2 entertain have confirmed that the First Doctor story The Keys of Marinus is scheduled to be released on DVD in the first half of 2009. This release is in addition to the stories previously announced.

The Keys of Marinus was William Hartnell's fifth story and was originally shown between 11 April and 16 May 1964. It was written by the Daleks' creator,Terry Nation, and directed byJohn Gorrie. The Doctor Who restoration team has an article on the making of the DVD including details of previously unknown cuts in the episodes and how this missing material was restored.

The team also have a feature on the upcoming release of thePatrick Troughton 10 part epic, The War Games.

There are 11 DVD release slots scheduled in 2009. The two remaining slots are likely to be filled with a box set consisting of three stories, and a stand alone release.

The current confirmed UK DVD release schedule is as follows:

• 26 Jan 2009 - E-Space Trilogy Box (Full Circle, State of Decay and Warriors' Gate)
• 23 Feb 2009 - The Rescue / The Romans
• 16 Mar 2009 - Attack of the Cybermen

In addition, the following are slated for UK release in 2009, with specific dates yet to be announced: The Keys of Marinus; The War Games; Dalek War box set (Frontier in Space / Planet of the Daleks); The Deadly Assassin; Image of the Fendahl; Delta and the Bannermen

The Stage entertainment industry newspaper reports that actor John Scott Martin, veteran of countless roles in over 100 episodes of the classic series of Doctor Who, died on January 6th at the age of 82. His daughter Catriona has penned an obituary for the paper, outlining his career.

Martin is best remembered by fans as the main Dalek operator across the 26 years of the classic series, but he also played various other monsters opposite the first seven Doctors, and had a more visible role as the miner Hughes in The Green Death. In 2004, he told BBC News how he would love to play a Dalek again for the new series.

In addition to his Doctor Who work, Martin appeared in BBC series such as Quatermass and the Pit and I, Claudius, as well as in films (including Little Shop of Horrors) and the theatre. In 2004, he appeared as the old man who inherits all of Swansea in the Russell T Davies comedy-drama serial Mine All Mine for ITV1.

UPDATE - 23 JANUARY: The Press Association has reported Martin's death, including a comment from his widow, Margaret. She said he enjoyed the Dalek role, adding: "It was a good thing, because being a Dalek nobody saw your face. He was able to do other things without people recognising him. That was useful." According to the PA report, Martin had had Parkinson's disease for a decade.

The Telegraph, The Times and The Daily Mail have printed obituaries describing his long standing work on Doctor Who.

Planet of the Daleks is due for release on DVD this year as revealed in this month's Doctor Who Magazine. Episode three of the 1973 Jon Pertwee story previously only existed in the BBC archive as a black and white film recording. However, using partly the same process recently used on an old episode of Dad's Army ("Room at the Bottom", broadcast on BBC2 last month in colour for the first time in 39 years) using information contained in the film print, and partly artificial re-colouring in the United States, colour has been restored to the episode. The story will be released as a box set with Frontier in Space, which sees the Doctor meet the Draconians and features the last appearance of Roger Delgado as the Master. Full details of the restoration of episode three of Planet of the Daleks can be found in an article on the Restoration Team website.

Other stories due for release in 2009 are the swansong of the Second Doctor, The War Games, the Fourth Doctor stories The Deadly Assassin and Image of the Fendahl and the Seventh Doctor story Delta and the Bannermen.

Posted By John Bowman

As the 45th anniversary of the start of Doctor Who approaches, the BBC has put online an archive collection of documents and images detailing the programme's genesis.

It includes a 1962 report into whether the BBC should make a sci-fi drama, concept notes written in 1963 forming a summary of ideas for just such a programme, and background notes by C E Webber and Sydney Newman in which they outline the format for the new series that had been christenedDr. Who.

Click here to access the archive.

The website of the Doctor Who Restoration Team has published information on the forthcoming DVD release of the 1989 Doctor Who serial "Battlefield". The four-part adventure, which opened the final season of classic Doctor Who, stars Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor and Sophie Aldred as his companion Ace. It is due to be released on Region 2 DVD in the UK on December the 29th.

This is the first ever commercial release of the transmitted version of the story, the VHS release having included various extended and deleted scenes edited back into the action. For this DVD release, the transmission version is presented on one disc, with a movie-format extended edition with new CGI special effects included on a second disc.

Other extras include a commentary track with Aldred, Nicholas Courtney, Angela Bruce, writer Ben Aaronovitchand script editor Andrew Cartmel; documentaries on the making of the story, BBC trailers from the time and various other features.

Infomation from the BBFC website indicates the titles of four more stories due to be released on DVD in 2009.

From the First Doctor's era The Rescue and The Romans will be released as a double set. The Rescue is a two parter featuring the arrival of Maureen O'Brien as Vicki, while The Romans is a four part romp set around the court of the Emperor Nero. Both stories were first shown in 1965.

From the Sixth Doctor's era we have The Twin Dilemma which was Colin Baker's debut story, shown in 1984 and Attack of the Cybermen, first shown in 1985.

Doctor Who's first director Waris Hussein will be guest of honour at the National Media Museum's Bite The Mango film festival, taking place in Bradford from September 19-25, 2008.

As well as receiving a lifetime achievement award and being interviewed about his 40 years as a director, Hussein will be taking part in an interview specifically about directing the very first Doctor Who serial An Unearthly Child and the lost epic story Marco Polo.

The interview will take place on Sunday, September 21 at the museum in Bradford. It will be accompanied by photographs from the museum's Daily Herald archive and a screening of the 'take one' version of the episode "An Unearthly Child". Further details and tickets will be available from the museum's website.

Just a couple of weeks following the release of complete seasons of new series Doctor Who on iTunes in the USA, a selection of classic Doctor Who adventures are now available on the download service as well.

While most of the titles released so far have already been made available on DVD, such as "Carnival of Monsters", "Mark of the Rani" and "The Ark in Space", a number of stories have been released that are avaiable nowhere else (with the VHS releases now long out-of-print), like "The Krotons", "The Sun Makers" and "Planet of the Spiders".

The stories are avaiable episodically, and cost $1.99 per episode.