Christopher Eccleston was named Best Actor at today's TV Quick/TV Choice Awards, according to reports at Yahoo News and The Mirror. Eccleston won the award despite having quit the show after only one series. The awards, held at the Dorchester Hotel on London's Park Lane, were voted by readers of TV Quick and TV Choice magazines. Other awardees included "Coronation Street" as best soap, plus two awards for rivals "EastEnders" and "Emmerdale". "Doctor Who" lost out to "Desperate Housewives" as best series. (Thanks to Paul Engelberg, Patrick Furlong)

Issue #135 of SFX magazine is now on the newsstands. "This month the mag comes with another of our double-sided A3 posters. On one side: Doctor Who - the new Doctor, David Tennant (resplendent in his rather cool costume) and Billie Piper; on t'other, the retro glory of Thunderbirds!" There are also stories on recent film & TV, an interview with author Neil Gaiman, and much more. The cover is at right. (Thanks to Ian Berriman/SFX)

Toward the End of the Morning is writer Rob Shearman's ("Dalek") latest play for BBC Radio 4, adapted from the comic novel by Michael Frayn. "It's about a lowly crossword editor on a 1960s newspaper suddenly aspiring to stardom when he gets invited on a television chatshow," Shearman tells Outpost Gallifrey. "An awful lot of the play was drawn from my own experiences being interviewed repeatedly for publicity for 'Dalek' earlier in the year!" The play forms two one hour episodes, broadcast at 3 pm on Sunday 4 September and Sunday 11 September, repeated at 9 pm the following Saturdays (10th and 17th), and will be available too on the listen again service at the BBC website. It stars James Wilby and Martin Freeman (star of "The Office" and who also played Arthur Dent in the recent film version of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"), and is directed by Martin Jarvis.

Roadshow Entertainment has announced that Series One Volume 4 of their DVD releases of the new series' first season is due out on 6 October, with the full boxed set of the first season due in December. Meanwhile, The Web Planet will be out in Australia on DVD in November, while City of Death is due in December. (Thanks to John Hatfield)

Further details for Andrew Cartmel's book Through Time: An Unofficial and Unauthorised History of Doctor Who, published this fall by Continuum Press, have been annonced. "The quirky British television series Doctor Who is a classic both of science fiction and television drama. First broadcast in 1963, it has remained an influential TV presence ever since, with an eagerly anticipated new series airing in 2005. As a vehicle for satire, social commentary, or sheer fantasy adventure, Doctor Who is unparalleled. It was a show created for children, but it was immediately usurped by adults. Arriving at a time of upheaval in the popular arts in Britain, Doctor Who was born into a television tradition influenced by the TV plays of Dennis Potter, the cult television drama The Prisoner, the James Bond films and Stanley KubrickÆs science fiction triptych ù Dr Strangelove, 2001: A Space Odyssey and A Clockwork Orange. A British fantasy adventure that has unfolded across television screens over decades in the tradition of Lewis Carroll, Conan Doyle and HG Wells, the strength of Doctor Who has always been its writers and the ideas they nurtured. In this new history of the show, Andrew Cartmel (who was the script editor on Doctor Who from 1987 to 1990) looks into its social and cultural impact û providing a fascinating read for committed and casual fans alike." The book includes twelve chapters that cover the show's origins, successes, regenerations, overseas sales, fandom and new life in 2005. The revised cover is at right; click on the thumbnail for a larger version. (Thanks to Paul Greaves)

BBC News reports that musicals are the inspiration for a new BBC One entertainment programme which will see celebrities performing songs from Broadway and West End shows, and John Barrowman will take part. Stars "will be among those taking on numbers from Cats, Guys and Dolls, Billy Elliot and Chicago. The four-part show will be broadcast on Saturday nights early next year. The BBC has enjoyed success over the past year with song-and-dance programmes like Strictly Come Dancing. The show, which is being filmed at London's TV Centre in September and October under the working title of Simply Musicals, will take on the same live feel of those hits. Audience members will be asked to come dressed for a night out in the West End in an attempt to give the show the atmosphere of a real theatre." The report notes that the program was commissioned by former BBC One controller Lorraine Heggessey, who also commissioned Doctor Who. Also reported in the Mirror and Media Guardian.

The official Doctor Who website has reported on the Big Finish "Cyberman" series we reported on a few days ago, and the police box in Glasgow news story (see our story on August 30).

Round Table, a current affairs discussion programme in which two local celebrities take a humorous look at the week's news, will air on BBC Radio York on September 9th, and Doctor Who will be the subject. The programme will be part of the 'Jules and Julia' slot and will be broadcast between 1 and 2 pm. DWAS Coordinator Ian Wheeler will take part in the roundtable discussion.

