The Sydney Morning Herald on January 1 ran a story called "The spin-off doctors" by Mark Juddery in which the writer spoke of science fiction tie-in novels, including Doctor Who. "In 1991, two years after the television series was cancelled, Virgin Books began a series of young adult novels billed as 'stories too broad and too deep for television'," says the article. "It provided everything from dark, post-apocalyptic fantasy to Terry Pratchett-style goofiness, and alienated several long-term fans in the process. 'They're 'only' TV spin-offs, of course, but they're easily the best in the genre,' Britain's SFX magazine announced in 1996, suggesting that the "open-door policy" on submissions made it "the last, best hope for new SF [science fiction] talent in British publishing".'" The article goes on to interview writers Kate Orman and Jonathan Blum ("A lot of fans were worried the books would be 'dumbed down', or aimed at much younger readers, but that didn't happen," Orman said) including mentioning their Telos novella winning Best Australian Science Fiction Novel at last year's Aurealis Awards. "People are prejudiced against tie-ins because they figure that it's cheating if you write stories about characters you didn't create," Blum told the Herald. "Well, there goes a huge swathe of literature from Shakespeare to Jasper Fforde. If you can write something as lovely and enduring as The Night Before Christmas as a tie-in with a pre-existing fantasy character, there's no reason you can't do something as good with Doctor Who."

The Guardian on December 30 ran an article, "Call to bring back the police box" (echoed by similar stories in other papers) in which the writer stated "The humble-looking Tardis which aided Dr Who's intergalactic meanderings could be a solution to the police's public image, the Institute for Public Policy Research thinks. Its report also says that police stations should be made friendlier to the public, taking inspiration from the neat architecture of the Japanese police." The study, Re-inventing the Police Station, recommends the police boxes that used to dot the country, the sort of mini-office immortalised as the exterior form of the TARDIS, says the article, and that they "provide a popular way of interacting with the local police." The Metropolitan police said there were no plans to reintroduce police boxes, but it has admitted in the past that police stations need to be overhauled for the new century. (Thanks to Scott Matthewman)

From the Sunday Mirror (January 1): "Never has a TV series been so shrouded in secrecy," referring to the new series, "but soon we"ll be able to see how Christopher Eccleston fares as the travelling timelord, and whether Billie Piper measures up as his assistant. A few facts have emerged. The Tardis, which transports the Doctor through time and the universe, is made of coral on the inside and is a living organism which can grow and change shape. But don"t worry, the outside still looks like an old blue police box. On his journeys he will come across Simon Callow as Charles Dickens and Zoe Wanamaker as a very old woman. There is also more than a hint of romance this time around. Eccleston says: 'Doctor Who has two hearts and they can both be broken.' Ahhh." The comment about the TARDIS being "made of coral on the inside" has raised some eyebrows from Doctor Who fans online.

Item to watch in the US: BBC America is advertising the airing of "The Canterbury Tales" beginning Saturday, January 8th, at 8pm. The episode in which new series companion Billie Piper features, 'The Miller's Tale' is scheduled to first air on Jan 29, 2005.

The Sunday Independent (January 2) called Billie Piper a "talent to watch." "Billie Piper is out to prove her mettle as Doctor Who's new sidekick," says the article. Also, the Sunday Times (January 2) noted the BBC was "is in full charter-renewal mode. ... Then there is the BBC's remake of Doctor Who (BBC1), with Christopher Eccleston as the time lord. 'Everyone was expecting him to be dour, and he's so funny. I think we can do extraordinary things with it,' says the writer, Russell T Davies. 'It's classy, eccentric, there's a lot of satire, and I think it's going to work.'"

Billie Piper's film Spirit Trap will be premiered at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival in the spring, before a general release across Britain and the United States. Piper and Luke Mably star in the supernatural chiller based around scary goings on in a seedy London student bedsit land, alongside Sam Troughton and Russian rock star Alsou.

From a syndicated interview with fifth Doctor Peter Davison that circulated around January 1: "People keep asking if I've got any inside information," he says. "But I don't at all. I do the odd convention from time to time, and I still play the Doctor on audio CDs but that's it. I'll be very interested to see it myself. Hopefully, it will have more money spent on it than they spent on ours. I remember it as a lot of running up and down corridors. And a lot of acting with people who weren't there because of blue screen. I was saving the world though. But it's certainly got very good writers now. A lot of the writers, like A League Of Gentlemen"s Mark Gatiss, are Doctor Who fans and have been for many, many years. So it should be good."

