David Tennant is to return to the Royal Shakespeare Company in October; the actor will play the title role in Richard II at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-Upon-Avon in a production helmed by his former Hamlet director, Gregory Doran, and will be joined by another Hamlet compatriot Oliver Ford Davies. An interview with Tennant on the role can be watched via the RSC. Priority Booking opens on 11th February for the five week production which runs from 10th October to 16th November, with public tickets available from the 18th March.

The BBC have released the warm-up video for Matt Smith's appearance on Top Gear as the Star in a reasonably priced car last year, during which he engages in a rendition of Singing In The Rain!

'River Song' is to meet 'Captain Jack' as Alex Kingston is to be a guest star on CW series Arrow, which also features John Barrowman as a guest character. The actress is to play Dinah Lance, the separated wife of police sergeant Quentin Lance and mother of Laurel. [Entertainment Weekly, 22 Jan 2013]

Bernard Cribbins spoke about the way children's television has developed over the years: "It's all very fast and noisy now I think. You think of the gentleness of Jackanory, somebody would walk onto the set, sit down and say 'hello I'm going to tell you about Ratty and Mole and the Wind in the Willows' and off you went. Nice and gentle, and the only thing you saw, apart from the guy or lady talking to you, was a few captions and illustrations, which were stills. That was how it used to be. Pure, simple storytelling. Now there seems to be - sometimes, not always - a tendency to use every single opportunity to put in CGI and animation and a lot of it is, I think, gratuitous when the story is actually doing the work for you." [BBC News, 19 Jan 2013]

Talking about her role as Larissa Loughton in The Carrie Diaries - and more importantly her fashion sense - Freema Agyeman said: "I always look forward to my costume fittings because I walk in and I can instantly tell which rail is mine, because they have the brightest shiniest outfits that make me smile because they are so outrageous and so wacky but beautifully put together. I think they look like pieces of art." [Celebuzz, 23 Jan 2013]

Brian Cox has been re-elected as the University of Dundee's rector, serving students' interests. He said: "It is such a privilege and honour to be allowed to serve the students of Dundee for another three years. I hope to reciprocate in my heart the tremendous trust you have given me." [BBC News, 18 Jan 2013]

Adam Woodyatt spoke about his interest in appearing in Doctor Who: "I want to be an alien, heavily made up so people wouldn't be able to tell it was me. I think everyone of my generation would like to do Doctor Who because we all have something significant from the show that we remember from childhood. For me it was Jon Pertwee, the Brigadier and these giant maggoty slug things. I have this memory of watching it when I was off school ill. So it must have been repeated in the daytime. Or maybe it was the school holidays. I do like the new series as well, though - I enjoyed the Christmas special and I think Matt Smith is brilliant." [Radio Times via RTE, 18 Jan 2013]

Neil Gaiman, a patron of the Bookend Trust (a Tasmanian education charity) visited Dunalley Primary School, which was unfortunately destroyed during recent wildfires that rampaged across the island. Niall Doran, director of the Trust, told us:

David Tennant and wife Georgia Moffett are expecting their second child together, it was revealed on The Jonathan Ross Show last Saturday (5th).

During the show, the actor also talked about how he is still recognised as the Doctor in spite of four years away from the role: "It does carry on, yeah, because people are enthusiastic about it, it's one of those shows that people love. It becomes part of what you do, it's not a difficult thing to deal with.".

Talking about filming Spies of Warsaw - which is on tonight at 9:00pm on BBC4 - he commented on how wide-reaching his recognition is: "I didn't realise Doctor Who plays in Poland – but it obviously does. I've had a few fans coming up, wanting to say hello, or get a photograph or a signature. It doesn't happen quite on the scale that it happens at home – but then I don't think I've been to a country yet where I haven’t met someone who's a Doctor Who fan ... except maybe Uganda!" [Mail, 6 Jan 2013]

Burn Gorman - who appears with Tennant in Spies of Warsaw - has joined the cast of Revenge. He will play a recurring character named Trask, a member of the American Initiative. [Hollywood Reporter, 7 Jan 2013]

Tamsin Greig and Catrin Stewart will be on stage in Longing at the Hampstead Theatre in London. Adapted by William Boyd from two Anton Chekhov short stories, the play will run from Thursday 28th February to Saturday 6th April. The venue is currently staging Old Money, with Maureen Lipman and Tracy-Ann Oberman, ending on 12th January, which will be followed by Di And Viv And Rose, with Anna Maxwell-Martin and Tamzin Outhwaite (17th January to 23rd February).

