There are many newspaper stories out there regarding the press launch and screening of the first episode last night at the St David's Hotel and Spa in Cardiff Bay, with selections from interviews with Christopher Eccleston, Billie Piper, Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner and others. Here's a recap:

Eccleston admitted he was not a fan of the "old" series but it may have been the previous Time Lords' posh accents that put him off. "I'm different from the other Doctors," he said. "All the others spoke with this RP accent - maybe it was that that put me off. I think that it's good that we teach kids that people who speak like that can be heroic too." About Davies, he said, "I am a huge fan of his. IÆve tried to capture his speed of thought and the pace of his words, and of course they are his words."

Eccleston "revealed" that he and assistant Rose will "fall in love" but not the way you think. "It will be the first time the doctor has had a romance in the show's 40-year history," says one clip. However, Eccleston himself says, "They love each other. It's very much love at first sight. It's not a conventional love affair. It's far more mysterious than that." Billie Piper noted, "At the end of the first show when the doctor invites Rose to come with him in the Tardis I suppose it's very much like asking her out on a date. They have a very interesting dynamic and there are times when you can't put your finger on their relationship. But there's lots of holding hands throughout the series." Viewers will apparently see them saying things like: "I could save the world, but I'd lose you" and "I'm so glad I met you". About his companion, Eccleston says "There has been no heroine for 12-year-old girls before and Billie pulled that off just like that. She saves the Doctor in the first episode, she is a heroine."

Piper likes being a new role model. "When I was singing I was a role model then and when you are in that position you can do some good." Billie says she doesn't want to go back to her singing career and described herself as being "in a great place right now" with new acting projects on the horizon. She admitted that she didn`t watch the series as a child. "It was in our house and I remember freaky music and a man running around in a long scarf, but I could never make head nor tail of it." When she took the role she said she made the decision not to watch previous series for fear of confusing her own performance, but she said Mr Eccleston took on a far more difficult role than she had. "I don`t know how Chris does it but he did it. It`s like playing James Bond the Doctor he`s established there`s nothing he doesn`t know and there`s nothing he can`t do, as an actor that must be most frustrating."

However, an article in today's The Sun swears that Billie Piper is planning to relaunch her pop career after the airing of the new Doctor Who series, but she will only agree to a deal if she is happy with the style of music. A Sun "insider" is quoted as saying, "Billie would love to make a return to the music scene but she has to be happy with whatÆs being offered. She has been having talks with a number of labels, including Sony BMG, but hasnÆt put pen to paper yet. She wants a lot of input in and outside of the studio." All of which Billie Piper has flatly denied.

One or two articles mention "fifteen episodes" being broadcast (instead of the actual 13) and that each episode is a self-contained story (some of them are actually two parters.)

Davies said he wrote it with a family audience in mind: "If you chase a cult you just become a smaller cult. If a cult fan hates this series it means they will only watch it 20 times instead of 30 times. When they brought Crossroads back and made it a bit camp it was a turkey of disasterous proportions."

Gardner said about the show's future, "We just donÆt know what to expect, there is no real yardstick. Of course IÆm nervous." She also denied that the leak of the first episode had anything to do with the BBC. "We were devastated."

Musician Charlotte Church, who we reported yesterday showed up with a Dalek from The Sun, said "It was brilliant. I have never seen Doctor Who before. I would have been two when it was last on but this was like a mini-movie."

BBC Radio 4 has a link to an interview conducted this morning with Davies and DWM editor Clayton Hickman; you can listen to it for the next day or so by clicking here.

GMTV had a feature on its programme this morning before 8:30 with Ben Sheppard who attended the press launch yesterday; the clips shown were longer than those on BBC news.

Some links to various reports: BBC Radio 1, Times Online, Scotsman, Channel 4, Megastar, ITV, icNews,Edinburgh News

So far, today's (March 8) press clips, with more to be added as the day progresses:

This morning's (March 8) Radio Times features a one-page colour feature called "Doctor Who watch" with brief comments from RTD and Julie Gardner and small summaries of the Doctor, Rose, the TARDIS and 'the monsters'. As well as one of the standard publicity shots of Eccleston and Piper, there is a large photo of the 'blue meanie' from the cover of the latest DWM, which is caption and therefore confirmed as "the Moxx of Balhoon". The article also trails: "Next week: Doctor Who, the first words..." Also in the Radio Times, the listing for Thursday 17 March confirms that The Culture Show (BBC Two, 7pm and 11.25pm) will preview "the imminent return of Doctor Who". "Will it stay true to the spirit of the past series?" This is illustrated with one of the shots of Eccleston standing outside the TARDIS.

An article in the Belfast Telegraph "looks back at some memorable moments and opponents from the past 40 years" of Doctor Who, including the Daleks (featuring an interview with Cy Town), the Zygons, the Cybermen, the Yeti, the Daemons, the Zarbi, the Kandyman, and even the giant maggots of "The Green Death".

