BBCi's webcast animated serial The Scream of the Shalka, starring Richard E. Grant, Sophie Okonedo and Derek Jacobi, concluded last week, with episode six uploaded to the BBCi website. The serial will be available on BBCi for at least the next couple of months, pending a release on DVD. According to James Goss, BBCi producer, posting on the Outpost Gallifrey forum, BBC Worldwide has indeed licensed the rights to release "Shalka" on DVD from BBCi: "We're rather puzzled by the number of people who are querying the DVD release. We've not said much about it, 'cos we didn't think much needed to be said." Of course, Goss does point out that whether Worldwide does something or not with the material is up to them, but it looks very likely for DVD release. Meanwhile, "Scream of the Shalka" will be broadcast on the BBC's new interactive TV service starting on December 30 beginning at 7:30pm; viewers on the Sky Digital platform "will only have to press their red button" to watch the story. The schedule for the show is as follows:

• Episode One: 30 December, 7.30pm - Midnight
• Episode Two: 31 December, 7.30pm - Midnight
• Episode Three: 1 January, 7.30pm - Midnight
• Episode Four: 2 January, 7.30pm - Midnight
• Episode Five: 3 January, 7.30pm - Midnight
• Episode Six: 4 January, 7.30pm - Midnight

Says Goss, "This will be an enhanced version of the webcast... All the animation is 25 frames per second, with various lovely features that are slightly tricky to explain (um, for instance, when the house explodes in episode two, there's a lovely rippling 'whoomph' effect). Soundwise, this is also going to be a stronger experience than on the web - one thing that will have been largely lost through the compression used for the webcast are the various subsonic sounds used whenever the Shalka approach in the early episodes - a lovely, chest-rattling vibration." As of this time, this presentation will NOT be available on Freeview or Digital Cable. Make sure you check it out! (Thanks to BBCi, James Goss)

Release of Daemos Rising, the sequel film to the DW story "The Daemons" from Reeltime Pictures, has been delayed to February 2004.

Telos Publishing has announced some of its 2004 offerings. The final two books in their Doctor Who novellas range, already previously announced, include Blood and Hope by Iain McLaughlin (February) and The Dalek Factor by Simon Clark (March). Also in release will be two books in their "Time Hunter" series, spun-off from the Doctor Who novella "Cabinet of Light": The Tunnel at the End of the Light by Stefan Petrucha (March) and The Clockwork Womanby Claire Bott (June). Meanwhile, their latest Doctor Who novella, Companion Piece by Mike Tucker, as well as the paperback versions of their books Ghost Ship by Keith Topping and Foreign Devils by Andrew Cartmel, are now in release. More details can be found on Telos' website. (Thanks to Telos Publishing)

The Daleks will feature in a BBC comedy series called Revolver in January, a show that features actors in surreal situations. Actors taking part include Rodney Bewes ("Resurrection of the Daleks"), Honor Blackman ("Terror of the Vervoids") and actress Julie Goodyear, who plays a nosey neighbour who watches over the garden fence as Daleks attack the children next door. You can read more about it at an article today on BBC News by clicking here. (Thanks to Mark Murphy, Mark Oliver)

Friday's Daily Express (UK) features an interview with Anthony Stewart Head, who makes note of the recent attention pegging him as a possible new Doctor. "I suppose I might be consider because of my sci-fi status," Head says. "If I did get the part I'd like to take him back to the kind of character that was played by Patrick Troughton. He was the best. He had whimsy but he had a dark side, too, and I think that the subsequent Dr Who's, there was too much emphasis on whimsy." The article makes note that he was picked the favorite successor by Radio Times. (Thanks to Mike Pitt)

Big Finish has released the cover illustration and details for January's The Creed of the Kromon, the second in the new "season" of Paul McGann Eighth Doctor adventures; the blurb is below (click on the thumbnail for a larger version of the cover). Meanwhile, Big Finish revealed to DWM that its third series of Dalek Empire audios, six parts in total, will debut in May; also debuting at the same time will be a large-format script book for all eight plays of the first two seasons. "As well as the scripts themselves, there will be lots of extra bits and bobs, including cut scenes and alternative storylines," says writer Nicholas Briggs. 'I'm also going to do an ongoing commentary for each episode, although it'll be done in a Q&A interview format. Hopefully that'll get to the nub of what people actually want to know, and cut down on the waffle!" Concerning the stories themselves: "I've had the basic storyline mapped out for a while now, but in writing it I found it's taken on a life of its own. Some of the old characters will be returning, but there'll also be plenty of new ones. ... [The Daleks] are even nastier. They've become even more desperate - and even more cunning..." Finally, a newtrailer has been issued for the February audio release, The Natural History of Fear.