An adaptation of Tom Baker's novel The Boy Who Kicked Pigs will be performed at Jacksons Lane in north London by theatre company Kill The Beast between 5th and 16th March. The actor said: "I wondered how a small theatre company could stage my story - which has a cast of hundreds, and includes a motorway pile-up with coachloads of people. I also wondered how they would manage to make my tale of evil horror funny, as I intended it to be." [EntertainmentWise, 8 Jan 2013]

Fenella Woolgar and David Troughton are up for honours in this year's BBC Audio Drama Awards. Woolgar is nominated for Best Actress for her portrayal of Rosemary Kennedy in BBC Radio 4's An American Rose, while Troughton is in the running for Best Supporting Actor as the Earl of Leicester in BBC Radio 3's Singles and Doublets. In addition, The Minister of Chance, by Dan Freeman, which stars Sylvester McCoy, Paul McGann, Paul Darrow, and Tamsin Greig, is nominated for the title of Best Online-Only Audio Drama, while Kafka The Musical, which aired on BBC Radio 3 and is by Murray Gold, has been shortlisted for the Tinniswood Radio Drama Award 2012 for Best Radio Drama Script. The winners will be announced at a ceremony on Sunday 27th January at BBC Broadcasting House in central London. [BBC Media Centre, 8 Jan 2012]

In Memoriam:

The latest edition of BBC publication Prospero (page 15) has revealed that former Doctor Who crew member Marion McDougall died last March. Her first involvement with the series was as an assistant floor manager on The War Games, and she went on to be a production assistant on a number of stories between 1971 and 1977. Other BBC productions that she worked on included The Mayor of Casterbridge, Prince Regent, Mackenzie, Smiley's People, Mansfield Park, Blott On The Landscape, and Fortunes of War.

David Tennant made one of his regular guest appearances on the Christian O'Connell Breakfast Show on Absolute Radio on 21st December, again starring in the show's festive performance - this time as the Virgin Mary in their Nativity, Dude, Where's My Donkey? The play was recorded and can be watched in three parts: One; Two; Three.

The actor also made the news for his novel way of deterring foxes from his back garden. [Standard, 21 Dec 2012]

Steven Moffat talked about his rituals over Christmas (as well as watching Doctor Who of course!). For example, on the subject of the inevitable requirements to put things together: "Sue will tell me to assemble something. Maybe just put batteries into some toys. And I'll sit on the floor with a screwdriver, and do my Daddy thing. Slowly, by degrees, it becomes a compulsion. I find more and more things to assemble. And then I need more and more! I'm rummaging in the bins, trying to find the instruction manuals among all the scarves and Sue's new jewellery. They start calling me for Christmas lunch, but "No!" I cry. "Just one more thing. I need to assemble just one more thing!" Then I'm breaking into the boys’ Lego kits and putting them together like a crazed junkie, destroying weeks of fun at a stroke. Somehow, though, before I can make it to Ikea to demand flatpacks at gunpoint, Sue will manage to get me to the dinner table to eat with the family." [Standard, 21 Dec 2012]

The recent series of Pointless Celebrities in the lead-up to Christmas - hosted as always by Alexander Armstrong - saw a number of Doctor Who-related actors and actresses taking part in the quiz. Nicholas Parsons appeared in episode eight, though he and partner Rick Wakeman were unable to win through to the final. However, former companion actress Bonnie Langford did reach the final with partner Todd Carty, though they were unable to find the pointless answer they needed to win the prize money for their charities. Likewise, the final episode of the series saw the pairing of two stalwart character actors Derek Martin and Graham Cole also make it to the final but fail to be pointless!

BBC Radio One DJ Reggie Yates presented his last edition of The Official Chart on 23rd December. He has been at the BBC for some ten years, and presented the chart show on Sunday evenings for the last five. Future projects include a new documentary series for BBC Three.

Karen Gillan has published a photo of her and co-star Brenton Thwaites during filming for her upcoming movie Oculus. [Karen Gillan via Twitter, 23 Dec 2012]

Louise Jameson goes on tour in January and February with the adult-themed play My Gay Best Friend. She will be appearing at The Lass O'Gowrie in Manchester on Saturday 5th January, Hull Truck Theatre on Thursday 24th and Friday 25th January, The Old Town Hall in Hemel Hempstead on Tuesday 12th February, Harrow Arts Centre on Wednesday 13th February, and The Under Ground Theatre in Eastbourne on Thursday 14th February. Jameson will also be appearing in Pulling Faces at The Berry Theatre in Hedge End on Friday 8th February. Again, this production has adult themes. [louisejameson.com]

New Year Honours List:

Michael Cashman has been made a CBE - Commander of the Order of the British Empire - for public and political service. The former actor played Bilton in Time-Flight but became more widely known as an actor for his role as Colin Russell in EastEnders. He is now a Labour MEP for the West Midlands and was a co-founder of Stonewall.

