Set for a Summer 2009 release are two Jon Pertwee CLASSIC SERIES stories and an eclectic Patrick Troughton story.

BBC AUDIO is releasing DOCTOR WHO - THE AMBASSADORS OF DEATH (6 August) as a narrated TV Soundtrack CD (two-disc) alongside an unabridged reading of the Third Doctor's final story, DOCTOR WHO AND THE PLANET OF THE SPIDERS (4 June).

The Second Doctor's DOCTOR WHO AND THE MIND ROBBER is released as an unabridged audiobook on 6 August.

BBC WALES has announced that Lindsay Duncan will the "older companion" for the second of the four SPECIALS 2009. She will play Adelaide, the Doctor's "cleverest and most string-minded companion yet". The episode is written by Phil Ford and Russell T Davies, with filming starting in March.

Duncan can be seen in the forthcoming BBC drama, MARGARET (based upon the life of British PM, Margaret Thatcher).

Last year, Duncan played opposite the forthcoming Eleventh Doctor, Matt Smith in THAT FACE (see right).

COSMIC HOBO PRODUCTIONS' THE SCARIFYERS audio dramas are returning to BBC 7 from Sunday with a third series. The opening story is FOR KING AND COUNTRY.

DOCTOR WHO CLASSIC SERIES actors, Nicholas Courtney and Terry Molloy reprise their roles of Lionheart and Professor Dunning, with guest stars Gabriel Woolf and David Benson.

'Sir' Harry Price, self-proclaimed ghost detective, has built a machine. His previous experiment - to turn a goat into a man - may have ended ignominiously, but now Harry plans to capture the spirits of the dead with his Price Ghost CaptivatorT. If he can make it work, that is.

Meanwhile, Londoners are being killed, in especially gruesome fashion, with their own electrical appliances. But most puzzling of all is the Faraday Murderer's habit of leaving cryptic messages in 17th century English at the scene - cryptic messages that mention a certain Harry Price.

Age-old forces are stirring. The dead will rise. The Crown will fall. Can Lionheart and Dunning save King and Country?

• EPISODE 1 - Sunday 22 February - 1800-1830 & 0000-0030 Rpt:
• EPISODE 2 - Sunday 1 March - 1800-1830 & 0000-0030 Rpt:
• EPISODE 3 - Sunday 8 March - 1800-1830 & 0000-0030 Rpt:
• EPISODE 4 - Sunday 15 March - 1800-1830 & 0000-0030 Rpt:
  

With thanks to 2|entertain BBC DVD, preview copies of DOCTOR WHO - THE RESCUE and THE ROMANS have been issued.

The review will be online shortly. The DVD boxset is released on 23 February. RRP £29.99.

Preview THE RESCUE DVD

Preview THE ROMANS DVD

With thanks to BBC AUDIO, the covers for DOCTOR WHO CLASSIC SERIES unabridged and DOCTOR WHO SERIES 4 tie-in releases have been published.

• DOCTOR WHO AND THE MASQUE OF MANDRAGORA (12 May) - Unabridged
• DOCTOR WHO AND THE CYBERMEN (2 April) - Unabridged
• DOCTOR WHO - SHINING DARKNESS (12 May) - Abridged
• DOCTOR WHO - GHOSTS OF INDIA (12 May) - Abridged
• DOCTOR WHO - THE DOCTOR TRAP (12 May) - Abridged

Review of the releases will be online upon publication.

Additionally, AMAZON.CO.UK are announcing that McCoy's THE HAPPINESS PATROL is to be released (2 July 2009) as an unabridged audiobook.

I would also like to take this opportunity to squash the persistent rumours about mysterious 'disappearances' and emphasize that rural and urban areas are now enjoying a life of harmony and peace. I'm sure you're glad to hear this. And I'm happy you're glad. Helen A, ruler of colony Terra Alpha, is determined that happiness will prevail. And if any kill-joys insist on being miserable, the fun guns of the Happiness Patrol will remove them; or they will vanish into the Kandy Kitchen, where the Kandy Man will deal with them. When the Doctor and Ace spend a night in the dark streets of Terra Alpha they have to keep a smile on their faces - or else! - while making contact with the native Pipe People and trying to convince the colonists that they can have too much of a good thing - even sweets and happiness. An exciting unabridged reading, with music and sound effects, this novelisation of a classic Doctor Who adventure, was first published by "Target Books" in 1990.

2|entertain BBC DVD has published the official (unwatermarked) cover for the 16 March 2009 release of Colin Baker's ATTACK OF THE CYBERMEN.

