The Children In Need Concert, which is available to digital viewers, has had an earlier start than previously advertised on site, with the first run commencing from 9:15am. The concert - filmed at Cardiff's Millennium Centre on 19th November - runs for approximately 90 minutes on a loop, and details of the schedule can be seen at any time by using the blue button during the concert.

The broadcast also includes a question-and-answer session with David Tennant, Russell T Davies and Murray Gold, plus a four-minute preview of "The Runaway Bride" (so you may not want to watch the concert until after 8:00pm!).

For those out and about and otherwise engaged in Christmas merriment, the concert will be broadcast digitally at other times throughout the Christmas season: Christmas Day (1:50-7:00pm, 8:50pm-4:00am - 1:45am for Freeview), 27th December (8:50pm-4:00am - 1:45am for Freeview), and then in the new year on 2nd/3rd January (7:50pm-4:00am - but not on Freeview). The audio-only version of the concert is also currently available from BBC Radio Wales on their "Listen Again" service.

For other coverage of the concert, don't forget this afternoon's behind-the-scenes look at the concert with Doctor Who Confidential on BBC1 at 1:00pm. Plus BBC Radio One delve into the concert in a three-hour programme with Jo Whiley from 4:00pm. This will be available on the "Listen Again" service for the next week, as is Doctor Who Back In Time, the behind-the-scenes from BBC Radio Wales broadcast yesterday.

Last month, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales held a special concert of Murray Gold's Doctor Who music. Tickets to the concert sold out within hours. This Christmas, UK fans with digital, cable, satellite or Freeview will be able to watch Doctor Who: A Celebration on BBCi via the "red button". The programme will be available:

• Christmas Day: after the Doctor Who Confidential broadcast, between 1.50-7pm
• Christmas Day: after the Doctor Who Christmas Special The Runaway Bride, BBCi on BBC One between 8.50pm and 4am (ends 1.45am on Freeview)
  Wednesday 27 December: BBCi on BBC Three, 8.50pm-4am (ends 1.45am on Freeview)
• Tuesday 2 January: BBCi on BBC Three, 7.50pm-4am (not Freeview)
• Wednesday 3 January: BBCi on BBC Three, 7.50pm-4am (not Freeview)

More details are available at the website of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

Helen Raynor has donated an autographed copy of her script for Torchwood episode three, Ghost Machine, to theCardiff and District Samaritans. The script is signed by Raynor, John Barrowman, Eve Myles, Burn Gorman,Naoko Mori and Gareth David-Lloyd. It is being auctioned on eBay, and all proceeds will go towards running costs at the Cardiff Samaritans.

The Daleks will be returning to the stage with the re-creation of their 12-part "lost" TV epic.

After October's successful production of "lost story" The Evil of the Daleks in Portsmouth, Interalia Theatre have been given the licence to produce the 1965/66 adventure The Daleks' Masterplan, of which only three episodes still exist.

As with Evil, it will be on at the New Theatre Royal, Guildhall Walk, Portsmouth. It is scheduled for sometime in October 2007 and will run for five performances - but it will be the company's last Doctor Who revival.

Spokesman Rob Thrush said: "Most of the team from Evil will be involved.

"Nick Scovell is again adapting the scripts and will play the Doctor. Obviously, there is a lot of cutting to do, so it'll be very different fom the runaround on TV, although the 'core' of the story - sorry! - will remain intact."

A draft still has to be submitted for approval by the estates of Dennis Spooner and Terry Nation.

Thrush added: "According to the terms of the licence, this, our fourth Doctor Who production, will be the very last one, so we intend to go out with a biggie!"

The company also previously staged The Web of Fear and Fury from the Deep in Portsmouth.

(With thanks to Rob Thrush)

There was a special concert held at the Millennium Centre in Cardiff on Sunday 19th November to raise funds for the BBC's annual Children in Need appeal. The BBC National Orchestra of Wales and BBC National Chorus of Wales played a selection of the incidental music from the last two series composed by Murray Gold and orchestrated by Ben Foster, as well as previewing Love don't Roam and a four minute clip from The Runaway Bride. Tickets had sold out in hours, but the concert was also broadcast live on BBC Radio Wales.

