The Doctor Who Up-Close display at Earls Court will open on March 20, according to the revamped Doctor Who Exhibitions and Museumwebsite.

As reported last month by Outpost Gallifrey, the display will be in the Museum Hall, beneath Earls Court Exhibition Centre. It will include items fromVoyage of the Damned as well as from Series Four after their appearance on the show, says the exhibitions site.

Tickets for the Earls Court exhibition - billed as being the largest Doctor Who display in the UK - go on sale fromFebruary 18.

Meanwhile, the Land's End exhibition will be closed from January 22 to 25 inclusive for essential maintenance. TheBlackpool Doctor Who Museumis shut for the winter and will reopen on February 16.

The Up-Close exhibition in Cardiff remains open seven days a week.

Two interviews with Russell T. Davies will air this week on BBC radio and television. First, on Tuesday January 15, Davies will speak to Nemone on the digital radio station BBC 6 Music. This interview can be heard from 1:00 p.m. GMT via the internet and the BBC's iPlayer Radio service (formerly Listen Again).

Then, on Wednesday January 16th, BBC Four will broadcast Mark Lawson Talks to Russell T. Davies. The Radio Times describes this interview as follows:

Series Two of Torchwood is poised to start showing on the United States' high-definition cable channel HDNet fromMonday, February 11.

According to the channel's website, it will air at 7pm Eastern Time, although the site also carries the disclaimer that schedules are subject to change.

HDNet is available on several cable systems as well as satellite and began showing the first series last September.

(Thanks to Tony Mason and Nick Fitzpatrick.)

Starships and Spacestations will be the next Doctor Who guide in the BBC Books series.

Written by Justin Richards, it is due to be published on May 1.

A press statement said: "The Doctor has his TARDIS to get him from place to place and time to time but the rest of the universe relies on more conventional transport.

"From the British Space Programme of the late 20th century to Earth's empire in the far future, from the terrifying Dalek fleet to deadly Cyber ships, this latest Doctor Who guide documents the many starships and spacestations that the Doctor and his companions have encountered on their travels.

"He has solved mysteries on spacestations and stopped invasions spearheaded by starships. He has been held prisoner in space, escaped from the moon, witnessed the arrival of the Sycorax and the crash-landing of a space pig.

"More than anyone else, the Doctor has seen the development of space travel between countless worlds.

"In this stunningly illustrated book, Doctor Who historian Justin Richards documents the amazing story of Earth's ventures into space, examines the many alien fleets who have paid Earth a visit, and explores the other starships and spacestations that the Doctor has encountered on his many travels."

There is no cover image as yet.

Dalek and Big Finish writer Robert Shearman has a press launch for his new bookTiny Deaths, which he describes as "a collection of odd little sci-fi and horror tales". The launch will be held at 7 pm on Wednesday 16th January, at Calder Books, 51 The Cut, Southwark, London. Shearman will be reading one of his short stories, and autographing afterwards. Admission is free.

He will also be appearing on The Book Cafe, the live arts programme on BBC Radio Scotland, on 21st January at 13.15, to talk about the new book and his work on Doctor Who.

Also of note, on 24th January one of his stories, Love Among the Lobelias, will be read on Radio 4 at 15.30 by fellow Who writer and new series starMark Gatiss.

Doctor Who has another award triumph to add to its collection.

DigiGuide users named the series Best Sci-Fi in the DigiGuide TV and Radio Awards 2007, with the show taking nearly half of the votes cast in the category.

Battlestar Galactica came second, Torchwood was third, Stargate Atlantis fourth, The 4400 fifth andJourneyman sixth.

DigiGuide is an interactive TV and radio guide, and this was the first year the awards, also referred to as the Digis, were run.

It is not known how many users took part in the poll.

People

The Sun reports that David Jason has been approached for a Doctor Who role, but was unable to accept because of his contract with ITV.

The Daily Star writes that David Tennant has been "unsettled" by the attentions of an overeager fan; the story is also reported by MSN and Digital Spy.

The Daily Telegraph cites Billie Piper as the prime example of "thoroughly nice people" in an article on being nice and its drawbacks.

