The Daily Mirror has reported that one of the Doctor Who specials which will air later this year will be set on Mars. In classic Doctor Who, the recurring monsters known as the Ice Warriors were native to Mars; the planet was also the prison of Sutekh in 1975's "Pyramids of Mars", and in a 1970 serial, human astronauts met "The Ambassadors of Death" on their way to Mars.

The Mirror also reports that the special will star Australian actor Peter O'Brien and actress Gemma Chan as "evil characters" in one of David Tennant's final Doctor Who stories.

The Doctor Who News Page previously reported that The Sarah Jane Adventures had been nominated for a Royal Television Society Programme Award, in the Children's Drama category; the awards were announced on March 17, and SJA lost to junior spy adventure M.I. High.

Finally, the Edinburgh Evening News reports that the Edinburgh police force are planning to bring "Tardis-style" police boxes back into use in the city's downtown. Many Edinburgh police boxes have been converted into coffee shops, but if this initiative goes through others would be used by police, as they were in the 1950s and 1960s.


Thanks to Chuck Foster and "nabusan" of the Doctor Who Forum.

Posted By Brigadier Bill

Russell T Davies has taken the lead in a big push to save children's programmes on the BBC. In a speech to BAFTA members, Davies said: "They put money into rubbish films, why can't they put money into children's television?"

Davies created The Sarah Jane Adventures for CBBC, but he claims that because of a cutback in funding for children's programming, the show has nearly been cancelled on three occasions. BBC News reports that he has called for National Lottery funding to be made available to ensure the future of children's programmes. He has insisted that: "It needs to be a special case. They're our children, they're the most vital and precious resource you could ever find. It is more important than industry, it is more important than the economy, it is more important than food and education."

Series three of The Sarah Jane Adventures was affected by a reduction in its budget. Davies explained: "We had to look and say, do we want to make a version of Sarah Jane that's a travesty? It was truly shocking to have a successful show having to face cuts which are that severe."

In the end, the series found the required money due to different BBC departments pulling together to fund it. However, Davies still maintains that in general "children's (TV) is sinking lower and lower down the agenda".

Since the return of Doctor Who to British television, there have been many opportunities for UK children to participate in the programme, from the Blue Peter contests that gave us the Abzorbaloff and young Creet in "Utopia", to the "Doctor Who Backstage" contest held for Children in Need last year. Now older Doctor Who fans will have an opportunity to appear as an alien in a special Doctor Who scene.

John Barrowman is hosting a new programme called "Tonight's the Night", in which members of the public will be able to reveal their hidden talents and perform in a professional venue. According to an earlier press release, "this could mean duetting with a favourite pop group, singing with a big band or tripping the light fantastic with the cast of a hit West End musical."

Now the BBC's Doctor Who website has revealed that "Tonight's the Night" is holding a contest for Doctor Who fans over the age of 18 to appear as an alien of their own creation in a specially written scene.

The contest will be held in several stages. For the first stage, contestants are asked to create a costume for a new Doctor Who alien and submit a photograph of themselves in the costume to the programme makers. They must also create a name, home planet, powers, weaknesses and other details about their alien and submit them with the photograph.

The judges will select 50 "aliens" to participate in the second stage, an "Alien Activity Day". There, the contestants will compete in several group and character tasks and be judged by the programme's panel. Ten semi-finalists will be selected and will meet the judges individually and be assessed on their "vocal, movement and scene stealing abilities", and three finalists will be chosen. The finalists will complete a series of "alien oriented challenges", and a winner will be chosen. The winner will appear in a Doctor Who scene exclusively written for him or her, which will air on "Tonight's the Night" in April or May.

Full details and the application form are available at the BBC's Be on a show website. The photograph and application must be submitted by 28 March 2009, so get to work!

The official website of K9 creator Bob Baker has revealed a new promotional image for the forthcoming series. The image  shows the new K9 prop in clearer detail, as well as three characters from the series (presumably "Starkey", "Jorjie" and "Darius", as described in Park Entertainment's summaryof the series).

The image appears to have been created for promotional use at MIPTV in Cannes. Earlier reports indicated that K9 will air on Australia's Network Ten and on digital channel Jetix in the UK; Jetix recently announced that it will be rebranded under the name Disney XD later in 2009.