Numerous Doctor Who stars were also in attendance, including Freema Agyeman, Camille Coduri, Noel Clarke, Phil Collinson, Julie Gardener and Steven Moffatt. Cybermen, Sycorax and Daleks were amongst the assorted monsters who appeared amongst the audience and on stage. Russell T Davies, David Tennant and Murray Gold took part in a question and answer session, revealing that they expectd a Christmas Day broadcast for The Runaway Bride.

The concert has raised over £52,000 for Children in Need so far. Various props were auctioned at the event , while an online auction of the Genesis Ark, a Sycorax helmet, the Doctor's trainers and Rose's New Earth top raised nearly £10,000. Terry Wogan carried out an auction of "money can't buy" prizes on his Radio 2 breakfast show, and the opportunity of a special set tour guided by Russell T Davies raised £25,000.

For those who missed out, the concert will be available via the red button interactive service to digital viewers at some point over Christmas.

The Time Shift series celebrates the 40th anniversary of Doctor Who's Cybermen this Saturday "with a look at the rollercoaster fortunes of robots, androids and cyborgs in fact and fantasy; from the Flash Gordon serials via The Six Million Dollar Man to Marvin the Paranoid Android. For decades we were alternately warned that robots could take over the planet, and promised that they would liberate us from the drudgery of everyday labour. But in the real world scientists struggled to design robots that could even climb the stairs. Yet the continued appeal of the Star Wars films, the recent remake of the TV classic A for Andromeda and the return of the Cybermen to our screens all prove that there's artificial life in the machine men yet. Among the contributors exploring whether we're on the cusp of the true robot age are actor Anthony Daniels, aka C-3PO in Star Wars; British SF visionary Brian Aldiss; writer Kim Newman; and a host of real-life robotics scientists." The programme airs on Saturday 13 May at 8.15pm on BBC4, repeated at 11.50pm. (Thanks to Chuck Foster)

Partial data is now available of the take-up for BBCi's red-button episodeAttack of the Graske on Christmas Day. Among Digital Satellite viewers, approximately seven per cent of available viewers pressed the red button between 8pm and midnight on Christmas Day. This amounted to approximately 250,000 users, of which 230,000 stayed with the interactive episode for three (out of fourteen) minutes or more, a 'retention rate' of 93 per cent. The top programme for 2005 was Wimbledon with a Reach+1 of 4.4m, 39% of the available audience, although that took place over a fortnight rather than over one evening. The 'Graske' figures compare very favourably to other high-profile results - a Gorillaz concert screened by BBCi in November was accessed by 100,000 users in a seven-day period. At 93 per cent, Doctor Who also had a much higher rate of retention than many other interactive services: BBCi coverage of the Glastonbury music festival, for example, managed 55% in 2005. These figures exclude Freeview and Digital Cable users; it is estimated that the inclusion of that data would roughly double the figures. (Thanks to 'Shaun Lyon')

Costume designer June Hudson, whose extensive repetoire of costume designs include many of Tom Baker's most famous accoutrements in later seasons of his tenure on "Doctor Who" as well as work on such series as "Eastenders," "The Rise and Fall of Reginald Perrin," "Survivors" and "Blake's 7," will be instructing a class on designing for SF film and television at the University of Redlands in southern California, which will include an exhibition of her work on Doctor Who from March 29 through May 2. Says the release from the university, "The culminating project of her class will be to design costumes for Shada, and both her own drawings and student work for this project will be featured on one of the university's web pages." Meanwhile, on May 20, the Armacost Library at the University of Redlands will be hosting a one-day exhibition, including a panel on science fiction design that will involve Hudson as well as designer Chrisi Karvonides (Carnivale, Birds of Prey), on May 20. The university will also be publishing a catalogue of the drawings in the show, with extensive new interview material with Hudson and many previously unpublished images. For further details on these events and the catalogue, contact Piers Britton at the University of Redlands viaemail. Outpost Gallifrey will also feature further information and visuals at a later date. (Thanks to Piers Britton and Mariko Chang)