Over the past few days, billboards for the new series have begun showing up all over Britain. Below are the two best images we have of both the standard-sized billboard as well as the extended "wide" billboard, both featuring the same illustration.

At the end of Friday night's "Newsnight Review" show on BBC Two, presenter Kirsty Wark said that on next week's show they'd be looking at "the new Doctor Who." "Newsnight Review" is the arts review show that occupies the second half of the "Newsnight" broadcast each Friday.

Various articles this week have been reviewing Russell T Davies' latest television odyssey, "Casanova," the production he filmed concurrent to "Doctor Who."

According to this weekend's Media Guardian, Jane Tranter, the BBC's Head of Drama and one of the major driving forces behind the return of the show, has decided not to apply for the job of Controller of BBC One, which she had been widely fancied for. In one way this is disappointing news as having her take the job might have reassured a lot of Who fans about the show's future longevity, but on the other hand it means we keep a supporter of the show as Head of Drama, which has to be a good thing.

Russell T Davies was in exuberant form on BBC1's Breakfast today (Fri 11 March), talking about his new production of Casanova as well as Doctor Who. During his eight-minute slot, which started at 9.11am (GMT), he said that when the chance to do Doctor Who came up "I had no choice but to work on it because I love it." And now that it was finished, he said: "I love it. I'm so proud of it." A slip of the tongue earlier in the show saw co-presenter Bill Turnbull refer to him as "Russell TV Davies" and much fun was made of that when Davies appeared. Quizzed by Turnbull as to what the "T" stood for, Davies joked "Tardis" but then said it didnÆt stand for anything, it was to distinguish him from another Russell Davies in the industry. Davies then said it could stand for "Tustle", while co-presenter Sian Williams cheekily suggested "Tawdry". Davies also talked briefly about how much he had learned while working as a storyliner on top ITV soap Coronation Street. He then told of his hope that there would be a second series of Doctor Who, and the interview finished with Turnbull saying he expected to see Davies at next year's BAFTA awards, to which Davies, joking as ever, self-deprecatingly replied: "Serving, probably!" An extended clip from episode one of the new series of Doctor Who was shown during the interview.

Monday morning's Independent features an article with comments from production designer Edward Thomas, writer Mark Gatiss and Christopher Eccleston. "Towards the end of the last series, I don't know if he was faring well. He had become something of a cartoon character," Thomas said about the original series. "No doubt that article about why we shouldn't bother to bring him back will be written, but great stories never have a set time. Like Tarzan or Sherlock Holmes, they can stand constant reinterpretation. It pisses me off when purists say: 'Why have Disney done The Little Mermaid and changed the ending?' Well, they've reinvented it so that many more millions of children than have ever read the original Oscar Wilde story can come to know and love The Little Mermaid. A good story is a good story. The very worst thing you can do is let it gather dust on the shelf." Says Gatiss, "Chris endows the role with this extraordinary energy. He plays the Doctor with this full-tilt brio that actually frightens me. He also possesses this great credibility. When Christopher Eccleston tells you a Dalek is lethal, you instantly believe it." Says Eccleston about the best parts of the role: "The Doctor is... completely non-judgemental. He accepts everything and everyone, whether they're black or blue, gay or straight. If he meets an alien, his first reaction is not revulsion, but joy. He celebrates life in all its forms, shades, colours and creeds. Without being didactic, that's a very strong message."

In addition to a, fairly anodyne, regular review, in it's weekly "Wednesday Whinge" spot, the Manchester Evening News made the following comment: "It's a shame that an episode of the new Dr Who series - the first since 1989 - has been leaked onto the internet in advance of its Easter screening, but surely there is some poetic justice in the sci-fi hero who travels through time and space arriving three weeks ahead of himself."

Today's icWales has an article called "Chris is just what the Doctor ordered" in which Russell T Davies "has hit back at critics who slammed new Time Lord Christopher Eccleston as Doctor Who." Davies notes that the Doctor "has [his] own identity. After all he has two hearts and is 900 years old. He does not need to wear a silly coat!"
With many scenes filmed in Cardiff, he defends his decision to pass the city off as London in various scenes. "We had to base it around London as we are selling the series to America and Australia," referring to current goals to sell to the two countries that have not been announced yet for any broadcast of the new series. "We had to set it somewhere which will be recognised by a global audience. However, Cardiff does feature as itself in two episodes and we filmed an earthquake in Cardiff Bay." He also notes that he hopes the BBC commissions a second series, and in the meanwhile he says of his popular drama "Queer as Folk": "There won't be another Channel 4 series although I would like to do another one in time to tell how the characters have moved on. However, we are looking at a musical."

