Big Finish have announced that Cherie Lunghi will join Peter Davison for their forthcoming audio adventure, The Emerald Tiger. The actress joins the Fifth Doctor team of Janet Fielding, Sarah Sutton and Mark Strickson for the story that opens a new mini-season in April 2012.

Writer and director Barnaby Edwards said:

The cast also includes Sam Dastor, Neil Stacy, Vincent Ebrahim, Vineeta Rishi, Trevor Cooper and Gwilym Lee.


The adventure is available to pre-order from Big Finish.

Karen Gillan commented on how she'd like to see her character Amy leave the series: "Death would be an option. I don’t want Amy to pop up again every so often, because for me it would take away from the big, emotional goodbye. Once she’s gone, she’s gone - I want people to remember the Amy Pond era as a good one." [Mirror, Daily Record, 31 Oct 2011]

Singer song-writer Mark Eitzel commented on hiring Arthur Darvill last year in his Brighton stage show: "Not many people know this, but aside from being a great actor, Arthur’s a fantastic musician. He gave my little production 120% all the time, and we even ended up playing in a band together when I performed at the All Tomorrow’s Parties festival in Minehead. It’s weird though seeing him running round fighting Daleks or whatever – I’m like, 'That’s the guy who sang in my play?'" [Western Mail, 31 Oct 2011]

John Barrowman revealed that he is often asked out to the jungle: "They ask me on I'm a Celeb every year and each year I politely say, 'No'. But I kinda want to do it. I think it'd be fun and some of the trials are pretty out there. But my partner, Scott, reminded me that there would be no way I could cope in the jungle. If I don't eat, I get grumpy. Happy John you see on the telly would soon turn into Grumpy John and I'd probably start snapping at the other contestants." [Western Mail, 1 Nov 2011]

The actor will also be performing at the Macmillan Centenary Gala, taking place at the London Palladium on the 28th November. The show, hosted by Graham Norton, will feature a variety of performers, including Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Jimmy Carr, and Jimmy Osmond. [Theater Mania, 31 Oct 2011]

Peter Davison rates A Very Peculiar Practive amongst his best performances: "I think from my point of view it's right up there near the top I think in terms of personal enjoyment of it. I mean I loved doing it - I enjoy doing every show I do actually - but I think it just held a special place because the writing was so good. And it's one of those scripts you get where you just don't want to change a word . It really is terrific, the really well written scripts are easy to learn, they just flow and it makes the whole process so much easier. This show had it." [Bang Showbiz via The List, 31 Oct 2011]

Sylvester McCoy will be a guest at this year's Auckland Armageddon Expo, and appeared on New Zealand's NZTV's Good Morning to chat about the expo, rugby, his career, and NOT The Hobbit! (Other Doctor Who guests at the Expo include Louise Jameson, Mark Sheppard, and Morgan Sheppard) [TVNZ (video), 27 Oct 2011]

Sara Lloyd-Gregory (Carys, Torchwood: Day One) reflects on the highlight of her career: "Torchwood was amazing. It was brilliant to be working with creator Russell T Davies and the cast were incredible. I had a lot of fun playing Carys who seemed to spend a lot of time snogging people! In fact, I do spend a lot of time playing dark characters but I like that. It gives you the chance to challenge yourself, to let loose and push yourself." [South Wales Guardian, 1 Nov 2011]

Shane Rimmer (Seth Harper, The Gunfighters) has recorded an audio version of his autobiography, From Thunderbirds to Pterodactyls; the character actor reflects on his career that covers Doctor Who, James Bond, Coronation Street, Star Wars, Batman Begins, and of course the voice of Scott Tracy in Thunderbirds as well as many more. The 3CD set is due to be released on 31st November. [available from Big Finish]

Peter Davison discussed the possibility of a 50th Anniversary appearance in Doctor Who: "I feel no need to turn my back on it, but I don't feel like it's the kind of thing they'd do. I'd be very surprised if they tried to do anything involving the old Doctors because it always takes a slight stretch of the imagination anyway to figure out why the previous Doctors look older - but I'm sure that can be done. But at the same time I'm not sort of longing on it. I'm perfectly happy to have played my part to go back to 'Time Crash'. I don't feel like I'm hanging on a phone call from the 'Doctor Who' offices saying let's do something special." [Contact Music, 21 Oct 2011]

