Doctor Who’s Tales of the TARDIS Book — plus New Alien Film and More

Morning News · Saturday 24 October 2026

The Memory TARDIS has opened its doors again, this time on the page. This morning’s edition also has a change at the top of Star Trek’s streaming home, a new Alien film from the writer of Prisoners, a very British line-up for Crawl 2, a date for the Fallout reality show, a secret Marvel role for Sandra Hüller, a first look at Cliff Booth and some sad news from Dame Judi Dench.

The News That Matters

Doctor Who’s Tales of the TARDIS becomes a book of eight new stories

• New development: BBC Children’s Books published Doctor Who: Tales of the TARDIS on Thursday 22 October, and a free prequel story went up on the official Doctor Who website on Friday 23 October
• The stories: Eight tales from the Memory TARDIS, set across the seasons: Susan and the Doctor remember a bonfire night, Yasmin Khan and an old friend recall terror at the summer solstice, and the Doctor and Clara look back on Christmas and killer toys
• Extras: Each story comes with an introduction from actors and writers from the Whoniverse
• UK availability: Out now in hardback (£16.99, 336 pages), as an ebook and as an audio download

The book takes its idea from the 2023 Tales of the TARDIS shorts, in which old Doctors and companions met in a strange, cluttered console room to remember their adventures. The prequel, Beth Axford’s Nine Minutes Past Four, has two freshly regenerated Doctors meet there: Tom Baker’s Fourth Doctor, still in his velvet jacket, and Christopher Eccleston’s Ninth.

It is aimed at younger readers, but the line-up of eras makes it an easy gift for any fan. It has been a busy week for Doctor Who off screen, with Georgia Tennant back as Jenny and the first TARDIS team heading to wartime Malta on audio.

Star Trek’s streaming home now answers to HBO’s Casey Bloys

• New development: Paramount+ head of originals Jane Wiseman is leaving, and her team will report to HBO Max’s Sarah Aubrey, Deadline reported on Friday 23 October
• Who is in charge: Casey Bloys, the long-time head of HBO, became co-chair and chief content officer for streaming at the merged Skydance company when the Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery deal closed on 6 October
• What it means for Trek: Every decision on future Star Trek series now sits with Bloys and his HBO team, alongside Game of Thrones, Harry Potter and DC
• UK availability: Starfleet Academy season two (March 2027) and the final season of Strange New Worlds (2027) will both stream on Paramount+ in the UK

Wiseman had run Paramount+ originals for 14 months, overseeing 28 new series and 16 renewals. Bloys thanked her in an internal memo, saying her development slate was “incredibly impressive”. Earlier this year she said it was Paramount+’s “job to figure out what the next bounce of Star Trek is”.

That job now passes to people who have never run Star Trek before. With both live-action shows ending in 2027 and Alex Kurtzman’s deal said to be up for renewal, the franchise really is at a crossroads. Catch up on the rest of the week’s Trek news in our latest Star Trek round-up.

A new Alien film is in the works from Prisoners writer Aaron Guzikowski

• New development: Guzikowski is writing a new Alien feature for 20th Century Studios, The Hollywood Reporter revealed on Friday 23 October and Deadline confirmed
• Who is behind it: Ridley Scott and Michael Pruss are producing for Scott Free. Scott is not directing, and no director is attached
• What we know: It is not a sequel to Alien: Romulus. The Hollywood Reporter’s sources say it is linked to Scott’s Prometheus and Alien: Covenant through Michael Fassbender’s android David, though Fassbender is not attached
• UK availability: In very early development. No release date yet

Guzikowski and Scott worked together on the HBO Max series Raised by Wolves, about two androids bringing up human children on a distant planet, which Guzikowski created and Scott helped launch by directing its first two episodes. Guzikowski also wrote Denis Villeneuve’s Prisoners.

After Romulus took more than $350 million worldwide, a return to David would be a bold move. The franchise said goodbye to one of its originals this week, as Tom Skerritt, the Nostromo’s Captain Dallas, died at 93.

Crawl 2 adds Sarah Niles, Ray Panthaki and Richard Brake

• New development: Sarah Niles, Ray Panthaki, Richard Brake, Charley Palmer Rothwell and Flula Borg have joined Alexandre Aja’s alligator sequel, The Hollywood Reporter reported on Friday 23 October
• Already cast: Mason Gooding and Emily Rudd lead the film
• Who made it: Aja directs and co-wrote the script, with Sam Raimi among the producers, for Paramount Pictures
• UK availability: Due in US cinemas on 16 July 2027. UK release date not yet confirmed

There is a strong British flavour to the new names. Niles is a two-time Emmy nominee for Ted Lasso, Panthaki starred in Boiling Point, Brake has been in Peaky Blinders and Barbarian, and Palmer Rothwell has been in Industry and Dunkirk.

