The Sarah Jane Adventures: Series 2 - Begins Today!

The Sarah Jane Adventures returns today with it's highly anticipated second series: Here's the schedule:

TODAY (29th September)

The Last Sontaran: Part 1 - 4:35pm - BBC One

The Last Sontaran: Part 2 - 5:15pm - CBBC

SATURDAY (4th October)

The Last Sontaran: Part 1 (repeat) - 5:00pm - CBBC

Both episodes will be available to watch on BBC iPlayer soon after their broadcasts. The Sarah Jane Adventures continues next week on BBC One at 4:35pm with The Last Sontaran: Part 2 and The Day of the Clown: Part 1 over on CBBC 15 minutes afterwards.

Doctor Who Adventures - Issue 83

The cover and info on this week's edition of Doctor Who Adventures magazine:

Sarah Jane Returns!

The Doctor’s former companion returns to CBBC on Monday for the next action-packed series of The Sarah Jane Adventures. To celebrate, this week’s Doctor Who Adventures has a sneak preview of the first episode - The Last Sontaran. There’s also a fact file on schoolgirl turned alien investigator Maria Jackson and a Sontaran mask for readers to wear. Sontar-ha!

We also look ahead to Christmas when an old enemy will stomp back on to our screens. What do the Cybermen want this time? And how will the Doctor cope on his own without Donna by his side? This week’s issue has got two brand-new features. In Blast from the Past we journey back in time to the former Doctors’ adventures. This week it’s City of Death and the moment the Count turns into the yucky Scaroth. Also, Action Replay puts some of the scariest moments from Doctor Who under the microscope. The issue comes with a free sonic pen and Tardis sticky notes.

PLUS:

• Three posters! The Weeping Angels, Luke and Commander Kaagh, and Jenny and the Doctor.
• Fact file: The Hooverville heroes.
• Ultimate Companions: Part three of K-9’s guide to team Tardis.
• Activity: Cut out and wear the Sontaran helmet.
• Comic strip: The Alice in Wonderland Circuit.
• Rel Race: Complete all the puzzles in 300 Dalek Rels to avoid extermination!
• Woven wordsearch: Solve the puzzle and you could win a copy of Doctor Who - Shining Darkness.
• Win: Doctor Who DVDs and a Wii up for grabs!
• Subscription offer: Subscribe and you’ll get free Doctor Who Files on the Doctor and the Tardis.
• All this and loads more!

Issue 83 of Doctor Who Adventures magazine is on sale from today at all good newsagents until 1st October priced £2.10 per copy.

Trip of a Lifetime!

The BBC Press Office have released details of a once-in-a-lifetime event for Doctor Who, Torchwood and Sarah Jane Adventures fans in honour of Children in Need. Read on for more info:

Fans of smash-hit shows Doctor Who, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures are being offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go behind the scenes at the studios where the shows are filmed.

On Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th November, the BBC will be opening the studio doors just outside Cardiff to 100 lucky competition winners and their friends and families.

The money-can't-buy-experience is being run to help raise money for this year's BBC Children in Need appeal.

Doctor Who: Backstage will take fans to the heart of the action at the BBC Wales studios.

Visitors will tour the closely-guarded sets, come face-to-face with some of the Doctor's mortal enemies, and meet the behind-the-scenes teams who make it all happen - including the set designers, costumiers and make-up artists.

Russell T Davies says: "This is so exciting - giving fans the opportunity to take a behind the scenes look at where we film Doctor Who, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures is just brilliant."

"It'll be the perfect opportunity for the whole family to experience something unique and truly extraordinary. It will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience - and the best thing is that all the money raised will go towards BBC Children in Need."

To be in with a chance of winning a place on the tour, all people have to do is answer one multiple-choice question.

The all-important question will be announced on Friday 26 September, live on the Chris Moyles show on BBC Radio 1 as well as BBC Radio Wales and BBC Radio Cymru.

It will also be available on the Doctor Who website - bbc.co.uk/doctorwho - along with the full terms and conditions.

The competition phone lines will be open from 8:00am on Friday 26th September 2008. Callers must be over 16 and have the bill-payers' permission. Each winner will be able to bring up to three guests who must all be aged five or over.

The tour is taking place during a brief gap in the production schedule.

Doctor Who will return to BBC One this Christmas in The Next Doctor and filming resumes early in 2009 on a number of specials, followed by series five.

