Following the announcement in the latest Doctor Who Magazine that a second CD of Murray Gold's incidental music is to be released, the cover and release date have begun to appear on a number of retail sites. According to HMV amongst others, the CD is due in UK shops on 5th November, and will feature music from the show's third series.

According to the BBC's Doctor Who website, October 1st will see the release of Doctor Who: Collected Stories from BBC Audiobooks. Says their release statement:

BBC NEWS reports Diary of a Call Girl, starring Billie Piper in the title role, is turning in to a ratings success for ITV2. The first episode of the raunchy series recorded one of the biggest audiences for the channel since it began in 1998.

It also scored higher ratings than the programmes showing at the same time on BBC Two, Channel 4 and Five.

The drama is based on an online diary, written under the pseudonym Belle de Jour, which became a best-selling book.

Phoenix Film and Television Productions have announced on their website that K9 and Company is slated for release early next year. Phoenix Productions produce special features for "Classic" Doctor Who DVD releases.

Peter J Hammond, writer of the Torchwood episode Small Worlds, has told the SFX blog that his story for season two of the Doctor Who spin-off will be scarier still.

According to the writer, he has borrowed a plot element from his iconic ITV series Sapphire and Steel, which he created in the early 1980s. Click on the spoiler tag to read more...

Patrick Stewart, best known to science fiction fans as Jean-Luc Picard on Star Trek : The Next Generation, has told This Is North Scotland that he would like to appear in Doctor Who. The 67-year-old Star Trek star said he was a fan of the long-running time travelling show, but was sad he had never been involved.

"I have been (a fan) actually yes, and deeply dismayed that I was never asked to be in it! I think it's a terrific series," Stewart said.

Stewart is currently set to appear opposite current Doctor David Tennantin Hamlet with the Royal Shakespeare Company next year; Tennant will play the title role and Stewart will play Hamlet's uncle, Claudius.

The first episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures achieved a rating of 1.3 million viewers, an 11% share of the audience.

This is much higher than CBBC programmes usually get in this slot. Last Monday, Escape from Scorpion Island got 0.9 million.

In the children's chart, the programme was the 6th most watched of the day with an audience of 0.5 million which was a 29.8% share.

Over on CBBC the second episode was watched by 0.44 million making the programme the most watched of the day on CBBC and the 7th most watched programme on multi channel television.

The official website has released full details for the forthcoming Davros DVD box set, scheduled for release in the UK on November 26, 2007. In the set, Genesis of the Daleks, Resurrection of the Daleks andRevelation of the Daleks will contain the same material as the previously released DVDs of those stories. Destiny of the Daleks will also contain roughly the same material as the separate DVD of the story being released on the same day. However, the box set will contain a two-disc version ofRemembrance of the Daleks, with the following extras:

• Commentary with actors Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred
  
• Back to School - Cast and crew talk about the making of the story accompanied by rare behind-the-scenes material
  
• Remembrances - Cast and crew talk about the influences and references to other Doctor Who adventures that are spread throughout the story
  
• Extended and Deleted Scenes
  
• Outtakes
  
• Multi-Angle Sequences - allowing the viewer to watch Ace's escape from the Chemistry lab and the Daleks blowing up the large gates from one of two camera angles
  
• Trails and Continuity
  
• Plus photo gallery, isolated music, Radio Times listings, subtitles, and Dolby Digital 5.1 mix
  

The documentaries "Back to School" and "Remembrances" are new, and are not found on the previously released single DVD version of Remembrance of the Daleks. The original Region 2 DVD of Remembrance also had a few missing effects shots, which will be restored in the box set version.

The set will also include a new documentary on the character and history of Davros, titled "Davros Connections".

Finally, the box set will contain eight audio dramas from Big Finish Productions starring Terry Molloy as Davros. The stories are Davros(starring Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor), The Juggernauts (also starring Colin Baker), Terror Firma (starring Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor), the four parts of the miniseries I, Davros, and a new audio drama,The Davros Mission, written by Nicholas Briggs. The BBC site describes this new story, specially commissioned for the DVD box set, thus: "Davros is taken by the Daleks for trial and imminent execution. But even in his darkest hour, he finds allies and an insatiable cunning to survive..."

Only 10,000 of the individually numbered box sets will be issued.

The official Doctor Who website has released some information about an upcoming story in Series Four. The story will be set in Pompeii in AD 79, just before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. In this episode the Doctor and Donna are faced with a moral dilemma: should they warn the residents of the impending disaster and change the course of history, or let history take its course?

Guest stars in the episode will include Academy Award and BAFTA winner Peter Capaldi ("The Thick of It") as Caecillius, Tracey Childs ("Howards' Way") as Metella, and Phil Davis ("Quadrophenia") as Lucius; Davis also appeared with Eighth Doctor Paul McGann in the film Alien³.

As previously reported, filming for the Pompeii episode took place at Rome's Cinecitta Studios.

This is not the first Doctor Who story set in the last days of Pompeii; the Big Finish Productions audio dramaThe Fires of Vulcan, starring Sylvester McCoy and Bonnie Langford as the Seventh Doctor and Mel, was set in the same time and place. It is not known whether the forthcoming television story is adapted from the audio play. In the 2005 series, the Big Finish play Jubilee was adapted into the television episode Dalek; elements of Spare Parts inspired 2006's Rise of the Cybermen and The Age of Steel; and for the 2007 series, Paul Cornell adapted his novelHuman Nature for television.

Big Finish has released story and narrator details on the upcoming second series of The Companion Chronicles.

Set to be released in October, Mother Russia sees Peter Purves returning to the role of Steven Taylor alongside Tony Millan.

"It's 1812 and the Doctor, Steven and Dodo get ready to spend their winter in a Russian village. The French are on their way, but that's not the only invasion the travellers will have to deal with."

Helicon Prime, due out in November, features Frazer Hines returning to the role of Jamie with Suzanne Proctor.

"It's been a long time since Jamie McCrimmon remembered anything about his travels with the Doctor, but his visit to Helicon Prime just won't stay hidden... but why remember their murder investigation now?"

Nicholas Courtney reads Old Soldiers, the December release, a story for the Third Doctor told by the Brigadier. Toby Longworth guest stars.

"Old soldiers, comrades in arms - the Brigadier saw many fall during his years with UNIT, but perhaps none more tragically than those at Kreigskind. Called to help when a friend falls ill, how can Leftbridge-Stewart fight an enemy that can breach every defence?"

Leela returns in January, once again played by Louise Jameson in The Catalyst. This Fourth Doctor tale features guest star Timothy Watson.

"The pride of the Z'nai matches that of Leela of the Sevateem. Why would the Doctor imprison one in such an unlikely place, and what terrors will be brought about by letting it loose?"