Doctor Who Magazine issue 425 sees the return of the Seventh Doctor to the cover as Sylvester McCoy gives his most candid interview to date, lavishly illustrated with never-before-seen photos. McCoy talks at length about his long career, on being the Seventh Doctor – and what he thinks about Doctor Who today

Also this issue:

• A BRIEF HISTORY OF TIMEY-WIMEY
  Time travel – what are the rules? And can those rules be broken? In an in-depth feature, DWM examines the knotty problems of paradoxes and time loops, and explores the incredible phenomenon of timey-wimeyness throughout the history of Doctor Who.
• A NIGHT AT THE PROMS
  It’s the music event of the year! DWM dons its dinner jacket and journeys to the Royal Albert Hall to talk exclusively to the people responsible for the Doctor Who Prom, including composer Murray Gold, conductor Ben Foster and executive producer Steven Moffat. Packed with behind-the-scenes photos from the Prom.
• THE GOLDEN AGE OF TELEVISION
  The Doctor and Amy take a trip to Tokyo and discover that too much TV can be really, really bad for kids, in the first episode of a brand new comic strip adventure by Jonathan Morris and Martin Geraghty
• ART TREASURES OF HISTORY
  What have a Roman mosaic, a painting by Toulouse Lautrec and a long, floppy scarf got in common? They all feature in the brand new audio series starring Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor, Demon Quest! DWM catches up with the legendary fourth Doctor, co-stars Richard Franklin and Susan Jameson, writer Paul Magrs and many more in a report from the recording of the adventures.
• THE WORLD’S GREATEST PLAYWRIGHT
  William Shakespeare – the most talented dramatist in history or a letch with bad breath? Find out the truth (according to Doctor Who!) behind the man and his works, as The Fact of Fiction extracts every nuance of meaning from the literary triumph that is the 2007 Tenth Doctor adventure, The Shakespeare Code
• THE WRITER’S TALE
  Doctor Who’s head writer, Steven Moffat, reveals all about being shy, being recognised, and the Eleventh Doctor’s most recent adventure – defusing a bomb at the Proms! – in Production Notes.
• THE ANGEL OF THE NORTH!
  DWM catches up with Hex, the hunky nurse who accompanies the Seventh Doctor and Ace on their audio adventures, aka actor Philip Oliver, who reveals his experiences of attending conventions, being recognised in the street and what he really thinks about Doctor Who fans.

Plus! All the latest official news, Previews, Reviews, Competitions and much, much more, out in the UK on Thursday 19 August.

Cast Update 2nd August

Details are available for Relics of Time, the first episode of the new Tom Baker audio series Demon Quest.

The BBC Audiobook production comes in five parts and is a sequel to Hornet's News released last year. Tom Baker reprises the role of the Fourth Doctor and is joined once more by Richard Franklin and Susan Jameson, reprising their roles as Mike Yates and Mrs. Wibbsey respectively.

The series also features Nigel Anthony as the Wizard and Rupert Holliday Evans and Kate Sachs as the Warriors with with Samuel West, Lorelei King, Jan Francis, Finty Williams and Rowena Cooper.

The series is written by Paul Magrs and the first part is released in the UK on 2nd September and in the US on November 16.

It's a week today since Series 5 (or Series 1 or Series 31, depending on which counting system you subscribe to) ended in the UK, yet it seems only yesterday that we were all eagerly anticipating Matt Smith and Steven Moffat's first season of Doctor Who.

Viewers in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere still have the anticipation of what's to come (assuming you haven't seen the episodes over the Internet already and, assuming you haven't spoilered yourself with the deluge of articles appearing everywhere!).

And a lot's happened in the seven days since the end of The Big Bang in the UK, when we found out that the crack in time ... oops, spoilers!

But - be warned! - a hefty dose of salt may be needed before reading some of what follows ...

Matt joined Orbital on stage at Glastonbury for "Dr Who", their rendition of the show's theme tune. Meanwhile, he had to put up with a lot of nonsense from the British tabloid press concerning so-called "falling ratings" - which doesn't actually appear to stand up to much scrutiny - and William Hill slashing the odds on him remaining on the show.

Then, apparently, Moffat's script for the 2010 Christmas Special went missing and several of the writers for next year were announced (see Digital Spy).

On a positive note, as we reported on Wednesday, Barbara Kidd, who previously worked on Who episodes involving Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker and Peter Davison, is returning to the show for the 2011 series.

The monster line up for the Doctor Who Live tour details were confirmed and Neil Gaiman Tweeted that he'd completed his Who script.

And, then there are the "facts" that Matt wants both Eric Cantona and Ian McKellen to appear in the show as baddies! See this article for more details.

Last, but not least, is the revelation that Johnny Depp has "definitely" signed up to play the Doctor in a big-budget Hollywood movie, written by Russell T Davies and featuring the Daleks and the Ebola virus! The BBC subsequently clarified otherwise.

