The BBFC have passed a trailer for two stories, The Space Museum and The Chase, indicating that both are being lined up for a DVD release in the next few months. The stories were part of Doctor Who's second season and were first shown between April and June 1965.

They feature William Hartnell as the first Doctor along with Jacqueline Hill as Barbara Wright, William Russell as Ian Chesterton and Maureen O'Brien as Vicki, and introduce Peter Purves as new companion Steven Taylor.

The Space Museum was written by Glyn Jones and directed by Mervyn Pinfield, who as Doctor Who's first Associate Producer was responsible for many technical innovations used on the programme.

The Chase was the final story for Ian and Barbara. It sees the Daleks return in their third story for the series, which was again written by Terry Nation. Directed by Richard Martin, it also starred Hywel Bennett. The original transmission included a clip of the Beatles performing "Ticket to Ride".

"Barry always had a warm respect for the fans of Dr Who. As Barry’s family, we would like to thank everyone for their good wishes on the websites and forums following the news that Barry had died. We have been very touched that the many messages and tributes show such an appreciation and understanding, both of his work and of the very kind and wise man that Barry was."

According to several on-line retail sites, the early part of 2010 will see a bumper number of Doctor Who DVD releases. The schedule looks very crowded and it is possible one of the listed releases has been delayed until later in the year, but retailers have yet to catch up.

According to the sites January 4th will see the previously announced Peladon box set on sale, to be followed on 1st Feburary by a Myths and Legends box set. No details are available for this set, but it has long rumoured to consist of the Third Doctor story The Time Monster, and the Fourth Doctor stories Underworld and The Horns of Nimon. The Time Monster was first shown in 1972 and features Katy Manning and Roger Delgado. Underworld was shown in 1978 and features Louise Jameson and John Leeson, as well as Alan Lake, while Horns of Nimon was shown over the New Year period of 1979/1980 and features Lalla Ward and David Brierly as K9, with an appearance by Janet Ellis.

One week later, the Fourth Doctor story The Masque of Mandragora is scheduled for release on 8th February. This story was first shown in 1976 and features Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith.

The Seventh Doctor's first story, Time and the Rani, is due for release on 1st March. As well as being Sylvester McCoy's first story, this 1987 adventure features Bonnie Langford as Mel and Kate O'Mara as The Rani.

Finally, fans of the new series will see a release of final episodes of David Tennant's reign as the Doctor when The Specials are released on both DVD and BluRay on 11th January.

All dates are subject to conformation by 2-entertain and are subject to change.

The two Peladon stories, The Curse of Peladon and The Monster of Peladon, will be released on DVD in January 2010.

The news was revealed by Dan Hall, commissioning editor for DVD company 2 entertain, at the Time and Again convention in London. The release replaces the King's Demons/Planet of Fire boxset which has been delayed due to clearance problems.

The Curse of Peladon was originally shown in 1972. In four parts, it stars Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor along with Katy Manning and David Troughton.

The Monster of Peladon was Pertwee's penultimate story, shown over six parts in 1974. It features Elisabeth Sladen and Donald Gee.

Hall also indicated that a further Third Doctor story, The Time Monster, will be released in 2010 and that a "re-visitation" boxset, featuring new versions of early DVD releases, is in production.

Barry Letts, producer of Doctor Who through one of its most fondly-remembered periods with Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor from 1970 to 1974, has died at the age of eighty-four.

Previously an actor, Letts moved behind the camera in the 1960s, finding work as a director on several programmes for BBC television. He first worked on Doctor Who as director of the 1968 Patrick Troughton serial Enemy of the World, before accepting the job of producer during production Jon Pertwee's first season, in 1969. Working closely in association with script editor Terrance Dicks, Letts oversaw the creative direction and production of the programme for the following five seasons.

In addition to his producing role, Letts also directed several serials during his time in charge of the programme - Terror of the Autons, Carnival of Monsters and Planet of the Spiders. He also handled much of the direction for Inferno after Douglas Camfield was taken ill, and after leaving the series as producer he directed The Android Invasion for his successor, Philip Hinchcliffe. He also co-wrote The Daemons with Robert Sloman (under the pseudonym 'Guy Leopold') and worked closely with Sloman on the writer's other scripts for the programme.

