Shada, the BBCi webcast starring Paul McGann and Lalla Ward, is now back up and able to be played from the officialDoctor Who site. (Thanks to Rich Kirkpatrick)

BBC Online appears to have dropped the moniker "BBCi" across the board... of course the official Doctor Who site can still be found here.

BBC News has posted a clip of its announcement yesterday of Christopher Eccleston's casting. You can view it by clicking here (note: you need RealPlayer installed to view). (Thanks to Gavin Winters)

Further to our story yesterday about the report from the UK Teletext, BBC News has picked up the same story, with a headline stating "Daleks May Return to Doctor Who"; the only difference between the two is a BBC spokeswoman stating "We are negotiating to feature the Daleks in the new series, but no deal has yet been made" and a denial that actors had been cast to play the new Doctor and assistant. "Negotiations are going on all over the place about the monsters, including the Daleks," she said. "We are just waiting to see what comes out." Update: the BBCi Doctor Who site also followed this up with this statement: "Cult did its own bit of checking, and was told the same by Publicity. They stressed, however, that they, 'Could not confirm the Daleks, or any other monsters for the new series.'" (Thanks to Rich Kirkpatrick, Steve Tribe, Jean McDonald, Richard Dinnick)

BBCi's Ninth Doctor (played in the webcast "The Scream of the Shalka" by Richard E. Grant) returns in print form today on the BBC's Cult / Vampire section. Doctor Who: The Feast of the Stone by Cavan Scott and Mark Wright ("Project: Lazarus") can be read by here. It's part of BBCi Cult's "Vampire Stories" section. (Thanks to everyone who let us know!)

Today's Teletext features an article by Simon Holden entitled "The Daleks are Back to Exterminate" in which the current issues between the estate of Terry Nation and the BBC are mentioned, and Russell Davies is quoted as saying "The negotiations are going well and I expect a positive result. ... The estate is protecting an important property, after all, and I can appreciate why they are being so careful. I'd like to think my estate will be equally well-protected after I go." The article mentions that the announcement on casting may come next week, and once again hints that it's "possible" that the Doctor may develop some human emotions. "Don't assume that the Doctor can never have sex. I'm not saying anything and you will have to wait and see how he develops. But he can always change. We shouldn't assume the character cannot change in some ways." (Thanks to Tim Harrison, Phillip Madeley)

Due to the advanced production of the new series, BBCi have been asked to postpone new webcasts for the foreseeable future. "The Scream of the Shalka" is therefore the last webcast produced by BBCi until things change, which may not be likely while the series is going. However, BBCi comments that "the reasons for this are all Very Good, one of them is Terribly Exciting... and we hope they'll become apparent in the next few weeks." BBCi's producers are currently looking at possible ways to continue the loose ends from "Shalka" in an e-book written by Paul Cornell, but nothing has yet been confirmed. Meanwhile, BBCi's e-book adaptations of out-of-print books continues with The Sands of Time by Justin Richards, which debuts in early April on BBCi.

In addition to the online clip showing, a short clip consisting of some of the title sequence, the episode title, and some Daleks in conversation from episode two of The Daleks' Master Plan was shown on the BBC digital channel BBC Three as part of the Liquid News entertainment news show. The report said that it was the "exclusive" first showing (which was at about 19:45 GMT on January 15.) (Thanks to Phil Pizzey)