Big Finish has released details about the forthcomingCyberman audio series, written and directed by Nicholas Briggs and script-edited by John Ainsworth. "The human race is about to become extinct," says the site. "Mankind is fighting a long and costly war with its android creations in the Orion System. The deadlock must be broken at all costs. The president of Earth must think the unthinkable... 'There is nothing to fear'." The cover for part one, Scorpius due in September, is at right; parts two through four are Fear, Conversion and Telos and will be released in October through December. Click on the thumbnail for a larger version.

Meanwhile, Tom Baker has been announced as making a rare UK signing appearance on October 20 to co-launch the regular edition of the biography. Baker will be joined by Courtney and actorFrazer Hines (Jamie) and other guests. Further details will be announced soon at the Scificollector website. (Thanks to Steven Scott)

The new series will return to BBC television in October, as the digital channel UK Gold acquires rights to rebroadcast the first season. UK Gold will screen "Rose," "The End of the World" and "The Unquiet Dead" starting at 7pm on Sunday, 23 October; each subsequent day will feature two more episodes, with the final two on 28 October. Weekend repeats of each episode will begin immediately thereafter, broadcasting on Saturdays at 6pm and Sundays at 9pm. Meanwhile, UK Gold is now running an advert for the return, entitled "The Good, the Gay and the Ugly" (the middle section referring to the series 'Little Britain'); says our correspondent, "this is trailing the reruns of the 9th Doctor series on UK Gold (the Moxx of Balhoon is used to represent 'the Ugly'). No transmission times or dates are given in the advert, though." (Thanks to Paul Engelberg, Mark Francome)

Stuntman and stunt arranger Alf Joint died on July 25. He worked on two Doctor Who stories, "The Ambassadors of Death" and "Battlefield," the latter where he was a stunt arranger.

The official site is promoting the Blue Peter screening of parts of the Blue Peter Prom, including the Who theme and the Daleks. It will air on Wednesday, 31 August.

The BBC's CBeebies digital channel is re-running the 'Bedtime Hour' stories read by Christopher Eccleston this at about 6.30pm from Monday 29 August to Friday 2 September, according to theirwebsite.

The Blue Peter site's regular poll on viewers' favourite bits of the show currently stands as follows: What has been your favourite item on the show recently? VJ day special (26 votes) (12%), Doctor Who competition and David Tennant (116 votes) (52%), McFly (83 votes) (37%).

Doctor Who maintains its lead on the CBBC site in the favourite TV programme poll, which asks "What's your favourite TV programme?" Doctor Who has 16.43% of the vote, followed by 14.48% for The Simpsons, 12.40% for Charmed, 11.37% for Lost, 10.22% for Friends.

Finally... a curiosity. Many fans have noticed that, in this month's issue of Doctor Who Magazine, Russell T. Davies may have put a code in his Production Notes column. The information says, if you put together the first letter of every paragraph, it spells 'Tim is gay'. We have no idea what that refers to, if anything, though stranger things have happened...

(Thanks to Steve Tribe, Neil Marsh, Sam Watt)

BBC News reports that BBC One and BBC Three have taken both channel of the year prizes at the Edinburgh TV Festival. "BBC One was named terrestrial channel of the year, having had ratings success with shows such as Doctor Who and Strictly Come Dancing. BBC Three beat Sky One, BBC Four, Living TV and UKTV History to the title of non-terrestrial channel of the year." The report notes that BBC One's victory in the terrestrial category ended BBC Two's winning streak, the channel having taken the top prize for the past two years. BBC Three, which ran the Doctor Who Confidential series as well as repeats of Doctor Who, and, indeed, is doing so at the moment, was named non-terrestrial channel of the year, beating Sky One, BBC Four, Living TV and UKTV History. Russell T Davies's Casanova, which starred David Tennant in the title role, was one of the nominees in the programme of the year category, but the award went to Channel 4's Jamie's School Dinners. (Thanks to Steve Tribe, John Bowman, Paul Hayes)

Rumors that Anthony Stewart Head will play the Master in the second Doctor Who series now filming are false, despite Internet reports to the contrary.

The Blue Peter Prom, which features a new arrangement of the Doctor Who theme and a guest appearance by a Dalek, will be shown on Wednesday's edition of Blue Peter at 5.00 pm on BBC One.

BBC7 has debuted another new trailer for its series of Paul McGann Doctor Who audio stories. Running for 1 minute and forty seconds, the trailer again features new material recorded by Paul McGann giving a brief history of his TARDIS ("Time and Relative Dimensions in Space" in this version), and it was broadcast after the final part of "Storm Warning" at just before 7.00pm on Saturday and again at midnight.

Big Finish has discreetly added some material to the Cybermansection of its website, including a video trailer for the new miniseries, which plays with Windows Media Player.

Mad Norwegian Press have told Outpost Gallifrey that their booksAbout Time 1 by Lawrence Miles and Tat Wood and the new version of A History of the Universe by Lance Parkin should see publication before end of year; however, they are currently without specific release dates. "We certainly apologize for the delay and the continual uncertainty about the release date of these books," Pearson told us. "I can only assure our readers that the sort of ambitious reference guides we're trying to produce aren't easy, and most of our current projects have become more complicated than expected, which requires extra time to get everything right. A book like, say, 'About Time 1' lookedcomparativelyeasy compared to the other 'About Time' volumes, but it's running about 50,000 words longer than projected." The remaining volumes of the "About Time" series will receive definitive release dates as they are near completion. (Thanks to Lars Pearson)

According to a BBC News story, BBC Director General Mark Thompson has confirmed that the BBC's TV channels will eventually be made available on the internet. Thompson announced plans for the MyBBCPlayer - which will allow viewers to legally download seven days of programmes - at the Edinburgh Television Festival, and said he hoped the service would launch next year. "We won't deserve or get licence-fee funding beyond 2016... that is very definitely not our plan," said Thompson. Says the report, a simulcast of BBC One or BBC Two, letting UK viewers see programmes on the web at the same time as they go out on TV, is also planned as part of MyBBCPlayer. Said Thompson, "We believe that on-demand changes the terms of the debate, indeed that it will change what we mean by the word 'broadcasting'. Every creative leader in the BBC is wrestling with the question of what the new technologies and audience behaviours mean for them and their service." Audio and video archive material will be made available, as will other items such as BBC material for sale. The story metnions the leak of the first episode of the new Doctor Who series in March, and also notes that "a BBC spokesman said the corporation was aiming to simulcast a channel permanently but would restrict it to UK viewers only. These plans are subject to the approval of the board of governors and the resolution of rights clearance issues on content like music and imported shows." Also reported at Yahoo News. (Thanks to Thomas Jennings, Paul Engelberg)

The intergalactic bounty hunter Death's Head, who has encountered the Doctor on a number of occasions in the pages of Doctor Who Magazine and in his own comic, has won a Marvel comics readers poll and will be revamped in the pages of Amazing Fantasy, according to Marvel Comics. He will appear in issue 16, due in December. Death's Head was created by Simon Furman, Geoff Senior and Bryan Hitch, who later went on to help with the design of the new series of Doctor Who.