Illustrators Lee Binding and Clayton Hickman have completed a new cover for the UK DVD release of The Five Doctors, which was originally issued years ago with a different cover design than the current releases. The official Doctor Who site has both low- and high-resolution covers available for download; click here to download them.

A report in a recent issue of Doctor Who Magazine states that long-time author Terrance Dicks, penning an as yet untitled forthcoming BBC Books novel due in October, will return the Second Doctor to the era known as "Season 6B," a murky time in the life of the Patrick Troughton Doctor that follows "The War Games" but precedes the Jon Pertwee debut story "Spearhead from Space". Dicks recently spoke to the American Who radio broadcast (for a story taped for airing in January) in which he confirmed the story; according to Dicks, it has the Second Doctor "being kind of forced to do things for the Celestial Intervention Agency." He wouldn't say anything else about it, except that it's slated for release in late 2005, takes from elements in his BBC Books Sixth Doctor novel "Players," the first novel that dealt with this shadowy time period, and "It sort of links in with 'The Two Doctors.'" (Thanks to Joey Reynolds)

The website for the Bristol-based Pixel Studios posted what it calls "concept art" for the forthcoming Doctor Who series, including some sort of spider-type transport, the TARDIS in a metalsmith factory, and two illustrations which appear to be some sort of orbital construct. The images - which we have not confirmed are used in the series, merely posted as images "to help visualise some of the more challenging parts of the script" by an independent design firm (and which may not even have been taken up by the series once it went into production) can be seen at their website by clicking here. (Thanks to Robbie Dunlop)

Thanks to Tenth Planet we have a higher-resolution copy of the cover illustration for the forthcoming DVD release ofThe Mind Robber which we posted on Sunday. Click here to view the hi-res version (note: file is nearly 100k).

Word from the BBC over the weekend: many sections of its online presence will be closed or dramatically scaled back, including sports and local history sections and the popular Cult area... but not the Doctor Who portion of the site. Indeed, according to the Media Guardian on Sunday, "A cult TV and film site devoted to shows such as The Simpsons and Buffy will be pruned to concentrate on upcoming BBC shows like Dr Who." In other words, while the Cult section is being scaled back, the Doctor Who portion of the site will continue (albeit with likely changes) to focus on the new series.

The Doctor Who fan fiction anthology, the Trenchcoat Farewell Project is now available on CD-ROM and as a hard bound anthology, collecting 40+ stories of the fan fiction canon published in previous years into a single volume with illustrations; details available at the Trenchcoat website.

ABC Books in Australia, in association with BBC Books has brought out a paperback version of Justin Richards' 40th-anniversary tome Doctor Who: The Legend, according to their website. Despite the graphic to the contrary, the cover is actually slightly different (ie, not the picture they're showing on the page!) as it includes the ABC name and logo, and the strap line has changed from '40 years...' to 'Four Decades...'

Amazon has posted the cover illustration for the forthcoming bookWho's Next: An Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide To All Of Broadcast Doctor Who by Mark Clapham, Eddie Robson and Jim Smith. As we previously reported, "Who's Next" is "comprehensive, critical journey through every episode of Doctor Who broadcast by the BBC on television, radio, and the Internet." The book is due out in February 2005.

Magic Bullet Productions has announced that Julian Glover, who played Richard the Lionheart in the Doctor Who story "The Crusade" and later played Count Scarlioni/Scaroth in "City of Death," will be appearing in the revival of the Faction Paradox audio series, playing the Egyptian god Upuat. Magic Bullet recently announced they would bring the audio series back, based on the time-travelling voodoo cult first introduced by Lawrence Miles in the BBC Doctor Who novel series, after Bill Baggs' BBV Productions halted its own production line of audios. More details available soon at the Magic Bulletwebsite. (Thanks to Fiona Moore)

According to Amazon.co.uk, BBC Audiobooks will be releasing a CD version of a two-part BBC Radio 2 program that will air around the time of the new series. Entitled Project Who?, the synopsis is as follows: "Tying in with transmission of the new BBC1 Saturday night series of Doctor Who, this two-part BBC Radio 2 programme takes a look at the Doctor Who phenomenon. Why is now the right time for it to return? There will be interviews with the stars and producers of the new series, location and set visits, and interviews with famous people who are fans of Doctor Who. This CD release will feature additional material not included in the Radio 2 broadcast." The current date of release on the CD is April 4, though of course this will be subject to change. (Thanks to Steve Tribe)