Steven Moffat found time in his very busy schedule at the San Diego Comics Convention to give interviews with ComingSoon.net, SciFi.comand io9.

In the ComingSoon.net interview, Moffat talks about growing up as a fan of the show, dipping into the Classic Series for ideas, tackling the enormous tasks of merchandising and continuity, and spin-offs. He also confirms that there will be five special episodes before the beginning of Series Five: one at Christmas of this year, and four more after that.

He talked to SciFi.com about the difference between his experience as a writer for the show and the responsibilities he's taking on as executive producer.

And in the io9 interview, Moffat explains why Doctor Who is a children's show and why that's not something adults should be ashamed of:

Posted By John Bowman

Today's edition of The Sun says David Tennant is being offered one and a half million pounds to stay on as the Doctor for Series Five.

In what it claims to be an exclusive, it quotes a source as saying: "He's interested. Everyone thought he was going, but it's not as open and shut as that."

Click here for the full report - but beware, as at the end it names a character it says is returning in one of the specials.

Delia Derbyshire's extensive collection of recordings has been taken up by academics at Manchester University for cataloguing and digital conversion.After she died in 2001, the recordings were entrusted to composerMark Ayres by her estate, as he was a friend of hers and because of his involvement with the Radiophonic Workshop archive.Derbyshire, who created the original arrangement of the Doctor Who theme music, composed by Ron Grainer, left behind a stockpile of 267 tapes. Her groundbreaking work is credited as having influenced the likes of The Crystal Method and Portishead.David Butler, a lecturer in screen studies at the university's School of Art, Histories and Culture, said: "We have just started to scratch the surface. The collection includes her freelance work and really does give us a better sense of her range. Many of the tapes have no labels so it is a case of using detective work to find out what they are.
"Delia Derbyshire never really received the recognition she deserved as one of our most influential composers of the past 30 or so years.

"Though brilliant, the Doctor Who theme is just one small example of her genius which was held in high esteem by figures across music, television, theatre and film, including Paul McCartney and John Peel, the disc jockey."

Ayres told The Doctor Who News Page: "Unfortunately, it became apparent that I was not going to be able to find the many months (possibly years) of time that researching the material properly would take, so I have passed the material on to the University of Manchester and David Butler on permanent loan so that they can do it properly."

He remains the titular owner of the material on behalf of Derbyshire's estate and is working closely with Butler as a consultant on the collection.

Ayres said: "The aim is to cross-reference it with the Radiophonic Workshop archive and hopefully end up, in due course, with a definitive study of Delia's life and work."

Probably the most surprising discovery in the collection is a piece of music that sounds like a contemporary dance track which was recorded, it is believed, in the late-Sixties.

Paul Hartnoll, formerly of the dance group Orbital and a great admirer of Derbyshire's work, said the track was "quite amazing".

"That could be coming out next week on [left-field dance label] Warp Records," he noted. "It's incredible when you think when it comes from. Timeless, really. It could be now as much as then."

For the full story and to listen to sound clips from the collection, visit the BBC News website.

The story is also covered by The Times and The Daily Telegraph.

Posted By John Bowman

Doctor Who's co-executive producer Julie Gardner has revealed transmission details for two of next year's specials.

And in the interview in today's Daily Telegraph about the show's future, the head of drama for BBC Wales says the cutback in 2009 is a good thing for the programme.

She says: "Aside from Series Five, which will have a full 13 episodes and transmit in 2010, we are making four one-hour specials. The first, which we've already filmed, will go out this Christmas. The next will go out the following Easter. The other specials have yet to be scheduled, although one will definitely be on at Christmas 2009."

In the interview, Gardner says: "The reduced schedule for 2009 acknowledges the fact that the show should continue not just for another one or two years, but for another five or 10. It needs to be nurtured, loved and looked after."

The article states that Russell T Davies is writing two of the specials and co-writing the other two. It is not revealed who the other co-writer is.

Posted By Brigadier Bill

The creators of Primeval, the British time-travel series coming to BBC America, told SCI-FI WIRE that they are trying to shake off any comparisons to the wildly popular Doctor Who.

"It's the one question I've been getting asked about the most: people comparing the show to that Doctor," Douglas Henshall, who stars as an evolutionary zoologist who deals with creatures from the past and the future, said in an interview at the Television Critics Association's press tour in Beverly Hills, Calif., this week.

Of course, comparisons with that other British SF series are inevitable: Primeval counts among its writing staff Paul Cornell, who wrote for the newDoctor Who TV series and authored more than a dozen novels about the Doctor and his companion, Bernice Summerfield.

But don't expect any crossovers with Doctor Who. "No, absolutely not will we have a Doctor Who character pop in on Primeval," producer/writer Tim Haines insisted. "They have very different worlds and realities. Anything can happen on Doctor Who."

The world of Primeval is more reality based, said co-creator Adrian Hodges. But he admitted that he was tempted to sneak in a few Doctor references or inside jokes. "Every time I was tempted to even put in a vague Who reference, I stopped myself," Hodges said. "The worlds are very different. ... At one point, we considered a sly Doctor reference when someone got angry at another character and threw a box set of Doctor Who at them, but we thought not."

This autumn, BBC Books will publish Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale, a close look at the work of chief writer and showrunner Russell T Davies on Series Four of Doctor Who. The book is co-written by Davies and Doctor Who Magazine journalist Benjamin Cook, and is scheduled for publication on25 September 2008. The publisher's blurb is below.

The book has a foreword by bestselling novelist Philip Pullman and an afterword by Tenth Doctor David Tennant.

