A shooting script from Doctor Who series four is being offered for auction to raise money for the National Literacy Trust.

The signed script was used by actor Steve Pemberton who played Strackman Lux in the two-part 2008 story Silence in the Library / Forest of the Dead.

The script is dated 11 January 2008 and signed by Pemberton.

The National Literacy Trust works to improve the reading, writing, speaking and listening skills in the UK's most disadvantaged communities, where up to 40 per cent of people have literacy problems.

Bids can be made at the NLT auction website.

Silva Screen have announced the track listing and release date for Edmund Butt's score from the 50th Anniversary drama An Adventure in Space and Time.

Fifth Doctor Peter Davison will be making a number of special appearances at ABC shops in the next couple of weeks.

The actor is in the country to host the Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular. He will be making a special appearance at the shops, where he will be signing Doctor Who merchandise. Please note the number of items that can be signed will be limited due to time restrictions. See here for further details. Each appearance will be for 90 minutes.

• Friday 31 January: 10.30am to 12pm - ABC Shop Chadstone
• Tuesday 4 February: 10.30am to 12pm - ABC Shop Brisbane
• Tuesday 11 February: 11.30am to 1pm - ABC Shop QVB Sydney
• Wednesday 12 February: 11.30am to 1pm - ABC Shop Macquarie - North Ryde

The latest issue of Doctor Who Adventures discovers the secrets of The Silence.

The issue includes the third and final token for the chance to win a real life-size Dalek. If you've missed a token don't worry as there's a bonus one in issue 339.

Plus:

• Which is scarier? Monstrous and massive or teeny and terrifying – readers can decide for themselves with the help of the monster feature.
• What kind of companion are you? Take our fun quiz to find out.
• Win your very own Doctor Who bedroom makeover.
• Make a Zygon mask to scare your mates.
• Secrets from the set of The Day of the Doctor

All this plus the latest news, posters, puzzles and a new comic strip featuring an unseen adventure with the Eleventh Doctor and Clara.

Issue 338 is on sale from 29th January to 11th February and comes with a paint-your-own-monster magnet set as a free gift.

The BBC have released the first promotional image of the costume for the Twelfth Doctor, as played by Peter Capaldi.


Commenting on his costume, Capaldi said:
Lead writer and executive producer Steven Moffat added:
Charlotte Moore, Controller of BBC One, commented:

Big Finish Productions won the award for Best Online or Non-Broadcast Audio drama at the 2014 BBC Audio Drama Awards this evening.

The award is for Dark Eyes, a four-part story written and directed by Nicholas Briggs and starring Paul McGann as the Doctor. The drama also featured Ruth Bradley as Molly O'Sullivan and Peter Egan as Straxus, as well as the Daleks, with Briggs providing the Dalek voices, as he does for the TV series.

The awards pay tribute to the cultural importance of audio drama, on air and online, and are intended to give recognition to the actors, writers, producers, sound designers and others who work in the genre.

In addition, Claire Rushbrook was voted Best Supporting Actress in an Audio Drama for her portrayal of Jules in the BBC Radio 3 production King David.

This year's winners were announced at a ceremony in the Radio Theatre at BBC Broadcasting House in central London, hosted by Lenny Henry and BBC Director General Tony Hall.

The Awards cover audio dramas first broadcast in English in the UK between 1 October 2012 and 31 October 2013 – or first uploaded/published for free listening online in the UK during the same period.

Christopher Eccleston is to portray an English scientist in the Sky Atlantic crime drama Fortitude - a 12-episode series centring on a murder in the eponymous Arctic Circle town where there has been no violent crime beforehand. Joining him for the show - to be shot in Iceland and the UK and shown later this year - are Michael Gambon as a wildlife photographer who is terminally ill and Jessica Raine playing the wife of the town's main search-and-rescue pilot. [Radio Times, 24 Jan 2014]

John Barrowman is to present the new Channel 4 daytime series Superstar Dogs in the run-up to Crufts. It will see dogs and their owners competing in a number of challenges, with the eventual winner being crowned at the dog show in March. He said: "I have a passion for animals, dogs in particular, so I am hugely excited to be part of a sporting event for dogs and their owners that encourages teamwork, competitive spirit and a large dose of fun and laughter! Having dogs myself, I know the determination, love and commitment you need to train them - it's not easy!" Recording is taking place at MediaCity, Salford Quays from Tuesday 28th to Thursday 30th January, with tickets currently available from Applause Store. (NB: Minimum age is 16.) [Channel 4, 15 Jan 2014]

The BBC One daytime drama Father Brown - starring Mark Williams as the eponymous crime-solving priest - has been recommissioned for a third series. Made by BBC Birmingham Drama Village, it is based on the G K Chesterton stories. The new run of 15 45-minute episodes will begin shooting in and around the Cotswolds later this year. Damian Kavanagh, the controller of BBC Daytime, said: "I'm extremely proud that Father Brown has become an appointment-to-view programme on BBC One afternoons. The production team and Mark Williams have done a fantastic job bringing Father Brown to life and I'm delighted that our viewers share my enthusiasm for the series." [BBC Media Centre, 22 Jan 2014]

