John Baker worked for the BBC Radiophonic Workshop between 1963 and 1974, during the time when many special sounds for Doctor Who were made by the department. The auction site Ebay currently an EMS VCS3 synthesiser listed which was owned by the composer, and it has been reported as being used for Doctor Who, and possibly even used for the re-arrangement of the Doctor Who theme tune in the early 1970s (though this has not been confirmed).

The item has, unsurprisingly, attracted interest, with the bid at the time of writing at £3877. Running until 4th March, you can view the item on the auction website.

You can read more about John Baker at the Trunk Records website.

It has been reported that visual effects designer Ian Scoones has died in Bulgaria where he lived with his wife Anastasia, on 20th January.

Scoones is perhaps best remembered for his work on Doctor Who in the 1970s for Pyramids of Mars, The Invisible Enemy and City of Death, though he had worked on many other stories, including the very first story An Unearthly Child as an uncredited special effects assistant. He was also heavily involved with the first series of Blake's Seven. As well as television, he worked on a number of films, including Quatermass and the Pit, Nineteen Eighty-Four and Haunted Honeymoon.

Having lived in Spain for a number of years he then retired to Bulgaria, but was interviewed by fellow visual effects designer Mat Irvine for the 2008 BBC DVD release The Invisible Enemy, a story he also worked upon.

Doctor Who DVD producer 2Entertain have officially confirmed that the Fourth Doctor story The Creature from the Pit is to be released on DVD.

The story has been expected since our report in January covered features for the story as having been cleared by the British Board of Film Classification. However, the release date for the story has yet to be revealed.

In the next few weeks, American fans will have several opportunities to meet Doctor Who celebrities and celebrate the show. Coming up this weekend (February 26–28) in Los Angeles is Gallifrey One, the largest Doctor Who convention in North America. This year's guests include classic series companions Sarah Sutton (Nyssa), Katy Manning (Jo Grant), Deborah Watling (Victoria Waterfield), Anneke Wills (Polly), Frazer Hines (Jamie), and John Levene (Sgt. Benton). From modern Doctor Who and its spin-offs, actors Tommy Knight (Luke Smith), Georgia Moffett (Jenny), and Andrew Hayden-Smith (Jake) will be in attendance. On the production side, guests include costume designer Louise Page, directors Graeme Harper, Colin Teague and Alice Troughton, polymath Nicholas Briggs (voice of the Daleks, actor in Torchwood: Children of Earth, writer and producer for Big Finish Productions), script editor Gary Russell and writers Bob Baker (co-creator of K9 and the new K9 TV series), Phil Ford (head writer for The Sarah Jane Adventures, and writer for Doctor Who and Torchwood), John Fay (Torchwood: Children of Earth), Rob Shearman ("Dalek" and the short story collection Love Songs for the Shy and Cynical) and Paul Cornell ("Human Nature" and Marvel Comics). Pre-registration for Gallifrey One is closed, but on-site registration will be available from Friday morning. Gallifrey One is held at the Los Angeles Airport Marriott Hotel.

There are also events coming up for Doctor Who fans on the East Coast. On March 7, Who York will host "A Who York Evening with Russell Tovey" at Cafe 50, 50 W 22nd St, New York. Tovey played Midshipman Frame in the Doctor Who specials "Voyage of the Damned" and "The End of Time", and also stars as the werewolf George in the BBC series Being Human. The Who York event will include a Q&A and an autograph session.

If you want to see Tovey, but New York isn't convenient, you can catch him and Doctor Who legend Nicholas Courtney at a special Pub Night being hosted by Hurricane Who. Courtney, of course, has played Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart for over 40 years. "Hurricane Who: Greyhound One" will be held on March 11 at the Cricketers Arms pub in Orlando, Florida, and will include a Q&A, meet-and-greet, and episode viewings with both Courtney and Tovey.