BBC Children in Need's aim is to positively change the lives of disadvantaged children and young people in the UK.

BBC Children in Need 2008 will broadcast live from BBC Television Centre on Friday 14th November from 7:00pm.

This year's fundraising theme is Do Something Different and in the weeks and months leading up to the televised appeal people are being encouraged to get creative and take up the challenge.

For inspiration there are lots of fantastic ideas in the new fundraising pack  go to bbc.co.uk/pudsey or call 0345 607 3333.

From this press pack, the BBC have confirmed that this year's Doctor Who Christmas special is titled The Next Doctor. More to come!

Doctor Who: The Forever Trap - Cover & Info

The cover and info on a new exclusive Doctor Who audiobook adventure:


THE FOREVER TRAP, written by Dan Abnett, read by Catherine Tate
Catherine Tate reads this exclusive thrilling story, in which the Doctor and Donna are imprisoned on the Edifice - and become neighbours to a terrifying assortment of aliens. 

When the Tardis is invaded by a holographic marketing scam, the Doctor and Donna find themselves trapped on the Edifice, a purpose-built complex of luxury apartments in space. Their new environs leave much to be desired: millions of beings from across the Universe have been gathered to live side by side in similar apartments. Instead of creating neighbourly affection, it's led to terrible battles being waged in the corridors and on the stairwells.The Doctor and Donna must cross the paths of deadly alien mobs as they search for the Edifice's ultimate authority. Who - or what - lies at the heart of the incredible complex? What destructive scourge is eating away at the Edifice itself? And are the Doctor and Donna trapped forever in this living hell?

Doctor Who: The Forever Trap is on sale from 9th October priced £9.99 per copy.

Doctor Who: New Adventures Audiopack - Cover & Info

BBC Audio have revealed the cover and info of a new Doctor Who audiobook triplepack titled New Adventures:

 
MARTHA IN THE MIRROR, written by Justin Richards and read by Freema Agyeman

Castle Extremis - whoever holds it controls the provinces on either side that have been at war for centuries! Now the castle is about to play host to the signing of a peace treaty. But as the Doctor and Martha find out, not everyone wants the war to end. Who is the strange little girl who haunts the castle? What is the secret of the book the Doctor finds, its pages made from thin, brittle glass? Who is the hooded figure that watches from the shadows? And what is the secret of the legendary Mortal Mirror? The Doctor and Martha don't have long to find the answers - an army is on the march, and the castle will soon be under siege once more...

SNOWGLOBE 7, written by Mike Tucker and read by Georgia Moffett

Earth, 2099. Global warming is devastating the climate. The polar ice caps are melting.

In a desperate attempt at preservation the Governments of the world have removed vast sections of the Arctic and Antarctic and set them inside huge domes across the world. The Doctor and Martha arrive in Snowglobe 7 in the Middle East, hoping for peace and relaxation. But they soon discover that it's not only ice and snow that has been preserved beneath the Dome. While Martha struggles to help with an infection sweeping through the holidaymakers the Doctor discovers an alien threat that has lain hidden since the last ice age. A threat that is starting to thaw.

THE MANY HANDS, written by Dale Smith and read by David Troughton

Edinburgh, 1759. The Nor' Loch is being filled in. If you ask the soldiers there, they'll tell you it's a stinking cesspool that the city can do without. But that doesn't explain why the workers won't go near the place without an armed guard. That doesn't explain why they whisper stories about the loch giving up its dead, about the minister who walked into his church twelve years after he died. It doesn't explain why, as they work, they whisper about a man called the Doctor. And about the many hands of Alexander Monro.

Doctor Who: New Adventures is on sale from 9th October priced £25.99 per copy.

Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale - Cover & Info

The cover and synopsis on a new Doctor Who reference book:

 THE WRITER'S TALE

"Writing isn’t just a job that stops at six-thirty… It’s a mad, sexy, sad, scary, obsessive, ruthless, joyful, and utterly, utterly personal thing. There’s not the writer and then me; there’s just me. All of my life connects to the writing. All of it."

A unique look into the BBC’s most popular family drama, Doctor Who: The Writer’s Tale is a year in the life of the hit television series, as told by the show’s head writer and executive producer. A candid and in-depth correspondence between Russell T Davies and journalist Benjamin Cook, the book explores in detail Russell’s work on series four, revealing how he plans the series and works with the show’s writers; where he gets his ideas for plot, character and scenes; how actors are cast and other creative decisions are made; and how he juggles the demands of Doctor Who with the increasingly successful Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures spin-offs.