The Red Nose Day edition of The Sarah Jane Adventures was watched by around 8.3 million viewers according to unofficial overnight figures, out rating Emmerdale on ITV1.

The David Tennant part of the evening had an average of 9.2 million watching, peaking at 11.3 million at 8pm. Comic Relief peaked at 9pm with 12.7 million watching.

David Tennant hosted the first 90 minutes of the programme along with Big Brother star Davina McCall. As well as the special Sarah Jane episode, Tennant and McCall went head to head in a live edition of Mastermind, with Tennant answering questions on Doctor Who 1963-2009. The whole programme is available to viewers in the United Kingdom for the next seven days, via the BBC iPlayer with highlights on theBBC YouTube channel.

A short selection of highlights can be seen around the world on the BBC Newswebsite. A number of images are on the Red Nose flickr site.

The evening raised a record 57 million pounds, around 80 million US Dollars, smashing the previous record of 40.5m pounds from 2007. The money raised from Red Nose Day will go towards helping disadvantaged people across Africa and in the UK.

K9 creator Bob Baker has revealed more details about the forthcoming K9 TV series. Of K9's appearance, Baker said that he and associate producer Paul Tams are "very pleased with the new look and especialy with his CGI movement."

Baker confirmed that in his first appearance in the series, K9 will look "identical to the one Leela had on Gallifrey", before regenerating into his new form.

Replying to a question about whether John Leeson would be performing K9's voice, Baker said, "There is great debate about the voice, I take your point about using John, but, it being a co-production we have many masters to please, but I'm sure you and all K9 fans will like what we eventually come up with since new K9 is the same character and his speech patterns are the same."

Baker said that K9 will contain "a menagerie of super monster 'uglies'." He also noted that more images from the series will be released soon, probably atMIPTV in Cannes (which will be held from March 30 to April 3 this year). Baker's posting can be read in full at his forum.

The series' premise has changed from earlier plans. Details, from the website of production company Park Entertainment, can be seen by clicking on the spoiler box below.

A partial list of episode titles is also available, at the Metal Mutt production site. Australian actor Remi Broadway will appear as Robin Hood in episode 4, titled "The Last Oak Tree in England".

Thanks to "NewtonDKC" of the Doctor Who Forum.
From the writer of Wallace and Gromit, Bob Baker, comes…

K9 – The Series

GENRE: Comedy
Running Time: 26 x 1/2 hr episodes

PREMISE
Somewhere in the future...

COMING SOON

Originally created for the 1970s DOCTOR WHO series by Bob Baker and Dave Martin, K9 has long been an iconic television character. Now comes a brand new adventure series featuring everyone’s favourite robot dog!

K9 is a children’s sci-fi/adventure series combining comedy, action and suspense "X Files" meets "Men in Black" with a zany dash of "Ghostbusters". K9 mixes live action characters with stunning visual-effects.

London, in the future: STARKEY (14) orphan and rebel ultimately plans to bring down the system but for the time being he is prepared to simply slip through the cracks. While evading the police he takes refuge in a large detached house, now the residence of reclusive scientist, Professor GRYFFEN. He is followed by JORJIE (14) an adventurous girl who partly admires Starkey’s dissident stance, but mostly wants to share whatever excitement is afoot.

Inside the dilapidated mansion, they see Gryffen absorbed in an experiment with a strange piece of alien technology, a Space Time Manipulator (S/TM). DARIUS (15) an artful dodger who, among his many occupations, runs errands for Gryffen, confronts the pair, but at that moment a portal opens and through the hole torn in the fabric of space/time burst two reptilian warrior JIXEN. The Jixen attack Starkey. The teenager is saved from certain death by a small dog-like robot, K9 Mark I, who follows the Jixen through the portal and places himself between the monsters and boy.

In the ensuing battle, the only way K9 can defeat the Jixen is to blow himself and them to pieces. One surviving Jixen limps out of the mansion. Before expiring, K9 is able to give instructions that allow Starkey to initiate a regeneration program. A new, more sophisticated and futuristically designed K9 is regenerated.