As an aside, the singer-songwriter Kate Bush has also been made a CBE, with her honour being given for services to music - for many years a fan myth persisted that she had written both Kinda and Snakedance under the pseudonym of Christopher Bailey - something the real Bailey found quite amusing!

Toby Jones stars as Alfred Hitchock in a BBC Two drama about his relationship with the model and actress Tippi Hedren. The Girl, which airs on Wednesday 26th December at 9pm, also features Imelda Staunton as Hitchcock's wife, Alma, and Penelope Wilton as Peggy Robertson, who was his production assistant.

Peter Capaldi triumphed at the British Comedy Awards, winning the Best TV Comedy Actor gong for the role of Malcolm Tucker in The Thick of It. Among the other nominees he beat to the title was Hugh Bonneville. [BBC News, 13 Dec 2012]

Steven Moffat's first TV work, the teen drama Press Gang, will be one of the shows feted when ITV celebrates 30 years of children's television on the commercial channel. A one-hour documentary marking the 30th anniversary of Children's ITV - which was launched on 3rd January 1983 - will be shown on ITV1 on Saturday 29th December at 6.30pm, and between 9.25am and 6pm on Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th January CITV (which started on 11th March 2006) will be showing a selection of its iconic shows, including the first and last episodes of Press Gang. Two episodes of Children's Ward - which was produced by Russell T Davies, who also wrote for it - are to be shown as well, as is an episode of Button Moon, whose theme music was co-composed by Peter Davison. [Radio Times, 18 Dec 2012]

Yasmin Paige returns as Beth Mitchell when the second series of BBC Three comedy Pramface begins its run of six episodes on Tuesday 8th January at 10pm.

The two-part BBC Four drama Spies of Warsaw - starring David Tennant - starts on Wednesday 9th January at 9pm. Set in 1937, it features Tennant as Colonel Jean-Francois Mercier, the French military attaché in Warsaw. With Hitler's shadow looming over mainland Europe, Mercier is grossly suspicious of the German military's intentions, but must juggle his formal duties at stifling diplomatic functions with the often death-defying realities of espionage. The drama also stars Burn Gorman as French bureaucrat Jourdain.

The Symphonic Spectacular in Sydney, Australia was hosted by Alex Kingston and Mark Williams, who were interviewed beforehand by local Breakfast show Today; the Sydney Opera House itself has provided a behind-the-scenes video featuring the presenters and composer Murray Gold. Meanwhile, Dudley Simpson was a special guest at the show on Wednesday - the classic series composer met up with his modern series counterpart Gold and conductor Ben Foster, and was also presented with a print of all eleven Doctors, celebrating his contribution to over 250 episodes of the series. [Dallas Jones/Doctor Who Club of Australia, 21 Dec 2012]

A variety of Who names have been nominated in the 2013 WhatsOnStage Awards: Billie Piper is up for The DIGITAL THEATRE Best Actress in a Play for The Effect; her husband Laurence Fox, alongside Arthur Darvill, Cian Barry, Jolyon Coy, Matthew Lewis and Lewis Reeves, are nominated for both the Best Play Revival and The IMAIL Best Ensemble Performance awards for Our Boys; Best Supporting Actress in a Play - Fenella Woolgar (Hedda Gabler) and Helen McCrory (The Last of the Haussmans); Best Supporting Actor in a Play - Adrian Scarborough (Hedda Gabler), Mark Gatiss (The Recruiting Officer) and Tim McInnerny (Scenes from an Execution); The STAR Best Actress in a Musical - Imelda Staunton (Sweeney Todd); The JO HUTCHISON INTERNATIONAL Best Solo Performance - Simon Callow (A Christmas Carol). Voting remains open until Thursday 31st January 2013.

While on the subject of award nominations, the writer Robert Shearman is in the running for the Short Story Collection Of The Year title in the This Is Horror Awards 2012 for his anthology Remember Why You Fear Me. Voting is open until 12.01am GMT on Friday 4th January 2013.

