Actress Velile Tshabalala, who plays the character of Rosita in the forthcoming Doctor Who Christmas special The Next Doctor, has given an exclusive interview to the West Sussex Gazette, a local newspaper based in the south of England.

Tshabalala was appearing last weekend at a living history event in Amberley, West Sussex. To publicise it, she spoke to the Gazette's entertainments reporter, Phil Hewitt, and also talked about her role in "The Next Doctor", saying: "I am just so excited about it. We filmed it in April in Cardiff and Gloucester and Monmouth and so it has died down a bit, but now it is getting closer and I just can't wait.

"It is just a one-off Christmas special but out of all the episodes I could have been asked to do it is far better that it is this one."

On the subject of whether she might reappear in future episodes, Tshabalala added: "I would love to do more. At the moment I am just being positive about it, that I did it and that I had a great time. But I would love to be in it again if I can."

She also spoke briefly about her character's role in the episode, information regarding which is included in the spoiler box below.

I have to be very careful what I can say and can't say about it all. You have to bear with me! But she is an East Londoner, very Cockney.

The Doctor is faced with another Doctor. Rosita is the assistant to the other Doctor but as the episode goes on she starts helping the Doctor we know.

Both The Guardian and The Independent newspapers in the UK have today published reviews of Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale, the new book by Russell T Davies and Benjamin Cook.

The Guardian's review is written by Veronica Horwell, who delivers a very positive verdict. "Fifteen chapters of that should be far too much even for us fundamentalist Doc-venerators," she writes. "But it isn't far too much. It's the Doctor Who Annual for adults, and it's not nearly enough, should have been 1001 pages, because Davies doesn't need to be writing fiction, shaping stuff retrieved from the flux of his Great Maybe, to be a storyteller. He's the Scheherazade of Cardiff Bay. He's making this up as he goes along."

The Independent's piece is combined with an interview with Davies, conducted recently at BBC Television Centre. "There's such goodwill towards Doctor Who," Davies comments. "Which makes it much easier for us. It's not like someone really famous will come on and have to play a murdered prostitute, like in Prime Suspect. They have fun and it's seen by kids and that's what really registers with people and means they're up for it."

This year's Flip Animation Festival, held in the city of Wolverhampton, features a special screening of the animated episodes from the 1968 Patrick Troughton story The Invasion.

The episodes were lost but in 2006 they were meticulously reconstructed using audio recorded off-air by fans mixed with newly created animation courtesy of Cosgrove Hall. These animated reconstructions have been warmly received and this is a chance to see them on the big screen.

The screening will be followed by an opportunity to find out more about how and why the animated episodes were commissioned, whether there may be further productions in the future and to meet some of the people responsible for making them. The talk will also highlight the world of Doctor Who fan animation.

Speakers Include

• James Goss, who ran the BBC's Doctor Who website for seven years and as part of this he produced the BBC's first webcasts, and commissioned the Invasion animations. He produced the BBC One animation Doctor Who: The Infinite Quest and has written a Torchwood book.
• Jon Doyle, from Firestep Productions, 2 x Bafta winning Animation Producer/Director/Artist whose work includes the animated series Scream of the Shalka, The Invasion and The Infinite Quest.
• Rob Ritchie, fan animator and producer of a raft of well received Doctor Who clips. Rob is contributor to the Who3d feature film project and he created Doctor Who 3d visuals for the stage play, The Trial of Davros.
The panel will be chaired by Myles McLeod, of animation duo The Brothers Mcleod.

The showing is on November 8th and is scheduled to start at 11.15pm. Please note this is a free event, and places will be allocated on a first come first served basis, so please arrive early to pick up a ticket.

Posted By John Bowman

A talk about the Doctor Who and Torchwood art department is to be given in Cardiff later this year.

This free event, looking at the creative use of locations in Cardiff, will be held at the Millennium Centre on Sunday, December 7 between 6pm and 7pm, and will be followed by a question-and-answer session with production designerEdward Thomas and his team.

Tickets must be booked in advance by calling 08700 40 2000 or visiting the main ticket desk.

The talk will coincide with an exhibition of Doctor Who concept art on Level 2 in the Glanfa foyer of the centre, running from December 5 to January 4.

There's an opportunity to meet the writers behind the new Doctor Who Storybook in London this Saturday, 4th October at 1pm.

James Moran, Keith Temple, Gareth Roberts, Clayton Hickman, Jonathan Morris and Gary Russell will be signing copies of the book at Forbidden Planet, 179 Shaftesbury Avenue.

Entry to the signing is free. Please note that all guests appear subject to work commitments.

Posted By John Bowman

A multi-platform Doctor Who book project called The Darksmith Legacy will be launching next year.

The 10-part collectable series will see the first two books out in January, followed by a new "episode" every month after that.

Published by BBC Children's Books in association with Penguin Books, it will offer the adventure of a book serialisation, complete with cliffhangers, plus interactivity and content only obtainable online.

Book One is entitled The Dust of Ages and is by Justin Richards. Book Two is called The Graves of Mordane, by Colin Brake, while Book Three is The Colour of Darkness, which has been penned by Richard Dungworth. No more titles are known as yet.

People will be able to receive an exclusive preview of The Dust of Ages by visiting www.thedarksmithlegacy.com

The website will not be live until mid-November, although it is hoped that a holding page will be up soon once final approvals are given by the BBC.

