While the first four series of Doctor Who have seen releases of their respective soundtracks, music from the 2009 Specials have been suspiciously absent. That is, until now.

Amazon UK are listing Doctor Who: The Specials soundtrack for release in September. The 20th, to be precise.

Silva Screen Music have also now officially confirmed this.

No track listings are available yet, although favourites like Vale Decem are sure to be included. There’s no sign of a Series 5 soundtrack, yet, but it hopefully won’t take as long to come out.

Thanks to Stephanos aka Time042 for the tip.

The official Doctor Who website has released details and a video for a new online game called Amy’s History Hunt. It will launch next week on their site (note this is not the next Adventure Game).

The History Hunt stars Karen Gillan as Amy in a series of exclusive, specially shot videos. Your challenge is to help Amy unlock the Doctor’s safe and you can find out how and what’s at stake on Monday. But if you’re successful you’ll release a special short story by Paul Cornell, writer of Father’s Day, Human Nature and The Family of Blood.

Throughout the quest you’ll find out more about the Doctor’s friends and places he’s visited. Plus, you’ll get Amy’s unique point of view about some of the amazing people she’s met during her adventures with the Time Lord.

Steven Moffat has confirmed he will write five of the 13 episodes from Series 6, plus the upcoming Christmas special.

“I’m doing the Christmas special plus five, so it’s the same. Six again. I’m basically following what Russell [T Davies] did. Having worked out the sums and worked out how he does it, I thought that’s a perfect way of doing it,” Moffat told Den of Geek.

He added that he has found the increased workload of working on both Doctor Who and Sherlock a tough balancing act, “The last year has been extraordinary. I’ve had about four days off, and that includes Christmas day. I work every weekend, I get up early in the morning, I go to bed late at night. There is no way of balancing it.”

“It’s extraordinary, but it’s great fun too! Great fun, so long as it doesn’t kill me.”

Details and draft artwork for the UK DVD/Blu-ray release of Doctor Who: The Complete Fifth Series have been announced.

The six-disc collection will include all 13 episodes from Series 5 and extras including:

• Additional scenes: Meanwhile in the TARDIS – additional scenes, written by Steven Moffat and featuring Matt Smith & Karen Gillan, telling the story of what happens between episodes. Why was Amy floating in Space above Starship UK, and what happened after ‘that’ kiss between the Doctor and Amy? – Exclusive to DVD.
• Monster Files – The Monster Files will get under the skin and inside the minds of the latest Doctor’s most challenging opponents. With previously unseen footage and exclusive comments from cast and crew, the Monster Files take fans old and new even further behind enemy lines.
• Outtakes
• In-vision commentaries
• Video Diary
• Doctor Who Confidential (Cut Down)
• BBC Trails and Promos to Series 5

The boxset will come in two flavours. The Limited Edition features special ‘cracked’ artwork seen below to the left.

Both are released 8th November 2010, RRP £69.99 (DVD) and £79.99 (Blu-Ray). Amazon are currently taking pre-orders cheaper though at £52.49 (DVD) and £59.99 (Blu-ray). Time to start saving!

Last week, we asked you if the fez should become a permanent part of the Doctor’s costume. The poll is now closed and the results are in.

Topping the poll, 59% of you agreed with the Doctor that yes, fezzes are cool! 27% never wanted to see it again and the remaining 14% preferred to sit on the fence. So that’s the end of that!

It’s also now time to close The Big Bang poll from a few weeks back. We wanted to give overseas viewers a chance to catch-up and vote, so this poll was kept open longer than usual. 70% thought that the episode was worthy of full marks, which made it fourth highest rated of the series. The Pandorica Opens was the single highest rated episode of the series with 85% of the vote. The full results are below.

With Steven Moffat busy masterminding all things Doctor Who, you wouldn’t think he’d have time to do anything else. But somehow -- perhaps by means of a TARDIS -- the executive producer has found time to work on another project. Tonight he brings Sherlock Holmes into the 21st century.

The three-part series, co-created with another Doctor Who writer, Mark Gatiss, is appropriately called Sherlock. It stars Benedict Cumberbatch as master-sleuth Sherlock Holmes and Martin Freeman as Dr. John Watson. Moffat has written the first episode entitled A Study In Pink. The synopsis is below.

A war hero, invalided home from Afghanistan, meets a strange but charismatic genius who is looking for a flatmate; it is London, 2010, and Dr Watson and Sherlock Holmes are meeting for the first time. A string of impossible suicides has Scotland Yard baffled -- and only one man can help.

Here is the trailer.

As a side note, rumours surfaced this week that Benedict Cumberbatch may have a future role in Doctor Who based on some hints dropped in a recent interview with Digital Spy. Speculation arose that he may even play the Doctor when Matt Smith leaves, but Moffat has since denied it. Could he be in line to play the next Master, perhaps?

