While Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures are official and firmly sanctioned extensions of the Doctor Who universe, the upcoming spin-off K-9 absolutely isn't. The reason it's managed to go ahead without sign-off from the BBC, though, is because of a rights issue which gave erstwhile Doctor Who writer Bob Baker part ownership. Basically, Baker has the rights to the character, but not to the design of it that the BBC has implemented. As such, were a spin-off to be produced based on those rights, then K-9 would have to be redesigned as part of the production.

And that's exactly what's happened. Baker, who has penned some episodes for the series, has pressed ahead with the development of K-9, which has been in production in Australia. And now, the cat dog has been let out of the bag, as the first trailer for K-9's solo adventures has been released.

Our take on it? It looks, er, not very good at all, and even appreciating that K-9 has had to have a makeover as part of the production, he looks a little bit odd to us (although it's good to hear John Leeson back on voicing duties). Of course, this is just the trailer, and it's aimed at a younger audience. But contrast it with something like The Sarah Jane Adventures, and one of them right now looks that bit better than the other. We reserve judgement until we've seen an episode or two, but take a look at this trailer and let's see if it's just us who suspects it's not doing them many favours...