Doctor Who news round-up

Assorted tit-bits from the world of Who have emerged over the last few days, so let’s go through them…

* Gethin Jones is the latest name to be confirmed in a guest role in the current series. Primarily known for Blue Peter, Jones has also already been a Cyberman in the revived Doctor Who, and he’s believed to be turning up in one of the last episodes of the current run.

* Meanwhile, music from Doctor Who is set to feature as part of the upcoming BBC Proms season. Not content with blasting our eardrums to bits with Murray Gold’s music (that seemingly has lost whatever volume control it ever had), a night of the Proms festival is being given over to the show, which Freema Agyeman will host. The concert will feature music from the show itself, as well as other work that has some kind of time and space link. Naturally, this had led to accusations that the Proms are being dumbed down.

* John Barrowman has said that Christopher Eccleston was grumpy to work with. John, we quite like you (apart from that other shit you’ve been pumping out on Saturday nights recently), but really?

* And in the land of classic Doctor Who, lots of DVD releases to look forward too. There’s The Invasion of Time (5th May, review shortly), a K9 Tales boxset (that will include the K9 & Company spin-off, as well as The Invisible Enemy, on 16th June), and a Bred For War boxset to tie in with the upcoming Sontaran episode in the current show (including The Invasion Of Time, The Two Doctors, The Sontaran Experiment and The Time Warrior, due out 5th May). The first disc of the season four run is also on the schedules, too, for 2nd June.

All this, plus the news yesterday about the return of the Cybermen. Hurray!