Composer Malcolm Clarke passed away yesterday, December 11. Says Mark Ayres, himself a Doctor Who composer and current member of the Restoration Team: "Malcolm was undoubtedly one of the most colourful characters ever to work at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, joining in 1969. Fuelled by his keen interest in the visual arts, his music - always anarchic, never boring - holds a special place in my affections." Clarke composed the incidental music for seven Doctor Who stories, including the very haunting and memorable score for "The Sea Devils," the ghastly cybernetic tones of "Earthshock" and the high-seas-adventure movements of "Enlightenment," as well as "Resurrection of the Daleks," "The Twin Dilemma," "Attack of the Cybermen" and "Trial of a Time Lord: Terror of the Vervoids." "His work for ... 'The Sea Devils,'" says Ayres, "is a benchmark in 'doing it your own way and hang the consequences' and made a deep impression on at least one young would-be composer. His award-winning 'August 4th 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains' (1976) is a beat-perfect lesson in pure radio." Clarke was one of the last to leave the BBC Radiophonic Workshop when it was dismantled in the mid 1990's and had been studying for a PhD in music ("at last he would be qualified to do what he had spent his life successfully doing," Ayres joked). Selections from his work were made available on a variety of CDs from Silva Screen and the BBC Radio Collection. (Thanks to Mark Ayres)

Yesterday (see below) Outpost Gallifrey revealed the final cover design for The Visitation UK DVD release courtesy Tenth Planet... which, as was discussed on our forums, features a reverse image of Peter Davison (with a backwards question mark on his lapel!) We were then informed that the cover art being used by BBC Worldwide differed from the original submitted by artist Clayton Hickman, so we contacted Hickman for information. "The final version of The Visitation DVD cover has been significantly altered from the artwork I submitted," Hickman told Outpost Gallifrey. "This is completely within BBC Worldwide's rights, and once I submit a cover I have no further say over the way it's presented. Sometimes deadlines are such that there is no time to consult the original artist about changes, so the BBC's in-house team make those which are deemed necessary by the high-ups (or whoever decides these things). It's a shame in this case that there's an error on their revised version (Peter's back-to-front question mark collar), so I did just want to point out that it wasn't me who made it! I had no idea that the cover had been changed until I saw it on OG this morning. Ah well. That's the cut-and-thrust world of Doctor Who covers for you. You can make up your own minds which you prefer..." At right is the artwork the way it wasoriginally submitted; click it for a larger version. (Thanks to Clayton Hickman)

According to the new issue of Doctor Who Magazine, BBC Books range consultant/editor Justin Richards says that a DVD release of the BBCi webcast The Scream of the Shalka was planned for February 2004, but does not know what is happening to it now. Either way, Restoration Team member Steve Roberts says that a release of "Shalka" on DVD would be "in addition to the normal DVD schedule, not replacing any of it." Roberts also makes note of the DVD release order ofPyramids of Mars and The Visitation; originally "Pyramids" would have been released first, but "we couldn't get the commentary team together until later in the year and I was ahead on 'Visitation', so it was just easiest to swap." (Thanks to Malcolm James, Steve Roberts)

Gordon Reid, who played Phillips in episode 1 of "Invasion of the Dinosaurs," died on stage in London on November 27. (Thanks to Ben Jolly)

The BBC Shop has the following details about the release of The Visitation on DVD in the UK on January 19, 2004:

The British Board of Film Classification website is listing the following extras for the forthcoming DVD release of The Visitation starring Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton, Janet Fielding and Matthew Waterhouse, due out in January:


These items include the half-hour interview segment with director Peter Moffatt, a featurette about the scoring of the episode and other items. More when it's available.

The ic North Wales site has a three-page article today on the 40th anniversary of Doctor Who, a summary of the show and it's connections with the Welsh. Interestingly, says the article, "The absence of a special Dr Who weekend of programmes dedicated to the time travelling doctor marks a bizarre scheduling decision which is entirely in keeping with the BBC's love/hate relationship with the adventurous Time Lord," omitting the fact that UK Gold did exactly that all weekend. You can read the full article by going here. (Thanks to Steve Tribe, Andrew Harvey)

According to producers of this past weekend's Doctor Who @40 event on UK Gold, the documentaries that have been run are cleared for "six transmissions over the next year," so they'll be repeated for those who weren't able to see them. No word as to when it will be done. Also, credits were left off these programmes only because the producers ran out of time in production, but the credits on each will be run during the next transmission. Meanwhile, among the highlights during the weekend was a ten-minute feature at the end about the future of Doctor Who... which ended with a number of people recommending Paul McGann for the new series, and the very final word was McGann saying "You never know..." and winking at the camera. (Thanks to Roger Anderson, Dave Pashby)