Interested in which story producer Russell T Davies really enjoys? From an article in January 1's The Guardian about Davies' favorite TV programs: "Doctor Who: The Ark In Space. Nothing creates terror and claustrophobia like the good old-fashioned walls of a BBC studio. You can almost hear the cameras hum. The regular cast make bubble-wrap truly terrifying, but in the unfamous, unsung guest cast, there are heroes. An actor called Wendy Williams creates a character who is frigid, humourless, ruthless, and eventually, through contact with the Doctor, completely human. I must have watched this a hundred times. It's not enough."

(Thanks to Paul Engelberg, Peter Weaver, Mark Askren, Mike Maddox, "Odoru Tardis" and others for these reports)

The website for the Bristol-based Pixel Studios posted what it calls "concept art" for the forthcoming Doctor Who series, including some sort of spider-type transport, the TARDIS in a metalsmith factory, and two illustrations which appear to be some sort of orbital construct. The images - which we have not confirmed are used in the series, merely posted as images "to help visualise some of the more challenging parts of the script" by an independent design firm (and which may not even have been taken up by the series once it went into production) can be seen at their website by clicking here. (Thanks to Robbie Dunlop)

Noel Clarke (Mickey) is interviewed in the December 18 Daily Express 'Saturday' magazine. Whilst he mostly comments about the upcoming 'Auf Wiedersehen Pet' TV special he is in, he does mention, very briefly, his role in Doctor Who "...as Mickey, the boyfriend of Rose Tyler (Billie Piper). The two have been romantically linked off-screen, but Noel bats off questions about offering Billie a shoulder to cry on after her split with husband Chris Evans, which happened during filming. "We do our job and we go home," he says. "All I do know is that Billie is great, very down to earth. She is a brilliant actress and seriously underrated. So what about the kissing scene? Who doesn't like doing kissing scenes?" he jokes. "They were fine! And my girlfriend doesn't mind me kissing Billie... she knows it's only work!" (Thanks to Peter Weaver)

The Chicago Tribune Discussed in a December 17 article the return of the series in its "Television: The Watcher" section by Maureen Ryan. "Get Your Geek On Again: I'm sure more alert sci-fi mavens have known about these development for months, but a new 'Babylon 5' feature starts filming in April, according to comingsoon.net, and filming has already begun on a new "Dr. Who" series, featuring Christopher Eccleston as the newest doctor. No U.S. channel has yet lined up the rights to air the new Who, which will hits British TV next year, according to gallifreyone.com, which is now my main source for the latest "Who" info. The original series ran from 1963 to 1989, and as most Who fans know, Tom Baker was the best Doctor, followed by Peter Davison and Jon Pertwee. Anyway, I hope the new series is better than the 1996 one-off "Dr. Who" movie that starred Paul McGann, an actor I otherwise like a lot. It wasn't his fault that the TV movie, an attempt perhaps to sex up the venerable British series, was mostly a mess (Eric Roberts as the villain? Never a good sign.). But I'm hoping the BBC raises the bar with Eccleston's outing as the good Doctor." (Our thanks to Maureen Ryan at the Chicago Tribune for the plug for Outpost Gallifrey, and Paul Engelberg for the news)

Russell T Davies was interviewed on a regional ITV1 broadcast of The Afternoon Show on December 15 for the eager TV audience of freelancers, students and the unemployed. There were some behind-the scenes clips of "Casanova" were shown, with David Tennant commenting on how great the script is, and how nice a person Russell is. Davies was then interviewed by the host Eamonn O'Neal, and talked about his work on Chucklevision and Mine All Mine, before moving on to Doctor Who, and how it mustn't be aimed simply at the audience who grew up with it. "I think that's the most important thing," Davies said, "if we were doing it for nostalgia, just to look back and make a pastiche of what was, I'd think - what was the point of that? I fell in love with that programme when I was 8 years old, and it actually made me fall in love with television full stop. And I'm still here, 'twenty' years later. It's aiming for those 8 year olds who sit there now: who want something like that. I mean, they've got American things like Buffy, but (it's important) to have something set in Britain, that's really British." Davies also said that the discussions about the use of the Daleks went all the way to the controller of BBC1, who was insistent that they were included, "Because everyone loves them." And when wrapping up, O'Neal stated that both Casanova and Doctor Who would start in March,... and Russell didn't contradict him. (Thanks to David John Parker)