More information, from the press release, is given below.

The Sarah Jane Adventures returned to BBC1 on Monday with unofficial figures showing that Part One of The Last Sontaranachieved a rating of 0.7 million. The programme got a 6.3 per cent share of the audience.

The average for the time slot is around 0.4 million viewers.

The Appreciation Index for the episode was 84, the joint highest figure on BBC1 for the day.

Series four of Doctor Who has finished its Australian run with impressive ratings. The Stolen Earth averaged 1,156,000 viewers in the five major capital cities, while Journey's End rated even more with 1,207,000. This episode was the Time Lord's best Aussie ratings since the record 1.248 million for 'Voyage of the Damned', even beating Channel Ten's high-rating 'Australian Idol'. The series finale was also the top-rating program of the day on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the top rating drama of the day on all channels and fourth overall for the day. TheConfidential Cutdown version of 'Friends and Foe' also had the programme's best Australian ratings ever with 1,015,000 viewers. 'End of an Era' at the later time of 10.45pm also scored a respectable 223,000 viewers. Sunday night has proved a ratings triumph for Doctor Who and the ABC, series four averaging 1.1 million as compared to an average of 850,000 on Saturday nights for series three. Media commentator Glenn Dyer of Crikey predicts that the ABC will lose 'half a million viewers' on Sunday nights with the end of 'Doctor Who.'

Meanwhile, in the local media, Michael Idato of The Sydney Morning Herald praises 'Journey's End' writing it 'has the rare power to move you to tears, especially as the sinister Dalek Caan's prophecy - that the "most faithful" of the Doctor's companions will die - comes true in an unexpected and heartbreaking fashion'. CitySearch in its preview of the same episode also writes 'it's Catherine Tate as Donna who really shines. Like the show itself, she has moments of humour, depth, brilliance, drama and heartbreak.' Meanwhile The Canberra Times in its preview of the same episode writes that 'an astounding 45 years after its debut, this classic series is still a force to be reckoned with.' Ian Cuthbertson of The Weekend Australia writes that 'the faithful will be rewarded handsomely in this spectacular finale...Led by Davros and a mad Dalek who looks like a plate of calamai with a dog's eye in the middle, the old villains allow writer Russell T. Davies to delight in references to 'Doctor Who' and other sci-fi shows. "Resistance is useless," a Dalek shrieks. The Earth moves, literally; the universe is on the brink of extinction; and the Daleks soar through the skies of Germany, sounding very much at home in that language, "Exterminieren! Exterminieren!" OK, they made that up, but "Ausrotten, ausrotten!" wouldn't have been funny.' Catherine Deveny of The Age, also gives 'Journey's End' her 'pick of the day.'

Meanwhile, TV blog TV Tonight reports that The Sarah Jane Adventures will make its Australian debut onNickelodeon Australia on Friday October 31 2008 at 7pm.

Thanks to the contributors to the Australian forums.

The front cover of the BBC's Radio Times listings magazine from the week of April 30th-May 6th 2005 has been voted the greatest British magazine cover of all time, in a poll organised by the Periodical Publishers Association.The cover featured a new series Dalek crossing Westminster Bridge in front of the Houses of Parliament, accompanied by the strapline "Vote Dalek!" This combined coverage of the transmission of the first new Dalek television story in over 16 years with the British General Election, which took place in the same week.According to The Guardian, the cover received over a quarter of the 10,000 votes cast in the public vote, beating off competition from issues of Vogue, The Face and OK!

Radio Times editor Gill Hudson is quoted by The Daily Telegraph as saying: "It was a very complex cover to put together; simply getting Daleks onto Westminster Bridge at night was very challenging."

Editors were asked to submit UK-only covers but not their own. Submissions were accepted from any era or decade, including titles that were no longer being published.

Adam Pasco, editor of Gardener's World, who nominated the Dalek cover, stated in his original citation: "This Radio Times cover captures the essence of the mood of the nation in a brilliant and original way, and delivers on every level.

"The cover is totally unexpected and brings a contemporary twist to the iconic image of a Dalek to grab readers of all ages at the newsstand."

More than 40 front cover nominations, spanning more than 100 years, were initially put forward by magazine editors. These were whittled down to a shortlist of 16 by a panel of judges. Members of the public were then invited to vote on their favourite.

Nicola Rowe, the circulation director of the Periodical Publishers Association, said: "We had many outstanding entries but Vote Dalek! captured the popular vote. It is sharply observed, funny, and to the point. It is, in its own way, a truly inspired reflection of the British sense of humour."

UPDATE - SEPTEMBER 30: A Radio Times photo gallery showing how the cover was created is now online here.

(Additional reporting by John Bowman.)

Infomation from the BBFC website indicates the titles of four more stories due to be released on DVD in 2009.

From the First Doctor's era The Rescue and The Romans will be released as a double set. The Rescue is a two parter featuring the arrival of Maureen O'Brien as Vicki, while The Romans is a four part romp set around the court of the Emperor Nero. Both stories were first shown in 1965.

From the Sixth Doctor's era we have The Twin Dilemma which was Colin Baker's debut story, shown in 1984 and Attack of the Cybermen, first shown in 1985.