The Sun's latest casting news reports that Gavin and Stacey writer/star James Corden will appear in the new series of Doctor Who later this year. The actor was said to have been seen learning his lines on train to Cardiff, and confirmed the news when approached by a fan.

The "show insider" said:
The actor's role in the series has yet to be revealed.

The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra will be presenting an afternoon of sci-fi music, which will feature music from Doctor Who, amongst other sci-fi favourites:The concert will be presented by Alasdair Malloy, a musician who's dedicated much of his life to promoting music to children; talking to the Liverpool Echo about the forthcoming concert:

The concert is on the 7th March at 2:30pm at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall - see their website for further information and to book tickets.

BBC Worldwide have signed a deal with Sony Pictures Television for some 114 hours of entertainment to be shown across Central and Eastern Europe, including countries like Poland, Romania, the Czech Republic, Serbia, Slovenia and Montenegro. The package includes Doctor Who, Torchwood, and Primeval.

Says Eddie Nelson, GM of Sony Pictures Television's networks businesses in the region:

The press release comes from the BBC Showcase event taking place in Brighton; the show enables BBC Worldwide to promote television programmes to potential buyers from around the world.

This Wednesday sees the Bonhams Auction of many Doctor Who costumes and props take place, and the auction rooms are now open for public viewing up until Tuesday. Entrance to both the viewings and the auction is by purchase of the auction programme, which costs £15.00 (£5.00 goes to the charity Children in Need).

Stephanie Connell, entertainment specialist at Bonhams said: "Doctor Who is without doubt one of the most important and best loved television programmes, and we are delighted to have the opportunity to offer some of the iconic costumes and props from the show."

As might be expected, the media is taking an interest in the auction, most of which revolves around the sale of two Daleks which featured in their last 'classic' story, Remembrance of the Daleks (MKI and MKII versions).

The BBC1 magazine programme The One Show is expected to run a feature on the auction on Tuesday evening, from 7:00pm.


For full details on the auction, including openings times for public viewing, see the Bonhams website.

The actress Carey Mulligan - best known to Doctor Who fans as popular character Sally Sparrow from Blink - has won the Orange British Academy Film Award for Best Actress for her role in the film An Education. The 24 year old actress said: I was here a year ago and I didn't imagine in a million years that this would happen. I wish I could do a speech like Colin Firth and talk about fridges but I can't."

Mulligan has also been nominated for an Oscar in the 82nd Academy Awards taking place on 7th March.


The British Academy Awards are available to watch in the UK on the BBC iplayer until the 28th February.

Part Two of The End of Time has debuted in Australia to good ratings. The special averaged 840,000 in the five major capital cities, again against stiff competition from the commercial networks, including a 20/20 international cricket match. It was up 40,000 viewers from Part One and was the ABC's top-rating program of the day, rating higher than the popular Sunday 7pm news.

The Sydney Morning Herald TV Guide has rated Part Two of 'The End of Time' its 'show of the week' with Michael Idato writing that it is 'is nearly but not quite the equal of the series's best episodes...it is, instead, a strange ballet of noise and movement, a super-charged run around the block set to the outstanding musical motifs of Murray Gold, which swirls around the simpler truth of the episode's purpose-to give Tennant's Doctor a final, glorious moment of universe-saving indecision and to serve up a helping of sentiment (with a side-order of tears) as he says a fitting goodbye to his life, as we know it, and the lives of those he holds dear.' Idato and Doug Anderson also rate the finale highly in their daily online video TV guide. Melinda Houston of the The Age is less kind, writing of the departure of Russell T. Davies that 'it's been a fun ride but [he] has an undeniable taste for high melodrama and while he's brought some welcome rough edges to the new-style time lord, and a wicked sense of humour, he's also brought a fair whack of sentimental emoting that's not always so much fun.'

Meanwhile, ABC Online's 'The Drum Unleashed' has an amusing blog comparing the different hosts of the long-running Media Watch program with various incarnations of the Doctor.