Russell’s scripts are discussed as they develop, and Russell and Benjamin’s wide-ranging discussions bring in experiences from previous series of Doctor Who as well as other shows Russell has written and created, including Queer as Folk, Bob & Rose, and The Second Coming. The reader is given total access to the show as it’s created, and the writing is everything you would expect from Russell T Davies: warm, witty, insightful, and honest.

Fully illustrated with never-before-seen photos and artwork - including original drawings by Russell himself - The Writer’s Tale is a not only the ultimate Doctor Who book, but a celebration of great writing and great television.

According to the book, this year's Doctor Who Christmas special is titled The Next Doctor, the BBC have yet to confirm this. Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale is on sale 25th September priced £29.99 per copy.

Doctor Who: Series 4 Soundtrack - Cover & Info

Silva Screens have revealed the cover and tracks of the Doctor Who series four soundtrack:

• Opening Credits
• Noble Girl About Town
• Life Among The Distant Stars
• Corridors And Fire Escapes
• Sybilline Sisterhood
• Songs Of Captivity And Freedom
• UNIT Rocks
• Doctor's Daughter
• Source
• Unicorn And The Wasp
• Doctor's Theme
• Voyage Of The Damned
• Girl With No Name
• Song Of Song
• All In The Mind
• Silence In The Library
• Greatest Story Never Told
• Midnight
• Turn Left
• Dazzling End
• Ruful Fate Of Donna Noble
• Davros
• Dark And Endless Dalek Night
• Pressing Need To Save The World
• Hanging On The Tablaphone
• Song Of Freedom
• Closing Credits

The Doctor Who series four soundtrack is on sale from 18th November priced £9.99 per copy.

Doctor Who Adventures - Issue 82

The cover and info on this week's edition of Doctor Who Adventures magazine:

Bumper Doctor Who gift pack!

This week’s issue of Doctor Who Adventures is a brilliant bumper gift pack, along with an exciting issue, readers will get loads of goodies! The gift pack includes a fantastic double-sided poster of the Doctor and Rose on one side and a mean-looking Davros on the other (perfect for bedroom walls), a set of four monster postcards featuring four of the scariest creatures in the universe and a massive set of stickers!

Inside the magazine, you’ll find a top ten of the Doctor’s most dangerous moments plus loads of essential facts about your favourite Time Lord. You’ll also find a special eight-page guide to prepare you for the new series of The Sarah Jane Adventures. 

ALSO THIS ISSUE: 

• Three posters! The Doctor, Sarah Jane and friends and the Moxx of Balhoon. 
• Ultimate Companions: Part two of our continuing series. 
• Game: Play Yana’s cool memory game. 
• Tales from the Tardis: Donna runs into Rose Tyler. 
• Comic strip: The Doctor needs Donna’s help! 
• Time Teasers: Know your Nodes and Weapon watch! 
• Woven word whirl: Solve the puzzle and you could win a Doctor Who - The Ghosts of India audiobook. Win: Doctor Who DVDs and dragon books up for grabs! 
• Subscription offer: Subscribe and you’ll get a free Doctor Who Tardis and Doctor Files.
• All this and loads more!

Issue 82 of Doctor Who A ventures magazine is on sale from today at all good newsagents until 24th September priced £2.50 per copy.

Doctor Who Magazine - Issue 400

The cover and info on this month's edition of Doctor Who magazine:

Doctor Who Magazine reaches its 400th issue in style, with EIGHT extra pages and an exclusive photoshoot with the Doctor himself, David Tennant!

“I bought the first issue, in 1979,” David tells DWM. “I just thought, at last! Why’s this not happened before now? I was delighted. I chose it as my order. I used to be allowed one issue a week. Could DWM run for another 400 issues? “Well, that’s a long time. How many years are we talking?”It’s been 29 years so far...“ Another 400 issues...” he considers.

“You know, I’m tempted to say, ‘If the television series continues,’ but Doctor Who Magazine thrived when the series was nowhere to be seen, to be fair, so I can see no reason why it won’t run and run. But hopefully the series will be there with the magazine, side by side, all the way. That’s how it should be. Yeah, with me on the cover! Forever...”

