The BBC Press Office has announced that The Sarah Jane Adventures will have two special guests when it returns for a fourth series this autumn. In a special two-part story written by Russell T Davies, Matt Smith will appear as the Doctor, and Katy Manning will guest as the Doctor's former companion Jo Grant. Manning starred in Doctor Who opposite the Third Doctor, Jon Pertwee, from 1971 to 1973. Manning has recorded audio adventures for Big Finish Productions, but this will be the first time she has played Jo Grant on television in thirty-seven years.

The press release includes reactions from Elisabeth Sladen, who plays Sarah Jane Smith, Manning, and Sarah Jane Adventures executive producer Nikki Wilson:

The BBC has published a number of documents from its extensive written archive, detailing audience reaction to the arrival of a new Doctor, as it occurred over the years.

Viewer comments are contained in various letters and reports contained in the archive, showing viewers' reaction to each new face of the Time Lord. The papers, which span 40-plus years and are published online for the first time, reveal the difficulties of bedding in the new Doctor. Internal memos show that his first transformation was originally envisaged as a drug trip. "It is as if he has had the L.S.D. drug and instead of experiencing the kicks, he has the hell and dank horror which can be its effect", said one memo.

The change from William Hartnell to Patrick Troughton didn't please some viewers. "Once a brilliant but eccentric scientist, he now comes over as a half-witted clown," said one viewer of Troughton's new role, although another praised Troughton for rescuing the show from the "mess it had degenerated into". Some viewers were fed up with the Daleks and felt they were no longer a novelty.

When Jon Pertwee came along in 1970 some viewers complained it didn't measure up to another Science Fiction programme. 'Hardly an adequate substitute for Star Trek, and by comparison rather childish' was one comment, although most thought Pertwee had made a most acceptable and satisfactory 'new' Doctor. The debut of Tom Baker, who went to to be one of the most highly regarded Doctors, also drew much criticism. "General opinion was that the new Dr Who is a looney," said one viewer. Others however said the new Doctor had "more life and humour" than the last and seemed likely to "buck the series up".

Peter Davison's arrival in 1982 was met with general approval although there were a couple of suggestions that he should stick to being a vet. Colin Baker was met with mixed reaction with some viewers feeling the new Doctor was so totally different in character from others who had gone before him that he seemed 'unreal'. Sylvester McCoy had one of the most difficult starts with poor appreciation figures. The report noted that there are "a core of loyal and enthusiastic fans of Doctor Who remaining", although it said, "their number seems to be decreasing with each successive series".

The site also has a gallery of actors who nearly became the Doctor.

The new items available join those already online looking at the Genesis of Doctor Who.

Roly Keating, the BBC's director for archive content, said: "As we welcome Matt Smith and Karen Gillan into the Tardis, it's the perfect moment to remember his predecessors and also to celebrate the work of the BBC Archive in preserving these documents and photographs for future generations."

The material can be found at bbc.co.uk/archive.

Two alumni of the classic series of Doctor Who have recently died.

Hubert Rees had three roles in the series working with two different Doctors.

He first appeared in the 1968 story Fury from the Deep, working alongside Patrick Troughton. He played the Chief Engineer, the head of engineering at a Euro Sea Gas refinery who assisted the Doctor in his efforts to defeat the Weed Creature. Rees returned to the series the following year in Troughton's swan song, The War Games, in which he played Captain Ransom, an officer in the British Army. His final appearance was in the 1976 Tom Baker story The Seeds of Doom, playing John Stevenson, a botanist at a scientific expedition in Antarctic.

Outside of Doctor Who he had roles in many well-known dramas, including Paul Temple, The Sweeney, The Duchess of Duke Street, By the Sword Divided and Howards' Way.


Max Faulkner, born in 1931, was a stunt man and actor who has small roles in six Doctor Who stories. He played a UNIT soldier in the 1970 Jon Pertwee story The Ambassadors of Death, and a miner in the 1974 story The Monster of Peladon. In Jon Pertwee's final story, Planet of the Spiders, he played the Guard Captain.

Faulkner appeared with Tom Baker in three stories. In the 1975 story Genesis of the Daleks he played a Thal Guard before returning later in the year in The Android Invasion as Corporal Adams, a UNIT officer stationed at Devesham. His final appearance in 1978 was in The Invasion of Time where he played Nesbin, the leader of a group of Outsiders.

He was the fight arranger in the 1976 story The Hand of Fear.

Faulkner appeared in many British dramas such as Ivanhoe, The Adventures of Robin Hood, Richard the Lionheart, Colditz, Lorna Doone, Little Lord Fauntleroy, Secret Army, Blake's 7 and Robin of Sherwood.

An new exhibition dedicated to memorabilia from the classic series of Doctor Who, has opened in Lancaster in the north of England.

The exhibition consists of items from the remarkable collection of Dr Peter Jewell, a life long fan of the series. Over the years he has has amassed a huge number of rare and vintage items based the show, a number of which are now on view at Judges Lodgings in the centre of Lancaster.

The exhibition opened on Good Friday and runs until the end of October.

A full list of Doctor Who events can be found on our Events tab. If you know of an event which should be added to the list, please email the news page.

The BBC Radio 4 documentary The Doctor and Douglas was broadcast Friday morning.

The documentary is available worldwide on the BBC iPlayer for the next seven days.

2 entertain have confirmed to DWM the extras for the upcoming DVD release of the Fifth Doctor storiesThe King's Demons and Planet of Fire, which will be released in the UK as a Kamelion box-set.

