This month's SFX magazine has a Torchwood cover and inside, there's a four-page feature talking to Russell T Davies about his plans for the fourth series. He also comments on the recent rumours about Johnny Depp starring in a Doctor Who movie.

I’ve always had this story in mind, and when you discover what it is, you’ll go, ‘Oh, right...’ You’ll see how that can spread out [for ten episodes]. Actually, Children Of Earth could have run for ten episodes. Once you get martial law declared, we could have done three more episodes of that - if anything, we slightly rushed that ending. So this story is on that big a scale. It’s not a Lost-type story, full of mystery, and it’s not particularly complicated - it’s more linear. Ten parts just gives us a chance to move it onto the international stage where it takes place. The vast majority’s going to take place in America - and other countries as well - so it's got a size to it. It’s a proper, big, global ten-hour thriller.

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The actor Derek Pollitt has died at the age of 83.

Derek Pollitt had three roles in Doctor Who. In 1968 he played Driver Evans in the Second Doctor story The Web of Fear. Evans was part of Colonel Lethbridge Stewart's team, and the only survivor, other than the Colonel himself, from a fight with the Yeti. Evans always sang when scared. Pollitt returned to the series in 1970 playing Private Wright, a UNIT officer, in the third Doctor's second story Doctor Who and the Silurians. His final role in the series was not broadcast as he played A. St. John D. Caldera, a neurologist whose mind was stolen, in the cancelled story Shada.

Pollitt had a long association with Llandudno in Wales, where he and his then wife Pamela Rayner ran the Galleon Theatre Company for many years staging plays at the Grand Theatre in the in the 1960s. A keen sportsman, he played a couple of times in the 1960s for the Llandudno Second X1 cricket team and at the age of 64 he did a sponsored walk from John O’Groats to Land’s End to raise money for a London hospital. He died in hospital in Surrey on July 11.

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The first Doctor Who Prom of 2010 took place today, Saturday, hosted by Matt Smith and Karen Gillan.

The BBC National Orchestra of Wales, who record the soundtrack for the series, presented a selection of intergalactic music, including Murray Gold’s music from the TV show, plus a selection of classical favourites including Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries, Mars from Holst's The Planets and Orff's Carmina Burnana.

Before the concert, Matt Smith said of the Doctor Who Prom:

Utterly nerve-wracking... I think that Murray Gold is incredible, totally incredibly – a genius – and to hear all that in the Royal Albert Hall will just be one of the most soaring experiences.

The concert programme can be viewed on the Proms website, providing full details of the concert, the performers' biographies and an interview with Matt Smith and Karen Gillan.

The programme is now available for seven days on the BBC iPlayer.

Doctor Who Prom - Part One

• Murray Gold - The Mad Man with a Box
• Murray Gold - An Untimely Arrival
• John Adams - Short Ride in a Fast Machine
• Murray Gold - I Am The Doctor
• William Walton - Overture Portsmouth Point
• Gustav Holst - The Planets - Mars
• Murray Gold - Battle in the Skies

Interval Twenty Minutes - Dance of the Daleks
How do you make a sink-plunger seem scary? Matthew Sweet, who spent the Saturday tea-times of his youth peering at the television from behind the sofa, time-travels through Doctor Who's 47-year history to investigate the weird and wonderful soundworld of its incidental music. He talks with some of the composers who have contributed, in very different musical styles, to the enduring success of the programme over the decades.

Doctor Who Prom - Part Two

• Carl Orff - Carmina Burana - O Fortuna
• Murray Gold - Amy
• Murray Gold - Liz, Lizards and Vincenyt
• Richard Wagner - Die Walkure
• Murray Gold - This is Gallifrey / Vale decem
• Murray Gold - Pandorica Suite
• Murray Gold - Song of Freedom
• Ron Grainer - Doctor Who Theme

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The Windows versions of the first two episodes in The Doctor Who Adventure Games are now available to download internationally.

Both City of the Daleks and Blood of the Cybermen, are now available globally from Direct2Drive.com, IGN's digital retail game store.

The games are being launched to coincide with the North American season finale of The Big Bang, which airs July 24 on BBC America and SPACE, and with this year's Comic-Con festival. No Mac version has yet been made available internationally.

The games are still available to download free of charge for fans in the United Kingdom. Two more episodes are planned for release over the next couple of months.

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For the third month running Doctor Who has topped the monthly iPlayer request charts with the final four episodes of the series being the top four requested programmes for June.

Top of the list was The Pandorica Opens with over 1.3 million requests during the month, followed by The Lodger, Vincent and the Doctor and The Big Bang all with over a million requests. The highest programme, not related to Doctor Who, was Top Gear with 0.88 million requests. During the month Doctor Who had 6.35 million requests in total, shared between 13 episodes, just behind EastEnders which had 7 million requests for one of the 22 episodes available.

