The Restoration Team has released details of the forthcoming four-disc release of the Trial of a Time Lord DVD box set in the UK.

The 14 episodes, comprising season 23 of the classic era, originally aired between September and December 1986 and featured Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor.

There is a host of extras with the set, including extracts from Blue Peter, Wogan, Points of View, Children In Need, Saturday Picture Show andOpen Air.

It will also have deleted and extended scenes, plus the video for the 1985 charity song Doctor In Distress - the celebrity single that was released under the group name Who Cares? in protest at the show's suspension and feared cancellation.

In addition, there is a 55-minute documentary that takes a look at Colin Baker's time as the Doctor. Among those featured are Baker, Nicola Bryant, John Nathan-Turner, Eric Saward and former BBC heads of series and serialsDavid Reid and Jonathan Powell.

The box set is due to be released on August 18.

Posted By John Bowman

The forthcoming DVD release of The Brain of Morbius in the UK will see the story presented as originally transmitted for the first time in more than 30 years, thanks to work by the Restoration Team and, in particular,Mark Ayres.

In an update to the team's website, Steve Roberts tells how they solved the mystery of a short section of incidental music that was there in episode one when the story was broadcast in January 1976 but never made it to subsequent releases, transmissions and even the BBC transmission masters.

The four-part Tom Baker story is due to be released on July 21.

Extras will include:

A commentary by Tom Baker, Elisabeth Sladen and Philip Madoc, producer Philip Hinchcliffe and directorChristopher Barry.

 A 32-minute feature entitled Getting A Head, in which the making of the story is recalled by the production team and cast.

A six-minute feature called Designs on Karn that sees Barry Newbery talk about how he created the planet on which the story is set.

 A 3D CGI tour of the BBC Television Centre studio in which the adventure was taped, showing how the sets were arranged and built.

(With thanks to Tony Clark.)

Posted By John Bowman

DVD site Zeta Minor has given UK release dates for various classic-era stories later this year. According to its newly updated releases page, they are as follows:

K-9 Tales - box set comprising The Invisible Enemy and K-9 plus Sarah Jane Smith spin-off story K-9 And Company: June 16

The Brain of Morbius: July 21

The Trial of a Time Lord box set: August 18

Four To Doomsday: September 15

The War Machines: October 13

Battlefield: November 17

In addition, Revenge of the Slitheen and Eye of the Gorgon, both from spin-off series The Sarah Jane Adventures, are slated to be released on one DVD on January 12, 2009.

Please note, however, that the information has been gathered from various sources and the dates could change.

(With thanks to Tony Clark.)

The Doctor Who Restoration Team website has published an article confirming the release of the K9 Tales box set later this year, and announcing the extras package being provided for the two stories - 1977's The Invisible Enemy and 1981 spin-off adventure K9 and Company.

The extras for The Invisible Enemy are:

A commentary Louise Jameson, John Leeson, Mat Irvine and Bob Baker.

Documentary feature Dreams and Fantasy, looking back at the making of the story.

Studio Sweepings - behind-the-scenes studio footage.

Visual Effect - a look at the visual effects work on this and other stories.

Blue Peter - an extract showing K9's first appearance on the famous children's magazine show.

Optional CGI effects.

Trailers and continuity announcements, on-screen production notes, a photo gallery, coming soon trailer, and PDF files of Radio Times billings.


On K9 and Company:

A commentary with Elisabeth Sladen, John Leeson, Linda Polan and Eric Saward.

The K9 Files - a documentary looking at the making of this production.

K9 - A Dog's Tale, K9 is interviewed about his life.

Pebble Mill at One - K9 appears on the BBC1 lunchtime chat show.

BBC trailers and continuity announements.

PDF files of K9 Stories, four books starring the dog originally published in the 1970s.

A Photo Gallery, Coming Soon trailer, Radio Times Billings PDFs, Programme subtitles and Subtitle Production Notes.

