Doctor Who writer Paul Cornell has adapted the Iain M. Banks short story The State of the Art for radio. The adaptation will air on Thursday, March 5th at 14.15 on BBC Radio 4. Afterward the programme will be available internationally via the BBC IPlayer.

Several issues of the Doctor Who DVD Files magazine have been released in the UK and Ireland since the magazine and DVD series was launched by publisher GE Fabbri in January. The content of the magazine has now been made availableonline for the benefit of fans who already own the DVD episodes or who live outside of Great Britain or Eire.

"We were contacted by loads of people who already owned the DVDs but were interested in the new magazine," explains project manager at GE Fabbri,Ben Robinson, "so we decided to explore a new online opportunity which would also let us reach out to fans who normally wouldn’t be able to get hold of Doctor Who DVD Files.”

The content of the first two issues is available on the site as a free preview. The magazine contains features on the Doctor, his companions, enemies and adventures (including "Flashback" features to stories from classic Doctor Who, accompanied by original artwork by Lee Sullivan and Tom Connell). Features in the first two issues include profiles of Mickey, Rose, and the Face of Boe; Davros, the Master and the Zygons; behind-the-scenes interviews with Will Cohen of the Mill (the company which creates all the computer-generated imagery for Doctor Who) and model-maker Mike Tucker; episode features for the first four episodes of Series One; a survey of the Doctor's early life before he left Gallifrey; and "technology" features of the TARDIS, Cyber-upgrades and the Slitheen ship that crashed into Big Ben in "Aliens of London", the last including a detailed cut-away drawing of the ship.

The content of subsequent issues is available on the website by monthly or yearly subscription. A subscription to the online content also includes access to over 150 pages of Tenth Doctor comics which originally appeared in the pages ofDoctor Who: Battles in Time from the same publisher. More content will be made available as each issue of the magazine is released every two weeks.

The publishers will also enter everyone who subscribes online before May 31, 2009 into a prize drawing to win one of 10 radio controlled Supreme Daleks. The magazine content and subscription information are available here.

The magazine also has a website here, which contains downloads, games and interviews.

The Stage reports that Laurence Payne, who appeared in three classic Doctor Who serials, has died at the age of 89. Payne played gunslinger Johnny Ringo in "The Gunfighters" (1966), dying Argolin leader Morix in "The Leisure Hive" (1980) and morally compromised scientist Dastari in "The Two Doctors" (1985).

Beyond the world of Doctor Who, Payne had a distinguished stage career, including a long run at the Old Vic in the 1940s, and played Romeo in Peter Brook's 1947 production of "Romeo and Juliet" at Stratford-upon-Avon. On television, he was best known as the 1920s detective Sexton Blake in the ITV children's serial, which ran from 1967 to 1971.

Payne died on February 23, 2009.

Thanks to Mark Terry.

The Sarah Jane Adventures has been nominated for the Royal Television Society Awards, in the "Children's Drama" category. The series was also nominated last year, but lost to CITV's "My Life as a Popat". A full list of nominations can be found at Broadcastnow; the winners will be announced on 17 March 2009.

The Los Angeles Times' Hero Complex blog has an overview of the current status of the Doctor Who world, with quotations from fans and writers in attendance at the recent Gallifrey One convention in L.A.

The South Wales Echo reports that researchers at the University of Glamorgan have received a 20,000 pound grant from the BBC to investigate the "Doctor Who effect" on the public image of Wales. The scholars will interview Doctor Who fans, production personnel, and Welsh tourism officials to determine what effect the filming of Doctor Who, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures in Cardiff has had on the public perception of South Wales. Contact information for the researchers is available in the news story and at the University of Glamorgan website.

Finally, BBC News has an item about celebrity impersonators on Twitter and other social media, focusing on a woman who set up a Twitter account pretending to be David Tennant. The counterfeit Tennant is also mentioned in an E! Onlinearticle about real and fake celebrity Twitters.

Thanks to "rplon" and "PolyG" of the Doctor Who Forum.

In a scene right out of a Doctor Who script, a team of volunteers clearing a pond of rubbish uncovered a long-submerged Dalek.

The Telegraph reports that sales executive Marc Oakland was pushing a rake around the bed of the shallow pool when he found the object with its distinctive eye stalk.

The 42-year-old said: "I'd just shifted a tree branch with my foot when I noticed something dark and round slowly coming up to the surface. I got the shock of my life when a Dalek head bobbed up right in front of me. It must have been down there for some time because it was covered in mould and water weed, and had quite a bit of damage. One of the dome lights was smashed, but the eye-stalk was intact and the head and neck stayed in one piece as I carefully lifted it out."

Pond warden Tony Brown, 70, was leading the volunteer squad clearing dumped rubbish from the pond, near Beaulieu, Hampshire. He said: "We made a very thorough search of the rest of the bottom of the pond and there were definitely no alien remnants lurking. We've all agreed it best to keep the pond's exact location under wraps. The last thing we want are sci-fi fans descending on the pond frantically seraching for other Dalek parts."