An article in today's Sunday Mirror says that Christopher Eccleston has been linked to actress Siwan Morris. Eccleston "swept beautiful Siwan Morris off her feet at a party in Cardiff last year and they have enjoyed a string of romantic dates in the Welsh capital while he's been filming the new series of the cult TV show," says the article. "Siwan ... is an award-winning actress who is tipped to be a big star of the future. A pal said: 'She's the prettiest thing on Welsh television and an extremely talented actress - Chris is smitten.'" Morris played Griff Rhys Jones's daughter in the ITV1 comedy-drama "Mine All Mine" produced by Russell T Davies, and Liv Jones in the Welsh soap "Bryncoe."

A lengthy new series clip appeared on "Test the Nation," an entertainment quiz series on BBC1. The clip was from the first episode, the scene where the Doctor told Rose to "run for her life" after helping her escape. The clip was shown in response to the question "In which show connects these 3 characters..." with pictures of Billie Piper, Bonnie Langford, Peter Purves. A clip from a Hartnell story and "Trial of a Time Lord" were also shown.

Previews are airing for the new series in Canada -- on the big screen! A trailer produced by CBC has been shown in movie theatres during the forthcoming film previews, including the new Bruce Willis movie "Hostage" and other films.

The Independent talks about the new series' challenge sending kids behind the sofas. The article examines the series' history, some of its challenges, and also its potential future.

March 12's The Independent featured a brief question/answer with Russell T Davies in which he gave some off-the-cuff answers. "You wouldn't know it but I'm very good at ... Drawing. One of my very first jobs was as a cartoonist for BBC Wales." "When I was a child I wanted to be ... A teacher, because my mother and father, and then both my sisters, were teachers." "My favourite building ... Granada Television in Manchester. So solid and Sixties with a neon Granada sign beaming out over the city. Just what a TV station should be like." "All my money goes on ... My bank account. I'm a good saver. It's a funny old job, writing; you're only as good as your next idea." "My favourite work of art ... I've got an autographed print of Charlie Brown and the Kite-Eating Tree, signed by Charles M Schulz. One of the greatest artists ever." "The best invention ever is ... The word processor and all its descendants. Allows infinite rewriting, 'cos that's where the real work is done."

The Sunday Herald also discusses Doctor Who. "Having dropped hints with the BBC throughout his career, as his knack for writing superior popular television became ever more reliable û Queer As Folk, Bob And Rose, Mine All Mine û Davies has finally been given the keys to Doctor WhoÆs Tardis, the iconic inter-dimensional phone box that has gone unused for far too long," says the article. The lengthy piece features comments from Davies as well as DWM deputy editor Tom Spilsbury, and even quotes author Lawrence Miles and Nicholas Courtney (although for the latter, it appears that quotes he's made in the past have been used.)

Sunday's Observer ran an article called "Why aliens still beguile us" that notes that "Doctor Who is carrying a lot of hopes. The BBC is banking on the rejuvenated time lord's ability to vanquish all opponents (not least Ant and Dec on ITV) and revive family viewing. It seems unlikely that a post-Dalek generation would get excited by an army of croaking jelly moulds, but the doctor will, no doubt, be tackling more blood-curdling foes this time round. .. Of the three-quarters of Scots who told lottery researchers that they are believers, half say extraterrestrials will soon be in touch with us." The article then goes into a discussion of extra terrestrial intelligence.

Finally, according to an Outpost Gallifrey source, the new series DVD boxed set released in either October or November will be a boxed set in "TARDIS packaging."

(Thanks to the following for updates today: Paul Engelberg, Steve Tribe, Paul Hayes, Derek Hall, Kenyon Wallace, Craig Hinton, Andrew Eaton, Darrell Paterson, John Walker, Nick Smale, Anthony Forth, David Rafer, John Bowman)

Tom Baker has been named BritainÆs favorite Doctor, in a poll honoring the new series sponsored by SFX. The poll put Peter Davison in second place, followed by Jon Pertwee, Sylvester McCoy, Patrick Troughton, William Hartnell, Colin Baker and, in last place, Paul McGann. SFX editor Dave Golder said Christopher Eccleston, the time traveller in the new BBC1 series, would have a hard act to follow. "The ninth doctor will have to be pretty amazing to topple Tom Baker from his perch as the quintessential Dr Who. There arenÆt many children from the Seventies who canÆt clearly remember peering out from behind the sofa to see Dr Who with his hat, scarf, jelly babies and that wild curly hair." The story has been picked up in such periodicals as the Sun and the Guardian as of March 14.

