We are delighted to confirm that Bonnie Langford, and her husband Paul Grunert, are the proud parents of a baby girl, born on October 19. A spokeswoman for Bonnie said: "Bonnie and Paul are overjoyed. Both mother and baby are fine." The baby, weighing 7lb 11oz, was born at a London hospital. Our best wishes to the happy couple.

Daphne Dare, Doctor Who's most prolific costume designer died in London on September 27. She worked uninterrupted on every story from "The Daleks" to "The Smugglers" (though sometimes alongside another credited designer Tony Pearce on costume heavy stories such as "The Dalek Invasion of Earth.") She subsequently assisted Sandra Reid on stories from "The Moonbase" to "The Faceless Ones" and was a BBC staff costume designer for mant years. In recent times she had been associated with the films of Ken Loach making notable contributions to "Land and Freedom (1995)" and "Carla's Song (1996)" Working on the program at a time when the historical stories were prominent, Daphne Dare had to come up with suitable designs for Mongols from 12th century China, Aztecs of the middle ages and gunslingers from the wild west not to mention Monoids, Voord, Sensorites and other alien creations. Arguably her most notable work was on "The Celestial Toymaker" designing a range of colorful original costumes including Mandarins robes for Michael Gough and doll outfits for some of the other characters. (Thanks to Scott Sherritt)

Mary Ridge, known for directing many episodes of Blake's 7 and the Doctor Who episode "Terminus" died in late September. Mary worked for many years as one of the BBC's Staff Directors.

Nicola Bryant recently suffered a back injury while taping a segment of a series she was working on. While attending the recording session for the audio commentary of "The Caves of Androzani," Bryant was only able to stand, as she was unable to sit for the taping. Our good wishes to Nicola for a speedy recovery!

Colin Baker & Nicholas Courtney join India Fisher ("Charley" of Big Finish fame) and actor Leon Parris in James Follett's prequel to his classic 80's SF radio drama "Earthsearch." Entitled "Earthsearch: Mindwarp," this audio series was recorded by Big Finish Productions in early September and will be released in May 2001. The original Earthsearch series was the second most successful BBC radio serial ever (after The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy) winning many awards and being translated into over 30 different languages.

Paul McGann's forthcoming TV movie 'The Biographer' has become the focus of some controversy. The film tells the story behind the writing and publication of Andrew Morton's 1992 biography of the Princess of Wales, 'Diana: Her True Story'. McGann will play Morton, and will star alongside Oscar winning actress Faye Dunaway. The controversy has arisen because the producers are considering broadcasting the actual tapes that were secretly given to Morton by the Princess to assist his research. The $4.4m film will be screened later this year. (Thanks to the official website) 

Sylvester McCoy was recently the subject of a prank call by the Dead Ringers comedy team. A Tom Baker impersonator rang up Sylvester McCoy and a conversation ensued with an increasingly bemused Sylvester uttering lines such as 'Tom is that you?' and then as greater bemusement set in 'have you been down the pub?'. A version of this hilarious segment, as well as several other "fake Tom Baker" Dead Ringers prank calls and other sci-fi sketches, from the Tom Baker Deadringers Prank Call Archive athttp://www.eclipsecafe.com/tachyon/deadringers/. (Thanks to Roger Andersen and DavrosDW) Meanwhile, Sylvester is currently penning an autobiography, likely to be published in January. Meanwhile, Sylvester will be appearing in Moliere's 'Hypochondriac' at the Royal Lyceum theatre in Edinburgh during September. (Thanks to the official BBC website)