Sci-Fi Wire reports that Ninth Doctor Christopher Eccleston has joined the cast of The Dark Is Rising. The 20th Century Fox and Walden Media film is an adaptation of the books of the same name by Susan Cooper. Eccleston will play the villain, the Rider, and will join the cast of Gregory Smith, Amelia Warner (Aeon Flux), Emma Lockhart (Batman Begins), Gary Entin, Edmund Entin, Jonathan Jackson and John Benjamin Hickey. Ian McShane and Frances Conroy have also been cast. The movie is slated to begin filming on 26 February in Romania.

Visit Sci Fi Wire for more details.

Some stories you may have missed recently in the press ...

Comparisons between Doctor Who and ITV's new show Primeval have been cropping up in a variety of sources.Heat magazine said "... it's not a fair comparison - where Doctor Who is quirky, playful and very British, this glossy adventure is more in the American style, with spectacular effects, fancy locations and less larking about ... For all it's slickness, Primeval would be improved by the presence of a David Tennant or a Billie Piper. But what wouldn't?". Closermagazine commented that, "Doctor Who proved that decent sci-fi drama can be a huge family hit, so you can't blame ITV for wanting a piece of the action."

John Barrowman has been "celebrating the best of Broadway, Hollywood and the West End" by sitting in for Elaine Paige on Sunday 11 February on BBC Radio 2 at 1-3pm, and will be carrying on the presenting duties on the following Sunday, 18 February, at the same time. You can listen again for 7 days here. The first show included radio play forLove Don't Roam and discussion of Torchwood filming, as previously reported on the News Page.
Barrowman will be hosting The National Lottery: Saturday Draws on BBC1 at 9.25 on 24 February.

A short Q & A interview with Barrowman appeared in London Lite on 9 February.

A home-made Doctor Who time machine was the star attraction at a space-based literacy day on Saturday 20 January at the Langworthy Cornerstone, aimed at improving English. Doctor Who author Stephen Cole also attended, conducting a writing seminar and judging the winning entries in the story competition.

The Mirror has reported on the investigation of a BBC Wales executive for fraud in "A Doctor Who Swindle", claiming the executive "was in charge of a multi-million pound budget at the Cardiff HQ where Doctor Who is made" and is under investigation for a series of payments he authorised. Any Doctor Who link may be largely geographical, however, as the executive who resigned in April 2005 was head of operations for BBC Wales, and was responsible for technology, outside broadcasts, studios, post-production, facilities management, and BBC premises.

According to Sky Showbiz (A. Montini), Hugh Grant "got offered a role in the revived version of Doctor Who. Not sure what put him off the role - the hard work or the show being shot in Cardiff ... Either way he said no."

Many celebrities have been revealing their love of Doctor Who.

Take That singer Mark Owen told Sky Showbiz he would like to appear in Doctor Who, saying that "I never missed it and loved the show the first time around. I think there is room for us on the show to do a concert on another planet, but we would have to return, of course."

Inside Soap (3-9 February)also reveals that Carrie Grant (of BBC2's Safari School) says that the Doctor is the TV/movie character she would most like to be - "The idea that you could just go anywhere you wanted in the whole universe ... Oh yeah!"

The winner of How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?, Connie Fisher, has been stating her case for a role in Doctor Who. According to Sky Showbiz, she said, "I never miss the show and think that it would be great for me as it's totally different from what people know me as."

Scottish designers Colin McAllister and Justin Ryan said that they would: "... love to be in Doctor Who - David Tennant is magnificent and we're big fans of Christopher Eccleston." source: Metro

British comedian Al Murray (currently hosting Al Murray's Happy Hour on ITV) comments on Doctor Who that his children "love it and I do, too. I think it's been the most amazing thing on TV in recent years." (Heat magazine, issue 412)

People

Marc Warren (Love and Monsters) and Yasmin Bannerman (The End of the World) both appeared in the first episode of the second series of Life on Mars, broadcast on BBC 1 on the 13 February. Written and co-created byMatthew Graham (Fear Her) and starring John Simm, episode 2 in the current series was written by Chris Chibnall(Torchwood).

Peter Davison is to star in a new BBC 2 comedy Fear, Stress and Anger.

David Tennant and Sarah Parish can be seen together in Recovery, a one-off 90-minute drama written by Tony Merchant, following a man who suffers a head injury, currently due to be transmitted on BBC 1 from 9pm on Sunday, 25 February. Tennant is due to appear as a guest for Clive Anderson on Radio 2 on the 25 February between 11am and 1pm. The show will be available online for the following 7 days here.

Meanwhile, readers of New Woman magazine have voted Tennant number 13 in it's 100 Hottest Men on the Planet poll. Last year, he came in at number 20.

Billie Piper is to star in the adaptation of Belle de Jour for Channel 4, according to BBC News. Piper is also to guest on The Charlotte Church Show, which screens on Friday, 23 February at 10pm on Channel 4 (UK). Piper was interviewed by Mark Lawson on BBC Radio 4's Front Row on 13 February.

