Author Neil Gaiman will write a forthcoming episode of Doctor Who, he has confirmed.
Gaiman,
the author of Stardust - which was adapted to the big screen for a film starring Claire Danes and Sienna Miller - revealed the news at a sci-fi convention in Sussex.
The episode, with the working title of The House of Nothing, will air in 2011, the writer said.
During
his acceptance speech for best comic at the SFX Awards, Gaiman said:
"As anyone who's read my blog knows, I'm a big fan of a certain
long-running British TV series. One that I started watching - from
behind the sofa - when I was three.
"And while I know it's cruel to make you wait for things, in about 14 months from now - which is to say, not in the upcoming season but early in the one after that - it's quite possible that I might have written an episode.
"And if I had, it would originally have been called 'The House of Nothing'. But it definitely isn't called that any more."
A spokesman for Doctor Who would not confirm Gaiman's announcement.
The next series of the show, starring Matt Smith as the 11th Time Lord, is due to air in the spring.