Figures for the year so far, give Doctor Who the top nine places in the download charts, and 14 of the top twenty places. The Eleventh Hour tops the list with over 2.1 million requests, by far the highest requested programme in the BBC iPlayer history. Because the whole series was on iPlayer from transmission date until July, the early episodes of the series were available for much longer and therefore had higher iPlayer figures. The final two episodes of the series will get a boost when the July figures are available.

Top IPlayer requests January - June 2010

1 - Doctor Who 1 The Eleventh Hour - 2.16m
2 - Doctor Who 2 The Beast Below - 1.63m
3 - Doctor Who 4 The Time of Angels - 1.52m
4 - Doctor Who 7 Amy's Choice - 1.51m
5 - Doctor Who 3 Victory of the Daleks - 1.46m
6 - Doctor Who 5 Flesh and Stone - 1.40m
7 - Doctor Who 12 The Pandorica Opens - 1.33m
8 - Doctor Who 6 The Vampires of Venice - 1.32m
9 - Doctor Who 11 The Lodger - 1.29m
10 - Top Gear Series 14 Episode 7 - 1.26m
11 - Doctor Who 8 The Hungry Earth - 1.22m
12 - Outnumbered Series 3 Episode 1 - 1.16m
13 - Doctor Who 10 Vincent and the Doctor - 1.13m
14 - Doctor Who 9 Cold Blood - 1.13m
15 - EastEnders Live 19 Feb - 1.13m
16 - Doctor Who 13 The Big Bang - 1.11m
17 - Outnumbered Series 3 Episode 2 - 1.03m
18 - Outnumbered Series 3 Episode 3 - 1.00m
19 - Mock the Week Series 8 Episode 5 - 0.95m
20 - Doctor Who The End of Time Part 2 - 0.94m

Full ratings for the series can be found in Gallifrey Base.

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Doctor Who Magazine issue 424 is published this week and thee magazine talks to Arthur Darvill, aka Rory Williams, about what the future might hold for the new Mr Pond. How does Arthur feel about potentially becoming a regular next series?

Fingers crossed! If that does happen, then I’m really interested to know what happens to Rory and Amy’s relationship, and also how the relationship between the three of them works. Because there’s obviously been a big change to Rory after waiting 2000 years...!

Also in the magazine Toby Haynes, director of The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang, takes readers on a journey through the making of the epic season finale, with exclusive photos revealing how he brought the script to life. There is also a candid chat with the Doctor himself, actor Matt Smith, about his hopes for the next season, the forthcoming Christmas Special and Jo Grant’s mini-skirts and Steven Moffat, Doctor Who’s head writer and executive producer, names names and lets slip a secret or two about the next series, as he takes a rollercoaster ride in the latest Production Notes!

Also in his most candid interview ever, Matthew Waterhouse talks about what it was really like being Adric in Doctor Who in the 1980s – and the many challenges he faced both in front of and behind the camera. The Doctor and Amy find themselves slave to the rhythm in Planet Bollywood, a brand new comic strip by Jonathan Morris, with art by Roger Langridge.

The Fact of Fiction takes a trip back to the swinging sixties, and discovers that there’s more than just megalomaniac computers and massive metal monsters in the groundbreaking First Doctor adventure, The War Machines. And what were the very best Doctor Who DVD, audio and book releases of 2009? And which story has been voted the favourite Tenth Doctor Specials? Discover all the winners as the magazine announces the results of the DWM Awards.

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"The Man Who Invented The Daleks: The Strange Worlds of Terry Nation" is a new biography on the life of writer Terry Nation by Alwyn W. Turner, and is due to be published by Aurum Books during the spring of next year.

The book will focus on Nation's work during the 1960s and 1970s, covering series such as Survivors, Blake's Seven, The Avengers, The Saint, The Persuaders! and of course Doctor Who, plus his involvement with comedian Tony Hancock and Associated London Scripts.

Says Sam Harrison from Aurum:

In his acclaimed histories Crisis? What Crisis? and Rejoice! Rejoice! Alwyn has proven himself one of the most stylish and authoritative writers on British popular culture working today. By drawing together the various strands of Terry Nation's life and career, this book will offer a captivating window onto the creative melting pot without which British television today would look very different.

The author Alywn Turner is interested to hear from anyone who knew and wishes to share their memories of Terry Nation, and may be contacted by email.

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An full 44 page programme for Saturday's Doctor Who Prom is now available on the BBC Proms Website.

The programme lists all the music due to be played at the concert and well as containing information on each piece and interviews with Matt Smith and Karen Gillan. The programme contains a credit for additional filmed material starring Matt Smith and directed by Toby Haynes, who directed The Pandorica Opens / The Big Bang.