According to the web page for the Doctor Who Confidential series on the official site, the producers of the BBC3 series are also producing a half hour special, Doctor Who - A New Dimension which will air on BBC 1 at 5.00pm on Saturday 26th March, before the first episode of the new series.

Latest Update: 12 March 0930 GMT (I've left today's items on the list temporarily...)

Chris Eccleston will be on GMTV on March 11 on the Lorraine Kelly section at approximately 8.35am. (Roy Barton, Doug Inman)

BBC Radio Leeds will be re-running a six minute report on "one Yorkshire fan's reaction to the new series hype, and details of his own Doctor Who influenced amateur films" which will run at 0210 GMT (or thereabouts) in the early hours of Friday 11 March. BBC Radio Leeds can be heard live online at bbc.co.uk/radioleeds.

BBC Breakfast News stated that Russell T Davies will be on the program being interviewed on Friday morning 11th March.

Doctor Who will once again be the subject on "Newsnight" on BBC2, March 17 at 11pm.

Chris and Billie will be on "Blue Peter" on March 21 from 4:55pm to 5:20pm on BBC1; the episode will probably be repeated the same evening at 18:00 on the CBBC channel. The Radio Times confirms the listing.

On the electronic Radio Times it states that Billie Piper will be a guest on Parkinson (ITV1, 10.10-11.15 on 19 March) where she will discuss her new role in Dr Who.

According to Radio Times, Saturday, March 19 will feature showings of "Doctor Who and the Daleks" (1965 film) at 3:50pm, "The Story of Doctor Who" (2003 documentary) at 7:30pm, Some Things You Need to Know about Dr Who" (a new documentary short) at 8:30pm, "Dr Who Mastermind" at 8:40pm, and "Parkinson" featuring an interview with Billie Piper at 10:15pm.

On the "On Show" program on BBC1 Wales on March 20, Sian Williams talks to Russell T Davies about his past work and his reinvention of Doctor Who. There's also a listing for BBC2W (the Welsh BBC digital service opt-out), of this "On Show" on Thursday 17th March 9-9:30pm with Russell Davies. (Not having this available to me, I can't get more detailed, sorry! -editor)

The Radio 2 Doctor Who site has just added an unconfirmed interview with Billie Piper on his show on Thursday 24 March. As usual, that's 2pm.

Christopher Eccleston will be on "Friday Night with Jonathan Ross" on 25 March, alongside Julian Clary and Sally Lindsay (Coronation Street actress).

As expected, a news organization has disproven the Sun's claims that Billie Piper was about to resurrect her singing career. According to the Mirror, Piper "laughed at the suggestion that she'll be releasing any more music. She told 3am this week: 'I don't want to sing again. I'm happy acting - it's something I have always wanted to do. I didn't want to do both, I felt that one would suffer as a result, I'd be trying to do too much.'" The comments were also picked up in the Western Daily Press and other periodicals.

BBC Wales South East has posted photos from both Tuesday's press launch and from yesterday's "Have your photo taken with the TARDIS" event, including shots of producers Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner and members of the audience. Check it out!

The BBC Cult website for BBC Four's eagerly-awaited forthcoming live re-make of "The Quatermass Experiment" says that "Doctor Who" writer (and "League of Gentlemen" writer/star) Mark Gatiss is playing one of the Professor's associates, Paterson.