The Dark Horizons website, another movie industry gossip site, also features a brief review of "Rose," largely positive.

icWales has a mention of the leak, and also features quotes with Russell T Davies (lifted from elsewhere).

The Mirror features an article today called "EXTER BINATE," asking "The first episode of new Dr Who ..and can Billie save the world from Wheelie Bin aliens?" referring to a very minor plot point about the first episode, mentioning the episode leak and also a few plot points. (Don't read the article if you don't want to see a few spoilers for the first story.)

The downloading of Doctor Who made the front page of today's Guardian newspaper (link is to the story itself). The story mentions the "Ain't It Cool" online website which posted some scathing reviews of the episode (to which there are complaints that positive reviews were ignored; however, one eventual positive review by Warren Ellis was eventually posted in their "Coaxial" section). Ironically, the Guardian site focuses on the negative reviews, while reactions to the leaked episode have been overwhelmingly positive elsewhere.

A ton of reports on the leak of "Rose" to the Internet, so here's a quick guide to all of the links so far we've been able to compile (with thanks to Steve Tribe, Paul Engelberg, Paul Hayes): Evening Times, Digital Lifestyles, BBC News Technology, Disinfo.com, CBBC Newsround, Brisbane Courier Mail, The Australian, Melbourne Herald Sun, News.com.au, Advertiser Adelaide, Daily Telegraph, Manchester Evening News, This Is London,Financial Express India, Channel 4, U TV, Reuters, Times of Oman, ZDNet, Scotsman, Manchester Online, Times Online, ITV, The Register, Ananova

The BBC Radio Collection has released the cover and details for the CD release of Project: Who, the two-part radio drama narrated by Anthony Stewart Head. "Project: Who? discovers how the exciting new BBC1 series has been made, with award-winning writer and producer Russell T. Davies at the helm. Featuring new and exclusive interviews with the cast and creative team, the programme examines why the BBC decided to launch a new television series, nearly a decade after the Doctor's last small screen adventure. It also explores how the format of the show has been developed for a new audience, how the character of the Doctor was cast, and how his adventures will be launched and marketed around the globe. Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper, a.k.a. the Doctor and Rose, are amongst those talking about the new series, along with executive producers Julie Gardner and Mal Young, writer and executive producer Russell T. Davies, writer Mark Gatiss, director Joe Ahearne, producer Phil Collinson and many others." The cover illustration is at right; click for a larger version.

The BBC Radio 2 Doctor Who minisite has launched today; visit it by clicking here. It includes an audio page which will carry the Project Who programmes and Steve Wright's forthcoming interview of Russell T Davies, and currently features a five-minute documentary by Stuart Maconie on the theme tune. It also reveals that the title of part 2 of Project Who is "Reverse the Polarity"; has a competition for a Doctor Who "goody bag"; and there's an opportunity to share your favourite Classic Who moments with the world... by writing about them and sending them in. You can vote for when you think the Doctor and Rose should visit, and the site will carry details of broadcast times etc. for forthcoming programmes including Confidential. Finally, "Guest Questions" is the chance to send in a question for forthcoming Steve Wright guest Christopher Eccleston.

Tonight's edition of BBC Radio 4's "Front Row" announced that the date of transmission is Saturday, March 26 at 7:00pm in the UK, this after an interview with Russell T Davies about the new series. At the moment, there is still no official word from BBC1, but their radio announcers certainly are being kept up to date, and it was explained fairly matter of factly at the end of the interview that the show would be airing at that time and on that date. This should be as good an indicator that March 26 is the date to expect the new series, despite 'official' word from the broadcaster.

Listeners to BBC Radio Five Live before 9am UK time this morning were treated to the new Doctor Who series theme tune by Murray Gold; reports are also in that a snippet of the tune was played on Chris Moyles' show on Radio 1 this morning. The broadcast of the Breakfast show will likely be on Radio Five Live's website very shortly; select the listening button and then "Listen Again" for Tuesday morning and you should be able to catch it. Update 8 March 1500 GMT: It's now on the FiveLive website; it's at about the 2:39:30 mark in the show. The show also discusses the downloading of "Rose".

The rumor mills have been working overtime this weekend on news that the first episode of the series, Rose, has been leaked on the internet, courtesy an unidentified employee of a foreign broadcaster of the show. We weren't going to mention it originally, in order to help keep this from becoming even more widely known, but BBC News and other news services made that a moot point. Obviously, Outpost Gallifrey isn't going to tell you how or where to download it, but don't be surprised if you find reviews all over the web.

BBC News itself addresses the leak of "Rose" in a story that also reveals that Christopher Eccleston emailed Russell T Davies about the role. "He e-mailed me and said if we were looking for a Doctor Who, he'd be interested," Davies told Radio Times according to the news article. "It was gobsmacking because you think he's going to be doing Hamlet all the time. Which, come to think of it, he was." It says that episodes 1 and 2 were written before he was cast. "So I'd established a template for what I wanted, which fitted Chris perfectly. That was a happy accident - we both wanted to strip it down, make it more down-to-earth."