A BBC press release today discusses the new BBC Radio 4 sci-fi comedy Nebulous with many connections to Doctor Who: written by Graham Duff (writer of Big Finish audio "Faith Stealer"), starring new series writer/actor Mark Gatiss, David Warner (the Doctor in Big Finish's "Sympathy for the Devil"), Rosie Cavaliero (who played Cassie in the audios "Project: Twilight" and "Project: Lazarus") and Graham Crowden (Soldeed in "The Horns of Nimon") and directed by Dalek perennial Nicholas Briggs. The broadcast starts January 6 at 11pm on Radio 4. (Thanks to Paul Hayes, Steve Tribe)

A press release today from the BBC (which has been covered in several media outlets today) mentions the new Doctor Who series as part of the "Winter Highlights," noting the forthcoming series as being targeted for debut in 2005. "Acclaimed actor Christopher Eccleston hits our screens this winter as Doctor Who with Billie Piper as the Doctor's companion Rose Tyler. More details will be released early next year," says the press release. An expanded version of the release is also online from the Drama department, with more details: "Acclaimed actor Christopher Eccleston plays Doctor Who in a new series for BBC One next year," says the press release. "Billie Piper, who made her acting debut in the critically acclaimed Canterbury Tales - The Miller's Tale, stars alongside Eccleston as the Doctor's companion, Rose Tyler. Travelling through time and space, the Doctor and Rose come face to face with a number of new and exciting monsters - as well as battling with the Doctor's arch-enemy, the Daleks. The series, which promises to surprise and entertain a new generation, also features Penelope Wilton, Noel Clarke, Annette Badland, Camille Coduri and John Barrowman, Bruno Langley and celebrated theatre, film and television actor Simon Callow. Filming in Cardiff until 2005 for transmission on BBC One, Doctor Who is written by Russell T Davies, Steven Moffat, Mark Gatiss, Paul Cornell and Robert Shearman." It is important to note that, while the appearance of the item intimates an early 2005 time frame -- noting the show "hits... screens this winter," there is still no guarantee whatsoever that the show will appear during that time, as the show is currently around the halfway point in filming, with at least six episodes of 13 that have not as yet gone before the cameras, and will depend on how quickly the show is completed before an actual debut is set. (Thanks to everyone who passed along the press release and media links...)

Reports in today's Mirror that Zoe Wanamaker -- the esteemed character actress best known for her roles in the sitcom "My Family," as broom instructor Madame Hooch in "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," and as Clarice Groan in the BBC adaptation of "Gormenghast" -- has been cast in the new Doctor Who series. Read the spoiler-tagged section as the report in the Mirror also includes spoilers about the episode she's in...

Today's edition of The Newcastle Chronicle & Journal interviews Mark Gatiss, new series writer and author of the new novel "The Vesuvius Club." In the article he discusses his new book, the movie version of his series "The League of Gentlemen," and his ambition to star as the Doctor... "although he says Christopher Eccleston, the latest doctor, brings a new dimension to the role." "I've spoken to Chris and we're going to have a kind of Brown/Blair thing," Gatiss tells the Journal. "He's going to retire gracefully after a few years and give it to me. No, I wish that were true. But if I waited as long as Gordon Brown has, it'll never happen!" (Thanks to Paul Engelberg)

Today's Media Guardian -- which features an article about producer Russell T Davies' new comedy, "Mine All Mine" (which starts on Thursday at 9pm on ITV1) -- also features a small snippet in the Media Monkey diary: "Sofa so good for new Who! The new Dr Who has passed the fear-factor test. Outgoing drama series boss Mal Young took an episode home to see how the drama, scheduled for a family audience in its old Saturday teatime slot, went down with his seven-year-old step-daughter. Monkey is glad to report that she ended up watching it from behind the sofa." (You can read ithere but registration's required!)