Sherlock begins tonight at 9pm on BBC1 and BBC HD.

If you missed the first 2010 Doctor Who Prom performance last night, you’ll be pleased to know it is now available on the BBC iplayer. It’s a must if you’re a fan of Murray Gold’s music on the series, or you just want to hear Daleks threatening the conductor! Note that iPlayer radio content is not restricted to the UK, so this is available worldwide. It will be available for the next seven days. Links and running order below.

Part One

1. Murray Gold – The Mad Man with a Box (Prologue)
   
2. Murray Gold – An Untimely Arrival
3. John Adams – Short Ride in a Fast Machine
4. Murray Gold – I Am The Doctor
5. William Walton – Overture ‘Portsmouth Point’
6. Gustav Holst – The Planets – ‘Mars’
7. Murray Gold – Battle in the Skies (Daleks vs Spitfires)
   

Part Two

1. Carl Orff – Carmina Burana – ‘O Fortuna’
2. Murray Gold – Amy
3. Murray Gold – Liz, Lizards, Vampires and Vincent
4. Richard Wagner - Die Walküre – ‘The Ride of the Valkyries’
   
5. Murray Gold – This is Gallifrey/Vale decem
6. Murray Gold – Pandorica Suite
7. Murray Gold – Song of Freedom
8. Ron Grainer, arr. Murray Gold – Doctor Who Theme

The second Doctor Who performance is at 11am today.

Russell T Davies has talked about his plans for the the fourth series of Torchwood in a new interview with SFX.

Davies doesn’t give away any story details but says it will be “very dark” like Children of Earth, “I think with that, Torchwood found its feet. People found something very compelling and very chilling about it. I love the way people got on their high horse saying, ‘Oh, he killed his grandson!’ Hello! He saved every single child in the world! If you would fail to do that then you’re the monster, frankly.”

Davies also says he is only writing one episode at the moment (episode one). “I’d love to write more, but we’ve got a lot of interest from other writers, and I’m happy showrunning the whole thing, so… depends how it pans out, really! Plenty of time to decide.”

Asked about the changes to the series, he says, “It’s a new starting point and yet… as a faithful viewer you do get that awful feeling when something reboots or revamps that you’re not comfortable anymore, and there’s none of that. It’s still Gwen, it’s still Jack, and hopefully more. You’ll feel very comfortable with it. And there’s great new American characters coming into it. Bear in mind, of course, Captain Jack, he’s American as well, so it doesn’t seem quite as alien, I think, as if you suddenly introduced American characters into Emmerdale or something!”

Steven Moffat has dropped a few Series 6 hints in the latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine (issue 424, out now).

“You’ve seen more than you think. The Doctor has noticed what you have not,” says Moffat. “And when the biggest jaw-dropping twist finally comes – well, the second one – you’ll realise you’ve known about it from the very beginning…”

Damn you and your teasing ways Moffat! It’s something to speculate on though.

Moffat also talks a little about the Xmas special, though, once again, he isn’t revealing much as it’s too early.

“We’ve got big ideas and big plans for this special, and it’s quite unlike any Doctor Who Christmas special we’ve done before. All I’m telling you now is that it’ll be 60 minutes long and the Doctor and Mr and Mrs Pond will all be present and correct.”

Matt Smith and Karen Gillan host Doctor Who extravaganzas this weekend: Saturday 24 July at 7.30pm and Sunday 25 July, at 11am.

Doctor Who returns to the BBC Proms for two family spectaculars, bursting with Daleks, Weeping Angels and of course, the famous Tardis. The concerts will be hosted by stars from the current series – Karen Gillan (Amy Pond), Arthur Darvill (Rory Williams) and special guest Matt Smith (The Doctor).

The BBC National Orchestra of Wales, who record the soundtrack for the series, present 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.

Matt Smith says of the Doctor Who Proms: “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.”

More than 1,000 standing tickets are released on the day and families are encouraged to come along and Prom for £5. Seated tickets are now returns only.

Doctor Who first came to the Proms in 2008 and the concert dedicated to the hit series proved to be one of the hottest tickets that season. This year the concert returns not once, but twice, as part of the BBC Proms rich programme of family-friendly events throughout the 2010 season. The Proms Plus events on Saturday 24 July give families the opportunity to learn to play the Doctor Who music, and also to learn about the series from the behind-the-scenes staff.

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 Doctor Who Prom on Saturday 24 July is broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 and recorded for broadcast in early September on BBC Three and BBC HD. It is audio-streamed live via the BBC Proms website at bbc.co.uk/proms and available via the BBC iPlayer for on-demand listening for seven days after broadcast.