We join other Doctor Who fans in mourning the passing of John Scott Martin as reported on Outpost Gallifrey: John Scott Martin (1926-2009) who passed away at the age of 82 on the 6th of January 2009 while battling Parkinson's disease.

Appearing in more than 110 episodes of Doctor Who, he may have been best known as being the chief Dalek operator. "I always thought playing a Dalek was as interesting as playing a cow in a pantomime - there was potential to put some personality into it. We had to believe that the Dalek was not a human being, yet it was still a being. That's not to say it wasn't really nasty," he had stated.

He had hoped to return to the series when it returned to television screens in 2005 as this BBC story indicates from 2004, Dalek veteran makes comeback bid.

His part in Doctor Who were not just limited to Daleks, as he played other roles such as a miner in The Green Death during the duration of the series original run. In addition he has worked in films such as Pink Floyd's The Wall, Monty Python's The Meaning of Life, and Erik the Viking.

A report in the Mirror says that Matt Smith's odds mysteriously increased from 33:1 to 10:1 in the hours before the official announcement. The Telegraph states that some online betting sites, such as betfair.com, made Smith a 1:3 favorite immediately prior to the airing of Doctor Who Confidential. Since the strengthening of the odds came largely as the result of new bets being placed on Smith, rather than any arbitrary raising of the line by a brokerage, the BBC have had to deny they had "any knowledge of suspicious betting activity".

It has been announced that Matt Smith will be taking the wheel or console controls of the TARDIS after David Tennant leaves the role of the Doctor in Doctor Who. As predicted this should be happening next year in 2010. At 26 years of age, he is now the youngest actor to take the part, a position previously held by Peter Davison.

The Gallifreyan Embassy welcomes Matt to the role as the 11th Doctor.

For details and more information visit the BBC news article here: BBC News: New Doctor actor is youngest ever.

You love Quentin Tarantino. You've been told — by an official BBC press announcement, no less — that he's going to direct a two-parter for Doctor Who in 2010. But then you watch part 2 and you see someone else's name in the credits. Only after the fact do you understand that because of unavoidable circumstance, Tarentino had to fly back the US and leave the conclusion to someone the BBC scraped up at the last minute. And they didn't even have the decency to issue a press release about the switch. How would you feel about that?

For the full news story visit the BBC News website

Last seasons, Australian viewers had to wait for up to nine months to be shown the Christmas Specials, which would precede the airing of each season. However, The Next Doctor is planned to air at 7:30pm Sunday January 25 on ABC1. This is the night before Australia Day which is a public holiday Australia-wide.

Source: TV Tonight

Joining the line up of guests for the New England Fan Experience is Eric Roberts, The Master / Bruce from the 1996 Doctor Who video movie starring Paul McGann as The Doctor. Along with Eric, his wife, Eliza Roberts who played Miranda, the wife of Bruce also in the same movie will be in attendance.

More recently Eric was seen in the very popular summer blockbuster film, The Dark Knight the sequel to Batman Begins, playing the crime boss Salvatore Maroni. In addition he can be seen in the television series Heroes as the character Thompson.

Eliza also appeared in the hit 1978 comedy film Animal House as Brunella and has also appeared in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.

Eric Roberts and Eliza Roberts are the latest guests added to the impressive list of others appearing at New England Fan Experience including Peter Davison (the 5th Doctor), Morena Baccarin (Firefly, Stargate SG1), Mark Goddard (Lost in Space), Daniel Logan (Young Boba Fett), Robert Picardo (Star Trek: Voyager, Stargate SG1), and many others.

New England Fan Experience is taking place on November 21, 22, and 23, 2008 at the Hyatt Regency, Cambridge, MA overlooking Boston.

BREAKING NEWS: David Tennant who has been playing the title role (as the 10th Doctor) in the hit series Doctor Who since picking up where Christopher Eccleston left the role in 2005 has announced that his departure from the series will be after he has completed the current line up of four specials. The first being this December's Christmas special and the remainder of specials are being shown throughout 2009 and early 2010.

This puts to rest recent rumours reporting that he had been signed to extend his contract to 2011.

For further details, please see: BBC - Doctor Who - News - David Tennant to leave Doctor Who
and BBC News - David Tennant quits as Doctor Who (includes video statement by Tennant)

News coming from the Telegraph (www.telegraph.co.uk) reports that there will be once again another special Doctor Who episode (most likely a mini-episode) produced as a fundraiser for the Children in Need charity.

Last year, a mini-episode was produced that featured two Doctors in a short story where the 10th and 5th Doctor meet in Time Crash starring both David Tennant and Peter Davison. This year, they may be upping the game with all seven living actors to play the role in a one-off episode featuring them all slated for broadcast on the 14th of November.

What is unclear is whether they will be playing their respective roles as the Doctor or not. Also please keep in mind that this has yet to be officially announced. Until it does, please treat this as rumour.

Source: Seven Dr Whos set for reunion - Telegraph.co.uk