Doctor Who is back this Saturday with the first episode of series four, ‘Partners in Crime’. The Guardian has a sneak peek at some of the world-first special effects used to create the monsters in the episode.

In ‘Partners in Crime’, post-production company The Mill pressed into service a form of visual effects - vfx - technology used in The Lord of the Rings films to create the monsters. There are some spoilers for the episode in the Guardian article, so tread carefully.

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After debuting the characters of Captain Jack Harkness and Toshiko Sato in Doctor Who,  Russell T Davies has told the official magazine that he is comfortable with more Torchwood characters appearing in its parent show.

‘I think the lines are becoming blurred… now that there’s a pre-watershed Torchwood repeat,’ Davies said. ‘We’re building a strong, coherent, interconnected universe… but the answer, as ever, is story. If ever I think of a good story for Doctor Who and Torchwood to meet then I’ll do it.’

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The SCI FI Channel has snapped up the fourth season of Doctor Who and spinoff kid’s series The Sarah Jane Adventures from BBC Worldwide America with both series set to premiere in April.

The child-friendly Sarah Jane Adventures is written and produced by the same creative team behind Doctor Who, including multiple-award-winning writer Russell T. Davies. The series centers on Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen), former companion to the Doctor, who investigates offbeat mysteries with her young friends Maria, Luke and Clyde.

The fourth season of Doctor Who, meanwhile, brings back star David Tennant as the 10th Timelord, joined by a new companion, Donna Noble (Catherine Tate), who reprises her role from the previous Christmas special. The Doctor’s previous companion, Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman), also makes a return in the middle of season four.

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If you thought that the first series of ‘adult’ Doctor Who spinoff Torchwood had more than its fair share of same sex romance then season 2 looks likely to follow its lead with more of the same.

In the new season,  the Torchwood Institute’s Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) faces a dilemma when rogue Time Agent Captain John Hart (James Marsters aka Spike from Buffy) wreaks havoc on Cardiff in the first episode of the new series and the duo end up in a lip-locked embrace.

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A trailer has been released for the upcoming second season of the acclaimed Doctor Who spin-off show Torchwood.

The clip includes footage of the various alien threats, James Marsters (Buffy) as a rogue time agent and even a peek at Jack and Ianto making-out!

You can view the trailer on Doctor Who star Freema Agyeman’s official website.

Torchwood season two kicks off January 16 in the UK (on BBC2) and January 26 in the United States (Sci-Fi Channel).

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Following several months of fan speculation the BBC has confirmed that Billie Piper is to return to Doctor Who.

She will star in three episodes of the sci-fi drama, reprising her role as the Doctor’s companion, Rose Tyler.  Rose’s return will mean the Doctor has three assistants in next year’s series - Donna, played by Catherine Tate, and Freema Agyeman as Martha.

The new series begins in March and will run for 13 episodes. There will be three special editions in 2009 before the show takes a break until 2010. 

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According to DarkHorizons, the Doctor Who spin-off show Torchwood will begin its second season in January.

The season opener will air in the United States on BBC America on January 26. No date has been set for the UK so far, but it is expected to be only a few days prior to the US broadcast.

Torchwood is a science fiction drama television programme, created by Russell T. Davies and starring John Barrowman and Eve Myles. It deals with the machinations and activities of the Cardiff branch of the fictional Torchwood Institute, who deal with supernatural and alien occurrences.

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Young Ones star Christopher Ryan has been cast as an alien villain in the upcoming fourth series of Doctor Who.

‘I’m absolutely delighted to be appearing in this new Doctor Who,’ Ryan told the BBC. ‘The last time I appeared in Doctor Who was in 1986, Colin Baker was the Doctor and I was still a Young One.‘

Ryan will play a Sontaran leader in the story, which is due to begin filming in the next few weeks.   The egg-headed aliens who first appeared in 1973 in the serial The Time Warrior by Robert Holmes are a race that reproduces by means of cloning, with no females, and are a militaristic society obsessed by war.

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In an interview with the Guardian,  BBC controller of fiction, Jane Tranter has refused to rule out the possibity of a Doctor Who movie.

Ms Tranter told MediaGuardian.co.uk that the move of the BBC films department from central London to a new base inside BBC Television Centre was designed to ‘cross-fertilise’ film production with the expertise from the comedy, natural history and news and current affairs departments’.  When asked about a big screen outing for the money-spinning franchise,  Tranter said ‘I would not rule out a film version of Doctor Who, no‘

Tranter also hinted that David Tennant, was likely to return to the role for a fifth series, even though he has agreed to play Hamlet for the Royal Shakespeare Company next year.  Doctor Who’s last series ended in July with 8 million viewers, a 39% share of the audience.

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We reported back in August that David Tennant’s Doctor Who will travel back in time to Imperial Rome for an episode in the new series,  but now new details have emerged:

The Doctor, accompanied by new assistant Catherine Tate will arrive on the eve of the historic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in the city of Pompeii in AD 79 in the series opener.  The duo will be faced with the difficult decision to either rescue the residents or leave them to fend for themselves in an episode that also features Peter Capaldi as a banker called Caecilius.

The fourth series will debut in Spring 2008 after a special Christmas episode starring Kylie Minogue set on the Titanic.

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