Telos Publishing has released details on the fourth and fifth books in their new Time Hunters spinoff series, which continued the characters and situations from their Doctor Who novella of last year, "The Cabinet of Light". Kitsune by John Paul Catton, due out September 23, "sees Honor? Lechasseur and Emily Blandish in the year 2020 where they find themselves thrown into a mystery as an ice spirit wreaks havoc during the Kyoto's Gion Festival, and a haunted funhouse proves to contain more than just paper lanterns and wax dummies." The Severed Man by George Mann ("The Human Abstract") is due out on December 2, in which "Honor? and Emily investigate the links between a clutch of sinister murders in Victorian London, an angel that appears in a Staffordshire village in the 1920s and a small boy running loose around the capital in 1950 and discover that nightmares can turn into reality." (Thanks to David Howe)

New obituaries for the late Anthony Ainley have finally been turning up, albeit a few weeks late, in the UK press. The UK Newsquest Regional Press, in their "This Is Local London" section on May 21, ran an obit and noted that he died at Northwick Park Hospital. The May 20 edition of "The Stage" ran an obit noting that Ainley was 71 years old (his actual age and birthdate have been the subject of speculation; Doctor Who Magazine's obit in the June issue will attempt to get to the bottom of this.) The Harrow Times and the Guardian have picked up the story as well. May 27th's Courier Mail also ran an article, "Forever The Master, arch-nemesis of Dr Who". (Thanks to Paul Engelberg, Andrew Harvey, Francis Moloney)

In early 2005 Virgin Books will publish WhoÆs Next: An Unofficial & Unauthorised Guide To All Of Broadcast Doctor Who, a "comprehensive, critical journey through every episode of Doctor Who broadcast by the BBC on television, radio, and the Internet" by Mark Clapham, Eddie Robson and Jim Smith. Says the press release: "WhoÆs Next will be the immediate, obvious way into the seriesÆ past for new fans introduced to Doctor Who by its imminent return to television as well as offering new perspectives and opinions on the show to those already intimately familiar with it." Says Robson, "This isnÆt a continuity guide or a production history. Not only are such books already available, but also the seriesÆ lengthy history necessarily makes them weighty tomes. We recognise that this can be daunting for the uninitiated viewer and so weÆre aiming to boil it down to the essentials. ItÆs a viewersÆ handbook, the entry point in the seriesÆ vast and rich history. For those who are already very familiar with the series, we offer a fresh perspective on much-dissected material." An email list has been set up for updates and information, and can be found atgroups.yahoo.com/group/whosnextbookinfo. (Thanks to Mark Clapham)

Some general Doctor Who press mentions (thanks to Steve Tribe):

May 17th's "This Is Lancashire" featured an article on Doctor Who fans and the recent Doctor Who Autograph Collectors' Club day in Darwen. The article quotes Terry Molloy and Mike Tucker, who waxes on his time doing effects on the show and how it compares to the new one: "Dr Who was a challenge. Producers wanted Star Wars-style effects but gave us a small budget."

BBC News online Entertainment section this morning includes a brief but positive review of the DVD release of The Green Death, which can be found by clicking here.

Today's Guardian Diary has brief (and mocking) mention of Tim Collins, who has given an interview to an unnamed magazine for a piece called 'My Sci-Fi', in which he cites the Doctor as his hero. The text is as follows: "Tory education spokesman Tim Collins shows a neat sense of timing in a magazine interview entitled My Sci-Fi. 'The Doctor, of course,' replies the Doctor Who fanatic, when asked to name his favourite sci-fi hero by SFX magazine. 'Mind you, not the pale pink pacifist some believe him to be. Rather the guy who fights evil and who mocks those who think you can strike a deal with it. The Donald Rumsfeld of the cosmos,' he concludes, 'not the Robin Cook.'" For registered readers, it can be foundhere.

The Guardian's Online section reports the following: "The science fiction genre has its own vocabulary, and a project is now underway to help gather citations for the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) for words that were first used in science fiction stories. A huge number of words are covered, from 3-di to zero-gravity. There are also guidelines to help you contribute your own citations, and a graph to show which decade has been responsible for the most new words." Clickhere. No direct Doctor Who connection, as you can see, but of interest for obvious reasons - with a bit of effort, Doctor Who entries could probably swamp everything else!!

