This weekend sees recording begin on a special adventure for the Seventh Doctor and Ace, as played by Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred; the two are joined by Lisa Bowerman, who reprises her character Professor Bernice Summerfield in her first ever adventure, Love and War!

Originally written as a novel by Paul Cornell in 1992 as part of Virgin's New Adventures range, this adaptation is by Jacqueline Rayner and is being recorded to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the character, whose own association with Big Finish can be traced back to their premier release in 1998 of Oh No It Isn't! (also by Cornell).

Love and War is due to be released on its anniversary in October.

The British Science Fiction Association have announced the shortlist for their 2011 Awards, with voting now open for members.

• The Best Non Fiction award nominations include The Unsilent Library: Adventures in new Doctor Who, a collection of essays that "examine the storytelling style and techniques of the first five years of the New Doctor Who, and explore how its writers have updated a series with a history stretching back five decades to stand in the forefront of contemporary science fiction drama."
• Regular Doctor Who writer Paul Cornell has also been nominated in the Best Short Fiction category for The Copenhagen Interpretation, published in Asimov's in July.

The winners will be revealed at the Award Ceremony, taking place at the 2012 Eastercon at the Radisson Edwardian Hotel, Heathrow, between the 6th-9th April.

United Kingdom

The Nottingham Philharmonic Orchestra is presenting Best Of British: A New Year Family Concert on the 28th January at Nottingham's Royal Concert Hall. One of the pieces to be performed is the Doctor Who theme tune, with Daleks expected to turn up for the event! [Belper News, 23 Jan 2012]

Peterlee resident Paul Bianco appeared on the ITV1 show Dickinson's Real Deal (broadcast 24th January), bringing along two original pieces of artwork from the 1964 (Lair of the Zarbi Supremo) and 1975 (The House That Jack Built) Doctor Who annuals. Originally bought for £18 some thirty years before, the model maker was persuaded to sell the items to auctioneer Janice Kehoe for £360, having been informed the evaluation had estimated them at £300. However, the items were eventually sold at auction by Janice herself for £500!

United States

A new sci-fi exhibition for the Experience Music Project's 2012 season in Seattle opens in June; Icons of Science Fiction will include items like Captain Kirk's command chair from Star Trek and an Imperial Dalek! EMP spokeswoman Anita Woo said: "I've been learning about this Dalek, everyone is so excited that Dr. Who is now on my Netflix queue." [Seattle Times, 19 Jan 2012]

Reporting from the Arisia sci-fi/gaming convention in Boston, Bob Chipman observed that some confusion existed amongst the 'civilians' at the hotel: "Yeah, Harry? I'll have those figures over in just a sec. Hey, while I've got you here, do you have any idea what a 'Dalek' is? Cause there's one here and I'm not sure how I should react to that." [The Escapist, 20 Jan 2012]

The DVD releases of Nightmare of Eden, Dragonfire and The Happiness Patrol have been cleared by the British Board of Film Classification.

Extras for all three stories were also cleared, with the details as below.

Nightmare of Eden will have the following extras:
Dragonfire's extras comprise:
while those for The Happiness Patrol are:
Release dates for the DVDs have yet to be confirmed. A trailer for Dragonfire that was cleared on 18th January states that the story will form part of The Ace Box.

(with thanks to Dave Ashby)

The North American magazine Doctor Who Insider has ceased publication, with Issue 9 being the last to be produced.

Kirsty Syson from Panini Email Customer Services said:
The magazine was launched by Panini last year to complement Doctor Who Magazine, focussing on Doctor Who in the USA and Canada in collaboration with BBC Worldwide and BBC America.

Matt Smith and Karen Gillan both triumphed at the National television Awards held Wednesday night at London's O2 Arena.

Matt Smith beat Torchwood star John Barrowman, Doc Martin and Snakedance star Martin Clunes and David Threlfall of Shameless, to win the award for Outstanding Drama Performance (Male) in the awards voted for by the British public. Both Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant have previously won the award for their performance of the Doctor.

Speaking after receiving his award Matt Smith gave some clue to the future telling Radio Times that he has one more year of Doctor Who left and then he was going to try his luck in Hollywood. Although he later told the BBC Entertainment News Team he has no plans to leave.