Letts' legacy to the programme included the creation of the character Sarah Jane Smith, played by Elisabeth Sladen on the BBC to this day, and the decision to cast Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor. The latter was a decision for which Tom Baker was always ready to express immense gratitude, as when Letts appeared on his episode of "This is Your Life" in the year 2000.

Letts remained fond of and connected with the series right up until his death. When producer Graham Williams broke his leg during production of season 16 in 1978 Letts helped to keep an eye on the series, and more officially he served as Executive Producer in 1980, overseeing the inexperienced John Nathan-Turner's first season in charge of the programme. For many years thereafter Letts also penned novels, novelisations and radio serials connected to the programme. He also appeared on DVD commentaries and in various documentaries.

He also gained extensive credits outside of Doctor Who, most notably as producer of the BBC's "Classic Serial" strand during the late 1970s and early 1980s. In this role he produced many acclaimed and award-winning adaptations of classic novels, including "Great Expectations", "Alice in Wonderland" and "Jane Eyre". Later, he directed episodes for the soap opera "EastEnders".

Click here to read a 2004 interview with Letts on the BBC Doctor Who website.

Updated 13th October

The Guardian has published an obituary, describing Barry Letts' varied career and impact on Doctor Who.

As previously reported, Blinkbox, a free-to-use movie-on-demand service on the Internet, has struck a deal with BBC Worldwide to make a number of classic Doctor Who stories available to watch. The deal currently enables viewers to watch the William Hartnell stories The Sensorites and The Web Planet, and Patrick Troughton stories The Tomb of the Cybermen and The Krotons.

Watch the stories from their website.

Posters on the Gallifrey Base discussion forum report that it was announced at this weekend's "Regenerations" fan convention in Swansea that the 1971 Third Doctor adventure The Mind of Evil has been restored to colour for a forthcoming DVD release. Like a number of stories starring Jon Pertwee as the Doctor, the colour master videotapes for this six-part story were junked by the BBC in the 1970s. This left only black and white film recording copies of the episodes, made for overseas sale, in the archives. A small handful of colour clips survived on a domestic videotape recording of a transmission of the story in the United States, and were used to restore colour to scenes as a bonus feature at the end of the 1998 VHS release.

No detail has yet emerged of whether the full story has been recolourised for this DVD edition, nor for when the disc is scheduled for release. It is also not currently known whether the episodes were restored to colour using the chroma dot technique employed on the similarly-afflicted third episode of Planet of the Daleks in the forthcoming Dalek War box-set, or whether they were restored from scratch with artificial colour.

Actor Nicholas Courtney, who appears in the story as the Doctor's ally Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, is also reported to have participated in an audio commentary for the release.

(Image from Shillpages.com)

North American release dates for two more DVDs have been announced.

Both the First Doctor story The Keys of Marinus and the Sixth Doctor story The Twin Dilemma will be released on 5th January 2010.



The Coming Next trailer included on the UK release of The Dalek War boxset is for The Kings Demons/Planet of Fire, indicating this boxset will be released in the UK in January.

TV/Movie CD publisher Silva Screen have released details on a new CD covering the music from the two 1960s Aaru films Dr. Who and the Daleks and Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150AD.

The restored soundtracks feature the scores composed by Malcolm Lockyer and Bill McGuffie, with additional sounds from Barry Gray; the CD will also feature contemporary single releases, plus a 20 page booklet covering production notes and memorabilia.

The CD is due for release on 5th October; track details below.

The actor Iain Cuthbertson has died at the age of 79.

Cuthbertson appeared in the 1978 Fourth Doctor story The Ribos Operation, where he played Garron, a con man attempting to sell the entire planet of Ribos to the Graff Vynda-K, deposed ruler of Levithia.

He appeared in many roles on British television throughout the sixties and seventies, with his most memorable role that of the criminal and businessman Charlie Endell in Budgie, appearing alongside Adam Faith. He suffered a crippling stroke in January 1982, which forced him to give up theatre for fear of forgetting his lines. His first role following his stroke was as Scunner Campbell in SuperGran in 1985.

Cuthbertson's first marriage, to the actress Anne Kristen, was dissolved in 1988. His second wife was Janet Mary Smith. There were no children. He was born on January 4, 1930 and died on September 4, 2009.

Times Obituary

Thanks to Fiona Hall.