There are masses of stories relating to this rumour, but this one on Digital Journal at least takes a more sober and detailed look, including on the history of Doctor Who movies, proposed and actual.

Happy times and places!

Tom Baker is once more returning to the role of the fourth Doctor in a second series of audio plays, Demon Quest, for BBC Audiobooks.

Baker appeared in the series Hornet's Nest last year alongside Richard Franklin as Captain Mike Yates, this first time he had played the part of the Doctor for many years.

Demon Quest is written by Paul Magrs, who also wrote Hornet's Quest. No details are yet available about the supporting cast in the series, which will be released over five instalments.

• 1: Relics of Time - Released 2 September
• 2: Demon of Paris - Released 7 October
• 3: Shard of Ice - Released 4 November
• 4: Starfall - Released 2 December
• 5: Sepulchre - Released 2 December

The British Board of Film Classification has cleared a trailer for a forthcoming double DVD release of Revenge of the Cybermen and Silver Nemesis.

Revenge of the Cybermen is a fourth Doctor story first shown in 1975. As well as Tom Baker it stars Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith and Ian Marter as Harry Sullivan. Written by Gerry Davis, the co-creator of the Cybermen, and Robert Holmes, the story is set on Nerva Beacon and on Voga the fabled planet of gold. It was the first story for the Cybermen since they appeared in the 1968 second Doctor story The Invasion and their last until Earthshock in 1982. Other cast members include Ronald Leigh-Hunt, Christopher Robbie, Jeremy Wilkin, William Marlowe, Michael Wisher, Kevin Stoney and David Collings. This story was the first Doctor Who story to be released on VHS in October 1983 with a retail price of £39.99.

Silver Nemesis was a seventh Doctor story, first shown in 1988. Alongside Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor, the story starred Sophie Aldred as Ace. Written by Kevin Clarke the story was part of the 25th year celebrations for the series. Other cast members included David Banks, Mark Hardy, Anton Diffring, Courtney Pine, Fiona Walker and a special appearance from film star Dolores Gray. In 1993 an extended version of this three-part serial was released on VHS. It is understood that this special edition will not be included on the DVD release, nor, due to rights issues, will the accompanying VHS documentary.

There is no date announced for this release, but the classification of the trailer indicates the stories are likely to be available in July.

The Telegraph is to give away a series of Doctor Who Audio adventures starting next weekend with an early release of Matt Smith reading a brand new adventure for the Eleventh Doctor, The Runaway Train. It is understood this will be in the paper on Saturday 24th April.

The news comes from Doctor Who author Peter Anghelides, whose own story, Pest Control, featuring the Tenth Doctor and read by David Tennant, will be the second story released on the 25th and 26th April.

The promotion is part of a deal with BBC Audiobooks. Commissioning Editor Michael Stevens says
Other stories included are: Slipback, the Colin Baker story originally heard on BBC Radio 4 in 1985; Genesis of the Daleks and Exploration Earth featuring Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen; and finally Mission to the Unknown, the soundtrack of the 1965 story, which was the one Doctor Who television episode not to feature the Doctor or any of his companions.

The online retailer Play.com is giving its customers as chance to meet the Fourth Doctor, Tom Baker plus an overnight stay in London and £100 pounds towards travel. The competition is only open to those aged 18 or over and residing in the UK.

The meeting with Baker will take place just before he records the DVD commentary for the season 13 story The Seeds of Doom, which will be released in the UK in 2011.

Answering questions on his official website, Fourth Doctor Tom Baker has said that he has agreed to record a Big Finish Audio production.

Baker was answering a question asking what story he would do if he was given carte blanche to create any story he wanted. He replied that he has been in talks with Big Finish and that they have accepted some of his ideas. Baker recorded Hornets' Nest for BBC Audio last year, but has never worked for Big Finish before. Any project is likely to be in early stages of production and has not been confirmed by Big Finish. (But see update below.)

Tom Baker is answering about 20 questions per month via his website. Questions need to be submitted via the forum on the website.  Please read the guidelines before posting.

UPDATE, 18 March:
Big Finish has posted a confirmation, of sorts, on their website:

So, to summarize: as the Nucleus of the Swarm once said, contact has been made; however, nothing solid is yet in the works.

2 entertain have revealed, via their twitter page, that the second story to be included in the DVD Revisitations Box Set will be the 1977 Tom Baker story The Talons of Weng Chiang.

The story, which is one of the most highly-regarded of the Fourth Doctor's era, was originally released on DVD in April 2003. The updated version will contain new behind the scenes features. The other story so far confirmed for the set is The TV Movie, staring Paul McGann. The set will be released in the UK later this year.

Tom Baker, well-known to all Doctor Who fans and many thousands of people worldwide as the Fourth Doctor, has launched an official website. The site is the first official one for Baker, despite the claims of other sites in the past. Among the features present are a list of performances dating back to 1966, photo galleries with rare pictures, videos, and a newsletter.

(Thanks to John Bowman).
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