Merchandise

The Doctor Who Annual was the top-selling annual this Christmas, reports The Bookseller. This is the second year in a row that the BBC Books annual has beaten the traditional winner, the Beano Annual.

Also, The Sun has a story about the new line of Doctor Who models from Airfix.

Torchwood

The Daily Telegraph has a behind-the-scenes look at Torchwood's second series. The article quotes Russell T. Davies saying that the first series was too angst-ridden: "I think that was us in the office, being in such a rush to make it that we were projecting our worries onto the screen," Davies says. The article also quotes Freema Agyeman, speaking about how the move to Torchwood fits with the character development of Martha Jones.

SFX continues its "Torchwood week" with interviews with writer/producer Chris Chibnall, producer Richard Stokesand Gwen Cooper herself, Eve Myles.

It looks as if this second series of Torchwood may be the last for Chris Chibnall. Digital Spy reports that Chibnall will produce the forthcoming Law & Order: London for Kudos and ITV.

And finally, from the Western Mail, the sales negotiator for a Welsh house-builder refers to a Cardiff apartment complex as being "right next to the Torchwood tower". Is the Rift blurring the borders between fiction and reality?

Thanks to "PolyG" of the Doctor Who Forum.

The new issue of Doctor Who Magazine, issue 391, is out now.

Voyage of the Damned's director James Strong, shares extracts from his personal production diary, while DWM eavesdrops at the episode's Tone Meeting:

"It mustn't look like an Earth forklift," points out showrunner Russell T Davies, as the team discusses the climactic sequence where Kylie Minogue herself dispatches villain Max Capricorn. "We'll do a makeover!" suggests production designer Edward Thomas. "Pimp my truck!" laughs Russell.
But when Ed adds that you need a licence to drive said forklift, producer Phil Collinson buries his head in his hands. Yes, he's crying.
"I'm just mesmerised by the the idea of us teaching Kylie Minogue how to drive a forklift truck!" admits executive producer Julie Gardner.
"Can we check to see whether she has a forklift licence already?" requests Russell, optimistically. "Oh this is insane!"

Also in the 12 pages of coverage of Voyage of the Damned, there are interviews with actors Geoffrey Palmer, Russell Tovey, Jimmy Vee, Clive Rowe and Debbie Chazen; dozens of new and unseen photos from the making of the Special; and a detailed set report, including an unexpected visit from Sixth Doctor actor Colin Baker.

Meanwhile, there's an extensive tribute to Doctor Who's first producer Verity Lambert; David Tennant answers more readers' questions in part two of an interview; Russell T Davies tells DWM about forthcoming changes to the production team of Doctor Who; the Doctor and Martha encounter gothic horrors in Part One of a new comic strip, Universal Monsters; Planet of the Ood writer Keith Temple discusses Donna's first visit to an alien world; DWM visits the set for Torchwood Series Two and catches up with the programme's stars to ask what next for the Underground Adventurers.

Also in DWM 391, the Time Team witness the Attack of the Cybermen; Neil Harris confesses to a very private hobby in You Are Not Alone; and discover the man behind Mr Copper, in an eye-opening interview with actor Clive Swift!

DWM 391 is on sale from 10 January 2008.

Big Finish Productions has announced some new releases and projects for 2008. Recently. they have begun experimenting with online digital downloads. Currently the only title available though this method is Phantom of the Opera. The forthcoming Stargate series is slated to feature this as well. There is currently no announcement on the Doctor Who line being released in this way.

Doctor Who Magazine Issue 393 will include a free Fifth Doctor audio adventure, Cuddlesome. Written by Nigel Fairs, it is a chilling tale of cute 1980s nostalgia toys for grown-ups taking on a life of their own.

The second season of adventures for the Eighth Doctor and Lucie Miller begin in January with Dead London by Pat Mills. The cover for this title can be found below.

Information on the Sixth Doctor release for January, The Condemned, can be found by clicking on the Spoiler Tagbelow.

Meanwhile, Nigel Fairs, producer of the Tomorrow People range at Big Finish, has confirmed to the Doctor Who Forum that the sixth series of The Tomorrow People has been cancelled due to factors beyond their control. The previous audio CD adventures in this range have been removed from their website.