In Memoriam:

The newsreader Kenneth Kendall has died at the age of 88. In 1955, he achieved the distinction of becoming the BBC's first in-vision newsreader, and 11 years later he made a cameo appearance in Doctor Who, playing himself as a newsreader in episode 4 of the story The War Machines. He also had a cameo as a newsreader in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey. After leaving the world of news, Kendall moved to the Isle of Wight, where he ran an art gallery. [The Independent, 14 Dec 2012]

Neil Gaiman will be in Tasmania next month as part of the music-and-arts-centred Mona Foma Festival. An Evening With Neil Gaiman is to be held at the Theatre Royal in Hobart on Sunday 20th January. (NB: Although the event is described as being suitable for all ages, explicit language is used in the theatre's web page about the show.)

In addition, Gaiman's urban fantasy TV series Neverwhere, which aired on BBC Two in 1996 and had an accompanying novelisation, is currently being made for BBC Radio 4 and Radio 4 Extra. Adapted by Dirk Maggs, who is also co-directing it, and with a cast that includes Christopher Lee, Bernard Cribbins, Anthony Head, Yasmin Paige, David Harewood, Sophie Okonedo, Don Gilet, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Andrew Sachs, the six-parter is scheduled to be broadcast during the early part of 2013. [neilgaiman.com, 28 Nov 2012]

Sheila Hancock and Lee Evans are to star in a new comedy at Wyndham's Theatre in London next year. Barking In Essex tells the tale of a gangster fresh out of jail and returning to his dysfunctional family to retrieve more than £3.5m. It has been written by Clive Exton and will be directed by Harry Burton, with Evans playing the "dim-witted idiot of the criminal underbelly" Darnley and Hancock playing Emmie, described as Darnley's "Rottweiler mother". The production previews from Friday 6th September, opening on Monday 16th September. [BBC News, 30 Nov 2012]

A new play by David Haig that was due to open at the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh next May before transferring to Chichester Festival Theatre has run into casting problems. Pressure, which is about the meteorologist Captain James Stagg, who had the task of predicting the weather ahead of the D-Day landings in the Second World War, has been postponed until spring 2014 while the search to find "the right person" to play Stagg continues. [The Stage, 30 Nov 2012]

Jessica Hynes and Olivia Colman have both been nominated as Best TV Comedy Actress in this year's British Comedy Awards. Colman has, in fact, been nominated twice - firstly for Rev and secondly for Twenty Twelve, with Hynes's nomination also being for Twenty Twelve. The spoof "mockumentary" about this year's London Olympics, which had a voiceover commentary by David Tennant, is itself up for Best Sitcom against, among others, The Thick Of It, which starred Peter Capaldi, and both Capaldi and Hugh Bonneville are vying for the title of Best TV Comedy Actor for their roles in those two respective shows. Meanwhile, David Mitchell is in the running for Best Male Television Comic and he is also among the nominees for the publicly-voted King and Queen of Comedy. The ceremony will be shown live on Channel 4 on Wednesday 12th December. [BBC News, 2 Dec 2012]

Tamsin Greig and Anne Reid will be among the guest stars appearing in a new darkly comic anthology that has just started filming for BBC Two. Written by Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith, the six-part series, which has the working title of Inside No 9, will take a look at what goes on behind closed doors at six very different residences sharing the number 9. [BBC Media Centre, 3 Dec 2012]

Sheridan Smith - companion Lucie Miller to the Eighth Doctor in the Big Finish audio dramas - is to return as mystery-solver Jonathan Creek's sidekick Joey Ross in a new episode of the BBC One crime-comedy-drama. Filming on The Clue of the Savant's Thumb, written by David Renwick, starts later this month, with the 90-minute Jonathan Creek special due to air next Easter. [BBC Media Centre, 5 Dec 2012]

David Tennant has been talking to STV's Moviejuice about his starring roles in the new seasonal film Nativity 2: Danger In The Manger! in which he plays twins Donald and Roderick Peterson. Not only was the film improvised in its entirety, it was also shot in sequence, and Tennant said of the improvisational nature of the film: "It was terrifying. But that's why you do certain things, isn't it? 'I've never done that before, that'll be utterly terrifying – so I'll have a go.'" The film also stars Jessica Hynes as Angel Matthews, Ian McNeice as Mr Peterson senior, and Jason Watkins as Mr Shakespeare. [STV Entertainment, 26 Nov 2012]

Katy Manning will be on tour in the Agatha Christie murder-mystery A Murder Is Announced early next year. Performances are as follows: Thursday 17th to Saturday 19th January: Capitol Theatre, Horsham; Tuesday 22nd to Saturday 26th January: Buxton Opera House; Tuesday 29th January to Saturday 2nd February: The Derby Theatre; Monday 4th to Saturday 9th February: Lincoln Theatre Royal; Tuesday 12th to Saturday 16th February: The Gordon Craig Theatre, Stevenage; Wednesday 27th February to Saturday 2nd March: Haymarket Theatre, Basingstoke; Tuesday 5th to Saturday 9th March: Lyceum Theatre, Crewe.

