The Sci Fi Channel in the US is running a new sweepstakes for the chance to win a 30gb video iPod, in conjunction with their broadcast of the new series - yet ironically, featuring trivia questions from the classic series. The contest is running between now and June 9 and is only open to legal adult residents of the US. At right is an image of the promotional flyer; click on it for a larger version, or click here to enter. (Thanks to NBC Universal, Paul Aldred)

The new issue of "Doctor Who Magazine" (#369) announces much of the third series writing team. Russell T Davies will himself write the 2006 Christmas special, the first episode of the season and "three or four more" episodes, while he also confirms that the script written by Stephen Fry for this season and announced as moved to next year will be produced then. Four new names have now been confirmed as well for the third series, including two from previous seasons:Steven Moffat ("The Empty Child," "The Doctor Dances," "The Girl in the Fireplace") will return with "an idea which [he] came up with way back in the planning of Series One" to write "at least another 45 minutes", which he guarantees "will not be as good as 'The Empty Child'"; and Paul Cornell ("Father's Day") is contributing a two-parter story. There are also two new names for the season: the author of several DWM comic strips, a Ninth Doctor BBC novel, BBCi's 'Attack of the Graske' and this year's Tardisodes, Gareth Roberts, will write one episode, while new series script editor and writer for the Torchwood spin-off series Helen Raynor will contribute a two-part story -- Helen promises "BRILLIANT monsters!" As with Series Two and Torchwood, Russell T Davies says that there have been extra scripts commissioned from other writers -- a total of 16 scripts including 'over-commissions' are currently being worked on, allowing "flexibility … to shape the series" and leaving "material in place for the fourth run", if Series Four is commissioned. On the subject of which, Davies stresses that it's "just a personal hope, absolutely nothing has been decided yet within the BBC."

The Broadcasters Audience Research Board (BARB) today released the final ratings numbers for New Earth: 8.62 million viewers watched the episode in the UK, an increase of 0.63m on the initial overnight figures. BARB figures traditionally are slightly different than overnights, as they take into account research into timeshifted viewing (watching the episode later after recording it). With this, Doctor Who is third place for the week in all UK programs behind ITV1's "Coronation Street" and BBC1's "EastEnders", and places ninth for the week in the top ten airings (as 'Coronation Street' and 'EastEnders' are both shown multiple times, five and three respectively). These figures also leave 'New Earth', a million viewers up on 'Aliens of London' on the same Saturday in 2005, and 0.62m ahead of the series average for last year, making it the fifth most successful episode since Doctor Who's return, only slightly behind the 8.63m achieved by 'Dalek'.

Also, on the non-terrestrial (multi-channel) charts -- digital and satellite broadcasts -- Doctor Who Confidentialepisode one was seen by 761,000 viewers to place seventh overall for the week. The documentary was up by over 30,000 on the overnights and almost a quarter of a million more than was achieved by Confidential on the same Saturday in 2005. (Thanks to 'Shaun Lyon', Steve Tribe)

Ratings for the seventh episode of the first season of the new series, The Long Game, on US television on the Sci Fi Channel, are in. The numbers were slightly up from the previous week, averaging a 1.20 household rating with an average viewing audience of 1.4 million viewers, up one-tenth of a million from the previous week's low for "Dalek". Season-to-date, Sci Fi reports that Doctor Who is currently averaging a 1.35 household rating and an average audience of 1.6 million viewers for the season (noting also that the audience, according to their current mid-season demographics, is 64% male/36% female, with a median age of 47 years.)

A press release from the BBC Press Office announces that actorsBurn Gormanand Naoko Mori -- the latter of whom appeared in a role in last year's "Aliens of London" and here reprises the same role -- have been cast alongside John Barrowman and Eve Myles in the brand new BBC Three spinoff series Torchwood. "Burn Gorman has been cast to play Owen Harper, the raw but charming medic of the group. Burn's most recent acting credits include the hugely popular role of Guppy in the BBC ONE award-winning adaptation of Dickens' Bleak House, written by Andrew Davies. Lead writer and Executive producer, Russell T Davies says: 'Burn was just dazzling in last year's Bleak House, and attracted our attention immediately. We beat a path to his door. He's one of the UK's brightest new talents, and I can't believe how lucky we are to get him for Torchwood.' Naoko Mori will play Toshiko Sato – the member of the team who specialises in all things computer, surveillance and technical. She is best known for her role as Saffy's best friend Sarah (aka Titicaca), in the comedy series Absolutely Fabulous. Of Naoko, Russell T Davies says: 'We were lucky enough to work with Naoko in 2004, on the very first day's filming of the new Doctor Who, which introduced the character of Toshiko Sato in the episode Aliens of London. She was absolutely brilliant, and I knew then that I wanted to bring her back.' The British sci-fi crime thriller for adult audiences will follow the adventures of a team of renegade investigators, led by the enigmatic Captain Jack, played by John Barrowman. It will see the investigators use alien technology in a real world to solve crime; both alien and human. The 13-part drama series begins filming in Wales next month and will transmit on BBC THREE and BBC ONE." Also reported at the official Doctor Whowebsite.

