Anthony Stewart Head, best known as Giles on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and known to Doctor Who fans for his turn as Grayvorn in the "Excelis" series from Big Finish, was voted the audience's favorite to play the next Doctor in a Radio Times poll, beating runners-up Alan Rickman, Stephen Fry, Alan Davies and Ian Richardson. "I'm in very good company - good God, I beat Alan Rickman," said Head. "I suppose I would be a logical choice to play the Doctor just because Giles, my character in Buffy, has the same light and dark sides and quirkiness as Doctor Who." He said his favorite Doctor was Patrick Troughton "because you never knew what was going on inside his Doctor." The article on the BBC's website noting the Radio Times poll results also features comments from writer Russell T. Davies; you can read it by clicking here(or here to read a similar story on Yahoo!). (Thanks to everyone who wrote in with comments)

Journalist Matthew Sweet penned an article on the 40th anniversary of Doctor Who for the Independent on November 16, which has only now been made available to readers online. Click here to read the article. Very importantly, the article mentions the return of the series with some interesting information: "There'll be at least one important difference, though, between the programme's 20th and 21st-century incarnations," Sweet writes. "The new Doctor Who will be one of the BBC's flagship programmes. [Producer Russell T.] Davies and his co-conspirator, Mal Young, Controller of Continuing Drama Series, have secured a commitment to five series of 13, 45-minute episodes. They'll be able to afford an expensive actor for the lead role. They'll get billboard ads, Radio Times covers and publicity spots across the media. The original programme rarely enjoyed such security." The article then goes on to mention that "Russell T Davies has his first production meeting on 8 December." While we have no idea how definite any of this information is, it certainly breeds speculation that the BBC is fully committing itself to the production, and that good times may indeed be ahead.

The latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine apparently features a story about Radio Times reprinting their "10th Anniversary Doctor Who Special", overseen by members of the DW Restoration Team. Some of the original photos have since gone missing, but where possible they're reprinting them either exactly as they were or with slight variations, from photos taken at the same shoot. The odd one or two pics might have to be scanned in from the original special. The original release from 1973 is incredibly rare and it'l be very exciting for most fans to finally be able to see what it looked like (and see how all the Hartnell stories are listed with the titles taken from their first episodes!) (Thanks to Jim Sangster for letting us know...)

UKGold will be broadcasting their "Doctor Who @40 Weekend" from 7am to 7pm on both Nvoember 22 and 23, according to Radio Times. There don't seem to be any specific time slots for the programming, but Sky's customer magazine apparently states the weekend starts at 9.00am, so it's safe to presume the ongoing omnibus repeats will be running Saturday and Sunday mornings. Meanwhile, the BBC 4 channel will be rebroadcasting the "Alchemists of Sound" TV documentary on November 23 at 7pm. The issue of Radio Times published this week has a small (text only) plug for their forthcoming 16-page anniversary supplement due out next week, mentioning exclusive interviews and photos. Finally, the TV guide section of The Observer, OTV, yesterday included "The Scream of the Shalka" in its pick of the day selection for Thursday's TV, complete with the postcard image of the animated Doctor (played by Richard E. Grant) and the slightly odd implication that BBCi can be watched on satellite. (Thanks to Phillip Madeley, Steve Tribe)

A new hour-long documentary about The BBC Radiophonic Workshop, Alchemists of Sound, has made its debut. Says the BBC press release: "In the Sixties, Delia Derbyshire frightened thousands of children every week, forcing them to hide behind sofas, cover their ears, and run crying to daddy. She did it by twanging strings, fiddling with wobbulators, and sticking tiny bits of tape together to create the theme tune to Doctor Who. Delia was part of a dedicated band of ground-breaking experimenters in the electronic manipulation of sound who laboured quietly behind the door of Room 13 in the BBC?s Maida Vale studios. They went by the name of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, and received regular calls from members of the public who thought they repaired wirelesses. They were unsung pioneers in the field of electronics, whose strange inspiration was rooted in the curious constraints of the available equipment, and the combination of mathematical, musical, electronic and manual skills that their work required. Alchemists Of Sound is a lovingly crafted documentary in which those involved in the Radiophonic Workshop tell the story of this creative, and occasionally haphazard, group. It contains original footage of the team and the amazing machinery that created some of the best-known sounds of the times. It also reveals that the entire output of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, from 1983 onwards, would have been lost to posterity had it not been for a series of legendary mishaps. Their work added intense dramatic impact to productions such as Quatermass, The Hitch-Hikers Guide To The Galaxy, The Body In Question and countless children?s television programmes, including Blue Peter. It was a style particularly suited to sci-fi and, in many respects, these 'alchemists' shaped the future of sound. The airing of this documentary coincides with the 40th anniversary of Doctor Who?s first transmission, which the BBC and BBC Worldwide will be celebrating with various activities." The programme contains archive footage and clips, and interviews with numerous Radiophonic Workshop luminaries including Delia Derbyshire (on archive film), Brian Hodgson, Dick Mills, Desmond Briscoe, Paddy Kingsland, Peter Howell, Roger Limb and Malcolm Clarke. A certain Radiophonic Workshop 'associate' by the name of Mark Ayres also features...and one segment in particular should be of interest to fans of the Doctor Who theme. The documentary was broadcast today in the UK (October 19) at 9pm, on BBC4, and will be repeated Monday 20th at 1.10am, Tuesday 21st October at 8.30pm, and Wednesday 22nd October 3.30am; it's hoped that a BBC2 replay will happen soon. Click here for the BBC4 webpage and full details. (Thanks to Mark Ayres)

Radio Times editor Gill Hudson on BBC Radio 4's "The Message" on October 3: discussing RT's 80th anniversary and the "Doctor Who is #1" poll, Hudson mentions she had no idea DW was coming back... she thinks the news leaked and the Beeb was forced to announce the return before they'd planned!

The following are links to the media coverage of the announcement of the new Doctor Who series:

Doctor Who is the big winner of the latest Radio Times poll asking which show readers would like revived, according to a report circulating this morning on the Ananova web news service. With 31% of the vote, Doctor Who is the first choice, followed by "Blackadder" and "Fawlty Towers" in second and third position. The magazine also asked which UK show should be retired, with top honors going to "Last of the Summer Wine". The full results of the television poll are in the latest issue of Radio Times. (Thanks to everyone who wrote in to let us know!)

Letters to the Radio Times in response to its recent report of the top television programmes of the UK -- omitting "Doctor Who" -- have been quite vocal. While one letter decried a possible rigging of the poll, Radio Times did state that the choices were the personal favorites of TV editor Alison Graham... but a letter from Mark Gatiss ("League of Gentlemen" star and author of Doctor Who books including "The Roundheads" and "St. Anthony's Fire") also takes them to task: "Finally, Doctor Who. It's become something of a personal crusade for me to remind everyone that this show (Doctor Who) was once pretty much universally loved. We should remember with pride and not sneer at it as though it were some anorak-sporting. half-mad relative. And we should bring it back now!" (Thanks to BBCi, Radio Times and those who wrote in with their own comments!)