Further to our story last week that Character Options has become the new Doctor Who series toy licencee, BBC News Online have run a news story today in which they discuss the new products, including a radio-controlled Dalek, an electronic sonic screwdriver as well as vehicles from the new series. The Times Online have also run a similar story. Read the news items for details (though there really aren't any new items of note that weren't in the press release first posted on OG last week!) (Thanks to Steve Tribe, Paul Engelberg)

As we reported on December 19, Project Who is "a two-part BBC Radio 2 program that will air around the time of the new series" and will be released on CD. Originally scheduled for April, the new release date is currently May 2. As noted in our previous report, the contents are as follows: "Tying in with transmission of the new BBC1 Saturday night series of Doctor Who, this two-part BBC Radio 2 programme takes a look at the Doctor Who phenomenon. Why is now the right time for it to return? There will be interviews with the stars and producers of the new series, location and set visits, and interviews with famous people who are fans of Doctor Who. This CD release will feature additional material not included in the Radio 2 broadcast." (Thanks to Steve Tribe)

Galaxy 4 is reporting the release of Doctor Who At the BBC: Volume 3 due on September 5; this would presumably be the third in the series of audio clips from BBC Radio interviews and features, possibly narrated by one of their earlier narrators, Nick Courtney or Elisabeth Sladen.

Newly listed on Amazon is Doctor Who, Novella No. 1 from BBC Audio for release on June 6; there's no information but it seems likely that the Ninth Doctor books will be released as audiobooks (Eccleston/Piper being obvious candidates to read them). Also, as previously corrected on our Releases guide, the Ninth Doctor novel formerly "Death Players" is now called Winner Takes All. It and the other two Ninth Doctor books ("Clockwise Man" and "Monsters Inside") as well as the non-fiction book "Monsters and Villains" are all out on May 19.

Various sources are reporting different additional DVDs for the summer and fall of 2005 in the UK, including possible boxed sets of "Trial of a Time Lord" or "The Beginning" (which includes the first three stories), plus "Attack of the Cybermen," "Mawdryn Undead," "The Web Planet," "Revelation of the Daleks" and "Survival," but nothing has been confirmed as yet by BBC Worldwide.

Finally regarding merchandise, according to the Doctor Who Appreciation Society, the media firm Orange 20 (whose logo appears in the magazine credits of DWM) has "planned a coordinated approach to Doctor Who marketing in the run up to the series launch, tying the new series and 'Classic Who' together in DVD and book schedules, magazine features and media promotion." The same article also talks about the Pertwee/McGann logo being retained for 'Classic Who' and the new logo being exclusively for Ninth Doctor stuff; it's not clear whether this is any more than the speculation that's been doing the rounds for ages.

One very small piece of casting news is hidden in the latest edition of Radio Times today (8û14 January). Tamsin Greighas 'a cameo appearance' in the new series, according to the magazine. She is the voice of Debbie Aldridge in The Archers on BBC Radio 4, and has starred in Green Room (Channel 4, 2004), Black Books (Channel 4, 2000û) and Neverwhere (1996 on BBC2), as well as the film "Shaun of the Dead" (starring fellow new series guest star Simon Pegg) last year. (Thanks to Steve Tribe)

According to Amazon.co.uk, BBC Audiobooks will be releasing a CD version of a two-part BBC Radio 2 program that will air around the time of the new series. Entitled Project Who?, the synopsis is as follows: "Tying in with transmission of the new BBC1 Saturday night series of Doctor Who, this two-part BBC Radio 2 programme takes a look at the Doctor Who phenomenon. Why is now the right time for it to return? There will be interviews with the stars and producers of the new series, location and set visits, and interviews with famous people who are fans of Doctor Who. This CD release will feature additional material not included in the Radio 2 broadcast." The current date of release on the CD is April 4, though of course this will be subject to change. (Thanks to Steve Tribe)

The recent installment of Radio Times magazine features a gag photo with the Daleks settling down for Christmas dinner. Says BBCi: "The metal meanies seem to be enjoying a traditional mix of of turkey, stuffing, sprouts and carrots - but have foregone roast potatoes in favour of mountains of the fluffiest mash you have ever seen. Well, they do have rather good whisk attachments, we guess." You can view it on the BBCi site by clicking here. (Thanks to BBCi)