Mr Brown, who trained as a pond warden with Southern Water, has been helping clear out the area for the past eight years. He said: "We've dredged up everything from shopping trolleys, toys, and bicycles. But this is the first time a Dalek's appeared. We have no idea how it ended up in there, or how long ago. We discovered the BBC often took the Daleks out on location for filming, and they travelled to Hampshire on at least one occasion in the 1980s, when Colin Baker played the Time Lord. Who knows? This might be the remains of one of the originals from the old TV series. I'm told they were built to last."

The story is also covered by The Sun, Metro, the Daily Mail and Ananova.

Outgoing Doctor Who executive producer, Julie Gardner, has joined BBC Worldwide's Los Angeles production studio as executive producer.

She is the first appointment announced by Jane Tranter, recently-appointed executive vice president, programming and production, BBC Worldwide America.

Gardner will be responsible for scripted projects, working with US and British writers including Russell T Davies to develop projects for the American market.

Speaking to the BBC Staff magazine Ariel, Tranter said "She brings an unprecedented insight into drama development and production and has a solid track record of forging strong relationships with the creative community. She will be an asset to our already talented team of scripted executives, and we all feel lucky to have her working with us."

Gardner and Tranter's working relationship began when Tranter assigned Gardner to head up the 2005 revival of Doctor Who. As former head of drama, BBC Wales, she was responsible for the production of a string of dramas including Life on Mars, Ashes to Ashes, Being Human, The Girl in the Cafe, Stuart: A Life Backward, Mistresses and Casanova, as well as overseeing two Doctor Who spin-offs, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures.

She is expected to join the LA studio full-time in June.

The Daily Mirror is reporting that the TARDIS interior will be redesigned for Matt Smith's arrival in the TARDIS and the move to HD filming. The Mirroralso says that the designers will "improve the quality of the police box exterior", and credits the change to incoming showrunner Steven Moffat, who scripted a line in the 2007 episode "Blink" noting that the TARDIS's police box windows were the wrong size, an in-joke aimed at the Outpost Gallifrey Forum (now the Doctor Who Forum). The TARDIS redesign story has been picked up by the Daily Telegraph, METRO and Digital Spy.

Cardiff's Western Mail has reported on recent filming in Newport for the second of the 2009 Doctor Who specials.David Tennant and Lindsay Duncanwere filmed with the TARDIS in a snowy street. Spoilery photographs and set reports from fans who were present at the filming can be found in this thread in the Doctor Who Forum.

In other news, the Guardian's TV and radio blog has an entry speculating about casting for the companion in Series 5. The Radio Times will have 21 different covers for Comic Relief's Red Nose Day, including one with David Tennant(also covered at The Wire). And the Daily Telegraph reports that the Royal Shakespeare Company is preparing to film their recent production of Hamlet starring David Tennant and Patrick Stewart.

Thanks to the posters on the Doctor Who Forum's "Media Watch" thread.

Posted By John Bowman

The new logo for spin-off series K9 has been revealed.

Paul Tams, the show's co-creator and co-associate producer, told The Doctor Who News Page: "As eagle-eyed people may spot, I based the new logo on K9's old-type font of Westminster, with an update. The font is also used on K9's new body."

Principal photography on the series is due to finish on May 7 and the show should air on Network Ten in Australia at some point in 2009. The electronic dog - described by Tams as "sleek and different from any previous images seen on the net, etc" - will be on screen as an animatronic prop and in CGI form.

As previously announced on the news page, the classic Doctor Who series adventure Image of the Fendahl, starring Tom Baker and Louise Jameson, will be released on Region 2 DVD (UK), with the now-confirmed date of release ofApril 6th. Meanwhile, a full listing of extras for the DVD have now been issued:

• Commentary -- With actors Tom Baker, Louise Jameson, Wanda Ventham and Edward Arthur.
• After Image -- cast and crew look back at the making of the story. With actors Louise Jameson, Edward Arthur, Wanda Ventham, script editor Anthony Read, visual effects designer Colin Mapson.
• Deleted and Extended Scenes
• Trailer
• Photo Gallery
• Coming Soon
• Easter Egg
• Radio Times Listings
• Programme subtitles
• Subtitle Production Notes

The newest issue of Doctor Who Adventures, issue #104 comes with a bumper Cyber pack -- with two different Cyber sets to choose from. One set includes a sinister Cyberleader mask and the other includes a Cybershade mask as seen in the last Doctor Who special. Both come with two different sets of Cyber badges, two sticker sheets and a massive double-sided poster of Dalek creator Davros on one side and the Doctor and Donna on the other.

Also in the magazine is an interview with "the plucky girl who helped fight those Cyber terrors at Christmas -- actress Velile Tshabalala who played Rosita," as well as posters (a Clockwork Robot, Rosita, a deadly Dalek and a stomping Cyberman), news, a "little Bannakaffalatta for you to colour in," "part of our competition to win a bony Sycorax head, and loads of other goodies" plus other items. Doctor Who Adventures issue 104 is out now.