Meanwhile, Colin Baker will be in the touring production of the Wilkie Collins thriller The Woman In White, starting at The Lighthouse Theatre, Poole, from Tuesday 22nd to Saturday 26th January. From Monday 28th to Thursday 31st January it will be at The Grand Theatre, Blackpool; Thursday 14th to Saturday 23rd February, Lincoln Theatre Royal; Tuesday 26th February to Saturday 2nd March, Garrick Theatre, Lichfield, finishing its run at the Theatre Royal, Windsor, from Monday 4th to Saturday 9th March.

Baker was voted off I'm A Celebrity . . . Get Me Out Of Here! earlier this week. He was the fourth contestant to go. As previously reported, he joined the ITV1 reality show, based in a jungle in Australia, earlier this month.

Bernard Cribbins narrates the CBeebies panto Jack And The Beanstalk, which airs as a simulcast on the CBeebies channel and BBC One on Friday 21st December at 4.30pm. Featuring all the CBeebies presenters, it was performed at The Palace Theatre in Manchester. [BBC Media Centre, 27 Nov 2012]

Sheila Hancock will be among the new celebrity contestants on this year's Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Day special on BBC One, with previous contestant Ann Widdecombe making a guest appearance. [BBC Media Centre, 28 Nov 2012]

David Morrissey has begun filming the second series of BBC Scotland's crime drama Field Of Blood in Glasgow. He plays editor Murray Devlin. Filming will continue until late December, with the thriller to be shown next year. [BBC Media Centre, 29 Nov 2012]

Director Farren Blackburn has his first feature film released in the UK and USA next spring. Hammer Of The Gods, which stars Charlie Bewley and James Cosmo, is set in Britain of 871AD and tells the story of a young Viking warrior sent by his father, the king, on a quest to find his estranged brother, who was banished from the kingdom years earlier. [Bleeding Cool, 27 Nov 2012]

A six-part spy thriller by Toby Whithouse has been commissioned by BBC Cymru Wales for BBC One. Set in the world of 1970s espionage, The Game will tell the story of the invisible war fought by MI5 to protect the nation from the threats of the Cold War. The drama is to be executive-produced by Whithouse, Brian Minchin, and Faith Penhale (head of drama at BBC Cymru Wales). [BBC Media Centre, 30 Nov 2012]

Adam Simmonds, the newly-elected police and crime commissioner for Northamptonshire, wants to see police boxes back on the county's streets. He said: "I would like to bring a focal point back into villages. It's all about putting the police back on to the streets and I would love to be able to put Tardises back in every community." He added that he hoped to work with Northampton-born Matt Smith to launch his Blue Box Initiative. [Northampton Chronicle & Echo, 25 Nov 2012]

In Memoriam:

The actor Roger Hammond has died at the age of 76. A contemporary of Waris Hussein, Derek Jacobi, and Clive Swift at Cambridge University, he trained at RADA and had a varied and accomplished career on the stage and TV as well as in film and on radio. Hammond appeared in three episodes of Doctor Who, firstly as the Elizabethan philosopher, statesman, scientist, author, and jurist Francis Bacon in The Executioners (episode 1 of The Chase) in 1965 and then as Doctor Runciman - the resident physician at Brendon School - in the first and final parts of Mawdryn Undead in 1983. [The Stage obituary by Martin Jarvis, 23 Nov 2012]

David Tennant made his Star Wars "debut" this weekend in The Clone Wars episode A Test of Strength, providing the voice of droid Huyang. Supervising director Dave Filoni (a Doctor Who fan himself) said: "When I heard the Doctor himself, David Tennant, was a fan of Star Wars I knew I had to find a way to get in contact with him to see if he would perform on The Clone Wars. The result was 'Huyang,' an ancient droid in the service of the Jedi Order, whose sole task in life has been overseeing the construction of lightsabers. I thought David was perfect for the part and he did not disappoint. He delivered a performance which impressed even the Master himself, George Lucas." [IGN, 6 Nov 2012]


