Just when BBC WALES had seemed to have plugged all the "leaking leaks", and fans were left to decide what will be happening in SERIES 3 it seems that, if true, the climax to SERIES 3 has been squandered.

THE SUN reports, if true, that BBC 1 series LIFE ON MARS actor, John Simm will be reprising the iconic role of the renegade Time Lord, the Master.

And, the report continues to state that recently announced guest star,Derek Jacobi will play a "good guy" character who regenerates at the end of SERIES 3.

Of course, this could lead to speculation that Jacobi plays the Master and Simm assumes the role for future stories.

If true, if, and leaked by BBC WALES (again) to generate "column inches" for the sake of "column inches" it would be disappointing. The appearance of a such a character "denouement", as in THE KEEPER OF TRAKEN when the Master returned, should have have been "secret".

True? Wait and see. JNT would be so proud.

THE SUN

A manufacturing glitch has resulted in an amputation scene from Texas Chainsaw Massacre appearing on DOCTOR WHO DVDs available for rental in America.

According to TV Shows on DVD , subscribers to the Netflix postal DVD rental service were surprised when halfway into episode 1 of NEW EARTH, images of someone having their limbs removed by chainsaw appeared.


"Due to a manufacturing problem, Disc One of the Netflix copies of DOCTOR WHO: The Complete Second Series DVD collection contains incorrect footage from another film. The special features section on Disc One is also inaccessible on rented Netflix copies," the BBC said in a statement. "This error is only found on Disc One of Netflix copies of the series, not on any DOCTOR WHO DVDs available for purchase in stores. We are doing our best to rectify this problem as soon as possible and apologize for any inconvenience or distress."

The TIGER ASPECT produced drama for BBC1, RECOVERY, makes its debut this Spring starring David Tennant and Sarah Parish (from THE RUNAWAY BRIDE).

To catch a preview of the one-off drama, visit TIGER ASPECT - however, be warned, the scenes contains full-length nudity featuring Tennant and Parish in the bedroom.

Hello?

Are you still there?

Didn't think so...

If you are, details of the drama:

Alan and Tricia Hamilton (David Tennant and Sarah Parish) are very happy. He's the head of a building firm and on top of his game, while she's a part-time beautician and mother to their two sons. But one day their perfect, if unremarkable, life is torn apart when a last-minute decision to pop out for a quick drink with a colleague sees Alan step out in front of a passing car.

The accident leaves him in a deep coma but with remarkably few physical injuries. Tricia is desperately worried about him but delighted when he comes round - only to discover that the man she loved has disappeared.

Alan's behaviour has changed; he has lost all of his inhibitions and he veers from angry and frustrated to vulnerable and childlike. Simple tasks such as making toast and getting dressed are beyond him, he is unable to hold down the job he loves, and he plays and laughs with his sons as if he's a child.

Alan's behaviour puts his relationship with Tricia under intolerable stress. She longs to find the husband she loves in there somewhere - but fears she may have lost him forever.

RECOVERY is a one-off drama written by Tony Marchant and partly inspired by research he undertook with the charity Headway.

Details of 16th April's CLASSIC SERIES (two-disc) DVD, SURVIVAL have been released.

Disc 1

• Original stereo audio, plus new 5.1 surround sound mix
• Main commentary: Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred and script-editor Andrew Cartmel
• Second commentary (episode three only). Fan commentary from the winners of a recent competition. Oh, dear God!
• CAT FLAP - a two-part documentary covering the making of Survival. Part One covers set-up and pre-production, Part Two covers shooting and post-production. With Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred, Lisa Bowerman, Will Barton, Sakuntala Ramanee and Adele Silva, script editor Andrew Cartmel, director Alan Wareing, visual effects assistant Mike Tucker, composer Dominic Glynn and costume designer Ken Trew. Narrated by Paul Ewing
• DELETED AND EXTENDED SCENES - material from the first edit of the story that didn't make the final cut, plus comparisons of some of the scenes before and after the video effects were added
• Out-takes and comedy moments from the production of the story.
• Continuities and trailers from the original BBC1 transmission
• Photo Gallery - production and behind-the-scenes stills from the making of the story
• Isolated Score - option to view the story with synchronous isolated music
• RADIO TIMES listings in Adobe pdf format for viewing on PC or Mac
• Programme subtitles and subtitle production notes