Higher viewing figures frequently mean lower Audience Appreciation figures, and so it proves for Tooth and Claw. Saturday's episode has an AI of 83, a couple of points down on 'New Earth' and tied with last year's 'Father's Day' as the eighth-highest AI for the new series. It remains, of course, an excellent figure, since the overwhelming majority of television programmes score in the 60s or 70s.

Predictably, Sunday night's Coronation Street was watched by enough viewers (9.31m) to push 'Tooth and Claw' into ninth place in the week's top ten, making Doctor Who the week's third most watched television show, behind Coronation Street and EastEnders. Whether timeshift figures will be enough to push the episode any further up the chart remains to be seen...

Figures are also now available for BBC Three's Sunday repeat of the second episode, which was watched by an average of 542,200 viewers, a 3.3% audience share. The episode began with 191,000 viewers, doubled to 383,000 within ten minutes, and peaked at 781,000 at 7.55pm. This is an increase of 158,200 on the previous Sunday's repeat of 'New Earth', and is almost exactly the same as the figure for 'World War Three' (555,000) on the same Sunday last year. (Thanks to Steve Tribe and 'Shaun Lyon')

"He has been rusting in his kennel for too long," says today's Times. "Now K9 is taking centre-stage with his own £3 million animated series and a range of high-tech toys." In a rather unsurprising development to anyone who has followed the trail of rumors - first reported on Outpost Gallifrey, in fact, nearly two years ago - K9 will feature in a new animated spinoff series worked on by one of his creators, Bob Baker, and made by Jetix Europe. "Doctor Who's faithful robotic assistant, who will be reunited with his master on Saturday in a special guest appearance on the revived BBC show, will become a star in his own right -- equipped with a lethal blaster -- in a computergenerated series made in partnership with the Walt Disney Corporation. K9 Adventures will be a 26-episode comedy-fantasy series set in outer space. The new-look K9 is a galactic crime-fighter -- far removed from the underpowered pup given to Tom Baker in 1977. Bob Baker, co-creator of the robot dog, promises to give his pet 'a sleek new look using state of the art CGI animation mixed with live action'. The new series is being made by Jetix Europe, owner of 14 children's television channels, which are screened to 43 million households across Europe and the Middle East. Disney is the majority shareholder in Jetix, which hopes to distribute K9 Adventures through mobile phones as well as its UK television channel. The series may also be sold to terrestrial commercial broadcasters. Contractual obligations mean that the Doctor is unable to join K9 on his space mission -- Doctor Who is owned by BBC Worldwide -- but K9 Adventures is the property of Bob Baker, whose writing credits include the Oscar-winning Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit and Paul Tams, a veteran Doctor Who designer. Baker said: 'It's thrilling to be able to offer younger Doctor Who fans the chance to get to know K9. I believe they will love the 21st century K9 as much as past generations did when he appeared in Doctor Who.' K9 partnered the Doctor from 1977 until 1981, and Saturday's special episode features a reunion between dog, master and Sarah Jane Smith, Tom Baker's assistant, again played by Elisabeth Sladen. They investigate sinister events at a modern day school run by Anthony Head of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame. An animated K9 allows his creators to rectify some original design flaws. When the metal mutt was first presented to Tom Baker's Doctor his motorised noise drowned out the actors. His painfully slow movement meant that the dog, with his catchphrase 'insufficient data', was often more hindrance than help."