Richard Wilson is to appear in the one-man play Krapp's Last Tape, by Samuel Beckett, from Wednesday 25th June to Saturday 19th July at The Crucible in Sheffield, where he is an associate director for Sheffield Theatres at its studio space there. [The Stage, 20 Jan 2014]

The actor Bill Nighy has been shortlisted for one of the British Animation Awards. He has been nominated for his voice work on the 10-minute drama The Hungry Corpse, whose senior executive producer Rankin took the official portrait of Peter Capaldi for his unveiling as the new Doctor. The ceremony will be held at the BFI Southbank on Friday 7th March. [BBC News, 22 Jan 2014]

And speaking of Peter Capaldi, the actor Jason Flemyng - who will be guest-starring as baddie Vadim opposite Capaldi's Cardinal Richelieu in the BBC One drama The Musketeers tomorrow - reckons he will be "amazing" as the Doctor. Flemyng - the son of Gordon Flemyng who directed the two Dalek films in the 1960s - has a pedigree of appearing with forthcoming Doctors. Capaldi was filming The Musketeers when he got the role, and Flemyng said: "One minute I was working with Peter playing the Cardinal and the next, I was working with Doctor Who. That was quite surprising when he got the Doctor Who gig while we were in the middle of it. When I did The Quatermass Experiment, David Tennant came in one morning and was Doctor Who as well so it seems to be something strange, like I'm a lucky (charm). Always the bridesmaid, never the bride." He said Capaldi would "smash it. He's going to be amazing. He's so talented." Flemyng was less favourably disposed towards the Daleks, though. "Until they stop the Daleks flying and put them back in the spaceship, which is where they're meant to land, then I shall be keeping away from Doctor Who. It's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Much as I love the show, suddenly the Daleks start flying and I thought, 'That's silly,'" he said. [Wales Online, 25 Jan 2014]

A poster and trailer for the forthcoming horror film Oculus starring Karen Gillan have been released. The film, which sees Gillan portray the character Kaylie Russell, who is trying to clear her twin brother of murdering their parents by proving it was supernatural forces in a mirror at their childhood home, opens in America on Friday 11th April but has yet to receive a release date for the UK. (NB: The trailer has been approved for appropriate audiences by the Motion Picture Association of America.)

In Memoriam:

The actor Jerome Willis, who played the memorable villain Stevens in The Green Death, has died aged 85. He notched up well over 100 screen credits during his career, including the leading role of Matthew Peele in ITV drama The Sandbaggers and as Oliver Cromwell in the BBC drama Woodstock. Other notable series Willis appeared in included Z-Cars, Within These Walls, Freewheelers, The Avengers, Danger Man, Adam Adamant Lives!, Callan, Doomwatch, The Caesars, Poirot, and sci-fi drama Space Precinct. An accomplished stage actor, he was a member of the RSC in the 20th and 21st centuries, and in 2002 penned a piece for The Guardian describing the differences he encountered between then and the 1950s. Films that he appeared in included Siege of the Saxons and Winstanley. The DVD of The Green Death - first released in 2004 as a one-disc version and, since last August, also available as a two-disc special edition - saw Willis reprise the role of Stevens in the spoof documentary Global Conspiracy?, which was included as one of the extras. An announcement of his death was published in The Guardian on 17th January that read as follows:

RiAus, Australia’s national science hub, in collaboration with BBC Worldwide, is to bring a live stage event exploring scientific mysteries raised by Doctor Who, to the five main cities of Australia later this year.

The show will use scenes from the series and look at time travel, regeneration, teleportation and just why the TARDIS is bigger on the inside. Hosted by comedian Rob Lloyd, it features eminent scientists, who also happen to be Doctor Who fans, exploring some of the science-reality behind the fiction.

On the team is Dr Martin White, a particle astrophysicist at the University of Adelaide, Dr Allie Ford, a science communicator at Monash University, Dr Alan Duffy, an astrophysicist at the University of Melbourne and David Jennens, a physicist from the University of Melbourne working at the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland. Audiences are encouraged to bring along their smartphones and join in the fun and will get an opportunity to decide which Doctor Who alien will take over the universe.

Helen Pendlebury, head of Entertainment for BBC Worldwide ANZ comments RiAus is dedicated to promoting public awareness and understanding of science in Australia. The director, Dr Paul Willis, said Tickets go on exclusive pre-sale for RiAus members and Doctor Who Club Australia Members on 7 February 2014, with general ticket sales opening at 10am on 11 February 2014

Venues

• Perth - 26 April - Octagon Theatre, University of Western Australia
• Brisbane - 10 May - Plaza Auditorium, Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre
• Sydney - 23, 24, 25 May - Everest Theatre, Seymour Centre
• Adelaide - 31 May - Norwood Concert Hall, Norwood Town Hall
• Melbourne - 13, 14, 15 June - Merlyn Theatre, The Coopers Malthouse

BBC Worldwide have released the details for the forthcoming DVD of The Web of Fear, which is due out in the United Kingdom from the 24th February 2014.