Disc 2

• ENDGAME - Why was Doctor Who cancelled at the end of Season 26? What might have been in store for the Doctor and Ace if the series had continued into Season 27? With Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred, script editor Andrew Cartmel, writers Ben Aaronovitch and Colin Brake, BBC Head of Drama Series Peter Cregeen, composer Mark Ayres and visual effects designer Mike Tucker. Narrated by Paul Ewing
• SEARCH OUT SCIENCE - a schools programme featuring the Doctor and Ace, with Stephen Johnson and K9
• LITTLE GIRL LOST - A retrospective look at the development of Sophie Aldred's character, Ace, from her first story, DRAGONFIRE through to her last, SURVIVAL. With Sophie Aldred, creator Ian Briggs and script editor Andrew Cartmel
• DESTINY OF THE DOCTORS - Anthony Ainley's last appearance as The Master, in these links from the 1997 computer game.

Looking forward to this DVD? Oh, yes.

Fresh from the store, here's the new CHARACTER OPTIONS 2007 Wave 1 Action Figures.

A fresh pack design too.

RRP £16.99 for the 12" SATAN PIT action figure and 12" action figure from THE GIRL IN THE FIREPLACE.

The official BARB TV ratings for DOCTOR WHO - THE RUNAWAY BRIDE has been released.

9.35 UK million viewers, placing it 10th in the most watch TV programme that week. Last year, THE CHRISTMAS INVASION was watched by 9.84 UK million.

Out of interest, Billie Piper's RUBY IN THE SMOKE gained 7.07 UK million viewers.

Fresh from the store, here's the new CHARACTER OPTIONS 2007 Wave 1 Action Figures.

A fresh pack design too.

RRP £6.99.

Just when you thought it was safe to visit your newsagent or comic store, ANNIHILATOR Trading Cards have materialised to scare the living daylights out of you - released as part of the excellent (and compulsive) BATTLES IN TIME magazine.

From Issue 12 (23 February 2007), each magazine will come with 6 Exterminator cards and 6 Annihilator cards, price £2.50. The new range features several monsters that look very different underneath from what you’d expect on the outside, so look out for a Sycorax Unmasking Card, a Dalek Mutant reveal, and a specially chilling card where Toby Zed becomes possessed by the Beast!

• 100 unique designs to collect based on the 2005 and 2006 TV series, plus the 2006 Christmas Special, THE RUNAWAY BRIDE
• 9 cards in every pack – 8 common and 1 rare, plus some packs have an extra super-rare or ultra-rare 10th card
• Includes seven character decks: Hero, Human, Alien, Robot, Monster, Dalek, Cyberman, plus Bonus Cards to change game play
• Pack odds: 75 common cards (8 in every pack), 15 rare shiny cards (1 in every pack), 6 super-rare holographic, bumpy or glow-in-the dark cards (1 in every 6 packs) and 4 ultra-rare lenticular (moving image) cards (1 in every 24 packs)
• The rarest card of all – the Golden Ticket – is only found in 1 in every 1000 packs.

For more information, visit the official BATTLES IN TIME website

If you are in Wales why not check out the "out-of-the-way" DOCTOR WHO recording studios, just off the A4054.

Go on, have a day out! Rummage through their bins.

BBC WALES, Treforest Industrial Estate, Upper Boat, south of Pontypridd.

Since the series was re-commissioned in 2003, DOCTOR WHO had been searching for a suitably large "home". eyeofhorus.org.uk broke the news, savaged by other fan websites, that the series would have a "Pinewood 007-styled complex". It took some time but it happened.

BBC AUDIOBOOKS have released details of the Hartnell CLASSIC SERIES story, THE GUNFIGHTERS (1966). RRP £13.99, and published on 5 February 2007.

Details of the release:

The TARDIS lands in the Wild West in this classic BBC TV soundtrack starring William Hartnell, with linking narration by Peter Purves

'So come, you coyotes, and howl at the moon'til there's blood upon the sawdust in The Last Chance Saloon.'

It's 1881 and, in the Wild West settlement of Tombstone, there are three strangers in town: 'Doctor Caligari', 'Steven Regret', and 'Miss Dodo Dupont'. They've arrived in a 20th Century blue police box, and they're about to wander into a whole heap of trouble.

The Doctor is in need of a dentist, but the sort of anaesthetic Doc Holliday uses comes out of a liquor bottle. He's in the middle of a feud with the Clanton family, whilst Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson try to keep the peace. This isn't the place for a relaxing holiday, as the TARDIS crew soon discover.

Tombstone's not the most happily named of towns, and it seems it may live up to that name any day now. There's a gunfight at the OK Corral brewing and, if the Doctor and his friends aren't careful, they're going to be caught in the crossfire.