Broadcast Online reports additional information not covered elsewhere, that Jetix Europe is developing the 30-minute comedy-fantasy series alongside London-based distribution outfit Park Entertainment, and their report also features the first indication of an official reaction by the BBC. "'We've completely revamped K-9,' said Simon Barnes, head of films sales at Park. 'Instead of being a clunky old model, he's now going to be CGI.' According to Barnes, Baker brought the project to Park Entertainment long before the latest series of Dr Who returned to the BBC. 'We saw it had merit and wanted to invest in it,' he said. 'We never knew quite how well the new Dr Who would do.' ... The original K-9 is set to appear in the BBC's new series of Dr Who later this month. However, the BBC can't launch its own spin-off series based on the character without Baker's permission. 'Dr Who is very important to us and we feel we have to manage the brand very carefully on behalf of our audiences,' said Michael Carrington, head of animation and programme acquisitions at BBC Children's. 'As the BBC is already committed to a number of spin-off projects, we concluded that a K9 series may simply be an extension too far.' Park has high hopes for the series, though, and Barnes has already begun discussions with other international broadcasters. 'Anybody who is interested in Dr Who at the moment is probably going to be beating a path to our door," he said. "Canada is a natural home and the same with Australia. You go anywhere English speaking, apart from the US, and they all know who Dr Who is and who K9 is.' The company is also looking at developing electronic toys, games and comic strips based on the character."

Park Entertainment's involvement hearkens back to an October 2004 news report on the Outpost Gallifrey news page, which notes that, at the time, Park had teamed with Baker and issued a press release at the MIPCOM sales event in France that year. "Baker, who also wrote Aardman's Wallace & Gromit toon," said the news story at that time, "is working with Park's CEO Jim Howell to pitch the show to UK and international networks. The story follows 'a junk space ship led by a cynical old captain and a virtual reality female computer... After finding K9 in an abandoned spacecraft, and picking up an orphaned boy from a passing planet, they become a dysfunctional space-age family.' The proposed series would mix live-action and CGI, with K9 - who is 'cuddly in a robotic kind of way' - now able to morph into new shapes via a special dog collar. Howell and Baker, now in his late-60s, have attracted interest from networks in Canada and Australia. For the UK, Howell said that 'the BBC has some kind of first-refusal' on the spin-off show. 'We're aiming at the Dr Who market,' said Howell, regarding the show's target demo. 'Kids and adults love K9... If you can win both demographics with one show, you're really on to a winner.'"

Of course, there is no word as to whether or not how much of the original proposal noted here will be part of the final product. However, today, Jetix Europe also issued a press release that mentions Park's involvement, quoting Baker as saying, "I am absolutely delighted to be giving K9 a new lease of life and a new look for his own series," noting that kids today would love him as much as past generations. Howell is also still involved according to the Jetix press release, stating that "we feel that K-9 holds a very special place in the hearts of all Doctor Who fans and we are thrilled to be working with Bob, Paul and everyone at Jetix on the development and production of the series," giving the impression that the October 2004 story notes are likely the direction the series will take.

The image was featured in the Times, and according to Jetix is the final version used in the show. Also reported at BBC News and CBBC News and in the Belfast Telegraph, C21 Media, Euronext, the Daily Record, the The Independent. (Thanks to Steve Tribe, Kenny McGuinness, Paul Engelberg, Andrew Norris)

Tom Baker will no longer be the voice of BT's talking message service at the end of April, according to news reports. "The BT service which allows mobile phone users to have messages sent to landline telephones read out in the classic TV icon's voice will switch to two new voices," says the UK Press Association news feed. "The feature was introduced at the end of January allowing people to send their friends and family messages in the instantly recognisable actor's dulcet tones. But his voice is to be axed to allow the introduction of both male and female voices. The new voices will start being used from April 28 and will be rolled out nationally from May 1. Wendy McMillan, BT general manager, Consumer, said: 'Tom Baker has been a huge success and a great way to introduce a new audience to BT Text. 'As the technology develops we want to give people the option to have their texts delivered to landlines in a gender that is the same as their own or one they think will be more effective depending on the message they're sending. But if people haven't yet had their fill of Tom Baker they've still got more than a week to enjoy pretending to be The Doctor.' Research carried out by BT suggests male voices are appropriate for sending different messages to female voices. Seven out of ten people think male voices are better for telling jokes and were considered more powerful and better for disciplining children. Female voices were described as more comforting, truthful and persuasive than male voices." The story has also been reported today atYahoo News, The Guardian, The Sun, The Mirror, Manchester Evening News, The Scotsman.