John Barrowman also commented on his interest in the golden year of the series: "If I'm asked to go back I would love to go back - I think it would be great to be involved with the 50th Anniversary, since Jack was such a big part of the Who world. But, having said that, nothing's been said, so I don't sit and wait and I don't want fans to think that I don't want to do it because I would love to, but if I'm not asked I'm not going to push and bang down the door - I'll just move onto something else." The actor also suggested that should Torchwood return it was unlikely to commence filming before next September. [Scottish Daily Record via YouTube, 18 Oct 2011]

Catherine Tate (Donna Noble) will be returning to NBC's version of The Office, reprising her role of Nellie Bertram who appeared in the previous series finale back in May. The character is expected to appear in a multi-episode arc. [Theater Mania, 21 Oct 2011]

Kai Owen (Rhys, Torchwood) is encouraging local 'daredevils' to take part in a charity abseil down the West Orchards Shopping Centre's glass dome in Coventry, aiming to raise money for CLIC Sargent. The event takes place in the evenings of 29th and 30th October and is open to anyone aged 16 or over. [Coventry Telegraph, 19 Oct 2011]

Actor and writer Mark Gatiss was the guest on this week's edition of the long-running BBC Radio 4 programme Desert Island Discs; during the show he spoke about his life, growing up opposite a psychiatric hospital, his interest in the supernatural, and his successful career with The League of Gentlemen, Sherlock and of course Doctor Who. [Desert Island Discs, 23 Oct 2011]

Ray Brooks has recorded an audio version of his autobiography, Learning My Lines; the actor traces his career through rep, comedies, his various television appearances including famously the voice of Mr Benn, Big Deal, and Eastenders, and of course his role as David in Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150AD. Revealing the vulnerability of an actor's life, the candid account is full of down-to-earth humour and captivating honesty. [available from Fantom Films]

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Inadmissable Evidence has opened at the Donmar Warehouse, featuring Karen Gillan in her first theatre role; reviews of the play can be found at the Independent, Guardian, Telegraph, Daily Mail, Standard, The Stage; it was also reviewed in the BBC Radio 4's Front Row.

Matt Smith is to star in a new BBC Drama playing Bert Bushnell, one half of the team which took the double scull Olympic Gold Medal for the UK in the 1948 London Olympics.

The film shows how Bushnell, and his partner Dickie Burnell, overcame class differences to win the event for Britain. Filming will take place in August with Smith returning to the role of The Doctor, to film this year's Christmas Special, in the Autumn.


Meanwhile the Fifth Doctor, Peter Davison, joins Graham Norton this Saturday on BBC Radio 2 from 10am. Questions for the actor can be emailed to the show at graham.norton@bbc.co.uk

The Daily Mail is reporting that David Tennant and Georgia Moffett are celebrating the birth of a daughter.

The baby, named Olivia, is understood to have been born earlier this week.

Tennant and Moffett are believed to have became engaged over Christmas, although they have never talked publicly about their relationship. A family friend confirmed the news to the Mail saying "Georgia and David could not be happier, Olivia is beautiful and their families are over the moon. They did very well in keeping everything very nearly private and keeping things under wraps. Georgia was a lot more pregnant than people thought when the news first broke."

Georgia Moffett is the daughter of fifth Doctor Peter Davison, who becomes a Grandfather for the second time.

Media coverage: Digital Spy, The Sun, Contactmusic.com, Digital Journal, TVOvermind, Eleven AOL Celebrity, RTE.ie, Now Magazine Online, New Magazine, Express, Ok! Magazine, Daily Star, Marie Claire UK, Star Magazine UK, Post Chronicle, AceShowbiz, hello! magazine, Monsters and Critics, Unreality TV, Music Rooms, The List, Metro, BreakingNews.ie, Holy Moly!, Stv, Female First, heat world, soFeminine, Hollywood.com, BBC America, Celebrity News and Style, What's On TV, Why Fame, Made For Mums, Radio Times, Celebrity Baby Scoop

Details of the forthcoming classic Doctor Who DVD releases due out over the next couple of months in the United Kingdom have now been made available by 2|Entertain. April sees the final Pertwee tale Planet of the Spiders released as a two disc edition, whilst May goes back to the beginning of his era as the Doctor with a new edition of Spearhead from Space, coupled with sequel tale Terror of the Autons as part of the Mannequin Mania boxed set; also in May comes the penultimate Davison story to be released on DVD, Frontios (the final release of this era, The Awakening, is due later in the year). See our separate article on next week's Revisitations 2 release.