The King's Demons

• Commentary with Peter Davison and Isla Blair, who played Isabella, as well as former script editor Eric Saward.
• Second commentary with the story's Director Tony Virgo. Part One only
• Kamelion - Metal Man : Looking at the history of the short lived companion
• Magna Carta: Exploring the great charter.

Planet of Fire

• Commentary with Peter Davison, Nicola Bryant, Mark Strickson and director Fiona Cumming
• The Flames of Sarn: Documentary on the making of the story
• Return to the Planet of Fire: Fiona Cumming and Malcolm Thornton revisit Lanzarote
• Designs on Sarn: Malcolm Thornton on designing the show
• Deleted Scenes
• Extended Scenes
• Continuity

An alternative version of Planet of Fire will  be presented on a second disc, a new version cut by director Fiona Cumming, containing previously unseen material and special effects. It will be in a 16:9 format and the audio will be in 5:1 surround sound.

Extras on the second disc

• Calling the Shots: Looking at the story's production
• Remembering Anthony Ainley: A look back at the life of the actor 

The box set is released in the UK on 14th June.

Over a dozen never before published colour photos from the filming of the 1967 Doctor Who story The Abominable Snowmen have been discovered, and will be featured in the forthcoming limited edition version of Deborah Watling's autobiography Daddy's Girl from Fantom Publishing.

Says co-writer Paul Ballard:
Also contained in the limited edition hard back will be a treatment for a series entitled House of Watling. This comedy was due to be launched by ITV in the early eighties and would have seen the whole family playing themselves in a variety of real life situations. This is the first time the full premise will be made available to the public.

The book will be launched at the Utopia event at Heythrop Park on the weekend on 15-16 May. You can pre-order the book at the Fantom Films website.

The three stories comprising the Myths and Legends Box set will be released in North America on July 6, 2010.

Unlike the UK release the stories will be issued as individual titles. The three releases are the Third Doctor story The Time Monster, and the two Fourth Doctor stories Underworld and  Horns of Nimon.

The First Doctor Box set comprising The Space Museum and The Chase will also be released on 6th July.

A full release schedule can be found in our Releases section.

The UK Sci-Fi channel is devoting much of the Easter holiday weekend to repeats of episodes from the classic series of Doctor Who.

Stories from the 4th, 5th and 6th Doctors are being shown starting at 2pm on Good Friday.

Schedule
Friday 2nd April
1400-1600 - The Ark in Space
The Doctor investigates sinister goings-on at a space station used as a deep-freeze for the whole future population of Earth. He discovers that the station has been invaded by giant alien insects, the Wirrn.
1600-1800 - The Face of Evil
The Doctor meets the Tribe of Sevateem on a jungle planet - and finds himself hunted as the Evil One.
1800-2000 - Pyramids of Mars
When an archaeologist uncovers an ancient Egyptian tomb in 1911, he also awakens Sutekh, the alien god of evil, who is trapped in his prison on Mars.
2000-2200 - Ark in Space (Repeat from 2pm)

Saturday 3rd April
1400-1600 - Face of Evil (Repeat from Friday)
1600-1800 - Pyramids of Mars (Repeat from Friday)
1800-2000 - Logopolis
The Doctor and his companions travel to Logopolis, a planet of brilliant mathematicians, in order to repair the chameleon circuit in the TARDIS. It's Tom Baker's last adventure as The Doctor.
2000-2200 - Earthshock
The Cybermen plan to crash a spaceship into prehistoric Earth, deleting the human race from history.

Sunday 4th April
1200-1350 - Logopolis (Repeat from Saturday)
1350-1540 - Earthshock (Repeat from Saturday)
1540-1730 - Revenge of the Cybermen
The Doctor faces an old enemy on the planet of gold.
1730-1930 - The Caves of Androzani
When the Doctor faces a shadowy adversary on the planet Androzani Minor, he and companion Peri are lethally poisoned with Spectrox.
1930-2200 - The Two Doctors
Two versions of the time-travelling hero face both the warrior Sontarans and an alien race that is obsessed with food in Spain.

Monday 5th April
1200-1350 - Warriors of the Deep
In 2084, a cold war rages on Earth while deep beneath the oceans, intelligent reptile creatures from the time of the dinosaurs plot to destroy the human race.
1350-1540 - Revenge of the Cybermen (Repeat from Sunday)
1540-1740 - Caves of Androzani (Repeat from Sunday)
1740-2010 - The Two Doctors (Repeat from Sunday)
2010-2200 - Warriors of the Deep (Repeat from earlier)

It has been revealed that the short clip of The Beatles, featured in episode one of The Chase, will only be included on the Region 2 DVD's and will be removed from the masters of the discs produced for regions outside Europe.

The short clip of the group playing Ticket to Ride, was taken from the BBC's Top of the Pops programme, and features as part of the sequence where the TARDIS crew look at various events from history on the Time-Space Visualiser.

The music is covered by a blanket agreement for use in the UK but this does not apply to the rest of the world. It may have been possible for the same masters to have been used for the international copies, as there is nothing in the BBC paperwork to indicate that the clip of the Beatles exists in the story. However the distributors have received so many queries about the inclusion of the clip that it became impossible to ignore its presence, so it has been removed from the edit.

In other DVD news, online retailers in the States are reporting the Region 1 DVD release of the animated story Dreamland has been pushed back to October.