In a bonus interview, Peter Purves, who also narrates this remastered soundtrack, recalls the making of THE GUNFIGHTERS for television.

A special 10-minute bonus music segment is also included comprising the original recordings of Lynda Baron singing Tristram Cary's The Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon. This is the first time the recordings have been published.

BBC DVD have confirmed that DOCTOR WHO - SURVIVAL(DVD) will be released on 2 April 2007.

This can be pre-ordered from AMAZON.CO.UK(see link above far right).

The WAVE 2 (March 2007) 5" Action Figures have been revealed by the very busy CHARACTER OPTIONS.

These will include the (featured, far right) THE GIRL IN THE FIREPLACE Clockwork Droids - in two versions - and THE IMPOSSIBLE PLANET's Ood (the 12" version is in stores now).

Additional, a new version of the Cyberman (with gun) will be "re-issued" along with a "new version" of the TOOTH AND CLAW Werewolf hybrid.

CHARACTER OPTIONS have revealed the final designs for the 2007 Easter Eggs range to be released on 14 March.

The Dalek/TARDIS ceramic mug (with chocolate egg) is RRP £3.99, and the double chocolate egg cup (in two designs) is RRP £2.99.

CHARACTER OPTIONS have revealed the final design for the Empress of Racnoss action figure - a full 12" in size with 24 points of articulation.

Impressive.

RRP £16.99. Released March 2007.

David Tennant appeared on the Channel 4 programme, THE FRIDAY NIGHT PROJECT.

Right, a few grabs (ooh, missuss...) of Tennant in a frock and irish.

In other sketches he plays H from Steps, George "pussy lapping" Galloway MP.

Nice.

Fresh, approachable and inspiring. The launch of GRAVIS ART by professional artist, Anthony Dry demonstrates that quality DOCTOR WHO art is not only the domain of Andrew Skilleter or Colin Howard.

Recently, Dry's DOCTOR WHO artwork has been included in the SERIES 2 boxset booklet.

SERIES 1 had BAD WOLF, and SERIES 2 had TORCHWOOD. SERIES 3?

It seems that this will be MR SAXON. A shadowy figure from the Doctor's past and/or future? Quote from the planet Crafe Tec Heydra hieroglyphs: "You are not alone".

Additionally, the "foe" for Paul Cornell's episode 8 and 9 is/are called, JACK STRAWS. The story is set in a 1910s Boys Boarding School. At which Jessica Stevenson plays Nurse Joan Redfern (the school's Head Matron).

Episode 10 will be the story in which the Doctor and Martha will be "relatively absent" (think LOVE & MONSTERS).

Another scavenging alien for SERIES 3 are called the CARRIONITES.

Sources have indicated that episode 4 and 5, set in 1930s New York ("Classic Earth") will feature the CLASSIC SERIES aliens, Ogrons, once again assisting the errant Daleks. Whether or not the Emperor Dalek is in the episode remains to be revealed.

Quick round-up - Aliens to appear in SERIES 3:

• Judoon
• The Face of Boe
• Jack Straws
• Carrionites
• "Feline Adventurer", Brannigan
• Black Dalek
• Captain Jack Harkness
• Plasmavores

SERIES 3 episode titles have been released:

• EPISODE 3 - FLESH AND BONE
• EPISODE 4 - DALEKS IN MANHATTAN (Working title)
• EPISODE 6 - THE LAZARUS EXPERIMENT
• EPISODE 9 - THE FAMILY OF BLOOD
• EPISODE 11 - UTOPIA

THE SUN announces that David Tennant will be leaving DOCTOR WHO in SERIES 4. Slow news day?

THE SUN

No big shocks if true, two and half years at the top is just about right. This would mean, if correct, Tennant will stop filming by December 2007.

And the FILM of the SERIES without Tennant? Shame.

We're heading down to LABROKES (The Betting Agents) for £10 on Adrian Lester taking on the role of the Eleventh Doctor.

28.12.2006 12:39 - The BBC have been remarkably quick in denying that David Tennant is "quitting" (loathe that word...) the role during SERIES 4. Are we entering the same kind of BBC-Eccleston resignation scenario, in which the BBC says one thing even though the 'Lead Actor' has said (or not said) something different?

Of course, Tennant will leave the role (a role he was destined to play - and superbly) at some point, so, BBC WALES, let fans know the definitive answer sooner rather than later. Press Conference next week?