Musician Murray Gold will be composing the incidental music for the new series, according to sources. Gold is also currently working on the score for new series producer Russell T Davies' other current project, "Casanova," and is responsible for such television scores as "The Canterbury Tales" (which starred Billie Piper), "Shameless" and "Servants," and Davies' other television projects, "The Second Coming" and both series of "Queer as Folk". (Thanks to Stephen Sherry)

Reports in today's Mirror that Zoe Wanamaker -- the esteemed character actress best known for her roles in the sitcom "My Family," as broom instructor Madame Hooch in "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," and as Clarice Groan in the BBC adaptation of "Gormenghast" -- has been cast in the new Doctor Who series. Read the spoiler-tagged section as the report in the Mirror also includes spoilers about the episode she's in...

The BBC Shop website has released details of the extras in the forthcoming UK DVD release of The Mind Robber. Included is a commentary (as we previously reported) with actors Wendy Padbury, Frazer Hines and Hamish Wilson (the "alternate" Jamie) as well as director David Maloney; "The Fact of Fiction," a 34-minute featurette featuring the actors and production team recalling working on the story; "Highlander," a 22 minute interview with Frazer Hines looking back on his career in Doctor Who and beyond; plus production notes, photo gallery and an easter egg. "The Mind Robber" is due out in the UK in March from BBC Video.

Outpost Gallifrey has received the cover illustration for Horror of Fang Rock, the January 2005 UK DVD release starring Tom Baker. Click on the thumbnail at right for a larger version. (Thanks to Tenth Planet.)

Those readers who were hoping that there'd be a preview showing of the new Doctor Who series at Christmas time (as had been rumored in online circles, though not here at OG) take note: the BBC's holiday season television schedules are now out and there's no mention of the show at all. This lends further credence to the spring airing, which we will believe is a mid-March debut. (Thanks to "Distant Dave")

The SFX site, the website of the science fiction magazine from Future Publishing, has a small handful of new photos from some recent filming done in Cardiff. "The Doctor Who production team are out and about filming on the streets of Cardiff again," says the report. "Our spies contacted us today to tell us that they had blocked off a street in Bute, near Cardiff Bay train station. We don't know which episode they're shooting, but because of the presence of soldiers in red caps, our guess is that they're filming pick-up shots for the two-parter 'Aliens Of London.'" You can see the photos on their site.

The latest issue of Dreamwatch magazine, #124, contains a couple of spoilers including two possible episode names; click on the spoiler tag below for more details. Dreamwatch 124 also features an interview with Insect Design about the development of the new Doctor Who logo... and, revealingly, how it reflects the interior design of the new TARDIS. Insect Design also confirms that the logo will be animated for the opening sequence. The issue is on the newsstands on November 25.

Today's edition of The Newcastle Chronicle & Journal interviews Mark Gatiss, new series writer and author of the new novel "The Vesuvius Club." In the article he discusses his new book, the movie version of his series "The League of Gentlemen," and his ambition to star as the Doctor... "although he says Christopher Eccleston, the latest doctor, brings a new dimension to the role." "I've spoken to Chris and we're going to have a kind of Brown/Blair thing," Gatiss tells the Journal. "He's going to retire gracefully after a few years and give it to me. No, I wish that were true. But if I waited as long as Gordon Brown has, it'll never happen!" (Thanks to Paul Engelberg)

An interview with Russell T Davies in today's Times discusses Davies' new series "Mine all Mine" as well as the new Doctor Who series. "A lot of the time the actual writing process is as miserable as f***," Davies tells the Times. "Absolutely, this thing will follow me for the rest of my life. But the marvellous thing about writing Dr Who is that I know when I die there are magazines that will report my death." As the article states, for the series to "look nostalgic or self-referential, he decided, would be fatal," and notes that the new Doctor, Christopher eccleston, "will not, he discloses (and probably shouldnÆt) be regenerated from his predecessor Paul McCann [sic] ... That would puzzle the children and hold back the story's momentum." "I keep telling everyone it's early Saturday," Davies confides. "We're going to be up against Ant and Dec. You can't be boring. You can't sit still with it. It's got to be emotional and it's got to be fun at the same time..." He believes the series will be "telling good stories" and that it's "very funny in places. In episode two they go to space for the first time and meet loads of aliens and it's so funny. There is a plot underneath it all and their lives end up in danger, but, my God, it's funny." Davies waxes on his favorite Doctor (Tom Baker) and discounts media rumors that there's anything between the new series' co-stars. There's also a spoiler in the mix regarding the Dalek episode, which is shrouded in the spoiler tag below. (Thanks to Steve Tribe, Paul Hayes)