Also in this very special issue:

•  Executive producer Russell T Davies looks back over the last five years, in his most candid DWM interview ever.
•  An exclusive competition where YOU can win the chance to become a DWM reporter and go on the set of the TV series!
•  Sontarans! The Brigadier! And Creepy Clowns! Discover what dangers lie ahead for the Bannerman Road gang as DWM talks to writer Phil Ford and previews the brand new series of The Sarah Jane Adventures.
•  DWM celebrates the sheer brilliance of Doctor Who as Gary Gillatt takes an affectionate look at just what makes Doctor Who the best TV show ever.
•  The Watcher casts a nostalgic eye over the last 400 issues as he charts the surprising, amusing and often bizarre history of Doctor Who Magazine.
•  “You were expecting someone else?” The Time Team get a shock as the Sixth Doctor himself, Colin Baker, joins them to watch the end of 1986’s epic adventure, The Trial of a Time Lord!
•  It’s the start of a brand new era for the comic strip as the Doctor discovers a familiar face aboard a prison in space... Part One of Thinktwice is by Dan McDaid with art by Martin Geraghty.

•  Plus! Never-before-seen photos and behind-the-scenes info... and all you favourite features, including Production Notes, You Are Not Alone, Gallifrey Guardian, reviews, previews, competitions... And a FREE, double-sided poster featuring an exclusive image of David Tennant on one side... and every single cover of DWM on the other!

Issue 400 of Doctor Who magazine is on sale from today at all good newsagents until 15th October priced £3.99 per copy.

Doctor Who Battles in Time - Issues 53 & 54

The covers and info on the next two issues of Doctor Who Battles in Time magazine:

The Shadow Proclamation 
Episode Guide: Silence in the Library 
Card Clash: Davros vs Supreme Dalek 
Comic Strip: The Time Stealer 
Dalek Wars: Daleks vs US Military 
On Sale: 17th September 2008
Cards: Devastator - 1 pack 
Price: £2.50

Supreme Dalek and Dalek Caan
Doctor Deck: Tardis Panorama
Episode Guide: Forest of the Dead
Card Clash: Vespiform vs General Staal
Comic Strip: School of the Dead
Behind the Scenes: Creating the Creator  
On Sale: 1st October 2008
Cards: Devastator - 1 pack
Price: £2.50

Doctor Who Adventures - Issue 81

The cover and info on this week's edition of Doctor Who Adventures magazine:

Essential Doctor Who facts guaranteed! 
It’s useful to know all the facts about scary monsters because you never know when you might run into one. Take the Time Beetle, for example. Together with a mysterious fortune teller, it tried to change the universe by making Donna Noble turn right instead of left…

In this week’s Doctor Who Adventures, there’s a fact file about the mystical lady and horrible beetle - so you’ll know to avoid them both if you ever take a trip to the planet Shan Shen.

There’s also the final part of our competition to win a cool Roboform head - and if you’ve missed one of the tokens, don’t worry as there will be a bonus one in the following issue.

The issue comes with a free set of special pens - one’s got a Cyberman on it and the other has the Tardis - and there’s also a set of Ood stickers.

PLUS:

• Three posters! The lone Dalek, the Fortune Teller and the Trickster, and the Doctor and his duplicate.
• Ultimate Companions: K-9 talks us through the Doctor’s many friends.
• Quiz: Take our quiz to find out which companion you’d be.
• Tales from the Tardis: Donna discovers a Vespiform!
• Adventure guide: The Lost Boy from The Sarah Jane Adventures.
• Comic strip: Part two of By Order of the Bonemenders - something strange is happening to the Doctor.
• Doctor’s Data: The yucky clone from The Sontaran Stratagem.
• Time Teasers: Puzzles to strain your brain.
• Activity: Cut out a picture of Captain Jack and stick him on your face!
• Woven wordsearch: Win a copy of one of the latest Doctor Who books.
• Win: Life-size Doctor Who cut outs and a remote-control Dalek Sec watch could be yours.
• Subscription offer: Subscribe and you’ll get a free Doctor Who Tardis and Doctor Files. 
• All this and loads more!

Issue 81 of Doctor Who Adventures magazine is on sale from tomorrow at all good newsagents until 18th September priced £2.10 per copy.