Exec producer Russell T Davies' forthcoming appearance at the Mardi Gras Fringe Benefit at the Sherman Theatre in Cardiff next month is noted in a press release. "Russell will be in conversation with arts writer Mike Smith about the new series of Dr Who now been filmed in South Wales. As well as discussing the new Time Lord, David Tennant, and maybe revealing a few secrets of the forthcoming Christmas special, the Swansea-born writer will also be answering questions from the audience at the Sherman Theatre, Cardiff on Tuesday September 6. ... Joining Russell on the Sherman stage will be top comedienne Clare Summerskill and West End actor Dave Benson, who received plaudits for his one man Kenneth Williams show, Think No Evil, and live music from Swansea singer Scotty. Mike Smith said, 'I am looking forward enormously to interviewing Russell and opening up the conversation to the audience as I know Dr Who is one of the big conversation topics everywhere I go. This evening will be great for Dr Who fans who can get to ask about the new series û not that I can guarantee Russell will be giving anything away! With comedy and music also on the bill this will be a great evening. Who knows we might get the Lord Mayor of Cardiff along û real or the Slitheen!'" For more details visit the Sherman Theatre website.

Kingswood Warren, home of the BBC's Research and Development Department, will open its doors to the public on September 10-11 as part of the Heritage Open Days. "Visitors will not only be able to look round the impressive reception rooms and the beautiful grounds and croquet lawn," says the press release, "but will also be able to experience some of the technical broadcasting wizardry of the BBC, making the impossible appear to happen before their eyes. Young visitors can participate in a show of the BBC's virtual reality Production Magic in the TV studio and (for a small charge) take away a videotape or DVD recording their exploits. Demonstrations will range from some of the electronic trickery behind BBC television coverage to the material that made Harry Potter's invisibility cloak. There will also be exhibitions on the achievements of BBC R&D û including demonstrations of some current projects and on the history of the Kingswood Warren house." Full details are available at the BBC's R&D website or the Heritage Open Days website.

New Zealand's Prime network has experienced a "dramatic increase" in audience levels for the new Doctor Who series in their target demographic of ages 25-54. Says the report, "Taking into consideration the previous programme in this timeslot was Wife Swap USA, it appears Prime's audience was crying out for a change." The high ratings have continued across the first six weeks of the series, with audience share being won from rival station TV3.

The Avalard/Hammer Horror website features an interview with Colin Baker, who at the time of the interview was appearing in previews for a new adaptation of "Dracula" on stage. Baker mentions Doctor Who in several instances, including his at-the-time forthcoming Australia tour and also his enjoyment of taping new Doctor Who audios for Big Finish.

Additional stories on the recent announcements about this year's batch of toys at The Sun, Manchester Online.

(Thanks to Steve Tribe, Paul Engelberg, Alan Daulby, Paul Hayes, Martin Hoscik, Chuck Foster)

Doctor Who Magazine editor Clayton Hickman recently spoke on the Outpost Gallifrey forum about the forthcoming new DWM special being released late this year. Confirming the issue, he noted that the title would likely be either "The Story of Doctor Who" or "Doctor Who: In Their Own Words" and would be volume one of a continuing series of specials. "We wanted something really accessible, very different (to keep the old hands interested) and something only DWM could do," Hickman said. "So, Ben Cook is going through *every* interview DWM has ever published... so we can do 'Doctor Who: In Their Own Words'. A bit like the big Beatles and Monty Python books that came out recently, where the whole story is told only in snippets of interviews with the people involved. No editorialising (though some contextual comments), just the people telling us what happened and how they felt. ... There's barely anyone who we haven't spoken to at least once, and we have things like William Hartnell's Desert Island Discs transcript so even he gets a look in. It was going to be just one big volume, but the whole thing is just too massive, so we'll do three volumes for the 60s, 70s and 80s, one a year, alongside whatever the Series Two and Series Three Specials turn out to be. Plus it's a good chance for us to print all our beautiful pictures really nicely, and use any new ones we've found. There isn't so much space for them in DWM right now, so it's a good way to show them off. And imagine the kids seeing 'Troughton surrounded by clockwork soldiers' or 'Hartnell facing a Zarbi' for the very first time!" (Thanks to Clayton Hickman/DWM)

