This Friday's Children in Need will feature the first preview for the forthcoming Doctor Who Christmas Special, featuring Peter Capaldi as the Doctor with Nick Frost as Santa Claus.



Children in Need is on this coming Friday from 7:30pm on BBC One.

The BBC has released a teaser trailer for this year's Christmas Special.

French-speaking Doctor Who fans will be able to enjoy The Day of the Doctor and The Time of the Doctor in their native language when a single disc DVD set featuring the two stories is released in France on 1st December 2014.

Silva Screen are to release Murray Gold's music from The Day of the Doctor and The Time of the Doctor on a two disc CD. The set will be released in the UK the day after Doctor Who's 51st anniversary on Monday, 24th November 2014.

The BBC have announced the guest cast for the forthcoming Christmas Special, which will almost certainly follow tradition and be broadcast on Christmas Day:

Paul McGann has reported that a sequel to last year's online/red-button anniversary special, The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot has entered production. The actor, who appeared briefly in the original, was speaking at an event for Cambridge Union Society, which also saw "Reboot" co-star Sylvester McCoy speak back in May.

Photos and more details on the talk, including McGann's thoughts on a female Doctor, can be found through Cambridge News.


The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot is still available to watch online in the UK.

Details have been revealed for the DVD and Blu-ray releases of The Time of the Doctor - with Region 2 getting a two-disc set comprising all the Eleventh Doctor's Christmas specials as well as extra content from this year's offering, which sees Matt Smith bow out as the Doctor.

To be released on Monday 20th January as a box set and entitled The Time of the Doctor + Other Eleventh Doctor Christmas Specials, the Region 2 contents will be as follows:

• The Time of the Doctor
• The Snowmen (The 2012 Christmas special)
• The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe (The 2011 Christmas special)
• A Christmas Carol (The 2010 Christmas special)
• Behind the Scenes of The Time of the Doctor - We take a peek behind the lens on this cracker of a Christmas special. With Matt Smith, Orla Brady, Jenna Coleman, Steven Moffat, Danny Hargreaves, Jack Hollington, Sheila Reid, James Buller, and Elizabeth Rider.
• Farewell to Matt Smith - Narrated by Alex Kingston, this compelling special looks back at Matt's extraordinary tenure as the Eleventh Doctor, featuring highlights from the show and copious interview footage with Matt, his cast mates, writers, producers, guest stars, and celebrity Doctor Who fans.
• Tales from the TARDIS - A look back at the full, 50-year history of Doctor Who. Eleventh Doctor Matt Smith and past Doctors David Tennant, Sylvester McCoy, Colin Baker, Peter Davison, and Tom Baker tell what it was like to be the Doctor, how they got the job, and how it changed their lives. With companion actors Jenna Coleman, Karen Gillan, Arthur Darvill and more, this special offers a unique insight into the world's longest-running sci-fi series.

The BBC Shop is also doing an exclusive T-shirt and DVD/Blu-ray offer for the release.

The one-disc Region 1 DVD/Blu-ray of The Time of the Doctor will be released on Tuesday 4th March, comprising this year's Christmas episode and the extras Behind the Scenes of The Time of the Doctor, Farewell to Matt Smith, and Tales from the TARDIS. None of the previous Christmas episodes will be included.

Canadian TV channel Space will be broadcasting The Time of the Doctor an hour later than originally planned to make way for the documentary Doctor Who: Farewell to Matt Smith, it has announced.

The Christmas episode will now go out at 9pm Eastern Time/6pm Pacific Time, with the retrospective being added to the schedule and taking the episode's original slot of 8pm (ET)/5pm (PT).

Space's revised Doctor Who programming over Christmas is now currently as follows (all times as ET):
UPDATE - 18th DECEMBER: Space has subsequently made more changes to its schedule, including moving the drama An Adventure In Space and Time from late night on 25th December to just into 26th December. The above blocks now show all the correct transmission times at present.

BBC America are to air a specially commissioned programme celebrating Matt Smith's time on Doctor Who this Christmas for the US.

Doctor Who: Farewell to Matt Smith will see members of cast and crew talk candidly about the 11th Doctor actor's departure from the show and the legacy that has been left. Contributors include Karen Gillan, Arthur Darvill, Jenna Coleman, David Tennant, Steven Moffat and more.

The network have released Farewell's trailer on YouTube, confirming its broadcast before The Time of the Doctor on Christmas Day, alongside a synopsis.



Doctor Who: Farewell to Matt Smith premieres on BBC America in the US on Wednesday December 25th at 8pm.

With less than a fortnight to go until Christmas Day, bets over which show will top the overnight ratings for the day are well under way, with Doctor Who currently placed as fourth most likely to be most popular at 11/1. EastEnders is the bookies' runaway favourite at present at 1/2, with Coronation Street at 5 3/4, closely followed by Mrs Brown's Boys at 5 4/5.

                                   Ladbrokes  Coral   William Hill   Betfair

BBC1  5:00 Strictly Come Dancing     14/1     25/1       16/1         69/5
ITV   5:15 Paul O'Grady             100/1    100/1      100/1           -
BBC1  6:15 Call The Midwife          33/1     20/1       20/1         35/1 
ITV   6:15 Emmerdale                100/1     66/1       33/1           -
BBC1  7:30 Doctor Who                16/1      8/1       10/1         10/1
ITV   7:30 Coronation Street          6/1      5/1        6/1         73/12
BBC1  8:30 EastEnders                 2/5      4/6        4/7         10/21
ITV   8:30 Downton Abbey             25/1      6/1       12/1         19/1
BBC1  9:30 Mrs Brown's Boys           6/1      6/1        5/1         69/11

The winning programme will be the one that achieves the highest BARB overnight rating.