically affectionate. It's better than being royalty." Elisabeth Sladen, who played Sarah Jane, noted that she "had a ball working on Doctor Who for three years - it was only after I left that I realised just what an incredible impact it had." The Cybermen were voted "favorite villains" (after the Daleks were removed, obviously to give someone else a chance!) Anthony Stewart Head of "Buffy" fame was voted the man who should play the next Doctor (see separate story on the TV News Page).