ARE you ready for a Dalek invasion on your mobile? Miniaturised versions of classic BBC programmes will be sold to phone users through special chips next month.

Digital video chips that allow phone users to view feature-length films and programmes regardless of network coverage, are being aimed at commuters.

Each chip holds up to two hours of entertainment and will be sold for £17, double the price of a downloaded iTunes album but comparable with the latest Hollywood DVDs.

ROK Player, which invested £10 million to create the software, said that viewers on the move would see high-quality pictures despite the reduction to mobile screen size.

Doctor Who and Red Dwarf are the first BBC programmes to go on sale and the chips will initially be sold through Nokia stores and Choices video outlets. The programmes are pre-recorded on the Sim card-sized chips which slot into the multi-media memory card holder in the phone. With no need to download the content over a phone network, the film automatically loads and can be viewed on any video-enabled handset with a memory card.

The first release is The Five Doctors, a cult Doctor Who episode from 1983. The 90-minute special united the five Time Lords (through some basic computer trickery and a replacement for the deceased William Hartnell) in a battle against the Daleks and the Cybermen.

The second BBC chip will feature three episodes of the cult science-fiction comedy Red Dwarf. More programmes from the BBC archive will follow, when demand is assessed.

ROK has also signed a deal with Granada Ventures, maker of The Shawshank Redemption, the first feature film made available to mobile phone users.

The deal allowed ROK to release a chip of Liverpool’s Champions League season within weeks of the club’s triumph.

www.timesonline.co.uk/tech

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