This week saw filming taking place for the seventh and last block of the new series, for episodes 7 and 11. The beginning of the week saw the crew out in a village near St. Athan, whilst the latter half has been spent back on the streets and parks of Cardiff.

The BBC Press Office have announced that the Doctor Who Children's Television spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures has been recommissioned for a further two series. Both series will consist of twelve, twenty-five minute episodes.

Says CBBC Controller Damian Kavanagh:BBC Wales Head of English Language Programmes, Clare Hudson, added:The fourth series starts production at the end of March (believed to be the 29th), for transmission in Autumn. The new producer has been named as Brian Minchin (former script-editor for Doctor Who/Torchwood), who will work alongside co-producer Phil Ford, with Russell T Davies and Doctor Who producer Nikki Wilson as executive producers; writers include Ford, Joseph Lidster, Rupert Laight, Gareth Roberts and Clayton Hickman, and the series will be script-edited by Gary Russell.

The show will feature all three main stars Tommy Knight (Luke), Daniel Anthony (Clyde) and Anjli Mohindra (Rani), as well as the title-star Elisabeth Sladen as investigative journalist Sarah Jane Smith; however, no mention has currently been made of K9.
The fifth series is expected to go into production next year.

Concept Designer Peter McKinstry has published artwork on his website featuring concepts and illustrations from his work on Doctor Who, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures.

McKinstry has been Concept Designer on Doctor Who since series two. He is responsible for coming up with the look of the series, from planets and space ships to weapons and monsters. As well as his work on the Doctor Who and its spin-offs he has also worked on the last three Harry Potter films and the Harry Potter Theme Park.

Science fiction and fantasy author Neil Gaiman has confirmed he will be writing an episode of Doctor Who for Matt Smith's second series as The Doctor.

Gaiman broke the news in a special message sent to SFX Weekender as part of his acceptance speech for winning Best Comic at the SFX Awards.
Gaiman's works include The Sandman graphic novel series, Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book. He has won a Hugo Award and the 2009 Newbery Medal. His involvement in Doctor Who has been rumoured for a while.

Steven Moffat has revealed the titles of the first few stories of Matt Smith's era as the Eleventh Doctor.

The series begins with The Eleventh Hour written by Moffat himself and is believed to follow directly on from the regeneration in The End of Time. Episode Two is The Beast Below also by Moffat with Episode Three seeing the return of the Doctor's greatest foe in Victory of the Daleks by Mark Gatiss.

Speaking to Doctor Who Magazine, Moffat also confirmed a number of guest stars for the new series coming to the UK in the Spring.

Arthur Darvill will join the cast of Episode One as Rory. Darvill was previously seen in Little Dorrit, playing Tip Dorrit in the 2008 series.

Sophie Okonedo stars in Episode Two. She recently seen playing Winnie Mandela in the film Mrs Mandela and has previously starred in series such as Criminal Justice, Father and Son and Clocking Off. Her role as Tatiana, the wife of Rwandan hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina in the genocide drama film Hotel Rwanda, earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. For Doctor Who she played Alison Cheney, a companion of the Doctor in the 2003 webcast, Scream of the Shalka.

Bill Paterson joins Episode Three. The Scottish actor's long career features appearances in The Killing Fields, A Private Function, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Chaplin, Richard III, Miss Potter and Creation. His television roles include Auf Wiedersehen Pet, Smiley's People, The Singing Detective and the ITV version of Doctor Zhivago. Science fiction fans will remember him from his two roles in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy radio dramas: as the Playbeing freighter pilot in the Secondary Phase, and as "rain god" Rob McKenna in the Quandary Phase.

Also in Episode Three is Ian McNeice. McNeice had a memorable role in the award-winning series Edge of Darkness. He has appeared in a number of films, including 84 Charing Cross Road, Day of the Dead, No Escape, From Hell and The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain, and is well known to TV fans as Baron Harkonnen in the Sci-Fi Channel original miniseries Dune and Children of Dune and the Forum Crier in the HBO series Rome.

Episodes Four and Five see the return of Alex Kingston as River Song. Kingston first played the role in the Tenth Doctor's episodes Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead also written by Steven Moffat. She is best known for her role as Dr. Elizabeth Corday in the NBC television series ER and has appeared in The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, A Pin for the Butterfly, Croupier and Boudica.

Episode Ten sees Tony Curran join the cast playing Vincent Van Gough in the Richard Curtis episode. Curran has appeared in many films including Shallow Grave, Great Expectations, Gladiator, The Mists of Avalon and Miami Vice.

One of the UK's most prestigious historical landmarks played host to the Doctor Who production team last night, with cast and crew filming at Stonehenge in Wiltshire. A report on the proceedings follows below.


There are further photographs (i.e. spoilers) from BBC Wiltshire.

This last week has seen production for the 2010 series of Doctor Who continue with scenes filmed at Brangwyn Hall in Swansea, a location previously seen in "Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead", and Torchwood's "Children of Earth". See the spoiler section for some more details and cast members seen at the Hall!

In what amounts to confirmation that Series Four of The Sarah Jane Adventures has been commissioned, the BBC are recruiting a new producer to take over production of the series. The successful applicant will be based in Cardiff, and assumes responsibility for the programme which begins shooting in March. The series will once again consist of twelve thirty-minute episodes.

Series Three was shown in the UK last Autumn, achieving much higher than average ratings for CBBC. Series Two has just begun broadcasting on BBC Kids in Canada.

The Welsh Government has given the go ahead to develop a new Drama Villiage at a site near Cardiff Bay to be used by BBC Wales.

The proposed centre would accommodate all BBC Drama made in Wales, including Doctor Who and any future series of Torchwood and the Sarah Jane Adventures as well as other drama productions made in the country such as Casualty and the Welsh language soap Pobol y Cwm.. The proposed site is the currently derelict, former dock side land at Roath Basin. The Welsh Government will work with Igloo Regeneration to develop the area and to progress with the building of the BBC Drama Village, which would total 170,000 sq ft of television studios and ancillary accommodation, as well as a new office building.

Menna Richards, Director of BBC Cymru Wales, said "This is a fantastic opportunity to build on the success of BBC Wales drama production and the wider creative industries in Wales."

Current Doctor Who production is based just outside Cardiff at Upper Boat near Pontypridd.

BAFTA have uploaded The Regeneration of Doctor Who onto their YouTube site.

The event, which took place at BAFTA last month, features Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner talking about their 6 year working relationship as executive producers on Doctor Who and the terrifying responsibility of bringing the show back to a new generation of viewers with Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant in the lead role.

Amongst a range of illuminating insights, the pair discussed their attempt to reinvigorate of the Saturday night prime time slot, the emergence of BBC Wales as a major player on the production landscape and explored why the character of the Doctor is such an extraordinary figure for writers to work with.