The Guardian on December 30 ran an article, "Call to bring back the police box" (echoed by similar stories in other papers) in which the writer stated "The humble-looking Tardis which aided Dr Who's intergalactic meanderings could be a solution to the police's public image, the Institute for Public Policy Research thinks. Its report also says that police stations should be made friendlier to the public, taking inspiration from the neat architecture of the Japanese police." The study, Re-inventing the Police Station, recommends the police boxes that used to dot the country, the sort of mini-office immortalised as the exterior form of the TARDIS, says the article, and that they "provide a popular way of interacting with the local police." The Metropolitan police said there were no plans to reintroduce police boxes, but it has admitted in the past that police stations need to be overhauled for the new century. (Thanks to Scott Matthewman)

The official Doctor Who site today featured a preview of the next issue of Doctor Who Magazine, #352... sort of. The feature on the magazine, which features a new design tying into the new series and an expansion to 68 pages, shows the cover design but not the final version of the Ninth Doctor and Rose cover (which can now be seen in a more recent news item above!) (There is also word from elsewhere that the color of the logo will change with each issue.) In the first new-look issue, producer Phil Collinson says about the TARDIS, "The basic idea - a big room with the main controls in the middle - is so fantastic, I mean, why would you change that? It's a brilliant piece of design. The basic idea is the same, but Ed Thomas' design has a feeling all of its own. I mean, with the best will in the world, the TARDIS interior always used to look like a studio set. But this one is enormous and it looks beautiful on camera. Plus, we're doing a couple of things to help ease the way, so that the viewers can imagine that, when you step through those doors, something magic happens and the interior really does tie in with the outside..." Other highlights include an interview with new series author Paul Cornell and McCoy-era script editor Andrew Cartmel presenting a unique glimpse behind the scenes of the show as he rifles through his diaries to document the genesis of Remembrance of the Daleks! Fact of Fiction sets its sights on The Tenth Planet, whilst Earth faces its final hours in part seven of comic strip epic The Flood. More teasing from loose-lipped executive producer Russell T Davies in his unmissable Production Notes, the Time Team tackling The Masque of Mandragora and casting exclusives in Gallifrey Guardian round off the issue.

From the Sunday Mirror (January 1): "Never has a TV series been so shrouded in secrecy," referring to the new series, "but soon we"ll be able to see how Christopher Eccleston fares as the travelling timelord, and whether Billie Piper measures up as his assistant. A few facts have emerged. The Tardis, which transports the Doctor through time and the universe, is made of coral on the inside and is a living organism which can grow and change shape. But don"t worry, the outside still looks like an old blue police box. On his journeys he will come across Simon Callow as Charles Dickens and Zoe Wanamaker as a very old woman. There is also more than a hint of romance this time around. Eccleston says: 'Doctor Who has two hearts and they can both be broken.' Ahhh." The comment about the TARDIS being "made of coral on the inside" has raised some eyebrows from Doctor Who fans online.

Item to watch in the US: BBC America is advertising the airing of "The Canterbury Tales" beginning Saturday, January 8th, at 8pm. The episode in which new series companion Billie Piper features, 'The Miller's Tale' is scheduled to first air on Jan 29, 2005.

The Sunday Independent (January 2) called Billie Piper a "talent to watch." "Billie Piper is out to prove her mettle as Doctor Who's new sidekick," says the article. Also, the Sunday Times (January 2) noted the BBC was "is in full charter-renewal mode. ... Then there is the BBC's remake of Doctor Who (BBC1), with Christopher Eccleston as the time lord. 'Everyone was expecting him to be dour, and he's so funny. I think we can do extraordinary things with it,' says the writer, Russell T Davies. 'It's classy, eccentric, there's a lot of satire, and I think it's going to work.'"

Billie Piper's film Spirit Trap will be premiered at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival in the spring, before a general release across Britain and the United States. Piper and Luke Mably star in the supernatural chiller based around scary goings on in a seedy London student bedsit land, alongside Sam Troughton and Russian rock star Alsou.

From a syndicated interview with fifth Doctor Peter Davison that circulated around January 1: "People keep asking if I've got any inside information," he says. "But I don't at all. I do the odd convention from time to time, and I still play the Doctor on audio CDs but that's it. I'll be very interested to see it myself. Hopefully, it will have more money spent on it than they spent on ours. I remember it as a lot of running up and down corridors. And a lot of acting with people who weren't there because of blue screen. I was saving the world though. But it's certainly got very good writers now. A lot of the writers, like A League Of Gentlemen"s Mark Gatiss, are Doctor Who fans and have been for many, many years. So it should be good."

Interested in which story producer Russell T Davies really enjoys? From an article in January 1's The Guardian about Davies' favorite TV programs: "Doctor Who: The Ark In Space. Nothing creates terror and claustrophobia like the good old-fashioned walls of a BBC studio. You can almost hear the cameras hum. The regular cast make bubble-wrap truly terrifying, but in the unfamous, unsung guest cast, there are heroes. An actor called Wendy Williams creates a character who is frigid, humourless, ruthless, and eventually, through contact with the Doctor, completely human. I must have watched this a hundred times. It's not enough."

(Thanks to Paul Engelberg, Peter Weaver, Mark Askren, Mike Maddox, "Odoru Tardis" and others for these reports)

One very small piece of casting news is hidden in the latest edition of Radio Times today (8û14 January). Tamsin Greighas 'a cameo appearance' in the new series, according to the magazine. She is the voice of Debbie Aldridge in The Archers on BBC Radio 4, and has starred in Green Room (Channel 4, 2004), Black Books (Channel 4, 2000û) and Neverwhere (1996 on BBC2), as well as the film "Shaun of the Dead" (starring fellow new series guest star Simon Pegg) last year. (Thanks to Steve Tribe)