The TARDIS is lured to Earth in 1985 by a distress call sent by Lytton, who has made contact with a group of Cybermen based in London's sewers. The Doctor and Peri are then captured and forced to take Lytton and the Cybermen in the TARDIS to the Cybermen's home planet Telos. The Cybermen have stolen a time vessel from another race and plan to change history by crashing Halley's Comet into Earth and obliterating it before it can bring about the demise of their original home world, Mondas, in 1986.

BBC AUDIO continues to release a stunning range of both TV narrated soundtracks, abridged Tenth Doctor and unabridged readings.

Overview of the exciting releases planned for 2009 are:

• DOCTOR WHO AND THE MASQUE OF MANDRAGORA (12 May) - Unabridged
• DOCTOR WHO - THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMEN (8 January) - Unabridged
• DOCTOR WHO - THE MIND OF EVIL (12 February) - TV Soundtrack
• DOCTOR WHO AND THE CYBERMEN (2 April) - Unabridged
• DOCTOR WHO - THE NEMONITE INVASION (5 February) - Exclusive
• DOCTOR WHO - THE SPACE MUSEUM (7 May) - TV Soundtrack
• DOCTOR WHO AND THE DALEK INVASION OF EARTH (7 May) - Unabridged
• DOCTOR WHO - SHINING DARKNESS (12 May) - Abridged
• DOCTOR WHO - GHOSTS OF INDIA (12 May) - Abridged
• DOCTOR WHO - THE DOCTOR TRAP (12 May) - Abridged

Review - THE TIME WARRIOR unabridged audio

Reviews for THE KROTONS, THE MIND OF EVIL and DOCTOR WHO AND THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMEN due online shortly.

Russell T Davies' first of four Specials, PLANET OF THE DEAD is being filmed in Cardiff and Dubai.

The episode stars Lee Evans (as Professor Malcolm), Michelle Ryan (as Lady Christina de Souza) and Noma Dumezweni who returns as Captain Erisa Magambo - last seen helping Rose and Donna save the world in TURN LEFT.

The episode is expected to feature a new alien race, a halfman half-fly creature, known as the Tritovore. The Tritovore will appear in the final three Special episodes as will the "force" behind the race.

BBC PRESS OFFICE release

The Directors of the four Specials have been logged:

• PLANET OF THE DEAD - James Strong
• SPECIAL 2 - Graeme Harper
• SPECIAL 3 + 4 - Euros Lyn (including an appearance by Freema Agyeman)

Previous Producer, Phil Collinson rejected calls for DOCTOR WHO to be filmed in HIGH DEFINITION (HD) due to the "story-telling" constraints (HD cameras are very sensitive and highlight set-design deformities, and visual effects need too be more precise).

However, all the forthcoming 2009/2010 Specials will use this technology as will SERIES 5.

Amid the UK "recession", CHARACTER OPTIONS are relying on the deep pockets of DOCTOR WHO fans with a new range of action figures and toys - especially under the banner of "exclusives" leading fans to buy double.

The latest "exclusives" are based upon the CLASSIC SERIES - and are more expensive than the standard releases via FORBIDDEN PLANET store.

• THE SIXTH DOCTOR (blue outfit variant) with LASER LANCE £14.99
• THE FIRST DOCTOR and DALEK - full-colour variant £24.99
• THE FIRST DOCTOR and DALEK - black-and-white variant £24.99
• THE SECOND DOCTOR and TOMB OF THE CYBERMAN figure - full-colour variant £24.99
• THE SECOND DOCTOR and TOMB OF THE CYBERMAN figure - black-and-white variant £24.99

The Cybermen variant range (four figures with a collect-and-build CyberController figure from TOMB OF THE CYBERMEN) has been released (RRP £7.99).

• THE TENTH PLANET variant
• TOMB OF THE CYBERMEN variant
• THE INVASION variant
• THE NEXT DOCTOR variant

The company is tempting (read: "fleecing") fans to re-purchase SERIES 4 action figures with the release of a VESPIFORM collect-and-build figure.

CHARACTER OPTIONS need to focus on new, single-release, excellent quality action figures as opposed to re-releasing previously available toys with new paint-finishes or re-packaging with collect-and-build.

Due to a recent bereavement, updates to eyeofhorus.org.uk will be postponed until the beginning of February.

This will be from 7 February at the very earliest.

Apologies, and thank you for condolence emails. And thank you for your patience.