The writing team for Torchwood’s fourth series has been named, according to the Chicago Tribune, and it’s a pretty meaty list. Returning to the fold is John Fay, who you may recall contributed to the fantastic Children of Earth, alongside three American writers of some note.

Probably the biggest name in the list is Jane Espenson, which is a name that fans of Firefly, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Battlestar Galactica will probably recognise. That’s a pretty big deal, there.

Joining Fay and Espenson are John Shiban (The X-Files, Smallville, Breaking Bad) and Doris Egan (Smallville, Dark Angel, House). Pretty meaty, I’d say. Not a bad spread for the ten-part series. Indications seem to point towards “Torchwood International” being a series-long story a la Children of Earth rather than the “monster of the week” format we had for the show’s first two series. Which is good, because those first two series are mostly shit.

Doctor Who struggled with its premiere episode. As we all know by now, “The Beast Below” was intended to be the first episode but Fox decided to dick around with the broadcast order as well as demanding that a brand new, more “introductory” pilot be filmed. Then they cancelled the show halfway through the series anyway. Bastards. A shame too, because we were just getting to know that funny old young man and his travelling machine.

Fortunately for us, the original ending for “The Eleventh Hour” has found its way onto YouTube. A DVD release looks uncertain, but if Fox get off their arses and actually release the show on DVD then this is the sort of extra I’d like to see.

The original ending can be found here.

“They’ve released images of the final boxart for Series Fnarg. Here, have a look.”
“Is that it? That looks shite! It’s just the bloody promo shot from before the series launched. ”
“Well yes, but actually it’s really rather clever.”
“No it isn’t.”
“Yes it is.”
“How?”
“Well, it’s part of a pattern, doesn’t it? Series Two and Four both featured the time vortex on the cover.”
“Did they?”
“Yep. Remember? Series Two had that lenticular thingy. And Series Four had Donna and the Doctor standing in front of a very reflective vortex.”
“So?”
“Well, it means there’s a pattern! All the other sets involve the TARDIS in some way. Series One had the TARDIS exterior, and Series Three and the David Tennant Specials used the TARDIS floor as part of the design! There’s logic behind this decision!”
“You’re an odd bastard, d’you know that? Does the set at least come with some decent extras?”
“Actually, yes. Bleeding Cool Comic News have reported that Series Fnarg will feature two brand new ‘bridging sequences’ called Meanwhile, In The TARDIS… that have apparently been newly filmed.”
“Pretty clever, the way you said the URL like that.”
“I thought so.”
“So… what now?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, we’re not real. We’re just disembodied voices who exist solely to make a point about about some DVD artwork.”
“And Bluray.”
“And Bluray, yes. But we’ve served our purpose now. What happens next?”
“Hm. I dunno. I guess we just sort of… stop.”
“Stop? Like, dead?”
“We were never really alive.”
“I’m scared.”
“I know. Here it comes. Are you ready?”
“No.”
“Me either.”

Well fuck me: The BBC have announced that an RTD-helmed fourth series of  Torchwood is going forward, and will be co-produced by BBC Wales and American network Starz Entertainment. Barrowman and Myles will reprise their roles, and the series will contain ten episodes set in various locations worldwide including Wales and, haha, the US.

Beyond that there’s not a lot else we know about the new series. Still, if the show can hold on to the level of brilliance it reached for Children of Earth then everybody wins.

Audio maestros Big Finish have had their Doctor Who license renewed for another year, giving them the rights to produce more classic Who audioplays up until 2012. There is, of course, no point in them asking for an extension beyond that point because as we all know the world is going on end on December 21st, 2012. So that ought to save them some money.

Actually that was a joke.

Nick Briggs also mentions in the announcement that BF are still in talks with Tom Baker, which is promising.

Oh my word, wasn’t that exciting? The twists, the turns, the astounding revelations. My heart was pounding in my chest when it wasn’t leaping up into my throat. And that ending! What an ending.

But enough about the Ashes to Ashes finale. Let’s talk about “The Hungry Earth”.

It’s a beast! It’s below! It’s a beast and it’s below! It’s The Beast Below!

Will Seb and Cappsy kick me thoroughly in the balls for posting fan-art? I bloody hope not, because this is stunning. A Gallifrey Base member has posted his schematics for what the exterior of the TARDIS might look like in its pure form. No Chameleon Circuit, no transcendental dimensions. Just the TARDIS.

And my word, is it impressive.

I’d love to embed the images here but DeviantArt is being shit, so instead allow me to link you to the top elevation view and the bottom elevation view.

Do you know about Insomniac Whovian? It’s rather brilliant: They throw on a Doctor Who story old or new at midnight UK time (occasionally an hour or so later) and watch it, live-tweeting together as they go. Isn’t that lovely?

They’re doing a Dalek themed week in the lead-up to this Saturday’s “Victory of the Daleks”. In fact they’re watching “Day of the Daleks” right now. Tomorrow they’ll be watching “Genesis”, then “Resurrection” on Wednesday, “Revelation” on Thursday, and “Remembrance” on Friday. Which is nice. You can join in, provided you have the story they’re watching and you press “Play” at the same time they do.

I don’t usually get to join in with this, what with living eight hours in the past and everything, but assuming I’m not working on Friday I should be able to join in for “Remembrance”, which is inexplicably my favourite classic series Dalek story.

The Doctor Who News Page just posted this video about the making of the new Eleventh Doctor action figure. That’s all well and good, but check out this shot from about fifty-six seconds into the video:

The Eighth Doctor. Right there. Right fucking there. Look at him. Just you bloody look. I’ve not seen any pictures of the Eighth Doctor figure yet. This is like putting your hand in your pocket and finding a tenner you forgot you had.