New series producers Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner will follow up production of the first season of "Doctor Who" with a lavish three-part period production of "Casanova" for BBC1, according to Broadcast Magazine. Originally commisioned by ITV from Granada's LWT in May 2002, Davies was originally set to produce it for ITV, but then Gardner, who was originally with Granada Television, joined BBC Wales as Head of Drama. Says Broadcast, "Her departure is thought to have prompted Davies to take the project to the BBC and sign it as part of a deal that also included him agreeing to write the new series of Doctor Who, which Gardner is overseeing." BBC controller of drama commissioning Jane Tranter told Broadcast: "We were keen to do what Russell wanted to do and to enable Julie to continue an ongoing relationship with Russell on Casanova and Doctor Who." Outpost Gallifrey is aware that Davies will be producing "Casanova" beginning in October 2004, and will hopefuly return to production of the second season of "Doctor Who" in the new year. (Thanks to Martin Day)

A one-sheet advertisement page from BBC Worldwide Television which will be featured in several forthcoming sales presentations in the UK, obtained by Outpost Gallifrey, shares some very interesting -- and exciting -- information concerning the new Doctor Who series. The BBC document states that the airtime for the first season of the new series is "Spring 2005," synching with the March 2005 transmission date Outpost Gallifrey has previously reported as being the likely target date. It also notes five cast members under the "Starring" block: Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor, Billie Piper as Rose Tyler, Camille Coduri as Jackie Tyler, Noel Clarke as Mickey Smith and Mark Benton as Clive; this is interesting because it's the first time a surname has been published for the Mickey character on a public document, and the first time Mark Benton, only previously rumored to be in the series, has been confirmed anywhere.

Most especially, the text of the press document has an interesting summation of the new series, including some heretofore unknown details; they're in the text box below. Meanwhile, the press document also contains at least one overseas broadcast note: it confirms the involvement of Canadian broadcaster CBC, who is says has purchased the series ahead of delivery and will be transmitting it as soon after the UK transmission as they can.

We'll keep you posted when any other documents such as this come out of BBC Worldwide.

Today's WhoSpy photo on the official site reveals that George Gerwitz is the First Assistant Director on the new series (at least a part, possibly the entirety). Gerwitz also served as First A.D. on "Sea of Souls" produced by Phil Collinson, one of the new Doctor Who series' executive producers.

The latest issue of SFX Magazine (cover thumbnail at right) is out this Friday and features never-before-seen behind the scenes pictures of Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper and an exclusive interview with Russell T Davies (and Tim Hancock, about the return of the Daleks). Here's some extracts from Russell's interview:

"There was no big grandstand moment where we all decided to 'jettison the Edwardian' - the whole process is a lot more reasoned than that. It's not a policy, it's a gradual process of elimination. For starters, I was never in favour of an Edwardian look. To be honest, wearing a frock coat now makes you look like John Leslie at the National Television Awards."

He goes on to talk about the new series episodes: "Phil Collinson and I were wondering the other day, how we could ever go back to a normal show after this. What, film two people just walking down the street?!! It is a joy, to be honest. There's one scene with Penelope Wilton which just sums up everything I have ever wanted to do in television, ever. And I swear to God, it is still exciting - for all of us - to walk on set and see the Tardis standing there. Weird. But good weird."

There are also on-set location reports and details of the "Design A Dalek" competition. For more details visit the SFX website. (Thanks to Steve O'Brien and Ian Berriman of SFX)

Outpost Gallifrey has learned that the new series production is now back in Cardiff, having taken a trip to London early in the month to do some location photography, and then (we presume) into the studio. There are signs that the production will be filming in public areas of Cardiff this coming week; we have a set report from Jez Connolly who was in Cardiff today (click on the spoiler tag for more details).

The new issue of Doctor Who Magazine, issue #347 now on sale, notes that the director for the second "block" of episodes -- episodes 2 and 3, to be exact -- is Euros Lyn. His previous directing credits include "Cutting It," "Belonging III," "Casualty," "Pam Fi Duw?" and "Sunday Stories". Meanwhile, the director of photography will be Ernest Vincze, whose work incldues "Sea of Souls," "Holby City" and "Linda Green". The issue also notes that the visual effects supervisor will be David Houghton of MillTV, who also worked on the Doctor Who charity special "The Curse of Fatal Death". The magazine features an interview with Houghton and more detail about Lyn and Vincze.