The just-published March edition of Televisual, 'The business magazine for the broadcast and production industry', has an extensive report on the new series, speaking to several people working on the show. On creating a show for the 21st Century, Steve Moffat says: "I don't think the fact that we're in the post-Star Wars era is an issue, but matching Buffy is. Doctor Who was never a space drama anyway, it was about horror: dark shadows and creepy monsters lurking just around the corner." Admitting his blueprint for the series was Buffy, RTD says: "In the 60s we could watch programmes like Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) because we were happy with the spectacle, but now we're more adult and we expect that emotional content." Davies and Julie Gardner has a 'tone meeting' out of which came the rule that in every episode the Tardis must come back to Earth. Says Davies: "We need to return to Earth to get an emotional focus on what's going on. If we're on Planet Zog and Zog people are being affected by a monster, we couldn't really give a toss. But if there's a human colony on Planet Zog, then that's more interesting." On Christopher Eccleston, Davies says: "He's not like Tom Baker, but what they have in common is that they can go around being as funny and daft and as gormless as they like, but you still take them seriously because they're fundamentally both scary, impressive men." The new Tardis interior (6.5m tall and 20m wide), it says, is raised off the ground to get away from the studio floor feel that's plagued past outings. Designer Edward Thomas: "Russell and I thought the most powerful Tardis was the first one, so we kept this in mind but then went back to nature, basing designs on organic materials, the main structure being coral, with glass walls and lots of wood." Will Cohen of The Mill is quoted saying it's the largest number of effects shots ever for a UK TV drama, and talks briefly about animating the character of Cassandra. On episode two, Cohen says: "We refer to it as the 'space opera' episode because there are two exterior space-station shots, views from outer space, a lot of green-screen set replacements, animated spiders and loads of particle work with suns expanding." For the Slitheen (creatures reported to be in "Aliens of London," Cohen says it's still difficult and time-consuming to create moving characters in human form so, for the close-up shots they used prosthetics specialist Neill Gorton's prosthetics while for the wider shots they used CG. Miniature effects superviser Mike Tucker says The Mill animated a retro-looking UFO smashing into Big Ben based on designs by conept artist Bryan Hitch, but the moment of impact was best achieved using a miniature. "You could sit there and hand-animate every single particle of dust, but sometimes it's easier to create miniatures and then just smash them up," says Tucker. Brand manager Ian Grutchfield on reaching a new generation of children: "The challenge is to get younger children to watch the show. Adults know Doctor Who exists but kids won't have heard of it and they're not traditionally the most prolific consumers of drama."

In a separate news story, the Televisual magazine reports: 'BBC canned HD deal for Doctor Who'. According to the report, the BBC turned down a Sony sponsorship deal to use HDCam kit for its high-profile return of Doctor Who, it has emerged. Instead, the decision was made to shoot the series on DigiBeta. A BBC spokeswoman explains that negotiations had started "too late in the day. We'd gone a long way down the DigiBeta path, although we had talked about HD." It said that "HD advocates fear the decision could hinder long-term international sales. 'It makes sense for such a big-budget production to future-proof the product,' says VMI managing director Barry Bassett."

The Scottish Daily Record has a humorous article about the new Doctor Who aliens today: "If the sneak preview we had yesterday of the Blue Moxx is anything to go by, the villains in the new version of Dr Who look like they're going to be a bit more menacing than the overgrown pepperpots and extras wearing upturned buckets wrapped in tinfoil that the Time Lord used to battle in the Sixties and Seventies. ... Let's just say the following list of forthcoming evil baddies is just informed speculation." It includes such items as the "Teekay Moxx," like the Moxx of Balhoon, only wearing last year's fashions; "The Dohleks," similar to the Daleks, but not as intelligent... they have a fatal weakness for doughnuts and duff beer; the "Cydermen," crazed monsters from the English West Country; and the "Eltonjonians," manic, vertically-challenge beings that regard all authority figures as vile pigs and go around chanting "Exfoliate, exfoliate"!

(Thanks to Joe Cannon, Paul Hayes, David Brunt, Russ Meresman, and as always, Paul Engelberg and Steve Tribe for today's listings)

Today's edition of the trade periodical "The Bookseller" carries an advert for this year's annuals from Panini, which includes an illustration that may likely be the cover for the Doctor Who annual, buried under a few other items for sale. At right is a small version of a scan of the item; we'll post the actual cover itself when we get it. (Thanks to Steve Tribe)

While the UK, Canada and New Zealand count down until their broadcasts of the new Doctor Who series, there's still no final confirmation from an Australian broadcaster but that is expected to be announced soon. Meanwhile, the BBC Prime satellite network, carried in Europe, Asia and Africa, has announced on its FAQ page that it will not be carrying the show, nor any reruns of classic episodes. And while there's no confirmation of this whatsoever, Outpost Gallifrey has been told by a source to be on the lookout for some sort of possible announcement about an American broadcaster in early April -- could there be hope on the horizon for the US? Stay tuned! (Thanks to John Wilkins for the BBC Prime info)

The newest issue of Digit Magazine, a 3D Design magazine, has a Doctor Who front cover; emblazoned on the front is the Tardis from the new series. Inside is an in depth review of the special effects for the new series by The Mill. There are several stills from the teaser trailer and a photograph of a spider like CGI creature. There are also descriptions of several other creature designs from the new series including the character played by Zoe Wanamaker in episode 2. They quote that there are 1000 effects in the new series, 200 alone in episode two. (Thanks to Martin Asquith)

We've removed the covers posted today regarding new Doctor Who children's books as seen on Amazon. BBC Worldwide have contacted us to let us know that these were simply potential concepts that were accidentally sent to Amazon, and do not represent Penguin Books' actual schedule or cover illustrations for any potential book items, so we've removed them. As soon as we have more concrete information, we'll give you an update.

