Diana Rigg, Emma Peel of the Avengers will finally appear in Doctor Who. Yes, two of my all time favorite programs will finally cross over (Blake's 7 star Paul Darrow already camped it up in Timelash and Sapphire and Steel's David Collings nearly stole the show in Mawdryn Undead).  Rub my belly and put me to bed am I ever happy.

Rachael Stirling

Dame Diana Rigg's daughter Rachael Sterling has of course an equally impressive career and has also joined the Doctor Who family in the Big Finish audio range's Trail of the White Worm (just released earlier this Summer). This will mark the first time mother and daughter have acted together.

... Of course it's written by Mark Gatiss and even while I am an avid fan of his, I must admit that his luck with Doctor Who scripts has been spotty at best (though I still enjoy the Unquiet Dead). Both The Idiot's Lantern and Victory of the Daleks are less than stellar stories (the less said about Night Terrors... though the doll house concept was superb... the better), so I am setting my bar reasonably low. Maybe I'll be surprised, who knows.

The series 7 adventure 'The Crimson Horror' will be set in the fictional town of Sweetville and feature the return of sometime nurse Sontaran Strax and the Victorian lesbian manhunters Jenny and Madame Vastra. I have many issues with last year's set of stories, but enjoyed all three of these characters, so that's good news for me as well.

Continuing the pattern of wacky headgear, the Doctor will sport a bowler hat.

The Doctor and Jenna

Madam Vastra

Strax plays butler

Lots more photos and even an on location video can be seen at BleedingCool.