Steven Moffat (writer of Blink and the current season's Silence in the Library) has officially been announced the successor to Russell T. Davies as chief writer and executive producer of Doctor Who when it returns in 2009.  The announcement made the BBC News channel and was a separate item on BBC radio 2.  Moffat most recently was awarded by the British Academy Television Awards (BAFTA) as Best Writer for the Who episode Blink.   Moffat said Russell T. Davies had offered him the head position last year by email   <>   According to a columnist at web-site Comic Book Resources, Neil Gaiman (Stardust) has been asked by new Who producer Steven Moffat to write an episode for 2010.   <>   Doctor Who episode Silence in the Library was rated the most appreciated Who programme of all time.  However the same episode did not win its timeslot, for the first time falling to the reality show Britain's Got Talent.   <>   The BBC this May released a new mid-season trailer for the fourth season of Doctor Who. The trailer is available through the BBC and youtube.com.  The trailer contains hints about the return of Rose Tyler and a certain shadowed Dalek leader.   <>   Torchwood will be played on Radio 4 in their Afternoon Play this summer.  The story will include the voices of John Barrowman, Eve Myles, Gareth David-Lloyd, and Freema Agyeman.

David Tennant has joined an actor campaign to prevent government cutbacks at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow.  The academy must cut 600,000 pounds this year, and is in doubt.  Tennant said, "Nothing I have managed to achieve in my career would have happened without my training at the RSAMD."   No word as to whether he or the other actors have donated for the academy.   <>   Tennant has also been in the tabloids, for dating Georgia Moffett, his daughter from The Doctor's Daughter.  The Sun has reported Tennant seen leaving Moffett's apartment, and out on the town.  Moffett has a six-year-old son, and is the true life daughter of Peter Davison.   <>   Freema Agyeman (Martha Jones) has been cast in the Terry Nation remake Survivors, currently filming and planned for airing in Fall 2008.  Agyeman will play Jenny Collins, a school teacher.  Agyeman has also been cast in Little Dorrit, a Charles Dickens 15-part adaptation.  Agyeman will play Tattycoram, the companion to the daughter named Pet.   <>   An investigation by the BBC industry regulator OfCom found Doctor Who star Catherine Tate was a victim of unfair practices - the program was to award the best 2005 British comedy as voted on by viewers.  However, due to a previous commitment the show had that pop star Robbie Williams, a presenter, had in his contract to only present an award should one be given to Ant and Dec, the duo was awarded instead of Ms. Tate. Ant and Dec have since said they will return the ill-gotten award.   <>   Catherine Tate is also appearing in the play Under the Blue Sky through September in London's West End theatre.   <>   John Barrowman has re-signed for season 3 of Torchwood.  The program returns to filming in August, with a confirmed 5-part story planned to be aired all in one week.   <>   Sylvester McCoy recently finished a role in Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado.  Transporting the theatre-goer into the Japanese court of Titpu, the tale combines love, marriage, and heroics with colorful characters.   <>   William Hartnell has been honored with a new U.K. stamp, based on his role in Carry On Sergeant.  Hartnell specialized in playing drill sergeants and cops in the Carry On films, which were slapstick films similar to Benny Hill.   <>   Bernard Archard (The Power of the Daleks and Pyramid of Mars) has joined MTL member Chris Cebula's favorite pastime list of those in Doctor Who who are recently deceased.  Also recently added is Bruce Purchase, remembered as The Captain in The Pirate Planet.  Purchase died at home.

The BBC has issued a copyright infringement notice to an internet fan who posted knitting instructions with patterns including several Who characters such as the Ood, Cassandra, and the Face of Boe.  The fan's case has been taken up by Open Rights Group, an online civil liberties organization.   <>   A new UK DVD release of The Brain of Morbius will recreate the sound as originally broadcast, according to the Restoration team and Mark Ayres.  The DVD also explains the mystery of how the incidental music from episode 1 was lost, as well as new commentaries and features.   <>   US consumers may now buy Torchwood through the iTunes Store for computer or digital player.  The show is released as part of a strategy to promote the largest distribution of new British television programs, and is available as an entire season or separately.   <>   Two bits of memorabilia from classic Who are being auctioned by Bonhams this June - a moulded foam Tyrannosaurus Rex in a jar seen in the episode The Mark of the Rani and a Dalek guard uniform from Resurrection of the Daleks.  The lot comes from the estate of the late John Nathan-Turner.   <>   On the new Who novel front - 3 new novels planned for December: Beautiful Chaos by Gary Russell, where the Doctor and Donna find a new star is changing the world's thinking, The Eyeless by Lance Parkin, where the Doctor must fight a mystery weapon all alone on a barren world, and The Story of Martha by Dan Abnett, which details the full story of Martha Jones' "lost year" traveling the world and fighting the Master.   <>   Three new Torchwood books for October: Pack Animals by Peter Anghelides finds the team fighting a pack of predatory zoo animals affected by an alien device, Skypoint by Phil Ford, which matches the group against SkyPoint, the latest high-rise in Cardiff, where eerie things come out from the walls, and Almost Perfect by James Goss, where speed dating finds alien technology in the quest to create the perfect man.

Indie band Garbage's lead singer, Shirley Manson, has turned to acting and will be a regular next season on Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles.     <>   Craig Horner (Monarch Cove) and Bridget Regan (The Black Donnellys) will star as Richard and Kahlan in Wizard's First Rule for the ABC Family channel.   The series, based on the excellent Sword of Truth fantasy books by Terry Goodkind, and features a simple woodsman who finds the woman of his dreams and must be transformed into the leader of magical forces against a brutal tyrant. Sam Raimi will executive produce.