Christopher Eccleston made his first appearance as Claude in Heroes in January. The creator/producer of Heroes,Tim Kring, described how Eccleston became involved in the show in an interview at Crave Online: "I had seen his work mainly in Elizabeth and I had seen him in 28 Days Later. I knew who he was and I had originally wanted a British [actor]. I saw the character as a kind of Fagin kind of character. I wanted a big sort of sloppy Brit with a working class accent who is this curmudgeonly invisible guy, a real misanthrope. So the casting people said, "Well, Christopher Eccleston is actually living here now in America. He’s just moved here and he’s trying to get work here." So it was one of those fortuitous things where it was like, "Oh, I love that guy. Let’s go after him." By the time we had a part for him, he was really a fan of the show."

Eccleston is also due to start filming shortly on The Dark is Rising, an adaptation of the fantasy book by Susan Cooper.

Penelope Wilton appeared on the 14 February edition of Front Row (BBC Radio 4).

Mark Gatiss and Arabella Weir (who plays a female Doctor in the Doctor Who Unbound audio Exile by Nicholas Briggs from Big Finish) will be guest starring in Radio 4's Down the Line on 20 February.

John Simm appeared with his Life on Mars co-star Philip Glenister as guests on Nemone Metaxas's radio programme, broadcast on BBC 6Music, this afternoon. Simm spoke via telephone, rather than in studio with Glenister, as his wife has recently had a baby.

Mainly there to promote the second series of Life on Mars, which commences its run on BBC One this evening, Simm was also asked about the recent rumours concerning his possible guest appearance in series three of Doctor Who. Although there were no spoilers, the question contained speculation about a major character rumoured to be appearing in the new series.

Today's Daily Echo reports that Elisabeth Sladen will be attending Bournemouth's annual Science Fiction Ball this weekend. The event, which is raising money for the Macmillan Cancer Unit at Christchurch Hospital, 'offers the chance for photo opportunities and autographs with the stars'. The Ball will be held at Carrington House Hotel in Boscombe from February 9 to 11. (For more details log on to sfball.com or call 070 9281 2101.)

Sylvester McCoy appeared on Breakfast this morning to discuss his forthcoming role in King Lear, a new play starring him as The Fool to Sir Ian McKellen's Lear, and performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company. It opens in Newcastle in April, after previews at the end of March in Stratford; it will then tour around the world, including Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and America.

He said he got the role from being at a party with play director Trevor Nunn, who asked him what he'd been doing! However, he also said that he felt a little type-cast, as people have been telling him he's been playing the fool all his career!

Of course, it would be impossible for the Breakfast team not to mention Doctor Who - this was the first topic of conversation! Introduced by a clip from Silver Nemesis, McCoy talked about the fun time he had in the role. When asked about his views on today's Doctor Who, he replied: "I think it's terrific, I'm so pleased - it's great to see children get their own generation of Doctor, and the enjoyment they get from it." And then on comparison with 'the humour and fun' from his own era: "That's rather flattering really, even some of our stories, they've kind of used those. But all their writers and the producers they grew up I suppose during my Doctor, so that influences in them when they create new Doctors."

He is also very impressed with the renewal of the Doctor's oldest adversary: "It does also amaze me that Daleks still terrify people. I was somewhere and a Dalek suddenly appeared, and this child was shaking with fear - I've never seen that kind of real fear and I suddenly thought I've got do something so I said, 'Listen, don't worry, I am the Doctor, I will save you!' I've not been in the role for 15 years but that was all right, the child calmed down and I said, 'It's all right, that Dalek isn't going to touch you.'"

Keep an eye out for more details of King Lear from the RSC's website.

According to UK tabloid the Sun, former Doctor Who companion Billie Piper is scheduled to appear on BBC2's Top Gear programme next week as the latest celebrity to show off their driving skills in the show's Star In a Reasonably Priced Car slot.

Piper will complete a timed lap, driving a Chevrolet Lacetti around the show's test track, aiming to beat the times set by previous celebrities - including Christopher Eccleston - and get to the top of the leader board.

John Leeson, the voice of K-9, will be appearing at the Questors Theatre in Ealing this Sunday, February 4, at 8pm. The programme is titled "A Dog's Life - An Evening with John Leeson".

Details are available at the theatre's website, and there's a cute Flash animation about the show here.

New companion Freema Agyeman is interviewed in the current issue of the children's publicationThe Newspaper, which is distributed through schools in the UK. It is a short interview, and has mild spoilers concerning Martha's character and how she differs from Rose.

According to various websites, it has been confirmed that Eric Roberts, who portrayed the Master in the ill-fated Doctor Who Fox TV movie, has joined the cast of NBC's hit show Heroes. He will be playing an associate of Claire's father, the mysterious H.R.G. (Horn Rimmed Glasses.) This marks the second former-Doctor Who alumnus to join the series as Ninth Doctor Christopher Eccleston appeared in this week's episode.