The Doctor Who prom can be heard worldwide via the BBC iPlayer on Saturday.

NB: The programme lists the monsters due to appear at the concert which may be regarded as a spoiler.

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More details are available in this months DWM on the extras to be included in the forthcoming Revisitations Box set, due for release in the UK in October.

The set will consist of three previously released stories taken from remastered and restored prints and with updated extras.

The Talons of Weng-Chiang
3 Discs

• The Last Hurrah a new documentary where producer Philip Hinchliffe visits Tom Baker at his home to discuss their final story together
• Moving On where Hinchliffe talks about what he envisaged for the series had he stayed as producer
• The Foe from the Future, a look at the original story which eventually became The Talons of Weng Chiang
• Now and Then, a tour of the locations used in the story
• Look East with Tom Baker interviewed.
• Whose Doctor Who, presented by Melvyn Bragg - As included on the original release

The Caves of Androzani
2 Discs

• Chain Reaction, a look back at the making of the story
• Directing Who: Then and Now - Graeme Harper talks about the changes in TV Production since he made this story
• Archive footage from The Russell Harty Show featuring an interview with Peter Davison and Colin Baker.

The Television Movie
2 Discs

• An new commentary featuring Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann
• The Seven Year Hitch, looking at the seven year quest to get this story made
• The Wilderness Years, looking at how the show was kept alive during the hiatus between the end of Series 26 and the TV Movie
• Who Peter 1989-2009, the final part of the documentary looking at the special link between the two programmes Doctor Who and Blue Peter
• Stripped for Action, the eighth Doctor in Comic Strip
• Tomorrows Times, how the short reign of the Eighth Doctor was reported by the press at the time.

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Writing in Doctor Who Magazine, Steven Moffat has confirmed the key members of the production team for Series 32 of Doctor Who, the sixth series since the programme returned in 2005.

The team at the top will remain the same with Piers Wenger and Beth Willis continuing their role as Executive Producers on the series. As previously reported, Sanne Wohlenberg will take over as producer on the first two filming blocks of the series, following the departure of Tracie Simpson who has left to work on The Fabulous Baker Boys.

The new Production Designer is Michael Pickwoad who takes over from Edward Thomas who is now working on Outcasts. Pickwoad has recently been working on the ITV production of The Prisoner, for which he was nominated for an Art Directors Guild Award. Other series he has worked on include Miss Marple, Sweeney Todd, David Copperfield, Kavanagh QC and Murder Most Horrid. He designed the 1987 film Withnail & I, which starred Paul McGann.

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The Advertising Standards Authority has upheld two complaints against The Telegraph Media Group over its free audio book offer which took place in April and which was promoted in the The Sunday Telegraph as a Free Doctor Who Audio Book read by David Tennant.

One complaint said the offer was misleading as it did not make clear that the audiobook came in two parts and that part two would be included in Monday's paper. A second complainant said the claim that the audiobooks were "free" was misleading, as under the terms and conditions customers who did not live near a WH Smith store would have to pay £12.99 to receive the audiobooks by post.

Both complaints were upheld with the paper instructed not to repeat the offence.

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Seventh Doctor Sylvester McCoy, has been appointed this year’s Chieftain at Cowal Highland Gathering in Dunoon taking place in August.

The gathering is Scotland’s biggest highland games and attracts up to 23,000 spectators and over 3500 competitors from all round the world with more than 500 highland dancers and 3000 pipers competeing to win championship titles.

The role of the Chieftain is a ceremonial one whose main duties include presenting prizes to the winners of the Cowal Pipe Band Championships & the World Highland Dancing Championship. The event comes to a climax when the Chieftain takes salute during the pipe band march past when the massed bands, which make up 3000 pipers & drummers, form and play the salute to the Chieftain.

Sylvester McCoy, who was born in Dunoon, said:

I am absolutely delighted to be attending Cowal Highland Gathering at the end of August especially considering that as a child I grew up for 18 years watching the pipers marching up Argyll Street. I so look forward to revisiting the location and the happy memories. I am thrilled and honoured to have been asked.

Malcolm Barclay, Event Manager for Cowal Highland Gathering said:

I would like to thank Mr McCoy for accepting our invitation to be our honorary Chieftain at this year’s event. It is a privilege and honour to welcome Mr McCoy into this role and both myself and the team at Cowal Highland Gathering look forward to bringing him home to Dunoon this year.

McCoy played the Doctor from 1987 - 1989. He has recently been rumoured to be playing a major role in feature film The Hobbit.

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Both Matt Smith and Steven Moffat are interviewed in the new edition of Radio Times.

