The first episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures achieved a rating of 1.3 million viewers, an 11% share of the audience.

This is much higher than CBBC programmes usually get in this slot. Last Monday, Escape from Scorpion Island got 0.9 million.

In the children's chart, the programme was the 6th most watched of the day with an audience of 0.5 million which was a 29.8% share.

Over on CBBC the second episode was watched by 0.44 million making the programme the most watched of the day on CBBC and the 7th most watched programme on multi channel television.

The official website has released full details for the forthcoming Davros DVD box set, scheduled for release in the UK on November 26, 2007. In the set, Genesis of the Daleks, Resurrection of the Daleks andRevelation of the Daleks will contain the same material as the previously released DVDs of those stories. Destiny of the Daleks will also contain roughly the same material as the separate DVD of the story being released on the same day. However, the box set will contain a two-disc version ofRemembrance of the Daleks, with the following extras:

• Commentary with actors Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred
  
• Back to School - Cast and crew talk about the making of the story accompanied by rare behind-the-scenes material
  
• Remembrances - Cast and crew talk about the influences and references to other Doctor Who adventures that are spread throughout the story
  
• Extended and Deleted Scenes
  
• Outtakes
  
• Multi-Angle Sequences - allowing the viewer to watch Ace's escape from the Chemistry lab and the Daleks blowing up the large gates from one of two camera angles
  
• Trails and Continuity
  
• Plus photo gallery, isolated music, Radio Times listings, subtitles, and Dolby Digital 5.1 mix
  

The documentaries "Back to School" and "Remembrances" are new, and are not found on the previously released single DVD version of Remembrance of the Daleks. The original Region 2 DVD of Remembrance also had a few missing effects shots, which will be restored in the box set version.

The set will also include a new documentary on the character and history of Davros, titled "Davros Connections".

Finally, the box set will contain eight audio dramas from Big Finish Productions starring Terry Molloy as Davros. The stories are Davros(starring Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor), The Juggernauts (also starring Colin Baker), Terror Firma (starring Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor), the four parts of the miniseries I, Davros, and a new audio drama,The Davros Mission, written by Nicholas Briggs. The BBC site describes this new story, specially commissioned for the DVD box set, thus: "Davros is taken by the Daleks for trial and imminent execution. But even in his darkest hour, he finds allies and an insatiable cunning to survive..."

Only 10,000 of the individually numbered box sets will be issued.

The official Doctor Who website has released some information about an upcoming story in Series Four. The story will be set in Pompeii in AD 79, just before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. In this episode the Doctor and Donna are faced with a moral dilemma: should they warn the residents of the impending disaster and change the course of history, or let history take its course?

Guest stars in the episode will include Academy Award and BAFTA winner Peter Capaldi ("The Thick of It") as Caecillius, Tracey Childs ("Howards' Way") as Metella, and Phil Davis ("Quadrophenia") as Lucius; Davis also appeared with Eighth Doctor Paul McGann in the film Alien³.

As previously reported, filming for the Pompeii episode took place at Rome's Cinecitta Studios.

This is not the first Doctor Who story set in the last days of Pompeii; the Big Finish Productions audio dramaThe Fires of Vulcan, starring Sylvester McCoy and Bonnie Langford as the Seventh Doctor and Mel, was set in the same time and place. It is not known whether the forthcoming television story is adapted from the audio play. In the 2005 series, the Big Finish play Jubilee was adapted into the television episode Dalek; elements of Spare Parts inspired 2006's Rise of the Cybermen and The Age of Steel; and for the 2007 series, Paul Cornell adapted his novelHuman Nature for television.

Big Finish has released story and narrator details on the upcoming second series of The Companion Chronicles.

Set to be released in October, Mother Russia sees Peter Purves returning to the role of Steven Taylor alongside Tony Millan.

"It's 1812 and the Doctor, Steven and Dodo get ready to spend their winter in a Russian village. The French are on their way, but that's not the only invasion the travellers will have to deal with."

Helicon Prime, due out in November, features Frazer Hines returning to the role of Jamie with Suzanne Proctor.

"It's been a long time since Jamie McCrimmon remembered anything about his travels with the Doctor, but his visit to Helicon Prime just won't stay hidden... but why remember their murder investigation now?"

Nicholas Courtney reads Old Soldiers, the December release, a story for the Third Doctor told by the Brigadier. Toby Longworth guest stars.

"Old soldiers, comrades in arms - the Brigadier saw many fall during his years with UNIT, but perhaps none more tragically than those at Kreigskind. Called to help when a friend falls ill, how can Leftbridge-Stewart fight an enemy that can breach every defence?"

Leela returns in January, once again played by Louise Jameson in The Catalyst. This Fourth Doctor tale features guest star Timothy Watson.

"The pride of the Z'nai matches that of Leela of the Sevateem. Why would the Doctor imprison one in such an unlikely place, and what terrors will be brought about by letting it loose?"

Big Finish has released full cover and story information for this year's subscriber bonus story, Return to the Web Planet.

Big Finish has released the first release information for 2008.

January sees The Fifth Doctor, Peri, and Erimem meeting The Bride of Peladon. Jane Goddard playsAlpha Centauri, a character who appeared in both of the Third Doctor's television trips to the planet.

"Peladon will bathe in oceans of blood!