While recent indications have suggested otherwise, the new release of "Revelation of the Daleks" in Australia contains an advertisement for the Doctor Who Series One Boxed Set which includes, as one of the listed 'special features', "Doctor Who Confidential - 14 x 15 minute episodes behind the scenes of production of Series 1". This seems to suggest the inclusion of the thirteen "Doctor Who Confidential: Cut Down" documentaries, the shortened versions of the documentary which excludes clips and interviews reminiscing about the original series, which aired on select weekends on BBC3 during the initial run of the show and during recent rebroadcasts. Roadshow, the distributor of Doctor Who on DVD in Australia, creates its prints from the BBC's in the UK, so there's no reason to believe that they would be different than the UK version, but recent UK press has indicated that they weren't supposed to be part of the package... only a special for the DVD release produced by the same group. The rights issues were likely behind the use of the 'cut down' installments, if in fact they're on the discs; the reference to "fourteen 15-minute episodes" could indicate the thirteen episodes of the documentary and the special release, though there's no indication as yet as to whether this would also include the two specials, "A New Dimension" or "The Ultimate Guide" that bookended the series. (Thanks to "The13thDoctor" for letting us know about the advert flyer)

A few update items on the forthcoming second series of Doctor Who to share:

According to the latest issue of the UK SF magazine "Starburst", the first episode of the season (beyond the Christmas special) is entitled New Earth, and will guest star Zoe Wanamaker, who returns from the first series. Doctor Who Magazine recently denied that the first episode was called "The Sunshine Camp"; no word on whether this new reported title is the real deal.

Broadcasting update: This Saturday (3 September)'s full-length Doctor Who Confidential 7. The Dark Side is now scheduled from 7.20 to 7.50pm. The following weekend's schedule of new series repeats, according to the Radio Timeswebsite has been substantially revised. There is no longer a full-length rerun of Doctor Who Confidential 8. Time Trouble scheduled for Saturday 10 September. On Sunday 11 September, a full-length rerun of Doctor Who Confidential 9. Special Effects is now scheduled from 7.00 to 7.30pm, followed by a double bill of The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances from 7.30 to 9.00pm, with no Cut Down version shown for that evening. DWCC is also absent from its usual Wednesday evening slot on 14 September. Oddly, DWC9 was not shown in Cut Down form during the initial March to June run either; the schedule for Friday 16 September is not yet confirmed, so it may yet appear!

On-location photography at Duffryn High School in Newport for the third episode, School Reunion, has completed as of yesterday (Friday). Of course, if the first series is any indication, production on the episode will continue for some time (as the episodes are being made in blocks with multiple episodes blending together for production).

Tenth Planet have told Outpost Gallifrey that the second collection of Doctor Who novels featuring the Ninth Doctor and Rose (and now, Jack Harkness too) are now in release: Only Human by Gareth Roberts, The Deviant Strain by Justin Richards and The Stealers of Dreams by Steve Lyons. Full details and cover illustrations are on our releasespage.

The BBC Gloucestershire website recently printed a short article about recent filming on the forthcoming special, The Christmas Invasion, tentatively scheduled for broadcast on 26 December, at Clearwell Caves. "Aliens have invaded Clearwell Caves! Well, sort of. Scenes for the forthcoming Doctor Who Christmas special have been shot at the popular Forest tourist attraction, and although its plot remains a secret it's a safe bet that extra-terrestrials are involved." "They wanted the largest underground cavern that they could find in this part of England," says Jonathan Wright, who co-runs the site, to BBC Gloucestershire. "(We're) quite surprised at the scale of it, it's taken up the entire car park." The site has an audio feature available for listening as well as the story itself; visit the site for more details.

John Barrowman was interviewed on Friday's edition of BBC Breakfast, in which he spoke about the play he's currently in, "A Few Good Men" (starring alongside Rob Lowe) and about his recent experiences on "Doctor Who," confirming that he would not be back for the second series but was told he would be back for the third. Barrowman also confirmed that he didn't know the reasons why Eccleston left (and indicated that it was the actor's business, not his), and joked that he owed David Tennant a kiss (referring to the brief exchange last season). He also noted recent conventions he had done and indicated some upcoming appearances including in Clacton and early next year in the US (in Los Angeles).

In the recent issue of "Dreamwatch" magazine, designer Bryan Hitch confirmes that we will see one additional TARDIS room besides the console room this year, and that the fundamental design of K-9 hasn't changed (but there are hints that he will have been tweaked a little). The Cybermen design will be updated, however, and the design is expected to remain a closely guarded secret.

The Planet Who website has photos of some of the new products coming out this year including the sonic screwdriver and the 3D character walkie talkies.

The transcript for David Tennant's CBBC webchat is finally up, at the CBBC website.

(Thanks to Jon Preddle, "Noetic_Concordance", Matt Kimpton, David Bailey, Steve Tribe, Paul Engelberg, Paul Hayes, John Bowman)