The actor has also contributed artwork to an auction by the Steps’ Youth Achievement Award group, aimed to help youngsters in Weymouth; his sketch of K9 was won by an American bidder for £311. [Dorset Echo, 3 Nov 2012]

Former Doctor Who actress Karen Gillan talks about her new life in the USA: "I'm looking forward to embracing the culture. It's completely alien. There's loads of vegans but I won't turn vegan. I'm too Scottish. I love haggis. I loved Alabama because it reminds me of my home town. There is no one there and there is a lot of fried food. My guilty pleasure is Mars bars put in the deep fat fryer." [Daily Record, 4 Nov 2012]

Torchwood actress Eve Myles has been filming a new series, Frankie, which will be shown by BBC1 spring next year: "This is an incredible leading part for a female. It's tremendous pressure but also tremendously exciting. I can't wait to step into Frankie's shoes and get on set. I'm desperate to start. Lucy Gannon is an incredible writer and writes relationships so beautifully." [WalesOnline, 3 Nov 2012]

David Morrissey recently appeared on The Craig Ferguson Show to promote his appearance in The Walking Dead; spotting the police box on the host's desk he went on to briefly chat about his appearance in 2009's Christmas Special: "After we'd finished filming it, David Tennant announced that he was going to leave, so Russell T Davies said 'do you mind if we spin the story about you maybe being the next Doctor?' I said no and he said 'you CAN'T tell anyone that you're not going to be the next Doctor!' I said sure but I can tell my kids and he went 'NO!' - so for six/seven months my kids were going 'are you going to be Doctor Who?' and I'd say do your homework and I might tell you!" [The Craig Ferguson Show, 30 Oct 2012]

Director Michael E Briant is due to engage in a webchat on Monday 26th November from 8pm to 9pm to discuss his career and his autobiography, Who is Michael E Briant? [Tony Jordan/Planet Mondas, 5 Nov 2012]

Anne Reid, Sarah Lancashire, and Derek Jacobi star in the forthcoming BBC One romantic comedy Last Tango In Halifax. The six-part series starts on Tuesday 20th November at 9pm.

Matt Smith has revealed his keenness to appear in a play by the Bard. "I definitely want to do Shakespeare. I don't know what role, though, and it wouldn't be just yet. I'm too busy at the moment, there's just not enough time," he said. [Telegraph, 7 Oct 2012]

Superhero series Arrow is due to premiere tonight on The CW in the United States, and on Sky 1 in the UK from Monday 22nd October. As previously reported, John Barrowman is to feature as a recurring character in the series, described only as "the well-dressed man". Lead actor Stephen Amell says: "He's a very well-spoken, well-respected businessman in Starling City. I know I tweeted a couple of weeks ago that I was reading a script that was episode 7 and I read a scene and I audibly gasped and I went "[gasp] that's really cool!" It's from the beginning of episode 7, and it's a scene with John. He's a really fun guy to work with. He obviously is very comfortable and he made the crew and even me, when it was my coverage, crack up during a rehearsal and it took a while to get it back for the actual takes." Actor Colin Salmon will also feature in another recurring role. [KSiteTV, 4 Oct 2012]

Barrowman talks about his third Christmas pantomime in Glasgow alongside The Krankies - Jack and the Beanstalk at the Clyde Auditorium: "There's a sense of humour up here that is unlike any other in the country and it's the same kind of sense of humour that the three of us have so it goes over very well. We can play right to the kids because they see Jack, Jimmy and their dad doing all this stuff but the adults know it's John, Ian and Janette who are having a bit of fun, so those jokes go to them and just go right over the kids' heads. I love coming up and doing panto in Glasgow at Christmas." [Daily Record, 8 Oct 2012]

Tommy Knight makes his debut in Waterloo Road tomorrow evening on BBC One. Talking about recognition, the Sarah Jane Adventures star said: "Well, the attention side of acting isn't really my favourite thing, I'll be honest! I was out in Glasgow high street a few weeks ago and I was with Kaya Moore who plays Phoenix, and with the amount of attention he was getting, it must have taken us a couple of hours to get down the high street! I was standing there thinking, 'Oh my word', and I was a little bit worried about it. It's a bit intimidating as being on Waterloo Road will probably mean the most attention I've ever had. I think I'll be alright, I suppose I'll just have to see how I feel about it when it happens. When Sarah Jane was first out, I was recognised an awful lot. I used to pick up my little brother from his primary school every day and I remember when the show first aired, it got really hectic around the primary school. I was trying to find my little brother among all these kids going, 'Sign my contacts book!' and 'Sign my face!'" [Digital Spy, 10 Oct 2012]

Caitlin Blackwood - aka the young Amelia Pond - will be taking part in a question-and-answer session at The Churchill pub in New York on Friday 12th October. Book via event organiser Who York.