A mysterious voice, a missing girl and a murdered queen. The Royal House of Peladon is once more plunged into intrigue, terror and death. The Doctor, Peri and Erimem must find their way through a treacherous labyrinth of lies if they are to distinguish friend from foe before it is too late.

For deep beneath the Citadel of Peladon, something infinitely ancient and immeasurably powerful is stirring..."

February has the Sixth Doctor facing The Condemned. The House of Thomas Brewster gets a visit from the Fifth Doctor in April. The Sixth Doctor gets hunted by the Assassin in the Limelight in May, while The Death Collectorscome for the Seventh Doctor in June.

BBC Wiltshire has released a new interview with Classic Series companion Mary Tamm. Tamm appeared on BBC Radio Wiltshire's Afternoon Show with Sue Davies to promote the upcoming Key to Time DVD Box set. The interview includes Tamm speaking about her time on the series, attending fan conventions, working with Tom Baker and her Estonian roots.

The final two episodes of series 3 of Doctor Who have received glowing reviews in the Australian media. RespectedSydney Morning Herald TV critic, Ruth Ritchie writes 'David Tennant has no trouble carrying the magnificent Dr Who . . . In these last two episodes, brilliantly written by Russell T. Davies, the Best Dr Ever has the good grace, sense and brows to let equally charismatic John Simm hog the limelight.

It never occurred to me that Tony Blair could have been a disgruntled time lord determined to involve America in the destruction of the planet. But once you see Simm portray just such a slimy, sexy PM, it really makes sense . . . Dr Who is built on rock-solid science fiction, reassuringly familiar elements such as the Tardis, great characterisation and really superior coats that move when the characters run.

There are many layers to Dr Who, as well as sexy men in flowing coats, and some of the wittiest writing on television. Tennant's ability to carry an audience on often impossibly silly journeys seals his CV as serious TV star . . . Tennant has a wide-eyed, inclusive appeal. More importantly, his famous character, the doctor, is charming, brilliant but ultimately flawed. He can sense and solve cataclysmic problems in the universe yet he is oblivious to the most obvious human emotions of all those around him. He's Superman with Asperger's. Now you don't see that every day.'

Bronwyn Thompson of the Sydney tabloid The Daily Telegraph also writes, in a review of 'The Sound of Drums', that 'it's no easy feat drawing swords against the comical melodrama of David Tennant, but the casting of John Simm . . . is genius. He's easily one of the best young actors on British TV and plays the conniving and crazy Master almost too convincingly.' Melinda Houston of the Melbourne Sunday Age also writes of the 'Last of the Time Lords', that 'another blindingly good series draws to a close . . . (Boo!) in a riotous episode that leaves us both satisfied and longing for more. (Yay!)'. Jen Rosenberg, of the Sydney Morning Herald, also gives the series final a thumbs up, writing that it 'has all the markings of a great epic, like a weird hybrid of 'Lord of the Rings', Big Brother (the George Orwell variety) and 'Star Trek', with shades of the Bible thrown in', while Jim Schembri, of The Age, says this episode is 'loads of fun, as usual'. Meanwhile, Ian Cuthbertsonof The Weekend Australian says that 'this season finale is not called 'Last of the Time Lords' for nothing. Miss it and you may regret it forever.'

Torchwood has also received some good Aussie press. Michael Idato, of the Sydney Morning Herald, writes of 'Captain Jack Harkness' that 'Catherine Tregenna's script was the best of this series, ranking alongside Steven Moffatt's 'The Girl in the Fireplace' and 'Blink' . . . for its clever and inventive handling of time travel, with both the past and present storylines playing out simultaneously, the former shaping the latter as the plots unfolded.' In other Torchwood news, Imparja Television, an Aboriginal owned television company which broadcasts over huge parts of remote Australia, has begun broadcasting the spin-off on Wednesday nights at 10.30pm.

Finally, in the ratings, Doctor Who has remained competitive during the Australian footy finals season: while 'Utopia' dipped to 740,000 viewers in the 5 major capitals, 'The Sound of Drums' rallied to 878,000 viewers. The season final, the full 51 minute version of the 'Last of the Time Lords', received 889,000 viewers and was theABC's top programme outside the news. Meanwhile, Torchwood's 'End of Days' received 160,000 viewers, its best performance in the midnight timeslot for Channel Ten. For more ratings details see the Sydney Morning Herald’s Tribal Mind.

This coming Sunday, September 23rd, BBC Radio 4 will be airing the first episode of a new documentary series, The Preposterous Files, investigating the history of strange stories from the files of Britain's National Archives.

The opening episode is called "Metropolitan Police: The Tardis", and looks at various reports on police public call boxes, compiled by Britain's Home Office.

Historian Julian Putkowski, who presents the programme, tells the new issue of the BBC's Radio Timeslistings magazine: "[The documents] show a very tradtional organisation, in this case the Metropolitan Police, struggling to change, to keep up with their competitors (the criminals), implementing, for want of a better expression, IT. That's one version of events. However, it turns out the box wasn't to keep tabs on the crooks but on the policemen! The inspectors would call every hour to check up on their whereabouts."

"The Preposterous Files - Metropolitan Police: The Tardis" is on BBC Radio 4 this Sunday from 2.45 to 3.00pm. Overseas fans can listen live at bbc.co.uk/radio4.