Some recent New Series press clips, with thanks to Paul Engelberg, Steve Tribe, James Crout, Gary Pryke, Andrew Screen, Phillip Vaughan:

The May 21st edition of Broadcast magazine, the "Weekly newspaper of the Television and Radio Industry," ran an interview with new series executive producer Mal Young which mentioned Doctor Who several times. "Leslie Grantham's webcam antics may have terrified a nation and been a sore point for EastEnders bosses," said the article, "but award-winning BBC drama boss Mal Young seems more concerned about the Daleks." The article quotes him on the subject of whethere the Daleks are coming back: "Yeah, they are, and they're going to be scary. They might be a bit more sophisticated but they're still scary as f--- as far as I'm concerned." The story ended with the following: "Interview over, Young picks up what he says is 'the most valuable thing in this office'. It's Russell T. Davies' script for the first episode of the new Doctor Who." The Sun picked up on the story later in the week, quoting the "They're scary as f----" comment. There was also a two page spread on the return of the series in the April 8 edition of Broadcast.

'I can't wait to bring my Tardis back to Cardiff' was the title of an article on icWales on May 20, in which new Doctor Who Christopher Eccleston told of "his excitement at coming to work in South Wales." "I think it's a whole new life for me," Eccleston said, "a whole new element to my career and I'm looking forward to working in Cardiff because I worked there 12 years ago. I like the people and I like the place. I think it's good that it has not gone to London or Manchester, that somebody else has got this thing." Read more of the article at icWales.

Last week's Radio Times featured an interview with Jon Culshaw of Dead Ringers. "I'd really like to play Doctor Who," says the cover. Culshaw's comments about the new series are quoted in the interview, including "It will be interesting to see how Christopher Eccleston plays the part. He brings a lot of intensity to what he does." He also talks about his Tom Baker impersonations. "The Tom Baker character is indelible. My favourite is the Doctor phoning the Cosmos bingo hall, asking 'Where is the Cosmos?' and this Manchester housewife answers, 'Eccles, luv.' Eventually I'd like to evolve into straight acting, although I don't underestimate it like some shallow pop star. What I'd really like is to play Doctor Who in my late 40s."

May 8th's edition of The Australian (Australia's national daily newspaper) featured an article called "Who is Doctor Who?" by Mark Juddery. It starts by giving a history of Christohper Eccleston and his new role as the Doctor. It also features a history of the show and a lot of trivia information, and concludes with the statement, "More important, they hope the dust settles before the new series begins filming in the (northern) spring. Whoever plays the Doctor, he's always more fun with the Daleks."

Channel 4's Teletext music pages mentioned the other day that Slipknot drummer Joey Jordison had grown up watching Doctor Who - and he wanted his band to be given the chance to record the new theme. Obviously there will be many people wanting to do the same...

Orbital's forthcoming new album features a sample of Christopher Eccleston from "The Second Coming." The track, entitled You Lot, samples Eccleston's most Doctorish moment when he first addresses the worlds media and talks of how the human race is set to become gods after unravelling DNA and cultivating bacteria that can wipe out all life on Earth.

Finally, the UK gossip column Popbitch.com noted the following late last week: "'Dr Who filming at the IBM offices in Cosham right now Eccleston running around the quad as I type'." Now, we don't think they've started filming, and indeed there was speculation that Bill Baggs' team was filming something in the area. We'll let that rumor close out this edition of the press update...

Today's Media Guardian has a snippet about a possible story in the forthcoming series, maybe in the two-part "Aliens of London" or another story. Click on the spoiler tag below to read it. (Thanks to Paul Engelberg, Steve Tribe)

Galaxy 4 has sent Outpost Gallifrey the cover illustration for the forthcoming Dalekmania 2005 Doctor Who calendar, seen at right. We hope to bring you further details, such as the release date, very soon. Click on the thumbnail for a larger version. (Thanks to Galaxy 4)

According to the Industry Casting Newsletter PCR, the first director for the new series is Keith Boak, who's described as being "the helmer of the first block." His IMDb repetoire can be viewed here. (Thanks to John Dorney and "cazndave")

Courtesy Tenth Planet, here is the cover illustration and blurb for the forthcoming novel The Tomorrow Windowsby Jonathan Morris, due out very shortly from BBC Books. (This has to be the closest instance yet of a book cover coming out immediately before the novel is due; in fact, some retailers are reportedly already selling advance copies of the book.)

Tenth Planet has sent us the cover illustration for the forthcoming UK DVD release of The Leisure Hive, the Season 18 Tom Baker serial also starring Lalla Ward. Click on the thumbnail at right for a larger version. (While this is likely the final version, if it's not we'll bring you the cover as soon as we can!)