Karen Gillan won her award for Outstanding Drama Performance (Female) over Torchwood's Eve Myles, Suranne Jones from Scott & Bailey and who also stared in The Doctor's Wife last year, and Jaye Jacobs from Waterloo Road. She becomes the first Who companion since Billie Piper to win a National Television Award, both Freema Agyeman and Catherine Tate both received nominations.

Doctor Who lost out in the main award for Most Popular Drama which was won by ITV's Downton Abbey

Russell T Davies and Phil Ford are bringing new action adventure drama Aliens Vs Wizards to children's TV this autumn. The series will comprise 12 episodes of 30 minutes each and centre on two 16-year-old schoolboys, Tom and Benny, and an alien race entitled the Nekross. Davies said: "Writing for children is the biggest challenge of all and I think CBBC stands right at the heart of broadcasting. So I'm delighted to launch this show, a true nationwide collaboration - a Salford commission from a BBC Wales team. We're joining genres too - the show's a wild, funny, thrilling and sometimes scary collision of magic and science fiction." The show will be produced for CBBC by BBC Cymru Wales with FremantleMedia Enterprises. The executive producers are Davies, Bethan Jones and Gina Cronk for the BBC and Bob Higgins and Sander Schwartz for FME. The producer is Brian Minchin, while Ford will co-produce. [BBC Media Centre, 23 Jan 2012], [BBC News, 23 Jan 2012]

It was back to school for new series writer Tom MacRae when he received a request to help children develop their creativity. He visited his alma mater near Daventry, Northamptonshire, after an invitation by two pupils at Weedon Bec Primary. MacRae revealed how, during an assembly while there as a child, he came up with the idea of a magnifying glass that could see through time - a concept he went on to use in The Girl Who Waited. MacRae, who also took some Doctor Who props with him to show the pupils, said: "I have used quite a few playground games and school daydreams in shows, particularly programmes that have a magic element to them. The Girl Who Waited has probably done more to boost my career than anything else I've done. I owe the huge boost it gave me to the idea I had when I was six years old." [BBC News, 23 Jan 2012]

Sheridan Smith, who played Eighth Doctor companion Lucie Miller for Big Finish, has won the Critics' Circle Best Actress award for her portrayal of Doris Skriczevinsky in the wartime drama Flare Path, by Terence Rattigan, at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, London - a role for which she previously received the 2011 Natasha Richardson Award for Best Actress. [BBC News, 24 Jan 2012]

Arabella Weir (Billis in The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe, as well as an alternative Doctor in the Big Finish audio adventure Exile) is among the star names taking part in this year's Let's Dance For Sport Relief, which starts on BBC One on Saturday 18th February. [BBC Media Centre, 25 Jan 2012]

This roundup contains four fan-made music videos that have recently been released.

Doctor Who won in 5 categories at this year's Virgin Media TV Awards. The show itself won "TV Show of the Year" with 43.63% of the vote, beating off competition from Merlin. Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill) won "TV Character of the Year" and the Doctor getting shot at Lake Silencio in The Impossible Astronaut won the "Most Explosive TV Moment of the Year". Karen Gillan won two awards; one for her acting talents ("Best Actress") and one for her good looks ("Hottest Female").

Doctor Who will be hoping for the same success tonight at The National TV Awards; which will be broadcast live on ITV1 from 7:30pm.

Torchwood: Miracle Day premiered on the Canadian French-language channel Ztélé on Monday. The series originally premiered in Canada on SPACE in July 2011.

Premiere dates:
Episode 2: Le transfert - 30 January, 9pm
Episode 3: Phicorp - 6 February, 9pm
Episode 4: Mort, c'est mort - 13 February, 9pm
Episode 5: Les modules - 20 February, 9pm
Episode 6: Les témoins - 27 February, 9pm
Episode 7: Péchés immortels - 5 March, 9pm
Episode 8: Le bout du tunnel - 12 March, 9pm
Episode 9: Le rendez-vous - 19 March, 9pm
Episode 10: La fin du miracle - 26 March, 9pm

You can view the full schedule including repeats at This Week in Doctor Who.

Ztélé are also showing Torchwood: Web of Lies - the animated web series companion to Miracle Day - on their website.