In another development, Big Finish's Bernice Summerfield series (featuring the further adventures of the former Doctor Who book companion) continues in both books and audios throughout 2004 and 2005, with four CDs and four hardback books due in 2004: April sees the release of a novel, followed in July by a collection of three novellas in one volume; another anthology edited by Paul Cornell follows in September, and a book similar in format to Big Finish's recent "Inside Story" written by Ian Farrington due in November, which will begin with Benny's first appearance in Love and War, and cover all her other appearances in books and audios. Meanwhile, Gary Russell told Outpost Gallifrey that the appearance of two new items on Amazon is incorrect: "I have emailed Amazon to point out that no such titles exist and have asked them to remove them . I'm not sure what would happen if you tried ordering them from Amazon. Who knows what one might get!! No one at Big Finish has supplied Amazon with these titles and whilst it's always nice to see our stuff offered by Amazon, in this case, I'm afraid neither The Swan Princess nor The Giant Robots are actually Big Finish/Bernice Summerfield titles." Finally, Big Finish posted the cover and blurb for The Axis of Evil, the latest CD offering, due out in January. (Thanks to Simon Catlow, Gary Russell, Big Finish)

Outpost Gallifrey has received the working cover blurb for the forthcoming April 2003 BBC Books novel Halflife by Mark Michalowski, as follows. Please note that this may change before it goes to print.

Composer Malcolm Clarke passed away yesterday, December 11. Says Mark Ayres, himself a Doctor Who composer and current member of the Restoration Team: "Malcolm was undoubtedly one of the most colourful characters ever to work at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, joining in 1969. Fuelled by his keen interest in the visual arts, his music - always anarchic, never boring - holds a special place in my affections." Clarke composed the incidental music for seven Doctor Who stories, including the very haunting and memorable score for "The Sea Devils," the ghastly cybernetic tones of "Earthshock" and the high-seas-adventure movements of "Enlightenment," as well as "Resurrection of the Daleks," "The Twin Dilemma," "Attack of the Cybermen" and "Trial of a Time Lord: Terror of the Vervoids." "His work for ... 'The Sea Devils,'" says Ayres, "is a benchmark in 'doing it your own way and hang the consequences' and made a deep impression on at least one young would-be composer. His award-winning 'August 4th 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains' (1976) is a beat-perfect lesson in pure radio." Clarke was one of the last to leave the BBC Radiophonic Workshop when it was dismantled in the mid 1990's and had been studying for a PhD in music ("at last he would be qualified to do what he had spent his life successfully doing," Ayres joked). Selections from his work were made available on a variety of CDs from Silva Screen and the BBC Radio Collection. (Thanks to Mark Ayres)

Yesterday (see below) Outpost Gallifrey revealed the final cover design for The Visitation UK DVD release courtesy Tenth Planet... which, as was discussed on our forums, features a reverse image of Peter Davison (with a backwards question mark on his lapel!) We were then informed that the cover art being used by BBC Worldwide differed from the original submitted by artist Clayton Hickman, so we contacted Hickman for information. "The final version of The Visitation DVD cover has been significantly altered from the artwork I submitted," Hickman told Outpost Gallifrey. "This is completely within BBC Worldwide's rights, and once I submit a cover I have no further say over the way it's presented. Sometimes deadlines are such that there is no time to consult the original artist about changes, so the BBC's in-house team make those which are deemed necessary by the high-ups (or whoever decides these things). It's a shame in this case that there's an error on their revised version (Peter's back-to-front question mark collar), so I did just want to point out that it wasn't me who made it! I had no idea that the cover had been changed until I saw it on OG this morning. Ah well. That's the cut-and-thrust world of Doctor Who covers for you. You can make up your own minds which you prefer..." At right is the artwork the way it wasoriginally submitted; click it for a larger version. (Thanks to Clayton Hickman)

While Big Finish hasn't released any info about its plans for more Bernice Summerfield novels, two releases have suddenly materialized on the amazon.co.uk sales pages. The two books are identified as Professor Bernice Summerfield and the Swan Prince and Professor Bernice Summerfield and the Giant Robots, both due in 2004, with no authors identified. The series of novels, featuring the further adventures of the character originally created as a companion to the Seventh Doctor in the Virgin New Adventures novel series, was discontinued last year; Big Finish's audio series featuring the character is still in progress. (Thanks to John A.K. Gunther)