K9 and Starkey, with the assistance of Jorjie, Darius and Gryffen, become the earth’s front line defence against dangers threatening from anywhere and anytime in the galaxy. They will have a lot of fun, action, adventure, and some scares along the way, saving the earth from alien creatures, monsters and more than a few human threats.

Various DVD sites are listing the 1976 Tom Baker story The Deadly Assassin for DVD release in early May.

The story, written by Robert Holmes and directed by David Maloney, was the third of Doctor Who's fourteenth season. It features Peter Pratt as the Master, as well as Angus MacKay playing Borusa and Bernard Horsfall as Chancellor Goth.

It is only serial of the original Doctor Who series in which the Doctor does not have a companion.

Some sites also have the 1987 Sylvester McCoy story Delta and the Bannermen listed for release in the later part of June. This story was written byMalcolm Kohll and directed by Chris Clough.

Other stories scheduled for release in 2009 are The Keys of Marinus; The War Games and the Dalek War box set (Frontier in Space / Planet of the Daleks).

An additional box set of three stories, and a stand alone release, are also due in 2009.

Director Euros Lyn speaks exclusively to Wired.com about his two upcoming directorial projects: Torchwood: Children of Earth and the two-part finale for the Tenth Doctor.

Speaking of the Torchwood shoot, Lyn said: "It's been an endurance test. It was a 16-week shoot for the Torchwood season - longer than most feature films. But the intensity keeps you focused on the work."

"For the first time, we'll see Torchwood facing a threat from home while they're also investigating an alien invasion. When they try to discover why all the children in the world have suddenly stopped at the same time, Torchwood also has to deal with human beings who are trying to hide a past mistake."

Work on the Doctor Who specials begins immediately after the work on Torchwood wraps. "I've seen the scripts, and they're amazing," he said. "I'm being very careful not to give anything away, but I think fans will be thrilled with David's farewell and how we set up the 11th Doctor."

The article includes the first look at the BBC promo poster for Torchwood (pictured below; click for larger view) as well as a video of the trailer.

In this month's issue of Doctor Who Magazine, David Tennant, talks about presenting this year's Comic Relief. "I'm co-presenting this year's TV extravaganza, on BBC One on Friday the 13th, which won't be unlucky this year, I promise. Live telly is always exhilarating, but I'm sure this will be even more so, because I'm expected to be fronting it, well, the first hour or so, which does give me some more responsibility."

Also in issue 406:

The Daleks' Master Plan.
Back in the 1960s, while the First and Second Doctors were on TV, the Daleks came very close to starring in their own big-budget, full colour film series, made for the USA. For the first time, DWM researcher Andrew Pixley reveals the full story behind the Doctor Who spin-off that never was.

The Nightmare Begins.
A brand new comic strip adventure starts for the Tenth Doctor and Majenta, Mortal Beloved by Dan McDaid, with art by Sean Longcroft. Arriving at a bizarre party, terrible secrets from Majenta's past begin to catch up with her.

The Death of Doctor Who.
It the end, but the moment has been prepared for. The Fact of Fiction takes an in-depth look at the very last adventure to star Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor, a story that redefined the concept of Time Lord regeneration, 1981's Logopolis.

Daleks in Manhattan.
Well the Sixth Doctor is. Colin Baker chats to DWM from the Big Apple.

The Planet of Decision.
Head writer and executive producer Russell T Davies muses over whether Planet of the Dead will really be the 200th TV Doctor Who story, in Production Notes.

Devil’s Planet.
Why on Earth does Neil Harris argue that the Fifth Doctor's last adventure, 1984's The Caves of Androzani, is the one Doctor Who story that should never have been told? Find out the surprising answer in You Are Not Alone.

Day of Reckoning.
The Time Team cast their critical eyes upon the Seventh Doctor's only TV encounter with the armoured mutants from the planet Skaro. Join them and discover what they think about the nostalgic 1988 adventure, Remembrance of the Daleks.

The Dead Planet.
DWM speaks to acclaimed scriptwriter Gareth Roberts about his work on Doctor Who, The Sarah Jane Adventures and the forthcoming Doctor Who Easter Special, Planet of the Dead.

The Daleks
Nicholas Pegg pays tribute to the greatest Dalek operator of them all, actor John Scott Martin.