FROM THE SFX OFFICE

With a new issue flip-through, a week with Old Who and indisputable proof that Dave Golder is a mudblood

Argh, it’s only three weeks exactly the Weekender ! Needless to say we’re all very excited and not nervous in the slightest. Nosiree. As if that wasn’t exciting enough our new issue went on sale yesterday, issue 218 featuring the rather dashing Winchester brothers on the cover and the slightly less appealing flaming phizzog of Ghost Rider.

[VAMS id="X76E1gT824qKo"]

As you can see from the flip through (sorry for the slightly squiffy framing) this month we have a world exclusive Being Human series four feature with an episode guide by creator Toby Whithouse, there are 20 Reasons We Love The Prisoner and we go one on one with the lovely Deborah Ann Woll. Hopefully Jordan will shut up about meeting her one day.

We’re light on numbers in the office today through a combination of people taking days off, working from home, meetings in London, caring for their little ’uns and grievous bodily injuries, which might explain why we’ve all been suspiciously productive this morning. Only a brief foray into discussing the merits of The Crow (Jordan loves it, Rich and Dave G aren’t so keen, but they’re wrong) has sidetracked the team from their primary directive to get issue 219 out of the door.

Dave B’s the one in London today, wheeling and dealing, meeting and greeting, and having posh Italian lunch with the good folk from Manga UK, while Nick’s the one spending a day of R&R in Cardiff with a bag of chips. Jon, meanwhile, has discovered just how awful Lost Boys II is - in fact he only watched half of it. A huge fan of the original, he was heartbroken to see where the franchise went.

Some good news for smartphone addicts! Our IT boffins have fixed an issue with the mobile version of sfx.co.uk, which meant it was taking rather a long time to update. So if you'd given up on checking out sfx.co.uk on your phone because the news stories all seemed a bit ancient, give it another try! We've also identified some formatting issues that were causing problems. This should all mean a lot less "page not found" messages - but if you do get any 404 errors, do tweet at us so we can look into them.

Dave G discovered he’s descended from aristocracy! It’s not quite royalty but he’s still impressed after his father’s cousin put together a Golder family tree. Most interesting of all, however, is that he discovered he’s a mudblood! No really, he’s descended from a Snape – look if you don’t believe us. He’s going to test the theory and try leaping off the roof of SFX towers with a broom later.

Ian's week has been dominated by old-school Doctor Who (no change there, then...). He was fascinated to learn that April Walker was the original Sarah Jane Smith , but fervently hopes that 2entertain aren't going to make a habit of breaking news stories on the text commentary for episode five... Secondly, he'd like to urge all of you to buy Hartnell tale "The Sensorites" when it comes out on 23 January. Not for the story, which is pretty dreary, but for the superb featurette "Looking For Peter R Newman", in which Toby Hadoke searches for info on the late writer of the story, about whom practically nothing was previously known; not only is it proper investigative journalism, but the results are surprisingly touching. Thirdly, a couple of AWOL Christmas presents finally turned up in the post, which means he's steeling himself to watch "Paradise Towers" (shudder). But right now, he's sitting at home preparing to transcribe half an hour of most enjoyable chat with Who scribe Gareth Roberts about his forthcoming novel of Tom Baker tale "Shada" (the story never completed due to industrial action).

After a challenge set by the PR team of new sci-fi superhero flick Chronicle the SFX team has been trying to work out what people's talents are. Dave can peel off a yoghurt top in one go, Jordan can make owl noises with his hands and Russell laid claim to picking CDs out of his rack when people name them at random, but we reckon his ability to instantly give the year of a film as more worthy.

Jordan’s now passed the 120 hour mark on Skyrim and is starting to get concerned about his debilitating lack of sleep because of it. He’s decided to go cold turkey for a little while and has even taken the little map off his wall to resist any temptation. We give him 24 hours before he’s lopping off heads with a flaming Daedric sword again.

Ade is getting very excited about some money-can't-buy items he’s received for the SFX Weekender Charity Auction this year! A list of some of the items on offer can be found elsewhere on this site , but lets just say he’s received support from the cast of True Blood , Red Dwarf , and some geezer called Matt Smith. Its all in aid of Great Ormond St Hospital. Start saving because you won’t want to miss this important part of the Weekender.

Random Quote of the Week: “It’s the one where you get to sleep with Yvonne Strathovski, how could you forget about it?”

Whose Socks? (last week’s answer: it was Dave B ’s Portal t-shirt!)

Jordan Farley
Deputy Editor, Total Film

I'm the Deputy Editor at Total Film magazine, overseeing the features section of every issue where you can read exclusive, in-depth interviews and see first-look images from the biggest films. I was previously the News Editor at sci-fi, fantasy and horror movie bible SFX. You'll find my name on news, reviews, and features covering every type of movie, from the latest French arthouse release to the biggest Hollywood blockbuster. My work has also featured in Official PlayStation Magazine and Edge.