The Times ran a front page story on Thursday morning on Doctor Who, mostly the same information as in our previous report quoting Christopher Eccleston about his Doctor's accent. Eccleston said of the original series that he "found the character of the Doctor 'too authoritarian' and tried to avoid watching it." On the cover of the Times is an image marked in our spoilers tag below.

BBC Breakfast featured a very lengthy series of installments on the show, including some footage from the press launch (in which DWM editor Clayton Hickman was quoted as saying, "If the kids don't like that, then the kids don't deserve to have any television ever shown to them again!") and extended interviews with Eccleston and Billie Piper. BBC News' Newsnight program this evening (Wednesday 9 March) featured a report on the return of the series. Host Stephen Smith arrived in a TARDIS, sat behind the sofa and introduced a montage of clips, including scenes from the show, interview clips with news media people and children who haven't a clue what "Doctor Who" actually is. The new series also appeared on an edition of Newsround with several clips from the first episode of the new series and brief interview clips with Eccleston and Piper.

SFX Magazine now has a review of the first episode to go along with the spoilers we mentioned to you that were on their site in the last press clips report. Check out the review, and read that article about their coverage of the press launch. Meanwhile, you can find those spoilers under our spoilers tag below.

Today's The Sun has an article with huge SPOILERS from what we believe is the second episode (called "The End of the World") about several new aliens. We've listed them in the spoilers tag below; note that this is pretty extensive and the article features photos (which we haven't reproduced but you can see them on the Sun site.)

BellaOnline today ran an article "Doctor Who 101ùA Newbie Viewing Guide to the Classic Series" which takes a lighthearted look at the original series in preparation for the new. A very amusing line in its Trivia section: "The special effects were bad even in their own day, thanks to a virtually non-existent budget. Imagine, if you will, creating a green lumpy monster by wrapping someone with green-painted bubble wrap. They did that. Yes, this show was famous for its cheesy effects."

The Guardian features a story, "Why can't Daleks go up stairs?" which discusses the peril of the classic monsters and how they've been updated for the new series. "As terrifying as Dr Who's arch enemies might have seemed, the fact that they could be outwitted by a simple staircase made them a shade less menacing. It's a design fault that has been rectified in the new BBC television series, due to begin at Easter."

The leak of the first episode was mentioned on American public radio network NPR's show Talk of the Nation hosted by Neal Conan, during a story called "Movies, Technology and the Future of Viewing". Conan mentioned the first episode and that downloaders "must feel that it's pretty cool to see the new Doctor Who three weeks before the BBC airs it," although the story itself was about the transformation of media and the new digital age. Also, a Reuters story on the Rose leak was on the front page of Yahoo (USA Yahoo, not UK Yahoo) for a while today... obviously, though America doesn't yet have a broadcast deal, it's still in the American consciousness.

The CBC Television network in Canada now has its own website for its broadcast of the new series. Meanwhile, on Thursday March 10th at 9:15am (EST) CBC Newsworld will be airing a feature on the leaking of the first episode of the new Doctor Who series. CBC's Allison Smith will be interviewing Canadian fan and DWIN member Rod Mammitzsch about the new series of Doctor Who, and the recent leak of the first episode onto the internet.

Today's Daily Record features an interview with Jimmy Vee, the 3'8" actor who plays a role in the new series. We've fully protected this information with our spoilers tag; read it below.

AND FINALLY... Over the past several days it's been a whirlwind keeping up with all the press clips, so I'd like to thank and credit the following people who have been providing updates, news and information: the incomparable Paul Engelberg and Steve Tribe, without whom this couldn't possibly happen; plus Paul Hayes, Malcolm Prince, John Ryan, John Molyneux, Steve Roberts, Paul Vanezis, Chuck Foster, Graeme Burk, Mike Doran, Rowan Bridge, Matt Chayt, David Baker, Darin Patea, Andrew Harvey, Richard Dinnick, Matthew Godley, Nick Johnson, Shannon Patrick Sullivan, Assad Khaishgi, Ian Beard, Richard Carletta, Michael S. Lucart, Kevin Elhart, James Crout, Simon Howe, Kenny Davidson, Ryan Piekenbrock, and Benjamin Elliott.