The newest issue of DWM features the complete 2004 schedule of releases from BBC Books, which includes the following releases. Details on several of the books ("Sometime Never," "Scream of the Shalka," "Empire of Death" and "Eleventh Tiger") have already been released, including blurbs and some covers; visit our release guide for those details. The new information on the books is as follows (with several updates to the original story noted in red):

• Sometime Never by Justin Richards (January)
• The Scream of the Shalka by Paul Cornell (February)
• Empire of Death by David Bishop (March) - Fifth Doctor and Nyssa tale set in Victorian England; the Doctor becomes Queen Victoria's advisor and investigates mysteries from beyond the grave
• Halflife by Mark Michalowski (April) - A standalone Eighth Doctor adventure with no ongoing arc threads. It's set on an Earth colony in the future, where th Doctor takes up smoking and drinking and generally behaves very oddly (The novel is called "Halflife" not "Half Life" according to author Michalowski)
• The Eleventh Tiger by David McIntee (May) - First Doctor pseudo-historical set in nineteenth century China with Ian, Barbara and Vicki
• The Tomorrow Windows by Jonathan Morris (June) - A Hitch-Hiker-eque romp in the company of the Eighth Doctor Fitz, and Trix... and then there's a guest appearance from the current Mayor of London Ken Livingstone
• Synthespians by Craig Hinton (July) - Sixth Doctor and Peri story set on a space station in the far future; kind of "Dynasty" meets "Spearhead from Space" and also allows the Sixth Doctor to behave at his most theatrical
• The Sleep of Reason by Martin Day (August) - An Eighth Doctor adventure, also featuring Fitz and Trix, set in a mental asylum in present day Britain, a dark tale of evil and insanity... DWM reported this novel as being titled "Dreams Never End"; author Martin Day contacted OG to inform us that "The Sleep of Reason" is indeed the correct title and that "Dreams Never End" was a working title when the article was written
• The Algebra of Ice by Lloyd Rose (September) - Seventh Doctor and Ace story set on Earth
• The Deadstone Memorial by Trevor Baxendale (October) - A dark ghost tale set on contemporary Earth with the Eighth Doctor (the DWM report said "Dreadstone Memorial"; author Trevor Baxendale emailed OG to let us know of the proper spelling)
• The Indestructible Man by Simon Messingham (November) - Second Doctor, Jamie and Zoe novel; fans of Gerry Anderson's Supermarionation series may recognise echoes of his work in here

Meanwhile, range consultant/editor Justin Richards discusses the rumors that the novel series might come to an end. "There's no notion of stopping and never has been, whatever the rumours," says Richards. "The cutback to one a month was partly forced on us by our American distributor going bust, which meant we had a warehouse full of books and there wasn't physical space to store anymore. So that was a pragmatic decision which came at a time when we needed people who normally worked on the novels to work on The Legend and The Dalek Survival Guide. Now we're waiting to see what happens with the new series. We're commissioned up to Febuary 2005 and we'll hang fire a bit now and see what develops. I know that people doing the series are keen to tie in with the books. My feeling is that we won't do novelisations - simply because people don't these days. That's not to say we wouldn't do an annotated script book of instance or original novels which use whoever the new TV Doctor might turn out to be." Meanwhile, Chris Boucher's novelMatch of the Day featuring the Fourth Doctor and Leela, confirmed some time ago, was pushed back to February 2005. (Thanks to DWM, Trevor Baxendale, Martin Day, Mark Michalowski, David McIntee, John Laurent, Dave Master)

The Christmas/New Year double issue of Radio Times has hit shops in England, and the forthcoming December 30 documentary The Story of Doctor Who gets several plugs in. On Page 17, the documentary is included in a rundown of the best TV and radio of the fortnight. This is illustrated with a large picture of a Dalek family Christmas - three Daleks + a baby Dalek, wearing party hats, eating mashed potato (a reference to 1970s advertising hit 'Smash', which featured a family of robots...) and one of the Daleks carving the turkey! There's also a copy of the Radio Times from November 1999 on the table (Dalek cover) and a photo of Jon Pertwee with the message "A Very Happy Christmas From The Doctor". In that same preview on page 17, there are some comments from Verity Lambert, including 'I don't know that the Daleks are as scary as people make them out to be. I think kids really rather enjoyed them. They like to be scared. I certainly don't think we did anything to traumatise them more than anything else really.' It's not clear whether these are quoted from the documentary or whether Radio Times has interviewed her. She crops up again on page 168 as a 'TV Insider', promoting 'The Story of...', saying that she has high hopes for RTD as 'a very good writer' and that 'Back then, it was just trying to keep the programme on air and making it as entertaining and clever as possible.' There's also a publicity shot of William Hartnell. Also on page 168, 'The Story of...' is one of Today's Choices for Tuesday 30 December, under the heading ''Nostalgia', which notes what a good year it's been for Doctor Who fans, describes the documentary as 'terrific', with 'Marvellous, sometimes hilarious clips... from the creepy (Zygons) to the shambolic (Myrka).' The write-up concludes 'This is tremendous fun, and a reminder of what Saturday teatimes have been missing for years. It's a shame we can't all hop in the TARDIS and leap ahead to see how the new series turns out.' Finally in the Radio Times, there's the listing itself on page 170, illustrated with a couple of Daleks. (Thanks to Steve Tribe)

According to the new issue of Doctor Who Magazine, BBC Books range consultant/editor Justin Richards says that a DVD release of the BBCi webcast The Scream of the Shalka was planned for February 2004, but does not know what is happening to it now. Either way, Restoration Team member Steve Roberts says that a release of "Shalka" on DVD would be "in addition to the normal DVD schedule, not replacing any of it." Roberts also makes note of the DVD release order ofPyramids of Mars and The Visitation; originally "Pyramids" would have been released first, but "we couldn't get the commentary team together until later in the year and I was ahead on 'Visitation', so it was just easiest to swap." (Thanks to Malcolm James, Steve Roberts)

Russell T. Davies, in the newest issue of Doctor Who Magazine, comments on the new series that "at the moment, we're planning thirteen episodes, 45 minutes long. The 13 would be a mixture of one-off episodes, and two-parters, complete with cliffhangers." However, he does emphasize that all of this is subject to change. "I can certainly tell you that the BBC talks about this show as a potential long-runner," Davies says. "We aren't looking at a special one-off series for nostalgists only - we all want this show to succeed, to gather viewers, to exhilarate and stimulate and create new memories, and return every year. ... I did an interview with DWM a few years ago, where we speculated how Doctor Who could return. In that, I said that budgetary restrictions would make the show Earth-bound. Well now we're here, and it's real, and I'm looking at the budget and thinking to hell with it. Let's voyage. In time and space. As a programme, it's always going to use present-day Earth as a touchstone.... but it would be a shame to ignore the endless vistas offered by a fully-functioning TARDIS. The Doctor and his friend Rose will be able to travel anywhere, any time, every Saturday night." (Thanks to "Bobbyfischface" on the OG Forum)

Outpost Gallifrey has received better copies of the covers -- and the working back cover blurbs -- for the forthcoming BBC Books releases The Scream of the Shalka (February) and The Eleventh Tiger (May), as follows (click on the thumbnail of each cover for a larger version):

Gordon Reid, who played Phillips in episode 1 of "Invasion of the Dinosaurs," died on stage in London on November 27. (Thanks to Ben Jolly)

Caroline John has a small role in the Universal/Studio Canal film "Love Actually" starring Hugh Grant, Rowan Atkinson and Bill Nighy; she plays the role of "Sam's grandmother".