The Sarah Jane Adventures: Series 2 - Episodes 1-4 Synopsis

The BBC Press Office have released the synopsis on episodes 1-4 of the forthcoming series of The Sarah Jane Adventures! You can read them below:

THE LAST SONTARAN, written by Phil Ford, directed by Joss Agnew
Part One
Reports of Strange lights around the Tycho Radio Telescope lead Sarah Jane, Luke, Clyde and Maria into a terrifying forest encounter - and Sarah Jane comes to face with her oldest enemy. Meanwhile Maria wrestles with a huge decision when her dad is offered a new job in America.

Part Two
Sarah Jane and the gang have only 40 minutes to save Earth as Sontaran Commander Kaagh plots to bring the world's orbiting satellites crashing down on on nuclear installations across the world. And Maria's Mum finally gets to the truth from Alan - but will they be in time to save Maria?

THE DAY OF THE CLOWN, written by Phil Ford, directed by Michael Kerrigan
Part One
New girl in Bannerman Road, Rani Chandra, is being haunted by a sinister Clown - does it have anything to do with the local children who have gone missing? When Clyde's friend disappears the trail leads them to a strange circus museum - and the legend to the Pied Piper!

Part Two
Sarah Jane's investigation into Spellman and Odd Bob the Clown takes her to a meteorite at the Pharos Institute. But Spellman's plot to make all of Park Vale's pupils vanish leads Sarah Jane into a confrontation with her own childhood fears in a bid to save Luke.

The Sarah Jane Adventures returns on Monday 29th September at the new time of 4:35pm on BBC One. You can catch the next episode over on CBBC straight after. In other news: Torchwood: Lost Souls airs tomorrow at 2:15pm on BBC Radio 4. More to come!

The Sarah Jane Adventures: New Series 2 Trailer

A new trailer advertising the next series of The Sarah Jane Adventures has been released and is currently being showed on CBBC during show breaks and cinema screens, you can watch it above. The Sarah Jane Adventures returns 29th September at 5:00pm on BBC One with the next episode over on CBBC straight after.

Doctor Who Adventures - Issue 80

The cover and info on this week's edition of Doctor Who Adventures magazine:

Win a Dalek Voice Changer Helmet!

This week in Doctor Who Adventures we’re off to a dangerous world. You’ll find everything you need to know about the mysterious monster that trapped the Doctor when he visited the planet Midnight. The weird thing is, we never got to find out what the creature looked like - so we’ve got a competition to draw what you think the creature looks like. The winning entry will receive a Dalek voice changer helmet - and have their monster appear in a future issue of Doctor Who Adventures. The issue comes with a free set of monster pens and stickers - featuring a scary Sontaran and deadly Dalek. There’s another set in next week’s issue too.

PLUS:

 

• The Fourth Doctor: A look at some of this Doctor’s top moments!
• Four posters! The Midnight gang, the hideous Trickster, Rose and the Ninth Doctor and a brilliant Cyberman poster.
• Win! Part two of your chance to win a Roboform head.
• Ultimate Ood: The last part of our guide to the Ood.
• Who knows: Your questions answered.
• Tales from the Tardis: A shock for Yvonne Hartman and Jackie Tyler in Doomsday!
• Adventure guide: Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?
• Comic strip: Part one of a new adventure for the Doctor and Donna - By Order of the Bonemenders.
• Doctor’s Data: Tim Latimer the psychic schoolboy!
• Time Teasers: Fun puzzles for you to work out!
• Activity: Make a Dalek Caan Mutant.
• Woven wordsearch: Solve the clues and win a Doctor Who audio book.
• Win: Monster artwork and Doctor Who storybooks up for grabs!
• Subscription offer: Subscribe and you’ll get a free Doctor Who Tardis and Doctor Files.
• All this and loads more!

Issue 80 of Doctor Who Adventures magazine is on sale from tomorrow at all good newsagents until 8th September priced £2.10 per copy.

The Sarah Jane Adventures: Series 2 News

The first promo images advertising series two of The Sarah Jane Adventures have been released and can be viewed above, more are to come. 

The BBC have also confirmed that the series starts broadcasting from Monday 29th September at 5:00pm on BBC One with The Last Sontaran: Part 1. Part 2 can be caught over on CBBC straight after.

Also, in preperation for the forthcoming series, The Sarah Jane Adventures website has been updated with edited pages, videos and new downloads, as well as a data profile on new character Rani Chrandra. Check it out here.