In an interview with today's Media Guardian, new series producer Russell T Davies explains how producing the new series of Doctor Who is a lifelong dream come true. When they approached him, "I worried they meant a cheap pastiche version, or an ironic version, but it was the real deal - Saturday night, proper budgets. All those things you think you'd have to fight for. Astonishing." The interview discusses his work on previous shows such as Children's Ward, Queer as Folk and Mine All Mine, as well as his thoughts on being a child transfixed by Doctor Who. "When I was eight, walking home from school down Hendrefoilan Avenue, I always used to think 'I could turn round the corner and the Tardis would be there - and I would run inside and I would fight alongside the Doctor.' It was the one programme that encouraged you to make up stories. The Tardis could land in the everyday world and no other science-fiction programme would do that. You were never going to be a member of the crew on the Enterprise when you were eight years old: it was in the future and they were the navy. Even if we don't get an audience, I hope there will be some eight-year-olds sitting there thinking the same thing. That's when I fell in love with it. I was transfixed." Read the full interview at the website.

A report in today's Observer discusses the obsession of fans with Doctor Who, framed in the context of the return of the series. It includes comments from Russell T Davies ("If we had tried to be ironic we would have died a death") and notes that there are only a few thousand fans of Doctor Who that are considered active or interested. (Strange, Outpost Gallifrey's front page got over 17,000 unique visitors last Thursday!) The report talks about websites and fandom and Doctor Who Magazine (in fact, noting DWM's circulation is "around 30,000") and how the new show, based on a preview is "not, and never will be - how shall I put this? - Doctor Who." You can read the whole article at that site.

The Ain't It Cool website, a major source of online film gossip, has published several negative reviews of the first episode of the new series along with a positive one, based upon the recent leak of an episode on the Internet.

An article in today's Times discusses the Daleks who apparently are upgraded: "In previous series of Doctor Who, the Daleks were warlike metal aliens engineered by the evil Davros on the planet Skaro. They were beings of ruthless logic with one small but significant flaw: you could evade them by running up a flight of stairs. The upgraded versions take to the air using rocket-boosters, enhancing their ability to exterminate, exterminate. The new Daleks are also bigger than the ones last seen in 1989 and have more lethal weaponry than the old guns that resembled sink plungers. But fans will have to wait: the evil forces do not appear in the first episode, to be shown on BBC1 on Easter Saturday." It also contains ver minor spoilers about the first episode.

Another Times article, much more in depth, discusses the upgrading of the Doctor Who series itself. "For 25 years, Doctor WhoÆs creaky charm captivated a nation," the article says. "Now Russell T Davies has polished it up, with slick effects and an even slicker script." It notes that the scripts themselves are "slick, witty and, most important of all, fresh. They also have Davies the MouthÆs fingerprints all over them. The DoctorÆs slightly deranged monologue sounds suspiciously like Russell T himself." The article notes that the new series has "about 800" special effects. Says The Mill's Robin Shenfield, "I'm pretty sure nothing of this scale has ever been attempted ù certainly nothing British." Mike Tucker, who's doing miniature-effects on the series, says the original show "was always pushing against the boundaries of its budget, trying to do stuff it couldnÆt possibly achieve. They would try to make the Loch Ness monster attack a village, or theyÆd have an attack with a horde of Daleks when they had only three Dalek props. It was one of its great charms. But then Star Wars came along and raised the game. These days, kids are so effects-literate." The article discusses how CGI effects have been implemented, and gives some spoilers about the new show (protected by our Spoiler tag, below), as well as noting that "Doctor Who is a huge gamble for the BBC. It will probably go out in its old slot, early on Saturday evening," noting that it will happen at the end of March.

Tonight on Radio 2, the first of two one-hour episodes of this documentary airs, looking at the British TV viewing public's obsession with soap operas. Verity Lambert is one of those mentioned in the Radio Times listing as being interviewed, presumably concerning her work on The Newcomers and later Eldorado. It airs tonight at 8:30pm; you can listen online here. (Thanks to Paul Hayes)

The radio program Sacred Nation will air on Sunday, February 13 at 8:00am on BBC Radio 2. According to the press release, "Christopher Eccleston tells the story of religious belief in the British Isles. From long barrows to stone circles, from Druids to Romans, and through Holy wars, reformations and revivals, he discovers that Britain has always been a pluralistic society. Far from being a solely Christian country, Britain has a rich, multifaith heritage. Written by Michael Symmons Roberts, winner of this year?s Whitbread Prize for Poetry, Sacred Nation asks if there are lessons on tolerance and diversity to be learnt from the past." (Thanks to Phil Creighton, Steve Freestone)

BBC Publicity has issued the following press release concerning the two-part documentary about the return of the series, airing on Radio 2 in March, as follows (with thanks to Stephanie Hardwick of BBC Radio 2 for sending it to us):