In a "School Holidays" special issue of the magazine, Smith is interviewed by Jack, 13:

What makes you different from previous Doctors?
- I’m younger, so my skin is a bit smoother. What would you say makes me different? Bigger ears?
You’re crazier.
- There you go, I’m crazier.
How many marks out of ten would you give yourself so far?
- That’s a tough one. Let’s say eight. I’ve two episodes left, so I can still get to ten. I don’t want to undersell myself.
We don’t often see the Doctor eating anything. My favourite food is sausage and mash. What’s yours?
- Spaghetti bolognese, banana sandwiches. I love biscuits with tea and am partial to a chocolate muffin or two.

And also in the magazine, Doctor Who Executive Producer and Lead writer Steven Moffat writes about his new project Sherlock:

When I was a little Beano-reading Doctor Who fan – about nine or ten – I was desperate to know more about Sherlock Holmes. It was a name I’d heard. I knew he was some kind of policeman, I knew he had a funny hat, and I knew he was in a film called The Hound of the Baskervilles, which once came on the telly and got me sent to bed because it was too frightening. I remember lying upstairs that night, too excited to sleep – because I could hear the baying of a terrible hound, and the rapid-fire voice of a policeman who fought monsters. I needed to find out more, because I knew already this was my kind of hero: if Doctor Who had been a detective, clearly he’d have been Sherlock Holmes.

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Canada's annual science fiction awards, the Constellations, have now taken place. Doctor Who and its related shows had been nominated in a number of categories:

The Best Male Performance in a 2009 Science Fiction Television Episode category was won by former Doctor David Tennant, gaining 23% of the vote for his performance in The Waters of Mars; he narrowly beat Robin Dunne from Sanctuary at 22%. Torchwood star Gareth David Lloyd had also been nominated in this category, coming in at fifth place (8%) for Torchwood: Children of Earth.

However, Doctor Who itself did not fare so well in the Best Science Fiction Television Series of 2009 category; having won the award three years running, this time it only managed third place at 17%, behind Defying Gravity(22%) and Supernatural(23%).

In other categories, actress Michelle Ryan came fourth with 13% of the vote in Best Female Performance in a 2009 Science Fiction Television Episode for her role as Christina in Planet of the Dead; Torchwood: Children of Earth came third for Best Overall 2009 Science Fiction Film or Television Script (20%); and finally actress Aurora Buchanan came fifth(10%) in Best Female Performance in a 2009 Science Fiction Film, TV Movie, or Mini-Series for fan-made film Doctor Who: Victimsight.

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Frazer Hines has recently revealed that he had been battling bowel cancer for eleven years. The actor has said that he kept his illness secret in fear of finding that he would no longer be offered work, but has now been given the all clear and is promoting awareness of the illness through Cancer Research and the Bobby Moore Cancer Foundation.

Only close family were aware of his illness, which also didn't feature in his recently published his revised autobiography Hines Sight.

Speaking to the People, the actor talked about dealing with the illness:

They said I had a 25 per cent chance of survival. The prognosis was terrifying. My brother Roy died of lung cancer aged 41, my dad of a heart attack at 62. I suddenly thought, The Hines arent going to live very long. It was like I was next in line to go.

When I got out of the hospital bed (after a bowel operation and chemotherapy treatment) I walked to the mirror and saw this grey face staring back. I told myself, "there's someone who's cheated death." After they discharged me I felt like I wanted to grab life by the horns. The first morning I was home, I went for a ride on my motorbike. Liz (Hobbs, Frazer's then wife) was furious and said I would rip my stitches out.

During the period Frazer continued to work in a panto in Grantham. I did the chemo in the morning then, with a catheter in place, I attended rehearsals and went back for chemo in the evening. I did 13 shows a week. I never told anyone in the cast. I never felt sick and was full of energy. My hair actually grew so much that I could put a bow in it by the last show. I had chemo for four months.

A scan later showed he was clear of cancer but doctors warned there was a risk it could return. For the next five years, I still didn't tell anybody and certainly didn't want it to become common knowledge in the showbiz world as I knew I would never work again. I thought if people in TV knew, they'd think "we can't have him, hes got cancer, too big a risk." I also didn't want fans to feel sorry for me and have everyone thinking I was at death's door. I wanted people to treat me like normal no matter what I was going through.

I stayed away from TV but did theatre. On stage you always have an understudy, so if I took a turn for the worse I wouldn't let anyone down. On TV you would and there would be no coming back from that.

I had six-monthly check-ups until this year when a colonoscopy confirmed I was in the clear. It felt I was finally free again. Now I can tell people and help inspire them.

Bowel cancer doesnt have to be a death sentence. You can survive. I did.

The actor is of course best known to readers of the Doctor Who News page as popular companion to the second Doctor, Jamie McCrimmon - there is currently a facebook campaign to get the actor back into both Doctor Who and his other long-running acting commitment Emmerdale!

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