Lots of reports coming in from the various press outlets building on rumors that the Daleks, now confirmed as being in the series in the first season, will be given legs in the new series. "Show bosses are looking at the exterminators being able to climb stairs, fly and hover," says The Sun (obviously not being aware that the Daleks hovering was established in the original series, in "Remembrance of the Daleks"). "Their legs may be like those of Star Wars robot R2D2. Or the BBC could use our ideas -and have the Doctor's enemy with Penny Lancaster pins or Hobbit-like tootsies from The Lord of the Rings." Tim Hancock of the estate of Terry Nation is quoted as saying, "We all accept that the Daleks were designed in the early Sixties and need to be updated. They have got to be able to move, be mobile, but they have also got to retain the initial look of the original Daleks about them." The Daily Telegraph notes about the various Dalek stories, "Whoever's in charge of the PR for the new Dr Who series has been doing a knockout job" and notes about the various press leaks involving the negotiations around bringing the nasty metal monsters back. Various other news journals including the Register (with a second article here), Ananova and local media. (Thanks to Steve Tribe, Mark Healey, Paul Engelberg)

Great news this morning: the BBC and the Terry Nation Estate have achieved an agreement that allows the Daleks to return to Doctor Who in the new TV series, despite word to the contrary earlier in the year. Tim Hancock of the Terry Nation estate told BBC News, "I am absolutely delighted that the Terry Nation estate and the BBC have been able to reach agreement on terms for the use of the Daleks in the new Doctor Who series. We look forward to working closely with the production team in the forthcoming months." The Nation estate, said BBC News, had accused the BBC of trying to "ruin the brand of the Daleks" by trying to wrestle control of the image. "We are absolutely delighted that the Daleks will be back," publicist Antony Wainer of the DWAS told BBC News. "Doctor Who without Daleks would be like Morecambe without Wise or Wimbledon without strawberries." By the way, for those wondering: this was NOT a publicity stunt. According to several sources, this went straight down to the wire, a desire by both sides to reach an equitable agreement. There was never any attempt to use the "will they/won't they" as a publicity tactic for the new series (and we get that straight from the source). The Sun newspaper, naturally, is claiming "victory" in their "campaign" to bring back the Daleks (obviously unaware that they likely had nothing whatsoever to do with it) and the Media Guardian has an amusing quote in their August 4 edition: "Oh Lordy. Stand by for a gloating 'It was the Sun wot won it' style headline in tomorrow's current bun, after the BBC today announced that the Daleks would, indeed, be returning to give Chris Eccleston the willies in the new Doctor Who series. The Sun will no doubt be claiming its Save The Daleks campaign - launched last month after the BBC said negotiations with the estate of Doctor Who writer Terry Nation to bring the croaky-voiced baddies back had broken down - made all the difference. Maybe they have a point. After all, the impact of plastering a Dalek with Sun stickers, a Sun hat and a cross of St George flag and wheeling it through New York's Times Square, accompanied by reporter Bryan Flynn, should not be underestimated."

We're keeping track of the various news reports that come in as this story breaks (thank you Paul Engelberg, Steve Tribe, Chuck Foster, Richard Kirkpatrick); the following is the running list of news reports as we get them.

Official Doctor Who Site (BBC) BBC News The Scotsman Waveguide The Sun The Register News.com.au Sydney Morning Herald Telegraph (second article) Brand Republic The Age (Australia) The Guardian (subscription)

Reuters Irish Examiner The Telegraph The Examiner Ireland Online The Guardian Yahoo! News NewsWales The Independent The Mirror IC Wales FilmForce

Also covered in the Associated Press, the Daily Mail, Belfast Telegraph, South Wales Echo, the Times, the Journal, the Birmingham Post and various other publications and online sources.

The following is a press release issued by the BBC a short while ago (with thanks to the BBC website).

While the computer generated effects for the new series are being provided by MillTV, as previously noted, we've been informed that Any Effects will be providing the "physical" special effects. Any Effects is a special effects company that's been in business for 20 years, with such credits as "London's Burning," "Hornblower" and "Star Wars: Attack of the Clones". The physical effects are those that actually take place as filmed, as opposed to CGI or other trickery. For more details about Any Effects, visit their website at www.anyeffects.com. (Thanks to Alex Gurucharri)

Today's papers report that there was an "event" during the new series production today... as the Daily Star put it, "A Doctor Who film crew had more than the Daleks to worry about when it was surrounded by antiterrorist cops on the River Thames." Apparently, the actors and production staff were filming on a boat in front of the House of Parliament, but the boat strayed to close to teh building, and police in high-speed patrol craft moved in and surrounded them! Our correspondent Mark Coupe writes, "[The Mail] is saying that apparantly there was some kind of flap over the last couple of days, where the crew on Doctor Who had been filming some scenes with River Police on the Thames and had somehow drifted into the area around the MI5 building (although surely its the MI6 one which is next to the river?) and caused anti-terrorist police to be rather concerned! Apparently, the crew from Wales werent au fait with all the river regulations." (Thanks to Paul Engelberg, Mark Coupe... and sorry for the news item title, but I couldn't pass it up!)