The company has also been keeping readers appraised via their twitter feed, which has included the following tidbits:

12 14:16 Frontios test disc in! http://t.co/Px8HoJU
14 08:58 Frontios looks & sounds beautiful on test disc. Well done Peter Crocker and Mark Ayres
15 16:04 Watching Ed Stradling rough-cut of Android Invasion doc. http://t.co/CbqFw92
16 23:29 Frontios test discs all signed off.
         Also updated production subtitles delivered for Robots of Death.
17 18:44 Watching Ed Stradling rough cuts I'd forgotten "Nightmare of Eden" was so edgy in parts.
19 08:33 Watching test disc for Mannequin Mania. Restoration beautiful.
         Well done Peter Crocker and Mark Ayres! http://t.co/hmxo6Ox
24 03:31 Viewed Clayton Hickman rough box artwork for EarthStory. Lovely!

Stars from Doctor Who have designed candle holders to be auctioned for the ILLUMINATE Campaign, an offshoot of The Cure Parkinson's Trust. The auction on eBay began yesterday and will finish at 7.00 pm on Friday 4th March 2011.

Peter Davison (the fifth Doctor and Bernard Cribbins (Wilfred Mott) have both designed an image to be used on a candle holder. Also in the auction are hand signed photos by Davison and Katherine Jenkins (Abigail Pettigrew, A Christmas Carol).

Other celebrities who have appeared in Doctor Who and have designed a candle holder for the auction are Harry Lloyd (Jeremy Baines / Son of Mine, Human Nature / The Family of Blood), Roy Hudd (Max Miller, Pier Pressure, Big Finish Audio), Louise Minchin (Newsreader, Torchwood: Children of Earth), Julia Sawalha (Emma, The Curse of Fatal Death, Red Nose Day parody episode), who has signed a photo, and Ricky Gervais, who appeared as a slug-like monster alongside David Tennant as the tenth Doctor in a scene in Extras - The Special.

For a limited time Big Finish is offering several of its two-disc, full cast Doctor Who audio plays for sale for just £5.00 each.

Peter Davison stars as the Fifth Doctor in The Council of Nicaea, in which he, Peri (Nicola Bryant) and Erimem (Caroline Morris) become embroiled in events in the year 325AD.

In Exotron, the Fifth Doctor and Peri land on a distant colony that is being terrorized by indigenous predators. This three-part adventure is accompanied by the one-part story Urban Myths.

In The Wishing Beast the Sixth Doctor (Colin Baker) and Mel (Bonnie Langford) meet a pair of elderly sisters on an asteroid. This three-part story is joined by the one-part The Vanity Box.

Red stars Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor and Bonnie Langford as Mel, while McCoy goes solo in Valhalla – up against giant termites on Callisto.

Also available for a fiver for a limited time are the three audio adaptations of the Doctor Who stageplays: The Ultimate Adventure, Seven Keys to Doomsday and Curse of the Daleks.

This offer ends on March 31.

The two tales featuring the Mara are to be released in the United Kingdom by 2|Entertain on the 7th March 2011 (see here for the North American release date). Details for the two stories in the Mara Tales boxed set, Kinda and Snakedance, are listed below.

2|Entertain released a trailer online last year to promote the set, featuring some of the new special effects that have been especially created for the two tales; this can be viewed in our earlier article about the DVD.



(Mara Tales is available to pre-order from our Amazon Shop)

Fifth Doctor Peter Davison is to join the cast of ITV's drama series Law & Order.

Filming begins shortly on the next series of the UK produced show based on the NBC Series. Davison will play Henry Sharpe, the man taking over the job of Director of the CPS, described as a down to earth pragmatist and a great boss. Returning to the series is Freema Agyeman who played Martha Jones in Doctor Who.

Law & Order: UK airs on ITV1 in the UK and is currently being shown on BBC America.