The SciFi Channel announced summer dates for series including Ghost Hunters International, Eureka, and Stargate Atlantis.  Atlantis's fifth season, starting this July, sees Robert Picardo (Star Trek Voyager) as the new full-time director and Jewel Staite's Dr. Kellar (Firefly) now as a regular character, while Amanda Tapping (Samantha Carter), Michael Shanks (Daniel Jackson), and Paul McGillion (Carson Beckett) will all return for guest appearances.  The fifth season of the program will reportedly focus heavily on the Wraith. Tori Higginson (Weir) will not appear.   <>   James D'Arcy (An American Haunting) will lead in Virtuality, a 2-hour Sci-Fi pilot from Ronald Moore (Battlestar Galactica).  The program focuses on a starship in a 10-year journey where the crew uses virtual reality to "explore" and assume different identities.   <>   The direct-to-DVD movie Stargate: Continuum revealed that star Michael Shanks' character Daniel Jackson will lose a leg due to the actor not being available for shooting. When Shanks was not around for a group shoot in the Arctic, a quick rewrite led to Jackson suffering severe exposure and amputation.  The group did point out the story does include an alternate timeline, so all may not be as they appear.   <>   Battlestar Galactica's Tricia Helfer appears in a PETA ad with her rescued cat, Mr. Nix.

George Lucas, following the strong showing of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, has hinted there will a fifth Jones movie.  Lucas said he planned to have Shia LeBeouf as the main character with Harrison Ford appearing, similar to Sean Connery in the previous movie.   <>   Rainn Wilson (The Office) has been cast in Transformers 2, the sequel about the war between two automotive automaton forces.  Wilson will have a small role as a college professor to lead Shia LaBeouf.  The movie promises more science-fiction, and the possible inclusion of fan-favorites Soundwave and Ravage.   <>   Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth) and Peter Jackson corresponded in a unique internet chat open to fans.  Del Toro will direct two movies based on The Hobbit, set for release in 2011 and 2012.  Several Lord of the Rings characters will return.  Jackson commented that he declined the project so as to not compete against his previous three movies.   <>   Columbia has entered into talks about Flash Gordon, based on the venerable comic strip character.   <>   Summit Entertainment will redevelop Highlander.  Art Marcum and Matt Holloway (Iron Man) will write the new script.   <>   Ben Kingsley will be the villain in Disney's Prince of Persia: the Sands of Time, an adaptation of the Ubisoft video game.

Michael Bay (The Island) will run Ouija, a Universal movie planned to cross-promote the popular Hasbro game.   <>   Danny McBride (Land of the Lost) will star in Your Highness, a sword & sorcery fantasy comedy about the slacker, lazy prince who must prove himself and save the kingdom.   <>   John Cusack will likely star in 2012, a big budget disaster film based on a global disaster that ends the world.  Roland Emmerich (The Day After Tomorrow) will direct.   <>   Stride gum set up a tongue-in-cheek online promotion named Stop Uwe Boll, dedicated to petitioning the director to stop making schlock films such as Bloodrayne and Dungeon Siege.  Boll has said that if the petition does reach 1 million signees, he would stop his writing.

Kevin Feige, producer of The Incredible Hulk, has tried to distance the new movie from the first Hulk, a box office disappointment, while not denying the earlier movie.   Among the new draws are Ed Norton as lead actor and producer, and a weaving of Marvel mainstays S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury, Doc Sampson, and the Avengers.  The Avengers, the name of the lead Marvel superhero team, is planned for a movie in 2011.   <>   Latino Review reported that Sony has considered Patrick Fugit (Almost Famous) or Michael Angarano (Forbidden Kingdom) to be Spider-Man should Tobey Maguire opt out of the planned fourth movie.  No firm decision was announced, but a fifth Spider-Man movie is planned.  Sony has denied plans to replace Maguire.   <>   Kevin Feige, president of Marvel Studios, confirmed The First Avenger: Captain America will be a World War II period movie based on the Marvel super-soldier who was frozen and reawakened in present day.  Feige claims the movie directly leads into an Avengers movie six weeks later.   <>   The upcoming Thor movie will be set mostly in Asgard.  Scripts are being developed, with plans for a 2010 release.   <>   Tyrese Gibson (Transformers) has reported he is in consideration for Luke Cage, based on the popular black Marvel superhero.  Cage is a wrongly convicted man who acquires strength and invulnerability after a failed experiment.   <>   Platinum, Top Cow, & Arclight Productions will team for a live-action Witchblade movie.   The character, which spawned a cable show and an anime series, features a jewel-encrusted gauntlet that gives supernatural powers to the wearer.

Diablo Cody (Juno) will develop Jennifer's Body, a horror film about a teen hottie (Megan Fox - Transformers) who is possessed by a demon hungering for young boys.   <>   Benderspink and FilmEngine will produce The Butterfly Effect 3.  The movie features a man who finds he can travel to his past to solve a mystery with often painful results.   The first movie starred Ashton Kutcher (That 70's Show) and the second Erica Durance (Smallville).   <>   Punk goth icon Emily the Strange will get a film from Dark Horse Entertainment.   The film will recount the origin of the symbol of female empowerment and her four mysterious cats.  Mike Richardson 30 Days of Night will oversee the project, which is looking for a director.