Fans have noticed a slight issue on the new DVD release of The Three Doctors that crept into the pressing of the DVD after the masters were delivered by the Doctor Who Restoration Team. Says Steve Roberts, it's "at the end of episode two, at the last chapter point in the episode. The sound continues across the chapter point OK, but the video jumps back three seconds and then continues to play out. The result is a shot gets repeated (a brief repeat of the grounds of the UNIT HQ minus the house, followed by the zoom into the soldier) and from that point on the picures are three seconds out of sync with the sound. I have checked the masters and they are fine, so I'm afraid that it's an error that has crept in downstream of us. ie it's not our fault!" Although a three second mismatch between audio and picture sounds a lot, there is no dialogue involved - the fault occurs just as the end title music is about to begin. According to Steve, the US/Canada release version, coming soon, doesn't have the problem; however, the Australia/New Zealand version has been for several weeks, demonstrating that it's not that noticeable if you're not aware of it. BBCi also comments on a different issue, that the DVD isn't as widely available as speculated: "It should be noted that only a few thousand copies of The Three Doctors come complete with a Corgi model Bessie car, making it a more limited edition than was previously thought." (Thanks to the Restoration Team and BBCi)

According to a news article that appeared today in the UK's "The Sun" paper, the Daleks may not appear in the new Doctor Who TV series because of an ongoing rights issue between the BBC and the estate of the late Dalek creator Terry Nation. While the BBC jointly owns rights to the Daleks with Nation's estate, the executors are apparently saying no to a deal. The Sun quotes an 'insider' as follows: "No one knows exactly why, but Terry fell out with the BBC at some point. He told the executors never to let the BBC use the Daleks again. Fans want to see the Daleks return, but they may be disappointed.ö A BBC spokesman confirmed to the Sun that there were on-going discussions between the BBC and the executors. The story has also been picked up word for word by Ananova. (Thanks to Nathan Baron, Steve Tribe)

Lots of discussions of the anniversary in the UK papers. The Times features a comprehensive article on Doctor Who with memories shared by various luminaries like Tom Baker, Paul Cornell, John Sessions, Mark Gatiss, and other journalists and broadcasters such as Alain de Botton and Joan Bakewell; it's accessible to subscribers (and may be visible to UK readers only without subscribing). The Friday Review section of the Guardian talks about the BBCi "Scream of the Shalka" webscast. BBC News is running their own Talking Point on memories and a poll for favorite Doctor (again), while BBC News also features several interviews and stories from the past few days including an interview with Elisabeth Sladen, a 40th anniversary feature and an article about fond memories of the show. (Thanks to Chuck Foster, Paul Hayes, Duncan Rose and Craig Hinton)

Big Finish has reprinted, in one volume, three novels called the "Star Quest" series originally written and published in 1978, 1979 and 1981 by Doctor Who's own longtime story editor & writer Terrance Dicks. "Three young cousins get caught up in galactic events when two battling UFOs land near Stonehenge," says Big Finish's website. "For Jan, Kevin and Anna it is only the beginning of their thrilling adventures. Helping the League of Sentient Lifeforms in their fight against the ruthless and evil Kaldor, the trio meet friendly aliens and savage beasts, travel across the galaxy and come face to face with golden robots and dinosaurs. In Spacejack, the young friends meet Tell, Osar and Garm agents for the League, an alliance of intelligent races from across the galaxy and come up against the Kaldor, who believe that only humans have the right to rule. Roboworld sees the cousins crashland on an asteroid infested with an army of killer robots. And in Terrorsaur!, Jan, Kevin and Anna must search for their new friends who have gone missing whilst on patrol." The book features a new cover by Jim Mortimore and Tim Keable and is now on sale.

Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy will be appearing on GMTV on Friday morning at 8:20am, discussing the show's anniversary and this weekend's UK GoldDoctor Who @40 Weekend. Meanwhile, according to Benjamin Elliott's "This Week in Doctor Who" column today, advance TV listings for December reveal that UK Gold will be ending its weeknight run of Doctor Who stories with the broadcast on Tuesday 2 December (with the second half of "Logopolis"). UK Gold's weekday run began earlier this year and will have consisted of the entire Tom Baker run of stories bar Genesis Of The Daleks and Destiny Of The Daleks. Doctor Who will continue to air on Saturday and Sunday mornings in movie format. (Thanks to Mat Watson at UKTV, Benjamin F. Elliott)

The November 18 issue of the UK's "The Sun" featured another 'potential': the star of "The Royle Family," Ricky Tomlinson. Says the article: "Dalek's My a**e! Royle family slob Ricky Tomlinson wants to be the new Dr Who. He reckons the Timelord should be a scouser and says: 'I'd be perfect! There are always funny moments and a scouse accent would work well. It instantly makes things funnier'. Ricky, 64 - famed for Royle Family catchphrase 'My a**e!' - added: 'I've always fancied myself as a bit of an action hero and i'd love to do some Dalek bashing'." Rivals for the job include Eddie Izzard, Alan Davies and Rowan Atkinson." As usual, take with adequate grains of salt. (Thanks to Scott Hughes, Phillip Madeley)

The edition of the BBC Radio Wales program mousemat that focuses on Doctor Who and its websites, originally scheduled for November 19, has been rescheduled to this Sunday, November 23 (the anniversary date itself!) The show airs at 5:30pm, with a repeat on Wednesday November 26 at 6:00pm. For further details on the program visit the Mousemat site. (Thanks to Alan Daulby)

Doctor Who has made the cover of Design Weekly magazine, which features an article inside on Cosgrove Hall, the producers of the animated webcast of the Doctor Who story "The Scream of the Shalka", interviewing producer-director Steve Maher about the use of Flash animation techniques. "Flash has a reputation for being simplistic because it is used a lot for designing websites," says Maher. "But if you know what you're doing it's an extremely useful tool for animation. Because a lot of animators now use all the options at their disposal, you have to make sure it's not too obvious when you are using CGI. It has to look seamless. In the end, CGI is a tool, like Flash." You can read the full article by picking up the new issue. (Thanks to Andie Frankham, Richard Beeby)

In a new interview in the Radio Times with Tom Baker, the Fourth Doctor comments about how different the new series should be. "They do have to move on and make it funny and wry. Will there be sexual chemistry between the Doctor and the companion? Will they make the Doctor gay? black? or a woman?" Baker says he wouldn't play the role of the Doctor again... "but if they did bring back the TARDIS they could have me in a glass cage, just moving my eyes... [the new Doctor] could turn to it and say 'What would you do I wonder?' Perhaps I could go back as the Master". Meanwhile, a new interview in today's issue of "The Scotsman" with Baker asks about him hosting an "imaginary dinner party". Says Baker: "IÆd like to go back in time and invite Anthony Hopkins and his then wife Jennie, because he and I were great friends when we worked together at the National Theatre in the 1960s. They only divorced in the last couple of years and heÆs now remarried. They were very kind to me... He was very strange and had a marvellous imagination which made him compelling. ItÆs a quality stars have. I havenÆt seen him since 1972. Maybe heÆs changed a bit.ö What kind of food would he serve? Italian, with 13 1/2 percent red wine. "None of this 12 per cent stuff. ItÆs amazing the difference in impact between 12 and 13 and a half per cent. It sounds so little. It was lovely to get squiffy with Hopkins.ö It goes on from there. Visit the website to read the interview. (Thanks to Steve Tribe and Planet Who)