Referring to his "music obsession", Arthur Darvill has a particular era he would have liked his character Rory to have visited: "I'd have liked to travel back to the Sixties and do something with the Doctor there. Or go back to when I was an annoying child and reassure myself it's all going to be all right." He also thinks that after Amy and Rory's departure from the series "they have a very quiet life – which is quite sad after having such an adventurous time – but they're just happy to be together. Obviously it doesn't run smoothly as they're stuck back in quite a horrible place but they've got each other and that's all they really need." [Radio Times, 8 Oct 20120]

Mark Gatiss, Daniel Mays, Tom Goodman-Hill, and Brigit Forsyth will appear in the BBC Radio 4 series Living With Mother when it returns for a second series later this month. The individual comedies focus on mothers and adult sons living together. Gatiss will be in the first episode, when the series starts on Wednesday 31st October at 11.15pm, with Mays in the second one, Goodman-Hill in the third, and Forsyth in the fourth. [Radio Times, 9 Oct 2012]

Katy Manning will be appearing in You're Only Young Twice at The Crewe Lyceum Theatre from Tuesday 30th October to Saturday 3rd November. Also starring in the show are John D Collins and Melvyn Hayes (pictured right with Manning), the former husband of Wendy Padbury.

Paterson Joseph has been talking of the thrill of being in the Series 1 episodes Bad Wolf and The Parting of the Ways. He said of the show: "I did watch it when I was a kid. I can't actually say I was obsessed with it as some other people are, but I was very happy to be shown around the Tardis. It was then I suddenly thought, 'Wow this is really exciting'. I also got the chance to get killed by a Dalek and not many people can say that in their lives. I had a 6ft Dalek rolling towards me screaming, 'Exterminate'. It was truly frightening." Joseph plays Brutus in Julius Caesar at the New Theatre in Cardiff from Tuesday 23rd October to Saturday 27th October. [Wales Online, 7 Oct 2012]

Dark Horizons author and Doctor Who fan Jenny Colgan has spoken of her excitement at writing the book. "The thrill of typing 'The Doctor opened the door of the TARDIS' was huge," she said, adding that she approached the BBC to write a novel. "A friend of mine called Naomi Alderman had written one for them [Borrowed Time] and that gave me the idea. I asked them nicely and they said, 'Oh well you can't put any kissing in it' and I promised faithfully that I wouldn't, and then I offered them three different ideas for stories and they chose one. It was enormous fun to do." She also tells of the background work she did. "I did a lot of research into Vikings because I wanted to write about the Lewis chess set, the set of figures that was found there that are about a thousand years old. Nobody knows how they ended up there, so I thought it would be an interesting mystery for the Doctor to solve. There are a couple of bits I really hope readers will enjoy: a scene set on a beach in the current day, and the Norse God that the Viking princess thinks the Doctor is." [TV Book Club, 7 Oct 2012]

Frazer Hines is taking his one-man show The Time-Travelling Scot to Tasmania. He will be in conversation at the Wrest Point Entertainment Centre in Sandy Bay, Hobart, on Sunday 9th December, telling behind-the-scenes stories about his time on Doctor Who.

Jean Marsh reflects on her appearances in Doctor Who: "I was in the very first series, I think (Season 2's The Crusade), which has probably been wiped. I can’t remember what it was called, but I remember I played a Princess of France in the 10th century. That was just one episode. Then I came back as Sara Kingdom (The Daleks' Master Plan), sort of a space spy, fabulously ridiculous, wearing a catsuit of very tight, elastic brown tweed. Why one has to wear those sort of things… It was a bit like Joanna Lumley. It was just to show your body, I suppose. So I did eight episodes of that and turned from being a baddie into being a goodie. Then I was killed in a brilliant way. I was running — in my catsuit — away from someone who was trying to kill me, and he had an aging gun. And he hit me, and I started aging very quickly, and they had to keep switching my makeup, and then the last shot of me was of a very, very, very old woman. So that was terrific. Then the third one was Morgan le Fay with King Arthur (Battlefield). I loved doing that because they were beginning to take Doctor Who more seriously, and that was a bit more fun." [A.V. Club, 5 Oct 2012]

