BBC Video will release In The Beginning, a boxed set of the first three classic Doctor Who series stories -- "An Unearthly Child," "The Daleks" and "The Edge of Destruction" -- on DVD in the UK in January 2006, according to an interview with Marketing Manager Matthew Parkes of 2Entertain/BBCDVD in the newly released edition of Ultimate DVDmagazine. A boxed set (at the time noted as "The Beginning") was touted for release several years ago, both as a VHS and DVD set, but was pushed aside for various reasons; it was also at one point a likely release for this autumn, but we heard some months ago it was moved to 2006. There is no word, as yet, on what this year's other UK DVD release will be; "City of Death" is confirmed for November according to the BBC, Outpost Gallifrey previously learned that "Revelation of the Daleks" is the likely release for July, and there will be one other classic series release in September... our money's on either a First Doctor ("The Web Planet") or Fifth Doctor ("Frontios") story. (Thanks to Justin Thomas, James Wendt)

Actor John Bennett passed away on April 11, 2005; he was 76. Bennett played General Finch in the Jon Pertwee serial "Invasion of the Dinosaurs," but was perhaps best known to Doctor Who fans for his role as Li H'sen Chang, servant of the god Weng-Chiang, in "The Talons of Weng Chiang" opposite Tom Baker. Bennett was a popular guest actor whose many series appearances including "Z Cars," "Casualty," "Softly Softly," "Survivors," "The Saint," "The Avengers," "Dixon of Dock Green" and "Blake's 7" as well as many film roles spanning nearly five decades. (Thanks to Neil Marsh)

According to the ezyDVD retailer, the Australian DVD release of The Mind Robber has been scheduled for May 5, 2005. Note that "Horror of Fang Rock" was just released last week as well, and "The Claws of Axos" is due out on July 7. (Thanks to Carl Davidson)

BBC Worldwide has now made available most of the back collection of Doctor Who soundtracks from BBC Audiobooks on the iTunes music store system owned by Apple. The offerings include many of the narrated episode soundtracks, as well as both collections ("Adventures in History" and "Yeti Attack!"), the "Slipback," "Death Comes to Time" and "Paradise of Death" radio dramas, both "Tales From the TARDIS" volumes and "Doctor Who at the BBC". You can find them in the Music Store on iTunes; you must have the software installed on your PC to use it. (Thanks to Shawn Fuller)

Amazon.co.uk now features the full cover illustrations for two forthcoming releases from BBC Audiobooks: , The Crusade, the season two classic starring William Hartnell due out on May 2 (narrated by William Russell), andThe Power of the Daleks Reconstructed, the MP3-CD release due out June 6 featuring the previously-released soundtrack for the serial as well as telesnap photos to play along with it in your CD-ROM (though for some reason, Amazon lists this as a "cassette" release). Click on the thumbnails below for each for a larger version; meanwhile, you can order them through Amazon (and help out Outpost Gallifrey) using the following links: Crusadeand Power. (Thanks to Dan O'Malley, Lonnie Readioff)

Hello readers! Due to the extraordinary amount of time the New Series news section has taken the past month, updates to the general Doctor Who page have been sparse... but this week I should have some time to get through a backlog of items (including our regular special events updates!) Thanks for your patience!

A new book will soon be out from the British Film Institute. Entitled "BFI TV Classics: Doctor Who", it will be a critical analysis of the series by film critic and author Kim Newman -- best known to Who fans as the author of the first Telos novella "Time and Relative". This book is part of a new "BFI TV Classics" series which will also include Buffy, The Office and Our Friends In The North (which starred none other than... Christoper Eccleston!) More details are available at the BFI website. (Thanks to Daniel O'Malley at Timelash)

BBC Kids in Canada is adding the Jon Pertwee Doctor Who episodes to their late night lineup starting April 16. "Spearhead From Space" airs late Saturday April 16, while the first 4 episodes of "Doctor Who and the Silurians" air late Sunday April 17. This is the first time that Pertwee episodes have aired on the digital Canadian cable network - previously they have aired the Tom Baker and Peter Davison stories. BBC Kids airs Doctor Who 7 days a week at 2AM Eastern (11PM Pacific). 2 episodes air weeknights, 4 episodes air Saturdays and Sundays. (Thanks to Benjamin Elliott and This Week in Doctor Who)

The official Doctor Who website has announced that City of Death "is likely be released in November 2005" and that for one of the DVD's special features, "Tom Baker has provisionally agreed to shoot an exclusive interview on location in Paris as part of the disc's main documentary feature." Outpost Gallifrey has learned, however, that Tom's agreement is provisional, according to our sources, and that it's subject to availability and the usual production logistics, which are much more complicated when shooting abroad; if it does happen, it will be the first authored documentary in the DVD series, to be produced by Ed Stradling. Also, our sources say that the November date isn't fixed and it could move earlier or later in the year.

The Play.com website confirms the release of The Ice Warriors narrated by Frazer Hines from the BBC Radio Collection. "Frazer Hines narrates the remastered original soundtrack of this classic six-episode television adventure, starring Patrick Troughton as the Doctor. ... This CD also features an exclusive interview with Frazer Hines, who talks about his memories of making the 1967 BBC1 serial." Also announced at Play.com is the September 5 release of Doctor Who at the BBC: Volume 3: "This third edition of archive extracts follows the highly successful first two volumes. Once again all manner of programmes from the BBC radio and television archives yield Doctor Who-themed features, from drama and comedy to interviews and behind-the-scenes items. This time round radio interviews and features on the new series will be included." (Thanks to Gary Reed)