The grieving widower of Mary Tamm who died shortly after the actress's funeral may have suffered from a rare condition in which the heart stops beating for no reason, an inquest was told.

Marcus Ringrose, who was aged 59, gave a moving eulogy at Tamm's funeral on 7th August this year but just hours later his body was found at their home in Battersea. The cause of death was given by pathologist Dr John du Parcq as sudden adult death syndrome, with emotional stress as the potential trigger. Mr Ringrose had collapsed while e-mailing a friend about his wife, but a post-mortem revealed that he had been fit and well and there was no evidence that he had suffered a heart attack. No alcohol or drugs were found in his body, nor were there signs of external injury, Westminster Coroner's Court was told.

Dr du Parcq said there may have been a genetic cause, as Mr Ringrose had complained of palpitations years earlier and had had an uncle who suffered a fatal heart attack at the age of 52, but the pathologist added that "acute stress, be that metabolic or emotional" could have been the trigger.

Referring to the syndrome, deputy coroner Dr Shirley Radcliffe said: "It is a recognised situation that it can be triggered by particularly stressful and emotional events, which undoubtedly Mr Ringrose had been going through." She recorded a verdict of death by natural causes and advised the family to seek advice and tests from a cardiologist.

IDW Publishing have announced a new series of releases to tie in with Doctor Who's 50th Anniversary - launching in January, Prisoners of Time will focus on each of the eleven Doctors over the course of the year, with the first of course tracing the First Doctor. Each issue will also feature an essay on the Doctor of that month.


There'll also be a twelfth issue, details of which are unknown at present ...

The first part of Series 7 is due to be released in the UK on the 29th October, and will come in two flavours. Both versions feature the five episodes shown so far (Asylum of the Daleks to The Angels take Manhattan), the UK mini-episode Pond Life, and also the two special 'prequels' that were originally exclusive to iTunes:

• Asylum of the Daleks: The Doctor receives a message from a mysterious hooded stranger – a woman called Darla Von Karlsen wants to meet him...
• A Town Called Mercy: Civil war has ravaged the Kahler race, but a team of scientists has found an advantage. The Gunslinger is born.

In addition, a limited edition "Weeping Angels" release also contains the documentary The Science of Doctor Who, which delves into whether the scientific concepts of the series live up to reality.


Both the standard (DVD/Blu-ray) and limited edition (DVD/Blu-ray) versions are available for pre-order.

AudioGo have released details on audio titles in their spoken word range due to be released towards the end of the year.

After November's Destiny of The Daleks, the next in the television soundtrack range will also be the following adventure, City of Death, again with linking narration and bonus interview from Lalla Ward (Romana). Meanwhile, the next Eleventh Doctor story, Snake Bite, will be the final one to feature the characters of Amy and Rory.

It might seem enshrined in tradition, but the Christmas Special is seldom confirmed to be on Christmas Day itself until just a few weeks before broadcast. This year, however, the BBC have announced some ten weeks in advance that Doctor Who will indeed feature in the line-up for the festive evening, which it hopes will help settle the audience in front of BBC1 with their turkey sandwiches for the duration!

The time of the episode has yet to be announced, but will slot into the usual late afternoon/early evening line-up, which this year includes the Pixar Oscar-winning film Up as well as the usual instalment of Walford mayhem in EastEnders. The prime-time 9:00pm slot this year falls to the popular new series Call the Midwife, which is expected to go head-to-head with the ratings winner of last Christmas, ITV1's Downton Abbey. The main evening viewing on BBC1 is rounded off with The Royle Family at 10:00pm.

The as-yet-untitled hour-long special set in Victorian times will be Matt Smith's third Christmas outing, and sees the debut of Jenna-Louise Coleman as the new regular co-star; the episode also guest stars Richard E Grant. In addition, the episode will see the return of several of the Doctor's compatriots from last year's A Good Man Goes To War, with Neve McIntosh, Catrin Stewart and Dan Starkey reprising their roles of Vastra, Jenny and Strax respectively. The episode is written by Steven Moffat and directed by Saul Metzstein.

Into 2013 ...

The latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine has summarised the expected running order of the remaining eight episodes of the current series to be broadcast in 2013, and also confirmed that fantasy author Neil Gaiman - who suggested he was writing a script last month - has indeed done so.

Episode	Writer	Director	Guest stars
2013 #1 |	Steven Moffat |	Colm McCarthy
2013 #2 |	Neil Cross |	Farren Blackburn
2013 #3 |	Mark Gatiss |	Douglas Mackinnon |	David Warner and Liam Cunningham
2013 #4 |	Neil Cross |	Jamie Payne |	Dougray Scott and Jessica Raine
2013 #5 |	Steve Thompson |	Mat King |	Ashley Walters
2013 #6 |	Mark Gatiss |	Saul Metzstein |	Diana Rigg and Rachael Stirling
2013 #7 |	Neil Gaiman |	Stephen Wolfenden
2013 #8 |	Steven Moffat |	tbc

Paul McGann is to be interviewed as part of the Personal Development Planning Week at the Liverpool John Moores University on Tuesday 23rd October. The actor will be there to discuss how his own career has developed. The event is only open to university staff and students. [LJMU, 15 Oct 2012]

Russell T Davies is to be a guest on BBC Radio 2's Graham Norton show on 27th October, to tie in with the premiere of his new children's show Wizards vs Aliens on CBBC on 29th October. Questions can be submitted to the show address.

Arthur Darvill is adding theatrical composition to his ever-growing list of activities; the actor/musician said: "I write music as well, so I work a lot with Sean Walker. We've been working on a twisted version of The Bacchae called The Lightening Child (written by Che Walker) with carnival music, so I've co-written music for that. We made it really big and refused to scale it down. Finally, the Globe said they would love to do it, so we’ll be doing that next summer." [Independent, 17 Oct 2012]

Actress Chase Masterson talks about working with two Doctors on the forthcoming Big Finish audio dramas The Shadow Heart and Night of the Stormcrow: "They were all absolutely charming and very welcoming to me, and it was big fun to see them exude the same playfulness and brilliant quirks that they displayed on screen. Tom and Sylvester were particularly generous with stories of working with other British greats, including Olivier and Gielgud and McKellen, and I even got Sylvester to do a command performance on the spoons. Some of my now-favorite career moments include hearing Sylvester recount stories of the roots of his career in vaudeville, as well as tales of his upcoming, key role in The Hobbit trilogy. Also truly lovely and deserving of her reputation as a favorite Companion is the gorgeous Louise Jameson. What is even more stunning about Louise is the richly aware person she is, and her kindness and personal attention to everyone she comes into contact with." [Star Trek, 11 Oct 2012]

Nina Toussaint-White is currently playing one of four twentysomething white witches in the new contemporary ITV2 comedy-drama Switch. The six-episode show, which started on Monday 15th October, is set in Camden Town and Kensington, with Toussaint-White's character, Jude, as the fashionista of the group, and she said she couldn't believe how alike she was to her. "When I first read the script I thought, 'That's me!' I could see myself in the role because we are so similar. We're both quite bolshie, energetic people. Jude is a hedonist. I wouldn't say I'm a hedonist as such, but I sometimes speak before I think. I like to go out and have fun and party. She's confident and loud, fun and care-free, and I think that's what I'm like," she said. [ITV Press Centre]

BBC Four is to show Mark Gatiss's documentary Horror Europa on Tuesday 30th October at 9pm, it has been confirmed. The 90-minute journey through European horror cinema is a follow-up to his 2010 series A History of Horror for the same channel. [BBC Media Centre, 18 Oct 2012]

Phil Collinson is leaving his post as Coronation Street producer but will be staying at ITV to take up a new role of drama development. He has produced the soap opera since July 2010 and will hand over the reins to current Emmerdale producer Stuart Blackburn in January 2013. He said: "It's been an honour to produce Coronation Street and I'll be sad to leave. But the drama can only stay at the top of its game if the producer is re-energised every two to three years." [ITV Press Centre, 17 Oct 2012]

As reported by Dan Hall at Recon last month, the new issue of Doctor Who Magazine has a summary of the DVDs scheduled for the beginning of 2013, which includes the announcement that the recently recovered and restored third episode of the William Hartnell story Galaxy 4, Air Lock, will be released as a bonus episode on the special edition version of Season 1 story The Aztecs.

