Christmas Schedule

The Christmas double edition of the Radio Times is now generally available, containing all the programming details of the main UK channels for the festive period - including of course the premiere of The Husbands of River Song on Christmas Day itself at 5:15pm, which features as one of "the very best of TV, Film and Radio this Christmas".

The magazine also features a two page interview with Peter Capaldi, during which he talks about the departure of Jenna Coleman this year:

As well as this Christmas's new episode, Doctor Who continues to be available to watch on other digital channels/ After a short break Watch returns with a daily dose of the tenth Doctor from the 20th December leading up to a double dose of Christmas specials on the day itself as he encounters The Next Doctor through to The End of Time; post-Christmas it's the turn of the eleventh Doctor to dominate the afternoon schedules. Meanwhile, Horror Channel continue their latest run though the 'classic' era, with Christmas Day seeing the fourth Doctor end up dealing with the Horror of Fang Rock.

However, there's more fourth Doctor action on BBC4 on the 28th/29th December as the channel broadcasts The Face of Evil! As Patrick Mulkern observes in the Radio Times:

Odds on Who

With the Christmas Day scheduled firmly locked down, bets are firmly in the running as to how those shows will fare with viewers. Here are the average odds across the various agencies at the time of writing:

Time        BBC One                              Odds     ITV                                Odds   
 3:00pm     The Queen                                                                        32/1
 3:10pm     Brave                                  -      Cameraman to the Queen               -
 4:10pm                                                   Countrywise Winter Wonderland        -
 4:35pm     BBC News and Weather                   -
 4:45pm     Stick Man                              -
 5:00pm                                                   For The Love Of Dogs              100/1
 5:15pm     Doctor Who                            24/1
 6:00pm                                                   ITV Evening News                     -
 6:15pm     Strictly Come Dancing                 14/1    You've Been Framed With Bells On     -
 6:45pm                                                   Emmerdale                         115/1
 7:30pm     Call The Midwife                      26/1 
 7:45pm                                                   Coronation Street                  27/1
 8:45pm     Eastenders                            11/2    Downton Abbey                       3/1
 9:45pm     Mrs Browns Boys                       evens
10:45pm     Michael McIntyre's Big Christmas Show   -     Our Cilla                          71/1

Mrs Brown's Boys is the runaway favourite at present which is unsurprising as it has been the highest rated show three years in a row, with second placed Eastenders topping the chart in 2010 and 2011. The odds currently place Doctor Who as the fifth most likely to top the chart: in 2009 The End Of Time (part one) arguably achieved the top spot on Christmas Day, when the combined viewers on BBC One (11.57m) and the simulcast BBC HD (0.47m) made a total of 12.05m versus The Royle Family's combined total of 11.92m and Eastenders of 11.67m.

Last year none of the Christmas shows managed to break the 10 million mark, with Doctor Who ending up in sixth place with its 8.28m viewers. Could Alex Kingston's return in The Husbands of River Song lead to the crown once again being in the show's grasp once the consolidated ratings are known? It won't be too long to find out, and in the meantime readers can watch out for the launch of our annual Guess the ratings competition soon!