The 2019 original trapped Kaya Scodelario and Barry Pepper in a flooded Florida house full of alligators and took more than $91 million worldwide. It was lean, nasty and great fun, so a bigger cast suggests more people for the alligators to chase.

Fallout Shelter: The Experiment opens its vaults on 13 January

• New development: Prime Video set the date for its Fallout reality competition on Friday 23 October, Fallout Day
• The format: Ordinary contestants live in Vault-Tec bunkers and face drills, psychological dilemmas and moral tests, with $1 million for the last dweller standing
• Who made it: London’s Studio Lambert (The Traitors, Squid Game: The Challenge), with Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy’s Kilter Films and Bethesda Game Studios
• UK availability: Prime Video, in more than 240 countries and territories including the UK. The first four episodes arrive on Wednesday 13 January 2027, then three a week until 27 January

There are ten episodes in all. It is the first spin-off from Prime Video’s hit drama, which has passed 100 million viewers across two seasons, with season three now in production.

Watch the announcement

Sandra Hüller has a secret cameo in Avengers: Doomsday

• New development: The Oscar-nominated German star has a cameo in the film, The Hollywood Reporter revealed on Friday 23 October and Variety confirmed. Marvel does not comment on casting
• Her role: Being kept under wraps. Her name appeared on the British Stunt Register a few weeks ago, which started the rumours
• The film: Robert Downey Jr. plays Doctor Doom, and Chris Evans returns as Steve Rogers, with the Russo brothers directing
• UK availability: In UK cinemas from Friday 18 December

It caps a remarkable year for the Anatomy of a Fall star, who has also appeared in Project Hail Mary, Rose, Fatherland and Digger. The film also got a new sneak peek during Game 1 of the World Series on Friday night, with Pedro Pascal’s Mister Fantastic throwing the first pitch.

Hüller is one of the finest actors working today, so even a brief role is a coup. Read our review of Fatherland, in which she plays Thomas Mann’s daughter.

Update: Tarantino surprises AFI Fest with the first 17 minutes of Cliff Booth

• New development: Quentin Tarantino screened the opening 17 minutes of The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth at the end of his AFI Fest Q&A in Hollywood on Friday night, Deadline reported. It was the first public look at the film
• The story: It is 1977, and Brad Pitt’s Cliff Booth is a bartender, projectionist and Hollywood fixer who solves problems, sometimes outside the law
• Who made it: Written by Tarantino and directed by David Fincher. Elizabeth Debicki, Scott Caan, Carla Gugino, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Peter Weller co-star
• UK availability: In UK IMAX cinemas from 25 November, then on Netflix from Wednesday 23 December

“Well, I could talk a little bit about The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth, or I could show you the first 17 minutes,” Tarantino told the crowd at the TCL Chinese Theatre, before a screening of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. He also talked about The Popinjay Cavalier, his first stage play, which stars Sacha Baron Cohen and begins previews at London’s Phoenix Theatre on 23 February.

It is the latest chapter in a busy week for the film, after Fincher revealed he cut 60 pages from Tarantino’s script. Tarantino’s own tenth film, we learned last week, is now written.

Dame Judi Dench says she can no longer act on stage or screen

• New development: The 91-year-old told Emma Barnett on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that her eye condition means “I can’t do a play anymore. I can’t do a film anymore. I can’t read anymore”, the BBC reported on Thursday 22 October
• Her condition: She was diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration in 2012, and it now makes it hard for her even to recognise faces
• Her career: More than seven decades on stage and screen, an Oscar for Shakespeare in Love, and seven films as M, starting with GoldenEye in 1995
• UK availability: The full interview is available from BBC Radio 4’s Today programme

Dench was as warm and funny as ever about it, admitting she sometimes approaches the wrong people “and give them an almost hug”. Asked whether she had a view on who should play the next Bond, she simply said “no”.

She also spoke about falling for Shakespeare as a nine-year-old watching her brother in Macbeth. If this is the end of her acting career, it has been one of the greatest in British history.

Which Doctor and companion would you most want to see in the Memory TARDIS, and who should be in charge of Star Trek’s next chapter?