Posted By John Bowman

The British Board of Film Classification has indicated that forthcoming episode Planet of the Ood is not as suitable for youngsters as others are by giving it a 12 rating for its DVD release.

The BBFC's consumer advice says the story contains a moderate gory moment.

It will be the third episode of the first three from Series Four on the DVD, which is due to be released in the UK on June 2. The preceding two episodes,Partners In Crime and The Fires of Pompeii, have each been given a PG rating.

While both Partners In Crime and The Fires of Pompeii have running times in excess of 48 minutes, Planet of the Ood clocks in at 43 minutes and 38 seconds.

Several DVD sites are now listing K-9 Tales, a double bill consisting of the Invisible Enemy and K-9 And Company, for release in the United Kingdom on 16th June 2008.

The BBC has confirmed that the 1978 Tom Baker story The Invasion of Time is due for release in the UK on 5th May 2008. The release is being timed to coincide with the appearance of the Sontarans in Series Four. Extras on the disc include a commentary with actors Louise Jameson andJohn Leeson, the script editor Anthony Read and visual effects designer Matt Irvine.

As previously announced a number of documentaries are included. Out of Time is a look at the making of the story, The Changing face of Gallifrey, asks how the portrayal of the Time Lords has changed over the years, The Elusive David Agnew investigates the mysterious writer of the story andDeleted Scenes has previously cut scenes from the film inserts in Episodes five and six.

May will also see the release of a box set entitled Bred for War. This will include the new release of The Invasion of Time along with the previously released Sontaran stories, The Time Warrior, The Sontaran Experiment and The Two Doctors. The box set will contain no additional extras.

As previously announced the release date of the Peter Davison story, Black Orchid, will be the 14th April 2008. The Restoration Team website now has an article on this story. It confirms the commentary team of Peter Davison,Janet Fielding, Sarah Sutton and Matthew Waterhouse.

Stories in preparation but unscheduled include The Brain of Morbius and The Trial of a TimeLord as well as a double issue entitled K9 Tales, comprising of the 1977 story The Invisible Enemy and the 1981 special K-9 and Company.

Episodes of Doctor Who that were originally colour but now only exist in black and white could be restored to their former glory.

In a major piece headlined Putting colour back in the Doctor's cheeks, today's Guardian reports how the colour recovery process has been made possible thanks to an error by technicians when 16mm black-and-white film recordings were made from the original colour master tapes for overseas sales before the masters were purged.

These telerecordings were liable to interference from the colour-encoded video signal, and this pattern of grey dots - called chromadots - would normally be eliminated with a filter.

However, filters were not always used, meaning the chromadots were often burnt into the film, and while at BBC Research engineer James Inselltheorised that it was possible to extract the original colour pattern and decode it.

Insell, who subsequently set up an independent group to work on the technology, points out in the article: "The quality of the film has got to be good enough to have captured this pattern. We're really talking about working from the original negatives and having an HD scan made to get as much information as possible from the film."

The piece stresses that this is not colourisation, whereby colour reference material is used or colour is invented. It quotes Insell as saying: "In the colour recovery process, what you get out are the original colours."

Such is the potential that software for large-scale colour recovery is being developed, and he adds: "BBC Worldwide is obviously quite interested in releasing archive content, notably with Doctor Who and various programmes like that."

Insell also worked on the reverse standards conversion process, which was used to great effect on various DVD releases, such as The Claws of Axos.

(With thanks to Tony Clark and Luke McCullough.)

Posted By John Bowman

The forthcoming DVD release of Fourth Doctor story The Invasion of Time will have CGI effects as optional extras.

The British Board of Film Classification today passed a total of 33 effects for the six-part adventure, comprising three for episode one, five for episode two, five for episode three, nine for episode four, three for episode five, and eight for episode six.

As well as the mini-documentaries The Elusive David Agnew and The Rise and Fall of Gallifrey, reported earlier this month by this site, today's announcement stated that the DVD would also have a "making of" mini-documentary entitled Out of Time plus an Easter Egg.

A date for the DVD's release has yet to be announced.