Torchwood and Doctor Who character Captain Jack Harkness has had a racehorse named after him.

And both of them will meet up later this month when actor John Barrowman goes to the colt's stables at Hucking, near Maidstone, Kent.

The two-year-old thoroughbred, pictured below, is one of the Hucking Horses syndicate and has been named Hucking Harkness.

On kentnews.co.uk trainer John Best says: "We were discussing the Hucking Horses and this colt - a son of the stallion Dr Fong - stood out as a tricky one to name.

"Somebody mentioned Dr Who and from there we reached Captain Jack - and Hucking Harkness was born.

"We got in touch with John Barrowman’s connections to see what they thought of us using the name and they loved the idea."

Barrowman will visit the stables on March 30. He said: "I can't wait to meet the colt and I’m hoping to see him race.

"It’s straight out of a Torchwood script - two Harknesses in the same place at the same time!"

Click on the image below for a larger version.

Note: Barrowman is the guest on A Taste Of My Life tonight on BBC2 at 6.30pm. The show is repeated tomorrow at 2.15pm on the same channel.

An extended version of the interview with Russell T Davies that appeared in SFX issue 155 has gone online on the magazine's official website. Davies talks about many things, including Martha and her family, and what role they will play in the new upcoming series. There is also mention of the episodes based on the novel Human Nature, and episode ten, Blink.

SFX issue 155 is on sale from Wednesday 14th March.

Billie Piper told today how her West End debut in Treats could have brought her close to breaking point.

In a lengthy interview for the Evening Standard, she said: "If I start to think about everything that everybody writes about me, I would probably break - I'm just trying something new and there's nothing wrong with that and, yes, it's hard.

"It's my first time on the West End stage and I've never done it before - it's hardly surprising that it's going to be really terrifying."

Piper had to miss two preview performances because of a bout of gastric flu, then the opening night was delayed, leading to various speculation.

"I was nervous and everybody was nervous . . . and then you have this hysteria. It's just frustrating more than anything," she said.

"But when the press are sat outside your stage door en masse, it's quite hard to brush off. You know, I'm pretty unflappable, but it was . . . an interesting week."

Interviewer Alison Roberts notes that, significantly, Piper paused before selecting the word "interesting".

Using the interview to scotch rumours and gossip, she said pictures that seemed to show her crying on the shoulder of estranged husband Chris Evans were, in fact, of her squinting because of the bright sun.

Piper, 24, also denied that she planned to marry Laurence Fox - her boyfriend and Treats co-star - saying: "No. I'm not even divorced yet, so that would be impossible."

The website of the Doctor Who Restoration Team, the group of experts who remaster and prepare extra features for the range of classic series Doctor Who DVD releases from 2 entertain Ltd, has been updated with a new page appealing for help searching for clips connected to the classic series which might be useful as extra features on future DVDs.

The "Clip Search" page, located here, gives full details on the types of clips particularly being sought; the introduction from the page is reproduced below. Those who believe they may be able to help with the search or have clips should e-mail the specific address given on that page, rather than the generic Restoration Team e-mail address on the main page of their website.

A fourth series of Doctor Who has been commissioned, according to an interview piece withRussell T Davies in the Seven magazine section of The Sunday Telegraph.

The extremely lengthy article, which includes a feature called The Russell T Davies Effect, also suggests that there will be a Christmas 2007 special, states that Series Three will start on March 31 at 7pm - and hints that Davies wants to move on from the show.

It says he is looking for a new challenge and quotes him as saying: "I've always wanted to adapt The Old Curiosity Shop. I love it. It's about time someone had the nerve to rewrite Dickens. The whole plot is a mess", although Davies ruefully points out that ITV is in the process of doing it.

The print edition of the magazine has Davies on the cover and the editorial features are liberally illustrated.

The official Doctor Who website has been updated with a video of two very short teaser trailers for the forthcoming third series of the programme. The teasers feature short clips of the Doctor and Martha looking at the camera, accompanied by the tagline "Two worlds will collide."

The next issue of SFX Magazine features an interview with Russell T Davies as part of a six-page preview of the new series.

The interview covers why the series doesn't visit many alien planets, why they're doing a "Haunted House" episode, and why he decided not to "darken" the Doctor. He also provides a guide to what he considers the scariest episode, the funniest, the sexiest, the saddest, and how Martha differs from Rose.

There's also an update on The Sarah Jane Adventures in the news section.

The issue is on sale from Wednesday 14th March, features a sheet of free Doctor Who fridge magnets, and there's a Doctor Who special coming from SFX at the end of the month. Click on the thumbnails below to see the cover and magnets.

(Thanks to Ian Berriman of SFX)

BBC Books has released the cover image for the forthcoming publication Doctor Who: Creatures and Demons, written by Justin Richards.

Further details about the book are given below. Click on the thumbnail for a larger version of the cover.

(Thanks to Caroline Newbury/Random House)

BBC News reports that Billie Piper is back on stage after illness forced her to miss two performances of her West End stage show Treats.

Signing autographs after the show, Piper reported she had been quite ill with gastric flu but was well and ready to work.