BBC Radio 4 is repeating the Afternoon Play BlueVeils and Golden Sands, about Delia Derbyshire's work on the Doctor Who theme, on New Year's Eve, at 2.15pm. It'll be available to listen to for a week after via Auntie's listen again feature at www.bbc.co.uk/radio4. Meanwhile, on BBC7, The Paradise of Death is on Sundays at 6pm and midnight. The first part aired on the Sunday just gone. (Thanks to ?hil Creighton)

Peter Davison stars in the first of six episodes of the radio sitcom "Rigor Mortis," which aired last night at 11pm on BBC Radio 4 and airs every subsequent Thursday, with rebroacast over the web on the BBC Radio4 Online website. "Davison is Dr Anthony Webster, chief pathologist and a man who loves his job so much he can't understand why people get upset when he takes his work to lunch with him. His colleague Dr Ruth Hamilton (Matilda Ziegler) was lured into the job by watching TV murder mysteries and is constantly disappointed by the banality of the work. Their boss tries to make the mortuary a brighter place - 'after all, a corpse is a person' - and the team also includes a sometimes inebriated lab assistant, a down-to-earth receptionist and a policeman who is prone to fainting." (Thanks to Paul Engelberg, Brian Jacob)

Doctor Who scored a mention this weekend on the US radio network, National Public Radio, during its program "All Things Considered"; author David Elliott discussed his book, "A Field Guide to Monsters" on the program. During the program, Elliott discussed various monsters seen on television. "There was a TV show, which I think has aired occasion on PBS here, called 'Doctor Who,'" Elliott told host Jennifer Ludden. "And there was Doctor Who, and he had these villains that went around with--they're basically--they look like upside down dustbins called the Daleks. And I would regularly hide behind the couch. But like any kid, I'd hide behind the couch, but my eyes would be peering over the top unable to, you know, tear away from the screen."

We've now gotten the regular image of the cover for issue #349 of Doctor Who Magazine, which as we reported yesterday was received by subscribers almost two weeks early due to a rapid turn-around at the magazine's printers. Among the items in the issue are interviews with new series director Joe Ahearne, writer Rob Shearman and producer Phil Collinson, a feature on the Doctor Who radio dramas, and much more; pick up the issue when it comes out on your local newsstand. Click on the cover thumbnail at right, meanwhile, for a larger version of the cover.

Also, in the issue is a note about issue #350, which celebrates 25 years of the magazine in print. "So as well as the concluding instalment of our DWM history feature Happy Times and Places? to chew over," says the preview, "we also present a FREE digitally restored reprint of the magazine that started it all back in 1979 - Doctor Who Weekly issue 1! PLUS! We've invited some old friends back to celebrate, so there's a chance to enjoy all new special editions of Fluid Links, The Life and Times of Jackie Jenkins, It's the end, but... and UNIT hotline, a new Doctor Who? strip from Quinn and Howett and the return of Leighton Noye's Doctor Oho! On top of that Sorvad will be choosing the best letters of all time in Who cares? and the BBC Wales production team will be answering your queries in a Matrix Data Bank special! NOT TO MENTION...We turn the clock back to the serial that was being screened when DWW first appeared as The Fact Of Fiction investigates the City Of Death! New series scribe Steven Moffat tells us how his episodes are coming along! More intrigung Production Notes from RTD! An extended does of comic strip action in a special 9-page instalment of The Flood! Plus all the latest news from the Doctor Who set and the best previews and reviews...Don't you dare miss it." (Thanks to Tom Spilsbury, Steve Tribe, Simon Hogarth)

Just a reminder that, today, the Tertiary Phase of The Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy, the long-awaited "third season" of the classic radio serial, begins today on BBC Radio 4. The serial, based on the legendary Douglas Adams' third book, "Life, The Universe and Everything" -- itself based on Adams' aborted "Doctor Who and the Krikkitmen" screenplay -- features five members of the original cast from the 1970's as well as a host of new cast members. The first series of 6 new episodes begins on Tuesday 21 September at 6.30pm, with repeats on Thursdays at 11.00pm on Radio 4. For detailed information on the making of the program as well as to listen via the Internet, click here; each episode will be available for 7 days following the Thursday evening repeats. The six episodes will run through as many weeks and the entire story will be released on CD in late October. (Technically no, this isn't Doctor Who news... but for Hitchhikers we always gladly make the exception!)