BBC Two has commissioned the comedy-thriller The Wrong Mans from James Corden and Mathew Baynton. The six-parter centres on two lowly office workers - Phil (Corden) and Sam (Baynton) - who become caught up in a deadly criminal conspiracy after Sam discovers a ringing phone at the scene of a horrific car crash. Filming starts in January 2013. [BBC Media Centre, 9 Oct 2012]

David Tennant has been elected onto the board of the Royal Shakespeare Company. The board is made up of 15 non-salaried people, chosen for their skills and experience, who work closely with the senior management team in leading and steering the company. The actor, who did much to promote the RSC when he took on the role of Hamlet in 2008, will be in the post for three years. [Daily Record, 17 Sep 2012]

Christopher Eccleston is one of a number of new people making claims against the media company News International over allegations of phone-hacking. Other celebrity claimants include Davina McCall, Jessie Wallace, Peter Andre and Katie Price. [Guardian, 17 Sep 2012]

John Barrowman is to front a new reality show in the United States. Make My Musical from Vinnie Potestivo Entertainment is currently taking applications from Broadway performers who, if successful, will be have their troupe followed as they prepare to mount a musical theatre review in New York City Theatre. Barrowman is on board as part of a panel of experts to help the group along the way. [Broadway World, 11 Sep 2012]

The performer also made a surprise visit to Millport on the Isle of Cumbrae with his sister Carole last week; the town and island form the inspiration for the fictional location of Seaport on Auchinmurn in their novel Hollow Earth. [Largs and Millport Evening News, 17 Sep 2012]

Illustrator Ben Morris has announced: "I've just signed the contract to be the sole illustrator on a new Doctor Who book for BBC Books in 2013. Really looking forward to getting started on it next month!". He has previously contributed artwork for The Brilliant Book, and is regular for Doctor Who Magazine and Doctor Who Adventures. [Facebook, via Vitas Varnas, 18 Sep 2012]

Carey Mulligan talks about becoming an ambassador for The Alzheimer's Society, a role she's taken on after her own experiences with the disease that affects her grandmother: "I reach a different demographic than some of the other wonderful ambassadors because I'm a bit younger. Overall, the thing I'm most excited about working with the Alzheimer's Society is the idea of just making people aware in the communities. The more people who understand that dementia is not just people being old and forgetful and a product of old age, but is actually a disease and people can be more caring and aware in the community." The actress is also taking part in the Society's Memory Walk this weekend. [You and Yours via Kenny Davidson, 21 Sep 2012]

If anyone should bring closure to the long-lived Scottish detective series Taggart it should be Steven Moffat, say series star John Michie. The actor, who played DI Robbie Ross in the series before it was dropped last year, said: "I'm still extremely loyal to the character and I really hope I'll be back playing it one day, as part of a series or a one-off. One way to round it off could be to get a really top writer in, a big name, and who could be better than Steven Moffat? Everything he touches turns into gold, it would be a great way to sell it." [Daily Record, 10 Sep 2012]

Former companion actress Janet Fielding is fighting cancer, it has been revealed.

No more details about her condition are known at the moment but Peter Davison, whose Doctor she appeared opposite as Tegan Jovanka, has won the support of other ex-Doctor actors to launch a charity fund-raising convention - Project MotorMouth - that aims to "not only raise money for a good cause but also keep Janet's spirits up."

Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Paul McGann, and David Tennant are the first guests announced for the event, which will take place on Saturday 19th January 2013 at the Copthorne Hotel Slough-Windsor. All guests will be appearing subject to work commitments.

The profits from the convention will go to Project MotorHouse, which is seeking to convert a derelict building in Thanet into a mixed-use venue promoting sustainable technology and a place where youngsters can get help with starting their own businesses. Fielding is the project co-ordinator for the organisation as well as its community champion.

She first appeared in Doctor Who in 1981 in Tom Baker's final story, Logopolis, and left the TV series in the 1984 story Resurrection of the Daleks, but made a cameo reappearance two stories later in a regeneration dream sequence for Davison's swansong The Caves of Androzani.

She has also worked as a theatrical agent - a job that saw her representing McGann when he won the role of the Eighth Doctor - and has played the role of Tegan in a number of audio productions for Big Finish.