Other releases lined up for the first quarter include the previously reported Legacy Box on 7th January, the animation-enhanced The Reign of Terror on 28th January, a special edition version of The Ark in Space on 18th February, and the above-mentioned special edition of The Aztecs on 11th March. No features for the DVDs have been announced at present.

In addition, the last 'intact' story of the range, Terror of the Zygons has been announced for June (The Mind of Evil undergoing colour restoration) - features for the final Tom Baker release were unexpectedly revealed by the BBFC back in July.

Finally, DWM also revealed that Jon Pertwee's inaugural story Spearhead from Space is to be released yet again in June, this time taking advantage of the 'classic' series story's unique film recording to produce a high-definition Blu-ray presentation. Features on this release will include an extensive biography on Pertwee and an obituary for his co-star Caroline John, who died earlier this year.

Future History ...

Since our summer update the list of currently unannounced titles has diminished rapidly, with only fourteen episodes remaining to see the DVD treatment:

• The First Doctor: The Tenth Planet - three existing episodes, missing episode four
• The Second Doctor: The Underwater Menace: Episode 2
• The Second Doctor: The Ice Warriors - four existing episodes, missing episodes two+three
• The Third Doctor: The Mind of Evil - all six episodes, episode one is in the process of being colourised

In addition, several special edition versions of previously released stories are expected during the course of the year, including Inferno.

The Legacy Box has now been confirmed to be the first DVD release for 2013, coming out in the UK(R2) on 7th January and in North America(R1) on the 8th. As previously reported, the two-disc boxed set will feature the 'lost' story Shada from Season 17 and the 30th Anniversary celebratory documentary More Than Thirty Years in the TARDIS.

After months of speculation, the new issue of Doctor Who Magazine has confirmed that the main version of Shada presented will be the 102 minute, 1992 VHS release, which included added effects, music, and linking narration by Tom Baker. Though no other R2 information has been released at present, the R1 details indicate that the set will also contain the re-interpreted version of Shada featuring Paul McGann that was produced by Big Finish and released as a Flash animation during the 40th Anniversary for (and still available from) the BBC's official Doctor Who website.

Other features (R1 details) include a documentary on the troubled history of Shada's production, Taken Out of Time, a look at the story's locations in Now and Then, the first part of a feature on Doctor Who's first producer Verity Lambert in The Lambert Tapes - Part 1, memories of the Doctor's honorary companion in Remembering Nicholas Courtney, another companion profile with Doctor Who Stories - Peter Purves, plus Strike! Strike! Strike!, Being a Girl - Women in Doctor Who, and Those Deadly Divas.

Later this month Big Finish release Doctor Who – UNIT: Dominion, an epic five-disc box set that reunites the Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) with his cat burglar companion Raine Creevy (Beth Chalmers) in a fight to save the universe. Joining the fray are Dr Elizabeth Klein (Tracey Childs), scientific advisor to UNIT, and a future incarnation of the Doctor (Alex Maqueen).

Producer David Richardson said:

To count down to the release, Big Finish have released a number of digital postcards, such as the ones below which feature the Seventh Doctor, Raine, the Other Doctor, Sergeant Pete Wilson, the Nexus, the Skyheads and the Mind Leeches.


The boxed set can be pre-ordered on its own, or as part of a fifteen disc bundle from Big Finish with productions Love and War, Dark Eyes, Voyage to Venus and Voyage to the New.

Fantom Publishing have announced the publication of the second part of the actress Mary Tamm's autobiography. Second Generation continues on from the first volume, with the late actress imparting her personal recollections of playing Romana during her final three Doctor Who stories from Season 16.

Publisher Dexter O'Neill said:

The book is due to be published early next year, and will be available in both paperback and a limited edition hardback with additional photographs. Pre-order details can be found via the Fantom website.