The official BBC Doctor Who site has confirmed that actor John Simm will be reprising his role as The Master in the forthcoming Christmas specials. Though no other details have been confirmed the site reports that they will publish an interview with Simm later in the year.

The announcement follows a special preview shown at the San Diego Comic Con, during which the character appeared with other known cast members for the episodes (Bernard Cribbens, Catherine Tate). It also confirms reports of the actor seen on location during filming for the episodes back in March/April this year.

No name has been given for the episodes so far, though Den of Geek have suggested that it might be called "The End of Time".

Update: a new BBC website article reports that as well as John Simm, Alexandra Moen will also be reprising her role as Lucy Saxon, the Master's wife from his previous appearance.

The official BBC Doctor Who website has put online, for UK users only, the new trailer for the next special episode starring David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor. The Waters of Mars is due to be broadcast in the UK this autumn, and the new trailer was shown to an enthusiastic audience at the ComicCon convention in the United States yesterday.

The UK media website Digital Spy has published a summary of today's Doctor Who discussion panel at the ComicCon event in San Diego, which featured Russell T Davies, David Tennant, Julie Gardner and Euros Lyn discussing their time working on the programme, taking questions from the audience and previewing the forthcoming special episodes.

Among the topics raised was the possibility of a Doctor Who feature film, which the panel stated is not a project on which any of them are currently working. The panel also featured a presentation from Guinness World Records, declaring Doctor Who to be "the most successful sci-fi show on TV full stop".

The comics news site ComicMix is reporting that an unnamed BBC America executive at ComicCon has confirmed that the BBC has ordered a fourth series of Torchwood. There is as yet no independent confirmation of this; however, a Torchwood panel is scheduled at ComicCon tomorrow, with star John Barrowman, writer/executive producer producer/show creator Russell T Davies, executive producer Julie Gardner and director Euros Lyn. Presumably, if the report from ComicMix is correct, the news will be confirmed at this panel.


(Thanks to poster "InigoMontoya" from Gallifrey Base.)

The science-fiction website io9 has posted a report of the roundtable discussion Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner, Euros Lyn and David Tennant took part in on Saturday at the San Diego ComicCon event in the United States. There to promote the forthcoming specials that will see out Tennant's time as the Tenth Doctor, the group discussed the future of Doctor Who with journalists, and io9's full report contains some casting spoilers for the forthcoming two-part finale to Tennant's time in the TARDIS.

Apparently debunked by the group is the idea that a Doctor Who feature film is to be announced at the ComicCon event.

The website tvshowsondvd.com has revealed that The War Games and The Black Guardian Trilogy will be released in North America on November 3rd.

Issue 411 of Doctor Who Magazine reveals that K9 veteran, John Leeson, will once more voice the robot dog in the upcoming series of adventures produced in Australia. Not only will Leeson voice the original character in the opening episode, he will also voice the redesigned model throughout the 26-episode series. The programme is due for transmission in Australia in the spring of 2010.

The magazine features more details of the return of Tom Baker to the role of the Doctor, as the veteran actor gives a rare interview explaining his decision to return to the character after nearly thirty years. Baker has recorded a series of five audio plays, under the banner Hornets' Nest, for BBC Audio. He plays the Fourth Doctor, alongside Richard Franklin who returns to the character of Captain Mike Yates, a character he first played in the television series in the early '70s. The first story will be available as a CD or download from 3rd September.

DWM is out now across the United Kingdom.

Final figures released by BARB put all five episodes of Torchwood – Children of Earth in the top twenty programmes of the week.

The figures include those who record the programme and watch it within one week. The highest charting episode was Day Four, which, with 6.76 million watching, was the 11th most watched programme of the week. If figures for the HD showing were included in the BBC1 figures, then Torchwood would have had a top ten place, with episode four beating Emmerdale. All five episodes achieved over 6 million viewers.

The series dominated the chart for the BBC HD channel with the five episodes of Torchwood taking the top eight places. Not only did the original five showings take the top five places, but the midnight repeats took places 6, 7 and 8.

The BBC Three repeats also fared well with all five episodes appearing in the top ten programmes for the week. All episodes had a final rating over double that of the initial overnight figure.



Meanwhile, in the United States, Multichannel News reports that the premiere episode of "Children of Earth" was watched by 1.4 million viewers on Monday, the highest ratings of any programme on BBC America.

(Thanks to poster "InigoMontoya" from Gallifrey Base.)

The chairman of the Harris Tweed Authority has praised the new Doctor for his costume; Domhnall Martainn described the jacket choice as an important and sensible decision, and hoped young people would be inspired to choose clothes made from the traditional cloth:Esquire Magazine editor Jeremy Langford:GQ Magazine contributor Andy Morris:

However, not everyone has been pleased. Guardian columnist Hadley Freeman commented:And Sara Nathan of the Sun:University of Westminster fashion course director Andrew Groves commented:


Additional costume reports and comments by: BBC Magazine, BBC News, The Age, Airlock Alpha, Digitial Spy, TV Squad, Herald

Doctor Who was voted the 6th most addictive show of all time in a recent poll by UK online rental company lovefilm.com. The show was the only British show to feature in the top ten.

Darren Bignell, Communications Manager of LOVEFiLM.com, said: "We're a nation of comfort lovers and the thought of curling up on the sofa with our favourite programmes is a very tempting one. "Although crime doesn't pay, as our list reveals, it most certainly pulls in the viewers, and shows like 24 have clearly found the right mix of suspense, drama and action to keep us coming back for more."

Reported by The Telegraph, The Live Feed