• DWM 378 clarifies what, exactly, "Invasion of the Bane" was. It was a "New Year Special". Alternately, RTD explicitly calls it a "first episode". But "it isn't a pilot as such, because a series of 10 half-hour stories, consisting of five two-part stories, has already been commissioned". Thus the commission was very similar to the 2005 series of Doctor Who, except that the yuletide special came first with SJA • Filming began only in April, so the interrelationship between the five serials is unknown. It could be that RTD will order that the separate stories be linked, as he himself did for his own Dark Season. Or it could be a return to the classic Doctor Who format of mostly unconnected serials. Very little has been released about the actual content of the stories. That said, in DWM 378, Gareth Roberts admitted that Dark Season "was exactly what I wanted to do at the time—write a cracking kids' sci-fi show."
• Series writers, according to DWM 380, will be Gareth Roberts (2 stories + pilot), RTD (1 story + pilot), Phil Ford (1 story), and Phil Gladwin (1 story). There is some possibility, according to sarahjane.tv, that RTD may not have, in fact, been able to complete his script due to his other commitments. It is worth noting that imdb is currently suggesting former prospective Anakin Skywalker, Vauhan Sivell, as one of the series' writers. If true, this would apparently be his first professional writing assignment of any kind. It's also worth noting that imdb's writer list is highly incomplete at present, and its content is user driven.
• At least four of the episodes will definitely be directed by Alice Troughton, who has already directed "Small Worlds" and "Out of Time" for Torchwood. Colin Teague, director of "Bane", may be returning for episodes of the regular series. Graeme Harper may also be the director for the final two-parter.
• DWM 378 reports a series of original-to-audio BBC tie-in products are planned, probably to feature at least the vocal talents of Elizabeth Sladen. The exact nature of the works is unclear. They could be relatively full-cast, or they could just be Sladen reading prose. They are being produced by BBC Audiobooks.
• In a 17 May 2007 interview with lead SJA writer, Gareth Roberts, the official Doctor Who site managed confirmed that BBC Wales' in-house-bard is solely writing two of the two-part stories. Of the two, he proudly asserts that the second story is "the best thing I've ever done".
• Producer of the New Year Special, Suzie Ligatt, is replaced on the series proper by Matthew Bouch. Bouch actually shadowed Liggat on the production of "Bane", so even at the time of filming it was known Ligatt was not to be the regular series producer. Those following production of Doctor Who will know this change comes as a result of Liggat's temporary replacement of Phil Collinson for the duration of the "Human Nature" story in series 3.
• The show's currently-most-developed, fan-run news website, Sarah-Jane.tv, has reported that the "Invasion of the Bane" character, "Kelsey", will not appear in the series proper. She is instead to be replaced by Daniel Anthony playing a character named "Clyde". Though the deal is done, there's a lot of conflicting information as to why. Some are saying the character never was intended to go past "Bane". Others are suggesting that the actress was simply a pain to work with, so they got rid of her. Whatever the case, the "official" word is due out in DWM 382 or 383.