Davies and Cook will participate in a discussion about the book and Davies' tenure on Doctor Who at the National Theatre on 7 November 2008, as part of the theatre's "Platforms" series.

Thanks to "Gregor" of the Doctor Who Forum.

As Series Four draws to a close, Executive Producer and Head Writer Russell T Davies talks about his involvement with Doctor Who, the show he was part of reviving after a 16-year hiatus in 2005. Answering fans' questions on the BBC News website, he says that once he leaves he will no longer be involved with the show even for an occasional writing stint. He hands the reins over to Steven Moffat in 2010.

"I think Steven's more than his own man. He doesn't need me at all. I won't write for it in the future. I'm done with it. It's time to move on and I'd hate to be just a ghost haunting the corridors that I used to walk.

"And who needs me? Because Steve's brilliant and they've got a thousand million plans. I'll just be old news and it's about time."

He said he would most miss the people he had worked with. "They are genuinely brilliant people, our designers and producers and the crew at BBC Wales. They are fantastic and they're part of the reason I've stayed for so long."

Despite his intial fears of low budget and a non-peaktime slot, he was pleased with the way the BBC treated the show. "I thought there'd be a lot of compromise, I thought we'd be compromised on budget. We could have ended up with no ratings and a Sunday afternoon slot, so absolutely nothing [was compromised] and that really is the honest answer. We got to make everything that I wanted to make.

"I knew what we'd made was good. So I knew I could sleep at night. I knew even if no one watched it, I could sit there and say I had done a great piece of work."

He added: "None of us ever saw this much success coming. I didn't even envisage a spin-off would be possible."

When asked about his favourite line of dialogue, he replied: "I did love Donna, played by Catherine Tate, in a show we did two weeks ago called Turn Left. She said: 'You liar, you told me I was special' to Rose, when she feels her life has been betrayed and lied. I think she delivers that line with such venom - I love that moment."

Asked which villains or creatures he might have brought back if he'd continued with Doctor Who, he said: "I've used a lot of the classics but the Silurians were always very good. They were a race of lizard people who were the original owners of the Earth. I always thought it was a very clever idea that there was a civilisation before us. I'm not bringing them back but they're ripe to be returned one day."

Posted By John Bowman

The BBC TV studios where Doctor Who was recorded during most of its classic era may be given special status.

English Heritage, the UK government's statutory adviser on the historic environment, is urging the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to recognise the architectural and cultural significance of Television Centre - which is at White City in London - and list parts of it at grade II.

This would classify them as of special interest and would ensure their historic and architectural interest was considered carefully before any alterations - internally or externally - were agreed.

Doctor Who was produced at TV Centre for the majority of its stories made between 1966 and 1989. Last October, this site reported that the centre, in Wood Lane, was being put up for sale.

Peter Beacham, heritage protection director for English Heritage, said: "As one of the first purpose-built TV studios in the world, it represents the moment when Britain led Europe into the television age. The BBC itself is an important part of our British identity and Television Centre has acquired an iconic presence.

"The nation has an immense fondness for this building and what it represents for our culture. We all feel we know areas such as the Blue Peter garden and the studios where people have watched significant moments in broadcasting over the last 50 years: from early Doctor Who to Top of the Pops."

He said the aim was to ensure the site remained flexible to adapt to changing technology or new uses, "despite being of undeniable national interest and one of very few monuments to television history".

English Heritage has assigned special interest to the scenery workshops, with their barrel-vaulted ceiling and rows of circular rooflights, the 1950s canteen that overlooks the Blue Peter garden, and the distinctive circular drum that houses offices and the main studios.

A BBC spokesman said: "The BBC is happy to discuss with English Heritage any proposal it has and we will comment to the Secretary of State on the historic and architectural merit of TVC in due course.

"The BBC has announced that it does not intend to occupy the whole of TVC after 2012 but any reference to detailed development plans for the building and site is premature.

"We recognise the historical importance of the building and will be looking for a solution that best preserves the interests of the BBC and licence-fee payer, but there are no firm plans currently on the table."

Already listed is Alexandra Palace in Wood Green, London, from where the world's first regular public television service came and where an establishing shot was filmed for The Idiot's Lantern in January 2006.

In contrast to the past several years' episodes, the closing credits of the season finale "Journey's End" today in the UK did NOT feature a title for the forthcoming Christmas episode of Doctor Who... only the cryptic phrase "Return of the Cybermen". That's likely not the title for the next story; when it's announced we'll bring it to you. It's been known for at least two months that the Cybermen would play a part in the next transmitted episode.

Meanwhile, to avoid spoiling any surprises for our readers, we will refrain from mentioning anything on the News Page about the state of affairs at the end of the story. "Journey's End" airs in America in less than a month, and the fourth series is also now currently airing in Australia.

Telos Publishing has announced several new titles for 2008, and among them are the latest in their range of unofficial and unauthorised non-fiction guides toDOCTOR WHO and TORCHWOOD.

MONSTERS WITHIN is by Stephen James Walker and continues the story of DOCTOR WHO from the 2007 Christmas Special through the end of Series Four. The book is a detailed viewer's guide to the build-up and background to the show, as well as factual analysis and review of all the episodes. MONSTERS WITHIN will be published in December 2008.

SOMETHING IN THE DARKNESS is Stephen James Walker's follow up to the bestselling INSIDE THE HUB and looks at the second series of the DOCTOR WHO spin off TORCHWOOD. Like the DOCTOR WHO guide it delves into the background and production of the show and subjects all the episodes to critical review and analysis. SOMETHING IN THE DARKNESS will be published in August 2008.